Capital Press
A g
The West’s

FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2018
Weekly
VOLUME 91, NUMBER 17
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
Would three Californias
be better for ag?
Eureka
Splitting California into three states probably wouldn’t help
agriculture and may even hurt it, ranchers and farmers say
Redding
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Northern
California
R
anchers and farmers laugh when asked what they think of Cal 3, the proposal to split California into three
states.
The laughter is quickly followed by comments like that of Dave Doonan,
Population: 13 million
54, a Bishop, Calif., hay and cattle rancher: “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever
heard of. Then we’d have three screwed-up states.”
Avg. median house-
California agriculture sees itself as “under attack by the Legislature and
hold income: $58,286
Sacramento
the governor” and the Cal 3 idea shows how “fractured” state leadership is
8
Napa
and its “lack of vision for what California could be or should be,” says
9
A.G. Kawamura, 61, secretary of agriculture under Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger. He is co-owner of Orange County Produce in
7
Stockton
Irvine.
Oakland
San Francisco
Large agricultural organizations — the California
6
Farm Bureau Federation and Western Growers Associ-
Merced
ation — declined comment. The Farm Bureau will
San Jose
analyze the proposal if it qualifies as an initiative
for November general election ballot, Dave
Kranz, CFBF spokesman said.
10
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
But Doonan, Kawamura and oth-
Fresno
er ranchers and farmers said they A.G. Kawamura, a former
see little to no California secretary of
Monterey
chance of agri- agriculture.
*
culture gaining
political clout with Cal 3. Rather, they see lib-
Rank/County
Population
erals, who tend to not be helpful to ag, gaining
Population: 14 million four new U.S. Senate seats.
Bakersfield
1. Los Angeles
10.2 million
“This proposal makes more sense than
Avg. median house-
2. San Diego
3.3 million
hold income: $53,117
the State of Jefferson (a previous proposal
3. Orange
3.2 million
to combine Southwestern Oregon and
Northern California) because it would
4. Riverside
2.4 million
Santa Maria
5
have a tax base, but if I were a betting
5. San Bernardino 2.2 million
man I wouldn’t put any money on
1
it, not even a long shot,” said Jeff
6. Santa Clara
1.9 million
Fowle,
48, a fourth-generation cat-
7. Alameda
1.7 million
Los Angeles
tle, horse and hay rancher near Etna,
Riverside
8. Sacramento
1.5 million
north of Redding.
4
3
Population: 12 million
“I can’t believe people in the south
9. Contra Costa
1.1 million
will support it when they know the major-
Avg.
median
house-
10. Fresno
989,250
ity of their water comes from us up north,”
hold income: $66,737
2
* Estimate as of July 1
he said.
30 miles
Farmers are frustrated with urban
San Diego
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; U.S. Geological Survey; Capital Press research
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Turn to THREE, Page 12
Top 10 California
counties by
population, 2017
Southern
California
California
“We would end up with three states voting like California.
It’s better to have one evil stepchild than adding two more.
Jeff Fowle, rancher near Etna, Calif.
Water wait hangs Klamath Basin farmers out to dry
Still no irrigation start date for basin
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
The suspense is killing farmers and
ranchers in the Klamath Basin.
Two weeks after a highly anticipated
federal court hearing in San Francisco, lo-
cal producers still do not know when or
how much water they will have available
for this year’s irrigation season.
Without a concrete start date or alloca-
tion, irrigators say they are in limbo try-
ing to figure out what they can and cannot
grow and how they will adjust heading
into what is expected to be a severe sum-
mer drought.
“I would say it is agonizing,” said Ty
Kliewer, a member of the Klamath Irriga-
tion District Board of Directors. “Partic-
ularly this late into the spring, you don’t
know what to plant. You don’t know if you
should plant a dryland crop, or something
you can irrigate. ... A lot of guys with row
crops are really up in the air.”
Kliewer, who raises beef cattle and or-
ganic hay south of Klamath Falls, said a
big part of his business is selling commer-
cial breeding bulls, but with all the uncer-
tainty that market has gone stagnant.
“Everyone is coming up with their di-
saster plan right now,” he said. “You’ve got
to plan for the worst, and then everything is
Farmers and
ranchers in the
Klamath Basin
are anxiously
awaiting a
judge’s decision
on water avail-
ability so they
can determine
which crops to
grow this year.
Related Story
OWRD to hold groundwater workshops in
Klamath County
Page 5
a nice surprise for later, hopefully.”
The water situation is especially dire in
southern Oregon. While the northern part
of the state is experiencing near or above
normal snowpack, the Klamath Basin has
just 43 percent of its usual snow for the
year. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared
a drought emergency for Klamath County
on March 13, with stream flows expected
to range between 24 and 58 percent of nor-
mal through September.
Capital Press File
Turn to WATER, Page 12
Growers prepare to decide fate of Christmas tree checkoff
Workers load
Christmas
trees onto a
conveyor in
preparation
for shipping at
Sunrise Tree
Farm near Phi-
lomath, Ore.,
which is owned
by Pat and
Betty Malone.
Research and promotions program
up for referendum in May
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Christmas tree farmers across the U.S.
will begin voting May 1 on whether to con-
tinue funding a research and promotions
“checkoff” program for the crop.
The referendum will accept votes until
May 31 from roughly 1,500 growers who
sell more than 500 trees per year and are
Attention
Exhibitors
17-4/HOU
thus subject to the 15 cent per tree assess-
ment. The checkoff program, overseen by
the USDA and the Christmas Tree Promo-
tion Board, completed its third annual ad-
vertising campaign last year since being
launched in 2015.
Roughly $1.8 million a year is collected
under the program, with much of that mon-
ey directed at an online and social media
strategy intended to convince Millenial
generation consumers to chose real trees
over artificial ones.
Turn to CHECKOFF, Page 12
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