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.
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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.
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