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April 6, 2012   
Inside This Issue.....
2012 Seed Industry Conference (SIC) Registration Open
Plant Quarantine Manual Updates - April 6, 2012
House Ag Farm Bill Field Hearing Reveals Deep Regional Differences
Bill Indexing the Minimum Wage Introduced
EPA Says 'Yes' to E15
Vilsack Urges Biofuel to Speak Up; Group Pushes for End to All Ethanol Subsidies
Vilsack Takes Senate Heat over USDA Downsizing
DHS to Issue "Unlawful Presence Waivers" to Undocumented Workers
Berkeley Study Says Fertilizer Use Puts Excess Nitrous Oxide into Atmosphere
Upcoming Meetings
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2012 Seed Industry Conference (SIC) Registration Open
 

    

Sign up today for the 2012 Seed Industry Conference,  

May 2, at the Stanislaus Ag Center in Modesto.

 

WHO BENEFITS FROM THE CONFERENCE?

 

Anyone who is interested in a chance to learn timely information about a wide variety of topics pertinent to the seed industry should attend the 2012 SIC. Our guest speakers are the experts in the field who will share their knowledge and first hand experiences with you. The presenters between them represent decades of experience in seed.

 

We will start the day with "A Day in the Life of a California Seedsman" followed by presentations on seed production, testing, tagging, exporting, certification, seed technology, pesticide use and the California Seed Law. There will be time for questions too.

 

Your employees with many years of experience and those who are new to the industry will gain invaluable information by attending the SIC.  We also welcome students to attend and are extending a reduced fee. 

 

For conference details and registration materials click here

 

Don't miss out send in your registration materials today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 2, 2012 

Stanislaus County Agricultural Center

Harvest Hall-Modesto, California

 

 

   

 

Plant Quarantine Manual Updates - April 6, 2012
    

The Plant Quarantine Manual is continually revised and updated with each document displaying the date of the latest revision in the upper right or left corner.  If the date of any section is more recent than the date on your current printed version, you should download and print the newer PDF document and discard the older version, to keep your manual current.

 

Each Quarantine section contains two links: a HTML and a PDF formatted version for your convenience.

 

Notification of changes and revisions are sent out electronically; the following updates have been received.  To access the PQM Manual for viewing and  download go to (Click Here)

 

 

The Quick Reference, Pg 101.1 - 101.2 (both have changed) and Origin Inspection Program, Pg. 110.16 (only).

 

Laws and Regulations

 

  • FAC 6404 Origin Inspection - Correction on Origin Inspection Program, Pg. 110.16 (only)

 

Federal Domestic  Quarantines

  • Citrus Black Spot, Pgs. 253.1 - 253.5 (all pages changed).
  • Guignardia citricarpa, Causal Agent of Citrus Black Spot (CBS)   
  • LBAM.  Pages  250.1 - 250.6 (all pages changed)
  • Epiphyas postvittana  (Light Brown Apple Moth)

 

State Miscellaneous  Rulings

  • 3434 Light Brown Apple Moth, only page 419.18 was changed.
  • Some old map links were deleted and new map links were replaced or changed.

 

State Interior Quarantines

  • 3439 Huanglongbing Disease - New Quarantine, (HLB), Pg. 423.1 - 423.5 (all new)

 

House Ag Farm Bill Field Hearing Reveals Deep Regional Differences; Senate Committee Trying to Find Approach to Appease All Commodities, Regions
 

A House Agriculture Committee Farm Bill field hearing in Jonesboro, AR, late last week brought strong evidence that getting a 2012 Farm Bill hammered out between the midwestern and southern farmers is going to be tough. Meanwhile, the Senate Agriculture Committee staff is using the two-week congressional spring recess to try and hammer out a direct payment program/income safety net replacement that will make all its members happy so Chair Debbie Stabenow (D, MI) can get her bill to the floor after markup beginning the week of April 23. The House Ag field hearing witnesses told the committee solutions which work for midwestern farmers don't or won't work for southern and midsouth producers. And while one cotton industry executive told a meeting in Texas that midwestern interests were ignoring southern concerns - "They're trying to take the money that's in the baseline for rice, peanuts and cotton in order to enrich their revenue programs," alleged National Cotton Council President Mark Lange at the annual meeting of Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., in Lubbock, TX - farmers from six southern states told the House ag panel a one-size-fits-all approach to replacing direct payment programs is the wrong way to go.  

 

The Arkansas Farm Bureau said Congress needs to take into account the needs of each commodity and each region in crafting programs, and told committee Chair Frank Lucas (R, OK) it doesn't agree with the American Farm Bureau Federation's "deep loss" approach to program replacement because "it just really doesn't work for some of our commodities." One Missouri grower said a single program approach "picks winners and losers," while others said the cotton industry wants to see a new program built off crop insurance. On the Senate side, a letter coordinated by former ag committee chair Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R, GA), senior champion of southern agriculture, and sent to Stabenow and ranking member Sen. Pat Roberts (R, KS) garnered several other committee member signatures in urging any replacement for direct payment programs must be "equitable" and take into account regional and commodity differences.

 

Bill Indexing the Minimum Wage Introduced


A bill was amended this week that would require annual adjustment to the hourly minimum wage calculated using the California Consumer Price Index. AB 1439 (Alejo) would require that the Industrial Welfare Commission annual review the COPI and adjust the mandatory minimum wage accordingly. The bill further prohibits the Industrial Welfare Commission from adjusting the minimum wage downward and from adjusting the minimum wage upward if the average percentage of inflation for the previous year was negative. The Association will continue to oppose the legislation.  

 

EPA Says 'Yes' to E15
 

In a move that will rile opponents of corn-based ethanol, EPA this week approved the first application for registration of an 85/15% blend of gasoline and ethanol (E15), the formal agency move to erase the 10% blend rate in place for years. The new fuel would be allowed in cars and trucks made in 2001 or later, the agency said. EPA said the Obama Administration is backing the E15 move by "helping" fuel station owners to install upwards of 10,000 blender fuel pumps around the country over the next five years through programs at DOE and USDA. Before the new fuel blend can be sold, manufacturers must "help to ensure" retail stations and gasoline distributors "understand and implement labeling rules." The E15 action follows two previous waivers by the agency that allowed the 15% ethanol blend to be used in the newer vehicles. It can't be used in motor vehicles made before 2001, in off-road vehicles and equipment that includes boats and lawn/garden equipment. Details can be found at (Click Here).

 

 

Vilsack Urges Biofuel to Speak Up; Group Pushes for End to All Ethanol Subsidies
 

"You have to be passionate about it. You have to be more vocal about it," urged Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack last week in an address to the Advanced Biofuels Industry Conference as he told them they have to convince the public biofuels do not compete with consumer food availability while defending the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). He also announced an Advanced Biofuels Industry Roundtable May 18, in Washington, DC, as the "next step in the partnership with the private sector" to produce alternative fuels for military and commercial transport. And while Vilsack was giving communications advice to the biofuel industry, a broad coalition of ag associations, hunger and development organizations, business, budget and free market groups told the Congress in a letter this week that any effort to include or expand federal support for corn ethanol is a nonstarter.  

 

Vilsack continued to tell the ethanol producers that biofuel is only responsible for about 4% of the increase in food costs due to higher corn prices, explaining overall higher energy costs as an input to food processing is responsible for the price spike, and that biofuels can help reduce these energy costs. On the RFS, Vilsack told the group it's vulnerable to attack, calling it the "lynchpin" of the bioenergy industry. The anti-ethanol subsidy coalition told congressional leadership it specifically opposes any move to renew the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit or any other tax subsidy; any change to the RFS in a way that allows corn ethanol to be defined as an "advanced biofuel;" any expansion of current alternative fuel tax credits that would allow ethanol blends or related infrastructure projects to qualify for the credit, and any funding for ethanol "blender pumps" or any other infrastructure projects.

 

 

Vilsack Takes Senate Heat over USDA Downsizing
 

With two House members introducing legislation to stop USDA's efforts to close facilities as part of an efficiency move and slammed because his office didn't respond to formal Senate inquiries until the day before the hearing, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack took significant heat last week from Senate ag appropriators during his appearance to talk about FY2013 spending. At issue is USDA's announcement it's closing 131 county Farm Service Administration (FSA) offices across the country while at the same time slashing spending for the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Vilsack said he needs the flexibility to make his "Blueprint for Stronger Service" work, but Sen. Mark Pryor (D, AR) cut the secretary no slack alleging Arkansas is taking a bigger hit than most states as Vilsack strives for "stronger" service. Vilsack countered Congress has cut his budget several times and he has to cope with doing more with less, but was surprised when Sens. John Hoeven (R, ND) and Roy Blunt (R, MO), the subcommittee's ranking member, seriously criticized the Administration for its cuts in ag research. Pryor chimed in, asking the Secretary, "Are y'all just getting out of the research business?" The House legislation to block Vilsack's blueprint was introduced by Rep. Rick Crawford (R, AR) and Rep. Leonard Boswell (D, IA).

 

 

DHS to Issue "Unlawful Presence Waivers" to Undocumented Workers

 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week announced a proposed rule that will allow it to issue "unlawful presence waivers" to illegals in the U.S. who are the immediate family of U.S. citizens. Currently, such illegals must return to their home country and apply for a waiver of inadmissibility as part of the immigrant visa application process. The unlawful presence waiver - applied for by the illegal worker - would be issued to the applicant before he or she leaves the U.S. for immigrant visa processing in his or her home country. If granted, the waiver would expedite the processing of the immigrant visa, a move DHS said will significantly reduce the amount of time U.S. citizens are separated from family members. DHS is accepting comments for 60 days. The proposed rule was published in the April 2 Federal Register, but was first announced as DHS "intent" in January.

 

 

Berkeley Study Says Fertilizer Use Puts Excess Nitrous Oxide into Atmosphere

 

Chemists at the University of California-Berkeley reported this week that increased fertilizer use over the last 50 years is responsible for significant increases in nitrous oxide in the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide is a major greenhouse gas, the scientists said, and contributes to global climate change. Air samples taken at the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station in Tasmania, which has collected samples since 1978, demonstrates nitrogen-based fertilizers are "largely responsible" for a 20% increase in atmospheric nitrous oxide.

 

Upcoming Meetings

     

  • May 2, 2012 ~ CSA Seed Industry Conference - Modesto, CA
     
  • September  25-26, 2012 ~ CSA Mid Year Meeting at the InterContinental Hotel in Monterey on Cannery Row  
     
  • March 3-7, 2013 ~ CSA Annual Convention at The Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa, Lahaina, Hawaii