WAPA Wraps Up Biggest Annual Meeting Ever

As the number of regular members and associate members continue to grow, so does the WAPA Annual Meeting.  The 2024 Annual Meeting of the Western Agricultural Processors Association (WAPA) was the biggest one ever.  There were more attendees, more exhibitors, more golfers, and more sponsors than any year in the short 15-year history of WAPA.  While it was a lot of fun, it was short, sweet and to the point.  It started Wednesday evening with our Associate Member Appreciation night reception, where Association President/CEO Roger A. Isom recognized the support and contribution of our Associate members and the role they play in the success of the Association and the entire tree nut industry.  The next morning the WAPA Annual Meeting Golf Tournament kicked off, and the WAPA Exhibits opened at 4:00 pm.  The evening reception began amongst the exhibitors at 5:00 pm and then rolled into Dinner.  Following Dinner, the Killer Dueling Pianos treated the audience to a raucous night of music and fun.    The next day was the WAPA Business Meeting that got underway with a report from Todd Landry with the Association’s Accounting Firm of Spafford and Landry who discussed the Association’s financial condition and results of the 2023 Audit.  Following that report, Dr. James Gorny, US FDA, provided an update on food safety issues and directives from FDA.  Then Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil and Assemblyman Juan Alanis provided their perspectives on critical issues in Sacramento.  The second portion of the business session got underway with a very enlightening economic outlook for tree nuts as we look into the crystal ball for the next five years by Dr. Roland Fumasi of Rabobank.  The day finished with a staff update from Assistant Vice President Priscilla Rodriguez, Director of Technical Services Christopher McGlothlin and President/CEO Roger A. Isom.  Overall, it was the biggest and best meeting WAPA has ever held!  We would like to extend a special thank you to all of our sponsors for this year’s annual meeting.  Their contributions were generous and made this meeting what it was!

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A Huge Shoutout to Our Sponsors

The Western Agricultural Processors Association (WAPA) held its 2024 Annual Meeting last week in Monterey and it was our biggest ever.  We had more sponsors, more exhibitors and more attendees than we ever have in the 15-year history of the organization.  The Association would like to thank and recognize each and every participant, exhibitor and sponsor for making this our best ever.  WAPA President/CEO Roger A. Isom stated “We are humbled by the support and interest in our organization. Our staff works hard to protect and fight for the entire tree nut industry, and we are truly grateful for the members’ and associate members’ unwavering support.  We could not do what we do without their support.  Thank you!”  WAPA will return to Monterey on June 11-13 in 2025!  Be sure to make plans to be there.

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Yolo County Superior Court Rules in Favor of Sites Project Authority

This past month, the Superior Court of Yolo County released an order denying all claims in the Friends of the River v. Sites Project Authority case.  In late 2023, six environmental organizations, Friends of the River, Center for Biological Diversity, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, California Water Impact Network, Save California Salmon, and Sierra Club, petitioned the Court to review certain aspects of the Authority’s California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process and the Authority’s certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report (Final EIR) for the Sites Reservoir Project.  The Yolo County Superior Court found in the Authority’s favor in every claim asserted by the environmental organizations. The Sites Final EIR fully complies with CEQA.  “We are grateful the court’s decision will allow us to advance Sites Reservoir and ultimately supply more water for people, farms, and the environment. The need for this water is significant, and we have no time to waste,” said Fritz Durst, Chair of the Sites Project Authority.  Sites Reservoir is purposely designed to work in concert with California’s changing climate conditions by capturing and storing water during extreme storm events for use during severe dry periods when it is needed the most. Sites will be a unique reservoir in California, one that captures and stores water for multiple benefits including as a dedicated asset specifically for the environment to support fish and their habitat during drought periods.  Sites is an off-stream facility that does not dam a major river system and does not threaten fish migration or spawning. Sites Reservoir diversions would be conducted under highly protective operating and permit conditions that establish when water can be diverted after all other water rights and regulatory requirements are met.  It is hoped that construction will begin in 2026.

Association Hits The Hill on Navel Orangeworm

This past week Association President/CEO Roger Isom traveled to Washington, DC in partnership with American Pistachio Growers (APG) to push for continued funding for the Navel Orangeworm (NOW) Sterile Insect Technology (SIT) project.  The project received $8.34 million in FY 2024 to run the project and we are looking to build upon that for FY 2025.  With recent damage data collected from the project indicating reduced damage in both almonds and pistachios, momentum is building to expand the project into a larger scale areawide program.  While in DC, Isom and APG representatives met with both House and Senate Appropriations Committee staff along staff from the offices of Congressman David Valadao, Congressman Jim Costa, Congressman Jimmy Panetta, Senator Alex Padilla, and Senator Ben Ray Lujan.  They also met with newly sworn in Congressman Vince Fong.  In addition, the team met with USDA APHIS PPQ which is administering the project along with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). 

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Historic 2023 Water Year Boosts California’s Groundwater Supplies

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released the latest Semi-Annual Groundwater Conditions report, and the data show that California achieved 4.1 million acre-feet of managed groundwater recharge during Water Year 2023. The report also details an increase in groundwater storage of 8.7 million acre-feet. This is the first year since 2019 that there has been a reported increase in groundwater storage.  A significant reduction in groundwater pumping in 2023 also led to favorable groundwater conditions, including a decrease in land subsidence, or sinking of the land. Some areas that had previously experienced subsidence actually saw a rebound (uplift) in ground surface elevation from reduced pumping in the deeper aquifers and refilling of groundwater storage. This latest report includes, for the first time, groundwater sustainability plan Annual Report data reported by local groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) across 99 groundwater basins which make up over 90 percent of the groundwater use in the State. Paul Gosselin, DWR Deputy Director of Sustainable Water Management stated, “The impressive recharge numbers in 2023 are the result of hard work by the local agencies combined with dedicated efforts from the state, but we must do more to be prepared to capture and store water when the wet years come.” During the 2023 Water Year, more than 1.2 million acre-feet of groundwater recharge was permitted by state agencies, more than 400,000 acre-feet of flood water was recharged using the Governor’s Executive Orders, and millions more acre-feet of managed and naturally occurring recharge was achieved.

  1. Industry Pioneer Jack Wilkey and his Wife Pat Honored
  2. FDA Publishes Final Rule on Agricultural Water
  3. Association Leadership Ascends Upon the Capitol
  4. Association Hosts Senator Deb Fischer from Nebraska

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Governor Signs Ag Overtime Bill

Ignoring the pleas of real farmworkers and the agricultural industry, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed AB 1066, the ag overtime legislation. This means that California will have the most stringent trigger of any state in the country for overtime for farmworkers, with 45 states having no overtime protection at all. The Governor signed this bill, supposedly to bring “equality to all workers”, yet taxi cab drivers, commercial fishermen, car salesmen, student nurses, computer programmers, and carnival workers all work without any overtime provisions whatsoever. The Governor signed this ag overtime bill in the same year that minimum wage legislation was also passed that will take California to the highest minimum wage as well as legislation forcing California to adopt additional greenhouse gas regulations for businesses in California. California is the only state in the country subject to such regulations. Today’s signing occurred despite numerous requests by the agricultural industry to meet with the Governor to discuss our concerns. The message is clear. California simply doesn’t care. These provisions will be phased in over the next few years ending with the overtime provisions to be triggered at 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week.

In the Beginning As folks transitioned out of cotton and into tree nuts, the industry recognized the need to have active and effective representation at the local, state and national levels. Having enjoyed such effective representation over the years from the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations, these folks yearned for the same representation in the tree nut processing industry. Issues such as air quality, food safety, labor, taxes, employee safety, and environmental concerns are at the forefront, and there is a significant need for an aggressive and dynamic Association to lead the industry into the next decade and beyond. In recognition of this, the Western Agricultural Processors Association was created in 2009. The Western Agricultural Processors Association (WAPA) shares staff and office space with the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations taking advantage of a unique and opportunistic situation. WAPA is a voluntary dues organization with four shared staff and one dedicated staff person. Regulatory, legislative and legal issues fall under the purview of this new organization for the tree nut processing industry, which includes almonds, pecans, pistachios and walnuts. From air quality permits to conditional use permits, from regulatory hearings on greenhouse gases to federal legislation on food safety, and from OSHA violations to assisting members on hazardous materials business plans, no issue is too small or too large for WAPA. WAPA has assembled one of the best and most capable staffs in the industry, and the results are already starting to show Membership The Western Agricultural Processors Association represents facilities involved in the processing of almonds, pecans, pistachios and walnuts.Membership in the Association is classified as Regular memberships are limited to almond hullers or processors, pecan and pistachio processors, and walnut dehydrators and processors. Associate memberships are limited to any individual or business entity which is not engaged in agricultural processing, but which provides products or services directly related to the agricultural processing industry. WAPA Associate members include, but are not limited to, commodity brokers, accounting firms, and insurance brokers. Organization The Western Agricultural Processors Association is governed by a Board of Directors, elected by its membership.The Board consists of up to 15 members from throughout the state, and throughout the industry.The Board meets on a quarterly basis and conducts an Annual Meeting in the spring of each year.WAPA, in conjunction with the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations, conducts a special training school for its members focused on safety.In combination with the school, the Association holds a Labor Management Seminar for all of the managers. Consulting Services In researching and considering the concept of forming a new organization, the Boards of Directors for the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations instructed staff to perform some of the work on a consulting basis first. The point was to determine the workload from consulting and to determine if there was sufficient interest. In November of 2007, the Association began conducting services under consulting contracts for such services as air quality permits and safety plans.The effort has been so successful that demand has progressed outside the tree nut industry into other agricultural processing facilities, including vegetable dehydration facilities, tomato processing facilities, and wheat mills, as well as cotton gins in Arizona.It was determined by the new Board of Directors of WAPA, that WAPA would maintain the consulting services to provide offsetting income to help with the expenses of getting the new organization up and running.Today, WAPA provides for a long list of satisfied clients in the agricultural processing industry, by providing critical services such as air quality, safety, food safety, and environmental issues (Hazardous Materials Business Plan, Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plans, etc.).