Daybreak West March 24: Sacramento eyes Williamson Act reforms

The Legislature will once again consider changes to conservation easement rules under the Williamson Act. Large-scale solar developers have pressed lawmakers to make it easier for farms and ranches to exit the contracts and repurpose the land for renewable energy generation. 

Remember: Western Growers backed a measure last year to loosen the penalties for ending contracts. The goal was to provide farmers with alternative economic opportunities that maintain the land’s value, when faced with fallowing under SGMA. But the bill ran into opposition from the California Farm Bureau, which warned of a slippery slope in weakening the act. The easements have long protected farms from urban development — one of the greatest threats to California ag. The concerns led the bill to stall in committee. 

The new legislation comes from Asm. Buffy Wicks of Oakland, who has made it a priority this year to streamline infrastructure development. Last week she fleshed out the bill’s language with new details and provisions addressing the concerns. 

The deets: AB 1156 would avoid converting prime farmland and proposes to suspend the contracts, rather than end them, in close coordination with the landowner. It would also require the Department of Conservation to consult with local groundwater agencies on potential impacts to SGMA plans. The department would have 120 days to undertake the reviews, preventing the pending projects from lapsing into permit purgatory. 

Rollins appoints leaders for FSA, NRCS, RMA 

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Friday announced the new leaders of the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Risk Management Agency. 

Aubrey Bettencourt will be chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Pat Swanson will be administrator of the Risk Management Agency. 

Bettencourt, the former president and CEO of the Almond Alliance of California, most recently was global director of government relations and external affairs for Netafim, a manufacturer of precision irrigation equipment. 

Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com. 

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Big trade announcement coming for Ag? 

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins teased on Friday that she will have a major announcement involving farmers coming soon. Rollins posted on X an interview with Fox News when she expressed confidence that farmers overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump even though they knew they might be harmed by retaliatory tariffs.

“They understood that there may be a little bit of short-term uncertainty for the long-term prosperity and the good for the country,” Rollins said in the interview. She led the X post with this: “BIG ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON”

Keep in mind: Rollins is working on a trade compensation package that will involve using USDA’s Section 32 spending authority, according to what lawmakers have been told. 

Industry weighs in on U.S. shipbuilding proposals 

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will hear comments today from U.S. industries on recent proposals for spurring U.S. shipbuilding and eroding China’s dominance. 

Representatives from the American Soybean Association, North American Grain Association, Dole and the Agriculture Transportation Coalition are slated to testify in a two-day hearing set for today and Wednesday. 

Why it matters: Officials are considering imposing a steep surcharge on Chinese-made or operated vessels and new requirements for moving some U.S. exports on domestic ships. But ag exporters are concerned it could significantly increase shipping costs. 

In comments submitted to USTR last week, CSC Sugar’s Paul Farmer said the proposals are already hurting U.S. exporters. He described freight offers “drying up,” as companies face uncertainty around future costs. 

A recent study warned that if all the proposals are adopted, U.S. wheat, rice and cotton exports could plummet to half their current levels as shippers scramble to adjust. 

Georgia jury awards man $2 billion-plus in Roundup case 

A Georgia man who claimed that long-term exposure to Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma has won a $2.1 billion jury verdict against Bayer. 

The company says it will appeal. The punitive damages of $2 billion are likely to be reduced because they are more than 10 times the compensatory damages of $65 million, a benchmark laid down by the Supreme Court. 

Plaintiff John Barnes began using Roundup in 1999 and was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. In 2021, he sued in state court in Cobb County. 

In arguing for a directed verdict from the judge before the jury’s decision, Bayer said Barnes’ claims were time-barred – he should have filed the lawsuit within 10 years of the date he first used Roundup. 

The jury verdict came shortly after the state’s legislature passed a bill to limit the types of lawsuits filed by Barnes. The bill is awaiting Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature. 

Report: Bioeconomy generates $210 billion in economic impact

A new report pegs the direct economic impact of the U.S. bioeconomy at $210 billion, with indirect impacts of more than $830 billion. 

The report being released today by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and the consulting firm Kearney predicts the bioeconomy could reach $400 billion by 2030.

The report also says biobased products could generate up to $291 billion in economic impact by 2030, while plant and animal biotechnology could contribute $56 billion.

U.S denies water delivery request from Mexico amid dispute

The Trump administration is denying Mexico’s request for a special delivery of Colorado River water to the city of Tijuana amid an ongoing dispute between the two countries over another river — the Rio Grande.

In an X post, the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs announced it would deny the “non-treaty” water request, saying shortfalls in Rio Grande water deliveries from Mexico are “decimating American agriculture.”

Take note: Mexico is supposed to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet of Rio Grande water to the United States over a five-year period under a 1944 treaty but has lagged in its deliveries during the current cycle, which ends in October.  

Final word 

“If the parties can agree, that’d be great.” —Mark Snauffer, an associate justice at a state appeals court. Snauffer is presiding over a three-way battle involving Kern River water rights, pitting environmental advocates against the city of Bakersfield and irrigation districts, as reported by the Courthouse News Service.