California Dairy Industry Headline News
from Western United Dairymen

Edited by Mark Looker

A news service of Western United Dairymen 1315 K Street, Modesto, CA 95354 (209)-527-6453 www.westernuniteddairymen.com
Headline News is constantly updated throughout the day. Bookmark this address: http://www.lookercomm.com/NewsLetterModule/WUDheadlinenews.htm

Thursday, Dec. 22, 2005

• California Dairy Hurricane Relief Fund makes donation to American Red Cross during holiday season  - - Just in time for the holiday season, donations from the California Dairy Hurricane Relief Fund to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina have been presented to the American Red Cross. “During this special time of the year, our hearts go out to our fellow citizens in the Gulf Coast who have suffered so much from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” said Case Van Steyn, President, Western United Dairymen. “California dairy families have responded generously to this call for assistance. It is heart warming to see dairy producers reaching out to others in need.” Van Steyn and Michael Marsh, CEO, Western United Dairymen, presented the donations totaling nearly $10,000 to Gloria Klink, Manager, Stanislaus County Chapter, American Red Cross. <more> Dec. 22, 2005 WUD Press Release

  HURRICANE RELIEF FUNDS are presented by Case Van Steyn, right, president, Western United Dairymen, to Stanislaus County Red Cross Chapter Manager Gloria Klink, as Michael Marsh, WUD CEO, and Madeline Hill,, executive assistant, look on.
  
   

• U.S. Ethanol Industry Sets Another Production Report - - The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) today announced that the U.S. ethanol industry continues to produce at a rate of more than 4 billion gallons annually. According to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), ethanol production in the U.S. was averaging 269,000 barrels per day (b/d) in October, up 8,000 b/d from September.  Demand for ethanol also grew substantially to 278,000 b/d. That is the second highest monthly demand, surpassed only by August demand. <more> Dec. 22, 2005 Pro Farmer

Note: Headline News will not be published between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2. Publishing will resume Jan. 3. We hope your holidays are wonderful.

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Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005

• Senate approves MILC extension as part of narrowly approved budget package -- Congress voted narrowly Wednesday to extend a dairy farmer support program as part of an end-of-the-year deficit bill. The Senate voted 51-50, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the tie-breaking vote, to reduce government spending programs by about $40 billion. Democrats had sought to defeat the measure, saying it would harm poor children, college students, and Medicaid patients. The legislation also includes language granting a two-year extension to the recently expired Milk Income Loss Contract program, at an estimated cost of $1 billion. Lawmakers from the Northeast and Midwest had fought to renew the MILC program, over the objections of dairy farmers from the West, where large farms less likely to benefit from MILC are more common. <more> Dec. 21, 2005 AP
   

• FBI Papers Show Terror Inquiries Into PETA; Other Groups Tracked - - FBI counterterrorism investigators are monitoring domestic U.S. advocacy groups engaged in antiwar, environmental, civil rights and other causes, the American Civil Liberties Union charged yesterday as it released new FBI records that it said detail the extent of the activity. The documents, disclosed as part of a lawsuit that challenges FBI treatment of groups that planned demonstrations at last year's political conventions, show the bureau has opened a preliminary terrorism investigation into People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the well-known animal rights group based in Norfolk. The papers offer no proof of PETA's involvement in illegal activity. But more than 100 pages of heavily censored FBI files show the agency used secret informants and tracked the group's events for years, including an animal rights conference in Washington in July 2000, a community meeting at an Indiana college in spring 2003 and a planned August 2004 protest of a celebrity fur endorser. <more> Dec. 21,2005 Washington Post
   

• Stanislaus supervisors fear rules will spell food-byproduct recycling's end - - Stanislaus County's cannery waste recycling program is threatened again by new regulations from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, county officials say. The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday evening to ask the water board to delay action on new regulations for the county program. The county's Food Processing By-Products Program allows canneries to take waste material, largely tomato skins, peach pits and other processing leftovers, and apply them to farmland as fertilizer. Some material is dehydrated and used for livestock feed. The county program has been in place since 1978. Without the program, the county's food processors would have to pay to dispose of the waste material, as much as $7 million a year, according to one estimate. But the regional water board staff, concerned about the potential for cannery byproducts to contaminate ground water with salts and nitrates, threatened last year to reclassify it as industrial waste. That would have required the material to be put in a landfill. <more> Dec. 21, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• EPA Proposes New Health-Based Soot Limits on Air Pollution - - The Environmental Protection Agency proposed stricter daily limits Tuesday for how many microscopic particles of air pollution, or soot, are safe for all Americans to breathe from the nation's smokestacks and tailpipes. The proposed new health-based air standards represent one of government's most far-reaching decisions. They affect millions of lives, and could force states to make industries spend billions of dollars to clean up coal-burning power plants, diesel-powered equipment, trucks and industrial boilers. Health and environmental groups had sued the government to force it to tighten its limits. Meeting a court-ordered deadline of midnight Tuesday, EPA ignored the recommendations of an expert clean air scientific advisory committee, which in June called for even tougher limits.  <more> Dec. 21, 2005 AP
   

• Water agency may revert to old status. CalFed proposes reforms, spurred by Schwarzenegger. - - Struggling to reinvent itself to meet the governor's deadline, the embattled CalFed Bay-Delta Authority on Tuesday opted to try on an old pair of shoes in hopes of pleasing critics. CalFed was created 10 years ago to end California's legendary water wars. It was charged with the difficult task of improving water supply and restoring the environment of the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Amid mounting criticism that the agency was failing on both accounts, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered CalFed to propose reforms before the year's end. On Tuesday, the CalFed board voted to reconstitute itself under the umbrella of the California Water Commission, which was created in 1958 but has been dormant in recent years. <more> Dec. 21, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

• Washington officials suspect 2 new cases of E. coli. Raw milk - A total of 18 people are now feared stricken, and two families contact a Seattle law firm -- The number of suspected E. coli cases linked to drinking raw milk continued to climb as health officials Tuesday awaited the results of more test samples taken at the Woodland farm where the milk was produced. A total of 18 people -- including 15 children younger than 13 -- now are thought to have been infected with E. coli O157:H7, a potentially deadly pathogen found in cow colons. All of those with symptoms had drunk unpasteurized milk from Dee Creek Farm, with two new cases discovered Monday: a child in Cowlitz County and an adult in Clark County. <more> Dec. 21, 2005 The Oregonian

Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005

• Two-year renewal of dairy subsidy clears House -- A two-year renewal of a price subsidy program important to the business survival of small dairy farmers in the upper Midwest and Northeast could be sent to President Bush for his signature this week. The Senate is expected to approve the extension by midweek following passage early Monday morning by the House. The Milk Income Loss Contract program, which expired Sept. 30, will be revived with a 27 percent cut in subsidy levels as part of a larger package of $39.7 billion of spending reductions over five years. The expected cost: $998 million. "It's Merry Christmas for the dairy farmers of Wisconsin," dairy farmer Bill Bruins, president of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, said Monday. "The big reason we need that extension is that the current price support program isn't working." <more> Dec. 20, 2005 Gannet News Service 
   

• Dairy Processors Applaud U.S. Trade Team and Urge Continued Push to Expand Agriculture Trade -- The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), the trade association representing the U.S. dairy processing industry, today applauded the efforts of the U.S. negotiating team under the leadership of U.S. Trade Representative Portman and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Johanns at the Sixth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference, which ended Sunday night in Hong Kong. In meetings with U.S. trade officials during the conference, IDFA stressed that the United States should remain very ambitious in all three 'pillars' of the agriculture negotiations: market access, domestic support and export competition. "Each pillar has important implications for the competitiveness of U.S. dairy, both in global markets and domestically," said IDFA Senior Vice President Clay Hough. <more> Dec. 20, 2005 IDFA Press Release  
   

• California producers urged to participate in 2006 cattle survey - - Approximately 2,300 California farmers and ranchers will be included in a national sample of producers who will take part in the USDA’s 2006 January Livestock Surveys. These major surveys will be conducted during the first half of January by representatives of the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).  Information collected will be used to develop State, regional and national estimates of cattle, sheep and goat inventories. California livestock producers selected for the survey will soon be notified by letter from the USDA-NASS, California Field Office, followed by either a phone call or personal visit from a NASS representative.<more> Dec. 20, 2005 NASS Press Release
   

• Overhaul of state electoral system sought. Legislation would create a 'citizens assembly' to propose changes to voters. - - Two California assemblymen known for their efforts at bipartisan cooperation have joined forces on a bill that seeks to fundamentally overhaul the state's electoral system in a search for its political center. Under the legislation to be submitted next year by Democrat Joe Canciamilla of Pittsburg and Republican Keith Richman of Northridge, a "citizens assembly" would be created to come up with a new electoral system and place it in the form of a constitutional amendment on the November 2008 ballot. A draft of the bill doesn't mention what kind of changes might be proposed. But Canciamilla and Richman said in interviews that they strongly favor such changes as proportional representation, independent redistricting, term-limit modification and campaign finance reform. <more> Dec. 20, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

• Prices at pump stabilize. Gas costs have dropped 89 cents in the past 3 months, but the free-fall may be over. - - The roller-coaster ride of gasoline prices is headed for a level stretch. Steep declines in prices, including a 20-cent drop in the past month in Fresno, are slowing down for the holidays — but it won't keep drivers from traveling. A gallon of unleaded cost an average of almost $2.27 Monday, according to AAA of Northern California.  Prices were slightly higher in the Visalia, Tulare, Porterville area, at an average of almost $2.34 a gallon. "We think prices will probably remain where they are, maybe go up or down a penny, from now until the end of the year," said Michael Geeser, spokesman for AAA of Northern California. <more>Dec. 20, 2005 Fresno Bee

Monday, Dec. 19, 2005

• House passes MILC extension - - On a 212-206 vote, the House passed the budget reconciliation package early this morning, including a two-year extension of the Milk Income Loss Compensation (MILC) program. The Senate has yet to vote on the package but it was their bill that included the MILC extension going into the conference committee. Senator Herb Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin praised the House for finally passing the extension, ""It is gratifying to see its inclusion today." Wisconsin Congressman Mark Green has been pushing his fellow Republicans and their leadership to renew the program, "We're finally at the goal line." President Bush has voiced his support for the extension. The program expired at the end of September; the two-year extension means its life will coincide with the current farm bill. Dec. 19, 2005 Source: Brownfield Ag News
   

• Congressional negotiators preserve milk subsidies -- House and Senate negotiators agreed Sunday to extend the Milk Income Loss Contract program for another two years, congressional spokespeople said. Spokespeople for Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., said the dairy subsidy program survived efforts to keep it out of the final version of the budget reconciliation bill. "The president announced about six months ago that he would support the extension of MILC,'' Green said. "It's been a long road from there to here. We're finally at the goal line.'' <more> Dec. 19, 2005 AP
   

• Trade Officials Agree to End Subsidies for Agricultural Exports  - - Trade ministers representing most of the world's governments reached a deal here on Sunday night that sets a deadline for wiping out subsidies of agricultural exports by 2013, realizing a goal that United States negotiators have been pursuing for two decades. The final declaration from the talks, which resolved several issues that have stood in the way of a global trade agreement, also requires industrialized countries to open their markets to goods from the world's poorest nations, a goal of the United Nations for many years. The declaration gives fresh impetus for negotiators to try to finish a comprehensive set of global free trade rules by the end of next year, in time for President Bush to submit it to Congress before his special negotiating authority expires. <more> Dec. 19, 2005 NY Times
   

• Prosecutor Charges L.A. Animal Activists - - Moving to quell months of aggressive protests by animal rights activists outside the homes of city officials, the Los Angeles city attorney's office embarked on a legal strategy Friday that officials conceded would push against the boundaries of free speech protections. "We're sending a message, and the message is: We all believe in the right of people to protest, the right of people to bring their grievances to the government, the right of people to disagree with the government when disagreement is necessary," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. "But we will not tolerate, we will not accept, threats of violence, harassment or intimidation in this city by any organization." <more> Dec. 17, 2005 LA Times
   

• Financial peril looms for flood defenses. Local levee districts are fast running out of money, options - - The guardians of vital levees in California's flood-prone Central Valley are on the verge of financial crisis, an investigation by The Bee has found, one that puts basic maintenance at risk and virtually rules out upgrades for a system in decline. The Bee examined a year's worth of financial audits for 73 levee districts between Butte City in the north and Visalia in the south. These tiny government agencies work behind the scenes in cities and rural areas, getting a share of property taxes from landowners to maintain thousands of miles of levees. While state and federal agencies often help pay for major levee upgrades, local levee districts are the eyes and ears of California's flood defenses - literally the front line between us and high water. <more> Dec. 19, 2005 Sacramento Bee

Friday, Dec. 16, 2005

• Pollution fees fall to builders. City sprawl will cost Valley developers who do not minimize bad air from the increased growth. - - The San Joaquin Valley on Thursday became the first place in the nation to take on air pollution created by city sprawl. Compelled by state law and prodded by activists, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District board approved unprecedented rules to curb pollution, despite vigorous opposition from builders. "This is the last major source of pollution in our Valley that has not stepped up," said Sierra Club member Kevin Hall of Fresno. "It is time." The goal is to reduce bad air from traffic going back and forth from new homes, businesses, commercial buildings and even school buildings constructed on the edge of town. <more> Dec. 16, 2005 Fresno Bee
   

• Air district OKs fee for sprawl. Region first to charge builders, or credit them for efficiency -- The San Joaquin Valley is the first region in the nation to regulate builders for their impact on air quality. At a meeting made more immediate by the poor air quality lurking outside, dozens of citizens in Bakersfield and Fresno convinced the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District board to charge builders a fee for sprawl. Homes and shopping centers attract car trips, industrial centers draw trucks, and taken together, they've become a pollution pool too large to ignore, according to state law. The impact will only worsen as the valley's population jumps 24 percent by the end of the decade, according to the district. Housing and business groups fiercely opposed the rule, but few individual builders spoke out against the fee, which could exceed $1,700-a-house by 2008. The rule also includes commercial development and government buildings, including schools. <more> Dec. 16, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
   

• House Moving to Tighten Immigration. The Republican bill focuses on border security and law enforcement and omits a guest-worker plan favored by Bush. - - The House Republican leadership overcame resistance within its deeply divided ranks Thursday and pushed toward a final vote today on sweeping legislation to crack down on illegal immigrants and beef up border security. The bill is believed likely to pass the House on a largely party-line vote. But its fate in the Senate is uncertain because it ignores calls by President Bush and some House and Senate Republicans for a guest-worker program that would temporarily legalize the status of millions of illegal workers. Bush has repeatedly called for a comprehensive approach to overhauling the immigration laws. <more> Dec. 16, 2005 LA Times
   

• Washington dairy operators question whether raw milk was source of E. coli -- Owners of a small farm have been ordered to give health officials the names of people who received raw milk that investigators blame for an outbreak of E. coli-related illness in 11 people, including nine children. Michael and Anita Puckett, operators of the Dee Creek Farm in Woodland, were given 24 hours to comply with the order issued Thursday by Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge James E. Warme. Representing themselves in court, the Pucketts submitted a written statement saying they were seeking written authorization from shareholders who receive the milk for release of their names. Warme advised the couple he was unconvinced that the shareholders were entitled to expect their names could remain secret under the circumstances, but added that under the court order the information would remain private to the extent that the law allows. <more> Dec. 16, 2005 AP
   

• Truce is called on staff pick. Governor, state GOP say they've worked it out. - - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim emerged from a meeting Thursday to declare that as far as they're concerned, the controversy over the governor's appointment of Democrat Susan Kennedy as chief of staff is over. "I think that issue has been put to rest," Sundheim said of the Kennedy matter, after the governor's session with the state GOP board in a conference room at the Hyatt Regency that lasted about an hour. "He made it clear she is there to implement his policies. She's totally committed to that, and we support his decision." <more> Dec. 16, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

• Waste Management: It's About Thyme - - A 1,000-head cattle feedlot produces about 146 to 175 tons of wet manure every week--a problematic figure for feedlot operators and their neighbors. Despite its benefits as a natural fertilizer, manure is a source of pathogens and odor. Fortunately, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are developing a method to reduce manure's negative properties. All they need is a little thyme. Thymol is the active component in thyme oil, which can be extracted from a variety of plants, such as thyme and oregano. Because of its pleasant odor and natural antiseptic properties, thymol appears in a variety of products, including mouthwash and throat lozenges. ARS microbiologists Elaine Berry, Vince Varel and Jim Wells discovered that its qualities can also benefit feedlots. When applied to cattle feedlot soil in slow-release granules, thymol reduced concentrations of odor-causing volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and pathogens like coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli. <more> Dec. 16, 2005 ARS Press Release
   

• Ethanol could drive corn acreage higher - - The Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture says expansion in the renewable fuels industry will soon take up one fourth of the American corn crop. Keith Collins says a quarter of the nation's corn may go toward ethanol use in the not-so-distant future. Collins, who spoke this week at the Energy from Agriculture Conference in St. Louis, says the domestic corn use at that high of a level has the potential to improve grain prices. <more> Dec. 16, 2005 Brownfield Ag News

   

Thursday, Dec. 15, 2005

• Valley woes noticed on Hill. Congressional study likens region to Appalachia, says federal funding lower here - - The San Joaquin Valley might be the new Appalachia after all, a new congressional study suggests. The travails sound familiar. Poverty is high, education is low and social needs abound. But a 365-page regional report card released Wednesday, one of the most comprehensive of its kind, leaves unanswered what might be the most enduring Capitol Hill question. What must Congress do now, given the immensity of the problem? "By a wide range of indicators, the San Joaquin Valley is one of the most economically depressed regions of the United States," the Congressional Research Service concluded in its final version of a report begun about a year ago. Even notoriously poor Appalachia stretching from the northeastern states to the South fares better in some respects. Per-capita income is lower in the valley's eight counties than in the 68-county area known as Central Appalachia. The valley's public assistance rates are higher than Appalachia's. Uncle Sam also seems to be investing more in Appalachia than in the valley. Per capita federal spending overall was lower in the San Joaquin Valley than in the depressed Central Appalachian sub-region, the report concluded. <more> Dec. 15, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• Smog Fighters May Make Builders Pay. In a U.S. first, a Central Valley agency is poised to impose air pollution fees on developers. - - Convinced that sprawl begets smog, Central Valley air quality officials are expected today to become the first regulators in the nation to force builders to pay air pollution fees for new development. Builders would pay less if their new homes, shopping centers and office complexes were designed in ways that limited automobile use — by locating banks and dry cleaners closer to houses, for example, or linking bicycle trails and walking paths to schools and work centers. The developers could avoid the fees entirely if their projects were environmentally friendly enough. The idea is to prod builders to cut down on traffic in an area where huge growth, and the cars that come with it, have combined with factory farming to create some of America's dirtiest air. <more> Dec. 15, 2005 LA Times
   

• DeLaval Inc. acquires intellectual property of leading rotary parlor manufacturer - - DeLaval Inc. has announced the acquisition of the Intellectual property of Rota-Tech Dairy Sheds International Ltd, a New Zealand based company and leading manufacturer of heavy duty rotary milking parlor platforms in the United States. The acquisition closing took place on November 10 at DeLaval’s regional headquarters in the US. The acquisition includes all the patents, trademarks, trade secrets, designs, manufacturing and installation know-how for Rota-Tech Dairy Sheds rotary milking parlor platforms. <more> Dec. 15, 2005 DeLaval Press Release
   

• E. Coli Outbreak Traced To Washington Dairy That Defied Raw Milk Sales Ban -- An outbreak of E. coli bacteria that has sickened 11 or more people, four critically, has been linked to a dairy that was ordered by the state in August to stop selling raw milk. Dee Creek Farm, accused of defying the order, is being investigated by at least four state and local agencies, and investigators asked that all of those who consumed milk from the dairy contact their local health departments, regardless of whether they are or have recently been ill. <more> Dec. 15, 2005 KIRO-TV Seattle

Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2005

• Kern Board postpones animal inspections. Program would allow for review of 69 dairies, other 'concentrated animal feeding' operations - - A new inspection program for dairies, cattle feedlots and other livestock facilities looks likely for Kern County, although supervisors Tuesday postponed a final decision for a week. In the meantime, the board asked county staffers to tweak language in the proposed program and to provide for a dairy inspector. While the five-member board disagreed on details during a long discussion, the members eventually agreed on one thing: Enforcement of existing rules is key. <more> Dec. 14, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
   

• Agri-Center chief resigns post after 15 years on the job - - After weeks of behind-the-scenes suspense and carefully guarded secrets, Gary Schulz has resigned as general manager of the International Agri-Center and the annual World Ag Expo in Tulare — the world's largest farm equipment trade show. The manager of 15 years was asked to resign, said Jerry Magoon, president of the International Agri-Center, the farm show's parent. A short, three-paragraph announcement released by the farm show's publicist on Tuesday said Schulz "has resigned his position immediately to pursue other business interests." <more> Dec. 14, 2005 Fresno Bee
   

• Cow's milk intolerance rare in young adults - - Young adults with gastrointestinal disturbances may blame cow's milk for their symptoms. While some type of allergic reaction may be involved, Finnish researchers report, intolerance to cow's milk is usually not the cause. In a previous study, Dr. Laura Paajanen of the Foundation for Nutrition Research in Helsinki and her team found evidence that gastrointestinal problems in school-age children were sometimes due an intolerance to cow's milk. They conducted the current investigation to determine the cause of similar discomfort in young adults. <more> Dec. 14, 2005 Reuters
   

• USDA shuts down Washington dairy tied to E. coli outbreak - -  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has shut down a dairy that provided the raw milk that health officials believe is to blame for seven cases of E. coli. The dairy that has been shut down is the Dee Creek Dairy near Woodland, Washington.  On Monday, Clark County Health Officials announced that six children in the county contracted E. coli after drinking unpasteurized milk that was bought at the dairy.   <more> Dec. 14, 2005  KATU-TV Portland
   

• House reauthorizes Commodity Futures Trading Commission - - Today the House passed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Reauthorization Act of 2005, H.R. 4473, by unanimous consent.  The CFTC Reauthorization was introduced by House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte and passed by the Committee last week.  H.R. 4473 includes provisions to remedy regulatory issues left unresolved following the enactment of Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) or have arisen recently regarding futures market volatility and increasing market prices in natural gas markets. <more> Dec. 14, 2005 House Ag Committee Press Release
   

• Cattle-price Reporting System Was Rife with Errors, Agency Says -- The federal government's mandatory system for reporting cattle prices, awaiting renewal by Congress, was plagued by inaccuracies, a watchdog agency reported Monday. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that more than half of the government's audits of meatpackers revealed inaccuracies, omissions or undocumented transactions, calling into question whether the reports fairly represented the market conditions that determine how much farmers receive for cattle. "GAO found the accuracy of USDA's livestock market news reports is not fully assured," the agency said in the report, which was requested by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa. The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress. <more> Dec. 14, 2005 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
   

• GOP Lawmakers Take Gov. to Task Over Appointment - - Republican lawmakers scolded Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday, telling him in a closed-door meeting how seriously his support among party stalwarts is wavering. Schwarzenegger spent about an hour with 20 members of the Assembly Republican caucus, who had asked for the meeting following his appointment of a Democratic activist as his new chief of staff. The Republican loyalists cast the hiring of Susan Kennedy, a top advisor to former Gov. Gray Davis, as a betrayal that raises a fundamental question about Schwarzenegger: Is he a Republican, or isn't he? "When my quarterback throws the ball to the other team, I've got worries," said Assemblyman Ray Haynes (R-Murrieta), in an interview after the meeting. <more> Dec. 14, 2005 LA Times

Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005

• Selma cattle off to Japan. Despite some expected challenges, Harris Ranch Beef is happy to resume exports. - - A shipment of processed beef from Harris Ranch Beef Co. could be on its way to Japan by midweek, thanks to that country's opening of its borders to meat from cattle 20 months or younger. Shipments of U.S. beef had been halted for two years as a result of the discovery of a single case of mad cow disease in the state of Washington as the Christmas holiday neared in 2003. "We call it the cow that stole Christmas," said Bruce Berven, vice president of marketing for Harris Ranch Beef in Selma. "This year we get Christmas back." <more> Dec. 13, 2005 Fresno Bee
   

• Kawamura, California cattle industry applaud reopening of Japanese market - - California Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura and the California cattle industry are applauding the announcements made by U.S. and Japanese officials regarding the removal of a two-year ban prohibiting the importation of U.S. beef into Japan. "This is an exciting development for California," said Secretary Kawamura. "Japan is a major market for California beef and this decision may encourage other markets to follow Japan's example. Japanese consumers have always appreciated the high quality and safety of U.S. beef, and I'm confident they will return to buying California beef." Japan, along with several other nations, banned the importation of American beef with the discovery of a single case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the United States in December 2003.  Prior to the ban, Japan was California's largest international market for beef, representing an estimated 40 percent of total beef exports, an $85 million dollar market. California beef producers look forward to the opportunity to re-establish that relationship. Dec. 13, 2005 Source: CDFA Press Release    
   

• Teenage acne may be related to milk's iodine content - - The link between increased dairy consumption and teenage acne may be partly explained by the high iodine content in milk, according to a New York researcher. "Farmers give their cows iodine-fortified feed to prevent infection, and they use sanitizing iodine solutions on their cows' udders and milking equipment," Dr. Harvey Arbesman, of the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in upstate New York, said in a university statement. "Consequently, there is a lot of iodine in dairy products." <more> Dec. 13, 2005 Reuters
   

• Fat's in the fire over tallow plan. Any bid to move plant to site near Westley will be fought, activist says - - If Stanislaus County wants to put a tallow plant near Westley, it had better "suit up and show up," because it would have a fight on its hands, community activist John Mataka said Monday. Supervisor Jim DeMartini said Friday that he had discussed moving the Modesto Tallow plant to a site near the tire-burning plant in the Westley area. DeMartini said he had discussed the idea with tallow plant managers and property owners near the tire-burning plant, but was unable to get the tallow plant owners interested. "They never really wanted to spend another $10 million to build another plant," DeMartini said. Mataka said the Westley and Grayson areas will fight any attempt to put a rendering plant there. <more> Dec. 13, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• Valley air district to consider fee for builders. Money to buy cleaner buses, replace dirty diesel engines - - It has been two years since the most frenzied debates ended over air cleanup rules for farmers and fireplace burning bans for city folk, but the interlude is over. Authorities are scheduled Thursday to possibly approve nationally unprecedented air fees on sprawl — new houses, shopping centers and office space. This time, it is not just environmentalists vs. an industry, namely, builders. Farmers, who are on the hook for new air cleanup rules, say it's time for builders to do their part. "I'm changing my farming practices for air quality," said Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League in Fresno. "Why don't they? If they don't do their part, someone will come after more reductions from farmers. Is that fair?" <more> Dec. 13,2005 Modesto Bee
   

• Unpasteurized milk may have given two Vancouver kids E. coli - - Two children were hospitalized after a rash of apparent E. coli poisonings in southwestern Washington, and officials said unpasteurized milk may be to blame. Clark County health officials have confirmed four cases of E. coli and suspect two others in children ranging from 5 to 14 years old. Interviews with the affected families revealed that five of the children drank unpasteurized raw milk from the same farm in Cowlitz County, health officials said. <more> Dec. 13, 2005 AP
   

• Trading Favors - - It suits some members of the World Trade Organization to pretend that all that is needed to unblock the current round of trade talks (which began in Doha, Qatar, in 2001 and continue here today) is for the European Union to make meaningful concessions on agriculture. The best that can be said about this self-serving argument is that it reflects well-intentioned but oversimplified views on the relationships among agriculture, trade and development. In reality, it is wrong on several counts. <more> Dec. 13, 2005 NY Times Op-Ed

Monday, Dec. 12, 2005

• Kern board to consider new dairy rules - - New permit and inspection rules for dairies are slated for a hearing Tuesday by county supervisors. Technically, they're known by the bulky term "confined animal feeding operation." In the real world, they're called dairies, feedlots and hog farms. Either way, as Kern County simultaneously draws more people and more cows, local officials are looking for better ways to process and monitor large-animal facilities. The underlying challenge comes from a tangle of state and federal regulations, along with Kern's hodgepodge collection of existing facilities permitted under four different processes over the past 30 years, according to county resource managers. What's being proposed are nontransferable permits for all facilities, which would be good for three years. <more> Dec. 12, 2005 Bakersfield Californian.
   

• USDA announces reopening of Japan to U.S. beef - - USDA Secretary Mike Johanns issued the following statement today: "I'm very pleased to announce that the Japanese market is now open to U.S. beef products. Resuming beef trade with Japan is great news for American producers and Japanese consumers, as well as an important step toward normalized trade based on scientifically sound, internationally recognized standards. <more> Dec. 11, 2005 USDA Press Release
   

• First U.S. Beef Leaves Dec. 17 for Japan - - The guesses as to when the first shipments of U.S. beef will start to Japan have been answered. Phil Seng, with the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) today said that the first shipment will leave Denver, Colorado, on Dec. 17. The shipment will be comprised of beef from several firms that are members of the USMEF, and officials will accompany the shipment to Japan and have a "welcome" reception on Dec. 18. <more> Dec. 12, 2005 AgWeb.com
   

• Japan Partially Lifts Ban on U.S., Canadian Beef Imports -- Japan on Monday conditionally lifted a two-year-old ban it had imposed on U.S. and Canadian beef because of mad cow disease, paving the way for beef from young cattle of the two countries to reach the Japanese market before the end of this year. The conditions attached are that beef must come from cows aged up to 20 months and that brains, spinal cords and other specified risk materials that could transmit the disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, must be properly removed. With the lifting of the ban, U.S. and Canadian beef is expected to reach Japanese consumers at retail stores and restaurants before the end of this year. <more> Dec. 12, 2005 Kyodo News
   

• Governor tacks to the right in shuffle. Tamminen is out as Cabinet secretary - - The shake-up of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Cabinet that began last month with the governor naming a top Democrat as his chief of staff took a sharp turn back to the right Friday. After weeks of intense protest from conservatives who balked at his pick of Susan Kennedy as chief of staff, Schwarzenegger replaced his left-leaning Cabinet secretary Terry Tamminen with a Republican. He also created a new position of senior adviser for policy development, naming a Republican to that post as well. <more> Dec. 12, 2005 San Jose Mercury News
   

• Tallow stench is in the past. County official says plant down to three workers - - With Modesto Tallow Co. halting the processing of animal carcasses, the plant's stomach-turning odors — which spewed for decades into neighborhoods in south and west Modesto — were not detectable Friday. "They're not processing any more raw animal matter," said Jaime Holt, a spokeswoman for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. "That should take care of it. We hope the odor problem is done with for good." <more> Dec. 10, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• More travel time for dead livestock. Changes at Modesto Tallow worrisome to dairy industry - - Other rendering plants in the Central Valley can serve dairy farmers who had been sending dead cows to Modesto Tallow Co., people in the business said Friday. "We don't see a crisis at all," said John Sisk, owner of Sisk Tallow Co., southwest of Turlock, which hauls carcasses to distant plants for rendering. Dairy farmers had raised concerns that without Modesto Tallow, which is closing because of odor complaints, they might have no place to take cows that die but are unfit for the meat market. <more> Dec. 10, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• Illinois School Officials Propose Ban of Whole Milk - - Cartons of whole milk would be considered junk food, but baked Cheetos would not, under new rules proposed Friday by Illinois education officials. The State Board of Education proposed the rules after Gov. Rod Blagojevich asked for a junk food ban in elementary and middle schools. The new rules focus on the nutritional content of foods rather than broad categories of food. Because of that, the proposed guidelines would allow 1 ounce bags of baked potato chips, even though all chips are now banned under the board's current definition of junk food. Whole milk would also be banned because of its high fat content, school officials said. <more> Dec. 11, 2005 AP
   

• Fifth Minnesota cattle herd infected with TB. USDA stripping state of its TB-free status - - Minnesota's cattle industry is bracing for a severe economic blow as the U.S. Department of Agriculture moves to strip the state of its tuberculosis-free status after the discovery of a fifth infected beef herd in northwestern Minnesota. Though state veterinarians are quarantining herds in their efforts to curb the outbreak, the disease poses no danger to consumers unless they drink unpasteurized milk or rub noses with a cow, says Gene Hugoson, Minnesota's agriculture commissioner. "This is not a human health issue," Hugoson says. "It is an animal health issue." <more> Dec. 12, 2005 Minneapolis Star Tribune
   

Friday, Dec. 9, 2005

• Dairy waste becomes resource. Program tells producers how to make money from manure or use it to cut costs. - - A dozen dairy farmers on Thursday shared their stories on the campus of California State University, Fresno, about what they do when manure happens, emphasizing how to turn waste into a money-saver while complying with closer government regulations. "I've heard the word 'waste' a lot here," said Art Darling, executive director of Sunshine State Milk Producers in Florida, the final speaker at the program that drew about 100 people. "We should try not to use that term. What we have is a resource." <more> Dec. 9, 2005 Fresno Bee
   

• Time's up for Modesto Tallow - - Modesto Tallow Co., long criticized for the foul odors drifting from its plant, will shut down by the end of next year, officials said Thursday. The owners of the south Modesto plant agreed to stop rendering livestock carcasses and to phase out other operations by Dec. 31, 2006, under a settlement with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. The announcement, while cheered by the plant's critics, raised concern in farming circles about whether other rendering plants could fill the gap. Despite the complaints, the plant has been a key part of the region's agriculture, taking in dead dairy and beef cattle, chicken feathers and other animal remains." They have to be disposed of in some fashion, and Modesto Tallow, of course, has provided an outlet for those products for years," said Michael Marsh, chief executive officer of Western United Dairymen, based in Modesto. He said the cost of disposing of dead livestock could rise if other rendering companies do not have excess capacity.  <more> Dec. 9, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• USDA announces final decision to amend Pacific Northwest and Arizona-Las Vegas milk orders - -The USDA today announced a final decision that adopts amendments to the current provisions of the Pacific Northwest and Arizona-Las Vegas milk marketing orders.  This decision is based on testimony and evidence given at a public hearing held at Tempe, Ariz., beginning on Sept. 23, 2003; reconvened and continuing at Seattle, Wash., on Nov. 17, 2003, and reconvened and concluding at Alexandria, Va., on Jan. 23, 2004. The decision establishes a three million pound per month route disposition limit, which if exceeded, would subject a producer-handler to the pooling and pricing provisions of the Pacific Northwest and the Arizona-Las Vegas milk marketing orders. The final decision will be published in the Dec. 9 Federal Register.  USDA will conduct a vote to determine producer approval.  If producers approve the order as amended by the final decision, a final rule will follow to implement the changes. Source: USDA Press Release Dec. 9, 2005
   

• 6 Arrested Years After Ecoterrorist Acts - - The attacks have been nearly forgotten. The places that were burned have been rebuilt or relocated. The cryptic communiqués taking responsibility are distant history. But on Thursday, after years of investigation, federal officials announced one of the biggest roundups yet of people involved in a string of ecoterrorist attacks in the Pacific Northwest dating to 1998. Six people from five states, from New York to Washington, were arrested on Wednesday, and indicted on charges related to arson attacks and sabotage in Washington and Oregon, including the millennium eve destruction of a transmission tower owned by the Bonneville Power Administration. The arrests are intended to strike a blow against two related groups, the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front, which have claimed responsibility for burning and bombing research facilities, timber operations and sport-utility vehicle dealers, among other targets. <more> Dec. 9, 2005 NY Times
   

• Judiciary panel backs border security bill - - Legislation to choke off illegal immigration, both at the border and in the workplace, cleared a key House committee Thursday despite strong objections from Democrats who said immigration reform must also deal with the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country. The Judiciary Committee approved the measure on a party-line 23-15 vote, setting up a vote in the full House next week before Congress adjourns for the year. The 169-page bill goes beyond increasing border patrol agents and equipment to enlist military support in border surveillance and reimburse local law enforcement in border areas for assistance in combating alien smuggling and illegal entry. <more> Dec. 8, 2005 AP
   

• Minnesota culls herds to contain bovine TB outbreak - - Thousands of beef cattle are being destroyed in Minnesota as authorities try to stop the first outbreak of bovine tuberculosis in the northwestern US state in 34 years. The Department of Agriculture is set to strip Minnesota of its bovine-TB free status, making it the fourth US state bumped from the roster alongside Michigan, Texas and New Mexico. Agriculture officials stressed that this is not a human health threat and so was unlikely to affect trade. <more> Dec. 8, 2005 AFP
   

• DFA promotes Smith to president/CEO - - Dairy Farmers of America Inc.'s board has promoted Rick Smith from president and chief operating officer to president and CEO. Smith had been president and COO of the Kansas City-based national farmer-owned dairy cooperative since August. He joined DFA's management team in January 2001, the co-op said in a written news release Thursday. Smith succeeds retiring CEO Gary Hanman. Smith will start his new job Jan. 1. <more> Dec. 8, 2005 Kansas City Business Journal
   

• Health officials say labs flailing on bioterrorism - - Local public health officials throughout the state are disputing a report that gives California a mediocre grade when it comes to bioterrorism preparedness. They say the situation is actually worse. The Health Officers Association of California has labeled the readiness of public health laboratories a "crisis." The group claims California does not have enough sophisticated infectious disease laboratories or lab scientists to test for potential bioterrorism agents such as anthrax and plague. The statement contradicts findings released Tuesday by the Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit health advocacy group in Washington, D.C. In that report - which for the past three years has assessed the states' bioterrorism and other health emergency preparedness - California got a score of five out of 10 points possible; 21 states were rated higher. <more> Dec. 9, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

• Climate strategy for state proposed. Advisers flesh out governor's call to cut 'greenhouse gases.' - - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's climate advisers issued ambitious recommendations Thursday for reducing gases linked to global warming, including a new fee on gasoline and diesel. The draft proposals fill in the blanks of an executive order Schwarzenegger issued in June, giving California the most aggressive goals in the world for fighting global warming. He commanded the state to reduce "greenhouse gas" emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. The state Climate Action Team's proposals reflect the growing commitment of California's leaders to control greenhouse gases despite opposition within the federal government to mandatory limits on the heat-trapping pollutants. <more> Dec. 9, 2005 Sacramento Bee

Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005

• New Study Sheds Light on How Dairy Consumption Burns More Fat and Calories -- A new clinical trial(1), published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by researchers at Purdue University, found that women burned more fat and more calories after a meal when their diets included 3-4 servings of dairy daily. "From the results of this study, we put together a rough calculation based on the increased fat burned from a meal that suggests a high dairy diet followed over a year could potentially result in the loss of 10 pounds of fat a year," commented Dorothy Teegarden, Ph.D., lead investigator and professor of nutrition at Purdue University. <more> Dec. 7, 2005 National Dairy Council Press Release
   

• TB found in Minnesota cattle, feds say - - The state's cattle industry is bracing for a severe economic blow as the U.S. Department of Agriculture moves to strip the state of its tuberculosis-free status after the discovery of a fifth infected beef herd in northwestern Minnesota. Though state veterinarians are quarantining herds in their efforts to curb the outbreak, the disease poses no danger to consumers unless they drink unpasteurized milk or rub noses with a cow, said Gene Hugoson, Minnesota's agriculture commissioner. <more> Dec. 7, 2005 Minneapolis Star Tribune
   

• Japan to Formally Decide on Resuming U.S. Beef Imports Next Monday -- The government will formalize a decision on partially resuming beef imports from the United States and Canada next Monday, government sources said Tuesday. Following the decision, beef from North American cattle aged up to 20 months will arrive in Japan as early as before the end of the year, about two years after beef imports from the two countries were banned, the sources said. <more> Dec. 7, 2005 Kyodo News
   

• USDA announces energy strategy to help farmers and ranchers with high energy costs --Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today unveiled a comprehensive energy strategy to help farmers and ranchers mitigate the impact of high energy costs and develop long-term solutions. "As I've traveled the country conducting listening sessions, I've heard loud and clear that producers are struggling with high energy costs," said Johanns. "USDA has put together an array of efforts to assist producers both in the short and long term. I've appointed a leadership team to oversee our comprehensive strategy and ensure specific goals are met relating to energy-saving assistance for producers and the advancement of renewable fuels." <more> Dec. 7, 2005 CNN
   

• Dr. Jim Butler stepping down from FAS post - - U.S. Deputy Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, Dr. Jim Butler is stepping down. Butler is leaving USDA to become deputy director general of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). With headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica, IICA is a leading organization in the Western Hemisphere for promoting development of the agriculture and food sectors as science-based sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards and biotechnology regulation. <more> Dec. 7, 2005 Brownfield Ag News
   

• Governor Faces Revolt in GOP. As anger rises over the choice of a Democrat as chief of staff, party leaders demand a talk. - - With segments of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political base rising in revolt, directors of the California Republican Party have demanded a private meeting with the governor to complain about the hiring of a Democratic operative as his chief of staff. The request comes as Schwarzenegger faces sustained opposition from moderate and conservative Republicans over the choice of Susan P. Kennedy. Before serving as a state public utility commissioner, Kennedy was Cabinet secretary for Gov. Gray Davis. She also was an abortion-rights activist and former Democratic Party executive. <more> Dec. 7, 2005 LA Times

Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2005

• Farmer surrenders on Kern dairy. Man seeks place where he doesn't 'have to listen to people complain' - - The owner of a large Wasco-bound dairy is giving up on Kern, choosing to send his cows to a neighboring county or out of state. Amos DeGroot, who owns dairy farms in Texas, Nevada and California, spent about three years trying to set up Rex Ranch Dairy, a 10,270-cow farm on 2,200 acres near Wasco. "I'm very discouraged with Kern County," DeGroot said Monday. "I'm going to have my dairy somewhere where I don't have to listen to people complain." That place could be near Corcoran in Kings County, where a local entrepreneur is planning the next generation in milk operations. David Albers, a Bakersfield attorney who owns a dairy in Fresno County, wants DeGroot to join his "dairy park," a new style of milk farm in which independent dairies share water, waste and energy infrastructure. <more> Dec. 6, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
   

• CCAGW Slams Milk Income Loss Contract Program -- The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) and a coalition of taxpayer groups sent the following letter to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and members of the House and Senate Budget Committees regarding the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Program. <more> CCAGW Press Release Dec. 6, 2005
   

• Land Stewardship Initiative Announced by Horizon Organic Dairy --People in the U.S. want more organic dairy products than current certified organic dairy farms can supply. Horizon Organic, the nation's leading marketer of organic milk, intends to address this supply shortage through modern investments and old-fashioned stewardship. Horizon Organic, the first nationally distributed certified organic milk company, today announced its $13 million Land Stewardship Initiative. The multi-tiered program will fund grazing and agricultural land expansion with environmental integrity for its two original farms and its growing national network of family farmers. <more> Dec. 6, 2005 Horizon Organic Press Release
   

• Most take pay hikes in Capitol - - State lawmakers are overwhelmingly accepting a $12,000 annual pay raise that kicks in this month. But at least 17 out of 120 California Senate and Assembly members are refusing the pay raise approved in May by an independent compensation panel. The 12 percent raise - the first for lawmakers since 1998 - will increase most salaries from $99,000 to $110,880. The salaries for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, will increase from $113,850 to $127,572. The salary increases, effective Dec. 1, come two months after lawmakers' per diem pay - for living expenses while they are in Sacramento - increased from $138 to $153. Legislators will now earn roughly $27,000 to $28,000 in per diem pay on top of their salaries, with the per diem amount varying depending on how many days the Legislature is in session. <more> Dec. 6, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

• Supreme Court reviews Clean Water Act - - Several U.S. farm groups are raising concerns about a Supreme Court case that has two Michigan land owners pitted against the Army Corps of Engineers. In both instances, the residents were denied the right to develop land they own because of wetlands that exist on the properties. Both the National Pork Producers Council and the Farm Bureau have stepped into the case, concerned that the outcome could impact American farmers and ranchers. Late last week, NPPC asked the Court to reverse a lower court ruling on the Clean Water Act that could adversely affect livestock operations. The farm groups have asked for a ruling that ditches, drainage ways or wetlands with only indirect connections to navigable waters not be subject to the provisions of the Clean Water Act. That federal mandate requires a permit to release anything into a navigable body of water. <more> Dec. 6, 2005 Brownfield Ag News
   

• The Dairy Dilemma - - I live in Vermont, where until recently there really were more cows than people. I also grew up drinking milk with every meal. Everyone I knew drank milk, even my parents. I never even heard of lactose-intolerance, soy milk or rice milk until I went to college. Times have changed! Recently, you've probably noticed the conflicting research about dairy products. Some reports trumpeted by the National Dairy Council suggest that drinking milk will help promote weight loss. Other research shows that drinking milk can cause weight gain, and even increase risk of diabetes or other diseases. Who's right? <more> Dec. 6, 2005 MSNBC
   

• New Web Site Features Viewpoints on GM Crops-- A new multimedia website, Conversations about Plant Biotechnology at http://www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo  offers visitors a glimpse of the discussions taking place among farmers on the impact of genetically modified crops. These crops have been grown for a decade on more than one billion acres worldwide. <more> Dec. 6, 2005 Monsanto Press Release

Monday, Dec. 5, 2005

• Fresno's cow count rising. As dairies arrive, expand, county isn't following area's lead in regulation. - - Dairy herds in the San Joaquin Valley have grown by 360,000 animals in three years, and leaders are talking about tons of manure in every affected county except in the most populous one - Fresno County. Other counties are taking the lead in preventing manure from polluting water, fouling the air and tainting the quality of life with swarms of flies. One dairy cow produces 20 times more waste than a human, so there is a lot to discuss. Yet, there is no formal conversation in Fresno County, where up to 50,000 more cows are planned in addition to the current 185,000 dairy animals. In this county, where a quarter of the Valley population resides, the subject hasn't come up, county leaders say. <more> Dec. 5, 2005 Fresno Bee
   

• Almond prices up; milk to drop a bit - - Almonds likely will keep paying well in 2006, while milk might dip a bit and tomatoes are dicey, according to ag product experts. They spoke at an annual meeting for agricultural lenders, put on this week by the Central Valley Risk Management Association. Prices paid to producers of milk, the top farm product in the valley and statewide, rebounded in the past couple of years after a depressed period early in the decade. The 2006 prices likely will be down somewhat from this year's because of a large milk supply, said Tiffany LaMendola, director of economic analysis for Western United Dairymen, based in Modesto. "The easy answer (about 2006 prices) is 'lower,' but how much lower is really going to be a factor of demand," she said at Wednesday's meeting. <more> Dec.3, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• Hilmar still flouts limit on waste. Regulatory retreat seen as cheese maker fights its $4 million fine. - - Nearly a year after state water-quality enforcers walloped Hilmar Cheese Co. with a $4 million fine for chronically and vastly exceeding state pollution limits, the giant Modesto-area manufacturer continues to chronically and vastly exceed those limits - indefinitely. Rather than escalate enforcement, however, the state Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board's staff has retreated in the face of an all-out legal and public relations counterattack by the mass producer of cheddar, Colby and Monterey Jack. Such a rollback, critics and other regulators argue, illustrates a systemic problem within several of the state's regional water-quality control boards, where the dominant culture is to coax and guide offending businesses into compliance rather than penalize them. <more> Dec.4, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

• Passing: George Nunes, 68, North Coast dairyman - - Longtime North Coast dairyman George Elton Nunes died Thursday of an apparent heart attack. Visitation will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday at Keaton's Redwood Chapel of Marin, 1801 Novato Blvd. in Novato. Friends and family are invited to attend a Rosary at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of Loretto Church, 1806 Novato Blvd. Funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Our Lady of Loretto Church.Donations in Nunes' memory may be made to local youth agricultural organizations or programs for developmentally disabled children and adults. <more> Dec. 5, 2005 Santa Rosa Press Democrat
   

• Got Milk. Mega-dairies mega-pollute - - Larry Pearson, a second-term Wasco city councilmember, likes to drive the Kern County backroads that surround his home 27 miles northwest of Bakersfield. He stares past the monotony of irrigated almond orchards and alfalfa fields, looking for an aberration. And occasionally he finds it: cement plants operating without air permits, piles of dead cows stacked by the side of the road for days in blistering heat, sprawling dunes of illegally dumped human waste trucked in from Southern California.  So when Pearson's 82-year old father complained on a dry August day in 2004 that the road out to the shooting range was flooded, Pearson decided to check it out. Pearson and his father drove about 17 miles south to the Buttonwillow State Ecological Reserve to find the state parkland submerged thigh-high in liquid cow manure. Across the road, the Goyenetche Dairy, with over 7,000 cows packed into open-air corrals, had run a drainpipe into a culvert that leads onto the ecological reserve. The dairy flooded 16 acres of the reserve with its wastewater before state inspectors - responding to a call from Pearson - arrived on the scene a few days later. By that time, the fetid water was teeming with mosquitoes. The Goyenetche dairy now faces over $250,000 in fines and fees for its illegal dumping. <more> Dec. 5, 2005 Terrain Magazine by Berkeley Ecology Center
   

• Shortage has farms struggling -- Pushing back the silvery-green canopy of an olive tree, Don Stutsman examines clusters of ripening fruit and wonders whether he'll have enough hands to pick the berries. He usually finishes his harvest by the end of October. But this year a number of unusual factors have collided to leave fruit hanging longer, jeopardizing his crop and highlighting the industry's dependence on illegal immigrants. A booming construction industry is offering better pay, and beefed-up patrols along the Mexican border have made it harder for unauthorized workers to reach farms, offering a preview of what could happen if this source of labor dried up. <more> Dec. 5, 2005 AP
   

• Picking a Battle Over Shortage of Farmworkers. As some winter crops may be left to rot, farm advocates lobby for immigration reform. - - The farmers who grow most of the nation's winter vegetable crop say they won't have enough workers - legal or otherwise - to harvest all the produce when the season hits high gear next month. Growers in the winter farm belt that stretches east from California's arid Imperial Valley to Yuma County in Arizona will fill barely half the 50,000 field hand positions needed to gather the region's tons of ripening produce, according to Western Growers, a trade group whose members account for 90% of the nation's winter lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and other vegetables. "Come January, we could see lettuce rotting in the fields because there will be no one to pick it," said Jon Vessey, who farms 8,000 acres near El Centro. Growers blame more frequent patrols and raids targeting illegal workers in agriculture, tighter border enforcement and the migration of undocumented workers to better paying or less physically demanding trades. <more> Dec. 5, 2005 LA Times
   

• USDA Launches Redesigned Agricultural Statistics Web Site - - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) today launched its newly redesigned web site, www.nass.usda.gov. With a simple click of the mouse, there is now more agricultural data available at your fingertips. The site has been completely revamped to better serve the needs of NASS customers, whether farmers, researchers, government officials, journalists, teachers or others. <more> Dec. 5, 2005 USDA Press Release

Friday, Dec. 2, 2005

• Deadline extended to January for EQIP water quality cost-share programs - - A wide variety of water quality conservation practices, ranging from manure storage and treatment to manure runoff control, are eligible for cost-share funding under a special $10 million initiative announced by USDA. The funding will come from the USDA Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and it is targeted specifically at California dairy producers and other confined animal operators, said ED Burton, state conservationist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS. The application filing period will run until a date in January 2006 to be determined, which accelerates the usual EQIP timeframe by about four months, said Burton. “By taking and ranking applications now, we will expedite the contracting process and get money to producers earlier in the season,” he said. For more information, visit the NRCS website www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip or contact a local NRCS office or your WUD field representative. A statewide pool of funds has been established so that confined animal operators do not have to compete against other conservation needs. Cost-sharing is available to pay up to 50% of the costs of eligible conservation practices. Those practices include tailwater return systems, irrigation pipelines, manure transfer lines, waste treatment lagoons, waste storage facilities, and roof runoff structures. Visit www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip/2006/statepriorities2006.html for a complete list of eligible practices.
   

• A.L. Gilbert inducted in Stanislaus County Ag Hall of Fame- - Carl Sandburg, who dubbed Chicago the "city of the broad shoulders," is said to have been impressed with Oakdale as well. While visiting in 1939, the poet gazed at the A.L. Gilbert Co. feed warehouse and declared it "a Grand Canyon of a barn," said Bob Gilbert, 82, the company's current chairman. A.L. Gilbert looms large not just in Oakdale, where the feed complex stretches for a few blocks, but in the agricultural economy of the Central Valley. The company, which was founded in 1892 and employs more than 200 people today, was inducted Thursday night into the Stanislaus County Agricultural Hall of Fame. <more> Dec. 2, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• Run Your Car on Cow Fuel, Canadian Company Says - - A Canadian company has an idea for motorists worried about global warming -- put a cow in your tank. A C$14 million ($12 million) factory near Montreal started producing "biodiesel" fuel two weeks ago from the bones, innards and other parts of farm animals such as cattle, pigs or chickens that Canadians do not eat. "We're using animal waste to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said marketing director Ron Wardrop of Rothsay, which runs the plant. "We need more of this type of thing," he said at the plant by the St. Lawrence River, near Montreal where 189 nations are meeting this week to work out how to curb climate change widely blamed on emissions of heat-trapping gases from fossil fuels. <more> Dec. 2, 2005 Reuters
   

• PG&E bills won't be as high as feared. Warm weather expected to reduce this month’s hike to 25%, not 38% - - Winter heating bills won't sock people quite as hard as feared this month because mild weather so far has driven down prices for natural gas. Bills will probably rise 25 percent this month from a year ago, Pacific Gas & Electric announced Thursday. That's still stiff, but not as severe as the 38 percent the utility had forecast. And it's a relief from the 70 percent hike seen in October and 50 percent in November. The increase in gas bills has steadily slackened since Hurricanes Rita and Katrina severely battered natural gas production along the Gulf Coast. Natural gas is used to fuel furnaces and hot water heaters in most households. <more> Dec. 2, 2005 San Jose Mercury News
   

• Sweeping CALFED makeover in works -- The faltering state-federal effort to restore the Delta looks like it's about to get an extreme makeover. Recent reports conducted by the state Department of Finance and the Little Hoover Commission say CALFED -- as the effort is known -- needs to streamline itself, narrow its focus and ensure that when things go wrong, someone is responsible. All this activity has become more urgent because the Delta is in crisis, despite billions of taxpayer dollars spent on efforts to save it. <more> Dec. 2, 2005 Stockton Record
   

• Looking for levee funding - - With state money for California levee maintenance running out, lawmakers and levee managers are scrambling to find a fresh infusion of cash to keep the aging berms propped up. Amid dire warnings of a looming Delta disaster that would destroy homes and farms and leave millions of Californians without drinking water, the search is on not only for new dollars, but also for a new state role in determining how to spend them. "I think it would make sense to have a more centralized agency or framework for making sure that the levee systems are being protected and the money is being invested wisely," said state Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch. <more> Dec. 2, 2005 Contra Costa Times

Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005

• Cheese giant to grow. Hilmar fixture unwraps plan to add Texas site - - Hilmar Cheese Co. plans to build a plant in Texas that will be nearly five times larger than its Merced County factory, which is the largest cheese-producing facility in the world. Texas Gov. Rick Perry flew to the north Texas panhandle community of Dalhart on Wednesday to make the announcement, during a community celebration that was attended by many of the cheese company's owners and executives. A company statement issued Wednesday says that Texas' environmental regulations are a primary reason for building the plant there. Hilmar Cheese is negotiating with the California Water Quality Control Board to reach a $3 million settlement over pollution from the Hilmar plant. Officials said that the company is not moving out of Hilmar. <more> Dec. 1, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• Final numbers for CWT herd buyout show 64,000 cows, 1.2 billion pounds of milk - - The Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) program has the final numbers for the third herd buyout program. Walt Wosje says, “This was the biggest round that we had, we had a total of 442 herds that are liquidated. There are just over 64,000 cows in those herds, a total of 1.2 billion pounds of milk.” The average bid is $6.75 per hundredweight, that is $1.51 more than the average price in round 2 last year and $2.73 above the first buyout in 2003. Wosje says, “Milk prices have been pretty good and as you know, cow prices have been escalating the last year or so, so it was about what we expected.” There were a total of 667 bids submitted. Most of the cows have already been shipped and Wosje says the remaining animals will be gone by the end of December. <more> Dec. 1, 2005 Brownfield Ag News
   

• Johanns announces nearly $2.7 billion for voluntary conservation programs on working lands - - Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced the release of nearly $2.7 billion in fiscal year 2006 for voluntary conservation programs on working lands. "Conservation on private lands is an important priority for USDA. We are fulfilling that commitment by responding to the needs of agricultural producers to provide more certainty and predictability in their environmental stewardship decisions before planting season begins," said Johanns. "The early release of these funds will give producers time to develop effective conservation plans and help them to improve their land." <more> Dec. 1, 2005 USDA Press Release
   

• Fixing levees is huge task, experts tell lawmakers. A rough price tag is $7 billion to $12 billion, Assembly panels are advised, but the cost could easily double, too. - - It's impossible to put a solid number today on what it would cost to shore up California's levees, but the roughest guesses run well into the billions, state water officials told Assembly members Wednesday. The $7 billion to $12 billion price tag they outlined is intended only to give lawmakers a feel for the scope of the problem, said Les Harder, acting deputy director of the state Department of Water Resources. The true amount might run less than that - or it could easily double, he said in an interview after a joint hearing by Assembly committees on water and infrastructure. <more> Dec. 1, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

• New Top Aide's Role: Help Gov. Find His Voice - - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger picked a former Democratic Party activist as his new chief of staff after concluding that his current team was trying to push him in the directions they wanted to go, rather than embracing his more centrist ideas, sources familiar with the governor's thinking said Wednesday. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing the governor's private conversations, said Schwarzenegger had also concluded that his management style was flawed and needed to be overhauled. The sources painted a picture of a governor's staff riven with rivalries and partisan disagreements — an eclectic mix of Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and a scattering of friends Schwarzenegger knows from the movies. <more> Dec. 1, 2005 LA Times
   

• Soda industry says school soft drink sales down. Non-diet drinks sold in U.S. schools slide over 24 percent from 2002 to 2004 - - It’s not often that an industry brags when sales are down. But the American Beverage Association sounds almost proud when it declares in a report being released Thursday that the amount of non-diet soft drinks sold in the nation’s schools dropped more than 24 percent between 2002 and 2004. The trade group’s report is an effort to deflate threats of a lawsuit against soft drink companies, which face mounting pressure as childhood obesity concerns have led schools to remove sodas. During the same two-year period, the amount of sports drinks sold grew nearly 70 percent, bottled water 23 percent, diet soda 22 percent and fruit juice 15 percent, according to the report, which is based on data from beverage bottling companies. <more> Dec. 1, 2005 AP

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005

• Hilmar Cheese Co. to build Texas production plant - - A California cheese company plans to build a production plant in Delhart, Texas, a  small Panhandle town,  that's expected to bring thousands of permanent jobs to the region, officials said. The Hilmar Cheese Co. factory will bring an economic impact of $570 million in the next 10 years in Amarillo, according to the Amarillo Economic Development Corp., which provided a $5 million grant to the Hilmar, Calif., company. The company is the largest single-site cheese and whey products manufacturer in the world, according to a news release from Gov. Rick Perry's office. <more> Nov. 30, 2005 AP
   

• It's Republicans vs. Republicans in battle over dairy program - - For a few Republican lawmakers, perhaps the biggest battle facing House-Senate negotiators on a huge budget bill isn't a high-profile issue like cutting food stamps and Medicaid or opening a stretch of pristine Alaskan coast to oil drilling. It's milk. Specifically, it's the Milk Income Loss Contract program that pays dairy farmers when prices drop.  <more> Nov. 30, 2005 ABC News
   

• Hilmar's cleanup proposal shot down. Board says cheese maker must open study to others - - A regulatory board unanimously rejected a settlement with Hilmar Cheese Co. on Tuesday, sending attorneys back to negotiations to resolve long-standing water pollution problems caused by the Merced County cheese-making giant. The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board gave negotiators until March to come up with a modified settlement that would give state regulators and other stakeholders a bigger role in a $1 million study, to be funded by Hilmar Cheese, on the effects of salinity and other food processing byproducts on Central Valley ground and surface water. The study was part of a $3 million tentative agreement reached in October after the board charged the company with multiple pollution violations. <more> Nov. 30, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• Governor to appoint Democrat as chief of staff - - Susan Kennedy, a staunch Democrat and former aide to recalled Gov. Gray Davis, will be named today as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new chief of staff. For Schwarzenegger, who is scheduled to announce the appointment at a 2 p.m. Capitol press conference, the move is the strongest signal yet of what aides have said will be a major reshuffling of his senior staff. Some of those exiting, such as Pat Clarey, who Kennedy is replacing, planned to leave around this time anyway. But the many staff changes in the works come as Schwarzenegger regroups after his politically disastrous special election defeat and prepares to run again next year. Kennedy, who was Davis' cabinet secretary and is a former communications director to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, could not be reached for comment. <more> Nov. 30, 2005 Sacramento Bee

Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005

• Workers' comp rates to fall - - State Compensation Insurance Fund, California's largest workers' compensation insurance carrier, announced Monday that it would reduce rates by an average of 16 percent starting Jan. 1. Another major carrier, Zenith National Insurance Corp. of Woodland Hills, reported Monday an average 13.1 percent cut. Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi had recommended that rates be lowered by an average of 15.3 percent. Statewide, insurance rates have fallen steadily since lawmakers enacted a series of sweeping cost-cutting measures for an ailing state-run workers' compensation system in late 2003 and early 2004. <more> Nov. 29, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

• Bush Links Immigration Crackdown, Worker Plan - - President Bush promised Monday to step up efforts to close the border to illegal immigrants, but he insisted that the crackdown be accompanied by a guest worker program open to the millions of people who are already in the country illegally. "The American people should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a lawful society," Bush told border security personnel in Arizona who have been on the front lines of the immigration battle. "We can have both at the same time." <more> Nov. 29, 2005 LA Times
   

• RetireSafe Urges Speaker Hastert to Stop the MILC Giveaway -- On behalf of it 367,000 senior citizen supporters across America, RetireSafe today urged House Speaker Dennis Hastert to reverse his position and to make every effort to be sure that the Milk Income Loss Contract program (MILC), is not resurrected through inclusion in Reconciliation, or any other measure. Resurrecting MILC, the now defunct dairy farmer giveaway program, will cost roughly $1 billion today, while actual outlays could again top $2 billion. <more> Nov. 29, 2005 RetireSafe Press Release
   

• New Multimedia Web Site Features Conversations About Plant Biotechnology With Farmers and Experts Around the World -- A new multimedia website, Conversations about Plant Biotechnology at http://www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo offers visitors a glimpse of the discussions taking place among farmers on the impact of genetically modified crops a decade since they were first introduced and after more than one billion acres of these crops have been harvested worldwide. <more> Nov. 29, 2005 Monsanto Press Release

   

Monday, Nov. 28, 2005

• Upper Midwest cautiously optimistic on MILC - - Dairy interests in the upper Midwest are cautiously optimistic that the Milk Income Loss Compensation (MILC) program will live again. A couple of weeks ago, when the House passed their version of the budget reconciliation package, Speaker Dennis Hastert instructed House negotiators to the conference committee to go along with the Senate in extending MILC for another two years. Wisconsin Congressman Mark Green says while he realizes nothing is for sure until it is signed by the President, "The chairman of that conference committee is Jim Nussle of Iowa who is a supporter of MILC." Green continues, "We've got some good people on both sides of the aisle who are devoted to it, and if we all keep working hard, I think we can get it done." <more> Nov. 28, 2005 Brownfield Ag News
   

• Rising valley population poses problems. Report finds poverty, bad air, water quality among the challenges - - The San Joaquin Valley's population is growing fast and facing considerable challenges, according to a new state report. Since 2000, more than 427,000 people have moved to the valley — equal to almost the population of Fresno — and its population will continue to climb in coming decades. As it grows, the valley continues to struggle with high poverty rates, low higher-education attainment and poor air and water quality, states the report by the California Research Bureau, a branch of the California State Library. The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley requested the report, which focuses on the land, people and economy of the valley's eight counties. The partnership, formed by Gov. Schwarzenegger to suggest ways to improve the valley's economy and living conditions, will use the data as a starting point to develop ideas. <more> Nov. 25, 2005 Modesto Bee
   

• Calif. Congressman Admits Taking Bribes - - Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-San Diego) pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and tax charges and tearfully resigned from office, admitting he took $2.4 million in bribes to steer defense contracts to conspirators. Cunningham, 63, entered pleas in U.S. District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion for underreporting his income in 2004.Cunningham answered "yes, Your Honor" when asked by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns if he had accepted bribes from someone in exchange for his performance of official duties. <more> Nov. 28, 2005 AP
   

• Small dairies froth over Washington milk regulations Raw: Some people buy a share in a neighbor's cow to get unpasteurized milk, which they say is healthier - - Kelsey Kozack's kitchen is a dairy wonderland. Fresh cheeses, yogurt and quarts of fresh raw milk abound, all compliments of Iris, a gentle tan cow who grazes on the family's seven-acre property. Just 16, Kelsey has established and run Fort Bantam Creamery from her family home on this island just west of Seattle. At first, Kelsey's parents and sister were the main consumers of her culinary creations from Iris' raw, unpasteurized milk. Then, neighbors got samples, and from there a small but passionate business began. Raw milk aficionados bought a ''share'' of Iris for a fee, and Kelsey handled the care, feeding and milking for them.  ''After you've been drinking raw milk for a while, you can't drink store-bought again,'' Kelsey said. ''It has a lot more flavor and is healthier.'' But the state has taken notice of these small, community-driven models across the state, saying that they need to be licensed and regulated with the state Department of Agriculture or else must stop operations. Recently, the agency has been sending cease and desist letters to raw microdairies that aren't licensed, sparking a small battle over whether the state has a right to regulate what many consider a private operation. <more> Nov. 27, 2005 AP
   

• Dairy subsidy program is vital for Vermont - - The Milk Income Loss Contract that protects small-dairy farmers from financial ruin faces a final hurdle in its remarkable journey toward renewal with House and Senate budget negotiators working out compromises on a federal spending plan. Vermont's congressional delegation needs to work with its counterparts from other small-farm states to keep the pressure on to save MILC. Vermonters can also urge budget leaders to support the program, which has brought about $45 million to family farms in this state. <more> Nov. 27, 2005 Burlington, Vermont Free Press Editorial
   

• Cow manure provides readily-available power source for Illinois dairy - - Some Illinois dairy farms are producing a whole lot more than milk these days, and Scheidairy Farms in Buckeye Township is a prime example. The 650-head farm, which sells some 45,000 pounds of milk each day, also is producing electricity - from cow manure. The family farmers, Doug and Patricia Scheider, installed a methane digester last year and started generating electricity in July. The energy it generates powers their entire 1,100-acre farm operation with about 140 kilowatts per hour. <more> Nov. 27, 2005 The Freeport, Illinois Journal-Standard
   

• Swiss adopt five-year GMO farming ban. - -  Switzerland voted in favor of a five-year ban on the farming of genetically modified plants and animals on Sunday, putting in place some of the toughest restrictions in Europe. The move, supported by farmers, ecologists and consumer groups, will force the government to impose a blanket ban on the cultivation of GMO crops and the import of animals whose genes have been modified in the laboratory. <more> Nov 27, 2005 Reuters

Monday, Nov. 21, 2005

• WUD members lobby Congress on labor shortage - - A group of Central Valley dairy operators has just returned from Washington after lobbying Congress to do something about the labor shortage in the region. Some reports estimate the shortage of farm workers is at least 40 thousand. Mark Aitken of the National Agricultural Statistical Service says California's labor situation is worse than in other areas of the country. <more> Nov. 21, 2005 Capital Public Radio

  Wisconsin Congressman expresses optimism on MILC - - Wisconsin Congressman Mark Green is a pretty happy guy now that it looks like the Milk Income Loss Compensation (MILC) program has a good chance for a second life. Last Friday, House Speaker Dennis Hastert promised Green in writing that he will instruct House negotiators to the conference committee to go along with the Senate's plan to extend MILC for another two years. Green says, "While there are no guarantees, nothing's in cement, this looks pretty good, this is a huge step in getting us where we need to go." Green, an announced candidate for governor in Wisconsin has had a lot of pressure to have Republican leadership deliver on a promise made by President Bush in Wisconsin a year ago. While campaigning in Wausau, the President said he would support extending MILC, that same day, House leadership failed to take action on a plan that would have done just that. <more> Nov. 21, 2005 Brownfield Ag news
   

• Hilmar man pleads guilty to milk thefts - - A Hilmar man pleaded guilty this week to a series of milk thefts in 2004. Tyson Michael Silva, 31, was convicted of a series of thefts totaling approximately $1 million from the F&A Cheese Plant in Newman. He was a milk delivery driver for Serpa and Sons Transport and was responsible for delivering milk owned by F&A Cheese from local dairies to the cheese plant. <more> Nov. 20,2005 Turlock Journal

Friday, Nov. 18, 2005

• New York moderates win handshake deal on milk program - - New York Republicans played a decisive role in a nail-biting vote in the House Friday that cut cherished social programs but also came with a pledge for dairy farmers and to help the poor pay winter heating bills. After winning the support of key GOP moderates like Reps. Sherwood Boehlert and James Walsh, the House voted 217-215 Friday to slice almost $50 billion from the deficit by curbing benefit programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and student loan subsidies. Just around midnight Thursday, Boehlert struck what he called an "eyeball to eyeball" handshake deal with House Speaker Dennis Hastert for concessions Boehlert and other moderates sought in exchange for their votes. <more> Nov. 18, 2005 AP
   

• Costa presses to extend farm bill. Congressman, allies seek to wait until after world trade talks to make changes to U.S. policy. - - Central Valley cotton and rice farmers would keep their subsidies intact longer and maybe gain some added trade leverage if Fresno Congressman Jim Costa and Democratic allies have their way. On Thursday, Costa and other members of Congress pressed legislation extending the current farm bill pending completion of world trade talks. Costa, legislation co-sponsor Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and others contend it's wise to wait for one or two years before rewriting U.S. farm policy now scheduled to expire in 2007. "It's putting the cart before the horse to complete a farm bill at this time, when we don't know what our trading partners are going to do," Costa told reporters Thursday. <more> Nov. 18, 2005 Fresno Bee
   

• Hastert says he'll push for MILC extension - - House Speaker Dennis Hastert said he will push for an extension of the Milk Income Loss Contract program when House and Senate negotiators work out differences between two budget-cutting plans. The Senate's plan calls for extending the program, known as MILC, for two years. The House plan, which passed Friday morning, does not. But in a letter to U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., released Friday, Hastert said he would instruct House negotiators to secure the two-year extension. The taxpayer-funded MILC program, which expired Sept. 30, paid dairy farmers cash when milk prices fell below certain levels. It is opposed by lawmakers from Western states who say their dairy farmers don't benefit. Source: AP Nov. 18, 2005
   

• Valley gets play in China tour. Local ag producers get a boost from the governor's celebrity. - - Leaders of farm commodity groups with Valley connections are hitching their wagons — along with their grapes, tree fruit and other produce — to Gov. Schwarzenegger's star as he rolls through China. Riding a bus to an airport where she would board a plane for Hong Kong, the next stop on the trade mission, table grape marketer Susan Day talked Thursday by phone of the importance of the governor's trip. "It's been very positive," said Day, vice president for international marketing with the California Table Grape Commission in Fresno. "The governor's personality and celebrity make us more glamorous in the eyes of the consumer here." <more> Nov. 18, 2005 Fresno Bee
   

• Report urges replacement of delta water authority - - The authority charged with protecting the vast waterway that supplies water to two-thirds of Californians is so dysfunctional that it should be replaced with a new agency, a government commission recommended Thursday. ``We've had four years of drift and indecision,'' said Daniel Hancock, a member of the Little Hoover Commission. The California Bay-Delta Authority was created by state lawmakers in 2003 to oversee the state and federal Bay-Delta Program, otherwise known as CalFed. The landmark initiative begun a decade ago was intended to end fights over water use and ensure the health of the largest estuary on the West Coast. But the agency lacks the authority and direction it needs to mediate disputes among 25 state and federal agencies, water districts, farmers, fishermen and environmental groups that have an interest in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, commissioners concluded in a report to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators. <more> Nov. 18, 2005 AP
   

• Cardoza picked to answer Bush -- Merced Democrat Dennis Cardoza goes mano a mano with President Bush on Saturday, in an over-the-air kind of way. In a move rich with both party symbolism and personal opportunity, Democratic leaders tapped Cardoza to deliver their response to Bush's weekly radio address. This gives Cardoza about four precious minutes in front of a national audience that's often hard to reach. It's a "response," though, in name only. Cardoza began working on his 750-word address Thursday, without knowing what Bush would discuss. And no matter what Bush talks about -- in the past month, he's used his Saturday radio time to discuss Iraq, the Supreme Court and Medicare -- Cardoza will zero in on the budget. <more> Nov. 18, 2005 Merced Sun-Star

Thursday, Nov. 17, 2005

• Research suggests prions - cause of mad cow diseases - may be found in milk - - New research into prions, the infectious agents that cause mad cow-like diseases, has found them in the mammary glands of some sheep, raising questions about whether milk and milk products from infected animals could transmit the pathogens. Prion experts were quick to insist the current potential risk to human health is low and may even be nil. But they suggested the findings are a warning that if prion diseases in livestock aren't rigorously hunted for and rooted out, milk and products like cheeses and yogurt could be a potential route of transmission of prions to humans. "I think the public health implications of this are profound . . . (and) need further investigation," Dr. Neil Cashman, Canada's leading expert on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or TSEs, said Thursday. <more> Nov. 17, 2005 Canadian Press
   

• U.S. to lift restrictions on Canadian beef -- The Bush administration hopes to lift remaining mad cow disease-related restrictions on Canadian cattle within the next year, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday. The restrictions, in place since Canada discovered its first case of the disease in 2003, were eased earlier this year to allow younger cattle to enter the United States. A prohibition has remained on Canadian animals older than 30 months; levels of infection from mad cow disease are thought to increase with age. Government and industry officials argue that rules for how cattle are slaughtered would keep the disease from ever entering the human or animal food supply. <more> Nov. 17, 2005 AP
   

• Laws unable to cow raw-milk fans. FDA says beverage is dangerous to drink - - Fans of organic raw milk are going to extremes to get their fix. Months after the state's only raw organic dairy was shut down, black-market buyer groups have emerged, drophouses are cropping up, and FedEx is making special deliveries to the Valley from California. Nationally and in Arizona, people are breaking the law to get their hands on raw organic milk, claiming it is superior in health and taste to the pasteurized, homogenized milk found on the supermarket shelf. They swear it tastes like melted vanilla ice cream. "It's like heroin right now," said Tony Spaltro, a night manager at Gentle Strength Co-Op in Tempe, one of the few places Arizona consumers can purchase raw milk. <more> Nov. 17, 2005 Arizona Republic
   

• Gates buys into Fresno ethanol company. The $84 million investment will help build new plants. - - Here's more evidence there's a market for ethanol production in California: Bill Gates wants a piece of the action. The Microsoft Corp. founder's investment company, Cascade Investment LLC of Kirkland, Wash., has agreed to invest $84 million in Pacific Ethanol Inc., the Fresno-based ethanol-production company chaired by former California Secretary of State Bill Jones. <more> Nov. 17, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

• State fiscal outlook brightens. Budget can be balanced without cuts or tax hikes, analyst says. - - California's budget outlook is brighter than it has been for several years, thanks to a healthy business sector and efforts to trim costs, but the state is still spending more than it takes in, the Legislature's nonpartisan budget adviser said Wednesday. Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill projected that California will have about $4 billion more in its bank account at the end of the current fiscal year than lawmakers estimated when they approved the $117.4 billion 2005-06 budget in July - enough to balance next year's budget without raising taxes or making cuts. <more> Nov. 17, 2005 Sacramento Bee

Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2005

• UCD gets grant to study San Joaquin air pollution - - The federal government Tuesday granted the University of California, Davis, $8 million to study air pollution specific to the San Joaquin Valley, a fast-developing farm belt in a losing fight against some of the unhealthiest air in America. The EPA money will support research on the health effects of particle pollution. That's the aerosol of fine bits of soot from vehicles, wood smoke from burning of orchard and vineyard clippings, chemicals from pesticides and fertilizers and, increasingly, emissions from wastes of dairy cows, numbering more than 2.5 million in the Valley.<more> Nov. 16, 2005 Sacramento Bee
   

• Animal Rights Leader Justifies Violence. In a '60 Minutes' interview, the L.A. area activist says those who harm 'innocent beings' should be stopped by any 'means necessary.' - - One of the leading animal rights activists in the Los Angeles area has taken his campaign to the national stage in recent weeks, saying that it may be "morally justifiable" to kill people to stop medical research on animals. In recent U.S. Senate testimo