Business News
SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Food and Agriculture is announcing four vacancies on the California Organic Products Advisory Committee.
This committee advises the CDFA secretary on current issues related to organic food production and makes recommendations on all matters pertaining to the California Organic Program.
The vacancies include: one producer alternate, one environmental alternate, one technical alternate and one consumer alternate.
The environmental, technical and consumer representatives must not have a financial interest in the direct sale and marketing of organic products.
The term of office for committee members is three years.
Members receive no compensation, but are entitled to payment of necessary traveling expenses in accordance with the rules of the Department of Personnel Administration.
The California Organic Program is responsible for enforcement of federal and state law governing organic production.
These statutes protect consumers, producers, handlers, processors and retailers by establishing standards under which fresh agricultural products may be labeled and sold as organic.
The California Organic Program is funded entirely by industry fees and assessments.
Individuals interested in being considered for an appointment should send a letter of consideration and include a letter of recommendation from the industry. Nominations will be accepted until the positions are filled.
Applications should be sent to California Organic Program, 1220 ‘N’ Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 or emailed to
For further information on the California Organic Program and committee vacancies, contact David Carlson at 916-445-2180.
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SACRAMENTO – Betty T. Yee, chairwoman of the Board of Equalization (BOE), has released gasoline and diesel consumption figures for California for December and the fourth quarter of 2009.
Gasoline consumption declined 2.2 percent in December and declined 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the same month and quarter in 2008.
Diesel consumption increased 3.7 percent in December, the first monthly increase since February 2008. In the fourth quarter diesel consumption declined 3.9 percent compared to the same period in 2008.
“The fourth quarter decline in diesel consumption is the smallest decline since early 2008, and it provides some evidence that the economy is slowly improving,” said Chairwoman Yee.
For all of 2009, California gas consumption declined 1.5 percent, compared to a 4.1 percent decrease for all four quarters of 2008.
In the fourth quarter of 2009, Californians used 61.4 million gallons of gasoline less than the fourth quarter 2008, which is a decline of 1.7 percent.
In December 2009, gasoline demand declined 2.2 percent when Californians used 1.237 billion gallons of gasoline compared to 1.265 billion gallons the same month in 2008. The average California gasoline price at the pump in December was $2.96 per gallon compared to $1.87 in December 2008, a 58.3 percent increase.
Gasoline sold in December generated approximately $306 million in sales tax during that month, an estimated $131 million more than generated last year.
December sales and use tax revenues from gasoline would have been about $34 million less had the state portion of the sales and use tax not increased by one percent on April 1, 2009.
Diesel fuel sold in California during December totaled 232 million gallons compared to the previous year total of 223 million gallons, which is an increase of 3.7 percent.
California diesel prices were $2.91 per gallon in December 2009 an increase of 23.8 percent compared to December 2008 when the average diesel price was $2.35 per gallon.
Diesel consumption in California declined 3.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 when Californians used a total of 654 million gallons of diesel compared to the fourth quarter of 2008 when Californians used a total of 680 million gallons. This decline is much less than the 10.6 percent decline in the third quarter.
The BOE is able to monitor gallons through tax receipts paid by fuel distributors. Figures for January 2010 are scheduled to be available at the end of April 2010. All monthly, quarterly, and annual figures can be viewed at: www.boe.ca.gov/sptaxprog/spftrpts.htm .
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