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8 CapitalPress.com June 10, 2016 Farm groups relieved as ag overtime bill dies in Assembly By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — Ag- ricultural leaders are relieved that legislation that would do away with agricultural excep- tions to California’s overtime laws failed to make it out of the Assembly. The bill by Assembly- woman Lorena Sanchez, D-San Diego, would have phased in a requirement that ag employers observe the same eight-hour work day and 40-hour work week as other employers. State law now requires overtime to be paid to farmworkers who ex- ceed 10 hours in a day or 60 hours in a week. The bill needed 41 votes to pass in the Assembly be- fore a June 2 deadline to move legislation out of its originat- ing chamber. It was favored by only a 37-34 vote. Its defeat offers a bit of a reprieve to growers who are still reeling from this year’s passage of legislation grad- ually increasing the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, noted Justin Oldfield, the California Cattlemen’s Association’s vice president of government relations. But he said the proposal could be added to another bill later in the year or reintro- duced next year. “As we get later in the year, there absolutely could be a play to try to do that,” Old- field said. “We definitely do expect this issue to resurface again, whether it’s in this leg- islative session or next year. “It’s definitely a good vic- tory for the day and we just can’t be complacent,” he said. “We have to continue to work to address the issue and move forward.” California Farm Bureau Federation President Paul Wenger said on the organi- zation’s website the bill’s demise “shows what farmers and ranchers can do when they work together.” He noted that California is one of only five states to offer premium pay for farm work under rules established in 1976. The CFBF and CCA op- posed the bill, asserting that imposing the standard work week on agriculture could bring drastic cost increases and could prompt some grow- ers to leave the state. A bill similar to Gon- zales’ failed in the Califor- nia Assembly in 2012, two years after then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed an- other such proposal. The lat- est attempt comes as lawmak- ers quickly approved a bill this spring that will take the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. “I think the action that was taken earlier in the year caught everyone off guard, including many in the Leg- islature,” Oldfield said. He added the proposed overtime changes would “certainly be a double whammy and one that would just be piling on impacts to farmers and ranchers.” In other legislative activ- ity, the Assembly did pass a bill by Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, that would tax the sale and distri- bution of medical marijuana to pay for law enforcement efforts to crack down on ille- gal grows and for cleanup of illegal cultivation sites. Farm groups support the legisla- tion, which now moves to the Senate. University of Idaho ag dean ‘fully committed’ to Parma station By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press PARMA, Idaho — Since being slated for closure in 2009 and on its last breaths, the University of Idaho’s Par- ma Research and Extension Center has made a comeback and is now targeted for a re- vival. On June 2, Michael Parrel- la, the new dean of UI’s Col- lege of Agricultural and Life Sciences, told researchers and industry members the univer- sity solidly backs the Parma station. Parma and the university’s other eight research stations are integral parts of CALS, Parrella said. “Investing here is a prior- ity. I am fully committed to that,” he told members of the Treasure Valley Ag Coalition, which formed in 2009 to save the station. Parrella assured TVAC members that he understands “having these research centers is very important to you as an industry” and added that UI is “partners in moving your in- dustry and the state of Idaho forward (because) ag is a tre- mendous part of Idaho’s econ- omy.” TVAC co-chairman Jon Watson, who represents onions and other row crops on the committee, told Parrella that his words were well received. Sean Ellis/Capital Press Michael Parrella, dean of the University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, second from right, tours a new cold storage facility at the Parma research station June 2, along with research- ers and industry members. “We like what we hear,” he said. “That’s very good to our ears.” The 200-acre Parma sta- tion houses nine faculty mem- bers who conduct research on many of the crops grown in the region, including vegeta- bles, forages, cereals, hops, mint and fruit and seed crops. The station has entomol- ogy, soils, horticulture, crop management, pomology, viti- culture, nematology and plant pathology programs. After CALS lost nearly $5 million in state funding for research and extension efforts during the recession, Parma was slated for closure. Entomologist Jim Barbour, the station’s superintendent, said the center was closed on paper at one point but the intervention of the quickly formed TVAC began a series of events that saved it. TVAC members provided temporary funding to keep it operational and then an agree- ment between UI and Simplot that provided the Parma sta- tion $300,000 a year for five years assured its survival. The fruit industry also pro- vides $30,000 a year to help keep the pomology program afloat. A new $500,000 state-of- the-art cold storage facility at the Parma station that was fin- ished last month is proof that the university is solidly be- hind the center, Barbour said. “It’s evidence of that com- mitment to the station,” he said. “People here really feel that the ... college is behind them.” Parrella thanked TVAC members for “stepping up and supporting the station when times were very difficult” and told them the station would soon be fully funded by the state, aside from the Simplot dollars. After storms, 2016 prune crop could be smallest on record By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press RED BLUFF, Calif. — Prune production in California this season will be less than half of what it was last year be- cause storms in March disrupt- ed the bloom, leaving growers with perhaps the state’s small- est prune crop in nearly a cen- tury of record-keeping. This year’s crop is expect- ed to weigh in at about 45,000 tons, down 58 percent from the 107,000 tons that came out of dryers in 2015, according to the National Agricultural Sta- tistics Service. If the prediction comes true, this year’s crop would be the smallest on record since of- ficial estimates began in 1920, NASS officials said. Tim Hearden/Capital Press Plums develop in an orchard near Red Bluff, Calif., on June 6. The forecast, which is based on surveys returned by 217 growers statewide, follows cold, wet and windy weather that created adverse conditions for bees during the height of the pollination period. The prediction wasn’t a surprise to growers, including Michael Vasey, general man- ager of Lindauer River Ranch in Red Bluff. “I’m down that much or a little more,” Vasey said. “I think the impact was greater … between Yuba City and Red Bluff, where it’s a very light crop — we think about a third of the normal crop. People in the San Joaquin Valley got a good crop because the weather wasn’t quite like ours.” The severity of disruption varied greatly among regions, agreed Donn Zea, the Califor- nia Dried Plum Board’s execu- tive director. “I think everyone was pro- viding educated guesses of between 40 and 60 percent of last year’s crop” statewide, Zea said. “It came out to be just where we thought it would be. The quality looks good; when there are less prunes on the tree, the prunes that are there are a little larger, which is good for our customers.” While the March storms filled reservoirs, they caused spotty, uneven pollination of plum trees which resulted in a much heavier-than-normal shed of the developing fruit in subsequent weeks, the Prune Bargaining Association report- ed. The PBA was warning growers in the fall that a warm and wet winter could threaten the 2016 crop, although indus- try insiders were more con- cerned about disease problems in trees. California’s prune produc- tion has already dropped con- siderably since nearly 200,000 dry tons came out of dryers in 2006, according to NASS. Just four years ago, producers put out 138,000 tons. 24-7/#8 Large Transmission Power Lines on Your Property? Lease Us Your Land! Long Term Land Leases Needed! 20-40 Years - Up to $1,250 per Acre per Year • We require large tracts of land (over 150 acres), currently clear and clean with 3-phase transmission type power lines for our solar farms. • Land cannot be in flood zone or have wetlands issues. Owner must retain mineral rights both above and below surface, or have executive rights. • No underground utilities, including oil and gas lines, within the proposed solar site. 24-7/#4