California Citrus Mutual (CCM) President Joel Nelsen and Executive Vice President Casey Creamer, spent two days in Washington, D.C. last week to attend the USDA-APHIS Citrus Commodity Sector Meeting in addition to continuing advocacy efforts on trade, water, labor, and the Farm Bill. Good news was received in meetings with House Ag Committee staff that [...]
Today, leading farm bill negotiators in the House and Senate announced that they have reached an “agreement in principle” signaling that a final deal will be made before the end of the year. Included in the initial agreement is language providing $25 million per year for 5 years starting in 2019 for research specific to [...]
As with any election, we saw surprising upsets in some races, and in others the outcome was very predictable. Ultimately, California Citrus Mutual is a nonpartisan association. Our job is to work with the individuals who California voters elect to office. Our members farm and do business in a progressively liberal state and this election [...]
The Water Supply and Water Quality Bond Act of 2018 failed to receive enough votes on Election Day. The water bond would have provided $640 million to offset SGMA compliance and another $750 to address subsidence issues along the Friant-Kern canal. With 100% of precincts reporting, the measure was defeated by 315,094 votes. The strongest [...]
There will be a lame duck session for Congress starting next week. In total, we can assume about three weeks of activity and most of the action focused in the House where a transition in power will occur in January. Surprisingly this bodes well for the Farm Bill but maybe not so much for budget [...]
The Environmental Defense Fund, normally a more measured group, had this to say about the election: Last night the American people voted to put a check on the excesses of the Trump administration. The voters are clearly demanding changes in Washington, a return to common sense policies and greater accountability from their elected leaders. The [...]
We are sure by now that you all have heard about the President’s memorandum that was signed last Friday. We at Citrus Mutual believe that the memorandum gives clear direction to the Federal agencies to complete the review of the biological opinions by January 31, 2019. Up until Friday, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) [...]
CCM partnered with members of the Ag Presidents Council to host Senator Henry Stern for a tour of Central Valley agriculture this week. The Senator represents the very socio-economic and geographically diverse 27th Senate District which includes parts of Santa Clarita, Malibu, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Canoga Park, and Lake Balboa. While his constituency is primarily [...]
With just over two weeks from Election Day, the time is now to contribute. A lot of time and money have been put towards this effort and current polling is too close to sit back and rest. The latest fundraising campaign has been successful, but we are still $100,000 short of implementing the final strategic [...]
We are a little more than a month to go until Election Day, and Proposition 3, the Water Supply and Water Quality Bond Act of 2018 still needs your financial support. While current polling data is favorable for the bond’s passage, it is within the margin of error and too close to call. Targeted mail [...]
