…agriculture uses 41 percent of the applied water in California (California Water Plan 2013, Volume 1, page 3-35). Urban water uses total 10 percent and various environmental uses total 49…
USDA Announces Building Blocks for Climate-Smart Agriculture
…resource management. These efforts fit within USDA’s approach of “cooperative conservation.” Focused on multiple economic and environmental benefits: To be successful, the proposed actions should provide economic and environmental benefits…
Editorial: Championing the Ag-Conservation Connection
Karen Sweet In this week’s From the Golden West editorial, Sabrina Hill tells us about a California woman whom she calls a champion for the connection between agriculture and conservation….
Governor Brown Issues Proclamation Declaring Earth Day
…environmental and economic instabilities will cause mass migrations with incalculable consequences for developed and undeveloped nations alike. Developing nations must realize that environmental damage is one of the gravest threats…
Voluntary Conservation Effort to Clear California San Joaquin Valley Air Gets a Thumbs Up from Regulators
…the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Earlier this month, EPA published a revision to California’s State Implementation Plan that for the first time credits these producer actions from a regulatory…
Cotton Acreage May be Lowest Since the 1920s
…U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider factors leading to Section 18 critical-use exemption beyond economics and include implications of additional alternative products on improving IPM. Despite these issues, California still…
FSA Teams “Jump” in for Support at Local Offices
Cathy Isom Cathy Isom checks into how Farm Service Agency Jump Teams are helping take the load off in offices and locations across the nation. FSA Jump Teams…
Changes to WOTUS
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy recently announced changes to the Waters of the U.S. rule – now known as the Clean Water rule. Seanica Otterby has the story. Waters…
Wenger: Get Ready to Engage in an Intense Water Debate
…can surely cite the statistics that the majority of the water that falls on California in a given year is reserved for environmental uses or flows directly to the ocean…
Dairy Digester Research and Development Program Accepting Proposals for Research
…greenhouse gas emission reductions: and, facilitate improved understanding of the scientific and technical aspects of dairy digesters to provide information about their economic feasibility, widespread implementation and environmental benefits. Applicants…
Western View: It’s Not 80%
…“developed” water. That number ignores water used for environmental purposes, and that’s half of all the water in the state. Environmental water is the amount of water allowed to flow…
USDA Designates Del Norte County as a Primary Natural Disaster Area
…making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible…
ELAP and Honeybees
Farm Service Agency Administrator Val Dolcini explains the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm Raised Fish Program, and its benefits specifically to beekeepers. ELAP and Honeybees…
2015 Conservation Easement Applications for Agricultural lands and Wetlands Due May 15
…include cropland, rangeland, nonindustrial private forestland, pastureland, grasslands of special environmental significance and options focused on areas of high sage-grouse populations. Approved agricultural easements would prevent productive working lands from…









