Monthly Archives: June 2020

Rising costs of compliance are forcing many growers to switch crops, shut down or leave the state By Tim Hearden Dairy owner Steve Nash used to be enmeshed in California politics, staying active in the Fresno County Farm Bureau and appearing before state legislators and regulators to advocate for agriculture-friendly policies. But in 2014, he gave up. He began the …

​Memo from State Public Health officer Dr. Sonia Y. Angell: This checklist is intended for use by employers experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19 in their workplace. Employers should be proactive and keep in mind that identification of even a single positive case among employees may quickly develop into an outbreak. As outbreak circumstances and work practices vary, employers may need …

A man who stole dozens of beehives across the West has been arrested in Washington state, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office (WA) said. The bees could be worth more than $200,000. “The case has the potential of over 30 victims spread across California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington,” the Sheriff’s Office told the Bellingham Herald. Perry David Bayes, 56, was arrested …

By Chris Koger Jeff Huckaby, president of Grimmway Farms and Cal-Organic Farms (and member of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture), has been named the Organic Trade Association’s Organic Farmer of the Year. Huckaby has grown Cal-Organic’s production from several hundred acres to more than 45,000 acres of organic vegetables in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Washington. More than …

Did you know that the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) offers Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for Food and Agriculture via a web page that is updated regularly? This is part of CDFA’s continuous effort to provide food and agriculture workers and employers with access to the latest information. Latest updates to the Worker Safety section (www.cdfa.ca.gov/coronavirus/#WorkerSafety) include: The U.S. …