Klamath irrigators face devastating lack of water [Klamath Falls Herald and News]
It wasn’t much of a surprise when the Klamath Water Users Association announced the lowest allocation to the Klamath Project in its history. But that didn’t make the words “33,000 acre-feet” sting any less for Basin irrigators. “We’re in a tough spot this year, and we all know that,” KWUA President Ben DuVal said at a meeting Wednesday morning. … The allotment is less than 10% of what the project would have typically used prior to the introduction of Endangered Species Act regulations in the early 2000s. … The nearly two-month delay in water deliveries will mean that the few irrigators who receive water will be limited in terms of what they can grow with it.
Santa Rosa cuts back recycled water allocations to agriculture by two-thirds as drought looms [North Bay Business Journal]
At a time of year when farmers have counted on tapping into recycled water to get them through the hotter months, water officials in Santa Rosa have severely cut back the amount of water they will deliver. They blame the drought. … The Sonoma County Farm Bureau is bracing for impact in terms of dealing with the lack of irrigation water available in this water year. “Some farmers have thinned out their herds, and some dairyman are asking for a variance, and others are planting less,” Executive Director Tawny Tesconi said, referring to the farmers asking for exceptions to the rule.
5 things you need to know about federal drought aid in California [CalMatters]
… To assist California, which is the nation’s largest food supplier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently declared a drought disaster for 50 counties. … This federal designation is very different from declaring a drought emergency under California’s Emergency Services Act, which would allow the governor to take more sweeping actions affecting all Californians … For farmers, the loans can make or break their operations, which are already on tight water allocation budgets. “From the Oregon border to the Mexican border, California farmers will see sharp cuts in water supplies this year,” said Jamie Johansson, president of the California Farm Bureau. “That means hundreds of thousands of acres of land will lie idle. It means thousands of people will lose jobs, in both rural and urban areas. It means Californians will have less locally grown food available.”
https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/04/california-drought-federal-aid/
West Marin water contamination prompts ranch inspections [Marin Independent Journal]
The state plans to inspect three dairy ranches in the Point Reyes National Seashore after independent water quality tests conducted in nearby creeks and lagoons earlier this year found E. coli bacteria concentrations up to 40 times higher than state health standards. … The regional water board routinely inspects about six ranches in Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties each year to ensure they are managing their ranches to reduce water contamination, according to Xavier Fernandez, the board’s chief of planning. However, the board decided to select these three Point Reyes dairy ranches in response to the environmental group’s tests as well as public attention on Point Reyes ranching activities.
California enlists surveillance satellites to sniff out greenhouse gas ‘super-emitters’ [Los Angeles Times]
Years after former Gov. Jerry Brown pledged California would launch its “own damn satellite” to track planet-warming pollutants, the state plans to put not one, but two satellites in orbit to help it hunt for hard-to-find “super-emitters” of methane and carbon dioxide. … The two satellites will be used to locate, quantify and make visible plumes of methane and carbon pollution, which remain major obstacles in the fight against climate change. … The satellites’ targets will include oil and gas operations, waste management facilities, dairies and other industries that researchers say spew much of the state’s methane, a short-lived but powerful pollutant that is more than 80 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.
Artificial intelligence and robots are helping farmers prepare for climate change crisis [KGO TV, San Francisco]
… “In the Salinas Valley, a lot of our crops are extremely heat sensitive like lettuces, leafy greens and some berries. If we start seeing changes in spikes of heat or spikes of frost, we’re going to see problems in being able to produce some of these crops,” said Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau. … In the Salinas Valley, farmers have already switched to computerized systems that use less water to irrigate plants. … Technology and artificial intelligence is already making an impact in the fields of Salinas. For the past year, FarmWise has been using robotic tractors to pick weeds around crops like cauliflower and romaine lettuce.
Pork industry fights to revive challenge of California hog standards [Courthouse News Service]
Arguing California’s voter-approved farm animal law dictates meat industry production standards — and raises consumer costs — nationwide, pork industry groups asked a Ninth Circuit panel Wednesday to revive their case challenging the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act. The National Pork Producers Council and American Farm Bureau Federation appealed U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan’s dismissal of their claims that Proposition 12 violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution through its animal confinement standards for selling meat in California.
https://www.courthousenews.com/pork-industry-fights-to-revive-challenge-of-california-hog-standards/
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