Articles Tagged with ''western growers''

Some ag shippers are still using the Port of Oakland to send wine, walnuts, fruits, vegetables, hay and rice to foreign buyers, but many other exporters are also looking for alternatives to the key — but troubled — West Coast shipping point.

The Bureau of Reclamation has reached out to agriculture interests in the West as the agency considers how to spend the $4 billion earmarked in the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act for bolstering water-saving efforts in the Colorado River Basin and other drought-stricken areas.

Congress last week made it clear that ocean carrier companies cannot “unreasonably” refuse to book space on ships for U.S. ag exports, but now it’s up to the Federal Maritime Commission to decide exactly what that means and the fate of foreign markets for U.S. some farm commodities is at stake.

Despite rising costs for water and food safety—labor is the top challenge for farmers these days, for both availability and cost. A new event in October aims to connect specialty crop growers, agtech startups, investors and leaders in workforce development in an attempt to address this issue.

The calculation for releasing environmental flows has become the fulcrum that dictates the most critical water policy decisions going forward.

The Food and Drug Administration is dropping water testing requirements for produce growers in favor of having the farmers conduct assessments of the risk of their water sources being contaminated.

Albert Keck II has been tapped to serve as chairman of Western Growers Board of Directors and Allied Grape Growers has named Kyle Collins as its manager of North Valley operations.

After a 55-year career in the California agriculture industry, Leroy Goehring has retired and after 21 years as the California state auditor, Elaine Howle will retire at the end of the year.

Western Growers will honor Carol Chandler with the 2021 award of honor and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture has tapped Ted McKinney to be the organization’s new CEO.

The bipartisan infrastructure agreement that the Senate is preparing to debate includes $8.3 billion in western water infrastructure funding sought by farm groups in the region that is suffering through an extended drought.