Congratulations to Diary Co-ops in Tulare
Land O Lakes is celebrating 100 years of cooperative dairy heritage in Tulare. Since 1909, when Dairyman’s Cooperative Creamery Association began receiving cream from the local dairymen, the industry has been a cornerstone of the community. The facility has grown from daily deliveries of cream in horse drawn wagons to over 16,000,000 pounds of milk daily to the 400 South M Street address in downtown Tulare. The celebration will be held on June 19 at the Tulare Historical Museum.
Legislative Update
June 5 is the legislative deadline for bills to clear their house of origin in order to stay on track for enactment on January 1, 2010. Therefore, the following bills of interest to agriculture passed their house of origin and remain alive in the legislative process.
- Methyl Bromide – AB 21 (Lowenthal) Requires the Department of Pesticide Regulation to conduct a review of the assessment undertaken pursuant to the 8th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the 20th meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel regarding methyl bromide, and comment on the findings of the panel.
- Water Conservation - AB 49 (Feuer & Huff) Requires a 20% reduction in urban per capita water use in California by 2020. The bill also requires agricultural water suppliers to implement, by July 31, 2012, certain best management practices for water use efficiency.
- Inspection Certificates – AB 219 (Ruskin) Increases fines to $2500 on vehicle operators who fail to obtain a certificate of inspection when entering California with an agricultural shipment.
- Citrus Disease Prevention – AB 281 (De Leon) Authorizes the establishment of the 17 member California Citrus Disease Prevention Committee within CDFA. The industry- funded committee would be authorized to conduct, and contract with others to conduct, informational programs to educate residential owners of citrus fruit on the prevention of diseases or vectors specific to citrus and programs for surveying, detecting, and analyzing citrus diseases.
- Apple Pests - AB 443 (Galgiani) Implements the California Apple Pest and Disease Prevention Act of 2009 to ensure that apples produced or handled in the state are pest and disease free. The program would be administered by an appointed 11 person committee acting with the concurrence of the Secretary of Food & Agriculture. The committee is responsible for making recommendations to the secretary of designated pests and diseases not already present or identified in California as of January 1, 2007.
- Feed Inspection Fees – AB 547 (Mendoza) Extends the license fee and a feed tonnage tax authority until January 1, 2015.
- Organics - AB 557 (Caballero) Increases the membership of the California Organic Products Advisory Committee from 15 to 16. The additional member must be a certifier accredited by the United States Department of Agriculture.
- Cotton Board - AB 604 (Fuller) Permits the San Joaquin Valley Cotton Board with the concurrence of the Secretary of Food & Agriculture to periodically determine what specific sections of the district's authorizing chapter and related regulations shall be operative and for what period of time.
- Blueberry Commission - AB 606 (Ma) Authorizes the establishment of a California Blueberry Commission to promote research, marketing and education regarding California's blueberry industry.
- Wheat Commission - AB 735 (Committee on Agriculture) reduces the number of producer members on the California Wheat Commission from 15 to 13 and adds two at-large members. There are also changes in the number and boundaries of the voting districts.
- Agricultural Commodities - AB 905 (Committee on Agriculture) Removes the 200 pound per lot minimum exception that applies to showing proof of ownership in any transaction relating to the sale, purchase or transportation of any fruit, nut or vegetable. It will also apply to every person who sells or buys the commodity for resale, processing, or further distribution through any commercial or nonprofit enterprise. Additionally, the bill allows enforcement officials to take possession and maintain custody of products seized from individuals believed to be in unlawful passion of an agricultural commodity.
- Aerial Spraying – AB 1069 (Monning) Requires telephone hotlines, used for reporting adverse health effects due to aerial pest eradication applications, to be toll free, staffed by knowledgeable public health personnel and all health complaints to be entered into a data base.
- Honey - AB 1216 (Evans) Establishes a new definition of honey covering new technical standards and new honey designation provisions.
- Dead Animal Haulers - AB 1249 (Galgiani) Authorizes the State Veterinarian to issue a master or individual permit to a licensed dead animal hauler or an individual hauling his or her own animal that allows transport of a dead animal to an appropriately permitted landfill under either of the following circumstances: (1) During a proclaimed state of emergency or local emergency; or, (2) When the licensed hauler has certification from a licensed renderer that the dead animal can’t be processed due to operational conditions or legal or regulatory requirements or constraints.
- State Seed Enforcement - AB 1255 (Tom Berryhill) Extends until January 1, 2015, the authorizations to allocate annual subvention payments to the counties for enforcement of seed identification and quality standards.
- Organics Transition – AB 1401 (Ma) Enacts the California Transition to Organics Act of 2009 within the Department of Food & Agriculture. The bill would establish the Transition to Organics Fund, which would consist of moneys from federal, industry, and citizen sources. Funds would provide financial assistance to persons who transition their uncertified farms to certified organic farms.
- Shelled Eggs AB 1437 (Huffman) Prohibits, beginning January 1, 2015, the sale of a shelled egg for human consumption if it is the product of an egg-laying hen that was confined on a farm or place that is not in compliance with those animal care standards set forth in Proposition 2.
- Pierce’s Disease – SB 2 (Wiggins) Extends statutory authorization of the Pierce's Disease Control Program in the Department of Food and Agriculture and the Pierce's Disease Management Account in the Food and Agriculture Fund until March 1, 2016.
- Citrus Nursery Stock – SB 140 (Corbett) Requires the Department of Food & Agriculture to develop and establish the Citrus Nursery Stock Pest Cleanliness Program to protect citrus nursery stock from harmful diseases, pests, and other risks and threats, as specified.
- Food Safety – SB 173 (Florez) This bill has been amended to allow for the Department of Public Health to create a voluntary food safety recall system through the regulatory process.
- Milk Pooling - SB 362 (Florez) Amends the Gonsalves Milk Pooling Act to allow producer-handlers operating outside of the pool to make deductions for all of their production from class 1 sales before being required to account to the pool. The bill would also delete certain provisions relating to the participation of milk production of exempted producer-handlers in either the base pool or overbase pool and to the transfer by a producer-handler of the option to join or operate outside the pool. Additionally, dairies that produce and process raw milk will be allowed to opt out of the pool.
- Manlifts – SB 478 (Wolk) Authorizes the owner or operator of agricultural production, processing, and handling facilities to designate a competent employee to maintain and test manlifts used at the facilities.
- Citrus – SB 562 (Florez) Authorizes the California Citrus Advisory Committee to develop a communications program to inform producers and handlers of the requirements of the inspection program.
The next In the Know will be distributed on June 19.
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