Agriculture Daily News June 18

Agriculture:

 

*California's Water Future: Crops wither--along with the water supply -- After decades of political bickering and inaction, California is on the brink of a water supply catastrophe. Today officials are calling the shortfall in the state's water supply a crisis or an emergency. But farmers throughout the state who've had their water supplies drastically cut--see things in even more dire terms. For many, the increasing water supply shortage threatens their very survival. Experts say if there's no improvement in California's precipitation during the next rainy season, the state will have less water in its reservoirs than during the state's worst drought in 1976-77. During that drought, the state's population was about 22 million residents. Today's population is about 38 million, with expected growth to more than 46 million by 2030. California Farm Bureau Federation 6/18/08

 

Food Revolution That Starts With Rice -- Many a professor dreams of revolution. But Norman T. Uphoff, working in a leafy corner of the Cornell University campus, is leading an inconspicuous one centered on solving the global food crisis. The secret, he says, is a new way of growing rice. Rejecting old customs as well as the modern reliance on genetic engineering, Dr. Uphoff, 67, an emeritus professor of government and international agriculture with a trim white beard and a tidy office, advocates a management revolt.  The method, called the System of Rice Intensification, or S.R.I., emphasizes the quality of individual plants over the quantity. NY Times 6/17/08

 

Water and fisheries:

 

*Last of salmon trucked to San Pablo Bay -- On Tuesday, the nonprofit Fishery Foundation of California completed 21/2 months of transplanting the output of state-run salmon hatcheries — 20 million fish — to the top of San Pablo Bay. Trucking salmon to the Bay is not new, but this year is unusual because the entire production from state-run hatcheries was trucked downstream and allowed to acclimate in "net pens" before being released.  The reason: California's salmon population has collapsed and fishing regulators took the unprecedented step of closing all salmon fishing off the California coast this year.  CC Times 6/17/08

 

Oil appears at beach in Alameda -- Quarter-sized tar balls and an oil sheen were found along a half-mile stretch of Crown State Memorial Beach Park in Alameda on Tuesday, forcing closure of the park and shoreline and prompting a multi-agency investigation into the cause. Neither the Coast Guard nor the state Department of Fish and Game could say for sure Tuesday if the oil found in Alameda was from the Cosco Busan spill. CC Times 6/17/08

 

*Judge: Water board must review decision on Klamath River algae -- A Superior Court judge has told state officials to take another look at the law to determine whether they should regulate the amount of toxic algae growing in the Klamath River. The North Coast Regional Water Control Board had decided to defer such regulation to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this year, said Catherine Kuhlman, executive officer for the board. But Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Elaine Rushing ruled last week that board needs to review that decision. Redding 6/18/08

 

Parks and forests:

 

AFTERMATH OF WILDFIRES -- The Martin fire in Bonny Doon burned a portion of the largest remaining grove of a rare tree that grows only in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but the fire damage may actually help the Santa Cruz cypress regenerate. SJ Mercury 6/18/08

 

Immigration and labor:

 

*Federal prosecution of illegal immigrants soars -- The Bush administration has sharply ratcheted up prosecutions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last year, with increases so dramatic that immigration offenses now account for as much as half the nation's federal criminal caseload. LA Times 6/18/08

 

Health:

 

Drug reminder bill killed -- Citing privacy concerns, the Assembly Health Committee unanimously voted down legislation Tuesday that would have allowed pharmacies in California to partner with drug companies to send out letters reminding patients to refill their prescriptions. Privacy advocates charged that Senate Bill 1096 by Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, would have opened the door for pharmaceutical companies to promote their products in the guise of the reminder letters. Sacramento Bee 6/18/08