Sugar beets are irrigated June 29 near Twin Falls, Idaho. Global sugar production is expected to increase 8 percent during the 2010-11 marketing year, according to USDA projections.
Federal regulators say they will decide by year's end on rules regulating production of biotech sugar beets for the next two seasons.
Unregulated production of Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets was banned last month by a federal judge.
USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service s ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 12:39 PM
REDDING, Calif. -- Surrounded by students, farmers and ranchers on a recent warm summer evening, John Maas maintained a firm grip on their attention.
The beef extension veterinarian at the University of California-Davis mixed humor with down-to-earth language as he taught producers how to spo ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 10:29 AM
California county agriculture commissioners are optimistic about the prospects of getting rid of the European grapevine moth.
"Basically, we're going to have to eradicate the pest," said Tye Hafner, Fresno County's deputy agricultural commissioner for Fresno County.
The infestation "is ver ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:29 AM
ETNA, Calif. -- By learning how to maximize irrigation efficiency and making changes in herd management, ranchers can make do with less water than they're accustomed to, experts say.
Water is "the most critical input" for ranchers and "the most difficult to manage," said Steve Orloff, a Unive ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:29 AM
A study by university researchers in California has determined that most of the antibiotics administered to dairy cows never reach ground water.
Researchers at the University of California-Davis call it the first large study tracking the "wide range" of antibiotics given to dairy cows.
The ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:29 AM
SACRAMENTO -- A bill that would set criminal penalties for withholding an employee's final wages has been approved by the Legislature.
AB2187, by Assemblyman Juan Arambula, I-Fresno, passed the Senate on a 21-14 vote.
For withholding final wages longer than 90 days after they're due, an employ ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:29 AM
Nearly 81 million cartons of California navel oranges were produced in the past year, obliterating last year's mark of 64 million cartons.
Growers were able to use about 84 percent of the crop that came off the trees as fresh fruit, said Bob Blakely, director of industry relations for the Exe ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 10:43 AM
While state and county agriculture inspectors continue to seek the source of the melon fruit fly infestation in southern Kern County, two more of the agricultural pests have been trapped.
Kern County Agricultural Commissioner Ruben Arroyo said that the flies were trapped 1.5 miles south of th ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:29 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal agriculture inspectors at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have found a pest that's never been seen before in the U.S.
The U.S. Customers and Border Protection said Sept. 1 that a leafhopper found in a shipment of pineapples from Costa Rica can cause severe damage ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:29 AM
The Pacific Northwest is wrapping up its fourth-largest cherry harvest on record and prices are holding at a level much higher than a year ago.
"Growers did better but still a lot of them had light crops of only one-third or half their normal volumes," said Dan Kelly, assistant manager of Wa ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:50 AM
Dairy industry observers say federal agencies are working on several regulations that will impact dairymen.
Chris Galen, director of communications for National Milk Producers Federation, said the organization is waiting for clarification of EPA's spill prevention rule for oil.
The rule is ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:57 AM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The federal government has declared a natural disaster area in the California-Oregon border region in an effort to bring relief to farmers and ranchers stricken by an ongoing drought, the U.S. Agriculture Department announced Thursday.
The declaration officially labe ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 5:29 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The federal government has declared a natural disaster area in the California-Oregon border region in an effort to bring relief to farmers and ranchers stricken by an ongoing drought, the U.S. Agriculture Department announced Thursday.
The declaration officially l ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 5:09 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal agriculture inspectors at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have found a destructive pest in a shipment of pineapples that's never been seen before in the United States.
The U.S. Customers and Border Protection said Wednesday that the variety of leafhopper fo ...
Wednesday, September 01, 2010 2:09 PM
POMONA, Calif. (AP) -- Persimmon grower Jim Bathgate handed out tiny yellow peaches to others at the California Rare Fruit Growers' annual "Festival of Fruit" and watched with anticipation as they bit into the sweet and juicy flesh.
The fruit grew on a peach tree that sprouted a ...
Wednesday, September 01, 2010 7:49 AM
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) -- A proposed initiative to bar Klamath County from supporting removal of four dams from the Klamath River has failed to qualify for the county ballot.
The Herald and News reports that Klamath County Clerk Linda Smith said Thursday it does not meet state cons ...
Sunday, August 29, 2010 12:29 PM
A cool summer has put most crops behind their anticipated schedules by roughly two weeks, growers and farm groups in California say.
"It will be the guys at the end of the season that will be at risk," said Barry Bedwell, president of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League. "If we wind up ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:08 AM
More dairies in the Midwest have taken buyouts in the Cooperatives Working Together herd retirements, but more cows and more milk are removed from dairies in the West.
The Upper Midwest had almost 3 million cows in USDA's 2008 inventory, and 974 farms participated in CWT herd retirements. The ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:08 AM
SACRAMENTO -- The Legislature has passed a resolution urging the federal government to prioritize its study of a project that could protect fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta with swiveling gates.
AJR38 -- introduced by Assembly members Anna Caballero, D-Salinas; Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfi ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:08 AM
The Stephens' kangaroo rat will keep its status as a protected endangered species, to the consternation of farmers in California's Riverside County.
The Riverside County Farm Bureau has been trying for about 15 years to convince the federal government that the rodent doesn't belong on the lis ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 10:09 AM
Proposals to change federal dairy policy led more than a dozen organizations to fund economic modeling of the implications of those changes.
Dairy industry players from across the country met in Chicago a few weeks ago for a presentation of the modeling and to hear preliminary results.
The ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:08 AM
SACRAMENTO -- A bill involving "card check" unionizing for farmworkers has cleared the Legislature.
SB1474, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after a 23-11 vote in of the Senate.
The bill would allow a union to represent worker ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:08 AM
HAT CREEK, Calif. -- The head of the University of California Cooperative Extension wants to replenish its team of local farm advisors, despite seemingly relentless budget cuts.
The program that provides agricultural research and advice to producers of all types has gone from about 500 adviso ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:08 AM
Companion bills in the Senate and House to improve dairy product price reporting have passed out of their respective ag committees.
HR5852, introduced by Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., chairman of the House Ag Committee, and S3656, introduced by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., chairman of the S ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:08 AM
Steelhead deserve Endangered Species Act protection despite their ability to interbreed with rainbow trout, according to a federal appeals court.
The two types of fish are technically the same species, Oncorhynchus mykiss, but steelhead migrate to the ocean while rainbow trout stay in rivers ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 10:09 AM
Cooperatives Working Together's three dairy herd buyouts in 2009 cost participating members nearly $217 million in payments to producers.
But industry insiders say it's hard to put a dollar amount on how much the seven-year old program with nine retirements thus far has helped.
An economic ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:08 AM
