Safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving
Another reason to love California
After the raucous California budget struggle and an impending drought, Californians might enjoy a tidbit from the Early County News in Blakeley, Georgia. The story notes that the world's expert on brown recluse spiders is a UC Riverside scientist and he is certain there are no populations of the frightening aracnid anywhere in California.
UC Riverside entomologist Rick Vetter has actually published a 4,000-word manifesto on the Web about brown recluse spiders titled "Myth of the Brown Recluse: Fact, Fear, and Loathing." At the end of the tirade, he emphatically states in red, all caps, THERE ARE NO BROWN RECLUSE SPIDERS LIVING IN CALIFORNIA.
A disclaimer notes that the article does not contain the opinions of the University of California, Riverside, rather "the opinions of a highly volatile arachnologist who is bloody tired of everybody claiming that every little mark on their body is the result of a brown recluse bite and who believe with a religious zeal that brown recluses are part of the California spider fauna despite the incredibly overwhelming evidence to the contrary."
Judging from the article in the Early County News, some of this same zeal can be found in Georgia, which also is not considered to be brown recluse habitat. It said University of Georgia spider expert Nancy Hinkle tracked verified brown recluse reports in Georgia from 2002 to 2008. (Hinkle was formerly a veterinary entomologist at UC Riverside.) Only 19 brown recluse spiders were identified in that time and there was only one confirmed brown recluse bite.
I'm still terrified.
Brown recluse spider.
Almond industry's long boom is running out of steam
The Sacramento Bee* reported bad news for California almond growers, but the director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center, Dan Sumner, still had encouraging words for the industry.
According to the Bee story, written by Jim Downing, almond prices dropped more than 30 percent from August to December, the market for orchard real estate has gone cold, and the industry expects to be left with a 300 million pound surplus when the 2009 harvest begins in August.
Making matters still worse is a looming drought. West Side farmer John Diener told the reporter he plans to fallow 3,000 acres of land in order to concentrate what water he will have available on his 750 acres of almonds, which represent millions of dollars of investment.
But Sumner expressed confidence in California almonds. The state, he said, is the dominant global almond producer, holding more than 80 percent of the market. There are no serious competitors on the horizon.
"I still think they have a very strong long-term future," Sumner was quoted in the article.
Speaking of Dan Sumner, the UC Davis ag economist was also cited in a Reuters story today about President Barack Obama's pledge to cut subsidies to big U.S. farm businesses.
Some trade experts believe reducing payments to U.S. farmers would be looked on favorably by the rest of the world and that the move would renew the Doha round of WTO talks. But Sumner indicated that direct payments are not as trade-distorting as other subsidies that go up when prices plunge or crops fail.
"A cut in direct payments would do little or nothing for the talks," Sumner was quoted in the article. "It is hard to see the current (U.S.) leadership moving forward on trade opening or paying much attention to the WTO."
*The almond story was attributed to the Sacramento Bee, moved on the McClatchy wire and was picked up by various outlets, however, I could not find it on the SacBee Web site.
A California almond orchard in bloom.
Getting fruits and veggies from a can
A lot of ink has been splashed on newspaper pages recently extolling locally grown, fresh fruits and vegetables for improving the diet and supporting a sustainable food system. The Modesto Bee today takes a step back and revisits canned fruits and vegetables, which are produced in abundance in the Northern San Joaquin Valley community that the newspaper serves.
According to the story, the canned food industry maintains that canning seals in flavor and nutrients, are affordable, easy to use and available year round. They pointed reporter John Holland to a 2007 UC Davis study that found high vitamin A in canned apricots and in a lesser amount in canned peaches and tomatoes. The canning process, which includes cooking, makes it easier for the body to absorb the vitamin A and lycopene, a substance in tomatoes that is said to prevent cancer, the article said.
While vitamin C can be lost when harvested crops are exposed to water or heat, many canned products are fortified with vitamin C and containers keep the vitamin level stable from then on. Fiber and potassium, the study found, were about the same for canned, frozen and fresh products.
Holland sought comment on the issue from the Stanislaus County UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor Terri Spezzano.
"Anything to increase fruit and vegetable intake this time of year -- fresh, frozen or canned -- is a positive thing," she was quoted in the article.
Sen. Florez begins efforts to improve animal welfare
California State Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter) has introduced a bill that would ban the practice of docking dairy cow tails, according to a story in Capital Press. Calling the practice of severing cows' tails unnecessary and cruel, Florez said that the new bill is a good place for him to start in efforts to make animal welfare in agriculture a central issue.
Florez is chair of the Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture. According to the story, he decided to focus on animal welfare issues after the overwhelming voter approval in November of Proposition 2, which bars veal crates, battery cages, sow gestation crates and any enclosure that prevents animals from turning around, standing up or spreading their wings.
". . . We're very, very focused on trying to figure out what are the animal welfare issues that we have ignored for so many decades here in California," Florez was quoted.
At a press conference last week, Florez said tail docking tends to accompany higher-volume production and depressed market conditions. Reporter Wes Sander spoke to UC Cooperative Extension dairy farm advisor Noelia Silva-del-Rio for her perspective on tail docking.
The story said Silva-del-Rio is conducting a study that so far suggests that 89 percent of the state's dairies do not dock tails and 86 percent of dairy cows are in non-docking operations. The preliminary data has come from Tulare, Kings, Kern and Fresno counties, the article said.
When will Mother Nature get it right?
Farmers reeling from three years of drought and an unseasonably warm January are now worried about rainfall at the wrong time of year, according to a story in today's Redding Record Searchlight.
Almond trees that bloomed early because of warm January weather suffered some frost damage. Now, rain during spring bloom is inhibiting pollination. (Who can blame bees for curling up with a good book on rainy days?) Wet weather also raises concerns about fungal diseases. But despite these abnormal weather patterns, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Bill Krueger assured writer Debra Moore that almond farmers will still have nuts to harvest next fall.
"If there is good weather between storms, it will give the bees a chance to pollinate," Krueger was quoted. "The diseases won't be as bad as they would have been had these been warm storms."
The article also covered problems experienced by cattle ranchers when precipitation doesn't arrive on schedule.
UCCE livestock program representative Josh Davy told the reporter that February rain storms are filling up stock water ponds, but won't help farmers concerned about this season's rangeland vegetation, on which they rely for animal rations.
"The annual grasses are germinated with fall rains," Davy was quoted. "And this rain has come too late."