Ten years into the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, local agencies are implementing plans and projects to achieve long-term sustainability in aquifers by limiting overdraft, land subsidence and impacts to drinking water. Navigating SGMA challenges, including the probation process under the California State Water Resources Control Board and how to fund and implement […]
Applications are now open for the “We Believe in Growing” scholarship, presented by E.M. Tharp and World Ag Expo®. The scholarship was created to support agriculture education and inspire students from the Central Valley to pursue careers in agriculture. The scholarship is available to high school seniors from Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Kern counties. […]
The Annual World Ag Expo® is slated to make its return in February, naming Connie Conway as the 2025 Show Chairman. Her appointment marks an exciting new chapter, as she will lead efforts to shape the upcoming show. “I am both excited and honored to serve as the 2025 World Ag Expo® Chairman,” said Conway. […]
The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) today announced a new rule that will provide notice to the public in advance of applications of certain hazardous and drift-prone agricultural pesticides. The move toward increased transparency regarding chemical use in agriculture was broadly welcomed in the farmworker communities of the San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast where […]
California water officials, local water agencies and farmers have spent the past decade preparing for the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, a historic regulatory framework developed to bring overdrafted aquifers into balance by 2040. Under SGMA, local groundwater sustainability agencies must submit plans that show how the basins will achieve long-term sustainability by […]
The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) released today a draft regulation of cancer-causing 1,3-dichloropropene (aka 1,3-D, brand name Telone) that addresses only “occupational bystanders” and relies on completely different assumptions of lifetime cancer risk exposure than the law regulating the same pesticide towards children and residents near agricultural fields. The draft has already been received […]
Robby Robinson, a beekeeper from Leonard, Texas, threw some clothes in his back pack, rustled up some food, kissed his wife goodbye early one October morning and headed to California. His goal was to ask Bitta Toor why he hadn’t been paid for his services. “I just wanted to talk to him face to face. […]
U.S. Reps. David Valadao, Jimmy Panetta, Jim Costa, Mike Thompson, Doug LaMalfa and other members of the California delegation today introduced the Agriculture Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, which would provide $14 billion to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in support of natural disaster assistance programs for losses experienced in 2023. Earlier this year, economists […]
With cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in dairy cows rapidly rising in California, animal health officials continue to try to contain the spread, even as they remain flummoxed by how the virus moves among herds. Based on genetic information of the virus, officials say it appears migratory waterfowl initially introduced H5N1 bird flu to […]
As almond harvest continues statewide, growers say they are focused on their bottom lines, looking for ways to diversify their crop portfolios and identify other income to shore up narrowing profit margins due to lower prices and higher costs. “Cost controls are the biggest problem, so the price you get is absolutely a major factor,” […]