Monday, June 30, 2008

Legislative Breakfast

Twenty-two legislators, staff, Administration officials along with Lt. Governor John Garamendi, joined the Ag Council’s board of directors and members in our Annual Legislative Breakfast on Wednesday morning. Each year the Ag Council hosts this event to provide an opportunity for our members to meet and engage with lawmakers and agency representatives. In addition to providing an informal table conversation covering agricultural issues, the breakfast also provides the opportunity to display the wide array of products that are produced and marketed by the Council’s membership. I want to thank everyone who attended the breakfast and provided samples of their products for the breakfast displays. We look forward to an even better event in 2009!

Treatment of Farm Animals

The Ag Council’s board of directors voted to oppose a November Ballot Measure call the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals. The proposal requires that an enclosure or tether confining calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens, and pregnant pigs must allow the animals for the majority of every day to fully extend their limbs or wings, lie down, stand up, and turn around. It imposes new misdemeanor penalties, including a fine not to exceed $1,000 and/or imprisonment in jail for up to 180 days. The proposal imposes unnecessary and costly mandates on otherwise legal and humane animal husbandry practices. If passed, it will undoubtedly open the gate to other activists groups who want to change traditional farming practices.

LBAM

Because the seemingly insurmountable legal and political obstacles that are blocking the aerial application of pheromones to combat the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) in Bay Area and Central Coast communities, CDFA announced that sterile insect treatments (SIT) would be used as eradication tool. SIT eradicates an infestation by releasing large quantities of sterilized, infertile insects so that the wild population cannot reproduce. SIT has been successful for more than 30 years in California and around the globe against a variety of insects.

The plan is to release sterile moths in early 2009. Aerial pheromone treatments will still be an option in more limited, non-urban settings (such as densely forested areas), but these treatments will not proceed until all of the environmental reviews are completed. Other tools, such as pheromone-infused twist ties and organic-approved pesticides, will also continue to be necessary due to the varying densities of local infestations and other factors.

Although the eradication strategy has shifted away from aerial application to SIT, local activists continue their strong opposition to the LBAM eradication project. The Ag Council is working through the Invasive Pest Coalition to assist CDFA with communication outreach strategies to counter the misinformation that is being spread by the opponents.

AB 32 Implementation

After 18 months of work the Air Resources Board (ARB) has released its Draft Scoping Plan that sets forth a comprehensive strategy for reducing California’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to 1990 levels. This means cutting approximately 30 percent from business-as-usual emission levels projected for 2020, or about 10 percent from today’s levels. On a per-capita basis, that means reducing our annual emissions of 14 tons of carbon dioxide for every man, woman and child in California down to about 10 tons per person by 2020.

After public comment and further analysis, the Proposed Plan will be released in October for formal adoption by the ARB. From the standpoint of production agriculture near term recommendations are narrowly focused on voluntary measures relating manure digesters and agricultural biomass. Although nitrogen fertilizers are significant source of greenhouse gases, specific action measures will be delayed pending further research.

While production agriculture is not the primary focus of the Draft Plan, the energy, transportation and food processing sectors are in the cross-hairs, which potentially means increased costs that may be passed through to farmers as GHG reduction measures are implemented.

Food Safety Research

The Center for Produce Safety at UC Davis is launching a $1 million Fresh Produce Food Safety Research Program to enhance the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The new research program focuses on the “field to fork” research needs of the entire produce supply chain, from the soil and water in the fields to storage practices in retail and foodservice outlets. This is a system-wide University of California effort through Agriculture and Natural Resources that is being administered through the Center for Produce Safety (CPS). The CPS Technical Committee developed the research priorities in only three months. The Center’s Advisory board approved spending $500,000 to match the funds provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, resulting in the $1,000,000 program. Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Sam Farr were instrumental in helping ANR and the Center receive the funds from the US Department of Agriculture. Proposal guidelines will be available on July 1, 2008 and will be due to the Center by August 31, 2008. Funds will be awarded in November 2008. A copy of the complete proposal request may be obtained by contacting the Center’s Executive Director, Bonnie Fernandez.