Agriculture

To recognize exceptional work on behalf of family farmers and ranchers, the California Farm Bureau Federation presented awards to county Farm Bureaus from across the state during a ceremony at the 95th CFBF Annual Meeting in Monterey Sunday night.

The Lake County Farm Bureau was judged County of the Year among Farm Bureaus with 650 or fewer members.

It led response to the proposed protection of a local fish, which could affect farmers’ ability to draw water from Clear Lake and its tributaries, and organized meetings and outreach to affected people, and emphasized the potential impact to the wider community.

The Lake County Farm Bureau also created a new membership brochure, formed a Rural Crime Prevention Committee and held a number of safety workshops for farmers.

The San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation earned top honors as winner of the Golden State Award, given to the county Farm Bureau that accomplishes the most outstanding body of work during the year.

The county Farm Bureau offered a wide range of services to its members – including 15 training sessions on topics such as heat safety, first aid, tractor safety and regulatory compliance – and took an effective advocacy role on numerous issues, including staging a food safety forum and making several legislative visits to Sacramento.

It also staged a variety of educational events, led by an Ag Venture program that reaches nearly 12,000 third grade students, and maintained an active presence in community affairs and the local media.

San Joaquin also was named County of the Year among Farm Bureaus with 2,000 or more members.

The Modoc County Farm Bureau received the Innovator Award for sponsoring a unique activity, in this case a survey of the wild horse population in the Modoc National Forest.

When forest staff indicated it lacked the resources to undertake the project, the Modoc County Farm Bureau organized a survey using retired agency specialists and volunteers to collect and interpret data, and to prepare reports and environmental documents.

The survey, which was completed ahead of schedule and under budget, showed the forest population of wild horses is five times what grazing land in the national forest can sustain.

For Farm Bureaus with 651 to 1,000 members, the Tehama County Farm Bureau earned County of the Year honors.

Among its activities, the Tehama County Farm Bureau conducted a bus tour of local agriculture for local and state leaders, worked to create a county ordinance to deter walnut theft, sponsored successful educational events for fourth grade and sixth grade students, purchased a portable milking machine for use at educational events, co-sponsored a giant pumpkin weigh-off and promoted agricultural tourism in Tehama County.

The County of the Year award for Farm Bureaus with 1,001 to 1,999 members was presented to the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, which took the lead in defeating a local ballot measure that would have annexed prime farmland into the city of Watsonville so it could be developed.

Among its other activities, the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau enhanced its Web site and social media feeds, launched an e-newsletter, designed an award-winning display at the California State Fair and held poster and poetry contests for local students.

Eight other county Farm Bureaus earned President’s Awards for outstanding programs within their membership categories: Kern, Kings, Modoc, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, Tulare and Yuba-Sutter.

In addition to those county Farm Bureaus, 14 others earned County Activities of Excellence Awards: Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Imperial, Mendocino, Riverside, San Diego, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Ventura and Yolo.

The California Farm Bureau Federation works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 78,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of more than 6.2 million Farm Bureau members.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Dozens of community members gathered in Lakeport on Saturday to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Braving the chilly temperatures, the group gathered at the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association's memorial mast in Library Park for the raising of the flags, invocation, a rifle volley from the Lake County Military Funeral Honors Team and the playing of “Taps.”

The memorial then moved across the street to the warmer conditions found in the council chambers in Lakeport City Hall.

The annual event featured one of the county's two remaining Pearl Harbor survivors, 89-year-old Bill Slater of Lakeport.

Slater, a quick wit and gifted storyteller, served aboard the USS Pennsylvania. During the attack, he had gone below deck to carry up ammunition due to a broken hoist, and so narrowly missed being hit by a bomb that killed two dozen men.

“I think it's highly appropriate that we meet here today and spend a few moments to remember the 2,400-odd people who gave their lives on that day,” said Slater.

Not in attendance this year was 95-year-old Henry “Andy” Anderson, of Lakeport, who served aboard the battleship USS Tennessee.

Slater and Anderson are the last two local men to have survived the 1941 attack that killed more than 2,400 people and wounded another 1,200.

According to the National World War II Museum, the Japanese force that attacked Pearl Harbor on that Sunday morning, shortly before 8 a.m., were 353 aircraft launched from four heavy carriers, two heavy cruisers, 35 submarines, two light cruisers, nine oilers, two battleships and 11 destroyers.

The attack destroyed or damaged eight battleships and 11 other US Navy ships, according to a museum fact sheet.

Slater was joined by Alice Darrow, a “sweetheart” in the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.

She is widow of Dean Darrow, who had served aboard the USS West Virginia and died in 1991. He had been blown off his ship and hit with a bullet as he was being pulled from the water, with the bullet later removed successfully by doctors.

Charlotte Bower, another sweetheart whose late husband Chuck had been at the US Sub Base, was unable to attend due to health issues.

The annual event, organized by Clearlake Oaks residents Ronnie and Janeane Bogner, featured Middletown High School sophomores Hannah Flynn and Asia Firebaugh singing the national anthem as a duet, and guest speaker Tom Engstrom, Lakeport's retired police chief and current mayor.

Engstrom's father, who died in 2004, served during World War II. Engstrom brought with him a shadow box of his father's medals and military insignia.

In honoring the local Pearl Harbor survivors, Engstrom said he had wanted to give Slater the key to the city, but couldn't find it. “I wouldn't know what to do with the key if I had it,” Slater quipped.

Engstrom explained that by 1941, Germany already had begun hostilities in Europe, while the United States was concerned about Japan. Early that year, President Franklin Roosevelt moved the US Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor.

There had been a strong anti-intervention movement, which Engstrom said dissipated after the Japanese attack.

The day after the attack, the US declared war on Japan, with Roosevelt calling Dec. 7 “a date which will live in infamy.”

Engstrom said his own father spoke little of the war, but when asked, he would reply, “We were just doing our job. It was our duty.”

With a breaking voice, he promised Slater and Darrow that they would not be forgotten.

Slater, during the “ships and stations” portion of the event, recounted that after surviving the attack, the most scared he was during his service was as he prepared to leave the Navy.

He boarded the heavy cruiser USS Salt Lake City in Japan and headed home in October 1945, but the trip wasn't smooth as the ship neared Astoria, Ore.

“The worst day I ever had at sea – and I never had a bad day – was when we crossed the Columbia River bar, and I was for sure that g**damned ship, that old tub, was gonna capsize,” he said.

He said he was afraid he was going to die on his last day in the service.

“It's funny now, but it sure wasn't funny then,” Slater said.

He recounted that the incident made the front page of The Oregonian newspaper.

The Oct. 23, 1945, edition of the paper carried a story recounting how the Salt Lake City nearly capsized.

“Huge waves at the mouth of the Columbia rolled the cruiser to 47 degrees, short of the 55 degrees that would have sent the ship over,” the article explained.

The article stated that 449 enlisted men set for discharge were board.

Darrow recounted the story of her late husband, who she met at Mare Island, where he was sent for medical care in 1942. She was then a young Navy nurse.

During the attack, Dean Darrow saw the USS Arizona blow up, and his own ship took seven torpedo hits. He was blown off his ship and into the water, which was on fire, but being a good swimmer, he was able to swim under the flames and get to a nearby boat.

As he was being pulled from the water he was strafed by a Japanese fighter plane, with the bullet lodging in the muscle of his heart, a fact which doctors would discover months later after he had repeated fainting spells.

In April of 1942 he was scheduled for heart surgery, a rare procedure at that time, and elicited from his young nurse a promise that she would go on liberty with him if he survived, which she wasn't sure he would. So she agreed.

After carrying the bullet in his heart for nearly four and a half months, Dean Darrow underwent successful heart surgery and the bullet was removed.

He and his nurse went on liberty, had a great time and were married later that year, going on to raise four children together.

Alice Darrow said her husband often said the best thing he got from the Navy was his nurse. As for the hole in his heart the bullet left, she said she filled it with her love.

She pulled the bullet out of her pocket to show the audience. Ronnie Bogner said he had checked the bullet, which is 7.7 millimeters, the size used in the guns on the Japanese airplanes.

The morning ceremony also included the tolling of a bell for the local Pearl Harbor survivors who have died over the years.

Vietnam veteran Bill Kearney helped close the ceremony by leading the singing of “God Bless America.”

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

SACRAMENTO – A final report of recommendations has been issued by the Nitrogen Tracking and Reporting Task Force.

The task force was convened by California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross in cooperation with the State Water Resources Control Board to recommend an appropriate nitrogen tracking and reporting system for agriculture in nitrate high-risk areas.

The task force carried out a specific recommendation contained in a State Water Resources Control Board report to the Legislature, "Recommendations Addressing Nitrates In Groundwater,”
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/nitrate_project/docs/nitrate_rpt.pdf , earlier this year.

The recommendation called for identifying intended outcomes and expected benefits of such a system in nitrate high-risk areas.

"I wish to thank the task force for its commitment and its hard work in evaluating a very complex issue," said Secretary Ross. "We believe its recommendations will have substantial value in balancing the practical needs for farmers to maintain productivity while protecting groundwater quality and meeting the public's desire for transparency in farming practices."

The recommendations address eight key topics including: (1) System Structure; (2) Data Elements; (3) Roles, Responsibilities and Data Accessibility; (4) Benefits of Participation; (5) Verifiability; (6) Societal Benefits of the Recommended System; (7) Limitations and (8) System Phase-in. The complete report, including details for each of these topics, is available at http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/environmentalstewardship/PDFs/NTRSTFFinalReport122013.pdf .

The recommendations are intended to address questions about how much nitrogen is being applied, where it is being applied, how much of it is taken up by plants, now much is lost as emissions to groundwater, and what the impact of that is on groundwater quality.

The task force is comprised of 28 people representing agriculture; the environmental and environmental justice communities; local, regional and state governments; and both of California's university systems (the University of California and California State University).

Efforts were made to ensure that Central Valley and Central Coast interests were well-represented based on the fact that those regions are at the forefront of addressing nitrates in groundwater.

The efforts of the task force, CDFA and the State Water Resources Control Board are part of a multi-pronged effort by the Brown Administration to achieve a balance with nutrient management that remains productive and efficient for the food supply and also protects groundwater.

Nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient for food production and a fundamental building block of human life. Nitrogen fertilizer use in California, among other things, has led to the presence of nitrates in groundwater.

Scientific data show that growers are using the same rate of nitrogen usage as 20 years ago to produce more food.

Farming techniques have changed markedly in recent years, as new products, methods and irrigation technology have allowed farmers to apply fertilizer more precisely than ever before.

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LAKEPORT, Calif. – Pearl Harbor Survivors, Chapter 23 North, Lake and Mendocino Counties, will observe the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor this Saturday, Dec. 7.

The ceremony will take place from 9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. at Library Park on Park Street in Lakeport and 9:15 a.m. to 10 a.m. across the street in the Lakeport City Council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

Guest speaker is Tom Engstrom, who had a career in law enforcement for 37 years, serving 25 years of those as a police chief. In 2005 he retired after serving 11 years as police chief of Lakeport. Elected to the Lakeport City Council in 2010, Engstrom now serves as mayor of Lakeport.

Military ceremonies will be performed by the Lake County Military Honors Team.

Middletown High School students Hannah Flynn and Asia Firebaugh will sing the national anthem. 

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DAVIS, Calif. – California's air, water, soil, wildlife and landscapes all received a healthy boost in federal fiscal year 2013.

More than 2,400 farmers and ranchers joined with USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and partners to voluntarily invest time and money in protecting and restoring natural resources under their care.

Each participant worked with NRCS to create a conservation plan to identify and schedule the conservation practices needed to conserve and protect water, soil, air and habitat on the land.

NRCS California invested $102.8 million in working lands conservation programs, and when contributions by farmers and ranchers are included this figure rises to at least $180 million. Additionally NRCS invested over $21.1 million in easement projects that preserve and restore California farmlands, wetlands, grasslands and forests.

“Californians value both their access to diverse, high quality fresh food as well as environmental quality,” says Carlos Suarez, State Conservationist for NRCS in California. “Our role is to help farmers and ranchers achieve and balance both production and conservation goals. By combining Farm Bill funding opportunities with sound conservation planning and technical expertise, we can help producers voluntarily undertake measures that protect the watersheds and natural resources that are shared by everyone,” he said.

NRCS works with farmers and ranchers throughout the state to address resource concerns on individual farms and ranches, but the agency also targets funds towards focused initiatives.

In one such initiative, NRCS invested approximately $15 million in partnered projects conserving and protecting water and wildlife in the Bay-Delta Watershed, a vast ecosystem encompassing nearly 60 percent of the state.

The diverse Bay-Delta projects are helping farmers comply with irrigated lands regulations, reduce or eliminate water quality exceedances, improve waterbird habitat for waterfowl and migratory species, and much more.

NRCS is now engaged in a two-year Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) survey with USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Survey (NASS) to assess the overall effects of these and other conservation practices on the Bay-Delta watershed.

In 2013 NRCS continued its commitment to helping California's dairy industry remain healthy and sustainable. NRCS worked with producers to invest $7.2 million in manure management plans and structural practices designed to help dairymen continue their efforts to comply with increasingly stringent California state water quality regulations.

California is home to some of the worst air quality in the nation. To help achieve California's clean air goals, NRCS invested over $19 million in fiscal year 2013 – a level nearly matched by participating farmers.

Together the farmers and the agency are recycling old, high-polluting diesel engines and replacing them with systems that run up to 90 percent cleaner. Since 2009, these efforts have reduced oxides of nitrogen emissions, an ozone precursor, by an average of 2,523 tons per year. This is an emissions reduction equivalent to removing 766,000 cars from California highways.

Additionally, NRCS and partners renewed their commitment to protecting imperiled wildlife species throughout the state in 2013.

NRCS worked with eastern California ranchers to protect sage grouse; silage farmers in the Central Valley to protect Tricolored Blackbirds; winegrape growers along California's northern coast to protect steelhead trout; and a wide array of other producers assisting common and impacted species.

In addition, NRCS biologists and ranchers in Alameda County worked to protect rangeland ponds lending critical habitat to endangered California Red-legged frogs and California Tiger Salamanders.

Farm Bill programs that invest in working lands on farms and ranches include the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP), the Conservation Stewardship Program and its predecessor (CstP and CSP), and the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP).

Through Farm Bill easement programs such as the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP), the Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP), and the Healthy Forest Reserve Program (HFRP), NRCS invested $4.2 million to protect 8 key farmland parcels from development; $1.4 million to protect a grassland that provides sage grouse habitat; and $107,100 on two contracts protecting forestland.

Using the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) NRCS spent $15.3 million to purchase four new easements and to implement restoration activities on 28 new and existing WRP sites.

These wetlands provide waterfowl and wildlife habitat, improve water quality by filtering sediments and chemicals, reduce flooding, recharge groundwater, and provide educational and recreational opportunities.

NRCS has provided leadership in a partnership effort to help America's private landowners and managers conserve their soil, water and other natural resources since 1935.

The California Small Farm Conference is a unique opportunity for small-acreage farmers and ranchers to get a leg up – and you might even qualify for a scholarship to attend.

Small farmers and ranchers, student farmer/ranchers, farmer/rancher employees and farmer market managers are eligible to apply for scholarships to attend the conference.

This year’s California Small Farm Conference will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Rohnert Park, California, on March 9-11, 2014.

It’s a tremendous opportunity to network with other farmers, visit innovative farms and markets in the Sonoma/Marin region, and learn valuable lessons about on-farm practices, marketing opportunities and other ways to boost your operation.

Scholarships are awarded based on a number of criteria including farm and household income. Scholarship awards include registration to the three-day conference, all workshops and networking sessions, conference meals, and a Sunday Field Course at a discounted rate of $25. Lodging and travel costs are offered depending upon the distance traveled to Rohnert Park, California.

Download the online application at http://www.californiafarmconference.com/index.php/attend/scholarship ; call 1-888-712-4188 to request an application by mail or fax; or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request an application.

All applications must be received by Dec. 6. Applications received after close of business Dec. 6 through Dec. 31 shall be placed on a waiting list.

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