Earlier this week, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced an update to the State Water Project (SWP) allocation forecast for 2025. The allocation has increased to 15 percent of requested supplies, up from the initial allocation forecast of 5 percent announced earlier this month. The SWP provides water to 29 public water agencies that serve 27 million Californians.  DWR is crediting strong storms in late November and early December that have helped boost statewide precipitation to just above average for this time of year. Reservoir levels have also increased because of the storms. The initial allocation forecast announced on December 2 had not accounted for these storms because the data was not yet available to water managers.  “The past several weeks has brought welcome rain and snow to Northern California and these improved conditions have allowed the State Water Project to increase the allocation forecast to the benefit of millions of Californians,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “While we typically wait to provide an update until January, we felt it is important to let our State Water Contractors know of the increase as soon as possible to allow them to better plan their water supply for the year ahead.”  The next update will likely come in January and will use information from the first snow surveys of the season.

On January 1, 2025 all agricultural workers will be able to receive overtime pay according to the 8-hour day/40-hour workweek standard similar to other industries.  With the final year of the phase in, all employers must now ensure they are calculating overtime at 8 hours/day and 40 hours/week for work performed in 2025. Additionally, all agricultural employers must pay double the regular rate of pay after 12 hours in a workday.

The California Volkswagen (VW) Zero-Emission Freight and Marine (ZEFM) Program is now open, offering up to $25 million in funding to owners of equipment based in California. The following zero-emissions projects are eligible:

• Repowering marine vessels, including ferries, tugboats, and towboats to zero-emission;
• Replacing heavy-lift forklifts (with a lift capacity of 8,001 lbs. or greater) with zero-emission alternatives; and
• Replacing cargo handling equipment including terminal tractors with zero-emission alternatives.

Applications are being accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until January 22, 2025, at 4 PM PDT. To date, over $45 million of the program’s $70 million allocation has been awarded to eligible projects from previous solicitations.

Start your application  today at Zero-Emission Freight and Marine Projects (californiavwtrust.org).

This solicitation includes several key updates:

• Qualifying projects are eligible for the highest possible grant amount, limited only by the total vehicle cost and prior equipment usage.
• The definition of “port” has been expanded to include river ports, railyards, freight terminals, intermodal facilities, and freight corridors.
• “Ferry” now also includes water taxis.
• All marine vessel repower projects must submit proof of their submitted ZEAT applications to CARB as part of their VW ZEFM application.
• This solicitation does not include funds for Airport Ground Support Equipment (GSE).
• CARB’s Clean Off-Road Equipment (CORE) Voucher Incentive Project does currently have funds available, please visit the CORE website if you wish to apply.

Upcoming Webinar

There is an informational webinar to review program requirements and the application process on Wednesday, January 8 2025, at 2 PM PDT. Register now.

California law gradually increases the statewide minimum wage and requires an automatic increase in the minimum wage of up to 3.5% to account for any increase in inflation over 7% as determined by the Consumer Price Index.  On August 1, 2024, the California Department of Finance Director officially certified that beginning January 1, 2025, California’s minimum wage will increase from $16 per hour to $16.50 per hour for all employers, regardless of size.  This hourly increase also affects the minimum salary requirements for full-time exempt employees, which currently is $66,560 per year in gross wages ($5,546.67 per month). Beginning January 1, 2025, the minimum salary for a full-time exempt employee will be $68,640 per year in gross wages ($5,720 per month).

As you are aware the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is moving full speed ahead on their “zero emissions” goals for California, including replacing all combustion vehicles and equipment by replacing them with electric or hydrogen vehicles or equipment.  This includes all trucks and forklifts.  The Association is convinced the infrastructure to meet such demand simply isn’t there.  Up until a meeting last year hosted by the Association last year in Modesto, CARB and the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) were convinced there would be no problem meeting the demand.  But after that meeting, CARB, CEC and the CPUC admitted they did not know how much demand would be from agriculture, nor did they know when it would be needed or where.  At that same meeting the utilities, PG&E and SCE, also admitted they did not know, and they were already having “system-wide constraints”.  In response, CARB and the CEC have contracted Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to work with agriculture to conduct a comprehensive survey of agricultural operations (farms, packing houses, cotton gins, nut hullers and processors, etc.) to see how much electricity demand would be needed to comply with these new regulations, when it would be need by, and to the zip code level where it would be needed.   

The survey is anonymous and only to zip code level.  Your company or farm name and address is never entered or revealed.  We are working with several agricultural organizations on this survey to demonstrate what the true demand and need would be to meet these regulations.  Without this data, CARB will move forward on all regulations as planned.  Should you have any questions, please contact our office.  We encourage you to participate.  Here is the survey:

https://bit.ly/4gpOPvB

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has finalized their statewide pesticide application notification system regulations now known as Spray Days California.  The regulations are the first-of-its-kind system to provide advance information on the planned applications of restricted material pesticides used in agriculture.  The statewide notification regulations will be effective February 24, 2025, and DPR is on track to begin the implementation of the statewide system, SprayDays California, in March 2025.  DPR will be conducting outreach to growers, communities and the broader public in early 2025 in advance of the system launch to provide more information on the regulatory requirements and the information provided in the system, including information on the pesticide regulatory system in California.

In summary, this action requires all agricultural use notices of intent (NOIs) to be electronically submitted to the County Agricultural Commissioner (CAC) via CalAgPermits.org.  Additionally, it requires all NOIs for soil fumigations to be electronically submitted to the local CAC via CalAgPermits.org a minimum of 48 hours before the intended start of the application.  It also requires specific information from NOIs for the use of restricted materials requiring a permit for the production of an agricultural commodity to be electronically submitted to DPR via CalAgPermits.org at least 48 hours in advance of the intended start of a soil fumigation and at least 24 hours in advance of the intended start of an application of all other pesticides. Additionally, beginning March 26, 2025, this action requires DPR to make the specific NOI information it receives publicly available upon receipt or as soon as practicable.  Finally, it requires DPR to issue annual updates on its system and process for making the specific NOI information publicly available until DPR issues a comprehensive report on the system three years after February 24, 2025, or as soon thereafter as reasonably practicable. This was vigorously opposed by the Association and the agricultural industry. 

The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) staff has released for public review and comment a draft of potential updates to the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento­ San Joaquin Delta Watershed (Bay­Delta Plan). The draft updates to the Bay­Delta Plan are focused on the portions of the plan relevant to the Sacramento River watershed, Delta eastside tributaries (including the Calaveras, Cosumnes, and Mokelumne Rivers), and Delta (Sacramento/Delta) for the reasonable protection of fish and wildlife beneficial uses. The draft Sacramento/Delta updates to the Bay­Delta Plan include options for incorporating what is referred to as the “regulatory pathway” or “regulatory provisions” based on concepts described in the Board’s September 2023 draft Staff Report that includes new Sacramento/Delta tributary inflow and cold water habitat provisions and inflow­ based Delta outflows, as well as other provisions. The draft also includes provisions based on voluntary agreements (VAs) proposed by public water agencies and state and federal agencies known as the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Proposal and referred to as the “VA pathway” or “VA provisions” that would also be regulatory provisions if incorporated into the Bay­Delta Plan. The State Water Board has not yet made a decision on how to move forward with the Sacramento/Delta updates to the Bay­Delta Plan and is seeking public input on the potential updates and options identified in the draft plan. The proposed plan would be devastating to agriculture resulting in as much as 330,000 acres of fallowed land in the Sacramento Valley and 260,000 acres of land in the San Joaquin Valley. The Association is developing comments opposing the proposed flow restrictions and supporting the alternative plan and VA provisions. Based on comments on this draft, State Water Board staff will develop a revised draft of proposed updates to the Bay­Delta Plan for additional public comment and Board consideration.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing protection for the monarch butterfly and is seeking input on a proposal to list the species as threatened with species-specific protections and flexibilities to encourage conservation. Public comments will be accepted on the proposal until March 12, 2025.  The Service will then evaluate the comments and any additional information on the species and determine whether to list the monarch butterfly.  In North America, monarchs are grouped into two long-distance migratory populations. The eastern migratory population is the largest and overwinters in the mountains of central Mexico. The western migratory population primarily overwinters in coastal California. In the 1980s, over 4.5 million western monarchs flocked to overwintering grounds in coastal California. In the mid-1990s, an estimated 380 million eastern monarchs made the long-distance journey to overwintering grounds in Mexico, completing one of the longest insect migrations in the world.  According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the eastern migratory population is estimated to have declined by approximately 80% today. The western migratory population has declined by more than 95% since the 1980s, putting the western populations at greater than 99% chance of extinction by 2080. During this same period, the probability of extinction for eastern monarchs ranges from 56 to 74%, according to the Service’s most recent species status assessment.  To assist with monarch conservation efforts, the Service is also proposing critical habitat for the species at a portion of its overwintering sites in coastal California. In total, the Service is proposing 4,395 acres of critical habitat for the western migratory monarch population across Alameda, Marin, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties in California. A critical habitat designation imposes no requirements on state or private land unless the action involves federal funding, permits or approvals.  A 90-day comment period will open on December 12, 2024, and will close on March 12, 2025.

This past week the Association promoted Director of Technical Services Christopher McGlothlin to Assistant Vice President of Technical Services.  With this advancement, Christopher’s role will expand into more leadership responsibilities.  In the past year, Chris graduated from Class 52 of the California Ag Leadership Program, was elected to the AgOne Foundation Board of Directors and was most recently appointed by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Air Quality Task Force by the Secretary Tom Vilsack.  McGlothlin has also represented the Association at several regulatory hearings at the State Water Resources Control Board, California Air Resources Board and San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.  In addition, McGlothlin testified before the California State Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee.  The Association applauds Christopher in this latest chapter of his professional life and thanks him for his dedication, loyalty and service to the Association and its members!

The Association coordinated and co-hosted a metal theft meeting in Merced County this week to discuss a recent major uptick in copper wire theft in Merced and Stanislaus Counties.  Merced County Supervisor Lloyd Pareira and Stanislaus County Supervisor Vita Chiesa chaired the meeting with the Sheriff’s Departments from Merced and Stanislaus Counties.  The meeting was held at Hilltop Ranch in Merced county and in attendance was Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse, and a few sheriff deputies and officers from both Merced and Stanislaus counties.  Representing the Association was President/CEO Roger A. Isom and Director of Technical Services Christopher McGlothlin.  Isom wrapped up the meeting by thanking the Sheriff’s Departments and the California Rural Crime Prevention Task Force for their tremendous efforts in working to address this growing issue.  Isom stated “ We are members of the Rural Crime Prevention Task Force and they are an important tool against ag theft in this valley.  Today’s meeting was to bring folks together and make sure the lines of communication are open as we all work together against this menace that is once again resurfacing here in the valley.”   Coincidentally, the Merced and Stanislaus County Sheriff’s office announced a significant arrest had been made earlier that morning of the owner of an illegal wire and catalytic converter operation in Turlock.  Co-hosting the meeting with the Association was the Merced County Farm Bureau.