USDA Grants $1.2 million in Research Funds to the Navel Orangeworm SIT Project

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating $17.6 million to California as part of its effort to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure for pest detection and surveillance, identification, and threat mitigation, and to protect the U.S. nursery system. Included in the grant is $1.2 million for research associated with the Navel Orangeworm (NOW) Sterile Insect Technology (SIT) program.  Overall, USDA is providing more than $70 million in funding this year to support 372 projects in 49 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. USDA provides this funding under the authority of the Plant Protection Act Section 7721.  “In 2019, California agriculture generated more than $50 billion in cash receipts and exports totaling about $21.7 billion. The state is a leader in U.S. agricultural production, and protecting that vital industry is essential to keeping our nation’s agricultural economy strong,” said USDA Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt. “These projects we are funding are focused on doing just that.”  These funds will support statewide projects covering a range of plant health and pest mitigation activities including, but not limited to:

  • $4.5 million to survey for invasive fruit flies;
  • $4 million to support agricultural detector dog teams, which search for harmful invasive plant pests in packages at mail and express parcel delivery facilities;
  • $3.1 million to support National Clean Plant Network foundation plant stocks for citrus and other fruit trees, grapes, roses and other crops;
  • $2 million to support state Emergency Plant Health Response teams in managing outbreaks of exotic plant pests;
  • $1.2 million to further develop and evaluate the existing navel orangeworm sterile insect release program, which reduces the pest’s impact on the state’s $6 billion pistachio and almond crops;
  • $446,000 to survey for Asian defoliator moths;
  • $209,814 to develop tools for the identification of pheromones and related attractants for invasive cerambycid beetles, which impact economically significant crops;
  • $350,000 to support pest and disease mitigation research to protect ornamental nurseries;
  • $300,000 to conduct surveys for stone fruit commodities; and
  • $268,500 to develop a technology that leverages contrast x-ray imaging and artificial intelligence to detect invasive pests.

Since 2009, USDA has supported more than 4,800 projects and provided nearly $740 million in PPA 7721 funding. Collectively, these projects allow USDA and its partners to quickly detect and rapidly respond to invasive plant pests and diseases. A lot of credit goes to the American Pistachio Growers, who led the funding effort.

EPA Approves PM 2.5 Standard Revisions, Finds Valley in Attainment

This week, the U.S. Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published the final rule approval for the 1997 24-hour PM2.5 standards as established under the Clean Air Act.  With this rule approval designation, U.S. EPA also found that the San Joaquin Valley is in attainment with the 1997 24-hour standard.  The standard requires that PM2.5 readings maintain below 65 micrograms/m3 in a 24-hour span.  The 1997 standard is one of four major standards under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) that the Air District must be in attainment with, or be implementing rules to help achieve attainment by specific dates.  The Air District originally failed to meet the December 2015 deadline for attainment designation as previously established, and was forced to develop more stringent rules in order to achieve the secondary attainment deadline of December of 2020.  Several Air District rules targeting agriculture were developed as a result of this standard, and the standard’s reassessment.  With help from the Association, and many other agricultural associations, rules against the industry were limited to only the ones that could achieve the most emissions reductions.  This is a significant achievement for the local Air District, and also further highlights the reductions achieved by voluntary and incentive based agricultural programs in the Valley.

EPA Announces Endangered Species Act Protection Policy for New Pesticides

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking action to further the Agency’s compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when evaluating and registering new pesticide active ingredients (AIs).  Before EPA registers any new conventional AI, the Agency will evaluate the potential effects of the AI on federally threatened or endangered (listed) species, and their designated critical habitats, and initiate ESA consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (the Services).  Prior to this action, there was a litany of resource-intensive litigation against EPA for registering new AIs prior to assessing potential effects on listed species. EPA’s new policy should reduce these types of cases against the Agency and improve the legal defensibility of new AIs, which often have lower human health and ecological risks than older pesticides.  Under this new approach, if EPA finds through its analyses that a new conventional pesticide AI is likely to adversely affect listed species or their designated critical habitats, EPA will initiate formal consultation with the Services before granting a new AI registration. As part of its analysis and under its existing authorities, EPA will consider the likelihood that the registration action may jeopardize the continued existence of listed species or adversely modify their designated critical habitat and provide its findings to the Services. To determine or predict the potential effects of a pesticide on these species and habitats, EPA will use appropriate ecological assessment principles and apply what it has learned from past effects determinations and the Services’ biological opinions.  If EPA determines that jeopardy or adverse modification is likely, the Agency will only make a registration decision on the new AI after requiring registrants to implement mitigation measures that EPA determines would likely prevent jeopardy or adverse modification. If EPA finds that a new AI is likely to adversely affect listed species or their critical habitat, but that jeopardy/adverse modification is not likely, it may nonetheless require registrants to include mitigation measures on their registration and product labeling to minimize the effects of incidental take to listed species that could result from use of a pesticide.

New Hazardous Waste Environmental Fee Goes into Effect

Beginning this month, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration made changes to their 2022 hazardous waste environmental fee rates.  In doing so, they helped small operations with less than 100 employees, but severely penalized those with 500 or more employees.  Currently, organizations operating in California with 50 or more employees who are each employed more than 500 hours in California during the prior calendar year, must file and pay the environmental fee.  Starting January 1, 2022, the employee threshold will increase from 50 employees to 100 employees.  The new rates will be paid beginning with the company’s 2022 filing due on February 28, 2023.  For this year’s filing, due February 28, 2022, the rates remain in place.  Here is the new schedule as compared to the current schedule:

Number of Employees

2021

2022

1 to 49

$0

$0

50 to 74

$357

$0

75 to 99

$627

$0

100 to 249

$1,244

$1,261

250 to 499

$2,669

$2,706

500 to 999

$4,985

$16,000

1000 or more

$16,911

$54,100

According to the State, the fee is collected on behalf of the Department of Toxic Substances Control and supports protection of California’s communities and the environment.  The fees are accessed to almost organizations, because they use, generate, store, or conduct activities in the state related to hazardous materials (activities related to hazardous materials include the use of products such as paper, ink, plastics, paint, etc., which were manufactured using hazardous materials).

Cal/OSHA Updated ETS Standards

The Cal/OSHA Consultation is offering free webinars on the revisions to the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS).  These revisions we updated again and became effective on January 14, 2022.  The free 2-hour webinar will cover the changes to the ETS and provide resources.  

Click on the link below to the webinar for registration or visit https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/coronavirus/webinars.html

Date Time   Topic Language Zoom Link
Tuesday, February 1, 2022 9:00AM - 11:00AM   COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) January 14, 2022 Update English Register for February 1
Thursday, February 3, 2022 9:00AM - 11:00AM   COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) January 14, 2022 Update English Register for February 3
Wednesday, February 9,2022 1:00PM - 3:00PM   COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) January 14, 2022 Update English Register for February 9

 

Welcome to WAPA

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.).