Earlier this week, representatives from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), Cal EPA, and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) met in Fresno with local stakeholders to discuss the implementation of the 2030 Target Scoping Plan.  The meeting was held at the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, and was organized to address the Scoping Plan as it pertains to the agricultural sector.  The 2030 Scoping Plan is part of the Governor’s plan to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, the plan also calls for a 50% reduction in petroleum usage, as well as a call to increase the state’s renewable portfolio by 50% by 2030.

The primary focus within the ag sector includes rangeland management and productive farmland.  The emphasis on rangeland and farmland management is for the purpose of carbon sequestration, and CARB wants to encourage sequestration as much as possible.  The Air Resources Board also presented Climate Smart Ag Practices with management practices such as manure, water and nitrogen management; renewable energy installation and utilization; as well as land conservation, to name a few.  Similar to the Short Lived Climate Pollutant workshop, CARB is encouraging growers to develop their own composting practices to help with California’s Healthy Soils Initiative.  Incentive funding was also a topic of conversation, both on the tractor trade up funding as well as finding funding methods to help encourage the rebirth of biomass and cogeneration plants.  With the floor open for public comment, the Association’s Director of Technical Services, Chris McGlothlin made a couple of remarks.  McGlothlin pointed out that in order for a farm to be able to compost legally, four separate permits are required from four different government agencies.  McGlothlin stressed the importance of incentive dollars to the Central Valley, stating that emissions reductions have exceeded expectations thanks to the amount of money being utilized in the Valley.  There will be more workshops in the future, so stay tuned for more updates.

Earlier this month, California Air Resources Board released a Proposed Strategy to address Short-Lived Climate Pollutants.  This proposed strategy aims to reduce emissions for pollutants that do have a shorter lifespan in the atmosphere, but have the potential to heat that atmosphere exponentially higher than what CO2 can.  Some of the mitigation measures presented in the package by ARB include diversion of material from landfills, incentive investment in smaller communities, and a focus on the development of technology that could lower SLCP emissions.  There are 3 major SLCP’s that are the focus of ARB in this proposed order.  Black Carbon is the particulate matter generated by the burning of fuels, Methane is also a major contributor to SLCP’s, and fluorinated gases are considered one of the heaviest polluters in the SLCP inventory.  Black Carbon is also represented in the Ag industry through the use of combustible on-road and off-road equipment.  Methane is a major focus for the dairy industry, whereas fluorinated gases are a major concern for commodity groups throughout the state that utilize refrigeration transportation to ship and store their products.

The Association has been engaged with California Air Resources Board throughout their drafting process.  The Association has taken the opportunity to comment on the Proposed Strategy on several occasions, through written submissions as well as testimony during workshops.  One of the key points that the Association has lobbied for is the continued inflow of incentive funding to help replace older equipment, to newer and cleaner technologies.  Incentive money dedicated to the Central Valley has already helped exceed expected emissions reductions tremendously.  Incentive funding also goes towards replacing older refrigeration systems (fluorinated gas systems) and replacing them with newer, lower emitting systems.  The Association has also pointed out that reductions efforts could be greater if biomass and co-generation plants remained operational.  The lack of facilities have left growers with few answers on how to deal with removed orchards and vineyards, and one of the only solutions is to allow temporary burning of the material. Another point made by the Association focused on the overregulation of permitting on site composting operations.  In order to compost on one’s own property, an applicant is required to obtain 4 separate permits from 4 different government agencies.  The Association hopes to achieve a more streamlined approach to applying for a composting permit and contributing to the State of California’s Healthy Soils Initiative.  Stay tuned for more updates.

The State Water Resources Control Board (SWB) has begun conducting outreach and educational meetings between interested stakeholders, as well as the overall public, on their recently proposed order.  The East San Joaquin WDR Proposed Order is a draft regulation that will essentially eliminate all of the work being done through the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program.  The changes made to the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program through this Draft Order include the re-designation of all areas within California as Highly Vulnerable to groundwater threats, the power to collect and organize Farm Evaluation Plans and Nitrogen Management Plans no longer sits with the Coalitions and that same information will be submitted directly to the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWB), as well as require wells that supply drinking water to communities to be monitored continuously.  These changes directly affect the functionality of the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program, and also add a significant burden to the Regional Water Board to collect and store all of the data.

Pursuant to the release of the draft Proposed Order, watershed coalitions have begun meeting with SWB representatives in an effort to find some ways to push back.  WAPA also took the opportunity to voice concerns over recent actions by meeting with Pamela Creedon, Executive Officer for the Regional Water Quality Control Board.  Creedon voiced as much concern over the proposed changes and the adjustments that her department will need to make in order to satisfy their burden in receiving this information.  The Association then took the time to meet with Felicia Marcus, Chair of the State Water Board.  Marcus took a more defensive stance of the proposed order, stating that she felt confident the Board would be able to handle the changes the proposed order creates.  The Association has also found opportunities to participate in Coalition led meetings, which focus primarily on the areas of the proposed order that can be challenged and possibly thrown out.  Comment letters for the ESJ Proposed Order are due by May 18th. A public workshop will be held at the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District on May 17^th, if you would like to participate or attend the public workshop, feel free to contact the Association’s Director of Technical Services, Chris McGlothlin.

Association President/CEO Roger Isom and Director of Regulatory Affairs Jodi Raley attended a meeting with the California Air Resources Board today on the proposed next versions of the Large Spark Ignited (LSI) Regulation, which regulates forklifts and floor sweepers/scrubbers, and the Transportation Refrigeration Unit (TRU) Regulation. The first steps in this process is to “survey” the industry, and the Association reviewed and commented on the proposed survey and how it would be carried out for cotton gins. Following this meeting, the Association will be conducting a survey for the industry that will be used to help formulate the rule. This was conducted in the original forklift rulemaking and one of the reasons the ag provisions of the forklift rule where much more lenient than the general business requirements. It is this level of involvement in the process that will hopefully provide the best outcome possible given the state’s air quality issues.

Association President/CEO Roger Isom testified this week at the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Governing Board Meeting in support of the Air District’s proposed “Trade-Up Program”.  The new program would be funded by $500,000 in Cap & Trade Funds from the California Air Resources Board (CARB).  The money would be used to purchase new agricultural equipment (tractors and harvesters) to replace existing Tier 2 and Tier 3 agricultural equipment.  Then, rather than crushing the Tier 2/3 equipment, it would be provided free of charge to growers to replace existing Tier 0 equipment that might not otherwise be replaced due to financial constraints or limited use.  The Tier 2/3 tractors will be inspected and the Air District will spend up to an additional $5,000 to repair this equipment for use.  A big focus will be on harvesting equipment which tends to have a low use.   The new pilot program will go into effect later this summer, and the Association is already lining up growers and equipment for the pilot program.  If it is successful, it could lead to a more permanent program.

The drought is not over, but for the first time in six years, cotton acreage will increase in California according to preliminary survey conducted by the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations this past month.  The Association is currently estimating approximately 145,000 acres of pima and 61,000 acres of upland statewide.   Now, this is preliminary and a lot can happen between now and when things are actually planted, but based on the survey this is our best estimate.  If it plays out, it will represent a 19% increase in pima acreage and a 24% increase in upland acreage in California as compared to 2015.

We are gearing up for the 2016 Annual California Cotton Ginners Association meeting in Monterey on Wednesday, June 1st through Friday, June 3rd at the Monterey Marriott.  There will be a welcome reception on Wednesday night for the early arrivals.  On Thursday we will be having our golf tournament and for non-golfers it will be an open day, with a reception dinner, and annual award presentations on Thursday evening.  The Board of Directors will hold their regularly scheduled board meeting on Friday morning followed by the Ginners Annual Meeting featuring guest speakers covering the “hot topic” issues in the industry.

2016 Ginner Registration

2016 Associate Registration

Following is TPO’s recap of CA’s mandatory Paid Sick Leave (PSL) with yellow highlights representing areas of change with the 7/13/15 “clean-up” law.

Employers who revised/created their policies to comply with PSL prior to 7/1/15  may choose to make further revisions in light of the “PSL clean-up” law, though revisions are not required and some employers may choose to not further revise their policies.

The Department of Industrial Relation’s (DIR’s) website was updated in October 2015 to reflect the 7/13/15 law (http://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSE/Paid_Sick_Leave.htm).

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