madera county farm bureau...april 2016 vol. 6, no. 4 agriculture today see page 5 see calendar may...

Madera CountyFarM Bureau

April 2016 Vol. 6, No. 4agriculture today

See page 5 See Calendar

May 12thHeat Illness Slips/Trips/Falls

Back SafetySign up Today!

CAleNdArApril12 Board of Directors Meeting, 1:00-

3:00 p.m., MCFB Ben Hayes Hall, 1102 South Pine Street, Madera (559) 674-8871, info @ www.mader-afb.com

19 Conservation Easements 101 10:00 a.m., MCFB Ben Hayes Hall, 1102 South Pine Street, Madera RSVP 15th (559) 674-8871, info @ www.maderafb.com

21 EDD seminar- Employee or Indepen-dent Contractor 9:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. At the Workforce Investment Board Business Center, 7475 North Palm Ave Suite 105 Fresno, CA 93711 for more info call (866) 873-6083.

28 Madera Irrigation District Annual Growers Meeting. Ground Water forum begins at 10:00 a.m., Grow-ers Meeting begins at 11:00 a.m. Madera Fairgrounds, Hatfield Hall 1850 West Cleveland Ave. RSVP (559) 673-3514 ext. 202 or email [email protected] before April 15, 2016.

May1 MCFB Scholarship Wine & Beer

Tasting, 2:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m., ApCal, 32749 Ave. 7 Madera (559) 674-8871, info @ www.maderafb.com

9 Farm Insurance 101 & Land As Your Legacy, 1:00 p.m.- 3:00 p.m. MCFB Ben Hayes Hall, 1102 S. Pine Street, for more info contact (559) 674-8871 or register at www.maderafb.com

10 Board of Directors Meeting, 1:00-3:00 p.m., MCFB Ben Hayes Hall, 1102 South Pine Street, Madera (559) 674-8871, info @ www.mader-afb.com

12 Heat Illness, Slips/Trips Falls & Back Safety Training MCFB Ben Hayes Hall 8:00 a.m.- 2:30 p.m., 1102 S Pine Street, Madera (559) 674-8871 or www.maderafb.com to reserve your seat today!

30 MCFB Office Closed for Memorial Day.

April 11thConservation easement 101

10:00 a.m.rSVP Today!

See Scholarship; 4

Tesi Family Four year scholarshipNathalie CorpusLiberty High School

Plans to attend: University of California, DavisMajor: Animal ScienceGPA: 4.3

Quote from Biography: “FFA has been one of the most

influential aspects of my life. Ever since I was a little girl, I have known that I wanted to become a veterinarian. Not only did my experiences in FFA lead me down the right path towards becoming

a veterinarian, but they also solidified it.”

Franklin secara Four year scholarshipLauryn FloresLiberty High School

Plans to attend: California State University, FresnoMajor: Agriculture BusinessGPA: 3.1

Quote from Biography: “I hope to one day have a career that allows me to do what I am passionate about as well as allowing me to help my family out financially. I believe that the agriculture industry is the way to go. As a four-year student of agriculture education and an active member of the National FFA Organization, I have developed a passion for agriculture.”

2016 Scholarship Recipients

2 | April 2016 Madera County Farm Bureau

Madera County Farm Bureau

news

Farm Bureau Membership BenefitsInsurance

Allied Insurance, Nationwide Agribusiness, VPI Pet Insurance

News and entertainmentAgAlert, California Country Mag & T.V.

VehiclesGMC Trucks, Vans and SUV’s, Vehicle Rentals,

Avis, Budget, Budget Trucks, Hertz

do-It-YourselfGrainger, Kelly-Moore Paints,

Dunn Edwards Paints

TravelChoice Hotels, Wyndham Hotels

Business ServicesAnderson Marketing, Farm Bureau Bank,

Farm Employers Laborers Service, Land’s End Business Outfitters

Health ServicesClear Value Hearing, Farm Bureau Prescription

discount program, LensCrafters, Preferred Alliance

Contact the MCFB Office at (559) 674-8871or www.maderafb.com for details.

What a change from a dry February to a wet March, and now surface water availability… Talk about head spin-ning. Most growers are scrambling to get there lift pumps in order to be able to start taking deliver-

ies, which is a good problem to have. The fact that our reservoir levels south of the Delta are only at half capacity and the ones to the north are over capacity is still a frustrat-ing situation, it really goes to show how broke water policies and the conveyance system really are. Hope-fully everyone in the county is giving their deep wells a break and using as much of this surface water as pos-sible. On an another note we are coming up to our annual Scholarship Wine and Beer Tasting, hopefully, everyone will be attending the event

to make it another great success this year. I was fortunate enough to sit on the scholarship interview com-mittee again, and every year I find it amazing how well rounded and excellent speakers these kids are. They all have something in common. Most of these students have partici-pated in the FFA program, many if not all four years of high school. The FFA program has really developed the key fundamentals for these kids to become high achievers in the Ag world. It’s really a great program that we all need to support. As the grow-ing season progresses so does the spraying of the crops, so please make sure your employees are all follow-ing the safety and spraying rules, as well as watching for oncoming traffic when coming in and out of fields. If needed, please look at our website for upcoming safety meetings to help train and keep your employees updated. Looking forward to a good growing season!

Once again the MCFB office is still busy as ever. We had a successful Pesticide Handling & Tractor/ATV safety training last month. A huge thank you goes out to all of our spon-sors and attendees. This month we have another Agricultural

Conservation Easement informational meeting on April 19th, and we are preparing for our annual Scholarship Wine and Beer Tasting event on May 1st at ApCal. We also had a great leadership conference in Sacramento with CFBF where whne were able to meet with legislators and discuss our concerns about upcoming bills. On top of it all we have been trying to stay ap-prised with all of the new SGMA regu-

lations. Unfortunately, there are a lot of new water regulations coming out that will significantly impact growers, not only in Madera, but statewide. On a positive note, MCFB had scholarship interviews this past month, and I am happy to report that we will be award-ing $40,000 in scholarships to Madera County students furthering their education in agricultural or agricultural related fields. These scholarships would not have been possible had it not been for the contributions and support from you, our members, and from our local businesses. We spend a lot of time and effort in planning our scholarship fund-raiser to help the kids in our communi-ty, so we look forward to seeing you all on May 1st at ApCal. If you would like tickets or to contribute to the event, please contact the office. Have a great month, and pray for April showers!

President’s Message

Executive Director’s Address

Jay MahilPresident

Christina BecksteadExecutive Director

2015 - 2016 executive CommitteePresident: Jay Mahil

First Vice President: Nick DavisSecond Vice President/Treasurer: Michael Naito

Secretary: Laura GutileAppointed by President: Dennis Meisner Jr

Appointed by President: Tom RogersAppointed by President: Steve Massaro

Appointed by President: Chris Wylie

directors at largeRobert CadenazziH. Clay DaultonJason Erickson

Michele LasgoitySteve MassaroNeil McDougald

Ryan CosynsStephen ElgorriagaJennifer Markarian

Scott MaxwellJeff McKinneyPat Ricchiuti

California Farm Bureau - district 9 director Tom Rogers

California Farm Bureau CommitteeEnergy, Air, and Climate- Clay Daulton

State Budget, Taxation, and Land Use- Nick DavisAgriculture Labor- Jay Mahil

Forestry, Fish & Wildlife, and Public Lands- Neil McDougald

Office StaffExecutive Director: Christina BecksteadExecutive Assistant: Jazmine Jackson

Madera County Farm Bureau1102 South Pine Street

Madera, CA 93637(559) 674-8871; www.maderafb.com

Advertising/PublishingMid-Valley Publishing

1130 G Street, Reedley, CA 93654

Advertising SalesDebra Leak (559) 638-2244

editorJazmine Jackson

Periodical PostagePaid at Fresno, California 93706

POSTMASTerSend address changes to:

Madera County Farm Bureau1102 South Pine Street, Madera, CA 93637

The Madera County Farm Bureau does not assume responsibility for statements by advertisers or for

products advertised in Madera County Farm Bureau.

To BECoME A DoNoR CALL 674-8871

Maddalena FarmsJeff C. McKinney

Pr Farms Incernie Moosios

robert d. BishelJason C. littleton

Singh Farmsdonald e. Schnoor

Creekside Farming Co. Inc.

MCFB would like to thank all of our members who help support our work

through their voluntary contributions for the month of April:

new MCFB donors

Madera County Farm Bureau MembersDiscounts for Business memBers• Earnthelowestadvertisingrate• Freespotcolorinyouradvertising• Nochargeforaddesign• Firstadatdiscountedprice• Businesscardlistinginour“AtYourServiceDirectory”

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new MCFB Members

MCFB welcomes the following new Agricultural (producer), Associate

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January:

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Madera County Farm Bureau April 2016 | 3

See Water; Page 16

By Tim Sheehan,Fresno Bee

Contractors are picking up the pace of construction on the first stage of Califor-nia’s high-speed train system, with cranes, bulldozers and other heavy equipment at work at several sites in and around down-town Fresno.

Major construction on the first 29-mile section began last summer on a viaduct over the Fresno River and Highway 145 east of Madera. Now, more than halfway through the term of the contract, prog-ress is evident at the southern end of the project. In downtown Fresno, the old Tuolumne Street bridge over the Union Pacific railroad tracks was demolished in January and February. Crews are work-ing there on foundations for a new, taller bridge with enough clearance for not only the freight trains, but for new high-speed

trains and the electrical lines that will power them.

“They’re starting to do the foundation work and getting ready … to pour the columns, so you’ll start seeing the columns up fairly shortly,” said Diana Gomez, the California High-Speed Rail Author-ity’s Central Valley regional director. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in November, but because the demolition of the old bridge went faster than expected, “we could potentially see the (new) bridge completed prior to November.”

About a mile to the north, behind the Zacky Farms feed mill on H Street near Palm Avenue, foundation work is happen-ing on a trench that will take the high-speed rail tracks beneath Highway 180, a San Joaquin Valley Railroad freight line and an irrigation canal. The trench, which will extend about a mile from Roeding Park to El Dorado Street, represents a

complex engineering chore because it will require temporary tracks for the railroad to continue operating, as well as a carefully choreographed ballet of traffic diversions for drivers on Highway 180.

“We are working closely with Caltrans,” Gomez said. “You may start seeing traffic need to be redirected or reconfigured on 180 so we can start building that portion of the trench. … We’re very close to start-ing that work, as well.”

And to the south, near Cedar Avenue and Highway 99, crews are in the early stages of digging and pouring concrete footings for a 3,700-foot-long, elevated viaduct that will carry bullet trains up and over the freeway heading south along the BNSF Railway tracks toward Hanford.

“Driving along State Route 99, you can see the drilling going on preparing for that foundation as well,” Gomez said. “That is one of the longest viaducts on the project.”

Construction could also begin soon on another major structure for the rail system, a bridge over the San Joaquin River at the north end of Fresno. Crews have been doing preliminary work called “clearing and grubbing” to prepare the area, “and you’ll start seeing more heavy equipment moving into that area in the next couple of weeks,” Gomez said.

In a related project, contractors for Caltrans have been working near Clinton Avenue and Highway 99 on construction necessary to relocate a 2-mile stretch of the freeway westward by about 100 feet between Ashlan and Clinton avenues. Gomez said a retaining wall, excavation and other work is to provide a temporary detour for the reconstruction of the Clin-ton/99 interchange.

Tim Sheehan: 559-441-6319, @Tim-SheehanNews

By Marc Benjamin,Fresno Bee

The drought is certainly not over, but the federal Bureau of Reclamation was optimis-tic enough to offer water suppliers in the Valley 30 percent of their contract alloca-tions this year.

And several water agency officials believe more could be coming as well.

For the past two years, the allocation has been zero, which affects the amount of water for farming and urban interests on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley.

The city of Fresno, which would get 60,000 acre-feet with a 100 percent alloca-tion, stands to be a significant beneficiary of the 30 percent allocation – about 18,000 acre-feet. The cities of Orange Cove and Lindsay, along with Madera County, are the other communities that will benefit.

Thomas Esqueda, Fresno’s director of public utilities, said the city will use the sup-ply in its two surface-water treatment plants and to add to recharge basins.

“While we are pleased to have received this important allocation of water, we believe

it is important to remind citizens that the governor’s emergency drought restrictions will remain in effect through October 2016, so we must continue to reduce our water consumption even with this water-supply allocation,” he said.

The Friant Division’s largest agricultural users in the Valley are Arvin-Edison Water Storage District, Madera Irrigation District, Chowchilla Water District, Delano-Ear-limart Irrigation District, Tulare Irrigation District and Lower Tule River Irrigation District.

In 2013, the Bureau of Reclamation allocated 65 percent of Class 1 water to its contractors, said Steve Ottemoeller, water resources manager for the Friant Water Authority, which represents about a dozen Friant water contractors.

The news from the federal Bureau of Rec-lamation is encouraging, and Ottemoeller said he expects greater allocations in the coming months, possibly deliveries of 75 to 80 percent or more this year.

The amount of water available for Class 1 users is 240,000 acre-feet. An additional

100,000 acre-feet will be available from Class 2 supplies.

(Class 1 water is a supply that can be de-livered to the contractor when needed. Class 2 water is sent to contractors when water is coming into reservoirs at above-average rates and has to be be released to avoid a dam’s overflow.)

“It’s encouraging that we have gotten

something and we believe there is more in the system in the snowpack and upstream reservoirs,” he said.

The 30 percent allocation is water that will be delivered this year even if the rest of the season is dry, Ottemoeller said.

“The Bureau of Reclamation’s announce-

High-speed rail construction takes on higher profile in Fresno

Feds loosen up, offer 30 percent water allocation

to Valley contractors

John Walker [email protected] workers at Friant Dam at Millerton Lake are dwarfed by a water release in July 2015.


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By Robert Rodriguez,Fresno Bee

Fewer bugs, favorable weather and a decline in acreage contributed to a drop in pesticide use for Fresno County in 2014.

The county’s pesticide use dropped 7 percent, or 2 million pounds, over the previous year, according to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s 2014 pesticide use report, the most recent year the state has for complete data.

In all, the county used 31.8 million pounds, with sulfur the most widely used chemical. Of note to state and local of-ficials was the overall drop in chemicals classified as fumigants, carcinogens and those likely to pollute the air or contami-nate the groundwater.

The San Joaquin Valley is the state’s leading agricultural region, and it re-mained the largest user of chemicals in the state.

The report shows that the top four areas of pesticide use in Fresno County were: tomatoes, almonds, grapes and fields where fumigation was used to clear the soil of pests and diseases.

Fresno County Agricultural Commis-sioner Les Wright said the decline in pesticides likely was the result of fewer acres being farmed.

“I attribute it to fallowing due to the water shortages,” Wright said.

The drought and declining prices contributed to a drop in acres of cotton, lettuce, alfalfa and grapes in 2014.

Overall, the amount of pesticides used in California fell 3 percent to 189 mil-lion pounds. The state collects data on all pesticide uses, including landscaping and pest control for residential and commercial buildings. By far, agriculture is the largest user. State officials said that while pesticide

use varies depending on insect problems, weather and acreage, the number of chem-icals listed as carcinogens dropped 6.5 percent to 30 million pounds. Also on the decline were chemicals with the potential to contaminate groundwater; those fell 18 percent to 845,280 pounds.

The use of fumigants dropped 5.44 per-cent in 2014 to 40 million pounds.

“The comprehensive information on pesticide use in California that is gathered by the Department of Pesticide Regulation is unique in the nation,” said Brian Leahy, director of the Department of Pesticide Regulation. “I am especially pleased to note that California is reducing the use of the pesticides that can be the most hazard-ous to human health and the pesticides most challenging to control.”

Robert Rodriguez: 559-441-6327, @FresnoBeeBob, [email protected]

Pesticide use in Fresno County drops due to drought, fallowed fields

JOHN WALKER Fresno Bee file photoA crop duster applies fungicide to an orchard of nectarines north of Easton in this file photo from 2000.


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By Reed Fujii ,Stockton Record

A larger than expected almond crop and soft global demand have sent the California nut industry into a tailspin, with prices falling by more than half and unsold nuts mounting in proces-sors’ warehouses.

But industry experts said this week that prices have leveled off and the relative bargains are drawing buyers back.

California, which produces about 80 percent of the world’s almond sup-ply, was expected to harvest about 1.8 billion pounds of the crunchy nuts last fall. But the latest estimates put the 2015 crop closer to 1.9 billion pounds.

In addition, soft demand and buyers pulling back from the market as prices plummeted left about 810 million pounds of almonds unsold at the end of February, about 25 percent, or 165 million pounds, more that at the end of February 2015, according to the Almond Board of California.

The industry was surprised by the size of the crop, said Brad Klump, almond broker and owner of BKI Ex-ports in Escalon.

“We ended up carrying 100 mil-lion pounds more than we thought we would,” he said.

And when almond prices rose in an-

ticipation of a light crop, buyers balked, said Bill Morecraft, senior vice presi-dent of Blue Diamond, the almond growers’ cooperative.

“Global demand softened in the fourth quarter of 2015 in response to higher pricing from California over the summer,” he said.

That triggered a sharp decline.Krump said he saw spot market

prices for nonpareil, the state’s premier almond variety, fall most recently to $2.15 to $2.20 a pound from $4.50 to $4.60 per pound last fall, while less desirable “pollinator” varieties now go for around $1.80 a pound from $4 a pound.

“That’s a big difference,” he said.It also triggered turmoil in some ma-

jor export markets, Morecraft reported.“The rapid drop in prices generated

contract defaults in Dubai and in India when the price of replacement goods fell below older contracts,” he said in a statement.

Those issues are being worked out and there is a turnaround in the mak-ing, Morecraft predicted.

“Prevailing prices are more than suf-ficient to spur demand that had been slowed by the peak prices in the second and third quarters of 2015,” he said.

The price drop had almond buy-ers sitting on the sidelines, said David

Phippen, principal of Travaille & Phip-pen, an almond grower, processor and handler in the Manteca/Ripon area.

“The buyer has to perceive he’s finally reached the bottom of the market,” he said. “I’m hopeful as a grower and seller that we certainly have hit the bottom and sales will start taking off now.”

There are signs it’s beginning to hap-pen.

The latest Almond Board report shows February shipments totaled 155 million pounds, compared to nearly 140 million pounds shipped in Febru-ary 2015. That’s a gain of nearly 11 percent, although February was one day longer this year.

“It looks like if you lower the price, people buy more of it,” Phippen said.

Krump said spot prices “have been stable now for three or four weeks,” his feeling is that demand and supply are more balanced.

Morecraft said he expects to see a significant lift in market activity in the next few months and beyond.

“With the most attractive early season prices in recent years, we should see a return to the pattern of strong fall shipments to satisfy holiday demand for (the Hindu festival) Diwali, Christ-mas and Chinese New Year in markets around the world,” he said.

— Contact reporter Reed Fujii at (209) 546-8253 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ReedBi-znews.

Almond market plummets, looks to recover

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By Allen Young,Sacramento Business Journal

Farmworkers would receive overtime after eight hours of work under legislation recently introduced by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, a pro-labor San Diego Dem-ocrat, knows she has a steep climb in front of her. Over the last six years, legislation to increase overtime for farmworkers has failed twice in California, most recently in 2012.

Gonzalez views her bill as a simple fair-ness measure that would give farm laborers

the same employment benefits as workers for food distributors and grocers.

“This is basic human rights,” she said. “We haven’t let the workers on farms catch up to the rest of society. It’s time we do that.”

The legislation would lower the current 10-hour day for farmworkers in half-hour increments, reaching eight hours in 2020. The standard 60-hour workweek for farmworkers also would be reduced to 40 hours.

California’s largest agricultural inter-est group, the California Farm Bureau

Federation, opposes the bill, contending it would eliminate jobs.

Farmers do not set prices for pro-duce, the bureau argues, and so a hike in employer costs could only be absorbed through consolidation in the industry, greater use of automation and reductions to the variety of crops that farmers harvest in California.

“This will accelerate a trend toward mechanization wherever possible and people electing to grow commodities that don’t require lots of labor,” said Bryan

Little, employment policy director for the bureau.

Assembly Bill 2757 is pending before an Assembly labor committee, with its first hearing expected in April. The bill has 17 co-authors in the Assembly, and seven in the Senate.

Allen Young covers state and city gov-ernment, economic development, educa-tion and transportation.

Get Contact Information for California Farm Bureau Federation.

Lawmaker proposes an eight-hour workday for farmworkers

Dennis Mccoy/Sacramento Business JournalFarmworker Arne Tschultz tends a row of romanesco at Capay organic in Yolo County

See Consequences; Page 15

By Chris Mooney,Washington Post

A striking new study — but one that is bound to prove controversial — has provided a calculation of both the health benefits and the reductions in planetary greenhouse gases that might be achieved if the world shifted away from meat-based diets.

The results, while theoretical in nature, certainly make a strong case for treating the food system, and animal agriculture in particular, as a key part

of the climate change issue. Namely, the researchers find that shifting diets toward eating more plant-based foods on a global scale could reduce between 6 and 10 percent of mortality — saving millions of lives and billions of dol-lars — even as it also cuts out 29 to 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions linked to food by the year 2050.

“Dietary change could have large health and environmental benefits,” says Marco Springmann, the lead

The profound planetary consequences of eating less meat


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By Kevin Smith,San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Millions of low-paid workers are applauding California’s new minimum wage law, which will boost the state’s current $10-per-hour minimum to $15 an hour by 2022.

But scores of other employees who are now earning $11 or $12 an hour won’t be happy to see less skilled workers be-ing bumped up closer to their pay scale.

“They will expect to get increases as well, and justifiably so,” said Paul Little, president and CEO of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. “This goes beyond the minimum wage. If you are making $12 an hour now, you’ll expect to make more than that. It’s called wage compression.”

If those employees don’t receive pay increases there will be little motivation for them to stay in their current retail positions, for example, or strive to be-

come entry-level managers, Little said.Yossi Kviatkovsky, owner of The Rack,

a Woodland Hills restaurant/sports bar that employs 46 workers, is already grappling with that issue.

“My workers are already demanding it,” he said. “When California’s mini-mum wage was at $8 an hour and it was bumped to $10, all of my employees who were making $10 an hour im-mediately demanded an increase, and I complied with their wishes. This is an issue of pride for them.”

Pride may be involved. But economi-cally, it runs far deeper.

“When you add in workman’s comp and other increased insurance costs, that $10 an hour will really be more in the neighborhood of $12 to $12.50 an hour,” Kviatkovsky said. “This will have a devastating effect for restaurants and it will be reflected in the future prices of food. You won’t get a Happy Meal or

hamburger for $5 anymore ... it’s impos-sible.”

Kviatkovsky said he is already bur-dened with a variety of other expenses. He cited a new health requirement as an example.

“Now I’m required to pay each em-ployee for three days of mandatory sick leave whether they are sick or not,” he said. “So let’s say I have 50 employees, just to round it off. If I give each one of them three days off, that’s 150 days a year. Multiply that by eight hours and that comes to 1,200 hours times $10, and that’s $12,000 a year out of pocket. How much do I have to raise prices just to pay for that?”

Economist Christopher Thornberg, a founding partner with Beacon Econom-ics in Los Angeles, agreed that employ-ees who are currently making slightly more than California’s minimum wage will have to get pay hikes as the state’s minimum wage rises.

“Absolutely,” he said. “And this is a two-to-one whammy. If it costs you an extra $200,000 to pay for the increased pay for minimum wage workers, when the other employees are figured in the cost will actually be $400,000.”

Ironically, the very people who the pay hikes are intended to benefit will suffer,

according to Thornberg.“The real effect will be felt by low-

income workers,” he said. “Employers will start hiring more seniors and get rid of entry-level people. They’re going to say, ‘If I have to pay more money I want experienced people.’ They just won’t hire someone without experience.”

Little agreed.“I think what will happen is what

we’ve seen happening in other places,” he said. “Some businesses will raise their prices to offset their increased labor costs. But in most cases they will have to reduce costs in other ways — by cutting hours or by having fewer employees.”

Not everyone buys into that argu-ment. An April 1 blog post on theEco-nomic Policy Institute’s web page sup-ports California’s tiered minimum wage pay hikes.

“Moving beyond the timidity of most recent minimum wage hikes is exactly what is needed if we are to undo decades of falling wages and deteriorat-ing living standards for the lowest-paid third of America’s workforce,” the post said. “Simply put, a bold effort is needed to make up for the lost decades in which the minimum wage was simply eroded by inflation or was increased only mod-estly.”

If the new minimum wage law has you asking for a raise, get in line


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See Sacramento; Page 13

By George Lurie,Fresno Business Journal

Modesto-based Western United Dairymen (WUD) has hired a new, high-profile lobbyist and is in the process of rebranding itself as a “major player” in Sacramento, according to the organization’s CEO.

The aggressive change in tactics, says WUD CEO Anja Raudabaugh, is part of an effort to raise the dairy advocacy organization’s profile — and influence — with state legislators, and to keep more Golden State dairies from going out of business.

WUD’s new representative in the state house is KP Public Affairs, a pow-erful K Street firm with a strong track record of legislative and regulatory wins against the Brown Administration.

Raudabaugh, who took the helm of Modesto-based WUD in mid-2015,

said KP specializes in “an aggressive political ground game.”

Gary Conover, who is no longer em-ployed with the organization, handled WUD’s Sacramento lobbying respon-sibilities in-house until the recent change. Raudabaugh said the shift in strategy will actually save the organiza-tion money.

“Using [KP] is actually much less ex-pensive,” Raudabaugh said. “Our board was heavily involved in the decision-making process. Part of my job is trying to be a good fiduciary controller of how we spend our members’ money.”

In a note to the organization’s mem-bers in advance of the annual WUD Convention, scheduled for March 16-17 in Rohnert Park, Raudabaugh said KP has been “setting up a better offense for the California dairy farmer versus defense tactics only” that characterized

WUD’s recent lobbying efforts.Michael Kahl and Frederick Pownall

have built KP into the largest public affairs management firm in California. Each man had established his own suc-cessful lobbying practice beginning in the 1970s before the two joined forces in 1996.

In Sacramento, KP represents a large stable of high-profile Golden State and national clients, including Westlands Water District, the California Restau-rant Association, Hertz, Cisco, Citi-group and Dow Chemical.

“It‘s been a critical task to develop the message of the organization, brand it and sell it to the Sacramento politi-cians as a force to be understood and reckoned with as a major player in their pond,” said Raudabaugh. She said the stepped up lobbying efforts are part of WUD’s new message to promote

“sound legislative and administrative policies and programs” that will boost the struggling industry’s profitability.

WUD represents 65 percent of the state’s dairy producers, many of which have fallen on hard times in recent years. Low milk prices have forced hundreds out of business and today, just 1,200 dairies are operating in the Golden State, nearly all of them family-owned.

But with milk prices continuing to sour, industry officials report that nearly one-third of animals being sent to slaughterhouses today are dairy cows.

And with the February milk price down to $12.95 per hundredweight, Raudabaugh said the pain for dairy farmers just keeps getting worse, es-pecially, she added, with dairy owners spending “at least 50 percent” of their

Dairy group goes on the offensive in Sacramento

10 | April 2016 Madera County Farm Bureau69

97

Jason Tikijian, Office Manager/Controller12501 Road 19, Madera, CA 93637Email [email protected]

Office 559-664-8863Fax 559-664-8221

• Orchard/Vineyard Removal• Grinding • Ripping

• All Aspects of Land Devlopment



John Yergat, President12501 Road 19, Madera, CA 93637Email [email protected]

Office 559-664-8863Cell 559-960-6791Fax 559-664-8221

Jason Tikijian, Office Manager/Controller12501 Road 19, Madera, CA 93637Email [email protected]

Office 559-664-8863Fax 559-664-8221





John Yergat, President12501 Road 19, Madera, CA 93637Email [email protected]

Office 559-664-8863Cell 559-960-6791Fax 559-664-8221 61

31

Almond growers wishing to utilize harvest technology to minimize particulate matter (PM) emissions in their or-chards may be eligible to

receive payments through the Natural Resources Conser-vation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives

Program (EQIP), even though they may hire out the harvest process, according to Johnnie Siliznoff, state air quality specialist.

“The NRCS encourages the use of technology that research has shown will reduce emissions from harvest operations,” Siliznoff says. “Eligible landowners whose jobber uses acceptable, lower-emission equipment in their orchards may be eligible for a payment through this

program for up to three years.”Interested growers should visit their local NRCS field

office to obtain and complete an application. Growers awarded contracts will need to supply the required docu-mentation to prove clean harvest technology was used.

The NRCS accepts applications year-round and has five funding periods in the 2016 program year. The next cutoff date is in mid-June.

GROWERS ELIGIBLE FOR CLEAN-HARVEST TECHNOLOGY PAYMENTS WHEN USING CUSTOM HARVESTERS


98

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) will be holding a Central Valley listening session to gather input from stakeholders to help determine appropriate notification when field fumigation occurs in anticipation of a possible new regulation. For almonds, this applies mostly when whole-orchard replant takes place.

The listening session, or workshop, will be held in Fresno on Thursday, April 14, from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. at the Mosqueda Com-munity Center, 4670 E. Butler Ave., and will include simultaneous Spanish and Hmong interpretation. An agenda and more informa-tion can be found here.

Current fumigant application regulations require notification of residents and others about certain applications of the soil-applied field fumigant methyl bromide. In addition, product labels for certain other soil-applied field fumigants have different notifica-tion requirements as part of the emergency preparedness and response measures. These

regulations and requirements, which can be viewed in the agenda, will serve as a starting point to create a uniform requirement for all soil-applied field fumi-gants.

In addition to the public listening session, DPR will be accepting comments on regula-tion concepts for fumigation notification in writing. Written comments must be submit-ted to DPR by May 20, 2016, and can be directed to Randy Segawa, Department of Pesticide Regulation, at [email protected] or PO Box 4015, Sacramento, CA 95812-4015.

- See more at: http://www.almonds.com/newsletters/outlook/soil-fumigant-notifi-cation-listening-session-scheduled#sthash.WDRa9EHx.dpuf

SOIL FUMIGANT NOTIFICATION LISTENING SESSION SCHEDULED


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Farmers and ranchers are innovative businesspeo-

ple, not afraid to take risks. Many op-erators are always thinking about ways to increase revenues. Sometimes that means expanding into areas that can include commercial activities, like seed conditioning, hauling other peoples’ grain, custom spraying, even agritour-ism or a farm stand.

Nationwide, the #1 farm insurer in the U.S., has compiled a list of the Top 10 things farm and ranch operators should consider whenever you have a discussion about expanding your busi-ness. The bottom line: It’s important to do your homework, and be sure to contact your insurance agent.

1. Check federal, state and county laws and ordinances

Check to see what building codes, permits or licenses may be needed prior to starting any new business or adding new construction.

2. Environmental impactBe a good land steward and consider

any impact your expansion could have on the environment. Check with your local Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Department of Transportation (DOT) and county engineers on how you can protect the environment as you grow your operation.

3. Consider your neighbors Will an expansion of your operation

impact your neighbors in any way? If you think the answer to that question may be yes, consider informing them early of your plans.

4. Increased traffic Inviting the public onto your prop-

erty brings with it special liability concerns. You will need to post signs to warn visitors of any potential dangers. Are your premises ADA compliant? Will you provide restroom or hand-washing facilities?

5. Product safetyYou may need to initiate proper

controls and safe handling programs for any product you are processing or selling to prevent property damage or bodily injury to others.

6. More employeesIf the expanded operations will re-

quire hiring additional employees, you may need to provide training and safety materials. If the additional employees increase your operation to over 50, you will need to comply with OSHA stan-dards. Be sure you’ve obtained adequate insurance to protect both your employ-ees and your operation.

7. Safety and securityConsider if you need to take addi-

tional steps to protect your property or operation from burglary, theft or other crimes.

8. Manage outside risks Be sure to obtain signed contracts

and certificates of insurance for any expansion operations that involve other businesses coming onto your farm or ranch or for businesses you hire to do work for you and your operation.

9. Have a contingency planIf your operation suffers a set back,

have a plan in place with steps to follow that allow you to continue your opera-tions. Having a documented contingen-cy plan can help you get your operation back up and running more quickly.

Top 10 Things to Consider when Expanding your Farm Operation


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Nationwide has been protect-ing agriculture for over 100 years, including commercial agribusinesses. For more information or to find an agent who offers Nationwide farm insurance, visit www.WS4U.com/farmers-ranchers.

operating margins complying with “onerous” California permitting and regulatory regulations.

“Our message to the lawmakers at the Capitol has got to change,” Rauda-baugh said.

For California dairymen to break even today, Raudabaugh said they need a milk price of about $16 per hundredweight. “Without California’s regulatory and permitting restrictions, the break-even price would probably be closer to $10 per hundredweight,” she added.

WUD members have long been frus-trated with state lawmakers’ “negative” impact on their industry.

Raudabaugh said that the organi-zation believes its new lobbying and branding strategies will be more effec-tive in securing legislation more favor-able to dairymen.

“If these lawmakers continue to pass such onerous policies, the dairy in-

dustry will go away from California,” Raudabaugh said. “We have to start rebranding our industry with effec-tive product messages. We have to get everybody thinking differently.”

Raudabaugh said WUD’s new lob-byist is already starting to educate state lawmakers about the increasingly expensive realities of running a dairy business in the Golden State.

Up until recently, she said, “Those making the laws and implementing regulations governing the dairy in-dustry had little to no idea how much those policies affected dairy farmers’ bottom line and that these burdens can not be passed on to the end-product prices.”

At this year’s World Ag Expo in Tulare, dairy officials from the state of New Mexico actually had a booth and were actively trying to recruit Califor-nia dairymen to move to their state, which is under a federal milk market-ing order and where land prices are lower and the regulatory environment is considerably less costly to comply

with.In previous years at recent farm show,

representatives from Texas and Wis-consin have also tried to lure California dairymen to relocate to their state.

Even if California is eventually included in a federal order, something U.S. Department of Agriculture of-ficials are currently considering, the boost in milk prices paid to Golden State dairymen may not be enough to offset what many in the industry characterize as “constantly escalating” regulatory pressure.

Raudabaugh said WUD’s new lob-byist have “heavily pressed upon” a number of targeted legislators the dire nature of the situation — and that some of the lawmakers have already made “systematic legislative changes” to the bills they have introduced or intend to introduce this year.

“This reflects a major change in the wind for dairy farmers to date,” Rauda-baugh said. “Now the task is to main-tain the awareness and press harder.”


SCHOLARSHIPContinued from Page 1

progeny oF agriculTure laborers Four year scholarshipAmaranta GalindoMadera South High SchoolPlans to attend: University of California, DavisMajor: Agriculture EconomicsGPA: 4.3

Quote from Biography: “FFA has been one of the most influential aspects of my life. Ever since I was a little girl, I have known that I wanted to become a veterinarian. Not only did my experiences in FFA lead me down the right path towards becoming a veterinarian, but they also solidified it.”

madera counTy Farm bureau Four year scholarshipBailey SamperMinarets High SchoolPlans to attend: Linn Benton Community College, OregonMajor: Animal ScienceGPA: 4.2

Quote from Biography: “Pursuing a career in livestock pharmaceutical sales will give me the opportunity to help farmers provide safe food for consumers. Furthermore, I want to be part of an ever-advancing industry that is constantly working to improve food safety while meeting the needs of a growing population.”

madera counTy Farm bureau Four year scholarship

Gary NieuwkoopChowchilla High SchoolPlans to attend: Concordia University, NebraskaMajor: Agriculture BusinessGPA: 3.5

Quote from Biography: “I have a passion for being on the farm and raising animals and I truly hope that someday I can have all of those things of my own. This aspiration is what drives me and has made me who I am today. I give a hundred percent of myself to the journey I have ahead of me to reach my goals.”


Nicholas UrrutiaChowchilla High SchoolPlans to attend: Merced Community CollegeMajor: Agriculture BusinessGPA: 4.3

Quote from Biography: “I plan to one day successfully run my own ranching operation. To successfully own and operate a ranching/farming business, I believe that it not only takes hands-on experience but it also takes various forms of knowledge and learning that I plan to acquire through my degree.”


Felipe C. VallejoChowchilla High SchoolPlans to attend: Cal Poly San Luis ObispoMajor: Agriculture EducationGPA: 3.9

Quote from Biography: “I have chosen to be an Agriculture Educator because of my advisors that have influenced me to continue to be an agriculture advocate and teach students the importance of Agriculture and Leadership.”

madera counTy Farm bureau Four year scholarshipHelena Johnson LuskYosemite High SchoolPlans to attend: California State University, FresnoMajor: Agriculture EducationGPA: 3.5

Quote from Biography: “I plan on taking my love and knowledge of agriculture and furthering my education at CSU Fresno to become an Agriculture Educator.”

madera counTy Farm bureau Four year scholarshipJordan MilesMinarets High SchoolPlans to attend: Reedley Community College & Willow Community CollegeMajor: Animal Science and Ranch ManagementGPA: 3.7

Quote from Biography: “I have taken Animal Anatomy and Physiology, Vet Science and AP Biology. When taking these classes, I came to realize what career I wanted to attain. That is being an Equine Chiropractor and Equine Dentist…So my career choice really coincides with what I have studied and I would like to keep traveling in that AG direction.”


CONSEqUENCESContinued from Page 6author of the new study in the Pro-ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and a sustainability researcher at Oxford University (all four research-ers involved in the work were from Oxford). But the study itself acknowl-edges that the research in some ways represents an idealized experiment, and changing food systems as dramatically as envisioned in the study would be a momentous task.

The researchers say it is “the first time, to our knowledge,” that health models and emissions models have been joined together in this way.

Much recent research has highlighted how agriculture, and especially eating meat, contributes to climate change. Ruminant animals, like cattle, belch methane into the air as part of their process of digestion. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, especially over short time frames of several decades — which is when the key decisions about mankind’s steps to address climate change will be made.

In addition, if tropical zones are deforested to make way for ranching, then animal agriculture can drive cli-mate change in another way, since the planet’s forests are major storage areas for carbon that might otherwise end up in the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, the World Health Orga-nization has recently charged that eat-ing processed meats can be a risk factor for cancer, and a large body of health research points to the importance of consuming adequate fruits and vegeta-bles in your diet to stave off a number of deleterious health outcomes.

Taking all of this as a premise, the new study uses a computerized model to examine four different dietary sce-narios, for regions of the world and the planet as a whole, out to the year 2050. One is a standard “business as usual” outlook for our global diet, based on projections by the Food and Agricul-ture Organization of the U.N.

The second study scenario, by con-trast, assumed a nation-by-nation

implementation of a healthier diet in which people, on average, get adequate calories based on eating required amounts of fruits and vegetables, and consuming less meat and sugar (and not over-eating). That diet, says Spring-mann, consists of a “minimum 5 por-tions of fruit and veg, and half a por-tion of red meat per day.” It was based on expert assessments of a healthier diet and required energy intake by the World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization.

In another scenario, the study also considered an even stronger dietary shift toward vegetarianism; and, finally, a shift of diets toward full veganism. In both of those diets, the food eaten was consistent with dietary guidance from the World Health Organization.

The research notes that these diets, as modeled in the study, are “not intended to be realizable dietary outcomes on a global level but are designed to explore the range of possible environmental and health outcomes of progressively excluding more animal-sourced foods from human diets.” It acknowledges that “large changes in the food system would be necessary to achieve” them and that, in truth, it is not expected that the world’s human population will get enough fruits and vegetables, or even food as a whole, over the first half of this century. (795 million people don’t get enough food in the world at present, according to the U.N. World Food Programme.)

Just to underscore this point, the healthy-eating diet alone would require 25 percent more fruits and vegetables consumed globally, and 56 percent less meat. The vegetarian and vegan diets require even larger shifts.

Springmann acknowledges that the changes that would be required — not just political or industrial, but cultural — would be massive. “We first want to show, is it actually worth thinking about it,” says Springmann. “And we show, yeah, it’s definitely worth think-ing about it, and we hope with those numbers, we encourage more research and action to see how we get there.”

Certainly, the changes are striking — the healthy diet led to 5.1 million fewer

global deaths per year in the model by 2050, from conditions like heart diseases, stroke, and cancer, especially in developing countries. The researchers said that more than half of the effect was from reductions in meat consump-tion (other factors included less over-eating). The other diets, in the model, saved even more lives.

At the same time, implementing these diets greatly cut greenhouse gas emissions from the food and agri-culture sector. With the healthy diet that still contained some meat, global greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector only increased 7 percent by 2050, compared with an expectation of a 51 percent increase under business as usual. Again, the vegetarian and vegan diets had even sharper effects on emis-sions.

And as the study notes, “we did not account for the beneficial impacts of dietary change on land use through avoided deforestation,” meaning that the theoretical reductions in green-house gases could be even higher.

“We disagree with the premise of the study,” said Janet Riley, senior vice president for public affairs at the North American Meat Institute, by email, noting that the institute had not yet had the opportunity to review the research in detail.

“The authors suggest that somehow consensus exists that a diet that is lower in meat is healthier and we would argue that no such consensus exists. In fact, recent research is actually pointing to the health benefits of a balanced diet that includes meat in ensuring brain development in children, maintaining brain function later in live, prevent-ing sarcopenia and anemia and so on,” Riley said.

Frank Mitloehner, a professor in the department of animal science at the University of California at Davis, pointed out that in the U.S., livestock related emissions only amount to 4.2 percent of the overall total. “Compar-ing the 4.2% GHG contribution from livestock to the 27% from the trans-portation sector, or the 31% from the energy sector in the United States, puts all contributors into perspective,”

Mitloehner wrote in a document sent in response to a query about the new study.

But Mitloehner added that in other countries, the percentage of total emis-sions coming from livestock can be much higher.

Overall, the ability to cut emissions from the food sector could still be significant, because of the urgent quest, embraced by the nations of the world, to ramp down greenhouse gases quickly in the next few decades to avoid warming more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures.

And as if that’s not enough, the research finds that these dietary shifts could reduce healthcare costs — in the U.S. more than any other nation, in fact.

“In terms of healthcare benefits, because the health expenditure is so large in the U.S., we find that the pure healthcare savings that would be asso-ciated with dietary shifts would be the largest actually of all countries,” says Springmann. By contrast, two-thirds of the actual health benefits of the dietary shifts would occur in developing na-tions, the research found.

Granted, any major shift of global diets would implicate huge changes in government policy and in industry — and might trigger some major resis-tance, not only from food producers, but also from individuals who, to put it bluntly, like to eat meat.

But Springmann says that over time, he thinks cultural change will push the world in this direction. “We already see a plateauing of meat consumption in higher income countries, like Europe,” he says. “So I wouldn’t say that the cul-tures now are prescribed to be the same cultures that we have in 2050.”

Chris Mooney reports on science and the environment.


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WATERContinued from Page 3ment is essentially a floor,” he said. “We expect there will be more because that’s a number that works even if things go dry from here on.”

Fresno Irrigation District will benefit from Class 2 supplies. In a 100 percent al-location, the district gets 75,000 acre-feet.

The district will get a portion of that Class 2 water and more is expected, said Gary Serrato. He expects about 5,200 acre-feet of water for his district.

Shane Hunt, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Reclamation, said forecasts of water runoff from the upper San Joaquin River, combined with the current storage in Millerton Lake, allowed the district to offer an allocation to Friant contractors.

Based on projected inflows into Mil-lerton Lake from snowmelt between April and July, Friant contractors also can begin

scheduling delivery of an additional 100,000 acre-feet of water under what is called an “uncontrolled season” scenario, or Class 2 supplies, Hunt said.

The uncontrolled season water must be removed from the reservoir in the near future to avert flood concerns. Availability of the uncontrolled season supplies will be re-assessed weekly and could be discontinued.

Also, the bureau made an allocation of 261,400 acre-feet to the San Joaquin River Restoration Program for the rest of 2016 based on the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement, Hunt said.

In a statement, the reclamation bureau said it “anticipates making the initial alloca-tion announcement for the entire Central Valley Project later this month after the full effect of storm systems that moved through Northern California earlier in March are taken into account.”

Marc Benjamin: 559-441-6166, @bee-benjamin

interesteD in aDvertising? contact:DEBRA LEAK MID-VALLEY PUBLISHING (559) 638-2244

madera county farm bureau...april 2016 vol. 6, no. 4 agriculture today see page 5 see calendar may...

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