Just a reminder to our Ginner members to get your signups in for the Ginners School & Managerial Seminar being held on April 14^th out in Corcoran. This year, gin employees will be able to hear trainings on Hazard Communication, Fall Protection, and Lock Out Tag Out, as well as compete in the Annual Safety Contest. Managers will hear hot topics in Labor Law, Safety & Regulatory updates, and Workers Comp changes. We are also looking for sponsors for our annual event. If you are interested in sponsoring our event, or signing up your employees to attend, please reach out to either Mandy Vang at mandy@ccgga.org, Chris McGlothlin at chris@ccgga.org, or our office at (559) 252-0684.

The California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association (CCGGA) and Western Tree Nut Association (WTNA), in partnership with AgSafe, will offer a one-hour Harassment Prevention Training for nonsupervisory employees via live webinar on Monday, March 30 and Wednesday, April 15.
Each webinar will be offered in two sessions:

• Spanish: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
• English: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

The cost to attend is $35 per participant. Participants will receive a certificate of completion following the training.
 
This training satisfies California’s mandatory harassment prevention requirements for nonsupervisory employees and provides practical guidance on maintaining a respectful and compliant workplace.
 
Under California law, employers with five or more employees must provide harassment prevention training to all employees. Nonsupervisory employees are required to complete at least one hour of training, while supervisors must complete a separate two-hour course.
 
To register, please complete the attached form and return it to michelle@wtna.org or contact our office at (559) 455-9272 for additional information. We encourage members to take advantage of this convenient webinar format to ensure compliance.

It’s time for the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association’s (CCGGA) 2026 Annual Meeting! Following the success of last year’s meeting, Supima and Western Cotton Shippers Association (WCSA) will join CCGGA to bring together growers, ginners, and industry leaders for a day of valuable industry updates and discussions. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 20^th at the International Agri-Center in Tulare, California. Please complete and submit the registration form. You can email the form to Michelle Franco at michelle@ccgga.org or fax it to our offices promptly at (559) 252-0551.

There is also an opportunity to sponsor the event. All sponsorships go toward offsetting the costs, which helps us deliver our message to the industry. If you’d like to sponsor, you may do so by clicking the sponsorship link here.

The cost of the event is free, but we encourage you to consider making a donation of at least $25 to the CCGGA Federal PAC or CCGGA State PAC to help protect California cotton at the state and federal levels. The CCGGA Federal PAC can only accept personal checks. Any corporate contributions must be made to the CCGGA State PAC.

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has announced plans to expand its statewide Air Monitoring Network (AMN). DPR released a proposal detailing plans to expand from five to ten long-term air monitoring stations and add a new mobile platform to better assess pesticide concentrations in agricultural communities. The department is holding a 60-day public comment period to seek input on proposed locations for new air monitoring stations and will host a virtual public workshop on April 14 to discuss the proposal. DPR’s Air Monitoring Program was initiated in 2011 and currently collects and analyzes data in Merced, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Kern, and Monterey Counties. The 2024–25 State Budget provides permanent funding to DPR to expand ambient air monitoring to a total of ten stations. DPR used an updated, data-driven prioritization process to identify five counties – Tulare, Stanislaus, Imperial, Siskiyou, and San Joaquin – as leading candidates for four new AMN stations. To reach a total of ten full air monitoring sites, DPR’s expansion plan builds on five existing AMN stations to include:

• Conversion of an existing site providing limited pesticide sampling to a full monitoring station in Fresno County
• Up to four (4) new AMN stations in prioritized counties
• New mobile monitoring station to add capacity for additional studies

CDPR plans to accept comments until May 11^th. The Association will be reviewing the proposed plan and submitting comments.

This past week, the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved a California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) emergency external quarantine for cotton jassid (Two Spotted Leaf Hopper) that prohibits the shipment of plants or materials from cotton jassid infested areas into California effective immediately.
 
Cotton jassid is a pest with reported hosts in at least six plant families including cotton, grapevine, tomato, okra, eggplant, sunflower, and hibiscus.  It has recently become established in the Southeastern United States and was intercepted in October of 2025 in California of a shipment of hibiscus from Alabama.  Cotton jassid is native to Asia, and the first detection in the US was in Florida in 2024.  It has spread quickly and is now found in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.  It is believed to be spread by the movement of hibiscus, as it was detected in a shipment of hibiscus from Florida to Texas, and now in a shipment of hibiscus from Alabama to California.
 
CDFA believes the cotton jassid to pose significant economic and environmental harm if it were to become established in California and is why they are establishing the emergency external quarantine. CDFA has assigned the cotton jassid an “A” pest rating, which places the pest in the highest risk regulatory category.  Cotton jassid has piercing sucking mouthparts and feeds on phloem from host plants.  It is believed to inject toxins during feeding causing “hopper burn” and the browning and curling of leaves, defoliation and the loss of flowers, fruits, and bolls, and sooty mold.  Damage in cotton has been known to progress from minor to severe in less than two weeks. 
 
Of particular concern to California cotton growers is the fact that two of the recommended pesticides, neonicotinoids and Dicrotophos (Bidrin), are prohibited in California. However, flonicamid (Carbine) has been shown to be effective.  The goal of the emergency quarantine is to prevent cotton jassid from ever becoming established here.  The Association pushed for the emergency quarantine, and is working closely with CDFA, USDA and the National Cotton Council to fight the further spread of this devastating pest.  The Association is also working with the California Plant Council as we believe that the movement of hibiscus could also be helping to spread the cotton seed bug (CSB) based on the most recent finds of CSB on hibiscus in nurseries in San Diego. 

The California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association together with a broad coalition of more than 30 agricultural organizations – invite you to attend the California Gubernatorial Candidate Forum: Affordability and Rural California.

This pan-agriculture event will bring together many of the major gubernatorial candidates from both parties for a substantive discussion on the issues shaping the future of California agriculture, rural communities, and food affordability. The forum is designed to elevate agriculture’s voice, highlight the connection between regulatory costs and food prices, and provide candidates with the opportunity to engage directly with the agricultural community.

Event Details

Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Time: Doors open at 11:00 AM | Program: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM

Location: Resnick Student Union, California State University, Fresno

Space is limited and tickets will be issued on a first come, first served basis. Please RSVP by Friday, March 20, using this link: REGISTER HERE. After you register, you will receive your digital ticket which will be required for entry.

We encourage you to join agricultural leaders from across California for this important and timely conversation.

Last week, the California Cotton Ginners & Growers Association staff hosted Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo for tours at of some district ag operations. The tour began at Horizon Nut Company in Tulare, where Macedo and District staff Ashley Olivas were able to walk around the plant and see pistachios undergo further processing prior to being shipped. Horizon Nut’s Eloy Viveros took attendees through one of the sorting rooms staffed with people diligently sorting kernels on a conveyor. The Association’s VP of Technical Services, Chris McGlothlin, pointed out that constant increases to minimum wage and the implementation of ag overtime were forcing processing operations to consider electronic sorting technology in an effort for those businesses to remain profitable.   
 
After the walkthrough at Horizon, the Assemblywoman made the short drive to Corcoran to enjoy a quick lunch at the J.G. Boswell Company’s employee cafeteria, and then get out to see the current in-field activities. With tomato plantings ongoing, and cotton bed preparation, the Assemblywoman got the opportunity to see how impactful water allocations and forecasting come into play prior to the planting season. Macedo heard from J.G. Boswell representatives Cameron Boswell, Laura Brown, Gabe Cooper, Kevin Robertson and Cody Wurzel. The Association would like to thank both Horizon Nut and the J.G. Boswell Company for their participation and insight on the industry. 

Our first regional training is happening this week in Tulare on Tuesday, March 10th! This year, the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association, The Zenith, Fresno County Farm Bureau, Nisei Farmers League, California Fresh Fruit Association, California Citrus Mutual, InterWest Insurance Services, CopperPoint Insurance Companies, African American Farmers of California, and the Western Tree Nut Association are partnering to provide Forklift Safety Train- the-Trainer workshops. 

This year the Forklift Train-the-Trainer workshops will be held in the following locations: Fresno, Tulare, Wasco, Le Grand, Turlock, and two additional locations in Dunnigan and Chico.
 
These workshops are designed for owners, managers, supervisors, safety personnel, and individuals responsible for employee training. Each participant will receive a comprehensive binder with the materials needed to understand applicable rules and regulations and to conduct effective forklift safety training. Attendees who complete the full class will also receive a certificate of completion.

In addition to the in-person workshops, the Association will host Machine Guarding, Confined Spaces, and Respiratory Protection webinars later this spring.

Training Cost:

• $65 per person (members)
• $85 per person (non-members)

For registration details and additional information about the workshops and webinars, please refer to the event flyer or visit https://ccgga.org/.

The California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association (CCGGA) and Western Tree Nut Association (WTNA), in partnership with AgSafe, will offer a one-hour Harassment Prevention Training for nonsupervisory employees via live webinar on Monday, March 30 and Wednesday, April 15.
Each webinar will be offered in two sessions:

• Spanish: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
• English: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

The cost to attend is $35 per participant. Participants will receive a certificate of completion following the training.

This training satisfies California’s mandatory harassment prevention requirements for nonsupervisory employees and provides practical guidance on maintaining a respectful and compliant workplace.

Under California law, employers with five or more employees must provide harassment prevention training to all employees. Nonsupervisory employees are required to complete at least one hour of training, while supervisors must complete a separate two-hour course.

To register, please complete the attached form and return it to michelle@wtna.org or contact our office at (559) 455-9272 for additional information. We encourage members to take advantage of this convenient webinar format to ensure compliance.

Over the weekend, the California Cotton Ginners & Growers Association partnered with Blythe growers to raise money for Assemblyman Jeff Gonzalez. Over 60 local growers and businesses packed the house to show appreciation for the 2^nd year Assemblyman. Gonzalez is the first republican to take the seat in 20 years, and his district was happy to show their support. Association President/CEO Roger Isom, Assistant Vice President of Technical Services Chris McGlothlin, as well as California Fresh Fruit Association’s Clayton Smith made the drive out to the desert for the event. Kicking off the event, Isom introduced the Assemblyman, highlighting Gonzalez’s commitment to his District in his first year in Sacramento. He then turned it over to the Assemblyman, who quickly endeared himself to the crowd by asking attendees to take out their phones and then provided his direct phone number so they can stay connected. Gonzalez highlighted the importance of having direct communication with his District so he knows his constituent’s position on bills as they work their way through Sacramento. After a lengthy question and answer portion, the Assemblyman took the time to personally thank each attendee for their support.
 
The Association would like to thank the event co-hosts Bart Fisher, California Fresh Fruit Association, California Citrus Mutual, Rain for Rent, RDO Equipment and the Western Tree Nut Association. Additionally, the Association would like to highlight the tremendous work of Board Members Rosie Navarro of Modern Ginning and Aaron Palmer of Rio Rancho Farms. This event would not have been possible without their hard work.  Additionally, the Association would like to thank the Mullian Family for agreeing to host everyone at their picturesque farm. This event would not have been possible without all of your hard work and support.