As temperatures continue to rise, heat illness prevention remains at the forefront. The Heat Illness Prevention Tool Kits have been created to aid our members and clients stay in compliance. The kit contains a heat illness prevention training guide for supervisors, toolbox talks in English/Spanish, heat illness poster, heat illness prevention cards, etc. For more information visit our website www.agprocessors.org and click on the Heat Illness Kit link for order information.
Please join us to review, comment, and approve the six guide boxes of the 2018 American Pima Grade Standards on July 10 @ 9am at the Visalia Classing Office. Once approved, the guide boxes will be used as the reference to match all of the 2018 American Pima Grade Standards.
Industry participation is key to this process and we hope you all can come and be a part of this important annual event.
For additional information please contact:
Greg Townsend, Area Director
Email: gregtownsend@ams.usda.gov
Visalia Classing Office
7100 West Sunnyview Avenue
Visalia, CA 93291
Phone: (559) 651-3015
Jimmy Knowlton, Director
Email: james.knowlton@ams.usda.gov
Standardization Division
3275 Appling Road
Memphis, TN 38133
Phone: (901) 384-3030
The California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association, represented by President/CEO Roger Isom, Chris McGlothlin, Director of Technical Services, and Jodi Raley, Director of Regulatory Affairs, ventured to San Diego to take part in a unique opportunity for the cotton industry to give back to those who have served our country. Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins represents the 39th Senate District, which includes La Jolla, Del Mar, Downtown San Diego, Point Loma and other surrounding communities. With Point Loma Naval Base and the San Diego Marine Base within her district’s bounds, there is a large population of veterans, some of which who are struggling. CCGGA learned earlier this year that Pro Tem Atkins was passionate about assisting these veterans and hosts on an annual basis a Stand Down event in her district. Stand Down events offer food, shelter, clothing, health screenings and other services to homeless veterans. One of the most requested items for these events is, of all things, socks. Once CCGGA learned of this event and the high demand for good quality socks for these veterans, we started thinking on how we as a fiber industry can contribute to this cause. In partnership with Supima, CCGGA was able to donate 1,000 pairs of California Grown, American Made pima cotton socks. The socks will be distributed at San Diego’s 31st Annual Stand Down taking place June 29th through July 1st. The Association was honored to be able to use our grower’s cotton to be put forward towards a great cause. CCGGA looks forward to continuing this momentum and finding additional opportunities to give back as an industry. CCGGA would like to extend our sincere appreciation and thanks to Supima and Harris & Covington Hosiery Mills for partnering with the Association to make this happen!
As a reminder, all employers – including California – are advised to comply with the directive from federal OSHA to submit their workplace injuries and illnesses electronically. Employers must submit injury and illness data from their 2017 Cal/OSHA Summary 300A form electronically by July 1, 2018. For specific instructions go to federal OSHA’s website https://www.osha.gov/injuryreporting/index.html. Should you have any questions or need assistance, please call our office.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Pink Bollworm Program have released the preliminary acreages for most of the cotton growing counties in California for 2018. The breakdown is as follows:
The grand total of 257,552 acres statewide is down from 295,848 acres statewide in 2017. It is too early for the Pink Bollworm Program to confirm Pima/Upland splits, but current estimates put the split at 82%/18%, but we will wait to confirm what was actually planted.
The Pima guide box matching event is scheduled for Tuesday, July 10th at the Visalia Classing office. We appreciate your participation in the process. We welcome all producers, merchants, and industry representatives to attend the matching event.
Effective January 1, 2017, employers in states regulated by federal OSHA were required to electronically submit Log 300 records of injuries and illnesses. The electronic reporting requirements, along with the incorporation of an existing statutory prohibition on retaliating against employees for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses, were added to federal OSHA’s recording and reporting regulations found in the Code of Federal Regulations, title 29, part 1904.
On April 30, 2018, federal OSHA posted a “trade release” requiring all affected employers to submit injury and illness data in the federal OSHA Injury Tracking Application (ITA) online portal, even if the employer is covered by a state plan that has not completed adoption of their own state rule.
Therefore, even though California has not yet adopted its own state rule, employers are advised to comply with federal OSHA’s directive to provide Form 300A data covering calendar year 2017. Federal OSHA is requiring affected employers to submit their data by July 1, 2018. For specific instructions, go to federal OSHA’s ITA website.
The Association will provide members with instructions on reporting injury data within the next few days, so please stay tuned.
After almost two years of negotiation, a settlement was filed in the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Phase Two General Rate Case. PG&E originally asked for an average 5.1 percent increase for agriculture, on top of the Phase One revenue requirement for all customers. At the conclusion of negotiations the Ag Energy Consumers Association (AECA), PG&E and other parties settled on a 0.7 percent increase for agriculture. That will be added to the Phase One increase of 5.5 percent in 2019 and 4.9 percent in 2020.
Also under discussion was a proposed shift in Time-Of-Use (TOU) periods. PG&E proposed to change the peak TOU period from 12:00PM-6:00PM to 5:00PM-10:00PM and eliminate weekend off-peak periods. Peak periods are changing as more solar renewable energy is added to the generation mix. AECA was able secure more reasonable peak period of 5:00PM-8:00PM and ensured that the TOU period shift will not occur until March of 2021. Starting in 2021, weekends will have on-peak periods for the first time, but a new rate was created for those who need a prolonged off-peak period for irrigation. The new rates will be made available to customers to transfer to on an optional basis starting no later than March of 2020. At that time, customers will also be able to use PG&E’s online tool to see how their bills might change under different scenarios. Account and customer service representatives will also be available to help ag customers understand how the changes will impact their bills and to offer best rate options.
Customers who have installed solar will be grandfathered on existing TOU periods for ten years after their interconnection date. PG&E had proposed to narrow the differentials between peak and off-peak prices for solar customers, but AECA was able to work out a timeline for those differentials to be narrowed, to ensure investments made to feed energy back into the grid during peak hours will be protected.
It is important to note that this settlement has not yet been approved by the CPUC. It is hard to predict when it will be set for a vote, but it is expected to be approved by the end of 2018. AECA is an organization made up of growers, ag associations, water agencies and irrigation districts, ranchers and food processors. Association President/CEO Roger Isom is the current President of AECA.
In December, growers indicated California would see an increase in cotton acreage for the third year in a row. But then it didn’t rain until March. And then when it rained, the water allocations didn’t match expectations. As a result, California is preliminarily expecting about at 15% decrease in overall cotton acreage for 2018.
According to preliminary planting intentions survey conducted by the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association this past month, the Association is currently estimating approximately 205,000 acres of pima and 43,000 acres of upland statewide for the 2018 cotton season plus or minus 10%. This survey is based on surveys from all of the gins in California prior to planting and a lot can happen between now and when things are actually planted. If it plays out, it will represent a 2% decrease in pima acreage and a 50% decrease in upland acreage in California as compared to 2017. Again, this is very preliminary, but reflects what all gins are reporting.