Valley Headlines

Water is least of your worries

Cal Matters. How three Trump policy decrees could affect CA’s agricultural industry.
Synopsis: Dan Walters offers his perspective on how Trump’s presidency will impact farming: 1) Water. Farm advocates are applauding Trump’s commitment to “securing a sustainable water supply.” Dan points out that farmers are “miffed” that despite full reservoirs, they’re getting less water. They believe Trump will fix that. 2) Tariffs. Trump’s promised penalties on foreign products will inevitably result in retaliatory tariffs on food. Seven years ago, tariffs on walnuts, wine and grapes hurt the San Joaquin Valley. 3) Immigration. Trump will be looking for a dramatic moment. But taking 2 million people out of CA’s economy won’t be easy or productive. Large-scale removals will leave fields empty. Dan’s Bottom Line: Farmers voted for more water, but that will be the least of their worries. You can’t sell crops that are rotting in the field because there is no one to pick them and nowhere to sell them.

Fear rising among immigrants

Merced Focus. Merced’s undocumented brace for new immigration policies amid deportation fears.
Synopsis: Story focuses on a young man who was born in Mexico but moved to Merced at age 7. After 17 years, he doesn’t remember Mexico. Ana Padilla of UC Merced says non-citizens make up 16.9% of Merced’s population, including those with documents. In Los Banos and Livingston, undocumented residents make up 13.4% of the population. Many are living in fear or already planning to go home.

Yep, the Valley is sinking

Stanford News. Groundwater pumping drives rapid sinking in SJ Valley.
Synopsis: Subsidence has hit a record rate over the past two decades as more land has been pushed into production even in the face of drought. The sinking rate “for the entire valley reached nearly an inch per year between 2006 and 2022.” This is not new, but now we’re able to quantify the rate, says Stanford’s Rosemary Knight. Subsidence “ebbed during the 1970s following installation of new aqueducts,” she writes, but “roared back in the early 2000s amid a series of droughts, intensified pumping, land-use changes and reduced deliveries from Northern California rivers.” Knight says it requires 220 billion gallons a year to replace pumped water. That’s about 7 billion gallons LESS than the amount of surface water left over in the Valley after environmental needs are met. Hence, flood-MAR won’t work.
MAD Take: This study appears to lead to the conclusion that irrigated agriculture should be halted to protect the aquifers.  

Prepping for climate money

CA Water Institute. CWI projects provide regional perspective for Prop 4. 
Synopsis: Passage of the $10 billion climate resiliency bond will provide $3.8 billion for water projects, with some of that promised to the SJ Valley. So, Fresno State-based CWI is partnering with Blueprint for the SJ Valley to track Bureau of Reclamation projects in hope of developing a unified plan for future investments. The governor has provided $569,000 in seed money. “To build true resilience, we must take a strategic approach” and develop an “integrated system.”
MAD Take: A decade after passage of SB1 -- overwhelmingly approved by voters to store more water -- it’s time to admit that it failed. Why? I blame a Water Commission bureaucracy that worked quietly against every storage project, including Sites. In that light, perhaps a quasi-official group can augment – or better yet, bypass – Water Commission staff.

Bird flu: ‘It’s a mess’

Fresno Bee. CA agriculture faces significant losses as avian flu outbreak spreads: ‘It’s a mess.’
Synopsis: Reporter Robert Rodriguez says that more than a quarter of the state’s 1,100 dairies have had at least one infection and are now quarantined. On poultry farms, 4 million turkeys and chickens (and a few ducks) have been killed to prevent spread. “It’s a mess,” says Bill Mattos, president of the CA Poultry Federation. “Everyone is on high alert when it comes to biosecurity.” There is no cure, so some 107 million birds have been destroyed since 2022. That has been costly for processors like Foster Farms. One of the most recent outbreaks was last week in Oakdale despite significant biosecurity measures like in-and-out showers. UC Davis says dairy farms often cluster, and that facilitates viral spread as workers move between farms.

Farms.com. Avian flu infects 1 more CA dairy worker; CDC details sequencing from Washington.
Synopsis: The CA Dept of Public Health says 27 farm workers have tested positive for bird flu since the outbreak arrived in August. There have been 53 human cases in 7 states. The number of infected dairies is up to 335. Meanwhile, CDC scientists have found a neuraminidase inhibitor and a polymerase acidic protein that each makes antiviral drugs less effective. Now they can work to counter them.

6 contenders for ag secretary

Successful Farming. USDA Secretary contenders: Meet Trump’s potential picks for agriculture.
Synopsis: Reporter Natalina Bausch profiles 6 contenders: 1) Abel Maldonado. Yep, the former Lt. Governor of CA and strawberry farmer is being considered. 2) Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, has been a strong voice for a decade. 3) Kip Tom of Indiana, he served at the United Nations for Trump; his firm has 17,000 acres in production. 4) Mike Conaway, a private consultant from Texas, was in Congress until 2021. 5) Sid Miller, the Texas ag commissioner, says he’s in talks with Trump’s team. 6) Ray Starling, North Carolina, was chief of staff at the USDA from 2018-19.  

Big Pig out to kill your vote

Farms.com. Pork producers deeply disappointed in Senate’s failure to address Prop 12 in Farm Bill.
Synopsis: The National Pork Producers Council is angry that the bill they got John Duarte to co-sponsor in the House didn’t get through the senate and into the Farm Bill. Too many senators refused to embrace a bill written to thwart a Supreme Court decision.
MAD Take: If Adam Gray wins CA-13, this battle will move to the House. Under Duarte’s bill, Californians will lose their ability to have any impact how food or product standards. It is important to note that the biggest pig farmer in America is Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods. And the Chinese parent company lost most of its pork population to African Swine Fever in 2018 precisely because of how it housed its pigs – just like pigs are housed in Iowa, Texas and Georgia. So far, ASF (which is 100% fatal) has been kept out of the US, but if it arrives pigs raised in closely confined spaces will be doomed.

Anti-camping ban passes

ABC30. Merced city council passes ordinance to crack down on public camping.
Synopsis: It is now unlawful to sleep or pitch a tent within 1,000 feet of a school, in a park, on a sidewalk, a public parking lot or a street. It passed 4-2 Monday night. Those who scoff at the law will be fined $50 for a first violation, $150 for a second, etc. If there are any other areas that become a problem after all of these have been ruled out, the city is authorized to pass temporary bans.
MAD Take: Good luck collecting those fines.

The plight of farmers’ wives

Ag Daily. Study reveals challenges of farm life and family balance.
Synopsis: Women have it toughest on the farm, often required to juggle household tasks, childcare, farm finances and off-farm jobs. Many are doing all this in isolation from support. That was the conclusion of a University of Georgia study. “Women are vital in farming. Many women are farmers themselves while others work the farm alongside their spouse. But much of their work is invisible, sometimes even to the women themselves.” Two-thirds of farm wives also work off the farm. Half handle the farm’s finances – the largest single stressor on any farm. Worse, they are required “to be the bright spot in everyone’s day” – especially their distraught husbands. “It’s really easy to get sad,” said one. Yet, most wouldn’t trade their lives for any other.  

Big ranch on the block

Fresno Bee. Got $117 million? 3,300-acre ranch near Fresno for sale: ‘Priceless piece of land.’
Synopsis: Well, it’s not really “priceless” if there’s price tag, right? Basically, 5 square miles of rolling foothills and powerlines. The 3,344 acres east of Friant Road and west of Auberry Road was ranched by the Blasingame family in the 1800s and is still used for grazing. It has Millerton Lake views, sort of. There are vernal wetlands, but no secure water source, which could hamper development. BTW, it works out to around $3,600 an acre.

Exiting the stage …

KSEE/CBS47. Lois Tarkanian, wife of former Fresno State coach, dies.
Synopsis: She wasn’t just a coach’s wife, sitting on the sidelines. Lois served as a regent on the Nevada State Higher Education board for several years. Born in Kerman, she became a teacher and even served 14 years on the Las Vegas city council.

Turlock Journal. John Johnson (Turlock via Delhi). He was Turlock chief of police from 1979 to 1993.