10 CapitalPress.com
December 1, 2017
California
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Water bond measures endorsed by policy group
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — Two new
water bonds slated to be put before
California voters in 2018 have re-
ceived the endorsement of a key wa-
ter policy group.
The Association of California Wa-
ter Agencies’ board has voted unan-
imously to support a $4 billion June
ballot measure for water and parks
projects and an anticipated $8.9 bil-
lion November initiative proposed by
former state resources official Gerald
Meral.
ACWA Executive Director Tim-
othy Quinn said the bonds would
provide critical funding for water
management projects ranging from
recycling technologies to groundwa-
ter recharge and flood protection.
“We view (the
measures) as com-
plementary,” Quinn
told the Capital Press.
He added the bonds
“would provide need-
ed funds to continue
Gerald Meral to implement (Gov.
Jerry Brown’s) Water
Action Plan.”
The ACWA, whose 430 public
agency members handle 90 percent of
the water delivered to the state’s cit-
ies, farms and businesses, was set to
give a presentation on the bonds at its
fall conference Nov. 29 in Anaheim.
Though the measures would
come just four years after voters ap-
proved Proposition 1, a $7.5 billion
water bond, Quinn believes there’s
still a willingness among the state’s
residents to support water system
improvements.
“We would urge voters to look at
both sides, and we think they will
likely vote yes,” he said. “Water
bonds have consistently been suc-
cessful in California.”
The June measure was placed on
the ballot by legislators, who ap-
proved a bill by state Sen. Kevin de
Leon, D-Los Angeles. The measure
will include $750 million for flood
protection and prevention and $500
million for such projects as safe
drinking water and groundwater
sustainability.
Meanwhile, Meral, a former dep-
uty secretary of the state Natural Re-
sources Agency, has been gathering
signatures this fall for his proposal
for such water-related projects as
repairs to the sinking Friant-Kern
Canal in Tulare and Kern counties.
Meral has said his initiative is “a
follow-up” to Proposition 1, noting
that it’s heavy on groundwater res-
toration, waste water recycling and
water for fish and wildlife.
“ACWA represents hundreds
of water agencies throughout Cal-
ifornia, and is certainly the most
influential water organization in
the state,” Meral said in an email.
“Their endorsement gives the sig-
nal to local water agencies that this
measure is highly beneficial to wa-
ter conservation, development and
management in California.”
The proposal comes as the Cal-
ifornia Water Commission is con-
sidering 12 applications for por-
tions of $2.5 billion in Proposition
1 funding for storage projects. The
commission expects to make final
determinations in June 2018.
Tim Hearden/Capital Press File
Strawberries from Irvine,
Calif.-based Orange County
Produce. This year’s California
strawberry production has
eclipsed last year’s record-set-
ting crop.
California
strawberry
production
already tops
2016 total
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
CDFA extends vote on dairy quota program
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
The California Department
of Food and Agriculture has ex-
tended until Dec. 22 the dead-
line for the state’s dairy farm-
ers to vote on the referendum
for the Quota Implementation
Program. The original deadline
was Dec. 4.
In a notice to industry, the
department stated the exten-
sion is to give producers an ad-
equate opportunity to vote and
is due to the disruption caused
by recent wildfires.
The department earlier
mailed 1,054 ballots and had
received 400 as of earlier this
week.
If approved, the QIP would
continue the long-standing
program that pays quota hold-
Tim Hearden/Capital Press File ers $1.70 per hundredweight
The California Department of Food and Agriculture has
of milk above the state blend
extended until Dec. 22 the deadline for dairy farmers to vote price. It has operated within the
on the referendum for the state’s new Quota Implementa-
state’s milk marketing order
tion Program.
since the order was established
in the late 1960s.
The state’s producers are
seeking to join the federal mar-
keting order system, which
does not include quota pro-
grams. They have been ada-
mant that quota value must be
maintained if they join the fed-
eral system.
A provision in the last farm
bill and USDA will allow the
state to administer a stand-
alone program. A producer re-
view developed the program
this summer, and it was final-
ized by CDFA in September
and put to a referendum.
If approved by dairy farm-
ers, the stand-alone program
would only go into effect if
producers also vote to join the
federal order system.
The quota program came
about as a means of compen-
sating milk producers selling
into the higher Class I market
and gain their support for es-
tablishing a state marketing or-
der, which would pool milk and
distribute payments more even-
ly to producers of milk across
all utilizations.
Quota certificates are worth
$1.2 billion today and are con-
sidered an asset that can be
transferred or sold.
The
producer-developed
stand-alone program would
assess all Grade A milk in the
state at no more than 38 cents
per hundredweight to gener-
ate about $12 million a month
needed to fund the quota.
The first requirement if QIP
is to pass is that at least 51 per-
cent of eligible producers must
vote. The 400 ballots received
by CDFA constitute only 38
percent.
Beyond that, votes in favor
must be submitted by at least
65 percent of those who voted
and produce at least 51 percent
of the milk (by those who vot-
ed) or 51 percent of those who
voted and produce at least 65
percent of the milk produced
(by those who voted).
WATSONVILLE, Calif.
— With a month to go in the
year, California strawberry
production in 2017 has al-
ready surpassed last year’s
record total.
Growers and their crews
had brought in 197.3 million
crates statewide as of mid-No-
vember, topping the 196.8 mil-
lion crates produced in all of
2016, the California Strawber-
ry Commission reported.
The boom came despite
one of the wettest winters on
record in 2016-17 and sum-
mer heat waves inland.
“Part of it is definitely due
to having the rain,” commis-
sion spokeswoman Carolyn
O’Donnell said. “Rain was a
good thing for the plants. It
helped to rinse away some of
the salts that have accumulat-
ed in the top layer of soil in re-
cent years ... and contributed
to overall plant health.”
Another factor in the high-
er yields was that growers
are moving to newer variet-
ies, O’Donnell said. Growers
were expected to plant 36,141
acres of strawberries in 2017,
down from 40,816 in 2013,
according to the commission.
Strawberries are a year-
round fruit in California, with
harvests following the sun.
During the peak season, all
of the state’s major growing
regions — around Oxnard,
Santa Maria and Watsonville
— are producing berries. The
peak is typically in the spring
and early summer, but it came
later this year because of the
spring rains.
Production is trending up-
ward again after several years
of modest declines coincid-
ed with the recent five-year
drought. The rebound is good
news for growers, as global
demand for strawberries is al-
ready increasing.
Kelly Hamby
UC-Davis
alumna wins
national award
for research,
extension efforts
ROP-46-3-3/HOU
DAVIS, Calif. — A Uni-
versity of California-Davis
alumna received the Early
Career Professional Extension
Award during the Entomo-
logical Society of America’s
annual meeting earlier this
month in Denver.
Kelly Hamby, who re-
ceived her bachelor’s, mas-
ter’s and doctoral degrees in
entomology at UC-Davis and
is now an assistant professor
and specialist at the Universi-
ty of Maryland, was honored
during a breakfast program.
The Entomological Soci-
ety credited Hamby’s research
for addressing invasive and
emerging insect pest issues,
evaluating and improving pest
management programs and
developing alternative man-
agement tactics, according to
a news release.
The award was only the
latest for Hamby, who also
won the John Henry Com-
stock Award for research from
the society’s Pacific Branch
while at UC-Davis.