Agricultural Order Public Scoping Meeting

 Monday, August 7^th    9 am – 11:30 am

 Monterey County Agriculture Conference Room

1432 Abbott St.

Salinas CA

The current Agricultural Order which regulates water quality for irrigated agriculture on the Central Coast will expire on March 8, 2020. Ahead of this deadline, The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (CCRWQCB) staff must develop a new Agricultural Order.  Water Quality Control Board members and staff will be hosting several listening sessions where attendees will have the opportunity to share their perspective and experiences regarding the pros, cons, and ideas for potential improvement of the Ag Order. Discussion topics will include the structure of the Ag Order, such as tiering and enrollment, as well as monitoring and reporting requirements.  

The current agenda is:

1. Current Agricultural Order   Staff will present a summary.  Public will have the opportunity to comment on the current Ag Order structure, including enrollment; tiering; electronic notice of intent form; annual compliance form.

2. Water Quality Monitoring Public will have the opportunity to comment on the surface water and groundwater monitoring requirements; cooperatives conducting monitoring such as the Preservation Inc.'s Cooperative Monitoring Program and the Central Coast Groundwater Coalition.

3. Total Nitrogen Applied Public will have the opportunity to comment on the total nitrogen applied requirement.

5. Tier 3 Ranch Requirements Public will have the opportunity to comment on Ag Order requirements for tier 3 ranches, including individual surface water discharge monitoring; irrigation and nutrient management plan reporting; water quality buffer plans.

6. Missing Requirements Public will have the opportunity to comment on the requirements they deem are necessary but currently not in the Ag Order.

 A quorum of Central Coast Water Board members may be present; however, the Central Coast Water Board will not be taking any action at the scoping meeting.

 The meeting will be conducted in English, Spanish translation will be provided for attendees sharing a comment in Spanish.

 Esta reunión se va a llevar a cabo en inglés, pero va a haber traducción al español disponible para aquellas personas que quieran dar testimonio en español.

If you cannot attend this meeting, there will be another opportunity in Watsonville at the Public library on August 15th.  Please see the attached flyers for more information.  

Studies that examine crop production and harvest costs, as well as capital costs and net returns, can be helpful to growers in making production decisions, preparing budgets, and evaluating production loans. Cost and return analyses can also assist growers in considering risk and in determining the potential profitability of a crop. Two recently completed studies estimating costs and returns for Central Coast wrapped iceberg lettuce and fresh market bunched broccoli are now available at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu. Titled Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Iceberg Lettuce 2017 and Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Broccoli 2017, these studies were a collaborative effort that included UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors, local growers and industry, and UC Agricultural Issues Center economists and researchers.

Each study begins with a narrative that describes how the costs and returns were calculated. Following this text, an in-depth analysis of the estimated production and harvest costs are presented in a series of tables. Per acre costs are shown for land preparation, fertilization and pest management practices, and material inputs and labor, all of which fall under the category cultural costs. Harvest practices and costs are also detailed. Cash or business overhead costs are estimated, and include items such as land rent, insurance, food safety and regulatory programs. Finally, non-cash or investment costs are discussed and included in each study. Table 1 summarizes per acre costs for iceberg lettuce and broccoli. Greater detail on the sequence of operations and costs contained in each broad cgory can be found in the studies.  

Monthly cash cost tables are presented in each study, which can be helpful in managing cash flow and understanding when production loans may be needed. In addition, the tables can be used to evaluate months with peak labor demands and assist with scheduling.  

A ranging analysis is also included in each study, which estimates net returns per acre above operating, cash, and total costs for several alternative yield and price combinations. For lettuce, net returns are calculated for yields ranging from 600 to 1,200 cartons per acre (24 film wrapped heads weighing 42 pounds) and prices ranging from $9 to $17 per carton. For broccoli, net returns are estimated using a yield range of 550 to 850 cartons per acre (14 bunches weighing 21 pounds) and prices ranging from $8 to $13.10 per carton. Tables 2 and 3 below contain a selection of the estimated net returns above total costs for lettuce and broccoli.

At the lower yields and prices for iceberg lettuce (table 2), growers operate at a net loss per acre. As yields and prices improve, however, there is potential for a modest positive net return per acre. Growers of bunched broccoli operate at a net loss per acre regardless of yield or price scenario (table 3). The loss is smaller as yields and prices improve. Though net returns to growers can vary substantially from crop to crop and depend on many production and market conditions, the results from both studies—most notably for bunched broccoli—show that there is currently substantial pressure for growers to increase net returns. To improve profitability, growers may use different pack types and market strategies. High labor costs and low product prices, at least in part, help explain the results shown here. An expanded analysis can be found in each study.

Although technology has begun to play a larger role in the production and harvest of fresh market crops than it has in the past, a reliable and productive labor force is still critical to bring a crop to market. Labor costs are discussed and calculated for each crop, with hourly wages set at $21.85 for equipment operators, $17.80 for irrigators, and $16.90 for field workers. These rates include overhead costs of 41 percent. Irrigation, weed management, and harvest are prominent “high cost” labor practices.

New minimum wage and overtime laws that were passed in California in 2016 will have significant implications for agriculture. Although wage rates used in the studies are already higher than the minimum wage shown below for 2017, tables 4 and 5 provide information on the phase-in schedules for the new laws.

As table 4 indicates, minimum wage will steadily increase each year, reaching a $15 base wage per hour by 2022. Table 5 shows that the overtime law will gradually decrease the number of hours employees can work on a weekly basis before overtime wages are required. Prior to its passage agricultural workers could work up to 10 hours per day or 60 hours per week without overtime wages; by 2022 the requirement will be lowered to 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week for employers with 26 or more employees. The overtime law may change wages and scheduling of work in complicated ways as it is phased in.

The full impact of the two new laws on prevailing agricultural wages is not yet clear. But the studies recognize that growers may already pay wages that are different than those used to calculate the lettuce and broccoli costs, and that agricultural wages are currently in flux. The studies also note that growers may choose to use a farm labor contractor or the H-2A guest worker visa program to employ workers and assure a reliable supply of labor.

Vegetable and other cost and return studies for this area, and for other regions in California, are updated periodically, and are always available at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu. Questions about these or other studies can be directed to either Laura Tourte or Richard Smith at UC Cooperative Extension.

The factors controlling cadmium (Cd) uptake by leafy greens, particularly spinach, have been the focus of intensive study since 2014.  By far the largest influence is the soil test Cd level (Fig. 1A).  Coastal soils vary from in total Cd content from less than 0.5 PPM to more than 8 PPM; across this range spinach Cd concentration varies by at least a factor of 10.  This is the reason why spinach should not be grown on soils of very high Cd content, at least not without some remediation effort to reduce Cd uptake by the crop.  However, if one looks at the relationship between soil and spinach Cd concentrations over a narrower range of soil Cd content it becomes clear that factors other than soil Cd content affect spinach Cd uptake (Fig. 1B).  Among those factors is the concentration of chloride (Cl) in the soil. 

            In soils of neutral to alkaline pH like those of coastal California, much of the Cd in the soil is precipitated in compounds of low solubility, or adsorbed on the surface of soil minerals; this reduces the plant availability of soil Cd.  Chloride has been shown to enhance the solubility (and therefore, the plant availability) of soil Cd; in this regard Cl is different from the other common anions in the soil (sulfate or nitrate).  The main factors governing the amount of Cl in soil are the Cl concentration of irrigation water, and the degree of leaching for salinity control.

            To determine how significant an influence soil Cl can be on spinach Cd uptake a pot trial was conducted in 2016.  A loam soil with a total Cd content of 1.5 PPM was used.  Large pots containing approximately 7 pounds of soil were seeded with ‘Tambourine' spinach seed.  Different Cl treatments were imposed by watering the pots with one of four levels of irrigation water Cl concentration.  The irrigation water Cl concentrations evaluated were 1, 4, 7 and 10 milliequivalents per liter (meq/L), equal to approximately 35, 140, 250 and 360 PPM Cl.  For context, irrigation water on the central coast typically ranges between 1-7 meq/L, occasionally higher.  These solutions were made by adding Cl to a low Cl concentration water.  A mixture of sodium and calcium chloride was used to maintain a reasonable cation balance.  All pots were germinated with the low Cl water, with the different Cl treatments beginning 7 days after seeding.  Watering was controlled to ensure at least 10% of applied water leached from the pots, to maintain a relatively constant soil Cl concentration over the trial period.  The spinach was allowed to grow for approximately a month, and then the entire vegetative biomass was harvested, oven-dried, ground and analyzed for Cd concentration.  The experimental design of the trial was a randomized complete block, with 4 replicate pots per irrigation Cl treatment.    

Spinach Cd concentration increased linearly with increasing irrigation water Cl concentration (Fig. 2).  The slope of the regression line showed that each meq/L increase in irrigation water Cl corresponded to a 0.025 PPM increase in fresh tissue Cd concentration.  This suggested that irrigation water quality can be a potentially significant factor in spinach Cl uptake.    All other factors being equal, a field irrigated with water containing 7 meq/L Cl (250 PPM) may produce spinach with a Cd concentration more than 25% higher than if lower Cl irrigation water was used.  These results may actually understate the effect of Cl.  In this trial all treatments were germinated with low Cl water, meaning that the initial Cl status of the soil was low across treatments; it may have been well into the growth cycle before soil Cl concentrations fully reflected the treatment differences.  In a commercial field situation, irrigating with high Cl water would set a baseline of soil Cl concentration at a relatively high level, affecting the crop from germination onward.

We realize that growers often do not have a choice of irrigation wells to use on a particular field.  Where a choice of irrigation water exists, using the lower Cl water would minimize spinach Cd uptake.  More broadly, it seems appropriate to use irrigation water Cl concentration as one factor in the determination of which fields to use for spinach production.

Fig. 1. Relationship between total soil Cd and Cd concentration in fresh spinach; data from a survey of Salinas Valley fields.

Fig. 2. Effect of irrigation water Cl concentration on spinach cadmium concentration.