By Amber Manfree

In the historic heart of Napa Valley, a moderate climate and the alluvial soils deposited by the Napa River create perfect conditions for world-class cabernets. An acre of vines here sells for around $300,000, or 25 times the state average for irrigated cropland.

Yet a group of landowners have ripped out 20 acres of these prized vineyards to make room for river restoration, with levee setbacks, terraced banks and native plants.

The project runs the length of Rutherford Reach, a 4.5-mile stretch of the Napa River between St. Helena and Oakville. Landowners say the changes will bring economic benefits over the long term by reducing crop losses from floods and plant disease. Most of all, they feel good about giving back to the river that has brought them so much.

Rutherford Reach is one several sites undergoing major habitat and flood control improvements on the Napa River. Some projects started more than 40 years ago. Others are just getting off the ground.

Far from postage-stamp restorations, these efforts are steadily transforming a huge swath of wetlands in a very lived-in rural area, re-establishing geomorphic function at the landscape scale.

Innovative funding, inclusive planning and adaptive management power these projects and offer lessons for river restoration elsewhere.

 

For decades, landowners along the Rutherford Reach struggled with bank instability and floods. The river was confined to create more space for vineyards while upstream dams reduced sediment delivery, leading to incision and eventually lowering the riverbed six to nine feet.

Without a healthy stream profile, desirable river processes and species were lost. Invasive plants such as giant reed and Himalayan blackberry overtook the banks, further degrading habitat and hosting problem insects.

Then, in 2002, a group of influential vintners organized as the Rutherford Dust Society approached Napa County about partnering to restore the reach, and a new path to restoration unfolded. The landowners:

• Led the initiative and were involved throughout the planning process
• Are making meaningful contributions of land and money
• While motivated in part by economic considerations, they find conservation to be its own reward

More than two dozen landowners support the $20 million restoration and its long-term maintenance, each paying an annual fee based on the linear feet of river crossing their property. Altogether, the landowners will contribute about $2 million over 20 years. The project also is supported with $12 million from a county bond measure and $7.7 million in state and federal grants.

County staff have spent 10 years monitoring the transition from degraded to restored riparian corridor, revising techniques as they go. If something isn’t working – invasive weeds are popping up, a log jam blocks fish passage, an herbicide kills non-target species – the corrections can be made in the field, and landscape processes continue in the intended direction instead of backsliding.

With the first 4.5 miles of riparian corridor construction wrapping up, project managers are preparing to restore 9 more miles just downstream between Oakville Cross Road and Oak Knoll (See map). Together, these projects will transform habitat along 25 percent of the river’s 55 miles.

Link to complete blog post

 

The USDA has designated the week of August 2-8 as National Farmers Market Week. California leads the nation with 793 certified farmers markets – sales venues for certified agricultural producers selling healthy and high-quality produce directly to consumers.

Until 1977, state regulations required farmers to properly pack, size and label their fresh fruits, nuts, and vegetables in standard containers to transport and sell anywhere other than the farm-site. Recognizing the importance of farmer-to-consumer sales, California’s Certified Farmers Market program was created. These markets are now part of the fabric of many communities throughout the state. Here’s how to find one near you.

Certified farmers markets are an important source of fresh produce to many seniors and low-income families who can purchase fruits and vegetables through the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program; the Women, Infants and Children’s (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program; and the CalFresh program.

Both the number and size of farmers markets in across the country have grown over the years, leading the USDA to dedicate a week each year to recognize them. This is the 16th annual National Farmers Market Week. California joins the nation in celebrating this direct pathway for healthy, nutritious food.

 

Antelope Valley Fair

8/21/2015 to 8/30/2015
Lancaster, CA

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Butte County Fair

8/27/2015 to 8/30/2015
Gridley, CA

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Del Norte County Fair

8/6/2015 to 8/9/2015
Crescent City, CA

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Humboldt County Fair

8/20/2015 to 8/30/2015
Ferndale, CA

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Modoc District Fair

8/27/2015 to 8/30/2015
Cedarville, CA

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Nevada County Fair

8/12/2015 to 8/16/2015
Grass Valley, CA

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Plumas-Sierra County Fair

8/12/2015 to 8/16/2015
Quincy, CA

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Redwood Empire Fair

8/6/2015 to 8/9/2015
Ukiah, CA

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Siskiyou Golden Fair

8/12/2015 to 8/16/2015
Yreka, CA

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Trinity County Fair

8/7/2015 to 8/9/2015
Hayfork, CA

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Ventura County Fair

8/5/2015 to 8/16/2015
Ventura, CA

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Yolo County Fair

8/19/2015 to 8/23/2015
Woodland, CA

There has been an early start to fire season in California. As fire fighters travel around the state to fight a series of devastating blazes, local fairgrounds are renewing their support by again serving as base camps for the crews.

So far this year, fairgrounds in Del Norte, San Bernardino, El Dorado,  Nevada and Lake counties have opened their gates to feed and house firefighters. At some locations, at-risk animals have been welcomed, too – horses, cattle, dogs, cats, goats, sheep, pigs, poultry and peacocks.

Additionally, the El Dorado County Fair was used as a base camp for 30 search-and-rescue dogs and their handlers during a search for a missing person.

Providing base camp services is one of many ways California’s network of fairs steps in to serve communities. The fairs are committed to this role even though they’re contending with budget reductions that have resulted in layoffs and losses of local programs. They share a strong belief in maintaining this essential level of community service.

The California Department of Food & Agriculture’s Division of Fairs & Expositions provides fiscal and policy oversight to the network of California fairs and ensures compliance with laws and regulations. California’s 78 fairs are located throughout the Golden State from early spring to the fall of each year. We are proud to call them our partners.

 

The latest segment in the Growing California video series, a partnership with California Grown, is ‘Gilroy’s Glory.’

It turns out that Americans are eating their fruits and vegetables, and younger adults, including the Millennial generation, are the main drivers of the shift toward fresh foods and beverages, according to The NPD Group, a leading global information company. The percent of all in-home eating occasions that include fresh foods, like fruit and vegetables, is almost back to levels seen 30 years ago.

Over the past decade, adults, ages 18 to 34, have increased their consumption of fresh food the most out of all age groups. The element of surprise with this consumption trend is that Millennials are in a life stage when people typically consume lower quantities of fresh items in favor of more time-saving and convenient options.

Millennials’ increased interest in fresh may be explained in part by their reactions to the Great Recession when it was in full grip, Darren Seifer, NPD’s food and beverage industry analyst, said in a press release. Younger adults were hit hardest by unemployment, and although this age group is considered the heaviest restaurant users, they pulled back the most from going out to restaurants. It seems these adults still wanted many of the properties that restaurants provided — among them, freshness with speed.

“As Millennials returned to their homes to source more of their meals, they spent a little more time in the kitchen to make dishes like eggs/omelets, pancakes, vegetables/legumes and rice,” Seifer said in the release. “This doesn’t mean they are becoming chefs or that they even enjoy spending time in the kitchen. In fact, Millennials account for more than their fair share of rice cooker sales, meaning they want fresh rice with their meals without having to hover over a saucepan for 30 minutes.”

The notion of convenience for the younger generations seems to be focused on freshness, while at the same time, getting out of the kitchen quickly, he said. In contrast, previous generations considered frozen options to be convenient.

Link to article

 

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) recently released a silent video showing the depletion level of several Northern California reservoirs. DWR’s Daily Reservoir Storage Summary lists Folsom Lake at 31 percent of capacity, Lake Oroville at 34 percent, and Lake Shasta at 40 percent.

By Kurt Floren

If you enjoy fresh, homegrown citrus fruit from your yard or California-grown citrus from the market, now is the time to pay attention: a deadly plant disease has been found again in our midst.

Huanglongbing, also known as HLB or citrus greening disease, was confirmed in multiple citrus trees in San Gabriel earlier this month. This is the second time the disease has been identified in Los Angeles County. The first time, the disease was discovered in a single tree in Hacienda Heights in 2012. Since then, California Department of Food and Agriculture crews have been canvassing the area, inspecting trees, collecting plant samples and working to identify any additional diseased trees.

Why all the concern? HLB kills citrus trees, and there is no cure. It’s not harmful to humans, but could decimate the orange, lemon, lime, mandarin and other citrus trees dotting backyard landscapes around Los Angeles County. It’s estimated more than half of our residents have a citrus tree in their yard.

California, overall, has more residential citrus trees than the total found in our commercial citrus orchards — and those are a $2 billion economic driver for our state. There’s a good chance the fresh oranges and lemons you see at the markets were grown in Riverside, Ventura, the San Joaquin Valley and other California farming communities. There are more than 22,000 jobs tied to growing citrus fruit commercially. A lot is at stake.

While our farming neighbors have a tremendous financial concern about this disease, HLB’s implications go well beyond economic. If HLB takes hold in California before researchers find a cure, it would affect all of us. We’d have to rely on other states or countries to supply our citrus fruit. Fruit prices could significantly rise. We could all be forced to stop saying “support your local farmer” while shopping for citrus at farmers’ markets.

HLB must not be allowed to take hold. We need to take an aggressive approach to protecting the citrus trees we all know and love. It’s a battle that must be waged by farmers in citrus groves and fought by residents in personal yards.

The disease is spread locally by a pest called the Asian citrus psyllid as it feeds on citrus leaves and stems. It’s a small, aphid-like insect and is present throughout much of the region. One way residents can protect their trees from the disease is to make sure the pest isn’t flourishing on your tree. Talk to your local nursery or garden center about products that can protect against the Asian citrus psyllid. It’s the best line of defense.

Originally discovered in Asia, HLB has since spread globally through people moving plants from one area to another — an activity that must stop if we hope to keep fresh, homegrown citrus around for future generations. Bringing citrus into the area from other states or countries puts our local landscape at risk. Similarly, now that the disease is in our area, residents shouldn’t give homegrown fruit or any plant parts (cuttings, budwood, leaves or stems, seedlings, etc.) to friends or family.

Learn to detect the disease in your tree. HLB-infected tree leaves begin to yellow in a blotchy or asymmetrical pattern. Trees begin producing bitter, hard and misshapen fruit. Fruit begins to fall off the tree before it ripens. After a few years, that tree is dead. It’s important to note that diseased trees need to be removed, roots and all. This is a critical step to protect other trees nearby from contracting the disease.

Visit CaliforniaCitrusThreat.org to see photos of HLB symptoms. Look for signs of the disease each month. If you think you’ve spotted the disease, call the County Agricultural Commissioner’s office or the California Department of Food and Agriculture hotline at 800-491-1899.

This is the biggest threat ever to face our ability to grow citrus fruit in our backyards. Those of us in agriculture take the threat seriously and will take every possible action to combat this threat, but the responsibility to protect California citrus trees falls to all of us.

Kurt Floren is the agricultural commissioner of Los Angeles County.

Link to story

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the expansion of crop insurance to provide additional options for fruit and nut producers. The Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) and the Actual Production History (APH) Yield Exclusion are now available to cover fresh fruit and nuts in select counties beginning with the 2016 crop year.

SCO will now be available in select counties for almonds, apples, blueberries, grapes, peaches, potatoes, prunes, safflower, tomatoes, and walnuts for the 2016 crop year. Grapefruit, lemons, mandarins/tangerines, oranges, and tangelos will be eligible for coverage beginning with the 2017 crop year. This is in addition to the alfalfa seed, canola, cultivated wild rice, dry peas, forage production, grass seed, mint, oats, onions, and rye that were recently made available for 2016 as well. Currently, SCO covers corn, cotton, cottonseed, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, spring barley, spring wheat, and winter wheat in selected counties.

SCO is an area-based policy endorsement that can be purchased to supplement an underlying crop insurance policy. It covers a portion of losses not covered by the same crop’s underlying policy. USDA’s Risk Management Agency, which administers the federal crop insurance program, has posted information on the expanded program, including where SCO is available by crop and county. Visit www.rma.usda.gov/news/currentissues/sco/index.html to learn more.

Producers of apples, blueberries, grapes, peaches, potatoes, prunes, safflower, tomatoes, and walnuts in select counties will have the option to elect the APH Yield Exclusion for the 2016 crop year. Producers of grapefruit, lemons, mandarins/tangerines, oranges, and tangelos will have the option to elect the APH Yield Exclusion for the 2017 crop year. Alfalfa seed, cultivated wild rice, dry peas, forage production, oats, onions, rye and winter wheat are also eligible in certain counties beginning with the 2016 crop year. These are in addition to barley, canola, corn, cotton, grain sorghum, peanuts, popcorn, rice, soybeans, sunflowers and spring wheat, which were offered beginning in the 2015 crop year.

The APH Yield Exclusion allows farmers, with qualifying crops in eligible counties, to exclude low yields in exceptionally bad years (such as a year in which a natural disaster or other extreme weather occurs) from their production history when calculating yields used to establish their crop insurance coverage. Crop years are eligible when the average per planted acreage yield for the county was at least 50 percent below the simple average for the previous 10 consecutive crop years. It will allow eligible producers to receive a higher approved yield on their insurance policies through the federal crop insurance program.

Producers also have access to new online tools designed to help them determine the options that work best for their operations. The Crop Insurance Decision Tool and the SCO/APH Yield Exclusion mapping tool, available online, provide farmers with information on APH Yield Exclusion and SCO eligible crops, crop years, and counties where they may elect the programs. This user-friendly resource can help producers quickly explore and understand available coverage options. Users will get general estimates to help them make purchasing decisions. Producers should consult their crop insurance agent for detailed information, sales closing dates and an actual premium quote.

A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the Risk Management Agency’s agent locator. Growers can use the agency’s cost estimator to get a premium amount estimate of their insurance needs online. Visit the Risk Management Agency at www.rma.usda.gov/news/currentissues/aphye/index.html to learn more about SCO and APH Yield Exclusion.

APH Yield Exclusion and SCO are made possible by the 2014 Farm Bill, which builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past six years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. Since enactment, USDA has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing, and community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.

Link to news release

The USDA has announced that beginning Sept. 1, farmers and ranchers can apply for financial assistance to help conserve working grasslands, rangeland and pastureland while maintaining the areas as livestock grazing lands.

The initiative is part of the voluntary Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a federally funded program that for 30 years has assisted agricultural producers with the cost of restoring, enhancing and protecting certain grasses, shrubs and trees to improve water quality, prevent soil erosion and reduce loss of wildlife habitat.  CRP has helped farmers and ranchers prevent more than 8 billion tons of soil from eroding, reduce nitrogen and phosphorous runoff relative to cropland by 95 and 85 percent respectively, and even sequester 43 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, equal to taking 8 million cars off the road.

The CRP-Grasslands initiative will provide participants who establish long-term, resource-conserving covers with annual rental payments up to 75 percent of the grazing value of the land. Cost-share assistance also is available for up to 50 percent of the covers and other practices, such as cross fencing to support rotational grazing or improving pasture cover to benefit pollinators or other wildlife. Participants may still conduct common grazing practices, produce hay, mow, or harvest for seed production, conduct fire rehabilitation, and construct firebreaks and fences.

With the publication of the CRP regulation, the Farm Service Agency will accept applications on an ongoing basis beginning Sept. 1, 2015, with those applications scored against published ranking criteria, and approved based on the competiveness of the offer. The ranking period will occur at least once per year and be announced at least 30 days prior to its start. The end of the first ranking period will be Nov. 20, 2015.

The USDA also plans to announce state-by-state allotments for the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE). Through SAFE, also a CRP initiative, up to 400,000 acres of additional agricultural land across 37 states will be eligible for wildlife habitat restoration funding. The additional acres are part of an earlier CRP wildlife habitat announcement. Currently, more than 1 million acres, representing 98 projects, are enrolled in SAFE.

To learn more about participating in CRP-Grasslands or SAFE, visit www.usda.gov/crp or consult with the local Farm Service Agency county office. To locate a nearby Farm Service Agency office, visit http://offices.usda.gov.

Link to news release