Valley Headlines

Winegrowers get desperate

SF Chronicle. Desperate CA wine growers are slashing prices on grapes; no one is buying.
Synopsis: Story first focuses on Napa, a medium-size grape-growing region, but soon moves to the Central Valley where Jeff Bitter of Allied Grape Growers explains that this year is “about as bad as it gets,” adding, “some of our worst fears have come true this year.” Grapes that sold for $1,200 a ton two years ago are going for $400 now. “You’re barely above the cost of picking and hauling the grapes.” One seller tried to offload his Napa cab by saying: “If you have the capacity, extraordinary Napa fruit is going to be had for Central Valley prices.” He wanted $2,500 a ton for grapes that he used to sell for $4,000. That’s the lowest prices in 20 years. Meanwhile, vineyards are either for sale or being removed.

‘Project X’ backfired on Assemis

KVPR. Court filings describe Assemi brothers ‘secret’ effort to sidestep America’s richest farmer.
Synopsis: “Project X,” as described in court documents, was the Assemi family’s secret plan to build their own pistachio-processing plant and get around selling their nuts to Stewart Resnick’s Wonderful Co. The plan backfired when nut prices fell and interest rates rose, forcing their vast farming empire – 50,000 acres – into receivership. “Ultimately, construction delays and cost overruns, coupled with the collapse of anticipated refinancing (from Prudential) led to … (the family) defaulting on its loans and losing its interest in Project X by the end of last year,” says the story. The Assemis join the Smitcamps – another Fresno farming dynasty – in financial collapse.

Valley Sun. Fresno family ‘gambled their own financial futures’ to attempt Wonderful takedown.
Synopsis: The Sun’s review of Project X adds that US Bank has also filed suit against the Assemi family. The bank loaned the Assemis money on their Maricopa farming operation, but the family ignored US Bank’s insistence that any new encumbrances have their permission. When the 2022 pistachio crop crashed and interest soared, the family was in a bad place. Says US Bank: “The Assemi brothers gambled their companies, their creditors and their own financial futures on Project X – and lost.”

Politics, pickleball and fistfights

SF Chronicle. Retirement community cracks down on free speech after pickleball brawl over Trump.
Synopsis: Joe Garofoli writes about Rossmoor, an upscale private community in Contra Costa County, that could be a harbinger of things to come. A fistfight broke out on the pickleball courts of the 55+ community when two women disagreed about Trump’s claims. Community managers banned any political signs, and now residents on both sides are saying their free-speech rights are being trampled. The community’s largest club is Democrats of Rossmoor, and the group is ready to sue. “These are people who have marched, who’ve been through civil rights, MLK, assassinations, Vietnam. When you say, ‘No, you can’t talk, you can’t express opinions,’ they are saying, ‘Oh, yes we can. We’ve been doing it all our lives.’”
MAD Take: As usual, Garofoli tells a good story.

Daily dose of local politics …

Merced County Times. Martinez says he’s prepared to lead Merced in new direction.
Synopsis: Anthony Martinez is running against Matthew Serratto for mayor. The 38-year-old teacher feels he has grown “a thousandfold” since losing to Serratto four years ago.

Merced County Times. Rojas-Flores wants to forge more proactive city leadership.
Synopsis: Felipe Rojas-Flores is running for Merced council’s D3 seat. He’s 28 and a lawyer and says he has had trouble buying a house. “I feel priced out of my hometown.”

Merced Focus. Hear from Los Banos election candidates at 2024 League of Women Voters forum.
Synopsis: Reporter Briana Vaccari explains that this is an historic election since all five council members will be on the ballot – including two who are the subjects of recalls. Each candidate will get a minute to explain their platforms.
MAD Note: Story provides basic details of the forum, but no context around WHY this is an “historic election.” It fails to note the two sitting councilmembers are being recalled after authorizing a $1.8 million payment to a once-fired city manager Josh Pinheiro and a decision to require a 5-0 vote to fire him. Stuff like that.

Modesto Bee. Ervin, Sperling and Messick run for Modesto City Schools Area 2 board seat.
Synopsis: This is a Q&A with two of the three candidates. John Ervin, who is well known in the community and is endorsed by the MTA, is up first. Then Emma Sperling, who has two kids in the system; she says she will stand against intolerance. Roman Messick didn’t participate, but from his website he appears to be in line with the Moms for Liberty, right-wing agenda.

Turlock Journal. Roads, electric rates and school safety topics at Turlock public forum.
Synopsis: Supervisor Vito Chiesa hosted the annual Local Government Night. Among those who spoke were the city’s Pam Franco and Rebecka Monez, TUSD’s Anthony Silva and TID’s Michael Frantz. He talked about the balance between power, reliability and water. He noted TID’s commitment to become “carbon free” in the near future. He also pointed out that it has been a decade since rates were raised.

Bird flu hits Merced County

Farms.com. CA confirms more Avian Flu in dairy herds, poultry.
Synopsis: While it was announced last week that 7 dairy herds in the Valley have been infected, the CA Dept of Food & Ag said Friday that bird flu has been found in a turkey farm in Merced County – the first incidence since last June.

Valley Sun. Big Fresno Fair cancels live dairy shows due to Avian Flu.
Synopsis: The fair will still have auctions, but they will be conducted online. Also canceled will be live milking demonstrations, replacement heifer sales, the showring, etc. The only silver lining is that due to protocols established for COVID-19, the Fair knows what to do to conduct a successful auction online.

EVs, cleaner gas working

LA Times. CA emissions drop 2.4% due to electric vehicles and cleaner fuels, officials say.
Synopsis: The drop seen in 2022 was significant, say officials. That 2.4% amounted to 9.3 million metric tons of CO2, or about what 2.2 million gas-powered vehicles would spew in a year. Most of the reduction came from EVs but there were also reductions from “donkey” locomotives in ports and railyards that have been converted to bio-fuels from diesel. The greenhouse gas emission was the lowest since 2020, when the pandemic shut down the economy. In 2007, CA emitted 484.5 metric tons of carbon; in 2022 it was 371.1 metric tons – a 23% drop. That includes industrial emissions, which have fallen to the same level as the year 2000. Methane emissions dropped too, though the writer made short shrift of this important development.

He’s trying to kill CA’s Prop 12

Farms.com. Vilsack, Boozman discuss Farm Bill prospects, Prop 12 impacts.
Synopsis: The Ag Secretary and the senator met with 120 pork producers at the National Pork Producers Council to talk about how measures will be inserted into the Farm Bill in an effort to legislatively undo what the Supreme Court did in upholding Prop 12. Vilsack said higher prices in CA make it harder to include pork in school lunches. Boozman made it plain that a “fix” to Prop 12 was a top priority of the NPPC, which gets a significant amount of its funding through a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Beijing-based WH Group – the top pork supplier to the Chinese miliary.
MAD Take: John Duarte is a co-sponsor of the EATS Act, which would overturn the rights of Californians to set standards for the food they eat and support the Chinese company’s goals.

Cracking down on over-pumping

Modesto Bee / LA Times. CA cracks down on another Valley farm area for groundwater depletion.
Synopsis: The LA Times catches up to the story out of Tulare County where the water board has put much of the Tule subbasin on probation. First quote, Dorene D’Adamo: “It just strikes me that we really are in a crisis situation.” That’s because subsidence is ravaging the area’s infrastructure, including the newly repaired Friant-Kern Canal where the ground has subsided 42 inches since 2015. There are 550 drinking-water wells at risk. The subbasin’s refusal to curtail pumping has pitted farmer against farmer in lawsuits and angry confrontations. Board member Laurel Firestone said pumping limits simply “aren’t kicking in fast enough.” Testing of drinking water shows falling aquifer levels are concentrating the amount of arsenic, nitrates and Trip-1,2,3 in the water. Farmers say restrictions and fees will kill their farms. One noted that the value of his land has fallen 70% in 5 years.

Merced doc, philanthropist retires

Merced County Times. Pioneer Merced cardiologist to hang up his stethoscope.
Synopsis: Dr. Hanimireddy Lakireddy is retiring after 50 years. At 82, he’s not sure what’s next but it’s unlikely he will do nothing. Dr. Lakireddy immigrated from India after graduation from the Warangal Medical School in 1978. He made it to Merced by 1984 to become the only cardiologist in town. He is well known for both running and philanthropy, having dedicated most of his earnings to bettering the lives of others. Among those who have benefited are UC Merced, Merced College, Merced High, his hometown, his med school and poverty programs in India and the US. There are many others.

Valley farming goes high-tech

LA Times. Central Valley aims to train farmworkers to master the technology replacing field work. 
Synopsis: Story focuses on a Merced College, which offers the Fresno-Merced Future of Food Innovation initiative to train workers in deploying robots that kill weeds, drones that check moisture in soil, and tractors that are guided by GPS. The program has $65 million from the federal Economic Development Administration and is administered by the Central Valley Community Foundation. Marco Lizarraga of La Cooperativa Campesina de California says, “The farmworker is no longer going to exist in another 10, 15 years.” Among the leading users of this tech is Cannon Michael, president of Bowles Farming near Los Banos. Students work at their own pace through online courses and video, taking exams on campus to get certifications. At Merced College, 7 of the 23 students in the program are farmworkers; others include construction workers and even a former inmate. The UFW is not yet impressed, saying this is not “a scalable solution to farmworker poverty.”

10,000 acres protected

Merced County Times. Sierra Foothill Conservancy successfully protect Le Grand’s Morrison Ranch.
Synopsis: The 10,000-acre Waltz-Turner Ranch is one of two owned by the Morrison family, and they have sold the conservation easement to the Sierra Foothills Conservancy. Notes SFC’s Bridget Fithian, “They’ve been ranching this property for multiple generations and completing the conservation easement is going to ensure they’ll be able to continue their ranching operation and pass it on to their children.”