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Conveyor Currents                             February 22, 2013
Upcoming Dates
               
2013

March 14, 2013 - CGFA District Meeting and Golf Tournament in Madera, CA  (flyer)

March 20, 2013 - California AG Day at the Capitol, Sacramento, CA (click)

April 24-27, 2013  CGFA Annual Convention ~ The Hyatt Regency, Huntington Beach, CA

May 15-16, 2013   California Animal Nutrition Conference.  Radisson Hotel in Fresno, CA

2014

January 15-16, 2014   Grain & Feed Industry Conference, Embassy Suites, Monterey, CA

April 23-26, 2014  CGFA Annual Convention ~ The Sheraton Resort, Maui, HI 

Quick Links
 
California
 Grain & Feed Assn.
      www.cgfa.org
 
California Dept. of Food & Ag 
   www.cdfa.ca.gov
 
U.S. Dept. of Food & Ag
    www.usda.gov
    
In This Issue
CGFA District Meeting and Golf Tournament
Ag Groups Not Happy with "Lopsided" Sequestration Plan
It's Agreed: Sequestration Unavoidable; Departments Talk of Impact
Simpson, Bowles Have a New Plan to Cut the Deficit
Climate Change Regs, Cap-and-Trade, Carbon Tax Coming
White House Immigration Draft Leaked
Farmers, Ranchers "Alarmed" at EPA Release of Personal Data to Activist Groups
Stabenow, Cochran Tell USTR: Move on Russian "Unscientific" U.S. Meat Import Ban
Senate Lines Up Against Rumored Obama Move to Cut Food Aid
USDA Announces CRP Sign-up
House GM Labeling Bill Expected
Johanns Will Not Seek Reelection
OIE Recommends U.S. get BSE "Negligible Risk" Status
Tax Season Tip: Health Savings Accounts Offer Way to Save on Taxes and Health Care
CGFA's 89th Annual Convention Plans
CGFA District Meeting and Golf Tournament

Please join California Grain & Feed Associationon
Thursday, March 14, 2013 at the

 

Riverbend Golf Club in Madera, CA for the Northern/Southern San Joaquin Valley /

Sacramento Valley/South Bay District Meeting and Golf Tournament.

 

Registration will begin at 11:00 am for a12:00 noon shotgun start and will include a sack lunch on the cart. A dinner and prize ceremony will follow at approximately 5:00 pm. Cost: $100 per player includes golf,cart, range balls, lunch, dinner and prizes.All skill levels are welcome to play. CGFA staff will give you a short update on the association activities during dinner.

 

 

Ag Groups Not Happy with "Lopsided" Sequestration Plan

Acknowledging the plan restores funding to 27 out of 34 USDA programs that lost money when the 2008 Farm Bill was extended - including meat inspection and livestock disaster assistance - national ag groups are nevertheless generally unhappy with a plan unveiled in the Senate last week that would avoid the March 1 sequester deadline in part by eliminating direct farm program payments. Fourteen groups called the plan "lopsided," expressing frustration that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D, NV) office released only a summary of the plan and the not specific provisions. In a February 19 letter to Reid, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and 13 groups representing wheat, barley, cotton, soybeans, sunflowers, sorghum, peanuts, canola, beans, rice and farmer cooperatives, said they were "deeply concerned" the Senate's cuts were targeted on a single section of the Farm Bill, and that agriculture was the only non-defense part of the budget to be cut. "Your proposal would require our farmers to take 10 years of cuts to delay sequestration for only 10 months," the groups wrote in reference to the expiration of the Reid proposal at the end of 2013. The National Farmers Union (NFU) sent a similar letter to Reid, calling the proposal "troubling," and stating NFU could only support something like it if a guaranteed five-year Farm Bill was part of the package. Those who support the Reid plan question why agriculture is concerned given the general sentiment to eliminate direct farm program payments endorsed by most groups during the 2012 congressional debate on Farm Bill reauthorization. AFBF President Bob Stallman responded: "The magnitude of these cuts will hamstring the House and Senate...from crafting a bill that includes the safety net and risk management provisions that our farmers need.  

 

While last year's Farm Bill was leading us toward a path without direct payments, at least that path did include significant reinvestment of some of that funding to other farm programs and crop insurance tools." Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D, MI), who also sits on the Senate Finance Committee, said the Senate's bill - weighted evenly between spending cuts and revenue actions - is designed to fix funding gaps for the 24 programs which lost mandatory funding in the recent 2008 Farm Bill extension. Stabenow, with support from GOP ag leaders on both sides of the Hill, tried to get a similar proposal tacked on to the January sequester bill, but GOP Senate leaders blocked her saying the package would generate budget points of order and threatened to scuttle the entire sequester deal. While the plan preserves money to pay for meat inspection and similar programs and provides up to $3.5 billion to pay for disaster programs retroactive to 2012, along with renewable energy, rural small business, specialty crops, organic production and new and beginning farmer programs, Stabenow also reminded colleagues the $27.5 billion would be scored as a "savings" for the ag committee going into 2013 Farm Bill negotiations meaning her committee would no longer be required to cut programs to achieve their budget goal.  

 

However, Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Sen. Thad Cochran (R, MS) said, "I'm disappointed that the Senate Democrat sequester package falls squarely on the backs of our defense and agriculture sectors," and called the Reid plan a "political messaging bill." House Agriculture Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R, OK) said the cost of the Senate's package at $31 billion represents a 53% reduction in USDA spending. He also said Senate action, if successful, interferes with the respective committees' ability to write a new Farm Bill. Lucas said while farmers and ranchers want to be part of the solution to the "fiscal crisis," he said last year's committee-passed Farm Bill struck the balance needed between program reform and budget cuts. Reid unveiled the plan last week, a proposed $110-billion package to avoid $85 billion in 2013 spending cuts, a plan that targets full elimination of direct farm program payments beginning in FY2014, netting a savings of about $27.5 billion, with an identical amount cut from the defense budget over 10 years. Republicans are expected to release their plan early next week, but have talked about few specifics other than a focus on deeper cuts in spending. And while neither the GOP or Democrat plan is expected to be the final agreement on the sequester, House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH) said he's willing to work with whatever sequester avoidance plan Reid can get through the Senate. However, he insists whatever the Senate passes must include a binding pledge to balance the federal budget in 10 years. Revenue in the Reid plan is generated primarily through a 30% tax on adjusted gross income phased in on those who make between $1-2 million a year, the so-called "Buffett rule." Another $2 billion would be generated by taxing oil derived from tar sands at the same rate as oil from other sources, with the income going to fund the oil spill liability trust fund. The plan also seeks to end corporate tax deductions related to moving jobs overseas. Reid said he'll bring to the Senate floor the week of February 25.

 

It's Agreed: Sequestration Unavoidable; Departments Talk of Impact

 

With President Obama late this week calling House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, KY) in hopes of finding an alternative to massive federal spending cuts on March 1, and more and more members of Congress using the sound bite "sequestration cuts should be made with a scalpel not a meat ax," most in Washington, DC, remain convinced Congress will not act in time to avoid sequestration and its $85 billion in mandatory across-the-board federal spending cuts. Now the discussion is how to avoid as much fiscal pain as possible. Insiders believe sequestration cuts will commence March 1, to be finally dealt with by Congress just before March 27 when the current continuing resolution keeping the government running at FY2012 levels expires, and when lawmakers are expected to approve another six-month continuing resolution. The impact on federal departments and agencies could be significant if no deal is reached. Most departments and agencies have told workers they'll receive at least a 30-day notice of furlough, estimated, depending on the agency or department, to last anywhere from a week to three weeks. If Congress enacts and the president signs a spending deal including a sequestration fix by March 27, then furloughs and program shutdowns would likely be avoided.  

 

Congressional appropriations committees have been seeking formal projections of what sequestration will do to the various departments. USDA this week told Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D, MD), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, its budget would be reduced by $2 billion in FY2013, after having been reduced $3 billion or 12% since 2010. Federal crop insurance and food stamp programs are protected, the department said. USDA said it would likely implement 15-day furloughs should sequestration occur, impacting about a third of USDA's workforce and all nonexempt programs. Inspector furloughs would create a "nationwide shutdown" of meat and poultry plants, the department said, a claim disputed by the American Meat Institute (AMI) which contends there is no requirement in the Budget Control Act removing the Secretary's discretion to allocate budget cuts across the department. Rep. Mike Conaway (R, TX), chair of the House Agriculture Committee's subcommittee on general farm commodities and risk management, called the USDA plan to furlough over 6,000 meat inspectors impractical and misguided," and sent Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack a letter this week demanding detailed information on how USDA will impose sequestration-related spending cuts. Vilsack told USDA's Outlook Conference this week the impact of sequestration on the department would have been lessened had Congress passed a comprehensive five-year Farm Bill in 2012. As to inspector furloughs, Vilsack restated the direct inspector furloughs are mandatory, but that labor contracts with various inspector unions require notifications ranging from 30 days to, in some cases, 120 days before furloughs commence.  

 

Other impacts at USDA include more than 600,000 low income women and children would lose nutrition assistance; conservation technical and financial assistance would be cut off to 11,000 farmers; 100 fewer grants totaling about $60 million would not be awarded for research, affecting universities and private enterprise, and "furloughs and other reductions in the number of USDA personnel "would limit the ability to provide program oversight, leading to potentially higher levels of erroneous payments and fraud." At the Department of Defense, direct military spending would be exempt, but the cuts would result in the furloughing of about 800,000 civilian workers for up to 22 days. In addition, the national Disaster Relief Fund would be cut by $1 billion. The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) said it would have to furlough some security personnel meaning long waits in line at airports and delayed goods being shipped by air.

 

Simpson, Bowles Have a New Plan to Cut the Deficit, Avoid Sequester

Saying their goal is to push both sides of the deficit/sequestration debate "beyond their comfort zones...without giving up core principles," former Sen. Alan Simpson (R, WY) and Erksine Bowles, former Clinton chief of staff, this week said they have a new plan to lop $2.4 trillion off the deficit in 10 years. The new Simpson/Bowles plan would abandon automatic spending cuts in favor of "responsible cuts to unnecessary spending we cannot afford," but they didn't specify those cuts. The two said their plan is built off earlier discussions between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH), and that if adopted would push the deficit below 70% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in a decade. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says without action by Congress, the deficit will make up 76% of the GDP by the end of the fiscal year.   Areas of focus in the new Simpson/Bowles plan include revenues generated by reinventing the federal tax code; curbing health care spending and reducing mandatory and discretionary spending and interest payments on the national debt. "This is where the President and the Speaker left off. It's more health care than the Democrats would like and more revenue than the Republicans support," the two said in a joint statement. "But in our view, it is the minimum size necessary to put the debt on a clear downward path."

 

Climate Change Regs, Cap-and-Trade, Carbon Tax Coming; Congress Warns of Battle

 

If Congress doesn't act to mitigate the impact of climate change on the U.S., President Obama said last week, "I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change and speed the transition to sustainable sources of energy." While praised by environmental groups and with EPA echoing the warning, it's unlikely Congress will step aside and allow EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions with impunity, particularly with talk of a carbon tax and resurrection of a federal cap-and-trade program on carbon credits, a move that died in 2010.  

 

While the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires EPA to act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nevertheless Rep. Ed Whitfield (R, KY), chair of the energy and power subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, said he expects the President to move to cap greenhouse gas emissions from the nation's largest coal-fired power plants, a move that would create a "big battle" not only with Congress, but in the courts. "Courts have overturned EPA quite a bit in the last four years," Whitfield said, referring to various lawsuits brought against the agency for expanding its regulatory authority without congressional permission. Whitfield also said any carbon tax/cap-and-trade bill on greenhouse gas emissions would be "dead on arrival in the House."  

 

Meanwhile, Gina McCarthy, currently EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation and Obama's reported pick to replace agency Administrator Lisa Jackson who resigned, told a Washington, DC audience this week that climate change is a priority for EPA "and we are going to take action." Under her watch the agency has moved to more strictly regulate soot and set new efficiency standards for small trucks and automobiles, but it's those actions, as well as her commitment to the President's climate change plan, that have prompted Sen. David Vitter (R, LA), ranking member of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, to signal she's going to have a rough confirmation process. Vitter is a long-time critic of EPA, and says McCarthy's nomination appears to be "doubling down" on "the standard of ignoring congressional requests, undermining transparency and relying on flawed science."  

 

In a related move, EPA, as part of its "Climate Change Adaptation Plan" released last week, warned any threat to air and water quality tied to climate change would likely bring stricter regulations, citing as examples pending actions on air particulate rules and the need to take into account increases in atmospheric ozone when crafting emissions rules, climate change-related factors that would almost guarantee much tougher regulations. Obama has also asked Congress to make tax credits for wind, geothermal and other sources of alternative energy permanent and refundable, and wants to see assistance to businesses and individuals to make homes and office buildings more energy efficient, along with creation of an "energy security trust" that would take federal revenue from oil and gas production from federal land and waters and use it to develop alternative energy sources.

 

White House Immigration Draft Leaked; Unions, Business Continue Talks

 

A USA Today report published February 17, in which the White House is said to be pursuing a "path to residency" for illegal immigrants, is based on an allegedly leaked and incomplete Administration draft bill. President Obama, during his State of the Union speech, said if Congress fails to act on comprehensive immigration reform, he would send a bill to the Hill and demand it be voted on immediately. Sen. Marco Rubio (R, FL), a member of the Senate Gang of Eight working on bipartisan immigration reform, said the White House draft is too light on border security and other GOP must-haves to get through Congress, but a note on the USA Today story indicates those may be the sections of the White House draft yet to be completed. Meanwhile statements made by House GOP members last week during a Judiciary Committee hearing indicated while some Republicans have warmed to the idea of a path to citizenship for illegal aliens predicated on investment in border security, visa controls and other actions, others are examining whether to grant permanent work/residency permits in lieu of legal citizenship.

The AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said this week they've agreed on three "principles" underlying changes in the federal government's visa program. Citing a request from the Senate Gang of Eight to sit down and find common ground, the union and the business group said their three points of agreement are Americans "get first crack available jobs; there needs to be a system under which businesses can hire foreign workers "without having to go through a cumbersome and inefficient process" but which also protects U.S. workers, and Congress needs to add transparency to the system so it's known how much labor the system actually needs. The Administration residency proposal in the incomplete draft seeks to allow illegal immigrants to become legal residents within eight years, while providing more security funding and new requirements for business to check the citizenship status of workers. USA Today said the White House draft "mirrors" many provisions of an unsuccessful bill introduced by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D, MA) and Sen. John McCain (R, AZ) in 2007, and includes many of the provisions currently being discussed in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle, including criminal background checks, fees, paid taxes and disqualification if an immigrant is convicted of a crime that led to imprisonment.

 

Farmers, Ranchers "Alarmed" at EPA Release of Personal Data to Activist Groups

 

The release to national activist groups earlier this month by EPA of personal and business information on U.S. farmers and ranchers has producer groups "alarmed and troubled." At issue is the collection by EPA of agency and state data on confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to satisfy a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Earth Justice! and the Pew Charitable Trust, groups the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn. (NCBA) called "extremist groups" in a public statement. The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) said the agency gathered the information even though it was forced a year ago, as part of an industry lawsuit negotiation, to drop a proposed reporting rule on CAFOs because of concerns about privacy and biosecurity on farms.

 

And while EPA said at the time it dropped the proposed reporting rule that it would continue to collect CAFO data to assist in CAFO permitting and overall program operation, in early February EPA released raw data from farms and ranches in 30 states - some of the information gathered from state water agencies not told why EPA wanted the data - that included for some the producers' home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, as well as information on farm/ranch employees. J.D. Alexander, NCBA president and a Nebraska cattleman, said, "We were alarmed at the detail of the information provided on hard-working family farmers and ranchers, family operations, including my own. It is beyond comprehension to me that with threats to my family from harassment atop biosecurity concerns, that EPA would gather this information only to release to these groups.  

 

This information details my family's home address and geographic coordinates; the only thing it doesn't do is chauffeur these extremists to my house." Alexander said telephone numbers and deceased relatives were listed in the data given to the activist groups. R.C Hunt, NPCC president and a North Carolina hog producer, said, "What's ironic is that, in the name of transparency, EPA released information in secret and violated the privacy rights of farmers across the country."    

 

Stabenow, Cochran Tell USTR: Move on Russian "Unscientific" U.S. Meat Import Ban

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D, MI) and panel ranking member Sen. Thad Cochran (R, MS) this week sent a letter - cosigned by 33 Senators - to U.S.Special Trade Representative Ron Kirk telling him to move quickly to address a Russian ban on imports of meat and poultry because the U.S. allows the use of the FDA-approved feed additive ractopamine as a feed efficiency/growth promoter. The continuing ban could cost the U.S. industry $600 million a year, and, according to the two Senators "is unfounded, not based on sound science and violates World Trade Organization (WTO) rules." The Russian move is self-described as a "zero-tolerance" position on ractopamine, even though Codex Alimentarius, the WTO adjunct which sets global food safety standards, also approves of the product's use. The Senate letter told Kirk, who's leaving the Obama Administration, to move swiftly against the ban, "using all enforcement tools available."

 

Senate Lines Up Against Rumored Obama Move to Cut Food Aid

 

With rumors flying from ag and hunger groups that President Obama's FY2014 budget will include elimination of the overseas Food for Peace (P.L. 480) and Food for Progress food aid programs, a bipartisan group of 21 Senators signaled this week the idea is nonstarter. In addition, several national agriculture groups sent a letter to the White House and congressional leadership this week saying both programs must be preserved. The rumor is the White House wants to kill the two food aid programs under which commodities are donated directly to food-starved nations and replace them with a cash grant program that would allow governments to buy food on the open global market.  

 

The Food for Peace program, with an annual $1.5-billion price tag, has been around since 1954, and the Senators referred to it in a letter to the President as "this nation's flagship international food assistance program." The Food for Progress program is funded at $170 million for the current fiscal year. While humanitarian in design, the food aid programs also "lay the basis for a permanent expansion of our exports of agricultural products." Critics contend shipping U.S. commodities overseas is inefficient and provides disproportionate benefit to U.S. producers and shippers. But, said, the Senators, "Food for Progress has developed successful models for cocoa, dairy, poultry, coffee and other value-added food systems in developing countries...changing Food for Peace to an overseas procurement program, cutting its funding and overriding carefully proscribed procedures in current statute would impede the ability of the U.S. to meet the needs of the hungry."

 

USDA Announces CRP Sign-up

 

USDA will conduct a four-week general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) beginning May 20 and ending June 14. The department said it will release details for sign-up on continuous CRP programs, including the Highly Erodible Land Initiative and the Initiative to Restore Grasslands, Wetlands and Wildlife later this spring. Currently there are 27 million acres enrolled in CRP, with contracts on 3.3 million acres set to expire at the end of September. USDA said CRP "provides $1.8 billion annually to landowners - dollars that make their way into local economies, supporting small businesses and creating jobs." For more information on CRP and the sign-up, you can go to  www.fsa.usda.gov. 

 

House GM Labeling Bill Expected

A bill to require labeling of foods and feeds that are the product of or contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients is expected to be introduced in the House in the next couple of weeks. If passed by Congress, the bill, expected from Rep. Pete DeFazio (D, OR), would likely derail legislative efforts in over two dozen states and expected 2014 ballot initiatives in at least two states. DeFazio's office said he's trying to build awareness of GM labeling, and the bill has received support from Rep. Jared Polis (D, CO), who hosted an event last week at a natural foods store in Boulder, CO, to talk about GM labeling of foods. The chances of congressional enactment of GM labeling are slim; during last year's Senate floor vote on the 2012 Farm Bill, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I, VT) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D, CA) attempted to amend the bill with GM labeling language and failed on a 26-73 vote. Voters in California rejected a GM labeling ballot initiative by a similar margin in 2010, costing industry an estimated $45 million.

 

Johanns Will Not Seek Reelection; Vilsack Won't Run for Iowa Senate Seat

 

Sen. Mike Johanns (R, NE), former Secretary of Agriculture under President George W. Bush, two-time governor of Nebraska and mayor of Lincoln, has announced he'll not seek reelection in 2014. After 32 years in public life, Johanns and his wife want to spend more time with each other and their family, he said. It's widely speculated popular Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman (R) will run for the seat, and he confirmed this week he's thinking about it. Heineman, who's consistently won the governorship with over 70% of the vote, is considered the front runner for the GOP nomination. If Heineman, who's announced he'll not run for governor in 2014, opts not to run for the Senate as he did when pressed after Sen. Ben Nelson (D, NE) announced his retirement in 2011, then almost the entire Nebraska GOP House delegation has expressed an interest in getting into the GOP primary. In related Senate race news, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said this week he will not seek the Iowa Senate seat of retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D, IA) in 2014., even after an Iowa poll released last week showed Vilsack, who was a two-time governor of Iowa, would handily beat just about any opponent of either party. Vilsack's wife Christy, who lost a House bid last fall to unseat Rep. Steve King (R, IA), has not said whether she'll seek the Senate seat. Rep. Bruce Braley (D, IA) is the only House member who's announced he'll run, though King has said he's seriously considering a move to the Senate.

 

OIE Recommends U.S. get BSE "Negligible Risk" Status

OIE - the World Organization for Animal Health - and its Scientific Commission, have recommended the U.S. status for BSE risk be upgraded from "controlled risk" to "negligible risk," the lowest risk level under the OIE code and a move with significant positive implications for U.S. beef and beef product exports, USDA announced this week. The new status is expected to be confirmed at the OIE General Assembly meeting in May. Nations are evaluated by OIE on a regular basis to ascertain the risk of bovine animals contracting BSE, and individual countries may apply for a change in their risk status. Closely reviewed are a nation's ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban, restrictions on imports of animals and animal products from countries at risk of BSE, and appropriate surveillance. OIE said the U.S. application included risk assessments that were "robust and comprehensive, and that U.S. surveillance for, and safeguards against, BSE are strong."

 

Tax Season Tip: Health Savings Accounts Offer Way to Save on Taxes and Health Care

 

For Americans facing increased taxes and rising health care costs, the tax advantages and cost-effectiveness of a health savings account (HSA) may be particularly appealing this year.

 

HSAs pair a tax-advantaged savings account with a qualified high-deductible health insurance plan, which typically costs less in monthly premiums when compared to more traditional health insurance. HSA savings are deposited into a tax-deferred account and can be withdrawn tax-free when used for qualified medical expenses, which include health insurance deductibles as well as dental, vision and other types of care often not covered by health insurance.

 

For 2012 tax purposes, deductible contribution limits are $3,100 for individuals and $6,250 for families. HSA holders 55 and older can contribute and deduct an additional $1,000. HSA contributions in 2013 are tax deductible up to $3,250 for individuals and up to $6,450 for families. Consumers with HSAs have until April 15 to contribute and maximize their 2012 deductions up to the legal limit.

 

"HSAs enable consumers to save on taxes and health costs today while saving for retirement health care," said Patrick Carr, president of UnitedHealthcare's Golden Rule Insurance Company.

 

Carr points to a recent study by Fidelity Benefits Consulting which estimates that a 65-year-old couple who retired in 2012 will need $240,000 just to cover their medical costs in retirement.

 

Insurance industry trade group America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) reported in 2012 that more than 13.5 million Americans with individual or employer group coverage had an HSA-qualified plan, an increase of 18 percent from 2011.


CGFA's 89th Annual Convention Plans

It is time to mark your calendar and book your room for the 2013 CGFA Annual Convention.

April 24-27, 2013

Hyatt Huntington Beach Resort and Spa

 

Highlights from the Business Session & Speakers

  • Doing What Matters - Steering Science to Inform Public Policy 
    • by Frank Mitloehner, Ph.D., UC Davis
  • U.S. Didn't Fall Off the Cliff...Now What? Impacts: Economy/Markets /Policy                           
    • by Jim Wiesemeyer, Senior VP, Farm and Trade Policy, Informa Economics, Inc.
  • CGFA Annual Meeting and Report
    • by President John Pereira, Frontier Ag Group & EVP, Chris Zanobini
  • The U.S. Dairy Market Outlook and What It Means to California  
    • by Mary Ledman, Daily Dairy Report, Dairy Economist   
  • Weather Trends, Climate Change, and Energy:  Implications for California Agriculture            
    •   by Steve Goreham, Climate Science Coalition of America
  • Keynote Speaker:   Mack Dryden

 

Registration Materials and Packets of Information have been mailed!  Contact Donna Boggs @ [email protected] with any questions.

 

 

 www.cgfa.org/events