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Val Dolcini, a former Farm Service Agency administrator and California environmental official, will be the newest member of Syngenta's Washington office.

The Senate faces a Wednesday deadline to vote on a bipartisan infrastructure package even as Democrats try to finalize a bigger $3.5 trillion package of climate provisions and domestic spending initiatives.

Now that farmers and the companies and consultants who support them have embraced the need for field-level data collection and have adopted myriad methods for gathering it, ag leaders say the industry has reached the critical juncture of figuring out what to do with all that information.

With drought conditions worsening in many parts of California and more water restrictions, farmers will likely idle between 600,000 to 800,000 acres this year, says Roland Fumasi, EVP & North American Regional Head, RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness.

Four lawsuits have been filed in California state courts on behalf of families who claim repeated exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos left their children with lasting neurological damage.

UC Davis will receive $6 million over five years to develop materials and projects promoting safe pesticide use, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday.

The Legislature has been quickly advancing a measure to bring the state’s many provisional cannabis licenses into regulatory compliance.

Asm Robert Rivas of Hollister plans to work with growers and other stakeholders on bills, bond measures and informational hearings to address issues on several fronts, especially drought.

Fewer acres of California farmland are dedicated to growing stone fruit compared to 10 years ago when growers of freestone peaches and nectarines voted to end the California Tree Fruit Agreement. But apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums, prunes (which USDA distinguishes from plums in its data) and sweet cherries continue to perform well.

Technology that automates weeding, harvesting or other farm work is not taking jobs away from humans. Rather, it’s helping bridge the gap between work that needs to be done and a labor force that isn’t sufficient, a panel of ag technology leaders said during the Agri-Pulse Summit in Sacramento Monday.