Food And Farm News
July 15, 2026
Wildfire mitigation tool threatened as goat herder wage soars to $240k
California's minimum wage for goat herders quadrupled this month due to a shift in the state's interpretation of its labor code and the expiration of a temporary solution. As of July 1, employees who graze goats on fire-prone landscapes will earn $240,000 a year, according to an estimate by the California Farm Bureau. The regulatory accident, which unintentionally differentiated sheepherders from goat herders, could soon have real consequences. If the mistake is not fixed, ranchers said that within weeks they will be forced to shut down their businesses and sell off tens of thousands of animals. They said the loss of goats could result in hundreds of herders losing their jobs, and it could cripple one of the primary tools California uses to reduce wildfire fuels. "We will ship all the goats out of California and have them slaughtered," said Robert McGrew, vice president and CEO of Dixon-based vegetation management company Ecosystem Concepts Inc. in Solano County.
Growers look to grafted watermelons to battle pests
There is increasing interest among California farmers in seedless watermelon production using scion varieties grafted onto hardy rootstocks, according to researchers and plant nurseries. By grafting a desirable fruit-producing scion onto a rootstock that's resistant to soil-borne pathogens, producers can sustainably manage pests without a yield or quality loss. Hande Saganak, who is responsible for grafting at California Masterplant, a wholesale nursery near Tracy, said she's definitely seen increased grower interest. "It's been growing really fast," she said. "It seems we have producers that don't want to go back to regular plants again." University of California Cooperative Extension vegetable farm adviser Zheng Wang estimated about 3,000 of the state's approximately 10,000 acres of seedless watermelons were grafted this year. Driving the growth are the increasing costs and reduced availability of fumigation.
From the Fields: Table grape harvest kicks off in Kern County
California table grapes have begun arriving in grocery stores after harvest got off to an early start in the San Joaquin Valley. "Normally, I don't start harvesting Flame grapes until around the Fourth of July and the green grapes about a week later. This year, I'm almost finished with the green grapes, so we started about two weeks earlier than normal," Kern County grower Mark Hall said in a field report earlier this month. "We're the first grapes in the San Joaquin Valley because it's a little warmer down here at the southern end of the valley. We like to harvest early and get our fruit off before the market gets flooded with grapes from the rest of the growing regions. The warm weather early in the season brought the crop on ahead of schedule, but it wasn't excessively hot."
In case you missed it: Golden mussels plague farms and water districts
The spread of golden mussels in California has alarmed farmers this year as the invasive species established itself in waterways across much of the state. In the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the freshwater mollusks began obstructing irrigation systems that sustain billions of dollars' worth of tree nuts, winegrapes, tomatoes and other crops. Among the most vulnerable agricultural infrastructure are hundreds of steel pipes that siphon water from the delta into irrigation pumps and ditches. Christopher Neudeck, president of Stockton-based civil engineering firm Kjeldsen, Sinnock & Neudeck, said during the past six months "an onslaught of golden mussels" began clogging some siphons and pumps that pull water from delta rivers, choking off farmers' water supply. Replacing siphons, pump stations and drainage pipes affected by golden mussels could cost farmers in the delta more than $35 million, according to an estimate Neudeck provided this year to the San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services.
For more information about any story in Food and Farm News, contact the California Farm Bureau Marketing/Communications Division at 916-561-5550 or email news@cfbf.com. Connect with us on Facebook, X, or Instagram: @CAFarmBureau.
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