Business News
CDFA publishes public comment responses and announces new 2023 CUSP grant program application period
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- Written by: California Department of Food and Agriculture
This program also supports organizations to act as “regional grant administrators” to provide direct grant assistance for underserved farmers and ranchers to aid in drought relief measures.
In anticipation of the upcoming grant solicitation, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, or CDFA, has published a summary of public comments received on the 2023 CUSP Grant Program draft RFA, during the public comment period from Nov. 4 to 18, 2022.
These public comments were collected to help inform the program’s components.
A summary of the comments and draft RFA can be found on the program’s website: www.cdfa.ca.gov/CUSP/.
CDFA will publish a final 2023 CUSP Grant Program RFA, with an anticipated application opening date of January 16, 2023. The application period will be open until March 16, 2023. The application will be available through the Amplifund platform.
For this round of funding, the CUSP Program has $2 million available under the Technical Assistance Grant Program for organizations supporting underserved farmers and ranchers, and $20 million for direct drought relief assistance for underserved farmers and ranchers through the CUSP Drought Relief Direct Farmer Grant Program.
The following entities are eligible to apply for technical assistance grants and/or administer block grant drought relief funds for farmers and ranchers: Non-profit organizations, tribal governments, county departments of agriculture, and resource conservation districts (RCDs). Technical assistance providers must have demonstrated expertise in assisting small-scale and medium-scale socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.
Eligible entities can apply for one or both of the 2023 CUSP Program components:
Technical Assistance to Support Underserved Farmers and Ranchers – Funding for technical assistance providers to support farmers and ranchers in applying for Federal and State drought relief grant programs and assistance with business planning, financial and marketing strategies needed to be resilient and stay in business during the on-going drought in California.
CUSP Drought Relief Direct Farmer Grant – Eligible entities are also able to apply as a “regional administrator” to distribute grant funds directly to individual farmers and ranchers to aid in addressing specific drought relief financial needs that have been experienced as a result of the on-going drought in California.
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- Written by: U.S. Postal Service
Customer traffic at all Post Office locations has been steadily increasing since Dec. 5, and this week is expected to be the busiest.
The Postal Service has been preparing for the holiday peak — the time between Black Friday and New Year’s Day — since January, building on investments and organizational strategy improvements made ahead of the successful 2021 holiday mailing and shipping season.
Preparations include converting 100,000 workers to full time since the beginning of 2021, with more than 41,000 part-time workers converted to full time since January 2022.
A national drive began in October to hire an additional 20,000 seasonal employees, an extra 10.5 million square feet of space has been added to the network to process packages, 23 temporary peak annexes have been opened in addition to the 48 parcel support annexes opened for peak 2021, and we’ve installed 137 new package sorting machines.
This brings the organization’s total to 249 new processing machines since the launch of the Delivering for America plan in March 2021. The new equipment combined with increased operational and network improvements will expand the organization’s package processing capacity to 60 million packages a day.
As in previous years, Sunday delivery has been expanded in select locations that experience high package volumes. The Postal Service already delivers packages on Sundays in most major cities. Mail carriers will also deliver Priority Mail Express packages for an additional fee on Christmas Day in select locations.
Wrap it up without leaving home
If you prefer to ship gifts from the comfort of home, you can use the Click-N-Ship feature on usps.com. Customers can order free Priority Mail boxes, print shipping labels, purchase postage and even request free next-day Package Pickup*. And of course, usps.com is always open.
*Boxes are delivered within the United States with your regular mail, usually within seven to 10 business days. Exclusions apply; for details and to order, visit store.usps.com/store.
Customers can schedule free pickup for the next delivery day at the same time mail is delivered by his or her letter carrier. Pickup on demand is available for an additional fee. See usps.com/pickup for details.
2022 holiday shipping deadlines
The Postal Service recommends the following mailing and shipping deadlines for expected delivery by Dec. 25 to Air/Army Post Office/Fleet Post Office/Diplomatic Post Office (APO/FPO/DPO) and domestic addresses*:
Dec. 16 — APO/FPO/DPO (except ZIP Code 093) USPS Priority Mail Express Military service
Dec. 17 — USPS Retail Ground service
Dec. 17 — First-Class Mail service (including greeting cards)
Dec. 17 — First-Class packages (up to 15.99 ounces)
Dec. 19 — Priority Mail service
Dec. 22 — Priority Mail Express* service
Alaska
Dec. 18 — Alaska to/from continental U.S.– First-Class Mail and Priority Mail
Dec. 21 — Alaska to/from continental U.S.– Priority Mail Express
Hawaii
Dec. 17 — Hawaii to/from mainland – First-Class Mail and Priority Mail
Dec. 21 — Hawaii to/from mainland – Priority Mail Express
*Not a guarantee, unless otherwise noted. Dates are for estimated delivery before Dec. 25. Actual delivery date may vary depending on origin, destination, Post Office acceptance date and time and other conditions. Some restrictions apply.
For Priority Mail Express shipments mailed Dec. 22 through Dec. 25, the money-back guarantee applies only if the shipment was not delivered, or delivery was not attempted, within two business days.
Important reminders
Packages containing used electronics or other hazardous materials — lithium-ion batteries, in particular — must now be shipped via surface transportation using Parcel Select Ground, USPS Retail Ground, Parcel Return Service or Ground Return Service.
Certain items may have restrictions or prohibitions when sent through the mail. See the list of hazardous, restricted and perishable mail or ask a Postal Service employee for more information on what can and cannot be sent through the mail.
Mail and packages that weigh more than 10 ounces and/or are more than a half-inch thick and use stamps as postage cannot be dropped into a collection box or left for a carrier to pick up. Instead, take them to a retail associate at any of our more than 34,000 Post Office locations. This requirement does not apply to Click-N-Ship customers.
Additional tips
The Postal Service also offers shipping tips in 10 video “how to” guides. Each video is less than three minutes long and addresses a different topic, such as how to address packages, how to ship packages, and how to pack a box so items arrive safely.
Additional news and information — including all domestic, international and military mailing and shipping deadlines — can be found on the Postal Service’s Holiday Newsroom webpage: usps.com/holidaynews.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce and Adventist Health Clear Lake have partnered to sponsor the competition that urges businesses to light up for the holidays.
The contest covers the south county towns of Middletown, Hidden Valley Lake, Lower Lake, Clearlake, Spring Valley and Clearlake Oaks/Glenhaven.
Judging will take place on Monday, Dec. 19.
The first place prize is $1,000, second place is $500 and third place is $250.
To enter your business with the Clear lake Chamber of Commerce call 707-994-3600 or email
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- Written by: Farm Bureau
“The management of scarcity is failing,” Johansson told the gathering. “It’s time now to reimplement the management of bounty, which made California great.”
California’s nearly 70,000 farms and ranches produce more than 400 commodities as the nation’s leading food producer. But a recent University of California, Merced, study estimates that an additional 750,000 acres of farmland in the state were fallowed this year due a third year of drought and cuts in state and federal water deliveries to agriculture.
Johansson stressed that such an outcome may have been avoided had California delivered on the $7.1 billion water infrastructure bond approved by state voters in 2014. He said the state has failed to update its water system to meet the needs of California farms and communities as well as the challenges of a drier climate.
The consequences for agriculture are aggravated, Johansson said, by policies that stem from a mindset of working within the limits of scarcity — of adapting to a changing environment by paring down California’s agricultural potential.
Instead, Johansson said, new water storage and groundwater recharge projects can capture and store water in wet years for dry years and help protect and grow California’s food production.
“Change is inevitable,” Johansson said. “We understand change in agriculture. But what we struggle with is a state that doesn’t have a plan of how we make those changes based on principles.”
Johansson said, “We can continue in agriculture to make a difference, feed the world and more importantly prosper our communities.”
The California Farm Bureau works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 29,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of 5.3 million Farm Bureau members.
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