By Sarah Ventiera

Northern California’s historic wildfires last month scorched more than 240,000 acres of land, killed 42 people, and caused billions of dollars of insurance losses.

These blazes are considered the deadliest in California history, fueled by the perfect storm of environmental conditions. A thick blanket of dead vegetation piled up from both the multi-year drought and this winter’s deluge of drought-ending rains acted like kindling; dry, hurricane-force winds fanned the flames.

The economic impact is still being assessed as individuals and businesses start filing insurance claims. The fires have also left wine-lovers wondering what will come of the state’s $114-billion wine industry that accounts for a staggering 85 pcercent of U.S. production.

Turns out, the region has bigger issues to address: The loss of tourism revenue during peak visiting season is a huge concern for the local recovery efforts. Even if some of the land is scorched, many of the idyllic vineyards, old growth oaks and scenic vistas that we’ve come to associate with Wine Country are untouched. And since the economy relies so heavily on tourism dollars, the best thing you can do right now to help Northern California is plan a late fall or winter trip to funnel your money back into the region.

About 23.6 million people visit California’s Wine Country annually. That’s more than double the tourists that trek to Great Smoky Mountain National Park, the most widely visited national park in the United States. And fall harvest season, from early September to early November, is Napa and Sonoma’s busiest time of year.

“Sonoma is a tourism destination and so is Napa,” says Jonny Westom, executive director of Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau. “We rely on tourism to fuel general funds for cities and counties.” Visitor money, as well as occupancy taxes, provide revenues for services that protect people and the infrastructure of the community. Those funds are especially critical right now, as local governments, business owners and workers attempt to rebuild.

A 2016 visitor study concluded that tourism creates 13,437 jobs in Napa Valley alone each year, and visitors spend $1.92 billion annually. On average that’s $5.26 million a day. Since the fires erupted that could easily add up to more than $70 million lost from the local economy, just over the two-week period when the fires were at their worst. Without the support of tourism, that report concluded that each Napa Valley resident would need to spend an additional $13,373 annually to support local governmental services.

In Sonoma Valley, the tourism and wine industries are estimated to impact the local economy by $13 billion annually, creating about 54,000 jobs.

Those dollars lost to the region are made worse by extensive damage to the area’s already notoriously tight housing stock. The fire swept over huge swaths of residential communities in Napa and Sonoma, leaving scores of residents homeless, at least for the time being. In Santa Rosa alone, the Tubbs fire wiped out around 3,000 suburban homes. “Any loss of housing stock in area like Northern California has the impact of making the housing affordability issue worse, and it is already an enormous challenge,” says Robert Dietz, SVP & chief economist for National Association of Home Builders. “The San Francisco metro area has ranked as the least affordable large market for home buying since the second quarter of 2012

San Francisco’s affordability issues have been creeping into North Bay. As median home prices in SF have climbed to over $1 million, urbanites have been moving farther away from the city to places like Sonoma County, where the median home price is now roughly $600,000.

While fire drastically impacted several residential neighborhoods, the strong winds pushed the blazes in haphazard directions. In some areas, a pasture was blackened on one side of the street, with no damage at all on the other. In in one the hardest hit neighborhoods in Sonoma, Glen Ellen, the Glen Ellen Star restaurant team were able to wrap napkins around their noses and mouths to cook for displaced locals and emergency crew shortly after the flames decimated neighboring homes and farms.

Much of the valley floors in both Napa and Sonoma fared remarkably well. The iconic Welcome to Napa Valley sign is still standing to welcome guests. Around 90% of Sonoma County’s 1 million acres of land hasn’t been affected by the blazes. In Napa, the well-known stretch of land between Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail saw little to no impact from the fires.

On his drive to Opus One in Oakville from his home in St. Helena, Opus One CEO David Pearson, says it’s eerily hard to tell there was so much destruction so close by: “The sky [in Oakville] is a beautiful aqualine blue. Fall is here: vines are turning yellow. But for those people that were impacted, it was utter devastation.”

Pearson feared the massive Nuns fire — a combination of four separate blazes that devastated Glen Ellen — would reach down into Oakville after it crested over the top of the Mayacama Range, the chain that separates Napa from Sonoma valley. Three types of helicopters as well as 737 and 747 aircrafts spraying fire retardants saved the area and its vineyards.

The wineries themselves suffered few losses. In Napa, only 50 of the 400-plus suffered damage. Four burnt to the ground. In Sonoma, 13 of the 120 vintners were affected in some way.

Fire crew actually used the open spaces of vineyards, which have been said to hold more moisture than oak forests, as buffers for the flames. That allowed the first responders to focus on protecting populated areas and buildings. “The vineyards acted as their own fire break,” says Maureen Cottingham, executive director Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance. “As far as numbers of acreage don’t know right now, but the damage was minimal.”

Some of the border vines were burned from intense heat, but that sort of damage was not prevalent and many of the scorched vines are still alive. “It would have to undergo hot, hot, hot fire to completely combust,” Cottingham adds.

Throughout the region, winemakers are still trying to assess damage to vines and crops, but outlook seems promising. Most industry experts claim that about 90% of this year’s fruit has already been harvested. The remaining 10% is mostly mature, thick-skinned Cabernet Sauvignon, which is less susceptible to smoke taint than still developing, thinner skinned grapes. “Some wine has been lost and some vines, but a small share of both,” says Daniel A Sumner, director UC Agricultural Issues Center, UC Davis. “Wines in big tanks are okay, unless the fire damage at the winery is very severe.”

There should be a slight reduction in supply for 2017 wines from the region. So, prices may be a bit higher for more exclusive 2017 Napa and Sonoma wines when they come onto the market in a few years time, especially those featuring Cabernet Sauvignon.

Grapes were not the only crop affected by the blazes. Local cannabis growers have lost millions of dollars worth of product that’s not eligible for insurance due to its illegal status on a federal level. Over the past two weeks, sales of produce from local farms has been down by more than 50%.

Like the vineyards, many of the irrigated crops survived. The biggest challenge was getting back into the fields that were under evacuation order to maintain the produce. Evan Wiig, director of membership and communications for The Farmers Guild had to get a sheriff’s escort for one local farmer, who harvested 500 to 600 pounds of romanesco and 300 pounds of cauliflower that was donated to kitchens feeding first responders and evacuees. “A lot of farms burned down, farmers lost houses, barns, equipment, pasture and some crops,” says Wiig. “It was pretty devastating for a lot of folks.”

Several small-scale vegetable farms, many part of the local organic movement, have been incinerated along with some farmers’ homes. In Santa Rosa that includes Let’s Go Farm and Leisen’s Bridgeway Farms. In Glen Ellen, the hardest hit were Oak Hill Farm, Flatbed Farm and Bee-Well Farms. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Melissa and Austin Lely of Bee-Well, which the couple founded in 2015, lost their home and at least $50,000 in farm equipment, plants and crops. Fortunately, their 12 cows, 500 chickens and two goats survived.

Even with all the wreckage, local residents are banding together and forging ahead, just like they did when the 2014 earthquake hit. Back then, some tasting rooms opened the day of the quake. The hardest-hit were up and running within the week in a large part due the region’s hard working nature and community-oriented spirit.

From the visiting firefighters to Red Cross staff, many of the emergency services professionals have expressed that they’ve been pleasantly surprised by the hospitality through the trauma. “The people here are incredibly generous, thoughtful and collaborative,” says Wiig. “This had been there greatest reminder of why I live here. I would wager to say our evacuees were the best-fed evacuees in history.”

Link to article

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross bids a costumed Merry Wells a happy Halloween and a rewarding retirement. There is a thought balloon on the upper left that is part of Merry’s costume and reads, “Oh snap! It’s my last day!!”

Halloween was an ideal occasion for the California Department of Food and Agriculture to celebrate Merry Wells’ 37 years of public service. Family, friends and coworkers in costume laughed along with her as she recounted her years “growing up with CDFA.” Secretary Karen Ross presented a proclamation thanking her for her work as well as her friendship.

Merry’s service took her to five CDFA divisions. She began her public service in 1980 at the age of 17, in the era of shorthand and carbon copies, and she never missed a beat between that and the internet.

Besides her professional accomplishments and capabilities, Merry has a talent for the theatrical – throughout her career she has raised her hand and volunteered time after time to plan special events and take care of the details. Her inimitable character, her creative flair and her wonderful sense of humor will be missed.

She spoke fondly of mentors and managers who helped her along the way, and she called CDFA and the agricultural community her extended family. Her colleagues, in turn, wished her a happy Halloween and a long and rewarding retirement.

Colleagues signed farewell messages to the retiring Merry Wells.

Follow this link to CDFA’s Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation and SWEEP.

INDIANAPOLIS – Students from Arizona, California, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky and Oklahoma have been elected by delegates throughout the United States to serve on the 2017-18 National FFA Officer team.

Breanna Holbert of Lodi, an agricultural education major at California State University – Chico, was elected national president. Holbert is the first female African American elected to the office of president. She previously served as secretary of California’s FFA

Erica Baier, an agricultural education major at Iowa State University, was elected national secretary. Piper Merritt, an agricultural economics major at Oklahoma State University, was elected central region vice president. Bryce Cluff, an agricultural technology and management/education major at the University of Arizona, will serve as western region vice president.

Ian Bennett, majoring in agriscience and environmental systems – plant breeding and genetics at the University of Georgia, was elected southern region vice president. Gracie Furnish, a career and technical education major at the University of Kentucky, will serve as eastern region vice president.

Each year at the National FFA Convention & Expo, six students are elected by delegates to represent the organization as national officers. Delegates elect a president, secretary, and vice presidents representing the central, southern, eastern, and western regions of the country.

National officers commit to a year of service to the National FFA Organization. Each officer travels more than 100,000 national and international miles to interact with business and industry leaders, thousands of FFA members and teachers, corporate sponsors, government and education officials, state FFA leaders, and the general public. The team will lead personal growth and leadership training conferences for FFA members throughout the country and help set policies that will guide the future of FFA and promote agricultural literacy.

Link to FFA web site

This goat was among more than 600 animals sheltered at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo. Photo from the Sacramento Bee.  

By Cynthia Hubert

As smoke and flames threatened her rural property in Suisun City, Cristina Santini’s thoughts turned to her 38 goats and sheep.

She and her husband Flavio had been told to get out ahead of the Atlas Fire that was raging in Solano County. There seemed to be no time for the couple to chase their livestock down, pack them into trailers and drive them to safety. The county seemed unlikely to help, since it was in the process of evacuating thousands of humans threatened by the flames.

“Maybe I should open the gates and let them run for their lives,” Santini recalled thinking at the time.

Instead, she and Flavio decided to phone the Solano County sheriff’s dispatch line. To her surprise, Santini recalled, animal control officers were on the scene within minutes, rounding up frightened livestock for transport to a makeshift evacuation center at the fairgrounds.

“They brought 10 people and three trailers. I’ve never seen such a hard-working crew,” Santini said. “They got all of my animals. They and the firefighters are my heroes.”

Santini’s home was mostly spared, and her sheep and goats are safe and seemingly content at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo. They were among more than 600 animal evacuees who have been sheltered and fed and received veterinary care since fires erupted across Northern California’s wine country.

Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties are known as places where some of the world’s finest wine is grown and produced. They are also a prime livestock area. Sonoma County alone is home to some 27,000 horses, mules and donkeys, according to a recent study. Rural ranchers raise sheep, llamas, goats and other creatures across the rolling hills.

The constellation of wildfires, collectively the most destructive in California history, left more than 40 people dead and thousands of structures in ashes. As the flames bore down, many residents had mere minutes to figure out what to do about their pets and livestock.

Some had to leave their animals behind, and are still searching for survivors. Others mobilized friends and family members to help evacuate horses and other livestock. Rescue groups such as the SPCA and government agencies, as well as staffers from the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Center, stepped in to search for animals and tend to the injured. Facebook pages were set up to help reunite missing pets with their people.

Animal sanctuaries also scrambled to respond to the crisis. Rescue Ranch in Vacaville packed up its chickens, pigs and sheep and headed for safer ground in Grass Valley. Employees at Safari West, an exotic animal sanctuary in Santa Rosa, evacuated, but keepers quickly returned and the agency’s animals escaped injury.

At the Solano County Fairgrounds, which has sat mostly vacant since horse racing stopped a decade ago, the county Office of Emergency Services announced a day after the fires started on Oct. 8 that it would provide a refuge for displaced livestock. A stream of trailers carrying animals flowed in, and a small army of government workers and volunteers began unloading a menagerie of refugees, including prized show horses and pet donkeys; pigs, llamas, sheep; even some fowl. Some of the displaced livestock came in with phone numbers spray painted onto their bodies to identify them in case they became lost.

“We are treating every one of them the same,” said Erin Hannigan, a Solano County Supervisor from Vallejo who has helped organize and maintain the evacuation center. “They are getting great care, and by caring for these animals we are caring for our people.”

The operation was organized chaos at first, Hannigan said, as workers welcomed an unusual mix of animals that were highly stressed and, in some cases, injured. Trucks started arriving with donated hay, feed and other supplies. Veterinarians and veterinary technicians reported to the scene to evaluate and treat animals. Other volunteers began documenting ownership of evacuees, and getting them settled in barns and stables that had been vacant for years.

Within a few days, “we were a well-oiled machine,” said Hannigan, who has gone to the property every day to offer greetings and comfort to animal evacuees and human helpers.

“I’m not that comfortable in a stall,” said Hannigan, as she patted horses whose owners fled flames threatening Calistoga last week. “But I can say hello, and welcome them, and pet them.”

Livestock owners began retrieving their animals as soon as they could confirm that their properties were inhabitable. As of (last) Thursday, the fairgrounds still held more than 100 animals, including a friendly pig named Daisy, a bonded pair of elderly horses and Santini’s livestock. Santini said she and her husband planned to reunite with their animals after repairing fencing around their property.

“We are so very grateful,” she said. “I just can’t say enough about what everyone did for us and our animals. I never imagined it would turn out this way.”

Others have been looking for pets that disappeared in the wildfires.

Sonoma County Animal Services has received some of those animals, and is working to reunite them with their owners using the social-media hashtags #tubbsfire and #LOSTPETSsonomacountyfire2017. Details are available on the agency’s website, which also is soliciting donations to pay for veterinary care and supplies for animals affected by the fires.

The UC Davis veterinary teaching hospital has treated a handful of burn survivors, including eight cats, a couple of horses and a llama, officials said. The school is collecting money through its Veterinary Catastrophic Need Fund to provide care for animals that are injured in natural disasters or other accidents. Further information is on the school’s website.

At the Solano evacuation site, Dori Pettigrew, a retired hospital administrator and former horse owner, has been working 16 to 19 hours a day tending to her charges. She is one of more than 1,500 people who have helped out at the site.

“I feel for all of the people who have lost so much,” she said. “I am an animal lover, and I have a background in safety and administration. I just felt like the best thing I could do was to be here.”

Kelly McCrary, another volunteer, said she has felt the desperation that many animal owners must have experienced when the fires ignited.

“We are no stranger to fires,” she said. “When you are in such a desperate situation, you have to leave your animals sometimes. Then you hope and pray that someone will be there to help them.”

The work at the fairgrounds has been as satisfying as it has been challenging, said Pettigrew.

“It’s so inspiring to see so many people, from young people to the elderly, giving their time selflessly and generously,” she said. “The hearts of people are good.

“When you see tears of happiness as an owner comes in and finds an animal they had lost, it makes it all worthwhile.”

Link to article

Secretary Ross and Department of Pesticide Regulation director Brian Leahy with retiring agricultural commissioners Jim Allan (L) and Tim Niswander.

California’s agricultural commissioners are holding their annual fall conference this week in Sacramento. I was honored to be able to spend some time with them and remind them yet again how much we appreciate the unique partnership we enjoy with them.

Ag commissioners are our secret weapon in a complex, vibrant food production system. They carry out CDFA programs at the local level, assisting with tasks like pest prevention and organic regulation as well as partnering with the state Department of Pesticide Regulation on pesticide enforcement issues. Commissioners also serve as sealers of weights and measures for their counties, adding other essential functions–consumer protections and the regulation of fair commerce–to their roster of duties.

This week’s conference is especially noteworthy for serving as a transition point for two retiring Ag commissioners, Jim Allan of Solano County and Tim Niswander of Kings County. Together they have nearly 25 years of experience leading their counties, and a great deal more time working in local agriculture. I wish to congratulate both men on their retirements. Although they will be missed greatly, I have confidence that their successors will do an excellent job, having come through the same system that has produced many fine Ag commissioners over the years.

From “Tech Talk,” by Phillip Lan

Over the past few decades, technology has disrupted many industries including manufacturing, media, banking and retail shopping. We also now understand that it is no longer a matter of if but when technology-based solutions, such as self-driving vehicles, will transform transportation and logistics.

Agriculture, on the other hand, has experienced a relatively slow adoption of technology. Sure, some crops require less manpower then they did years ago. Talk to the old farmers here in the Central Valley and they will tell you about climbing up in almond trees to knock down nuts when they first began working out in the orchards.

It took dozens and dozens of laborers working long hours during harvest, and even longer hours when orchards needed to be replanted. Today, two almond workers can manage hundreds of acres with specialized machinery.

Many delicate crops like cherries, however, are still harvested the same way they were 1,000 years ago because advances in agricultural automation have primarily been mechanical, not software-based like many other industries.

This will increasingly become a problem for California’s $47 billion ag industry as a couple of long-term macro trends continue developing.

First, countries such as Mexico, China, Chile and parts of the Middle East have rapidly progressing agricultural industries and lower labor costs. To remain competitive, California farmers need to continually increase per-acre yields.

Second, local agriculture continues to experience a severe and growing shortage of farm laborers. Mexico’s improved economy, current immigration policies and lack of interest in farm jobs by American youth are all contributing to the dire situation, despite a 50 percent pay increase for farm workers since 1996, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Fortunately, recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) software are about to give Central Valley farmers a fighting chance to win in the competitive global food production marketplace.

The applications for AI are endless, improving disease diagnosis, new drug development, investing decisions and even enabling the sci-fi dream of self-flying cars (many working prototypes are already being produced). In agriculture, this advanced software is powering a new generation of machines capable of distinguishing between tomato plants and similar weeds, trees that are healthy and trees that are thirsty or lack nutrients, an important first step in increasing yields and reducing labor requirements.

Upcoming developments will soon combine agricultural software, computer hardware and durable farm equipment to build comprehensive solutions that significantly improve farming materials conservation, foliage strength, yield mapping to address yield variation and autonomous self-driving tractor capabilities.

Accurate analysis will one day help farmers increase yields through plant-by-plant optimization instead of field or orchard optimization. Current aerial and satellite photography methods, which only show what is going on in the top layer of fields and orchards, are unable to provide the necessary data.

Several companies are now emerging as leaders in ag tech. Blue River Technologies is leveraging AI software to create innovative solutions for farmers across the nation. Their “see and spray” robotics platform uses computer vision to distinguish between good crops and bad weeds and then sprays herbicide on the weeds with inkjet printer-like precision. Most of our nation’s 911 million acres of farmland is sprayed with fertilizer to control weed growth. Blue River’s solution reduces chemical usage by more than 90 percent, and is beginning to have a tremendous impact on important crops such as lettuce. Their robots can even determine how to allocate resources optimally to grow lettuce, and then autonomously thins the plants to improve yields.

Another innovative company is Central Valley-based Milano Technical Group, started by UC Merced graduate Dominic Milano. The company is a manufacturer of automation modules that are fitted to row crop harvesters, significantly improving their performance. The company’s solution leverages LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging is a detection system that works on the principle of radar, but uses light from a laser), infrared and computer vision to address high variable data collection and yield monitoring challenges in fields and orchards.

Autonomous Solutions, Inc., is one of the fastest growing robotics companies in the United States. ASI’s broad product line includes market-leading autonomous tractors for a variety of field, vineyard and orchard work. They were recently selected as one of the top companies in the global robotics industry by Robotic Business Review alongside robotic giants Google Alphabet, Boston Dynamics, Bosch Group, IBM, Intel and Uber.

These new software-based technologies will give California farmers another tool to improve quality and reduce costs, positioning them to win in the global marketplace.

Ag tech is starting to gain traction, but one of the key factors holding back investment thus far has been the lack of exits in the industry. Venture capital firms are hesitant to invest in ag tech companies because they haven’t traditionally seen a path to cash out.

Things are changing though. John Deere’s recent $305 million acquisition of Blue River Technologies will definitely accelerate investment and growth in this space.

Link to article

According to production statistics compiled by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service and released by CDFA, lettuce is the fifth largest commodity in California, with a value of nearly $2 billion. Roughly 75 percent of the nation’s lettuce and leafy greens are grown in California.

There are three main growing regions.  The Central Coast, which includes both the Salinas Valley and the Santa Maria/Oxnard region, is the largest with 75 percent of production for the state, the Desert region is the second largest with 19 percent of production and the Central Valley – which acts as a seasonal transition region between the other two – produces the final 6 percent.

Monterey County is, by far, the largest county of leafy greens production.  Located on the Central Coast, Monterey County produced over 100,000 acres of lettuce valued at $1.5 billion in 2015.  The next biggest lettuce producer is Imperial County.  In 2015 Imperial County produced over 30,000 acres valued at over $2 million.

Lettuce is produced year-round in California, but this crop does demand good weather.  Ideal conditions for leafy green crops are high temperatures in the 60s or 70s and lows in the 40s.  Because of this, the Central Coast is a huge growing region that produces lettuce between the months of April and November.  Winter in the hot Desert Region is perfect for leafy greens from November through March.  And the Central Valley covers the transition period in Spring and Fall.

California is not the only source of leafy greens in the U.S.  Arizona is another substantial producer. It is estimated that combined the two states produce nearly 95 percent of US leafy green crops.

There are 14 different leafy greens covered by the California’s Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement. While lettuce is the most heavily-produced, some of the others include  spinach, kale and cabbage.

With thousands of Californians suffering devastating losses due to recent wildfires, CDFA is offering a web page with resources for recovery.

Included is a program from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) for individual assistance to those who have lost their jobs during the fires, in Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sonoma and Yuba counties. This is federal assistance administered by EDD that provides temporary unemployment benefits to people whose jobs or work hours were directly impacted by the fires.

The USDA has multiple agencies that provide financial and/or technical assistance to help farmers, ranchers and rural landowners recover from natural disasters such as wildfires. The web page contains information about programs from the Farm Service Agency, the Risk Management Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Rural Development agency.

Additionally, expertise and assistance on particular subjects (e.g. re-seeding, erosion & flooding, livestock, salvage logging, or reforestation) may be available through local or regional University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) Extension offices.

The page also includes a link to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services for a roster of local assistance centers as well as information about debris removal.

Link to CDFA wildfire resources web page