Friday, May 24, 2013
Click here for RSS feedSACRAMENTO -- State lawmakers want to crack down on the chronic problem of metal theft by setting up a task force to help local law enforcement and district attorneys catch and prosecute thieves. Under a California Farm Bureau Federation-sponsored bill carried by Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced ...
Thursday, May 23, 2013 10:53 AM
In an attempt to capture more of the whey value in their milk, California dairymen hope the state Senate will give them better results than the Assembly. Supporters say a bill aimed at reducing the price disparity California producers receive for their milk sold to cheese manufacturers and ...
Thursday, May 23, 2013 2:13 PM
Federal standards for the welfare of egg-laying hens suffered a defeat when they failed to make it into the farm bill legislation voted out of the agriculture committees in the U.S. House and Senate. The full Senate was debating its version of the farm bill this week. Attempts at floor amendments l ...
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 10:50 AM
POINT REYES STATION, Calif. -- This summer and fall, a group of teachers will visit farms and ranches to learn how to incorporate agriculture into their school lessons. In a program called the Agricultural Institute for Teachers, some 30 elementary and high-school instructors from the northern Sa ...
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 11:00 AM
Dairy producers wanting the California Department of Food and Agriculture to raise minimum prices for milk going to cheese makers took a different tack in their argument at a CDFA hearing on Monday. Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross called the hearing to consider extending emergency price relief ...
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 2:10 PM
Proponents of the Dairy Security Act, included last week in farm bills passed by the House and Senate ag committees, say they are pleased the proposal remained intact. But opponents of the milk supply management portion of the bill anticipate a different outcome when the House bill is debated on ...
Monday, May 20, 2013 10:48 AM
WILLOWS, Calif. -- Rice planting in California's Sacramento Valley is mostly complete, and the dry spring has enabled growers to plant at a pace that should facilitate a smooth harvest. While rain and wind in previous years have narrowed the window for planting, farmers this year were able to wor ...
Monday, May 20, 2013 10:38 AM
YREKA, Calif. -- Students in Renee McKay's fourth-grade class got jobs on a "cattle drive" as part of an annual agriculture awareness day. The trail boss was young Tristan Nick, who calmly donned his bandana and took his place in front. A small strip of paper told him he'd be earning about $90 in ...
Friday, May 17, 2013 10:37 AM
SACRAMENTO -- The $96.4 billion revised budget proposal that Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled May 14 increases spending for the California Department of Food and Agriculture after several years of cuts. The governor's proposed $61.9 million general fund allocation to CDFA is unchanged from the rosy fi ...
Friday, May 17, 2013 9:27 AM
RICHLAND, Wash. -- As cherry clusters hung sparsely in orchards near Pasco, Sundale and Hood River, Pacific Northwest cherry growers met in Richland and estimated this year's crop at 18.2 million boxes. That's down 21 percent from the record 22.9 million of last year. Alternate light bearing afte ...
Thursday, May 16, 2013 9:34 AM
The California cherry harvest is off to a good start and is heavy early, which bodes well for Washington, sources say. Harvest began April 26 near Bakersfield and has spread north to Fresno, Lodi and Stockton. An 8 million-box crop is anticipated and 1.6 million boxes had been shipped as of May 1 ...
Thursday, May 16, 2013 9:24 AM
WATSONVILLE, Calif. -- A commodity group here is celebrating National Strawberry Month by touting the nutritional benefits and growing popularity of the red fruit. The California Strawberry Commission is calling attention to current and ongoing research suggesting that making the berries a daily ...
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 9:40 AM
SHINGLETOWN, Calif. -- Organizers of a salvage logging demonstration here May 14 might have appreciated how a group of high school seniors from Anderson, Calif., evaluated what they saw. "I think it's good to see," Connor McCone said. "They're taking what's left of (the forest) and being really e ...
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 4:13 PM
GERBER, Calif. - More than $2.7 million in federal funds has been handed to 15 West Coast farms as part of the USDA's Value Added Producer Grant program. Of those, seven grants worth $1.5 million were given to farms in California. The competitive grant program aims to eliminate key barriers i ...
Monday, May 13, 2013 10:49 AM
ORLAND, Calif. -- For Shannon Douglass, the buzz word is "opportunity." The 29-year-old cattle and row crop producer is eager to share with other young people the opportunities that agriculture has to offer. A California State University-Chico instructor, she encourages would-be livestock produc ...
Friday, May 10, 2013 12:00 AM
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- With drought looming, the state of Oregon is preparing for the likelihood it will have to shut off irrigation access for many of the 200 cattle ranchers and hay farmers in the upper Klamath Basin as the Klamath Tribes take control of senior water rights in the region ...
Wednesday, May 08, 2013 8:56 AM
Little or no profits in the milk-production sector in the second half of 2012 and strong cull prices drove dairy cow slaughter to its highest level in 26 years. At 3.1 million for all of 2012, it was the second-highest slaughter on record, said Tiffany Hora, statistician with USDA National Agricu ...
Tuesday, May 07, 2013 1:55 PM
Following a directive from California Assembly Ag Committee Chairman Susan Talamantes Eggman, California's Secretary of Agriculture Karen Ross has scheduled a hearing May 20 on the state's milk pricing. The hearing will consider proposed amendments to the Class 1, 2, 3, 4a, and 4b prices. ...
Tuesday, May 07, 2013 9:34 AM
ARBUCKLE, Calif. -- The annual field day at the Nickels Soil Lab will be held 8:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, May 15. The seminar at the outdoor lab on Green Bay Avenue will be delivered by University of California farm advisors, specialists and research scientists. Topics will include bee he ...
Tuesday, May 07, 2013 4:36 PM
DAVIS, Calif. -- Honey bee expert Eric Mussen, an extension apiculturist and university faculty member here since 1976, has received an award from his alma mater, the University of Minnesota. Mussen was named the recipient of the 2013 Alexander Hodson Graduate Alumni Award and will be honored in a ...
Tuesday, May 07, 2013 4:36 PM
FRESNO, Calif. -- The local Farm Bureau here is accepting applications for its 19th annual Journalism Awards through May 31. Agriculture-related articles, blogs or stories published or broadcast from May 16, 2012 to May 15, 2013 are eligible. Any full-time, part-time or freelance journalist who co ...
Tuesday, May 07, 2013 4:36 PM
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- The state Senate approved legislation Monday that changes the ground rules for negotiations between farmers and fieldworkers by giving state regulators more authority to act. The bill lets the Agricultural Labor Relations Board require binding mediation between th ...
Tuesday, May 07, 2013 8:25 AM
SACRAMENTO -- A pair of bills aiming to improve the marketing environment for small farms is advancing in the California Legislature. A bill by Assemblyman Rich Gordon, D-Menlo Park, would enable community-supported agriculture businesses, or CSAs, to prepare and ship their own products without ...
Monday, May 06, 2013 11:14 AM
A bill in the California Assembly addressing state pricing for milk used to manufacture cheese is still afloat, but supporters say the Ag Committee stripped it of any meaningful reform. The revised bill passed unanimously in the Assembly Ag Committee May 1. While the bill passed, it wasn' ...
Monday, May 06, 2013 10:24 AM
SACRAMENTO -- Artichoke season in California is at its peak, and growers are reporting a good crop. The Golden State grows the entire domestic supply of the thorny thistle, with most of it coming from Monterey County, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation. However, the green vegetab ...
Friday, May 03, 2013 10:32 AM
The National Conference of Interstate Milk Shipments - a group of state regulators overseeing milk safety rules - has again rejected a proposal to lower the maximum level of somatic cell counts in milk. National Milk Producers Federation had again proposed lowering that count from 750,000 c ...
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