Last week we put out a bulletin notifying our members of a one-time funding opportunity totaling $3 million that the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is providing. This money will solely go towards replacing existing fuel-fired ATVs with electric ATVs. The response has been overwhelming! So much so that the district may provide additional funds to provide more replacements. If you are interested in this opportunity but have not reached out for more information, the time is NOW! Fuel-fired ATVs have the opportunity to be replaced with models including the John Deere Electric Gator, Polaris EV UTV, Xtreme Green Citdael ATV Pro, Textron Recoil or Cushman Hauler Pro-X. The incentive will pay participating recipient 75% of electric UTV to replace the existing fuel-fired ATV.

Anyone who is interested in taking advantage of this opportunity must complete the below spreadsheet and email to Roger Isom at roger@ccgga.org by the end of this week! If you have any questions or would like more information please call Jodi Raley or Roger Isom at (559) 252-0684.

Registration Form

The annual safety training program is directed to cotton harvest equipment operators, crews and farm employees in conjunction with farm managers/supervisors and growers. This will cover topics that are required for growers (Topics may include road safety, equipment and chemical safety and electrical safety). The training will be held in English and Spanish. Be sure that you indicate on your registration form which training the employee will be attending and whether they will be staying for lunch. Certificates of attendance will be issued. The Safety Training Class will be offered Wednesday, September 20^th at the Kings County Fairground from 8:00am to 12:00pm and even includes a delicious lunch. Family Healthcare Network will be on hand from 7:30 – 8:00 a.m. to provide free health screenings for participants. Participants must apply by September 15^th.

Registration Form

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD), in partnership with our Association, is applying for special one-time grant funding to receive $3 million that will go solely to replace existing fuel fired ATV with electric ATV’s. This special opportunity would replace fuel fired ATVs with models including the John Deere Electric Gator or Polaris EV UTV. The incentive will pay participating recipients 75% of the electric UTV to replace the existing fuel fired ATV, which will be scrapped. We are in a very short time frame to participate in this one-time project. Anyone who is interested in taking advantage of this opportunity must complete the below spreadsheet and email to our office at roger@ccgga.org by the end of next week! If you have any questions please call Jodi Raley or Roger Isom at (559) 252-0684.

Link to spreadsheet

The California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association, Fresno County Farm Bureau and Zenith Agribusiness Solutions are presenting the 2017 Cotton Harvest Safety Training on September 20 from 8-10 a.m. at the Westside Research & Extension Center (17353 W. Oakland Ave. Five Points, CA 93624) with registration beginning at 7:30 a.m. This annual training is meant to provide education and training to cotton harvest equipment operators, crews, ginners, farm employees as well as farm managers/supervisors and growers. All trainings will be conducted in both English and Spanish. Training will cover equipment safety (preparation and operation), electrical hazards, heat illness prevention and road safety. To register click here or contact Fresno County Farm Bureau at 559-237-0263 or info@fcfb.org.

For the second year in a row the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Air Monitoring Network found all pesticides monitored to be below levels that would indicate a health concern in 2016! DPR monitored 37 different chemicals, made up of 32 pesticides and five breakdown products. Of these different monitored chemicals 12 were not detected at all, 14 were detected at trace levels and 11 were detected at quantifiable levels. Of DPR’s 5,928 analyses 91 percent had no detectable concentrations. Among the chemicals that were detected at “quantifiable concentrations”, 91 percent of these detections were from carbon disulfide. In DPR’s report it is noted that there are no current product registrations for carbon disulfide. DPR notes that it is most likely present due to combustion form industrial facilities or is present due to decomposition occurring in wetland areas. For these reasons, DPR will no longer monitor this chemical.

Full Report-> http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/emon/airinit/amn_2016_report_draft.pdf

Full Press Release-> http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pressrls/2017/081717.htm

Photo courtesy of CDPR

In a recent letter of support for the Sites Reservoir Project, the Association stated “After the entire state was crippled by several years of drought, it is increasingly evident that innovative water storage projects are needed. The Sites Project would create an additional 1.8 million acre-feet of storage which would produce up to 500,000 acre-feet of supplies to California’s water system annually. This water would be extremely valuable in helping achieve a more efficient and reliable water supply system. Capturing and capitalizing on years of increased precipitation would not only help keep families and farms in business but it would also generate economic growth, produce jobs and help California achieve ecosystem benefits.”  The letter of support was submitted to the Sites Project Authority for inclusion in their application to the California Water Commission for Proposition 1 Water Storage Investment Program funding.

The Association would like to take this opportunity to apologize to our Sacramento Valley members who might have been taken back by our Latest News Bulletin yesterday.  The Association fully supports both projects and does not favor one project over the other.  This has been conveyed to the California Water Commission (CWC) in letters of support and in testimony to the CWC given by Association President/CEO Roger Isom.  The Association apologizes for the misstatement and wants to assure all of our members that we fully support water storage wherever and whenever we can get it.  It has been, and always will be, a pillar of our efforts and activities.

The San Joaquin Water Infrastructure Authority (SJVWIA) took a momentous step to secure additional water storage for California. The SJVWIA submitted an application to apply for a little over 1.3 billion dollars from the Proposition 1 (Water Bond) Water Storage Investment Program to construct the Temperance Flat Dam and Reservoir Project. The project would provide an additional 1.3 million acre-feet of aboveground storage to capture and store high flows in above average water years. The project would be constructed about 6.5 miles upstream from Friant Dam, whose current capacity is only 520,000 acre feet. Chairman of the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association, Phil Hansen, commended the work of the SJVWIA and urged that in light of weather events like last year it is critical that there be aboveground infrastructure, and Temperance Flat is the best project. There is a long road ahead of us but the Association will continue its support to see this project through until the end!

Back in August of 2016 FDA extended compliance dates for cotton ginning facilities under the animal food rule. Off-farm facilities solely engaged in cotton ginning that provide products (for example, cotton seed and lint) without further processing for use as animal food now have additional time to comply with the applicable requirements in the CGMP and Preventive Controls Rule for Animal Food. The earliest compliance date is January 28, 2019 since cotton gins are exempt from the CGMP portion of the rule.

For cotton ginning facilities who are classified as a farm, you are exempt from the Preventive Control Rule for Animal Food.

The California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association continues to work with FDA to classify all cotton gins as farms and therefore become exempt from the Preventive Controls for Animal Food Rule. For now, be assured your compliance date is not until the beginning of 2019. We will keep you updated!

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) held an outreach hearing yesterday in Stockton to discuss the impacts of the proposed rate structure under the 2017 PG&E General Rate Case (GRC).  Association President/CEO Roger Isom testified at the hearing by demanding that this “not just be another meeting!  Electricity prices are already too high!”  The hearing was to take public comments on the Phase 2 portion of the 2017 PG&E GRC.  CPUC Administrative Law Judge Michele Cooke presided over the hearing since she is the ALJ assigned to this case and will ultimately be making the recommendation to the Commissioners on the GRC.  During the hearing, Isom specifically commented on the proposed rates for cotton gins, and tree nut hullers and processors.  Isom also expressed major concerns with shifting the “peak period” and the impact it would have on growers in terms of irrigation scheduling and on the businesses that installed solar and made financials decisions on an assumed rate of return that would now be completely turned upside down. The meeting was fairly well attended, especially by growers and members of the San Joaquin Farm Bureau.  These growers did an outstanding job of expressing their specific concerns with changing the time of use periods.  Phase 2 of the GRC is where rates are divided up amongst the various rate classes and those negotiations are ongoing.  This was an important meeting where industry could express their specific concerns outside of the negotiations.

The California State Water Resources Control Board has appoint Eileen Sobeck as the new Executive Director, replacing Tom Howard who retired in May of this year.  Ms. Sobeck comes with nearly 40 years of government service, most recently as Assistant Administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the Fisheries Division, where she worked from 2014 to 2017.  Prior to her work at NOAA she was the Department of Interior’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs (2012-2014), and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks (2009-2012).  Sobeck is a lawyer by training and spent 25 years at the U.S. Department of Justice, ultimately serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources (1999-2009).  While Sobeck has spent her professional career in Washington, D.C., she has many ties to California.  She grew up in Davis, is a graduate of Stanford and Stanford Law School, and has strong family connections to California.  Sobeck will join the State Water Board following the Labor Day holiday weekend.