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Healthy Cal – Farmers slow to adopt new pesticide

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Office of Public Affairs

http://www.healthycal.org/archives/6783/print/

A year after environmentalists lost a regulatory battle to keep controversial pesticide methyl iodide off the California market, they appear to be winning the ground war against the chemical.

Only six California growers have used methyl iodide—marketed as Midas—to zap soil borne pests and weeds before planting crops like chile peppers, strawberries and walnut trees.

Methyl iodide manufacturer Arysta LifeScience Corp. paid for at least two of the fumigations. The company shared in the cost of a third, according to the grower.

By way of comparison, more than 8,500 soil fumigations took place in California in 2009, the last year for which data is available from the state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation.

“Methyl iodide is a speck on the horizon,” said Les Wright, Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner.

Growers and agriculture industry groups clamored for methyl iodide registration last year before the California Department of Pesticide Regulation gave the chemical its final approval.

They pointed to the coming ban on methyl bromide, one of the most effective and widely used fumigants in the state, and argued that without methyl iodide, California’s billion-dollar agriculture industry would hemorrhage jobs and profits. Methyl bromide is currently being phased out under the Montreal Protocol; it’s expected to be eliminated altogether by 2015.

But now, some growers say methyl iodide is too politically risky to use.

“The people who oppose this particular chemical are really loud and effective,” said Liz Elwood Ponce, co-owner of Lassen Canyon Nursery in Redding. “If no one said anything, I think the chemical would be used more widely. But the objection has pretty much paralyzed the growers into no action.”

Methyl iodide use has been so rare that Arysta put out a press release last October to announce its first application on the Central Coast, which took place only after the Santa Barbara County Ag commissioner dismissed a challenge to the fumigation permit by environmental law firm Earthjustice.

The controversy over methyl iodide had simmered for years, but it erupted in 2010 when Department of Pesticide Regulation managers overruled both their own staff scientists and an agency appointed peer review panel to approve the chemical for use in California agriculture.

UCLA professor John Froines, who chaired the peer review committee, appeared at a state assembly hearing in Sacramento last April and said “science was subverted” in the state’s decision to approve methyl iodide.

“I would not want my family, my friends or anyone else to live or work or go to school near fields where this methyl iodide will be used,” Froines said after detailing the chemical’s properties that are known to cause cancer and damage nervous systems. “You had the best science you could have had and the fact that it was ignored is devastating.”

Earthjustice and California Rural Legal Assistance have sued the state Department of Pesticide Regulation on behalf of environmentalists and farm workers, arguing that regulators put politics before safety in approving methyl iodide, and demanding the decision be reversed. A Fresno County methyl iodide application last summer drew protests, and last month, Santa Cruz County Supervisors passed a resolution urging Gov. Brown to reconsider methyl iodide registration. Last March, the governor told a Ventura County newspaper that his administration would take a fresh look at the decision, but he’s taken no action since then.

So far no health and safety issues related to the five California applications have been reported.

But the political heat is too much for growers, especially those with recognizable labels, Elwood Ponce said.

“Big growers that market in all these stores can’t take a chance on a boycott”, said Elwood Ponce.

“Methyl iodide is indeed a political hot potato”, said Paul Towers of the Pesticide Action Network of North America, whose group is a plaintiff in the methyl iodide lawsuit.  “But what made it a political hot potato is grounded in scientific reality.”

Dennis Lane, a sales manager for Trical, Inc. a Hollister-based company that markets and applies fumigants, said he thinks slow sales are normal for a new product.

“They haven’t seen it on their farm,” Lane said of California growers.

So far, at least one farmer, Tzexa Lee of Fresno County’s Cherta Farms, said his experience with an Arysta-funded fumigation was mixed. He lost 20 percent of the chile peppers he planted, and doesn’t know why. The company took soil samples, but representatives haven’t given Lee any answers yet. Still, he said the chemical was great at weed killing.

“No workers were needed for weeding,” Lee said.

The other Fresno County application was also a bust. But grower David Sarabian said the loss of the chiles he planted after the fumigation was due to scorching hot summer temperatures, not the chemical.

In Florida, the company reported 14 incidents of minor plant damage to Ethe PA in 2008 and 2009. Such post-fumigation problems are reportedly rare.

In California, the high cost of methyl iodide may be keeping some growers away. Lane also noted that state-mandated half-mile buffer zones between fields that are fumigated with methyl iodide and homes, schools, day care centers and other such sensitive sites also limit its use because of the proximity of agricultural land to neighborhoods, especially in coastal areas.

“It almost makes it unusable,” Lane said.

Arysta officials declined to discuss methyl iodide use in California. The company’s website says Midas has been successfully applied on more than 17,000 acres in the southeastern U.S.

However, in several of those states, including Florida, one of the nation’s biggest agricultural producers, officials say methyl iodide use has been light.

In an email, Dennis Howard, chief of Florida’s Bureau of Pesticides, wrote that based on his discussions with Arysta and growers, “…my understanding is that very few if any applications are occurring in Florida.”

 
At North Carolina State University, plant pathologist and extension specialist Frank Louws said, “The Montreal Protocol has seen methyl iodide as a true replacement (for methyl bromide) but our growers have not gravitated that way.”

In California, the fate of methyl iodide is in the hands of Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch, who will hear the Earthjustice case in January.

“I think many people are waiting to see what is the outcome of this lawsuit,” said Rick Tomlinson, public policy director of the California Strawberry Commission. “Farmers live in these communities. They’re not going to rush in and adopt something when there’s a concern.”

 

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Fresno Bee – Raw milk dairy could resume production soon

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Office of Public Affairs

http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/12/06/2640248/organic-dairy-near-kerman-could.html

Organic Pastures dairy near Kerman – under state quarantine for three weeks – could resume producing its raw milk products soon, if it passes a final round of testing by the state.

The dairy’s products were recalled by the California Department of Food and Agriculture on Nov. 15 after five children in the state became ill with E.coli.

State health investigators found that the children, who live in Kings, Contra Costa, Sacramento and San Diego counties, all drank raw milk from Organic Pastures Dairy.

The dairy has been unable to sell any of its raw milk products, except for its aged raw milk cheese, during the investigation.

Recently, the state allowed the dairy to resume production for the purpose of testing small batches of products. Complete results of those tests are expected by Monday, said Steve Lyle, spokesman for the state agriculture department.

Lyle said the quarantine will remain until all the lab tests are complete and results come back negative for any pathogens.

Dairy owner Mark McAfee said he is eager to resume making his raw milk, butter and cream. And he said he is confident about the testing.

“They have not been able to find any pathogens, and they won’t,” McAfee said.

McAfee, the state’s largest raw milk producer, said the recall has cost the dairy about $50,000 in lost sales.

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Environmental stewardship commitment reflected on CDFA web site

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Office of Public Affairs

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/environmentalstewardship/index.html

CDFA joins the farmers and ranchers of California in a commitment to produce and protect a consistent, high quality food supply for all Californians, and for distribution throughout the world. Farmers and ranchers are stewards of the land and realize the importance of maintaining the farm ecosystem environment for future generations.

CDFA has adopted several initiatives to recognize and promote the importance of on-farm environmental stewardship practices, some of which contribute directly to ecosystem services.

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News Release – Oriental fruit fly treatment program in Los Angeles County

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Office of Public Affairs

The California Department of Food and Agriculture is preparing for an Oriental fruit fly (OFF) eradication program in the North hollywood/Burbank area of Los Angeles County.

Treatment of the Oriental fruit fly  primarily relies upon a process known as “male attractant” in which workers squirt a small patch of fly attractant mixed with a very small dose of pesticide approximately 8-10 feet off the ground to street trees and similar surfaces.   Male flies are attracted to the mixture and die after  consuming it.

Two Oriental fruit flies have been detected:  one on November 14 in North Hollywood and one on November 28 in Burbank.  The two sites are slightly less than a mile apart.  The treatment program will be carried out over approximately 13 square miles surrounding the sites where the insects were trapped. A map of the treatment area is available at: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/PDEP/treatment/treatment_maps.html

“Our pest detection efforts are working well,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “Agricultural officials routinely set and check traps for invasive pests  like the Oriental fruit fly so that we can detect an infestation before it has a chance to grow into a larger problem for our communities and our farms.”

Agricultural officials have increased the number of insect traps in the region to determine whether a larger infestation exists and what area it may  cover.  No additional flies have been detected.

With the infestation in the North Hollywood/Burbank area, California now has eight active OFF eradication projects underway.  The others include two in Los Angeles County (the San Gabriel/Alhambra area and the Baldwin Park area); three in Orange County (the Anaheim area, the Anaheim/Yorba Linda area and the Santa Ana/Westminster area); one in San Joaquin County in the Stockton area, where a quarantine was declared on September 21; and one in the Pleasanton area of Alameda County, where two OFF adults were recently detected in traps.

As the locations of these quarantines and treatment programs indicate, fruit flies and other pests may threaten California’s crops, but the vast majority of them are detected in urban and suburban areas.  That’s because the most common pathway for these pests to enter the state is by “hitchhiking” in fruits and vegetables brought back illegally by travelers as they return from infested regions around the world. The Oriental fruit fly is widespread throughout much of the mainland of Southern Asia and neighboring islands including Sri Lanka and Taiwan.  It is also found in Hawaii.

To help prevent infestations, officials ask that residents do not bring or mail fresh fruit, vegetables, plants or soil into California unless agricultural inspectors have cleared the shipment beforehand, as fruit flies and other pests can hide in a variety of produce. It is important to cooperate with authorized agricultural workers and grant them access to your property to inspect fruit and Oriental fruit fly traps for signs of an infestation.  Residents can also report pest detections to the CDFA Pest Hotline, 1-800-491-1899.

The Oriental fruit fly is known to target over 230 different fruit, vegetable and plant commodities.  Damage occurs when the female lays eggs inside the fruit. The eggs hatch into maggots that tunnel through the flesh of the fruit, making it unfit for consumption.  For a more extensive description of the pest and its life cycle, please see the pest profile at http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/PDEP/target_pest_disease_profiles/oriental_ff_profile.html.

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News Release – Members sought for 2012 Specialty Crop Block Grant Review Committee

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Office of Public Affairs

California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary Karen Ross is pleased to announce the opportunity to serve as a reviewer on the 2012 Specialty Crop Block Grant Technical Review Committee. The role of the Technical Review Committee is to review, evaluate, and make recommendations on proposals to fund projects that will ensure the continued competitiveness of California specialty crops. CDFA forwards recommendations along to USDA, which funds the block grants through the federal Farm Bill. Individuals interested in serving on the Technical Review Committee are urged to apply by December 16, 2011 at 5:00 p.m.

Up to $17 million will be allocated to California specialty crops, which are defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture).

The Specialty Crop Technical Review Committee will consist of individuals who are interested in specialty crops and who may represent government and non-government organizations. Members receive no compensation and are required to complete CDFA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Conflict of Interest form, and the Fair Political Practices Commission’s Statement of Economic Interests form. Technical Review Committee members are entitled to reimbursement for necessary traveling expenses in accordance with the rules of the California Department of Personnel Administration.

 
The timeframe for reviewing proposals is between January 2012 and June 2012. The first meeting will be held Mid-January 2012. By establishing the Technical Review Committee, CDFA is adhering to the Specialty Crop Competitiveness Act, which encourages the development of state plans through a competitive process to ensure maximum public input and benefit.

Individuals seeking consideration should include a letter of interest, which includes a short bio and statement of qualifications identifying two Areas of Emphasis to work on behalf of California’s specialty crop industry. For a description of the Areas of Emphasis please view the Notice of Funding Availability posted on CDFA’s website at www.cdfa.ca.gov/grants. The letter of interest should be addressed to Crystal Myers and sent via email to grants@cdfa.ca.gov.

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A New Beginning – 21st Century Invasive Pest Management Symposium

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Karen Ross, California Agriculture Secretary, and Linda

On this day, about 200 people who care about farming, the environment and pest management issues are gathered at CSU Sacramento to begin a promising endeavor:a series of symposia designed to improve our shared understanding and approach to CDFA’s pest management efforts.

This is a new beginning on one of the most urgent of matters. Resources are tighter than ever, so we must focus our collaborative efforts on preventing invasive plant pest and disease introductions and, when necessary, making preparations for a rapid and cohesive response.

Many of us who are involved in this event are no strangers to presentations and meetings about invasive pests and what to do about them.With this series, though, we are taking a somewhat different approach.The discussion doesn’t focus on a single pest, and the participants aren’t all like-minded people; we are not just farmers orcommunity activists, or just environmentalists or government officials.It’s all of us, sharing a table, discussing what the specific issues and challenges are, and deciding collectively to find our way forward together.In order to make that happen, we have to venture out of our comfort zones and think creatively and cooperatively about how we can do better.

California’s agricultural community is accustomed to working from a position of leadership on issues such as pest management, and we have much to be proud of in that regard.Leadership, though, is not merely a position – it is an action, and it requires continuous learning and innovation.

Thanks to all of the participants in today’s symposium. I look forward to the next installment.We have much work ahead of us – but together, we have already taken the most important step.

Posted in AG Vision, Environment, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) | Tagged , | 1 Comment

LA Times – California Farms Looking Greener Than Ever

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Office of Public Affairs
By Diana Marcum,
Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Fresno—
As Californians savor their Thanksgiving feasts, the states’ farmers are especially thankful.
California’s agriculture sector is on track for a record year, a rare bright spot in the state’s economy.
Prices for cotton, grapes and other crops are near all-time highs. Foreign buyers are gobbling California almonds, grapes, citrus and dairy products. Agricultural exports through September are up 16%  over the same period last year. Net farm income is projected to post strong gains in 2011 after nearly doubling over the previous decade.
At a time when other Golden State industries are struggling, times are good down on the farm. Just ask Steve Moore. The Fresno County pistachio farmer recently completed the harvest on his 480-acre spread near Huron, part of what’s estimated to be California’s second-largest pistachio crop ever. Prices are
strong, at around $2.10 a pound, driven by growing demand in places including China and Israel. Moore started with 160 acres in 1982, planting trees that take seven years to produce.  “Looking at those bare sticks in the ground, I thought I must be nuts,” he said. But the crop is so lucrative he’s looking to expand again.
Indeed, prices for all manner of farm products are so high that Vernon Crowder, an agricultural economist with Rabobank, a major agricultural lender, has been seeing some
unfamiliar faces at industry events.
“When you go to ag conferences you now have venture capitalists hanging around,” he said. “But they find it very difficult to beat out another farmer for land, and that shows you how strong the
market is. There’s been a fundamental shift as the global market demands more food and more expensive food.”
That’s good news for California, the nation’s leading agricultural state and the fifth-largest producer worldwide. In contrast with the grain-and-livestock focused Midwest, California farmers  cultivate more than 400 commodities, including more than half of the nation’s fruits and vegetables.
Looking for artichokes? Dates? Kiwi? Pomegranates? California accounts for more than 99% of the U.S. production of each of those crops, according to the California Food and Agriculture Department.
“You ask the average person what California does better than any other place in the world, where we have the most innovation and natural advantage and they’ll probably say Hollywood or high-tech. But, it’s farming,” said Stuart Woolf, president of Woolf Farming & Processing, with cotton and tomato fields near Huron.
“Bakersfield to Sacramento is like a giant greenhouse with really good soil,” he said. “The big picture is that we are going to be perpetually stretching our resources as California feeds more people around the
globe.”
The world’s population just hit 7 billion, and emerging middle classes in countries such as India and China are putting more on their plates. California farmers, always looking for new markets, are finely attuned to shifting economies and tastes worldwide. Pistachios are a perfect example of such entrepreneurial farming.
California is now the world’s top producer, knocking off longtime leader Iran three years ago.  This year the state’s crop is expected to be more than 460 million pounds, but 30 years ago the crop barely existed here.  Then came the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, which led to a ban on imports from Iran, a major supplier to the U.S. market. Some Central Valley farmers saw an opportunity. They gambled on planting pistachio trees. Innovation followed.
Iranian pistachios traditionally are dyed a distinctive red to cover blemishes left by bits of the
hull sticking to the outer shell. California researchers found a way to remove the outer hulls, leaving the tan shells smooth and flawless. Soon California pistachios were favored by consumers worldwide. The 2010 crop — a record 522 million pounds — was worth $1.16 billion. In the Central Valley, which grows about 95% of the nation’s pistachios, the crop is expected to nearly double by 2017 as more trees mature.
“That’s a huge increase. But we think we’ll be able to create demand ahead of production,” said Richard
Matoian, executive director of American Pistachio Growers in Fresno.
Moore, the pistachio farmer, is willing to roll the dice. He’s looking to add more trees. “It’s a moon shot – a trajectory of seven years. You water, you fertilize, you keep the critters away, and you hope and you pray the demand grows as your trees grow,” he said.
The country’s largest pistachio farm, Paramount Farms, is capitalizing on Hollywood glitz to build a
bigger domestic market. Located in Kern County, Paramount is owned by Stewart and Lynda Resnick, who created the national pomegranate juice craze in part by putting their POM Wonderful brand juice bottles in gift bags at entertainment awards shows. Paramount is now pushing pistachios with “Get
Crackin” TV spots featuring personalities such as Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who had accused Facebook Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for the social network, promoting “the
lowest calorie nut.”
“California farmers have guts,” Matoian said. “They  take risks on new crops.”
Sometimes they return to old ones.
California was once a major cotton grower, transplanting the “white  gold” empires of the South to the American West. But cotton slowly disappeared as drought and water wars drove farmers to abandon it for other crops.
Then prices spiked in 2010, largely because of poor harvests in China and Pakistan, which are major
cotton growers. Some Golden State farmers rushed to plant cotton anew. Now, the  Texas drought is expected to push high-end pima cotton prices to the $3-a-pound mark again. California farmers are harvesting 454,500 acres of cotton, almost 50% more than last year.
“Anything, anywhere in the world, affects us,” said Ryan Jacobsen, a raisin grower and executive director of the Fresno County  Farm Bureau.
So far the concurrence of events has California agriculture prospering and poised for long-term growth. China is still a surging market, and the U.S. recently signed a trade deal with Korea that is expected to boost exports of wine, beef, dairy products and tree nuts.
But Jacobsen said it would be hard to find a big-spending California farmer who would freely admit to
being flush. “You know how you make a small fortune in farming? Start with a large fortune,” he said.
The most splurging that raisin grower Steve Spate will do is an occasional dinner out with his wife, even though raisin prices are at an all-time high of $1,700 a ton, more than double what they were in 2002.
Fall rainstorms almost ruined this year’s crop. And immigration crackdowns and ongoing violence on the U.S.-Mexico border have left him struggling to attract enough farmhands.
Spate plans to invest this year’s profits to strengthen trellises to prepare for the switch to mechanical
harvesters. “In farming what you buy is the ability to keep farming,” he said.
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California Watch – More Californians struggle to afford food

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Office of Public Affairs

http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/more-californians-struggle-afford-food-13730

November 28, 2011 | Bernice Yeung, California Watch

On a recent November afternoon, Hermelinda Hernandez, who had spent 27 years packing cauliflower and cantaloupes from the farms of the Imperial Valley, found herself fourth in line for the monthly distribution of emergency food at the New Life Assembly Church in Calexico.

Hundreds of residents had lined up behind her, but Hernandez had arrived around 10 a.m. – nearly five hours before the church doors opened – because she knew that last month, people had been turned away when the rations of canned goods ran out.

Hernandez, 62, is one in a legion of Californians who either go hungry or worry about where they will get their next meal. It’s a persistent and ongoing concern in the Imperial Valley, which has the highest unemployment rate [PDF] in the state and where 23 percent of the population lives in poverty.

The economic downturn also is driving the demand for food: Between 2008 and 2011, the Imperial Valley Food Bank tripled the number of people it served at distribution sites like the New Life Assembly Church. The food bank now serves about 12 percent of the county’s residents.

According to an analysis released this month by California Food Policy Advocates, an estimated 20,000 Imperial Valley residents struggle to afford food.

That struggle is a growing problem statewide. The recent report, based on UCLA’s 2009 California Health Interview Survey data, found that the number of people with limited access to healthy food had grown by 30 percent since 2007, and it’s now a problem that affects 3.7 million Californians. In a study slated for December publication, the National Latino Research Center at CSU San Marcos surveyed residents of rural California communities most affected by the economic crisis. It found access to food is a top concern in all nine counties studied.

Food stamp use, another indication of the struggle for food, is also is on the rise [PDF] in California. Between 2006 and 2011, the number of Californians who signed up for the program has nearly doubled to more than 3.8 million. And in 2010, California received $28 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Food Assistance Program – the most funding [PDF] for emergency food of any state – with more than $223,000 going to Imperial County.

The county with the highest rate of hunger is Contra Costa. Larry Sly, executive director of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, said high unemployment in cities like Pittsburg and Antioch have contributed to the problem.

“It’s very disconcerting,” Sly said. “It’s people who used to have pretty good jobs who are coming to our distributions. They have never been in a position to ask for help, and they are humiliated. I don’t see it leveling off, which is the scary part.”

In Imperial County, the bitter irony of hunger is that it’s the home of a $1.5 billion agriculture industry.

“Much of the economy relies on agriculture, and many other economic sectors that have tried to move into the area have not created opportunities that provide a livable wage,” said Arcela Nunez-Alvarez, research director of the National Latino Research Center, who has spent a decade studying Imperial County. “The lack of access to food is an expression of the economic challenges the community has faced over the course of many years, and it has been exacerbated by the economic situation.”

That means those who have worked to get fresh fruits and vegetables into grocery stores often can’t afford to buy them for themselves.

“The healthier food is more expensive,” Hernandez, the former produce packer, said in Spanish through an interpreter. “I can’t keep my eyes on that. Instead of a healthy meal, I prepare what I can afford.”

Sara Griffen, executive director of the Imperial Valley Food Bank, said the extent of hunger can be hard to identify.

“The biggest clue is someone who is willing to stand in line for hours for a couple cans of food,” she said. “Hunger, or food insecurity, is a silent thing. It’s difficult to spot. People don’t want other people to know, and it’s difficult to know by looking at them.”

Those who are hungriest actually might be obese, what some health researchers have called the hunger-obesity paradox [PDF].

“They are living on processed food and empty calories and food that will not fill you, but it’s cheaper to spend money on Doritos than prepare a meal,” Griffen said. “We grow amazing produce here in Imperial Valley, but we are so detached from the land.”

Some local growers are trying to help through the California Association of Food Banks’ Farm to Family program, which gleans and donates produce from the fields that aren’t picture-perfect enough for market. Last year, 102 million pounds of fruits and vegetables were offered to food banks across the state through the program, but the need still outstrips what’s available.

“Everyone knows someone who has lost a job,” said Steve Sharp, a third-generation farmer in Imperial County who solicits produce for the Farm to Family program.

At the November distribution at the New Life Assembly Church in Calexico, volunteers spent nearly three hours handing out food. But as the afternoon progressed, bags containing items like beef stew and applesauce began to dwindle, and those still in line had to make do with a box of cereal, crackers and a bag of potatoes.

By the time the sun had set, most of those provisions had run out, and the last dozen people were given a plastic sack of potatoes and a bag of marshmallows. Rachel Espejo, a food bank volunteer, jokingly suggested that everyone could go home and make potatoes with chorizo, even though many wouldn’t be able to afford the meat.

Espejo, her husband and her two school-aged children spent most of the day packing and handing out 384 bags of canned and dried goods to others, but they also were among the 36 households that didn’t get an allocation of emergency food that evening.

As transplants from the greater Los Angeles area, Espejo has come to rely on the food bank because she only recently landed a part-time job at Marshalls at the mall in neighboring El Centro. Her husband, a former deputy sheriff, bolsters their household income through a part-time job at the church, where he does maintenance and janitorial work. They now make too much to qualify for welfare and food stamps, but they make too little to live comfortably. By the end of December, the family will no longer receive $560 in food stamps each month, and Espejo says she’s not sure what they’ll do.

“It’s hard to explain to the kids,” she said. “They ask if we can have milk, and I have to tell them there is no milk. They understand that it’s hard. They don’t ask for many things.”

Although she didn’t get any of the canned goods she had given away to others that evening, Espejo had reserved a box of crackers and cereal for her family. And there were plenty of leftover potatoes, which she would use to make soup.

“You feel better that people got something to eat that day,” she said, surveying the room of empty food cartons. “It’s nice to give hope that there is one more meal, even if it’s just potatoes.”

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California Watch – Study disputes need to conserve farm water

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Office of Public Affairs

http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/study-disputes-need-conserve-farm-water-13777

November 29, 2011 | Tia Ghose, California Watch

A new report suggests that California agriculture already uses water efficiently and disputes the notion that conservation could free up large amounts of water for other uses.

Increasing water efficiency would generate only 330,000 acre-feet per year of new water, according to the study [PDF], which was conducted by the Center for Irrigation Technology at CSU Fresno. That represents about 0.5 percent of the state’s water use.

Switching from flood irrigation to less water-intensive methods, such as drip irrigation, usually will not make more water available in a given region because runoff may be reused by other farmers or fish and wildlife, the study says. Flows that seep into the soil but are not used by crops may replenish the groundwater supply.

“What they point out is that what isn’t used by one farmer is generally used by others,” said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, a coalition of public water agencies. Other users may benefit as well, he said. For instance, “virtually every wildlife refuge relies on return flows from agricultural for its sustenance.”

In addition, improving agricultural water conservation may have unintended consequences. For instance, the study notes that many cities are dependent exclusively on groundwater, so boosting agricultural efficiency may result in less water seeping into underground aquifers, thereby depleting city supplies.

The only way to significantly reduce farm water consumption is to take some land out of production or change the types of crops, which is not a true water savings, but rather a diversion of water to other uses, the study concludes.

Not everyone agrees with the report’s analysis.

While it’s true that water systems are interconnected, more intensive farm water use has consequences beyond the total volume of water available, said Rebecca Nelson, lead researcher for the Comparative Groundwater Law and Policy Program at Stanford University.

“If a farmer uses water, generally, the quality of that water will decrease when it goes to the next use,” she said.

More water application means more pesticides and fertilizers as well, and nitrogen-rich runoff from farms seeps into groundwater supplies and can contaminate wells with nitrates, she said. Nitrates might cause blue baby syndrome, which causes infants to carry less oxygen in their blood. That can be a particularly tough problem in poor communities where people cannot afford to dig deep wells that bypass nitrate contamination, she said.

Tracking water use is notoriously tricky, but there is room for efficiency improvements, said Heather Cooley, co-director of the water program at the Pacific Institute, which advocates for greater water use efficiency. Available data from 2001 suggests that many farmers in the state still rely on wasteful watering methods, such as flood irrigation. A 2009 report by the institute found that wider use of water-sparing techniques, such as drip or scheduled irrigation, could save up to 17 percent of the total agricultural water applied to fields.

In addition, the new report does not account for the fact that more efficient farming practices have other benefits, Cooley said. More efficient water use may improve crop yields and reduce the need to invest in water infrastructure, she said.

A big part of solving the water shortage in the state is to improve storage and capture systems, said Quinn, of the water agencies association. In wet years, places like the San Joaquin Valley are unable to adequately store surplus water for drier years, when the valley depletes groundwater supplies.

Swapping water-intensive crops such as rice for less-thirsty crops such as grapes can decrease farms’ water consumption, though the consumer demand and costs of switching to different crops can be a deterrent, the study notes.

Stanford’s Nelson contends that farmers plant water-guzzling crops because water is not priced appropriately. While some farmers pay for water use, many pump from wells on their property and pay only for the electricity to draw water from the ground. That makes crops like rice seem artificially cheap to produce, Nelson said.

“There’s no water pricing scheme that says, ‘What are the environmental impacts of using this water, what are the social impacts of using water?,’ and in my view, that would be a sensible way of making sure the use of water is optimal,” she said.

 

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CDFA and California Association of Food Banks promote farm-to-food bank donations

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Office of Public Affairs

Farmer inspecting tomato harvestAgriculture is not just about farming, it’s about community. California’s farmers and ranchers contribute significantly to the health of our citizens and are vital partners in expanding food access to rural and urban communities. One in eight Americans – 37 million people – receives emergency food annually, and it is estimated that five million of those individuals are Californians.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture, in partnership with the California Association of Food Banks, is promoting the month of December as “Farm to Food Bank Month.” Farmers and ranchers across the state are asked to contribute to families in need by donating food or pledging a future donation for the upcoming year. So far this year, California farmers and ranchers have donated more than 100 million pounds of food to food banks – this includes the recent donation by California dairy farmers of 12,000 half-gallon cartons of milk for Thanksgiving meals.

Farm donations and pledges should be coordinated with:

Ron Clark
California Association of Food Banks
Phone: (510) 350-9907
E-mail: Ron@cafoodbanks.org

In recognition of food bank donations by farmers, CDFA Secretary Karen Ross and California State Board of Food and Agriculture President Craig McNamara will visit the Community Food Bank in Fresno on Tuesday, December 13, 2011. The food bank will be accepting farm donations and pledges from 9 a.m. to noon on that day in observance of the farm-to-food bank drive.

Improved food access is the first priority of Ag Vision , a strategic plan for California agriculture. With this in mind, members of the state board are working to double California farm contributions to food banks over the next five years.

Food and farming go hand-in-hand, and California farmers are in a unique position to help the hungry.

Posted in AG Vision, Community-based Food System, Food Access, State Board of Food and Agriculture | Tagged , , | 1 Comment