By Ellen Hanak

When strong winter rains finally ended the recent five-year drought, many water districts seized the opportunity to recharge depleted aquifers. How did they do, and what barriers did they face? A public forum brought more than 30 experts together to discuss the benefits, opportunities, and barriers to groundwater recharge. The event was hosted by the California State Board of Food and Agriculture and the state Department of Water Resources.

My presentation focused on recharge in the San Joaquin Valley—a region that is home to more than four million people, half the state’s agricultural output, and most of its critically overdrafted groundwater basins, where pumping exceeds replenishment. Consequences include dry wells, sinking lands, and reduced supplies to weather future droughts.

As part of our ongoing work to explore practical and effective solutions to the region’s water challenges, the PPIC Water Policy Center recently surveyed local water districts about their groundwater recharge efforts. Although such efforts have been underway for decades in some parts of the valley, the state’s 2014 groundwater law has increased interest in using recharge to bring basins into long-term balance.

About 75% of respondents to our survey said they were actively recharging this year. Large water districts with formal recharge programs are doing the lion’s share of recharge, but there’s lots of interest from smaller agencies in getting in on the act.

Agricultural districts are already employing a broad mix of recharge tools, and many see potential for expansion. In contrast, urban districts—most of which rely heavily on groundwater—are much less active. The most widespread methods—used by two-thirds of agricultural districts surveyed—include allowing water to seep through unlined canals and irrigating crops with surface water instead of groundwater, which enables basins to recharge naturally (a method known as “in-lieu” recharge). Other popular options—used by half of agricultural districts—include directing water to dedicated “recharge basins” and applying extra water on irrigated cropland. Some districts also spread water on fallowed land and open space. Of these tools, recharge basins are being used most intensively, storing more than half of total recharge reported (roughly four maf). One caveat to this last finding is that many districts have been using some popular methods (cropland irrigation, in-lieu recharge, and unlined canals) without formally accounting for how much recharge occurs.

 

By Tim Hearden

ORLAND, Calif. — State Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross held up the rice industry in the middle Sacramento Valley as an example of how growers can respond to public concerns about their production activities.

The industry’s effort about a decade ago to move away from winter residue burning by using water for decomposition quieted downwind complaints from urban residents while creating habitat for birds — and enhancing an already famous hunting ground, Ross said.

The move illustrates what California’s 77,500 farms often have to do to mollify concerns among the state’s roughly 40 million residents, many of whom may have formed misconceptions based on inaccurate information, she said.

“People don’t know how passionate we are about our land and all the steps we take to preserve it,” Ross told about 75 people at the second annual North State Innovations in Agriculture conference Nov. 8 at the Glenn County Fairgrounds.

She urged growers to work with environmental groups and cultivate relationships and human interactions with city dwellers and consumers.

“You have the water of the state, and you have the wildlife, the forests and the diverse landscapes,” Ross said. “If you want to be bolder going forward, you have to form partnerships and communicate with more people.”

Ross’ remarks came during a wide-ranging speech and question-and-answer session near the close of the conference, which was started to educate Northern California farmers and ranchers about technological advances and marketing trends.

Her message provided a bookend after keynote speaker David Schabazian, a manager for the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, opened the conference Nov. 7 by telling growers they should form partnerships with local government planners to have input on land-use policies that could maximize their farms’ earning potential.

Noting the conference’s focus on emerging technologies, Ross cautioned producers not to lose their human touch. She encouraged farmers to tell their stories on social media and in personal interactions with consumers.

“People can feel a connection with you even if they’ve never met you,” she said.

She pointed to former California Cattlemen’s Association president Matt Byrne, whose family’s SunFed Ranch markets its new grass-fed beef product lines by handing out samples at functions such as last year’s Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif.

“That takes a lot of effort,” Ross said, adding the ranch doesn’t sell all of its beef that way but still finds the venues valuable.

While California’s regulations often flummox growers, the upside is that the state’s products are coveted around the world because people know they’ve met high standards, she said. To that end, California Grown, an organization that promotes the state’s farm products, is working with the group Visit California to enhance food- and beverage-related tourism, which already accounts for 25 percent of all the tourism to the Golden State, she said.

Link to story

What California industry directly employs more than 104,000 people with a ripple effect that supports an additional 285,000 full-time jobs in retail, construction and other sectors?

If you said dairy, reward yourself with a cold glass of milk.

But don’t celebrate long. Our success is global and fragile. Seemingly small actions giving the European Union and other U.S. competitors the upper hand can inflict damage on the California economy.

Conversely, smart trade deals remove barriers and spur growth. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, dairy exports to Mexico are up 885 percent (to $1.2 billion in 2016).

The dairy industry supports President Donald Trump’s effort to modernize a trade deal created when Google wasn’t even a domain name, much less a verb. But walking away from NAFTA as threatened would damage a dairy industry that employs far more Californians than even the tech giant in Palo Alto.

That’s not a criticism. Silicon Valley creates prosperity, but so does dairy and the rest of California agriculture. Our jobs are dispersed throughout the state, helping rural communities.

Dairy’s economic impact can be seen in a new study by the International Dairy Foods Association, an industry trade group. It finds that, in addition to full-time jobs, dairy delivers California $4.8 billion in business tax revenue and creates $97.9 billion in economic impact when counting the ripple effect.

Dairy’s future looks promising, thanks in large part to exports. California ports are a vital gateway.

Take, for example, the milk powder securely packed into bags at Dairy Farmers of America plants in Fort Morgan, Colo., and Fallon, Nev. The powder is trucked through California to the Port of Oakland. Once there, it’s loaded into cargo containers stacked like multicolored Legos. Ships transport the containers over the Pacific Ocean to destinations such as China, Singapore and Korea.

“The export supply chain is vital in getting products from U.S. farms to the tables of consumers around the world,” says Elena Asher, assistant director of export logistics at DFA. “In the process, tens of thousands of jobs are created and billions of dollars in economic activity generated.”

It wasn’t long ago that we kept almost all our milk in this country. Today, nearly one out of seven gallons of U.S. milk ends up in products overseas. Our exporters just set a goal to increase that to one out of five gallons within three to five years.

The goal is ambitious and doable.

Middle-class populations are swelling in markets like Southeast Asia, consuming more dairy products than their own countries can produce. We have the land, cows, technology, know-how and safety record to seize that opportunity.

Why are trade agreements so important? Among other things, they determine the taxes and duties, called tariffs, imposed on products coming into a country. NAFTA was historic because it removed tariff barriers, opening doors between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

This is the time to mend NAFTA, not end NAFTA. California jobs are at stake.

TOM VILSACK IS A FORMER IOWA GOVERNOR AND U.S. AGRICULTURE SECRETARY WHO NOW SERVES AS CEO AND PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. DAIRY EXPORT COUNCIL.

Link to article

This week in Palm Desert, CDFA joined the third annual ‘Growing Together’ Latino Farmers’ Conference, hosted by the the National Center for Appropriate Technology and the USDA. CDFA staffed booths representing several of its programs, including CalCannabis, the Fertilizer Research and Education Program, and the Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation.  This short video has more information.

By Rebecca Plevin

As workers harvest dates across the Coachella Valley, growers and researchers are undertaking another huge task: Preventing a two-inch, invasive pest from boring into the palm trees that bear the sticky, sweet fruit.

The pest, the invasive South American palm weevil, feasts on date palms, fan palms and other types of palm trees. In 2011, it spread from Mexico to San Diego County, where it’s now killing Canary Island date palm trees.

“Right now, it’s not in our area,” said Albert Keck, president of Hadley Date Gardens in Thermal and chairman of the California Date Commission. “We’re not in a panic mode right now. We’re in a very precautionary mode.”

Keck is working with scientists from University of California, Riverside and Riverside biotech company ISCA Technologies to develop ways to prevent the pests from taking a bite out of the Coachella Valley’s date industry, which supplies about 95 percent of the country’s dates.

The date industry, which employs several thousand people, last year produced more than 31,000 tons of dates and generated more than $46 million in sales, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But the South American palm weevil could wreak havoc on the date industry. The pests bore holes in the leaf bases in the crowns of palm trees. Females lay their eggs in these holes and seal them off with wax. The larvae then eat the palms from the inside out, typically in the crown of the tree.

An infestation can damage the crown of the tree; if it gets bad enough, it can cause the tops of trees to droop and collapse.

Research on the pest is supported by a $300,000 grant that was announced last week. The non-profit Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research contributed $150,000, with other organizations, including UC Riverside, ISCA Technologies and the California Date Commission, matching that.

“If you can keep the population down to a minimum, you can keep the devastation down,” said Sally Rockey, executive director of the research foundation.

As part of the prevention campaign, UC Riverside and ISCA Technologies have developed a chemical formula that attracts palm weevils.

They plan to set up about 100 bucket-shaped traps throughout the valley by the spring, said Dr. Mark Hoddle, director of UC Riverside’s Center for Invasive Species Research. The traps feature the formula that attracts weevils; the pests fly into the buckets and then drown in a preservative, he said.

The traps will allow scientists to monitor the presence of weevils in the region. They can also help contain infestations and prevent the pests from spreading to rural areas where dates grow, he said.

As a second strategy, researchers will put the formula into small dollops of wax, which contain small but lethal doses of a pesticide. The wax will then be applied in silver dollar-sized dollops to trees, allowing researchers to kill the weevils without spraying pesticides on entire trees, Hoddle said.

“The weevil is going to probably arrive at some stage, so we need to be prepared for that eventuality,” Hoddle said.

Hadley Date Gardens specializes in Deglet Noor and Medjool varieties of dates, according to Keck, the third-generation owner of the company. He will likely have some of the scientists’ traps in his orchards, which stretch across the valley to the Salton Sea. He’s willing to support the research, he said, if the tools stop the infestation from spreading from San Diego to the valley.

“We just do not want it to get out from that area right now,” he said. “We want to contain it and eradicate it there if possible.”

Link to story

 

Watch the live stream for tomorrow’s  Public Forum on Managed Groundwater Recharge to Support Sustainable Water Management, hosted by the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the California Department of Water Resources.

Broadcast available at CDFA Live Events.

Conference Agenda

I was pleased to travel to Modesto on Sunday (Nov 5) to meet with USDA secretary Sonny Perdue on his first official visit to California!  We had a great discussion about Farm Bill programs important to California and other issues like Ag workforce needs, the critical priority of trade, the reasonable implementation of food safety laws, water reliability, and environmental standards that manage to avoid stifling innovation.

 

Secretary Perdue spoke to a group of Ag leaders gathered at Modesto Junior College and then was careful to listen to their comments and concerns.

I have every confidence that Secretary Perdue will be a strong, engaged leader at USDA; someone who will work for the betterment of California and the nation. I look forward to working with him in the months and years to come.

USDA NEWS RELEASE

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California is continuing to offer assistance to landowners affected by recent catastrophic wildfires.  The assistance, provided through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) covers erosion control and water quality practices on eligible cropland, rangeland and nonindustrial private forestland. Typical practices include mulching, seeding, grade stabilization, tree planting and other measures to protect burned areas from eroding and/or minimizing transport of sediment and pollutants into waterways. NRCS will continue to accept applications and will periodically evaluate them for funding consideration.

Applicants may also request early-start waivers to enable recovery work to begin immediately. (The Agency’s standards and specifications will still need to be met and any needed permits must still be secured before work begins.)

NRCS is targeting $4 million to help farmers, ranchers, and forest land owners in California recover from the recent wildfires. This is one of several disaster assistance programs available through USDA to support recovery efforts for individuals and communities.

NRCS is also offering technical and educational assistance to fire-impacted landowners faced with erosion and flooding in a damaged watershed. NRCS conservationists have expertise in erosion, hydrophobic soils, and the use of measures (such as sand bags, mulching, etc.) to mitigate damage to the landscape.

NRCS is also continuing to work with communities and partners to assess eligibility for its Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program which assists communities with rebuilding efforts following imminent hazards to life and property caused by natural disasters. For more information on available NRCS, FSA or RMA assistance, contact a local field office, or visit www.usda.gov.

Link to news release 

By CDFA veterinarian Rebecca Campagna

The ability to quickly trace movements of sick animals or animals exposed to disease is essential to maintain the health of California’s livestock. Individual animal identification and accurate record keeping are the foundations of animal disease traceability.

While animal disease traceability, or ADT, does not prevent disease, it is indispensable for disease-control programs and for emergency response investigations by animal health officials.

The United States Department of Agriculture and state animal health officials, including the California Department of Food and Agriculture, worked with livestock industry stakeholders to develop an animal traceability framework that enhances the ability to trace the movement of livestock. Federal ADT regulations became effective on March 11, 2013, and changes to California’s ADT regulations became effective on April 1 of this year.

California ADT regulations are modeled after the federal regulations but include some differences that adapt to California’s cattle industries.

For cattle and bison moving within California:

• All dairy cattle born in California after Jan. 1, 2017, must be officially identified prior to leaving their birth premises. There is an exception: If moving directly to an approved tagging site, animals can have official identification placed upon arrival.
• All dairy cattle changing ownership require official identification, with exceptions for animals moving to an approved tagging site where animals have official identification placed upon arrival; a recognized slaughtering establishment with a USDA approved backtag; or an approved livestock marketing facility that is also an approved tagging site, and then to a recognized slaughtering establishment with a USDA approved backtag. Animals may only go to one livestock marketing facility prior to slaughter.
• Non-virgin bulls less than 18 months of age and all bulls 18 months of age and over must bear individual official identification prior to change of ownership—unless the bull is moving directly to a recognized slaughtering establishment with a USDA-approved backtag or on a Bull Slaughter Agreement.
• Beef breed cows of any age moving to slaughter require an official identification device before slaughter or must be identified with a USDA backtag.

For cattle and bison entering California:

California regulations closely mirror federal regulations in that the following groups require official identification for entry: female dairy cattle of all ages; male dairy cattle born after March 11, 2013; and all cattle used for rodeo, show or exhibition.

Sexually intact female beef cattle 6 months of age and older and sexually intact male beef cattle 18 months of age and older require official identification to enter California. This state regulation differs slightly from the federal regulation that all sexually intact beef cattle 18 months of age and older need official identification, regardless of sex.

Cattle in all of these groups may be exempt from the requirement of official identification upon entry if they move directly from the farm of origin (that is, their birthplace) to an approved tagging site in California or a recognized slaughtering establishment with a USDA-approved backtag.

Cattle and bison entering California are also required to have a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection and Interstate Livestock Entry Permit, unless the animals are moving on a Special Entry Permit, moving to an approved livestock market or are passing through California.

Identification and records:

Official identification devices for cattle and bison include button Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) or bangle-type 840 tags; silver/’brite’ or National Uniform Eartagging System tags; or, in females, brucellosis orange metal or orange RFID tags in brucellosis-vaccinated animals.

Veterinarians, approved livestock facilities, approved tagging sites, registered feedlots and livestock markets must keep Certificates of Veterinary Inspection or alternate documentation, and any supporting documents required for the movement of livestock entering the facility, for five years. Approved licensed dealers must also maintain an individual identification record for each animal for five years. This must include the animal’s identification, the buyer and the seller. Any person receiving livestock and owners of the shipped animals must maintain official documents for five years.

If you want to look directly at the California regulations, they can be found in Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations, Sections 830-838; the federal regulations can be found in Title 9 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 86.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture Animal Health Branch is available to answer any questions about requirements for official identification and documentation for livestock movement within or into the state.

For more information on these requirements or other questions, please contact AHB headquarters in Sacramento: 916-900-5002 or any local AHB district office. District offices are located in Redding, 530-225-2140; Modesto, 209-491-9350; Tulare, 559-685-3500; and Ontario, 909-947-4462.

Please visit the AHB ADT website to find additional information on identification and documentation requirements at www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/animal_health/id_info.html.

Link to item in Ag Alert

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