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January 16, 2015 CapitalPress.com 9 California New CCA president preps Citrus disease in China could for fight over grazing rights prompt more imports from Calif. Subscribe to our weekly California email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters By TIM HEARDEN By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press Capital Press RED BLUFF, Calif. — Bil- ly Flournoy, a fourth-generation rancher in the high plains of Northeastern California, is well suited to meet the challenges facing the California Cattlemen’s Association as its new president. Flournoy, 73, who operates Likely Land and Livestock Co., with his wife, Athena, in Likely, Calif., relies on federal grazing allotments to run his cattle and has been a staunch advocate for ranchers on such grazing-related issues as a state wildlife man- agement plan. He says grazing rights will be a key issue for cattlemen in 2015, as the State Water Resources Control Board is putting together a plan to minimize grazing’s im- pact on water quality. “We don’t need the water board regulating our grazing,” Flournoy said in an interview at the annual Tehama County Cat- tlemen’s Winter Dinner and auc- tion Jan. 10 at the fairgrounds. The water board is in the midst of community meetings on its Grazing Regulatory Ac- tion Project, including one held in San Luis Obispo on Jan. 9 and another set for Redding on Jan. 15. The water board plans to de- velop an initial proposal this year and begin environmental reviews and a broader public comment period before adopting the plan in 2016, according to its website. The state wants to develop strategies to enhance the envi- ronmental benefits from grazing while protecting surface water and groundwater, the website explains. State officials have said grazing can be compati- ble with various environmental needs, such as preserving habitat for wildlife. For Flournoy, the coming fight over GRAP won’t be the first time he’s sought to defend grazing rights in the face of looming state regulation. At- tending a Redding meeting on a state wildlife management plan in 2013, Flournoy said then that the land was healthier 50 years ago when more cattle were graz- ing away the non-native grasses. A former CCA first and sec- ond vice president, Flournoy was elected to a two-year term as president in December. He re- SACRAMENTO — The onset of citrus greening in China’s domestic orange crop could force that nation to im- port more fruit from California, a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report suggests. Orange production in China could drop by 10 percent to 6.9 million metric tons as a result of the disease, which has caused the removal of about 15 percent of the trees in the Guangzhou region on the nation’s southern shore, the USDA’s Foreign Ag- ricultural Service notes. Continuing strong demand for citrus fruit could entice Chi- na to turn to suppliers such as the United States, which is al- ready the third largest supplier of citrus to that nation behind South Africa and Australia, ac- cording to the report. “Fruit outlets that are ded- icated to fresh fruit sales con- tinue to expand in urban ar- eas, resulting in the increased consumption of fresh fruit,” authors Chris Frederick, Wang Tong and Wu Bugang observe. “As the prices of locally pro- duced fruit keep rising, import- Tim Hearden/Capital Press Rancher Billy Flournoy, right , of Likely, Calif., talks with Ellington Peek, owner of the Shasta Livestock Auction Yard in Cottonwood, Calif., during the annual cattlemen’s dinner Jan. 10 in Red Bluff, Calif. Flour- noy is the California Cattlemen’s Association’s new president. Online California Cattlemen’s Association: http://www.calcattlemen.org/ places Tim Koopmann, a Sunol, Calif., rancher who manages a 40,000-acre watershed adja- cent to his ranch for the city and county of San Francisco. Among other issues that will confront the CCA in 2015 are a federal effort to congregate wild horses in the Modoc National Forest, which could complicate grazing, and attempts by state lawmakers to regulate antibiotic use in livestock, Flournoy said. “We’re trying to get it to where … it’s all right to doctor a sick animal” with antibiotics, he said. “We don’t want to feed it for growth … but we like feed- ing it when it holds the illness down.” Tim Hearden/Capital Press Navel oranges are displayed at a farmers’ market in Davis, Calif. The USDA expects China to import more citrus fruit because citrus greening disease diminished the nation’s domestic crop. ed fruit has gradually gained market acceptance.” Citrus greening is caused by the plant disease huanglongbing, which eventually kills the trees. It’s been a problem in the United States. The University of Florida estimates the disease has caused more than 6,500 lost jobs, $1.3 billion in lost revenue to growers and $3.6 billion in lost economic activity in Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas, where the disease is present. A 100-square-mile portion of Madera County in California was put under quarantine this week for the Asian citrus psyl- lid, which can carry huanglong- bing. Psyllid quarantines are now in place in 15 counties in central and southern California. China’s outbreak of citrus greening comes as the nation just lifted restrictions on Cal- ifornia citrus after inspectors there detected a strain of Phy- tophthera, which causes brown rot, in some imported fruit last season. Restrictions were lifted for this season after California growers agreed to take certain measures, including applying fungicides, said Bob Blakely, vice president of California Cit- rus Mutual. Calif. dairy groups file lawsuit against water board By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Three California dairymen organizations filed suit against the California State Water Re- sources Control Board last week challenging its increases in an- nual water quality permit fees in 2013 and 2014. Fee increases have been ongoing for a number of years but have increased dramatical- ly over the last couple of years, said Tess Dunham of Somach Simmons & Dunn of Sacramen- to, the groups’ attorney. California Dairy Campaign, Western United Dairymen and Milk Producers Council filed the lawsuit Jan. 8. Fees increased 27 percent in 2013 and 33 percent in 2014, which the lawsuit alleges is ille- gal, Dunham said Monday. The 2013 increases are being challenged on two fronts, she said. First, the fees were adopt- ed in violation of water code, failing to consider the pricing mechanism for milk. Second, the 2013 increase failed to com- ply with the requirement under Proposition 26 that prohibits state agencies from collecting any fee or charge in an amount that exceeds the reasonable cost of providing the service, Dun- ham said. The plaintiffs allege the 2014 increase violates the state con- stitution which requires any tax increase be adopted by a two- thirds vote of the Legislature, she said. 3-5/#4N