-November 26,2019-
Here we go again. Politico reports that the FDA is warning consumers not to eat romaine lettuce harvested in Salinas California, as the agency investigates an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 40 people across 16 states.
Here we go again, again. California citrus growers are worried that early 2019/20 harvest season orange prices are heading lower following the trend we saw all of last season. Exeter-based Citrus Mutual asks “Are We Seeing a Repeat of Last Season? The start of pricing this year was eerily similar to last season and we are now, unfortunately, starting to see prices dip as companies are competing for shelf space. Is this a repeat of last season? Is this a short-term dip?” Orange growers saw red ink last year made worse by the trade war with China. That trade war continues.
“During my two seasons with California Citrus Mutual, our growers enjoyed one of the best seasons ever and most recently endured one of the worst seasons ever” says CEO of Citrus Mutual Casey Creamer recently.
“This last season, much of the industry saw grower returns were significantly below cost of production. Fruit was juiced in the field for returns less than the cost to harvest. This was done in order to avoid packing charges and to try and bring some stability to the market. Some growers even had to harvest fruit and drop it to the ground, suffering huge losses just to get ready for the upcoming season.
While there were many reasons for the difficult season, trade dynamics in China and across the globe, in my opinion, is the main reason for this devastating season.”Besides the issue of exports more citrus imports helped depress our citrus prices.
“The trend of increasing competition from imports continues as more and more production is expected from developing countries around the world. This new citrus currently doesn’t have a home and the U.S. market is one of the most desirable in terms of profitability for countries who have significantly lower costs of production. The citrus market is saturated with foreign competition, with additional countries waiting to gain access to provide additional competition and thus lower returns for growers if the trend continues.”
Obesity down for WIC babies .The US CDC agency recently found that 41 U.S. states and territories saw significant declines in obesity among children (2-4 years of age) whose families participated in WIC between 2010-2016. The latest data, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, also found that obesity ticked upward in this population in three states: Alabama, North Carolina and West Virginia.
“Improvements in national, state, and caregiver guidance around nutrition and physical activity may be contributing to this decline in childhood obesity,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a statement. “We are moving in the right direction.”
Visalia-based Edeniq Inc., a leading biotechnology company that develops processes for producing and measuring cellulosic ethanol says they’re in the process of relocating their lab in town from 2505 North Shirk Road to 6910 W Pershing. The company employs 10 in Visalia. The company had a demonstration ethanol plant at their Shirk location they no longer need.
Robot milking machines will take the place of workers at a Valley dairy near Chowchilla. Some 10 robotic milking centers will be installed at Diamond H Dairy instead for 72 stall carousel milking parlor according to application. The robot milkers will help manage an increase from 4900 milk cows to 7278.