Madera County FarM Bureau - maderafb.com Newspapers/MCFB APR 201… · Madera County FarM Bureau April 2015 Vol. 5, No. 4 agriculture today See Insert See Page 16 Join us on Sunday

Madera CountyFarM Bureau

April 2015 Vol. 5, No. 4agriculture today

See Insert See Page 16

Join us on Sunday May 3, 2015 at appellation california for our annual Scholarship, Wine and

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English & Spanish Available

CAlENdArApril23 Ag Hazmat Training, Spanish

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., English 1:00 pm -4:00 p.m., Ben Hayes Hall, 1102 South Pine Street, Madera (559) 674-8871, info @ www.maderafb.com

May3 MCFB Scholarship, Wine and Lo-

cal Beer Tasting Event, 2:00 p.m. – 5:00p.m., Appellation California, 32749 Ave. 7, Madera. info @ www.maderafb.com

5 Executive Committee Meeting, 1:00 p.m., MCFB Conference Room, 1102 South Pine Street, Madera (559) 674-8871, info @ www.maderafb.com

19 MCFB Board of Directors Meeting, 12:00 p.m., MCFB Ben Hayes Hall, 1102 South Pine Street, Madera (559) 674-8871, info @ www.mad-erafb.com

June2 Executive Committee Meeting,

1:00 p.m., MCFB Conference Room, 1102 South Pine Street, Madera (559) 674-8871, info @ www.maderafb.com

Christine FryChowchilla Union High School

Plans to attend: UC DavisMajor: Agricultural Business Emphasis: Animal ScienceGPA: 3.87

Quote from Biography: “Growing up on a family farm, there is always something to be done from the break of dawn until nightfall. From a young age, until now, working on our farm has taught me to be diligent in every-thing I do and never fear asking for help when I am unable to complete a task myself. Gaining hands on experi-ence and caring for the farm animals has given me the dream to become a

veterinarian. My passion to care for animals has grown since then, espe-cially for horses, leading me to the desire of becoming a Veterinarian, a career that does not seem like work.”

Jenae HansenMadera South High School

Plans to attend: UC Davis / CSU FresnoMajor: Agriculture EducationGPA: 4.29

Quote from Biography: “In high school, I entered the FFA (Future

Farmers of America) Organization. Because it is an organization about agriculture; the projects I have done have undoubtedly strengthened my desire to take my place in the next generation of agriculturalists. The FFA also gave me the knowledge of how to facilitate and work with students. While serving as a chapter officer for the past three years and as a regional officer this year, I have put on numerous workshops where I had to teach other members. I have also

taught elementary students for several years at our Ag Literacy Days about the growth of an apple. The FFA gave me real experiences in the agriculture industry as well as the opportunity to work with students from the teacher-to-student perspective.”

Madera county FarM Bureau Four year ScholarShip


2015 Scholarship Recipients

See Scholarships; Page 3

2 | April 2015 Madera County Farm Bureau

Madera County Farm Bureau news2015 - 2016 Executive Committee

President: Jay MahilFirst Vice President: Vacant

Second Vice President/Treasurer: Michael NaitoSecretary: Nick Davis

Appointed by President: Dennis Meisner JrAppointed by President: Tom Rogers

Appointed by President: Robert SahatjianAppointed by President: Chris Wylie

directors at largeMathew Andrew

Ryan CosynsStephen ElgorriagaMichele LasgoitySteve MassaroNeil McDougald

Robert CadenazziH. Clay DaultonJason Erickson

Jennifer MarkarianScott MaxwellJeff McKinney

Pat RicchiutiCalifornia Farm Bureau - district 9 director

Anthony Toso

California Farm Bureau CommitteePolicy Recommendation – H. Clay Daulton

Air & Environmental Issues – H. Clay Daulton

California Farm Bureau Commodity representativesBee – Ryan Cosyns

Beef – H. Clay DaultonGrape – Jay Mahil

Specialty Crops – Tom Rogers

Office StaffExecutive Director: Anja K. Raudabaugh

Executive Assistant: Normalee G. Castillo

Madera County Farm Bureau1102 South Pine Street

Madera, CA 93637(559) 674-8871; www.maderafb.com

Advertising/PublishingMid-Valley Publishing

1130 G Street, Reedley, CA 93654

Advertising SalesDebra Leak

(559) 638-2244

EditorNormalee G. Castillo

Periodical PostagePaid at Fresno, California 93706

POSTMASTErSend address changes to:

Madera County Farm Bureau1102 South Pine Street, Madera, CA 93637

The Madera County Farm Bureau does not assume responsibility for

statements by advertisers or for productsadvertised in Madera County Farm Bureau.

To BECoME A DoNoR CALL 674-8871

new MCFB donors

Cynthia K. IbrahimDavis Diversified Farms Lp

dennis Meisner Jr.Ernie Moosios

Jeff C. McKinneyMike Vogel

Warnock Food Products

MCFB would like to thank all of our members who help support our work through their voluntary contributions

for the months of March & April.

Hello everyone I’m Jay Mahil and the President of the Madera County Farm Bureau. I am a 4th generation Sikh American farmer; my great grandfather migrated from Punjab, India in 1906 to Amer-ica with many dreams

filled in his pockets but very few dol-lars. However, he did not let that set him back; with hard work and determi-nation, he worked hard to save and build up enough money to finally buy his own land in San Joaquin County. Because of his and my family’s hard work I am able to say I am the first born generation of our family to first attend and graduate college. Today –with my family we farm almonds, pistachios, and wine grapes throughout the Central Valley.

For these reasons, I love promoting agriculture to future generations and beyond. I am honored to sit on the Madera County Farm Bureau Scholar-ship Committee. This year in 2015, we had the pleasure to award five local students with a variety of scholarship opportunities to assist their future endeavors in agricultural education. I sometimes believe farmers are a dying breed, so when I can help our youth see a future in agriculture, I will bend over backwards to help. It is our young Ag leaders that will carry the shovels to feed our hungry country in the future.

It is also with great excitement, that I note our very own Madera County Farm Bureau is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year! Please look

Jay MahilPresident

President’s Message

Farm Bureau Membership Benefits

InsuranceAllied Insurance,

Nationwide Agribusiness, VPI Pet Insurance

News and EntertainmentAgAlert, California Country Mag & T.V.

VehiclesGMC Trucks, Vans and SUV’s, Vehicle Rentals,

Avis, Budget, Budget Trucks, Hertz

do-It-YourselfGrainger, Kelly-Moore Paints,

Dunn Edwards Paints

TravelChoice Hotels, Wyndham Hotels

Business ServicesAnderson Marketing, Farm Bureau Bank,

Farm Employers Laborers Service, Land’s End Business Outfitters

Health ServicesClear Value Hearing,

Farm Bureau Prescription discount program, LensCrafters, Preferred Alliance

Contact the MCFB Office at (559) 674-8871or www.maderafb.com for details.

See Executive Address; Page 9

See Message; Page 3

To BECoME A MEMBER CALL

674-8871

new MCFB Members

NAME CITY P/C/BCentral Valley Community Bank Fresno ConsumerDaniel Huerta Madera ConsumerGloria Kelly Madera ConsumerSteven Lewis Madera ConsumerNorberto Lopez Madera ConsumerCora Munoz Madera Consumer

MCFB welcomes the following new Agricultural (producer), Associate

(consumer) Collegiate, and Business Support members who joined in

March & April:

Anja RaudabaughExecutive Director

Our Last Blood….Recently, there was

a water summit held in the quiet town of Los Banos. All the heavy hitters showed; Central CA ID, Madera ID, Merced ID, all the Exchange Contractors, Friant Water Authority and

Westlands Water District, to name a few. And on the regulatory side, the Bureau of Reclamation, NOAA Fish-eries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, State Department of Water Resources, and the State Water Resources Con-trol Board. Collectively represented in the room –was a group of players that literally control the heart of the State’s entire water supply –North and South. They had been summoned by Congressman Costa to confer with one another regarding the State’s dire water supply situation, and to possibly alleviate angst among the State’s largest agricultural water supplying districts.

The news was dire.

After learning that many of our reservoirs in the Central Valley were approaching dead pool and that as a State, we have less than 11% left overall in Storage –the group learned that the Northern California settle-ment contractors appear to be hoarding what little supplies they have left with respect to transfer water. For good reason too –the level of restrictions that exist in moving water through the Delta may cause them so many con-straints –that the overall quantity of water able to moved is just not worth it. The end result being is that there is

Executive Directors Address

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Kinsey McDougaldMinarets High School

Plans to attend: California State University, FresnoMajor: Animal ScienceGPA: 3.90

Quote from Biography: “Being involved in my local 4-H club through elementary school as well as high school has taught me to be a strong leader. When I started high school, I quickly became very active in my chapter’s FFA program where I am currently serving as our chapter president. Being involved in 4-H, FFA, and many other organizations and associations, has molded me into the person I am today. Through these orga-

nizations I have learned first-hand about dedication, determination, and leadership. Someday I want to be able to advocate for agriculture and give back to the industry that has taught me so much.”

Virat KangMadera South High School

Plans to attend: UC DavisMajor: Ag EngineeringGPA: 4.49

Quote from Biography: “Extracurricu-lar activities have shaped my career such as the FFA allowing to explore Ag indus-try while being on four state champion CDE and leading at local and regional levels. From the rigorous class schedule I have taken on, I have always found my heart laying with the sciences further deepening my desire for the engineer-

ing field. In addition I have also worked hundreds of hours at our feed store serv-ing members from our community.”

Kiana PetersChowchilla Union High School

Plans to attend: Cornell UniversityMajor: AgricultureGPA: 4.43

Quote from Biography: “The knowl-edge I have acquired from the agricultural programs has been an important aspect in my life, especially when dealing with real life situations through communication, public relations, and time management skills. Through these programs I have earned many titles such as my Future Farmer State Degree, and California Ju-nior Livestock Association Overall Hog Winner to which I am honored to have accomplished. Witnessing my breeding sows, female hogs who have had a litter, farrow out their litter is an eye opening

event that most would not find inspiring. The experience of new life is incredible to witness, but experiencing the birth of an individual is profound. This has pushed me to perceive the major in agriculture business.”


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teSei FaMily Four year ScholarShip

MEssAgEContinued from Page 2

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9203 See MeetUp; Page 9

Santa Cruz County’s first Ag-Tech MeetUp sows solutionsBy Samantha ClarkSanta Cruz Sentinel

SANTA CRUZ >> An hour away from Silicon Valley, agricultural Watsonville has the makings of a tech hub.

Next to its berry and lettuce fields, startups are building robots and mobile apps to aid farmers. Technology offers help to growers looking to become more sustainable and efficient while challenged with water supply, environmentalism and a shortage of labor.

Digital NEST, a nonprofit teaching technology to youth, hosted Santa Cruz County’s first Ag-Tech MeetUp Wednes-day, modeled after the popular New Tech MeetUps held monthly in Santa Cruz.

“I had this idea about what’s pos-sible if we get the biggest industry in the county with the brains, the energy and the creativity that’s happening in Santa Cruz with tech. By bringing these two things together, let’s see what could happen,” said Jacob Martinez, founder of Digital NEST. “There’s a lot of tech within agriculture happening locally that a lot of people don’t know about, so it’s also about highlighting that.”

Two dozen of tech entrepreneurs, ag community members and members of the City Council networked and heard presen-tations on local burgeoning technology.

Applied Motion Products, headquartered in Watsonville, specializes in high-precision motion control products that are big in packing and labeling for the food and beverage industry. CEO Don Macleod said there’s potential in agriculture.

“We’re seeing a lot of these applications on the fringe of the farm field,” he said.

Farmbotix, a Watsonville drone startup, is still developing a prototype, but its founders see robotics as a solution to inefficiencies.

“We’re thinking big by thinking small,” said co-founder Hernan Cortes, whose fa-ther worked in Castroville’s artichoke fields for 30 years.

Drones can snap overhead photos of the field and gather data with sensors, helping farmers identify problem areas in the fields and ultimately save them money. Cortes said they also are exploring how drones can assist people with disabilities.

Reiter Berries runs at the forefront of embracing and experimenting with new agriculture technology.

“As there are changes in the industry, we’re feeling pressure in different places,” said Robert Wall, farming systems techni-


See Starved; Page 10

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Why Californians Are Starved of Water By Victor Davis Hanson Newsweek

California is not suffering one drought but four. Each is a metaphor of what California has become.

NatureThe first California drought, of course,

is natural. We are now in the midst of a fourth year of record low levels of snow and rain.

Californians have no idea that their state is a relatively recent construct—only 165 years old, with even less of a pedi-gree of accurate weather keeping. When Europeans arrived in California in the 15th and 16th centuries, they were struck by how few indigenous peoples lived in what seemed paradise—only to learn that the region was quite dry on the coast and in the interior.

Today, modern Californians have no idea of whether a four-year drought is normal, in, say, a 5,000-year natural his-tory of the region, or is aberrant, as wet years are long overdue and will return with a vengeance.

That we claim to know what to expect from about 150 years of recordkeeping does not mean that we know anything about what is normal in nature’s brief millennia. Our generation may be oblivi-ous to that fact, but our far more astute and pragmatic forefathers certainly were not.

Hubris If one studies the literature on the his-

tory and agendas of the California State

Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project, two observations are clear.

One, our ancestors brilliantly under-stood that Californians always would wish to work and live in the center and south of the state. They accepted that where 75 percent of the population wished to live, only 25 percent of the state’s precipitation fell.

Two, they therefore designed huge transfer projects from Northern Califor-nia, which was wet and sparsely settled, southward to where the state was dry and populated. They assumed that northern-ers wanted less water and relief from flooding, and southerners more water and security from drought, and thus their duty was to accommodate both.

Nor were these plans ossified. Indeed, they were envisioned as expanding to meet inevitable population increases. The Temperance Flat, Los Banos Grandes and Sites reservoirs were planned in wet years as safety deposits, once higher reservoirs emptied. As the population grew larger, dams could be raised at Shasta and Oroville. Or huge third-phase reservoirs like the vast Ah Pah project on the Klamath River might give the state invulnerability from even five- to six-year droughts.

One can say what one wishes about the long-ago, canceled Ah Pah project—what would have been the largest man-made reservoir project in California history—but its additional 15 million acre-feet of water would be welcomed today.

Perhaps such a vast project was mad.

Perhaps it was insensitive to local envi-ronmental and cultural needs. Perhaps the costs were prohibitive—a fraction of what will be spent on the proposed high-speed rail project. Perhaps big farming would not pay enough of the construction costs. But one cannot say that its 15 million acre-feet of water storage would not have been life-giving in a year like this.

In any case, Ah Pah was no more environmentally unsound than is the Hetch Hetchy Project, without which there would be no Silicon Valley today as we now know it. One cannot say that hundreds of millions of public dollars have not gone to environmentalists, in and outside of government and academia, to subsidize their visions of the future that did not include food production and power generation for others. They are no less subsidized than the corporate farmers they detest.

One of the ironies of the current drought is that urbanites who canceled these projects never made plans either to find more water or to curb population. Take the most progressive environmen-talist in Los Angeles and the Bay Area: The likelihood is that his garden and bath

water are the results of an engineering project of the sort he now opposes.

Fantasies The state and federal water projects

were envisioned as many things—flood control, hydroelectric generation, irriga-tion and recreation. One agenda was not fish restoration. Perhaps it should have been. But our forefathers never envi-sioned building dams and reservoirs to store water to ensure year-round fish runs in our rivers—a mechanism to improve on the boom-and-bust cycle of nature, in which 19th century massive spring flooding was naturally followed by low, muddy, or dry valley rivers in August and September.

Engineering alone could ensure an unnatural river, where flows could be adjusted all year long, almost every year, by calibrated releases from artificial lakes, ensuring about any sort of river salmon or delta bait fish population one desired. One may prefer catching a salmon near Fresno to having a $70 billion agricultural industry, but these days one cannot have both.


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Cramped Chicken Cages Are Going Away. What Comes Next?By Dan Charles NPR

For the past two years, at an undis-closed location in the Upper Midwest, a large commercial egg farm has been probed with every tool of modern sci-ence. Researchers have collected data on feed consumed, eggs produced, rates of chicken death and injury, levels of dust in the air, microbial contamination and dollars spent. Graduate students have been assigned to watch hours of video of the hens in an effort to rate the animals’ well-being.

It was all intended to give farmers — and, perhaps, consumers — a clearer picture of different ways to house the chickens that lay our eggs. Three different types of chicken houses exist on this farm: traditional wire cages; “enriched” cages that offer more space, perches and nesting boxes; and cage-free houses in which chickens get to move around freely.

An industry consortium called the Coalition for a Sustainable Egg Supply funded this study, mainly because chicken housing is now controversial. California has banned eggs from chickens that don’t have enough space to turn around or flap their wings. Other states are considering similar laws.

The egg industry is meanwhile looking for alternatives that won’t be declared il-

legal. This study is a close look at a couple of those alternatives.

“The conventional cage system is not going to be the system of the future,” says Janice Swanson, a professor of animal behavior and welfare at Michigan State University and co-director of the chicken housing study.

The transition away from cages, in fact, is already underway. “Very few conven-tional cage systems are being installed” on egg farms these days, says Joy Mench, a professor of animal science at the Univer-sity of California, Davis, the study’s other co-director.

Cal-Maine Foods, for instance, the largest producer of shell eggs in the U.S., is no longer building new chicken houses with traditional cages, says Matt Arrow-smith, the company’s vice president for purchasing. Traditional cages still account for 90 percent of the company’s produc-tion, but when those houses wear out, they will be replaced with either cage-free houses or enriched cages, sometimes called colony cages.

Swanson and Mench began presenting results from their study this week to egg producers, processors and marketers. “Our goal is to identify the trade-offs between the three systems for them to consider as they’re making decisions about what sys-tems to install,” Swanson says. Scientific

reports also are appearing in the journal Poultry Science.

According to this experiment, some trade-offs are clear. Cage-free houses allow chickens a wider range of natural behavior. Their bones also were stronger, as a result of being able to move about freely.

On the other hand, in part because of that freedom, “there’s more potential for injury,” Swanson says. This is one rea-son more chickens died in the cage-free house — more than 10 percent, compared with about 4 percent in the cages. Most died from disease, but some also died be-

cause of injury or from being hen-pecked.Air in the cage-free house was full of

dust, but “it didn’t seem to have any effect on the hens,” says Mench.

From the perspective of economic effi-ciency, though, cages were a clear winner. Chickens in both traditional and enriched cages produced more eggs and produced them more efficiently, compared with cage-free houses. Operating costs of the cage-free house were 23 percent higher than for traditional cages, and even more when the capital cost of building the house was included. Cage-free produc-

Dan Charles/NPR Free-range houses allow chickens to move around freely, but operating costs were 23 percent higher than for traditional cages, according to a new study.

Sierra snow 8% of averageSnowpack runoff lowest on record.By Mark GrossiThe Fresno Bee

JOHN MUIR WILDERNESS — In a 9,700-foot-high meadow surrounded by wind-blasted Jeffrey pine trees, the helicopter finally landed on snow — a truly terrible thrill.

The haunting peaks, robust subalpine ecosystem and March chill are a heart-pounding experience. Unfortunately, so is this ghost of snow-pack, which will rank as the smallest ever in the Sierra Nevada.

The water frozen in snow throughout the Sierra Nevada is 8% of average — less

than one-third the size of the smallest on record. On Wednesday when this disap-pointing wet season ends, the headlines will be the next alarm bell in the state’s damaging, four-year drought.

Up close in California’s biggest moun-tain range, this crisis looks as bad as it sounds.

Flying with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on a hydrologic inspection, the first four snow courses above 8,000 feet last week had only small, icy patches. In a normal year, they would be buried in snow drifts.

See Snow; Page 15

See Cages; Page 13


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$700 an acre-foot, but will water be sold?By Andrew CreaseyMarysville Appeal-Democrat

Southern California water agencies are reportedly offering up to $71 mil-lion for Northern California water, but until local water allocations are final, it’s not known how much, if any, Yuba-Sutter water will be sent south.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is the major buyer, and local rice farmers would be the main willing sellers of the proposed transfers.

At the reported price of $700 for an acre-foot of water, some rice farmers could make more money selling water than planting rice.

That has raised concerns about im-pacts to the local economy, as agricul-ture props up a number of supporting industries.

But many irrigation districts cap the amount of water that can be trans-ferred, and others have a no-fallowing policy, both of which mitigate potential economic impacts.

Beyond those constraints, anticipated cuts in the water supply from the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project could halt the proposed trans-fers altogether, said Jim Morris, spokes-man for the California Rice Commis-sion.

“My understanding is that if a certain allocation level isn’t met, this won’t take place,” Morris said. “This is ultimately dependent on water allocations and decisions by the water districts, but my understanding is that there will be fewer overall water transfers in the Sacramento Valley this year than in any of the dry years over the past several decades.”

Cuts to Feather River senior water rights holders could reach 50 percent, and at that level, it is not likely the districts will transfer water, said Thad Bettner, general manager of the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District.

The Sutter Extension Water District will only transfer water with a full al-location, which General Manager Lynn

Phillips said is doubtful. But Phillips said that the interest from district growers in participating in transfer is high, due to the price water can fetch on the market.

If the district receives a full water allocation from Lake Oroville, it will cap transfers from land fallowing at 20 percent of its acreage, which is about 20,000 acres, Phillips said.

The districts will know the final water allocation on the Feather River on April 1.

Sacramento River senior water rights holders are anticipating a 25 percent cut in supply, and the districts have a responsibility to protect winter-run Chinook salmon that can also impact the feasibility of water transfers, Bet-tner said.

“From a seller perspective, the Sacra-mento Valley is working through some issues,” Bettner said.

Members of the Glenn-Colusa Ir-rigation District have to notify the district of water transfer plans by today,

Bettner said.The district sets a transfer cap of

20,000 acres, out of a total of 140,000 acres, but Bettner said that the district has only fulfilled 50 percent of that cap so far.

“We haven’t seen a huge influx of growers saying they’re interested in transfers,” Bettner said. “We have a few growers that may not plant anything, and we have some growers that will never transfer water.”

Ultimately, the district and the state have to approve any water transfer.

The Yuba County Water Agency es-tablished a no-fallowing policy in 1991, and there have not been any inquiries to fallow land from the agency’s eight member irrigation districts, General Manager Curt Aikens said.

YCWA transferred 1,500 acre-feet to the Dublin San Ramon Services District for $500 per acre-foot earlier this month.

Garden Highway Mutual Water Co.,


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See MeetUp; Page 13

MEEtuPContinued from Page 4

cian with Reiter Berries. “Basically what we’re seeing here is that farmers have been doing the same thing for 30 years, set in their ways. Sometimes they look at these contraptions that we come up with, and they say, ‘No way. Get that out of my field.’”

Wall presented a progressive list of in-novations Reiter Berries, which is affiliated with Driscoll’s, is exploring, including helikites, robots that pick ripe berries us-ing infrared, high hydroponic beds, new

machinery to boost harvest production, on-target spraying and innovations with material handling.

The presentations set off a handful of questions about partnerships with agricul-ture powerhouses UC Davis and Cal Poly and sources of inspiration and potential possibilities.

Macleod of Applied Motion Products and Erica Manfré, sales and marketing manager with Watsonville Coast Produce, both said that there’s a need for local engineers and hopes that a new tech com-munity and Digital NEST can help foster that workforce.

ExEcutivE ADDrEssContinued from Page 2

little to no transfer water available for Central Valley ag users. Summarily –it also revealed that even if our ag districts BOUGHT the theoretical transfer water, that it most likely will NOT be available for use this year. In other words, all bets are off.

This caused a collective groan throughout the room. Ron Jacobsma, of Friant Water Authority, described the transfer water as “our last blood.” And the news reinforced that there is no more blood to give.

The news also gave way to vilifica-tion and criticism–where appropriate. It seemed an appropriate time for the group to ask the regulatory agencies to soften the environmental require-ments that have so debilitated the water system and our industry in the Valley. Sadly, their response was that they had done so “within the limit of their au-thority.” It appears that all future soft-ening of environmental and fish regula-tory burdens related to water transfers had to wait until a more finite quantity

of water was available for delivery. And that was where cordiality

stopped and real life began. How did this collective group of regulatory water czars not know how much will be available to date? Sure we haven’t had any measurable storms since Decem-ber (that should only make the job of figuring out what isn’t there easier), and we’re not certain who up North is going to fallow what –but certainly you know what you have in the reservoirs and canals –right?

It appears that from a local perspec-tive, there are only two options available to us that might provide a sliver of hope for this year’s crops. Negotiate indi-vidually with Northern sellers (like Los Angeles and Metropolitan Water Dis-trict does), and prepare our own criti-cal economic schedule of agricultural needs to be a place holder for any future quantities that may become available. This would head off any further lag that will present itself in the softening of environmental requirements. It is –after all –a health and safety issue if we can’t eat.

commission rejects cities’ demands, OKs farmland formulaBy Garth StapleyModesto Bee

The fight against urban sprawl notched a narrow victory Wednesday, despite objections from seven of Stanislaus County’s nine cities.

The 3-2 vote by leaders of a growth-guiding agency simply defined one way cities can choose to help preserve farm-land, but was seen by cities as an affront to their land-use authority.

The decision set a formula for figur-ing how much money cities can charge developers when paving over farmland for houses or other buildings. The money can be banked to eventually buy farm conser-vation easements somewhere else in the county, preserving one agricultural acre for each one developed.

The Modesto City Council called a special meeting earlier Wednesday to confront the formula, already opposed by Ceres, Riverbank, Oakdale, Patter-

son, Newman and Waterford. The issue divided Modesto leaders, who decided on a 4-2 vote to join the others; Mayor Garrad Marsh and Councilwoman Jenny Kenoyer voted “no,” and Councilman Tony Madrigal was absent.

The debate before the Stanislaus Local Agency Formation Commission was just as spirited Wednesday evening. “We don’t need to get into a divisive, rancorous debate,” said Tom Hallinan, an attorney representing several cities. He urged com-missioners to table the matter and allow staff members to talk out differences with city and county administrators.

Several city managers approached the rostrum to formally object to the pro-posed formula. Some asked for a delay, and some said the methodology would artificially drive up values. “You’re put-ting a gun to the head of the developer, forcing him to buy something. That’s not a free market,” said John Beckman, chief executive officer of the Building Industry

Association of the Greater Valley.Commissioners voting with the major-

ity said cities, all of which agreed with an underlying farmland preservation policy when LAFCO approved it in 2012, apparently misunderstood aspects of Wednesday’s amendment.

For example, cities can choose other means of saving farmland, such as having voters adopt urban limits. Newman did just that last year, and Modesto voters soon will confront such an initiative.

LAFCO is composed of two elected officeholders from cities and two from the county, plus one person representing the public at large. Currently, the latter is

Brad Hawn – a former Modesto council-man.

Hawn favored a delay, as requested by the seven cities, and Turlock Council-woman Amy Bublak was even more strongly in the cities’ corner. Opposing were county Supervisors Jim DeMartini and Terry Withrow.

But the other city representative – Matt Beekman – is mayor of Hughson, one of the two cities that did not oppose the for-mula; the other was Turlock. Hughson’s formal anti-sprawl policy, requiring that builders pay to set aside two agricultural acres for each acre developed, is consid-

See Rejects; Page 13


9567

stArvEDContinued from Page 5

Releasing water to the ocean in times of drought was not the intention of either the California State Water Project or the Central Valley Project. Again, it may be a better idea than what the old engineers had planned on, but it is predicated on the idea that those living in Mendota or working in Coalinga are an unfortunately unnatural species, at least in comparison with river salmon and bait fish.

Population Even with drought, cancellations of

dams and diversions of contracted water to the ocean, California might well

not have been imperiled by the present drought—had its population stayed at about 20 million when most of the water projects were canceled in the mid-1970s. Unfortunately the state is now 40 million, and growing.

Illegal immigration—half of all un-documented aliens live in California—has added millions to the state population. And agriculture is a key route for Mexi-can immigrants to reach the middle class.

Either the state should insist on clos-ing the borders and encourage emigra-tion out of state to no-tax states (which is already happening at a rate of about 1,000 to 2,000 people per week) or it should build the infrastructure and create

the job opportunities to accommodate newcomers in a semi-arid landscape. That would mean that the vast 4 million- to 6 million-acre west side of California’s Central Valley remains irrigated, and that water continues to be made available to a 500-mile dry coastal corridor to accom-modate a huge influx of immigrants.

Is it liberal or illiberal to ensure that there will be no new water for a vast, new San Jose south of San Jose, or that there will be prohibitions on immigration and population growth that would halt a new San Jose?

Perhaps the liberal position would be for Silicon Valley grandees to relocate to the wet and rainy Klamath River Basin, where it could grow without unnaturally imported water from the Sierra Nevada. In a truly eco-friendly state, Stanford and Berkeley would open new satellite cam-puses near the Oregon border to match people with water.

One reality we know does not work: deliberate retardation of infrastructure to discourage consumption and population growth, in the manner of Jerry Brown’s small-is-beautiful campaign of the 1970s. Ossifying the 99 and 101 freeways at 1960s levels did not discourage drivers from using them. It only ensured slower commute times, more fossil fuel emis-sions and far more dangerous conditions, as more drivers fought for less driving space.

Not building dams and reservoirs did not mean fewer people would have water or food and thus would not keep coming to California, but only that there would

be ever more competition—whether manifested in tapping further the falling aquifer or rationing residential usage—for shrinking supplies.

One theme characterizes California’s attitude about water. Liberal orthodoxy is never consistent. While it may be seen as progressive to champion river and delta restoration or to divert reservoir water for scenic and environmental use, or to discourage more development of agricul-tural acreage, the results in the real world are hardly liberal.

The poor and the middle classes usually bear the brunt of these policies in terms of reduced job opportunities and a slower economy. Exemption from the ramifica-tions of one’s ideology characterize what can only be called a rich man’s utopian dreams: divert San Joaquin River water for fish, but not Hetch Hetchy water that supplies the Bay Area; talk of bulldozing almond trees, but not golf courses from Indian Wells to Pebble Beach to the Presidio; ensuring there is less water to poor foothills and Westside communities, but not pulling out the lush gardens or emptying the swimming pools of those who live in La Jolla, Bel Air, Carmel Val-ley, Woodside and Presidio Heights.

To paraphrase Tacitus, they make a desert and call it liberal.

Victor Davis Hanson is a Martin and Illie Anderson senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. This article first ap-peared on his Works and Days site.


9568

Why almond growers aren’t the water enemyBy Brad Gleason Los Angeles Times/Op-Ed

A quarter-century ago, when I first started farming the fertile ground of west-ern Fresno County, my crop was cotton.

I wasn’t alone. Back then, the San Joaquin Valley had more than 1 million acres of white gold. Federal water cost me — hard to believe today — only $25 an acre-foot. And there was plenty of it. My neighbors and I irrigated inefficiently by sprinkler and furrow.

But I knew then that cotton wasn’t a sus-tainable crop for California. It could grow almost anywhere, and there was a surplus of it. Plus, cotton growers got a rather consid-erable payment from the federal govern-ment. Those double subsidies — cheap water and price supports — gave cotton growers a black eye. We were portrayed, with some justification, as the greedy farm-ers of Fresno’s west side.

So my farming partner and I decided in 1989 to plant our first almond trees on 40 acres outside Coalinga. Almonds were a higher-value crop, and there were no crop subsidies for nuts, which was a good thing for the American taxpayer. Also, if the price of water rose — and it certainly did —

almonds produced a higher return to offset that cost.

In the years since, we have planted thousands more acres of almonds and pistachios. Once again, we’re not alone. Up and down the valley, orchards of nuts now exceed 1 million acres. Only 200,000 acres still grow cotton. And where furrows once dominated, you’ll find the precision of drip irrigation.

But now we’re the bad guys again. Article after article in newspapers, magazines and online put nut growers in a bad light related to the drought. The whole equation seems to be reduced to a single number wielded by our critics: It takes one gallon of water to grow one nut.

Boy, that sounds wasteful. It’s a figure designed to outrage, and it does the trick.

But looking at the societal value of pro-ducing food only by gallons of water used is silly, if not absurd. My fellow growers of other crops calculate that it takes about 168 gallons of water to produce a single wa-termelon. And 50 gallons for a cantaloupe. That head of broccoli that you feel good about serving to your child? Thirty-five gal-lons. A single ear of corn requires roughly 40 gallons.

I planted my almonds based on a con-

tract with the federal government to deliver surface water from Northern California. I didn’t anticipate the contractual sup-ply dropping to zero for two straight years; I didn’t foresee having to dig wells deeper into the earth of my farm to pump groundwater to make up the difference. Yes, almonds are a “permanent” crop with a life span of 18 to 20 years, and they don’t offer me the easy option of fallowing orchards in drought as some vegetable farmers have done. But let me point out that my almond trees are a lot less permanent than the houses that continue to get built in Califor-nia on the same dwindling water supply.

Drive across the expanse of farmland around us and you’ll be hard pressed to find a puddle. That’s not because of the lack of rain. That’s because of the efficiency of irrigation. Out here, every gallon of water is measured from ditch to drip line.

With the curtailment of federal water deliveries, farmers are paying, on average, $1,000 an acre-foot for any surface water piped in on the open market. So you can bet that we’re not using a drop more than we need to keep our trees alive and produc-tive.

I’m proud to be a farmer of almonds and pistachios. We produce something real and

healthful that contributes mightily to the economy of California. Last year, farm gate sales for nuts alone topped $7 billion in our state. The export market is healthy and so is domestic consumption. Ask the county tax assessor what the rising value of nut acreage has meant for the tax rolls, and you’re likely to get a big smile.

Some of the old-timers still remem-ber when this stretch of Fresno County belonged to the horned toad, jack rabbit and tumbleweed. Just as the architects of the Central Valley Project envisioned, water and man’s ingenuity turned the middle of California into the world’s most productive agricultural region.

Over time, farmers have adapted to answer the demands of water shortage, new crops, cities and fish, and I know we’ll continue to adapt as California confronts a new era of limits. But demonizing us — and what we grow — is no way to meet the challenge. We’re not the bad guys.

Brad Gleason is president of West Hill Farm Services, which manages pistachio and almond orchards.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook


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Forum near Tulloch will explore river flowsBy John HollandModesto Bee

COPPEROPOLIS - Critics of boosting river flows for fish will gather Saturday near Lake Tulloch, which is at risk of emptying this sum-mer because of drought.

The speakers will include Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Granite Bay, who on Thursday introduced a bill that would suspend reservoir releases aimed at

keeping water cool for salmon and other fish.

The event, the Water Crisis Fo-rum, happens amid a now 4-year-old drought that has reduced water sup-plies for many farmers and strained rivers that support fish and other life.

Tulloch is part of the storage for the Oakdale and South San Joaquin ir-rigation districts. Their managers have raised the possibility that the reservoir

might be drained, prompting protest from owners of waterfront homes.

That might not happen after all, thanks to a tentative agreement that would involve releasing water instead from the deeper, colder New Melones Reservoir.

Jack Cox of the Lake Tulloch Alli-ance, which is sponsoring the forum, said in a news release that a longer-term threat remains.

“This environmental policy threat-ens agriculture in the Valley and communities throughout the Sierra foothills and will also impact higher mountain communities by decreasing tourism,” he said.

“These releases will effectively waste enough water to supply the cities of Modesto and Stockton combined for one year while removing a valuable storage of water that may be needed in the future if the drought contin-ues in 2015-2016. This is bad public policy.”

McClintock, whose district includes

the central Sierra Nevada, aims to deal with the issue with House Reso-lution 1668, the Save Our Water Act.

“This bill incorporates language that will stop the appalling practice of sac-rificing tens of thousands of acre-feet of water for the comfort of fish when the human population is in immense peril,” he said in a statement.

The event will start with a scientific presentation by fishery consultant Doug Demko. He is president of Fishbio, which is based in Chico and has an Oakdale office.

Another lawmaker representing the central Sierra, state Assembly-man Frank Bigelow, R-O’Neals, will take part in the forum. SSJID Gen-eral Manager Jeff Shields and OID board member Frank Clark also will be on hand, as will Tuolumne County Supervisor Karl Rodefer.

Bee staff writer John Holland can be reached at [email protected] or (209) 578-2385.

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cAgEsContinued from Page 7

ered among the most progressive in these parts.Beekman said Wednesday’s vote was merely LAF-

CO’s attempt to provide guidance on appropriate pricing, and he sided with DeMartini and Withrow. The formula requires fees equal to 35 percent of average prices in five comparable land sales, plus a 5 percent endowment. Currently, that’s about $7,305 per acre.

“We’re not trying to gouge any developers out there,” DeMartini said. “If they can get (land) for nothing or a low amount, that’s fine – just show us how you do it. If you don’t like it, do something else.”

tion was expensive in part because the farmer had to pay more for young hens, or pullets, that had been raised in a cage-free environment.

On the other hand, egg producers also are responding to consumer demand, and “there is a growing demand for cage-free,” says Arrowsmith of Cal-Maine Foods. Most consumers, though, still buy the cheapest eggs on the shelf, Arrowsmith says, and that will keep keep most chickens in some sort of cage for a long time to come.

Cal-Maine Foods is hedging its bets, producing eggs that carry a variety of labels, depending on how they are housed and fed: cage-free, omega-3 or vegetarian. “The more diverse products that you can put on the shelf, the more likely it is that a consumer will want one of them,” Arrowsmith says.

MEEtuPContinued from Page 9

“This industry is constantly changing, and we need that skill set in Watsonville,” Manfré said. “There’s so much more than just fieldwork.”

Entrepreneur Pete Biggam of Santa Cruz attended the gathering to network. He’s developing an app that allows growers to manage their farm from their phone, from scheduling worker hours and irrigation to forecasting crop growth.

“There was no space for rich discussion about how agri-culture and tech intersect,” Martinez said. “New solutions will emerge out of these meetups.” The Ag-Tech Meetup is held on the last Wednesday of each month.

Ag-tech Meetup

• What: A new networking event bringing the technology and agricultural worlds together.

• When: Last Wednesdays of each month at 6 p.m. at Digital NEST in Watsonville.

• Details: www.meetup.com/Santa-Cruz-County-Ag-Tech-Meetup/

Reach the author at [email protected] or follow Samantha on Twitter: @samanthabclark.

$700Continued from Page 8which serves about 3,700 acres with water from the Feather River, will only transfer water once crops are all planted, President Al Montna said.

“We have markets and infrastruc-ture to support, and you can’t do that by not planting,” Montna said. “We’ll lose our markets to California if we

continue to be an unreliable supplier. If we do have extra water after plant-ing to assist other agencies, we’re very supportive of that.”

Montna said the company looks to transfer locally first before selling water outside the region.

The rice industry has struggled through three consecutive years of drought and is heading for a fourth. Other markets are already preparing to

fill the void the drought will likely cre-ate in the market, which Montna said is a concern for the long-term future of the local industry.

“We could be raising half as much rice without increasing the price because others will sell the product as well,” Montna said. “It greatly con-cerns me for the long term and farm-ers in the future.”

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9314

PG&E hydrographer Matt Meadows held up the list of zeroes.

“Think I need a calculator to average these?” he asked. “This is supposed to be the biggest that the snowpack will get all year. I think people

need to know how bad this is.”Meadows is among dozens of snow

surveyors out in late March on the 400-mile-long range. They work for many different agencies and interests — among them the state Department of Water Re-sources, U.S. Forest Service and irrigation districts.

Farmers, cities, industries and govern-ment agencies are all interested in the snow-pack, which annually provides one-third of the state’s water.

What is PG&E’s interest? The utility has an innovative hydroelectric facility called the Helms Project, buried out of sight deep in the granite east of Fresno.

When it’s in full swing, Helms can light the cities of Fresno and Oakland, using water and gravity to turn electric-ity-generating units. The water comes from the snow-pack around Courtright and Wishon reservoirs.

When the snowpack is small, utilities often cannot run their hydro operations all the way through summer. PG&E is trying to stretch the water supply, officials said.

“We’re saving as much water as we can right now so we can have it available for electricity and environmental uses later this year,” Meadows said.

Other snow-measurement locations have been tracked for decades in national parks, such as Lodgepole at 6,700 feet in Sequoia National Park. Over more than a half-century, Lodgepole has not seen a drier four years than the current drought, according to the National Weather Ser-vice in Hanford.

Lodgepole is a good place to see how the last wet season went so wrong for the Sierra. Normally, it would get 200 inches of snow a year. This year, with mostly warm storms, Lodgepole’s total is 63 inches.

“It has been a very dry time,” said me-teorologist Paul Iniguez of the Weather Service in Hanford. “When you look back just a few years to 2010-2011, Lodgepole got 430 inches of snow. This is quite a different year from that.”

How different? State climatologist Mi-chael Anderson says the previous record for low snowpack was 25% on April 1,

1977. It dropped from 9% to 8% in just a few days over the last week.

“And, no significant precipitation in sight,” Anderson said. “As for tempera-ture, we recorded our second straight warm winter for the Sierra region.”

Which means the little snow in the Sierra is melting, said private meteorolo-gist Steve Johnson of Fresno. He said the snowpack has been in melting mode since February.

“I don’t think I would count on a lot more precipitation,” he said. “I think we’re done. I see heat and more heat in the coming months.”

The warm winter already has taken its toll on the snow-pack. On the PG&E survey, it was apparent there was not much snow below 9,000 feet in the Sierra east of Fresno.

At Dodson’s Meadow, elevation 8,050 feet, a few dozen feet of a snow patch covered a small part of the meadow where PG&E draws its samples. But it wasn’t at a spot where hydrographers have histori-cally sampled, so it couldn’t be used in the data collection. Precision is important up here.

Helicopter pilot Brett Hendricks, who was helping to locate exact sampling spots, said the meadow looked a lot like the one they had visited only minutes earlier. At the next site, Long Meadow, elevation 8,500 feet, there was only matted mountain grass, trees, a trickling spring and very little snow.

Finally, at 9,700-foot Upper Burnt Corral Meadow, a broad snow field came into

view, and Hendricks gently landed the helicopter on the snow. Everyone donned snowshoes for the crunchy walk to push a long, hollow pole into the snowpack, pull out a snow core and weigh it.

“You get the weight of the tube, plus the snow, minus the weight of the tube,” said Meadows, as he ran through the math to determine water content in the snow. “It’s 8.2 inches. The average here is about 36 inches.”

A little later, Hendricks set the he-licopter down in picturesque Blackcap Basin Meadow at 10,300 feet. It’s a broad meadow with jagged, ancient peaks jut-ting into the deep blue sky. White puffy clouds drift on light afternoon breezes.

The sound of water came from many places underneath the snowpack. Clearly, this place is already off and running with snowmelt.

Meadows confirmed it: “You can feel it when you push down the pole. It moves easily. There’s not a lot of density. It’s

melting. With a lot of warmth, this snowpack could come off pretty fast.”

PG&E was surveying the north fork of the Kings River. Just south on the middle and south forks, the situation looked much the same, said Steve Haugen, water master for the Kings River Water Association. Many of the as-sociation’s snow measurement meadows were dry also.

Haugen said the state esti-mates of Kings runoff from the snowpack in his area would set a new record as the lowest ever. He compared it to the small runoff in the dry year of 2014, which was only 32% of aver-age. This year, the runoff will probably only be one-third of last year’s puny runoff.

“Most people are bracing for the worst,” Haugen said. “For us, the numbers are hard to grasp.”

Contact Mark Grossi: [email protected],

(559) 441-6316 or @mark-grossi on Twitter.

snOWContinued from Page 7


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