Effective today, May 1st, the Cal/OSHA Heat Illness Prevention Regulations go into effect!  Now that the temperature is heating up, you are required to take steps to prevent heat illness.

• –  Water must be “fresh, pure, suitably cool” and located as close as practicable to where employees are working
• –  Shade must be present at 80 degrees F
• –  Shade must accommodate 100% of employees working on the site
• –  When temperature hits 95 degrees F, the employee must be provided a minimum 10 minute cool-down period every two hours
• –  Employees taking a “preventative cool-down rest break” must be monitored for symptoms of heat illness
• –  New training requirements covering employers’ responsibilities, employees’ rights and appropriate first aid and emergency responses

The Association has updated Appendix R of the Safety Manual for its members to comply with the new regulations.

On Friday, April 17^th, the Regional Board held a board meeting in the Fresno office.  The most concerning item on the agenda was enforcement of Waste Discharge Requirements.  Three operations were cited to appear before the regional board; one dairy and two commercial farming operations.

The first farming operation (Farm A) called before the Regional Board farmed a little over 300 acres in Madera County.  According to the report, the operation is required to comply with Water Code section 13264 which requires that irrigation users report their waste discharges to the Regional Board.  The second farming operation (Farm B) that was cited on the docket was a commercial agriculture operation that was separated into multiple parcels across Stanislaus, Merced, and Madera counties. The accumulated acreage for the operation across the several counties totaled over 900 acres

The process that can ultimately lead to a meeting before the Regional Board begins with a Notice of Intent, which notifies operations of their lack of compliance.  The notices are sent via certified mail, so when a notice is signed for, the time to respond begins. Once that deadline passes, the Regional Board then moves along with a Notice of Violation (NOV) which is another notice requiring compliance, and notifying the owner that serious fines are to be levied. The fines are listed as $1,000 per day for non-compliance.  Both farms were notified in 2013 of their noncompliance.

The owner of Farm B failed to report his discharged acreage to the coalition which kept the time on the fine running. In all, the owner was out of compliance for 204 days resulting in a penalty of over $200,000 dollars.   The Regional Board issued an Administrative Civil Liability Complaint with a reduced amount for $31,460 dollars. Farm A was cited for non-compliance for not enrolling in a watershed coalition or reporting to the Regional Board and assessed a fine of $51,480 dollars.

As stated above, both farms were notified 2 years ago and encouraged to report discharges to the Regional Board or enroll in a watershed coalition.  The timeline for unpunished enrollment has long passed, and penalties like these will become more common.  If you have not enrolled in a coalition, or reported your discharge to the Regional Board, we encourage you to do so.  If you have received a notice of intent or violation, we encourage you to respond to the Regional Board with your plan of action.  The fines that are being imposed are very high, and we fear that the longer an operation waits, the levied fines will be much heavier.

At a special meeting of the California Water Commission (Commission) in Fresno this week, President/CEO Roger Isom testified that the outcome of this effort must produce “real water.”  The Commission held the “Water Storage Investment Program” meetings to provide an opportunity for stakeholders and the public to learn about the Commission’s Water Storage Investment Program.  In November 2014, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1, the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014, affirming the need for a safe and reliable supply of water to support the state’s economy, environment, and quality of life.  The bond includes $2.7 billion for public benefits of water storage projects that improve the operation of the state water system, are cost effective, and provide measurable benefits to the Delta ecosystem or its tributaries.  The Commission, through the Water Storage Investment Program, will fund the public benefits of eligible water storage projects. The public meeting provided details on which projects are eligible for funding, the timeline for the program, and how to provide feedback on the program.  Several participants, ranging from farmers and farmworkers to irrigation districts and county supervisors and elected officials, made comments generally supporting the construction of Sites Reservoir in the Sacramento Valley and Temperance Flat Dam near Fresno.  Association President/CEO Isom urged for a comprehensive solution that includes the storage component to work towards solving all of our water problems.

Following Governor Jerry Brown’s announcement of mandatory water restrictions on Thursday, April 1 the agriculture industry has been scrutinized and called into question for the levels of water used for the California agricultural industry. In a recent Washington Post article, the agriculture industry is branded for being responsible for upwards of 80 percent of California’s water use. This staggering and inflated statistic has been the source of questions regarding agriculture water efficiency and use. However, the California Department of Water Resources released a report detailing that when factoring in environmental needs of California, the agriculture industry does not use 80 percent but rather uses 40.9 percent of water allocation. The leading source in receiving water for California is the environment with 50.2 percent of California water allocation totaling nearly 40-million acre-feet. This allotment of water is used in wetland management as well as to meet Delta, stream and river flows.  Executive Director of the California Water Alliance, Aubrey Bettencourt said, “In an effort to demonize hardworking farmers and portray the environment as neglected, activists are waging a propaganda campaign that perpetuates the grossly misleading and disingenuous claim that farmers are hoarding 80 percent of the state’s water supply. That is simply not true.”

After a lengthy registration process cotton growers in California have another tool to help combat whitlefly.   Bayer CropScience has received the registration for its new insecticide Sivanto from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR)). Sivanto, which was developed to control devastating sucking pests on fruits and vegetables as well as most broadacre crops, will be available for the 2015 growing season.  Sivanto is a novel systemic insecticide for the control of major sucking pests such as aphids, whiteflies, hoppers, psyllids, and other key insects, and acts effectively on all mobile stages including larvae and adults. It can be used on pome fruits, citrus, vegetables: cucurbit, fruiting, leafy & brassica; winegrapes, melons, alfalfa and cotton. Sivanto is based on the active ingredient flupyradifurone which belongs to the new chemical class of butenolides.  It is also important to note that when applied at proposed label rates, Sivanto presents no effects on honey bee colony development.   Finally, another tool in our battle against whitefly.  Remember, NO STICKY COTTON!

It is now official.  CalOSHA’s proposed changes to the Heat Illness Prevention Standard will become effective as of May 1.  The major changes include the following:

•  – Water must be “fresh, pure, suitably cool” and located as close as practicable to where employees are working
•  – Shade must be present at 80 degrees F
•  – Shade must accommodate all employees working on the site
•  – Employee must be provided a minimum 10 minute cool-down period every two hours when temperatures hit 95 degrees F
•  – Employees taking a “preventative cool-down rest break” must be monitored for symptoms of heat illness
•  – New training requirements covering employers’ responsibilities, employees’ rights and appropriate first aid and emergency responses

The Association is currently updating all of our member’s and our client’s Heat Illness Prevention Plans.  We will also be conducting trainings in the next few weeks to make sure our members have been trained on the new requirements.

The CA Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations (CCGGA) attended the recent CalOSHA Advisory Committee on the proposed standard for “Agricultural Operations during Hours of Darkness (between Sunset and Sunrise)”.  The proposed standard would require employees working around equipment at night to wear reflective vests and for employers to provide lighting at a level of 20 foot-candle power within 25 feet of any equipment.  The standard was in response to a petition by California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA).  CRLA is pushing for the standard because they accuse farmers of shifting work to nighttime hours to avoid the new heat stress regulations.  CRLA, along with United Farm Workers (UFW), made accusations that farmworkers are subject to sexual harassment due to working at night.  CRLA further commented that Asian farmworkers (??) have very poor eyesight and it makes for unsafe work conditions.  CCGGA and the California Farm Bureau Federation both made presentations on actual light measurements taken at night.  WAPA’s points were based on the fact that 10 foot-candle light power cannot be met by any equipment manufacturer’s standard lighting at 25 feet.  Furthermore, CCGGA pointed out that the only way to meet the proposed standard was to bringing in additional portable lighting such as the diesel fired, generator powered lighting that you see on the highway by Caltrans.  Lastly, CCGGA showed pictures of an area lit to a level of only 6.8 foot-candles, where a worker could see fine without any issues, including reading documents if necessary.  CCGGA also asked CalOSHA what accident data they had to support such changes, to which no response was received.  This is no surprise, as CalOSHA recently adopted the most recent changes to the Heat Illness Standard without a shred of evidence, simply due to the threat of a lawsuit by the UFW.  Based on some of the comments by CRLA and UFW, and the fact they were unwilling to negotiate on the any of the proposed revisions, we can expect to see another lawsuit or to see CalOSHA simply adopt more regulations.  Representing CCGGA at the meeting were President/CEO Roger Isom and WAPA’s Director of Environmental and Safety Services Elda Brueggemann.

USDA NRCS is accepting applications incentive funding under the EQIP National Air Quality Initiative for the 2015 fiscal year.  The purpose of the plan is to replace and destroy off-road tier 0 farm equipment.   The older equipment would be turned over and destroyed.  Incentive funding would be provided to applicants that qualify to be used to replace the destroyed tractor with newer, cleaner technologies.  Current model-year diesel engines are available with inventive funding.

NRCS is opening the application period to multiple times throughout the year in order to encourage more applicants. Forms and applications should be submitted to said producer’s respective county Service Center.  Applicants should apply prior to:

• April 17, 2015
• June 19, 2015
• July 17, 2015

Applications will be processed quickly if all of the proper information is present. If you are interested in enrolling, please find click on the links below for the proper information.

Service Center Directory: http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=CA

EQIP:  http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ca/programs/?cid=nrcs144p2_063939

NAQI:  http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ca/programs/financial/eqip/?cid=stelprdb1247003