Friday, February 15, 2008

Wayne Allen Honored

The Agricultural Council is proud to present Wayne Allen with the 2008 Cooperative Leader Award. This special award recognizes individuals who have made substantial contributions to agricultural cooperatives in California through their time, leadership, and involvement in co-op issues and organizations.

In 1969, Wayne and his wife Joann started their own farming business. Over the years they produced a wide variety of crops including oat hay, wheat, field corn, ladino clover seeds, sudangrass seeds, and rice. Early on, Wayne demonstrated strong leadership skills. He served as a director for the Sacramento County Farm Bureau from 1975 to 1988 where he held several leadership positions including Treasurer, Second Vice President, and First Vice President. He also served as a voting delegate to the California Farm Bureau Federation House of Delegates, Chairman of the Legislative Action Committee for 8 years, and spent 16 years on the CFBF Rice Committee.

In addition to his work with Farm Bureau, Wayne also saw the value of cooperatives. In 1985 he was elected as a director to the board for Sacramento Valley Farm Credit. He served continuously for 18 years, including six years Chairman of the board. He also held the chairmanship of the Western Farm Credit Bank Stockholder’s Advisory Committee.

Wayne’s family has produced seeds for Cal West for over 50 years. His dedication to the co-op is evident his 24 years of service on the board of directors. From 1980 to 2004 he held several positions including Treasurer, Vice Chairman, Audit Committee Chairman, and Chairman of the board. Wayne’s leadership played a key role in helping Cal/West Seeds successfully work through some difficult financial times. Currently, Wayne serves as a director for US AgBank and is also serving on the NCFC Blue Ribbon Farm Bill Committee.

Wayne will be honored at the Ag Council’s 2008 Annual Meeting at during a special luncheon on Tuesday, March 4.

EU Ambassador

On Wednesday evening the Ag Council hosted a special dinner for John Bruton, European Union Ambassador to the United States. Bruton was in Sacramento earlier in the day for meetings with state legislators and had specifically requested that a dinner be organized with “aggies.” The participants included 14 individuals from the Council’s membership, plus CDFA undersecretary George Gomes and Rich Matteis representing the Farm Bureau. The Ambassador proved the be a very interesting and engaging dinner guest. He answered questions in a very straight forward manner and shared an insider’s view of the internal politics of the EU, agricultural labor issues, trade and biotechnology. Since he knew very little about California agriculture, the attendees provided him with a greater appreciation for the diversity of our industry and challenges we face in trying to be competitive in the world marketplace. All-in-all it was a terrific evening!

LBAM

On Monday industry representatives met with state and federal officials, who are conducting the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) eradication project in the Bay Area and along the Central Coast. LBAM is considered a Class A pest infestation that can lead to international quarantines, economic losses and environmental damage if it becomes established in California. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the 2008-2009 LBAM Action Plan that outlines treatment strategies, environmental monitoring, public health issues and communication. There are a number of major challenges associated with this project that have stimulated our interest:

• Even under the best of circumstances the eradication project will require a substantial commitment of state and federal funds and may take three to five years to complete.
• Treatments will require both ground and aerial applications of pheromones and predatory wasps. If not properly managed, the wasps could potentially destroy Monarch Butterfly eggs.
• The treatment areas will encompass many environmentally sensitive areas in Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Monterey Counties where local environmental activists are fully engaged at local and state levels in efforts to stop the eradication project.

The politics surrounding the LBAM are very similar to the early 1980s when there was an enormous public outcry and backlash against the aerial spraying to eradicate the Medfly. Because the stakes are so high, the Ag Council is working with other industry organizations through the Invasive Pest Coalition (IPC). The IPC is developing strategies to assist state and federal officials with communications, public outreach and legislative support for the LBAM project.

Heat Stress

The Ag Council participated with other industry groups in a meeting with Cal OSHA representatives to discuss how the agricultural community can come together to increase compliance regarding heat stress regulations. Although agriculture has generally been doing a good job, several areas of compliance can be improved: 

• Emergency response 
• Maintaining clean, fresh water supplies 
• Assessing the health of workers who take frequent, unscheduled breaks Allow site visits by Cal OSHA consultants

It was underscored that as summer approaches the ag community needs to be prepared for the worse in regards to heat stress. Therefore, we need to apply what we’ve already learned and get weather-related precautions implemented in a timely fashion. It was agreed that the industry needs to be proactive on heat stress issues, particularly with respect to recording our accomplishments.

Diesel Engine Replacement

The California Air Resource Board is moving forward with regulations to require almost all diesel trucks, including specialized agricultural vehicles, to either be retrofitted with new, cleaner burning engines, or be replaced with totally new equipment beginning in 2010. This is being done to protect human health through stringent air quality standards to reduce particulate matter emitted from mobile sources. Although this issue has been brewing for some time, the enormity of its potential economic agriculture is just beginning to manifest itself. On Thursday, I joined with 15 other ag representatives in a meeting with the undersecretary of CAL-EPA, Cindy Tuck, to explain the severe economic impact the regulations could have on agriculture. Essentially, the turn-over in equipment is being phased-in over a nine year period, starting in 2010. Since a significant number of trucks and other farm vehicles date back to the mid-80s, the proposed phase-in timelines will actually require ag diesels to be replaced and/or retrofitted twice within the nine year period. This is a complex issue that pits human health concerns against economic reality. Thus far, there’s been no indication from ARB staff that any effort will be made to address or minimize the economic impact on agriculture. Since this issue was well publicized at this week’s World Ag Expo in Tulare, the heat will definitely be turned-up within the ag community to get this issue fixed!