​Memo from State Public Health officer Dr. Sonia Y. Angell:

This checklist is intended for use by employers experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19 in their workplace. Employers should be proactive and keep in mind that identification of even a single positive case among employees may quickly develop into an outbreak. As outbreak circumstances and work practices vary, employers may need assistance from their local health department (LHD) to plan and coordinate a response to the outbreak that meets the needs of the workplace.

This guidance is not intended for use in managing or preventing outbreaks in healthcare, congregate living settings, or other workplaces where the California Aerosol Transmissible Diseases (ATD) standard applies.

Employers should also consult:

• CDC guidance for businesses and small businesses for information on preventing outbreaks; 
• Cal/OSHA guidance to ensure that they are complying with legal requirements for worker protection; and
• the California statewide industry-specific guidance to reduce risk during and after reopening of businesses. 

utbreak Management

Outbreak Management

Employers should prepare for identification of COVID-19 outbreaks in their workplace.

• Designate a workplace infection prevention coordinator to implement COVID-19 infection prevention procedures and to manage COVID-related issues among employees.
• Instruct employees to stay home and report to the employer if they are having symptoms of COVID-19, were diagnosed with COVID-19, or are awaiting test results for COVID-19.
  • Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, chills, shaking chills, cough, difficulty breathing, sore throat, body or muscle aches, loss of taste or smell, loss of appetite, diarrhea, or loss of appetite.
  • Develop mechanisms for tracking suspected and confirmed cases among employees.
  • Ensure that sick leave policies are sufficiently generous and flexible to enable employees who are sick to stay home without penalty.
    • California has additional services for employees, including supplemental paid sick leave for food sector workers at companies with 500 or more employees nationwide.
    • The Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19.
    • Some cities and counties require employers to provide sick leave benefits to workers.
• Identify contact information for the local health department (LHD) in the jurisdiction where the workplace is located.

Employers should prepare to share information with the LHD and other stakeholders.

• Notify the LHD where the workplace is located if there is a known or suspected outbreak in the workplace or if there is a laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the workplace.

• The LHD in the jurisdiction where the workplace is located may have specific criteria for outbreak reporting requirements. Employers should follow the specific instructions of their LHD, if available.
• LHDs regularly transmit and protect confidential health information. Securely sharing confidential information about employees with COVID-19 is critical for the LHD to provide comprehensive support to the employer and protect the health of the community.
• Employees in a workplace may live in counties/jurisdictions outside of where the workplace is located. When there is an outbreak in a workplace, employers should contact the LHD in any jurisdiction where a COVID-19 positive employee resides and let them know about the outbreak.
  • Typically, the LHD in the jurisdiction where the workplace is located gives guidance to the employer on managing the outbreak.
• Communicate with the LHD on how frequently the LHD expects updates from the employer on newly identified cases and symptomatic employees in the workplace.
  • Determine how this information will be shared (e.g., telephone, fax directed to a specified person, secure e-mail)
• Share a roster of all employees with the LHD in the jurisdiction where the workplace is located.
  • Employer may be asked by LHD to provide additional information on the employees, including job description, location, work schedule, city and county of residence, and other details that could help inform the investigation and determine which other employees in the workplace may be at risk of COVID-19 infection.
• If employees in a facility are unionized, identify a union contact and clarify the role the union can play in communication with employees. If employees in a facility are not unionized, identify an employee representative to serve as a point of contact for the LHD.
• If the facility uses contract or temporary employees, identify who should communicate information and instructions on the outbreak to these individuals.
  • The host employer should notify temporary, contract, or other agencies that have employees in the workplace of the outbreak.
  • All employees in the workplace, regardless of employment arrangement, should follow all instructions for infection prevention and outbreak management measures from the host employer, the LHD where the workplace is located, and the LHD where they reside.

Understand requirements for reporting employee cases to Cal/OSHA.

• Any serious injury, illness, or death occurring in any place of employment or in connection with any employment must be reported by the employer to the local Cal/OSHA district office immediately. For COVID-19, this includes inpatient hospitalizations and deaths among employees.
• Employers should report serious injury, illness, and death, including hospitalization and death from COVID-19, even if work-relatedness is uncertain.
• Cal/OSHA prefers calls by phone but will also accept email reports (Cal/OSHA Accident Report inbox). Details on reporting, contact information for district offices, and the Title 8 section 342 requirement are available online.

Identify additional employee cases and close contacts of cases to control further spread in the workplace.

• Testing all employees in a workplace should be the first strategy considered for identification of additional cases. Testing may be done at a single point in time or at repeated intervals.
  • Employers should seek guidance from the LHD when developing a testing strategy, including how testing can be arranged and how to prioritize testing of employees (i.e., testing close contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases first).
  • Employers should offer on-site COVID-19 testing of employees or otherwise arrange for testing through the company’s occupational or general medical services provider. The employer is responsible for ensuring all employees are offered and provided testing. Employers should also provide information to employees who may prefer to contact their personal medical provider or visit a CA Coronavirus Testing Task Force site for testing. LHDs may also be able to help facilitate testing options, if needed.

• When testing all employees is not available or not recommended by the LHD, consider alternative methods for controlling the outbreak, in consultation with the LHD, including but not limited to tracing all close contacts of confirmed cases and instructing those individuals to quarantine or temporarily closing the workplace and quarantining all employees.
• Conduct contact tracing and quarantining of close contacts of confirmed cases in the workplace.
  • Employer should provide information to the LHD on the confirmed COVID-19 case employees in the workplace, including job titles, work areas, close contacts in the workplace, dates of symptom onset, and shifts worked while infectious.
  • Establish if the employer, LHD, or both will conduct interviews of the cases to determine their close contacts.
  • Close contacts should be instructed to quarantine at home for 14 days from their last known contact with the employee with COVID-19. Close contacts should be tested for COVID-19 when possible.
  • A close contact is someone who spent 15 minutes or more within 6 feet of an individual with COVID-19 infection during their infectious period, which includes, at a minimum, the 48 hours before the individual developed symptoms.
  • Interview employees with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 by phone to determine when their symptoms began, the shifts they worked during their infectious period, and to identify other employees with whom they had close contact during their infectious period.
  • Use employment records to verify shifts worked during the infectious period and other employees who may have worked closely with them during that time period.
  • While at home, close contacts should self-monitor daily for COVID-19 symptoms (e.g., fever, chills, shaking chills, cough, difficulty breathing, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, fatigue, body or muscle aches, loss of taste or smell, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite).

Notification and management of employees

• Employers must maintain confidentiality of employees with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection when communicating with other employees.
• Employers should notify all employees who were potentially exposed to the individuals with COVID-19. Employers should provide any healthcare consultations needed to advise workers regarding their exposure, which may be especially important for those with high-risk medical conditions (e.g., immune compromise or pregnancy).
• Close contacts of cases should be given instructions on home quarantine and symptom monitoring, and COVID-19 testing as described in step #4.
• Provide any employees who are sent home before or during a shift with information about what to expect after they are sent home (e.g., instructions about testing, sick leave rights under federal, state, and local laws and company policies, return-to-work requirements, etc.).
• In some outbreaks, but not all, employees who were never symptomatic and did not have close contact with any of the laboratory confirmed cases may continue to work, as long as the employer has implemented all control measures as recommended by public health authorities, Cal/OSHA, or other regulatory bodies. The LHD will make this determination based on strategies being used to control the outbreak and identify new cases.

Determine when it is appropriate for cases and contacts of cases to return to work

• Consult with the LHD and most recent CDC guidance for when a confirmed case may be released from home isolation and return to work. The local health department may recommend a strategy for return to work similar to the following, although some variation may occur by jurisdiction and outbreak.

Read the complete memo at the California Department of Public Health web site

A man who stole dozens of beehives across the West has been arrested in Washington state, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office (WA) said. The bees could be worth more than $200,000.

“The case has the potential of over 30 victims spread across California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington,” the Sheriff’s Office told the Bellingham Herald.

Perry David Bayes, 56, was arrested and charged with possession of stolen property in the first degree, which is a class B felony, according to officials. It was not immediately known if he has a lawyer.

The investigation began after the Sheriff’s Office received a report from a beekeeper whose bees were taken.

“The victim went to retrieve his hives and they were gone,” Lincoln County officials said. “The investigation soon led to some tips and the ‘sting’ was set up, resulting in the arrest and a ‘very sweet’ ending.”

A “beekeeper chop shop” is common in California and other parts of the country, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Beehives can mysteriously disappear overnight. In 2017, a man was accused of stealing nearly $1 million worth of hives from almond orchards, The Associated Press reported.

“Bees are big money,” Sgt. Arley Terrence of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office agriculture crimes unit told the AP in 2017. “There’s a lot of motive to steal.”

Link to story on Mercury News web site.

By Chris Koger

Jeff Huckaby, president of Grimmway Farms and Cal-Organic Farms (and member of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture), has been named the Organic Trade Association’s Organic Farmer of the Year.

Huckaby has grown Cal-Organic’s production from several hundred acres to more than 45,000 acres of organic vegetables in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Washington. More than 65 different vegetables are sold under the Cal-Organic brand, according to a news release from the organic association.

He started organic farming in 1999 as Grimmway’s farm manager, and took over all of Grimmway’s organic production throughout California in 2000. A year later, Huckaby became general manager of Cal-Organic Farm when it was purchased by Grimmway, according to the release.

With Huckaby in the role of organic visionary for the company, it now supplies all of Costco in the U.S. and several other countries, and he has helped other retailers offer year-round organic programs. Over the years, he has educated buyers and presented at many retailer produce training programs, spoken at conferences and U.S. Department of Agricultural meetings and testified in Congress about organic production.

“His expertise in organic farming has been tapped by regulators, trade associations, elected officials, California Department of Food and Agriculture, and USDA for input into all areas of organic production,” according to the trade association’s release.

Huckaby said his passion for organic farming spans four generations of his family and he’s accepting the award on behalf of the company’s dedicated farmers. The Organic Trade Association also noted the support he’s given the association and its affiliate, The Organic Center.

“Over these years, I’ve witnessed the commitment, hard work and downright grit among all members of this community who are fighting to ensure a bright future for organic in the U.S.,” Huckaby said in the release. “I am deeply proud to help lead in this charge and pave the way for the next generation of farmers.”

Link to story in The Packer

Did you know that the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) offers Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for Food and Agriculture via a web page that is updated regularly? This is part of CDFA’s continuous effort to provide food and agriculture workers and employers with access to the latest information.

Latest updates to the Worker Safety section (www.cdfa.ca.gov/coronavirus/#WorkerSafety) include:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its Guidance for Agriculture Workers and Employers to include an Agricultural Employer Checklist for Creating a COVID-19 Assessment and Control Plan.

The CDC also now offers guidance on the appropriate use of testing for SARS-CoV-2 and a Testing Strategy for Coronavirus (COVID-19) in High-Density Critical Infrastructure Workplaces after a COVID-19 Case Is Identified, illustrated by a testing strategy flow diagram.

CalOSHA offers COVID-19 Infection Prevention for Agricultural Employers and Employees (Spanish) (Chinese) (Vietnamese), as well as a COVID-19 Daily Checklist for Agricultural Employers (Spanish) and a COVID-19 General Checklist for Agricultural Employers (Spanish).

CalOSHA also offers a video, COVID-19 Infection Prevention Guidance for Agricultural Workers (Spanish) (Mixteco). For these and many more resources that are updated regularly, please visit www.cdfa.ca.gov/coronavirus/

By CDFA secretary Karen Ross

Diversity – and our pride in that diversity – are California hallmarks. For generations, Californians have boldly lived true stories of strength and perseverance toward a better life for themselves, their families and their communities. The current events in further pursuit of those goals align with California’s values, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture is proud to play a role for our farmers and ranchers from across the racial, ethnic and gender spectrum.

In 2017, a bill authored by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguilar-Curry to enhance farmer equity was signed into law. The Farmer Equity Act, also known as AB 1348, recognizes that California’s farmers and ranchers are made up of a diverse group of people who have not all had equal access to resourc­es and information in order to successfully run their businesses. The law aims to change that definitively by making sure that socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers have equal access to assistance programs.

The legislation called for CDFA to produce a Farmer Equity Report, which is now complete and identifies four key challenges facing socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.

·         Land tenure

·         Language

·         Engagement with agriculture industry and boards/commissions

·         Access to available resources and programs

The assessments and recommendations in the report are already translating into action: in addition to conducting research and writing the report in 2019, CDFA’s Farm Equity Advisor has created a Farmer Resource Portal, has assisted with public outreach and engagement strategies with organizations working directly with socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, and has also assisted in revising and refining several grant programs to be more accessible to organizations working in severely disadvantaged communities and with farmers of color.

Through this report and the continued work of CDFA’s Farm Equity Advisor and all CDFA staff, the agency will continue to im­prove and enhance our services and support for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. We want to see all who are engaged in the agriculture industry thrive and be part of a sustainable future. That vision requires that farmers have access to the best resources and technology, have equal voices and representation in decision-making processes, and are afforded equal access to information about regulations and opportunities that affect their businesses. The challenges outlined in the report are also very important reminders to consider during the current COVID-19 crisis, as many socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers struggle to adapt to the pandemic.

This report is by no means a stand-alone solution to the barriers that exist for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, but it is an honest and forthright assessment of key disadvantages and the corresponding improvements and corrections that move us toward balance, fairness and equity in our agricultural industry. Please consider this a report of assessment and progress, with the full knowledge, especially in light of recent events, that there is much work still to be done. 

By Tawny Tesconi, executive director, Sonoma County Farm Bureau

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it hardship and tragedy. As a community, we are adapting to a new normal that includes social distancing and the shuttering of local businesses and restaurants. We are gathering at home for meals more often. Thankfully, in Sonoma County, we have a diverse, safe and abundant local food supply that residents can rely on even while so much of the economy is shut down.

Daily, farmers and ranchers are producing crops, but how do these products become food for your family? Many crops need to be processed before they can be consumed. Processing facilities provide the necessary link between the producer and the consumer, and local processing facilities are crucial to a consistent food supply and to food security.

To sell meat and other processed products, farmers need access to appropriately scaled processing facilities with the technology and food safety protocols needed to prepare products safely, consistently and to customer specifications. We are fortunate to have three milk processing facilities in our county that provide meal-ready dairy products. But for other agricultural products, we aren’t so fortunate.

Many local farmers and ranchers drive multiple hours to reach the nearest U.S. Department of Agriculture- approved facility to get their protein crops processed.

Because of our value-added, grass-fed, free-range production model in Northern California, these producers may only have a few head of livestock or poultry to harvest in one week. This equates to high transportation costs, lost production hours and escalated opportunity costs for farmers.

More importantly, it’s a weak link in our food chain armor. Residents who value locally grown food are held hostage to distant processing facilities that may not always be available or willing to customize processing for Sonoma County consumers.

Sonoma County farmers want to supply fresh food to their neighbors, but without a reliable food chain, specifically processing, there are no guarantees. The more steps there are between you and your food’s source, the more chances there are for a breakdown in the chain.

Aren’t we seeing it now with the COVID-19 pandemic? Food grown in distant locations has the potential for safety issues at harvesting, washing, shipping and distribution. Now, more than ever, our community is recognizing and appreciating a stable, local food supply as one of our greatest assets and sources of resiliency.

All of us who embrace our local agriculture industry need to stand behind efforts to enhance processing facilities in our county.

Although the current crisis has elevated concern for the availability of animal products, we need to recognize that a concerted effort to support fruit and vegetable processing facilities regionally also is needed.

For several crops, we have processing facilities that have been working for us for generations, but as regulations change and these plants age, costly improvements need to be made. We cannot allow zoning requirements, NIMBYism or inflated development costs to stand in the way of our basic need to have food available for our families.

Work to provide processing options for our local farmers has been ongoing for many months prior to this pandemic. However, with escalated concerns brought on by the crisis, in the coming months you will see government, business groups, farmers and ranchers working together to fix this Achilles’ heel in our food chain. Everyone in Northern California must support this effort for the future of agriculture and the well-being of our families.

Link to article in Santa Rosa Press Democrat

By CDFA Secretary Karen Ross

The year 2020 has delivered enough heartbreak and uncertainty to last us for the rest of this new decade. COVID-19 coupled with recent civil unrest has shaken the bedrock of stability that many Americans take for granted. However, it should be noted that one piece of our foundation, while definitely strained at times, is holding firm – our food supply. But that’s not something to take for granted, either. Our federal lawmakers should act now to put provisions in place to keep our food supply stable through whatever unknowns may still lie ahead, and they should make sure that food producers of all sizes benefit from those provisions. True equity in the recovery from these setbacks has never been more important.

Our rural communities and communities of color never fully recovered from the recession of 2008-09.  Yet the essential workers who have shown up every day to grow, harvest, package and transport our food; stock grocery shelves; fulfill online food delivery orders; and hand us our carry-out meals are part of these communities.  As we move from COVID-19 response to economic recovery, let us focus on people first and engage stakeholders in building resilient regional economic development strategies. We cannot have a real, lasting recovery without confronting the challenges to shared prosperity that we faced long before COVID-19 – a precariousness that left workers and our economy so vulnerable to a shock like this pandemic. Serious work to combat inequality in health, wealth and education can help us create a stronger, more prosperous and more resilient future for all citizens.

This, of course, includes our farmworkers who are at the beginning of the food supply chain. Their needs must be addressed with regard to worker health and social safety net programs. 

For example, a study this year by the Center for American Progress (chaired by former South Dakota U.S. Senator Tom Daschle) found that few rural businesses were created in the recovery from the last recession and that most of the recovery occurred in metro areas. The study recommends that the federal government work with local governments to initiate the creation of new businesses in rural and underserved America, and I couldn’t agree more. Our policymakers must recognize the value of this commitment in communities where drug use, job loss, and the absence of health care infrastructure cause an array of social problems that economic recovery can help remedy.   

In agriculture, some level of recovery from COVID-19 setbacks is already underway, but it’s only the beginning. Assistance to agriculture is being provided through the CARES Act (and more proposed in the HEROES Act passed by the House). However, there have been challenges with access to those programs, especially for small-scale farmers supplying local restaurants, schools and farmers’ markets.

If our small farmers are driven out of business, there’s a risk that farmers’ markets will go out of business, as well, and that would deprive consumers of essential outlet for fresh and healthy foods. Those farmers must have access, as well as new and beginning farmers, urban farmers, and traditionally underserved farmers.

So now state departments of agriculture across the country are rallying behind the bipartisan Farming to Support States Act. It’s just the type of thing needed in California and elsewhere. It will augment federal assistance already received. But again, it must be accessible to ALL farmers and ranchers and especially assist rural areas and communities of color.    

The Farming to Support States Act will assist in several important ways:

Keeping Workers & Food Safe: Enhanced access to PPE and COVID-19 testing for food and agriculture workers. Maintain appropriate staffing levels and critical operational functions for: food safety inspections, plant pest surveys, laboratory diagnoses, animal health inspections, etc.

Local & Regional Food Systems: Craft relief programs with the specific needs of small/micro agricultural producers in mind. Support market development efforts to expand sales opportunities for small producers. Ensure charitable food organizations have access to agricultural products to meet community need.

Expansion of Food Processing and Distribution: Investments in local processing infrastructure. Defraying transportation costs of commodities that must be re-routed to other processing/distribution facilities. Provide incentives to fund capital equipment investments, such as automated systems, or conversion of product lines for new marketing outlets (e.g., wholesale packaging to retail packaging). 

Support for Rural Recovery Efforts: Collaborate with extension and other state agencies to provide economic assistance to farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. Develop tools to address farmer stress and expand farmer mental health services. Fund agriculture workforce development and job creation workshops.

Let’s make the Farming to Support States Act happen and make it accessible to all, so that it may provide a crucial extra measure of support for our food supply, and begin true economic recovery for communities still reeling for more than a decade.

Karen Ross has served as the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture since 2011. Before joining CDFA, Secretary Ross was chief of staff for U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Secretary Ross grew up as a 4-H kid on a farm in western Nebraska. She and her husband, Barry, own 800 acres of the family farm where her younger brother, a fourth-generation farmer, grows no-till wheat and feed grains, incorporating cover crops and rotational grazing for beef production.

Link to article on AgriPulse web site.

By Hannah Pagel

Soil scientist Dr. Rattan Lal has been selected as this year’s World Food Prize Laureate and will receive a $250,000 award for his work in promoting soils for sustainable development.

Lal is known for translating his research findings to help bridge the divide between governmental institutions and farmers and communities, especially as it relates to a soil-based approach to increasing food production while also considering conservation and climate change mitigation.

Lal grew up as a refugee living on a small subsistence farm in India. His passion for education and his determination to learn helped him begin his research career at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Nigeria, where he developed soil health restoration projects across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

He focused on techniques such as no-till, cover cropping, mulching and agroforestry and found these techniques protected the soil from elements, conserved water and returned nutrients, carbon and organic matter to the soil. The agricultural practices Lal cultivated are now at the heart of efforts to improve agriculture systems in the tropics and globally.

In 1987, he returned to his alma mater, The Ohio State University, where his research showed how atmospheric carbon can be sequestered in soils, transforming the way the world saw soils.

In 2007, he was among those recognized with a Nobel Peace Prize Certificate for his contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Lal now serves as a professor of soil science and founding director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at Ohio State.

“Achieving hunger-free humanity, soil degradation neutrality, negative emission farming and pollutant-free water are among principal challenges which can never be ignored … Sustainable management of soil and agriculture is also essential to keeping global temperatures within the safe range and restoring the environment,” he said.

Lal is also one of the authors of a report rebutting a recent World Resource Institute blog post that questioned the potential for farmland to sequester carbon on a large scale. Read the rebuttal here.

Link to article on Agri-Pulse web site

CDFA’s Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation (OEFI) administers Climate Smart Agriculture grant programs, and the COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped this team’s commitment.

Staff members are working safely from their homes, ensuring that grant recipient invoices are paid in as timely a manner as possible, and that new grant awards, contracts and notices are being issued.

In addition, a new online project verification process has replaced in-person verifications. During a recent Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP), the farmer was unable to log in to the scheduled teleconference. OEFI staff had a “make it work” moment, shown here, with one staffer patching in the farmer in via FaceTime to verify construction of a compost-bedded pack barn and other measures. The result was a completed verification and happy farmer!