Harvest of shame: Farmworkers face coronavirus disaster [Politico]
… Six months into the pandemic, according to a POLITICO analysis, these workers appear to be victims of the worst of the Covid-19 crisis. … In California, six out of seven of the state’s most Covid-ridden counties, per capita, are in the Central Valley, which produces the lion’s share of America’s fruits and vegetables. … The pandemic’s impact on farmworkers underscores how a worst-case scenario can develop when an essential but extremely vulnerable workforce is ignored. The Trump administration has repeatedly declined to impose mandatory safety requirements for agricultural workplaces.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/08/farmworkers-coronavirus-disaster-409339
Biden campaign hosts food and farm groups who say Trump failed to protect workers [Forbes]
The Biden campaign today hosted a virtual roundtable of food and farm workers and advocacy groups who praised Joe Biden’s policy positions while criticizing the Trump administration’s failure to address coronavirus outbreaks at food packing and processing plants. … Jose Pina is a Foster Farms poultry plant worker in California still suffering from Covid-19, which he says he contracted at the plant and passed on to his wife. … According to the campaign’s website, Biden supports the Fairness for Farmworkers Act and Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights to expand federal protections to agricultural workers.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennysplitter/2020/09/07/food-farm-workers-biden-campaign/#5b86d828233d
Foster Farms allowed to reopen Livingston facility, following COVID-19 outbreak [Merced Sun-Star]
After being closed for about a week, Foster Farms is allowed to reopen its Livingston processing facility, the Merced County Department of Health announced Monday evening. The plant came under scrutiny from local and state public health officials — plus community and union leaders — after at least 358 employees tested positive for the novel coronavirus. At least eight workers have died. … Public health officials noted they will continue to closely monitor the situation at the facility and perform site visits to ensure mitigation efforts remain a priority.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article245554155.html
Battered by COVID-19, California wineries could take another hit from wildfires [Salinas Californian]
Smoke from hundreds of wildfires lingers over California, while one of the state’s multi-billion-dollar crops, wine grapes, is at a critical point of the growing cycle. Wine grapes could be adversely affected by smoke and ash. This could spell trouble for an industry already taking a blow from the COVID-19 pandemic. But, industry leaders are unsure if and when they will see the impacts of the 2020 wildfires. Consumers, though, may see their favorite bottle drop in price or disappear completely.
Kern landfill planning helps dairies keep up with spike in cow mortality [Bakersfield Californian]
Livestock mortality rates have spiked in the Central Valley this hot summer but Kern officials say local dairies and ranches have avoided a carcass-disposal crisis thanks to proactive landfill permitting policies and relatively low reliance on distant rendering plants. County landfills have so far been able to accommodate an increase in carcasses one facility estimated at 10 percent, officials say, adding they were unaware of any delays in the removal and disposal of local dead livestock. A recent research report indicates other parts of the state are having a harder time lately as rendering plants have strained to keep up with cow mortalities.
Opinion: `Until the Last Drop’ flows nimbly through California’s water wars [Modesto Bee]
… This is a serious issue. The threat of a blow to our Valley economy is as real as it was two years ago. … The central message of the film, however, is less about waging war and more about finding a workable truce. … It’s easy to reduce the “water grab” struggle to a farms-v.-fish sound bite, with ag interests on one side and environmentalists on the other. This documentary rises above that. … The film highlights the biggest problem with the state Water Boards’ late 2018 water grab — that it was based on science as old as 40 years, ignoring up-to-date studies as well as the pleas of our people.
https://www.modbee.com/opinion/garth-stapley/article245483170.html
