http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/03/05/3200415/fresno-food-expo-showcases-new.html

A fiery but flavorful peanut hot sauce, raspberry-flavored sangria and finger-shaped limes are among the more than 50 new products being showcased at this year’s Fresno Food Expo.

The Expo will be held March 14 at the Fresno Convention Center and is the only food trade show focusing solely on San Joaquin Valley producers. Last year, the event attracted nearly 100 of the Valley’s best food makers and more than 400 buyers from major retailers to restaurant owners.

The public is also invited to an evening event, where you can sample the best of what the Valley’s specialty food makers have to offer. And this year, participants can vote for their favorite new products.

The winner of the People’s Choice awards will be announced March 14. Voting can be done on Facebook — www.Facebook.com/FresnoFoodExpo — or by visiting the expo’s website: www.FresnoFoodExpo.com.

A panel of food industry judges also will select an “Industry Award” winner.

During a recent food tasting preview, the media and food industry officials got a sneak peek at the 55 new products.

Among the new products …

 — Abel Arellano’s Fresno-based Mexican hot peanut sauce, called Sayula, packs a real punch. The well-balanced and flavorful sauce gets its intense and lasting heat from the small but potent chile de arbol. The light-colored sauce pairs well with salty snack foods or goes well in soups, sauces and with eggs.

— Not far behind on the heat index is a line of spicy raisins from Raisin Valley Farms in Kerman. The raisins come coated in spicy chocolate and chile powder and lime. Be prepared for a slow burning sensation in your mouth.

— Three Tulare and Kings counties dairy operators — Rosa Brothers Milk Co., Top O’ The Morn Farms and Dairy Goddess — will have milk and cheese to taste. The Dairy Goddess (Barbara Martin) produces a non-homogenized milk that has a clean, refreshing taste. And she has added new flavors of her soft, spreadable cheese: a bacon and ranch dressing flavor and a sweet flavor, mixing white chocolate, pistachios and cranberry.

— Vincent Ricchiuti, director of operations for Clovis-based P-R Farms, the makers of Enzo Oil, has introduced several products of their organic extra virgin olive oil, including infused basil, garlic and Meyer lemon. The lemon-infused oil has a smooth taste that works well as a salad dressing or brushed on grilled fish.

— The chipotle beer-battered cheese curds from Traver-based Vintage Cheese Co. are similar to mozzarella sticks, but are shorter and much more flavorful. Cheese curds are byproducts of the cheese-making process, and the folks at Vintage have lightly battered them in chipotle, sage and white cheddar flavors that don’t overpower the cheese.

— Finger limes are bizarre little fruits that are shaped like fingers, then reveal tiny green balls when snapped open. The tangy “citrus caviar” is extremely versatile, and may be added to vanilla ice cream or salads, used to top sushi or swirled into Champagne and cocktails. Visalia-area Phillips Farms sells them online and exports them to Europe.

— The Seriously Hot Headed Dutchman cheese is a Gouda with an explosive smoky flavor that isn’t overly hot. Created by 9th Street Cheese, it’s rubbed with a local olive oil and roasted peppers. The cheese, along with the milder Hot Headed Dutchman, is new and sold only at 9th Street Cheese’s store in Fowler.

— P*DE*Q, the Fresno maker of little balls of tapioca cheese bread, has introduced its fifth flavor: bacon. It’s crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside and packed with decent-sized hunks of warm bacon. The gluten-free bread is meant to be a snack and/or a breakfast item.

— The True Temptation Raspberry Romance sangria was recently created by the San Joaquin Wine Co. in Madera. It’s a blend of three red wines infused with a raspberry concentrate. You can drink it alone, or combined with Champagne, lemon-lime or club soda to create a cocktail.

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/sessions-123723-yuba-dating.html

Hollywood helped inspire the Marysville event that brought agricultural buyers and sellers together Monday at Yuba-Sutter Ag Speed Dating for what was termed “cross pollination.”

That is what happens when pollen from a different plant is delivered to a flower. Debra Lucero, chief executive officer of the Butte County Economic Development Corp., said the five-minute sessions are meant to produce successful new business connections.

Lucero traced ag speed dating origins to her learning how television script writers would have two-minute sessions with producers to try and sell their stories.

“I thought this could work with agriculture,” she said.

It has been in Butte County for the past three years, and the event held by the Yuba-Sutter Economic Development Corp. and Upstate California at the Yuba County Government Center produced results, said Brynda Stranix, president of the Yuba-Sutter development corporation.

People attending the event made 13 onsite deals and 99 new business connections, Stranix said.

Sabrina Boggs, store manager at the Farmer’s Marketplace in Marysville on Covillaud Street, welcomes the event and the opportunity it provides to meet growers.

“This is a big advantage,” she said. “This is huge.”

Thomas Rice, owner of Rice River Ranch in Arboga which grows peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums and prunes, spoke with Boggs during one of the sessions and said the program benefits agriculture by bringing motivated buyers and sellers together.

Jim Muck of Jim’s Produce in Wheatland said he learned during the sessions what buyers want.

“The challenge now is to make sure I can grow what they want,” he said, “at a price I can make a profit.”

Eve Stefani of Filaki Farms, an organic family farm in Oregon House, found the sessions productive.

“I feel like we’re making some connections,” she said.

The sessions sometimes bring together people who have done business before, but hadn’t had the chance to meet in person, said Desta Bechtol, office manager for Wil-Ker-Son Ranch in Gridley.

“It’s nice to put a face with a label,” she said.

John Fleming, economic development coordinator for Yuba County, said Ag Speed Dating compresses sales efforts that can involve stopping by businesses to talk with buyers. “This is the quickest and easiest method,” he said.

Lucero said at the event’s start that the desire for productive get-togethers helped spur speed dating. She had been to enough ag-related meetings that she thought more could come out of them.

“I’m kind of tired of (those) meetings,” she recalled concluding. “Can we do something when we meet?”

The latest segment in the Growing California video series, a partnership with California Grown, is Citrus Scourge, a story about the Asian citrus psyllid, the disease it spreads, huanglongbing, or citrus greening, and CDFA’s response to the threat.

“Weights & Measures may be ranked among the necessaries of life to every individual of human society.” 

-John Quincy Adams, sixth US president.

In celebrating National Weights and Measures Week (March 1-7), we are recognizing a U.S. system of weights and measures that was established almost at the very start of our country, in 1799.  When California became a state in 1850, one of the primary orders of business was to establish weights and measures laws to ensure fair trade among its citizens.  In the early years, responsibility for enforcement shifted back and forth between counties and the state, with the risk of a lack of uniformity, which is essential as the foundation for weights and measures. This continued until 1911, when, to protect the public and commerce, the Constitution of California was amended to adopt comprehensive weights and measures laws.  In 1913, the State Legislature created the Office of State Superintendent of Weights and Measures to oversee the laws – and now, it is the 100th anniversary of this arrangement. The California system today is reliable because of the oversight provided by the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Division of Measurement Standards (DMS), working in partnership with county sealers of weights and measures.

Every day, Californians buy fuel for their cars, food for their family, or pay to park their cars.  All of these transactions involve measurements of some type, and it’s critical that they be accurate. There are a total of 1.4 million devices in California that are used in commerce.  Employees of DMS and the counties make sure the devices work correctly. They also check that prices charged are the same as advertised and that packages actually contain the stated amount of product.  This verification protects the integrity of commerce, which is required for trading worldwide.

The state’s oversight of weights and measures costs the average California family about a penny per day, or about $3.65 per year.  This “common cents” is affordable insurance to make sure everyone gets what they pay for.

http://www.recorderonline.com/news/few-56117-workers-one.html

As farmers up and down the Valley brace for the most important time of the year, there is a severe shortage of one of nature’s hardest workers — bees.

“There’s a critical shortage of bees this year,” said longtime beekeeper Max Eggman of Eggman Family Honey.

Perry Miller of Miller’s Honey Company agreed. “I have a cherry grower who needs bees and I don’t have any,” he said.

Miller and Eggman said the number of bee hives is down across the country. While California beekeepers supply about 1 million hives for crops like almonds that rely on bees for pollination, the demand is twice that.

“Only one or two guys across the county that haven’t suffered major losses. It seems to be epidemic this year,” said Miller.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) first appeared in 2006-07. Eggman said he suffered 80 percent loss of his bees in the winter of 2006. Today, officials are still trying to find the cause, but most agree a lack of water is definitely contributing to the problem.

Both Miller and Eggman said the bees are not able to get the nutrients they need over the winter to be strong enough come early spring when they are needed the most.

“A shortage of rain reduces forage for bees,” said Eggman, adding that means beekeepers have to spend more for supplemental diets for bees.

There are 760,000 acres of almonds in California, the state that produces the most almonds in the nation, and they are heavily dependent on bees. Miller said it takes two colonies per acre for almonds, where most other crops only require a colony or less per acre.

The almond bloom has begun and will really take off with this week’s temperatures in the upper-60s and 70s. Bees don’t move much until the temperature hits 55.

Eggman said that although the number of bees has dropped, the demand has grown. The success of almond growers means more acres, and the need for more bees. But, finding those bees is getting more difficult. Miller said he used to have 900 to 1000 colonies, but “right now were down to 300 colonies.”

He said since CCD first appeared, he has lost 3,300 colonies and over a half of a million dollars of income.

The puzzling thing is nobody really knows what happens to the bees. They simply disappear.

“There out there somewhere, out there on the ground dead,” said Miller.

Suspicion is they are simply too weak to survive leaving the hive and die.

Since it was recognized in 2006, colony collapse disorder has destroyed colonies at a rate of about 30 percent a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Before that, losses were about 15 percent a year from pests and diseases. No one has determined its cause, but most researchers point to a combination of factors, including pesticide contamination, poor nutrition and bee diseases.

The shortage of bees has increased demand, and the price growers have to pay. Eggman said some growers are paying $220 per colony, way above what farmers used to pay. And, he said the theft of hives is also increasing.

Both men said it is not just commercial beekeepers who are seeing the drop off in bees.
“There used to be a lot of natural bees, but not as much,” said Eggman.

While almonds are most at risk, bees are used in a variety of crops, including blueberries, plums, alfalfa and more.

“Long term, if this continues, it will affect the food supply,” said Miller. “A third of the food you eat is directly or indirectly tied to bees,” he added.

In recent years, the Almond Board of California, which represents more than 6,000 growers, has poured $1.4 million into bee health research. The group also worked on alternatives to reduce growers’ reliance on honeybees, said Bob Curtis, associate director of agricultural affairs.

One is the so-called “self-compatible” almond tree, which can set nuts using pollen transferred among its own flowers, thereby needing fewer bees.

The group also is urging growers to plant forage to help sustain bees before and after almond pollination. And it’s exploring using blue orchard bees, which are solitary bees that do not live in hives but nest in small cavities, to augment the honeybee workforce. But building up those alternatives will take time.

Citrus pollination is not affected by the lack of bees, but the beekeepers would like a large supply of bees during the citrus bloom. It is during the bloom that bees produced the most and best honey. Honey was Tulare County’s 22nd highest valued ag commodity at $21.8 million in 2011. Pollination was the 28th highest valued ag commodity in the county that same year, with a value of $14.8 million.

http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_22664366?source=rss

Iowa is known for its corn. Wisconsin for cheese. Texas, cattle.

But California is the nation’s leading farm state, something city dwellers don’t always remember when they think about where their food comes from. Now, a new reminder is about to hit the streets.

Starting next month, a commemorative “California Agriculture” license plate will begin appearing on vehicles across the Golden State. The plate, featuring a yellow sunburst rising over a pastoral green field of row crops with the words “Food, fiber, fuel, flora,” is California’s first new specialty license plate in 11 years.

Like similar plates that have raised millions for conservation work in Lake Tahoe and Yosemite, or coastal cleanups, veterans and children’s arts programs, the new plate will generate new cash for a nonprofit cause. Proceeds will go to the National FFA (formerly the Future Farmers of America), 4H and other agricultural education programs.

“We need new farmers in California because the average age of a farmer in our state is nearing 60, but the need to fill other jobs connected to farming is profound,” said Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “We want young people to have all the educational opportunities they can.”

Changes in state law over the past decade have made it difficult to qualify new specialty plates. One provision requires that 7,500 people pre-order a new plate before it’s approved. Another rule requested by the California Highway Patrol requires smaller logos that won’t obscure license plate numbers — which many Californians say have made the specialty plates less attractive.

But the farm plate succeeded. About 8,300 people, in a campaign organized by the FFA and the California Agricultural Teachers Association, signed up for the plates, which cost $50 and $40 a year to renew. Many of the 67,000 high school students in 310 state FFA chapters sold plates in a grass-roots campaign.

“We were sweating bullets right up to the last week, and they came through. They worked their tails off to get this thing done,” said Jim Aschwanden, executive director of the California Agricultural Teachers Association in Elk Grove.

The new plates should raise the profile of agriculture, some people hope, and they might be embraced by foodies and other nonfarmers.

“I think you are going to see these on a lot more than pickup trucks,” said Jennifer Scheer, executive director of the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau in Morgan Hill.