Food & Farm News

» November 23, 2011 «

Livestock brings jobs to California

More than 17,000 jobs linked to dairies, ranches and livestock were created in California in the past decade, according to a report that analyzed federal data. The most significant growth came in the beef sector and on dairies. Increased milk production created jobs not only on dairies, but in the transportation and processing of dairy products. In all, the report says more than 100,000 California jobs are tied to animal agriculture.

Navel orange harvest gets started

You can expect to see plentiful supplies of high-quality California navel oranges through the holiday season. The harvest is later than in typical years, but the Sunkist Growers cooperative reports farmers are seeing the same quantity of oranges they had in the past … though in slightly smaller sizes. Sunkist says farmers also expect added demand for California navel oranges as a result of the recent trade agreement between the United States and South Korea.

Study tracks farm water efficiency

Unless large swaths of land are removed from food production, a new report says there's little potential to create new water supplies through on-farm conservation. The research, from the Center for Irrigation Technology at Fresno State, says California farmers are very efficient in their use of water resources. The study found that farmers have been adopting water-saving techniques and, while improvements can still be made, the state's water woes cannot be solved through conservation alone.

Farmers give back for the holidays

As the holiday season begins, farmers, ranchers and food marketers ramp up their efforts to give back to their communities. For example, a blog post by state Secretary of Food and Agriculture Karen Ross highlights a donation of 12,000 half-gallon cartons of milk from Central Valley dairies to food banks. A collaborative group known as AgVision aims to double such farm contributions to California food banks within the next five years.