A nearly bone-dry fall/early winter season has been accompanied by periodic freezing conditions in December and this week.

Hard freezes have already caused crop damage in some California fields, but agriculture industry officials say a good soaking – and the accompanying warmer temperatures – will go a long way toward easing landowners’ anxieties.

“The absence of rain has been of greatest concern to the cattle ranchers and other livestock owners,” said Dave Kranz, spokesman for the Sacramento-based California Farm Bureau Federation. “The rangelands have pretty well dried out. They need rain to replenish grasses on the hillsides and where cattle go to drink water.”

Central Valley farmers are likewise looking for storm clouds.

“They’ve been irrigating trees and vines that need moisture now, and they’re not getting it from the clouds,” Kranz said. “They’ve had to tap into their irrigation supplies weeks earlier than they typically would.

“Some good rainfall now would allow them to stop doing that.”

Agriculture groups throughout the state are still assessing crop damage caused by Tuesday morning’s hard freeze, which saw temperatures dip into the 20s in Northern California’s agricultural valleys.

Dean Thonesen, vice president and general manager of Sunwest Fruit Co. in Fresno County, said mandarins and navel oranges are being harvested in fields where wind and water machines are being used to moderate temperatures. He said it might take up to a week to determine the extent of any cold damage to crops.

The National Weather Service said temperatures dropped to as low as 19 degrees in some citrus-growing regions early Tuesday morning. Oranges begin to suffer at about 28 degrees. Temperatures are expected to continue gradually warming today, right up to Thursday’s expected rainfall.

California Citrus Mutual, the growers cooperative based in the Tulare County community of Exeter, said Tuesday that citrus damage did not appear to be widespread as temperatures stayed in the mid-20s in some key citrus regions.

Kranz pointed out that oranges have by now built up quantities of sugar and acid, “which actually helps insulate them from the cold … So we’re fairly optimistic that they have avoided significant problems.”

Kranz said mandarin oranges grown in the San Joaquin Valley are “a little more vulnerable” to cold conditions, but he said sugar buildup appears to have saved that crop from extensive damage.

The Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, which has the authority to withhold damaged citrus from the fresh-fruit market, will examine fruit later this week to determine the extent of any damage.

Farmers in Monterey County on Tuesday reported some freeze damage to vegetables in that region. The extent of damage to artichokes and broccoli in the Salinas Valley is still being assessed.

Even farmers who are not now in urgent need of rain are eagerly anticipating its arrival. For example, it’s the offseason for rice farmers, but officials at the California Rice Commission said rice growers are hoping for sustained rains from the approaching weather system.

Kranz explained that last year’s unusually heavy rainy season created “a situation where we do have adequate water storage this year, so that’s one reason that people have not been as concerned this year as in past years.

“But (farmers) still want rain. The vast bulk of farmers and ranchers expect it to rain. You’d be hard-pressed to see anyone disappointed with a good, steady rain. That should take a little pressure off.”

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“This is a scaled-down model of our commercial barn,” he tells the teens. “As you can see, there’s plenty of space to move. They can move around. They can move in every direction.”

The presentation is part of an agriculture earth science class curriculum in which students study perspectives both critical and supportive of industrial agriculture. What’s at stake for the students is a letter grade. What’s at stake for JS West is millions of dollars. In an effort to satisfy California law, the company is retrofitting the cage systems in three of its barns.

“It’s hard to spend $3 million to remodel our barns,” Brantley said, addressing the class. “And what this has done is it has cut down on one-third of our birds. So now we have to produce one-third fewer eggs. You’re talking 300,000 (fewer) eggs a day. You’re talking a dollar a dozen. It’s a lot of money every day.”

By 2015, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, a law passed by California voters in 2008, will go into effect regulating chicken cages in the state. Among other things, the law requires a chicken to be able to spread its wings, flap its arms without touching another hen, lay its eggs in private and exhibit all natural behaviors of being outside.

It’s not clear if JS West has gone far enough with the design of its new cages. The company is taking a “significant risk,” Brantley said. “We believe wholeheartedly that this is a very good way to fill in that void between the proposition and reality. We feel that this abides by everything the proposition has asked for.”

The presentation convinced at least one student. Colten Alva, 16, said at first he was skeptical, but after seeing the demonstration, he said he thinks the new cages will comply with state law.

“You really have to see both sides of the story to understand what they’re doing,” he said. “People are standing up for better food and better environments for the animals. What our ag departments are doing is creating a safer environment for all the animals.”

However, whether the new JS West cage system meets state guidelines may be a “moot point,” said Peter Brant, spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States, which helped spearhead the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act in California. Now the organization is backing federal legislation that would preempt the state law. Brant said that while the federal standards wouldn’t be as strict as California’s, on balance they would be worth passing to avoid state-by-state fights over poultry regulations.

“This was a compromise bill,” Brant said. “It sets in place a schedule for phasing in requirements over the course of the next 15 years.”

The bill is expected to be introduced in the next few weeks by Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader from Oregon.

For Brantley and JS West, the issue goes beyond laws and regulations. It’s about building wider public acceptance for industrial agriculture. Toward that end, the company has posted a live video feed of its chickens in the new cage system on its website, jswest.com.

“Our goal now is to recreate the industry and be leaders on this new frontier,” Brantley said. “We want everyone to understand what we’re doing, why we’re doing it. It’s going to start with the younger people. It’s going to start with the people who are still forming their opinions. We don’t want big agriculture to be a bad name anymore. We want big agriculture to be looked up to.”

Reporter Joshua Emerson Smith can be reached at (209) 385-2486 or jsmith@mercedsunstar.com.

YREKA — Ranchers and Siskiyou County’s supervisors told state and federal wildlife biologists Tuesday they were concerned livestock and the public would be put at risk if a pack of wolves moves to California in the wake of a lone wolf that entered the state last month.

In the first of a series of meetings with local government officials to be held across the north state, federal and state biologists told the board and a standing-room-only crowd the wolves’ entry into the state is a certainty, though it’s unclear when a pack will make its way down from Oregon.

“We didn’t think the wolf would be here so soon,” Mark Stopher, Department of Fish and Game policy specialist, said at the meeting. He added that it’s reasonable to expect wolves may disperse to California, but it’s likely going to be years before they set up a pack.

Members of the board said they were worried about the threat to ranchers’ stock as well as to struggling elk and deer herds. They also expressed worries the federally protected species would mean even more land-use restrictions in an area already coping with limits on agriculture because of threatened coho salmon and still reeling from restrictions on logging because of the spotted owl.

“Siskiyou County is inundated with endangered species,” Supervisor Michael Kobseff said.

In 2001, Siskiyou County’s supervisors passed a resolution condemning the introduction of wolves and grizzly bears to the state. The resolution describes bears and wolves “an uncontrollable and deadly threat” to man and livestock.

For much of November and December, OR-7, a 2½-year-old male gray wolf, stayed in southern Oregon’s Klamath and Jackson counties before crossing into Siskiyou County on Dec. 28. Biologists said that for the past few days he’s been in eastern Shasta County, though cloud cover Tuesday kept them from getting a fix on his exact whereabouts. Biologists said he left a small pack in Oregon and so far has traveled more than 800 miles looking for a mate or a new pack. Stopher said the wolf hasn’t killed any livestock on its journey, though it “feasted on the (already) dead carcass of a calf elk,” one of the species’ favorite prey.

Wild wolves hadn’t lived in California since 1924.

Members of the county’s ranching and farming community expressed concerns at the meeting that the state has no set plans in place on how to manage wolves and they worry there won’t be enough funding or political will to manage the predators properly.

Leo Bergeron, president of the Siskiyou County Water Users Association, urged the county to pass a local law banning wolves from entering the state that would include county officials killing or relocating the animals.

“Damn it. Do your job,” Bergeron said. “Protect our county.”

But a trio of speakers defended the wolves. Karin King, 70, of Igo spoke to the board wearing a sweater with a wolf’s image on the front. She carried a wolf hand bag and a wolf coat.

“Please educate yourself on wolves’ behavior,” King said, adding that extinction is forever.

Another woman decried comments by Supervisor Marcia Armstrong, who told the Los Angeles Times the wolf needed to be shot on sight.

Regina Neri, 47, of Mount Shasta told the board Armstrong’s comments weren’t representative of everyone in Siskiyou County.

“As a Siskiyou County resident, (Armstrong’s) ‘we’ is not me,” she said.

Armstrong didn’t attend the meeting because of a death in her family.

Erin Williams, the supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Yreka field office, reminded the group shooting wolves is illegal, even if they’re caught preying on livestock. She said a person could only kill a wolf without threat of prosecution if they’re attacking, but the kill would be investigated. Those caught killing wolves without cause would be prosecuted under the federal Endangered Species Act, she said.

Stopher acknowledged the DFG does not yet have a wolf management plan, but the DFG released its wolf report, the precursor to a possible management plan, on Tuesday. It can be viewed at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/wolf/.

Stopher told the board his agency would need state support and funding to create a full management model that would likely pattern itself on those used by other states.

He said biologists in Oregon and in other states have been successful in managing wolves and coming up with plans that reimburse ranchers for the livestock wolves invariably kill. He said they’ve also been successful in coping with the intense emotions that come along with wolves entering a region.

Stopher said biologists in Oregon told him, “This is the most controversial subject you’ll have in your career.”

Companies that collect used cooking grease from restaurants across the country have turned to all forms of sleuthing in recent years. Private investigators. Surveillance cameras. Rigged alarms. And still, containers full of used fryer oil are slipping through their fingers.

For years, restaurants had to pay companies to haul away the old grease, which was used mostly in animal feed. Some gave it away to local gearheads, who used it to make biodiesel for their converted car engines.

But with a demand for biofuel rising, fryer oil now trades on a booming commodities market, commanding around 40 cents per pound, about four times what it sold for 10 years ago. That makes it a tempting target for thieves, especially in hard times.

California and now Virginia have enacted special statutes to regulate grease collection from commercial kitchens; North Carolina legislators may vote on a similar law in May. But while some law enforcement agencies, especially in California, have become increasingly watchful about the problem, the courts have lagged behind.

“It’s very difficult to get district attorneys to take it seriously,” said Douglas Hepper, head of the California state agency that regulates the disposal of grease. “They’re busy with murders and meth labs and they have limited budgets themselves, so they have to set priorities.”

Few cases go to trial, and when they do, the offenders often get off with no more than a small fine and hit the streets again to siphon off some more, he added.

An episode of “The Simpsons” from 1998 has Homer Simpson trying to make a quick buck selling grease, but for years, law enforcement authorities seemed unaware that fryer oil was being stolen by unlicensed haulers, causing millions of dollars worth of losses each year for the rendering industry that collects and processes the grease.

To be fair, it is not the easiest sell to prosecutors. Jon A. Jaworski, a lawyer in Houston who represents people accused of stealing grease, said that in the early 1990s he had won more than a dozen cases by arguing that grease should be considered abandoned property and therefore free to take — like Dumpster-diving, just oozier.

The grease is often stored in black Dumpsters that reek of death, in back alleys, which is why pickups usually take place in the middle of the night.

But the rendering industry has been trying to lock down the growing market, driven by demand for biodiesel, from freeloaders. Many restaurants now have contracts with collection companies to sell their grease for about $300 per container.

As companies have invested more time and money in lobbying efforts, the police have started to take notice. Randall C. Stuewe, chairman and chief executive of Darling International, the largest publicly traded rendering company in the United States, said it had recorded 100 arrests in 2011.

California has a taken a lead in the crackdown on grease theft. In October, the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture began a program with local police departments to target areas most often hit. As of early December, the police had caught and cited five people suspected of grease theft, and they will probably pay fines. They will announce full results from the pilot program soon and expand it to other parts of the state, Mr. Hepper said.

Turning arrests into convictions with punishments large enough to deter future theft is rare, in part because of how hard it can be to determine not just the value of the stolen grease, but also how much was stolen and from where. The thieves typically strike at multiple restaurants on one night, carting away the grease in tanker trucks or barrels in the back of a van.

Out of frustration, larger companies like Darling have started hiring lawyers to press civil charges against pilferers in a bid to recoup losses. “The reception in municipal court is very uneven,” said Steven T. Singer, a lawyer in New Jersey hired by Darling. “You’re reliant upon the prosecutors, so you got to get them to understand the seriousness of this, as well as the judge.”

In the past couple of years, Darling, which has about 2,000 trucks that pick up grease at sites in 42 states, has filed two civil lawsuits against companies accused of taking its grease, and has received close to $60,000 in damages.

For smaller companies, like Sacramento Rendering, which services about 2,500 restaurants in Northern California, hiring lawyers for a battle in civil court might not be worth the cost. Michael Koewler, president of Sacramento Rendering, estimates that it loses about 50,000 pounds of raw grease per week — about $750,000 a year in lost revenue.

One night in late November, an employee drove his monthly route through Sacramento — a Burger King here, a Taco Bell there. He opened the lids of 22 grease containers. Only two had grease for him to collect.

“I don’t want to have to hire an attorney to go after all this stuff,” Mr. Koewler said. “I’d rather have the state, which is obligated to enforce the law, to do their part.”

The average age of a farmer in California is creeping toward 60, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture is trying to attract newcomers to work the land.