Agriculture Daily News March 17

Representatives of several fishing groups resigned themselves to the likelihood of an unprecedented closure of salmon fishing this year along the entire California coast and most of Oregon. A final decision on salmon fishing will be made early next month, but with near-record low returns last year and early indications that 2008 will be much worse, many anglers said Friday that a yearlong fishing closure is the best and perhaps only option. CC Times 3/15/08

 

State agriculture officials sought Friday to downplay the findings of two Santa Cruz area researchers who contend the light brown apple moth may well be adequately controlled by natural predators rather than aerial spraying of a synthetic pheromone. UC Santa Cruz Arboretum director Daniel Harder and Watsonville grower and horticultural consultant Jeff Rosendale released their findings last week after visiting New Zealand, where the light brown apple moth has been around for about a century. CC Times 3/15/08

 

In the wake of a series of news reports last week about pharmaceuticals discovered in drinking water across the nation, local officials cautioned that the minute concentrations of drugs were not cause for concern. However, officials acknowledged that water supplies throughout the region are likely contaminated. The levels of the drugs are so low - in parts per trillion - that new technologies have only in recent years been able to detect them. Whittier Daily News 3/16/08

Water watchers think ahead: A wet year doesn't ease officials' worries about future supplies Ventura County Star 3/17/08

 

With food prices climbing far faster than inflation - and many staples rising at double-digit rates - some consumers are starting to ask themselves if they need to tighten their belts, both literally and figuratively. Flour, milk and eggs are each up at least 24 percent for the year ending in February, about 10 times the inflation rate over the same period, according to the Consumer Price Index. Economists worry that powerful forces are fueling higher food prices - from the cost of oil and ethanol production to the weak dollar and global demand for food products. SJ Mercury 3/17/08

 

Across the state, nature's photosynthesis technology is being enlisted as California gradually reshapes forest management into an ally in the campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent severe climatic disruptions. San Deigo Union Tribune 3/17/08