-February 25,2022-

Tulare officials have been told by the new owner of the Kraft Cheese plant along Highway 99 in Tulare that they will expand the facility adding a new cheese line to several varieties produced at the plant. French-owned Lactalis completed the purchase of three Kraft plants last November.

With the acquisition, Lactalis acquired a portfolio of iconic cheese brands that includes Cracker Barrel®, Breakstone’s®, Knudsen®, Hoffman’s® and a perpetual license for the use of the Kraft® brand in natural, grated and international cheeses. Lactalis also acquires the Cheez Whiz® brand outside the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and the Philippines and a license for the use of the Velveeta® brand in natural and international cheeses. The acquisition includes approximately 750 employees and three production facilities located in Tulare, CA, Walton, NY and Wausau, WI.

Tulare Assistant City Manager Josh McDonnell says the company told the city to be looking out for a site plan review application that would detail construction plans for the expansion of the $38 million facility, just one of 8 dairy related plants in Tulare where milk is king. Expansions are also in the works at US Cold Storage and Saputo Cheese in town.

The Kraft/Lactalis plant currently employs around 250.

The Kraft Tulare facility was originally a Louis Rich turkey plant in the 1990s but closed and later was converted by the parent company to make cheese, mostly mozzarella and parmesan.

The businesses in the U.S. will operate as Lactalis Heritage Dairy, a newly formed division of Lactalis based in Chicago

-February 25,2022-

Suddenly housing developers have discovered the City of Tulare with both construction underway and plans submitted for thousands of single-family and multifamily dwellings in the pipeline. This is in a town that saw just 120 new homes built last year. Next door, Visalia saw 840 home permits issued in 2021 that includes 200 multifamily units.

Figures provided by city planner Steve Sopp show that there are some 570 lots under construction in Tulare currently in four subdivisions, the largest being Willow Glenn at Mooney and Pacific with 322 lots.

Sopp says the next category is existing subdivisions where”construction is imminent.” Here there are five subdivisions with a total just under 1200 homes planned including Santa Fe Commons – located on the northwest corner of Ulema Avenue and West Street – 138 unit affordable multi-family housing development by Self-help Enterprises.

One of the largest categories is six new pending subdivisions of both single-family homes and multifamily that are “in the entitlement process” totaling over 1700 units. The largest of the bunch is the Chandler Grove Annexation – on the east side of town.This is an annexation of approximately 227 acres (COS property may be included making it much larger) that includes 437 single family units, 201 medium density units, and 600 multi-family units. Another large multi-family project is the Corvina Avenue Apartments – located on the northeast corner of Retherford Street and Corvina Avenue alignment – 208 multi-family units near the outlet mall.

That is a total of about 3500 new dwelling units underway or in the works in this city of about 20,000 existing homes.

“This is a big jump from an average of about 300 new homes built per year” says Sopp. Not that thousands of new units would be built in one year but the scale of the pipeline shows growth is going to happen – not just in Visalia anymore but in the county’s second largest city too.Things were quiet for the past few years but there has recently been a flood of interest, he says.

Among the list of home builders in Tulare is San Joaquin Valley Homes, the busiest builder in the past year, national builder DR Horton , local favorite Daley Homes and industry leader Lennar Homes.

545 jobs coming this fall

A company, widely believed to be Amazon, is planning quicker delivery of packages in Fresno, bringing goods the “last mile” to your doorstep. It would be the second such last mile  center Amazon has in Fresno likely allowing Amazon to do same day delivery to homes and businesses.

The new facility will be located at East Olive Avenue and North to Clovis Avenue, along Highway 180.

Phoenix-based Seefried Industrial Properties is constructing  the 184,000sf “delivery station” including a 161,300-square-foot warehouse, office space totaling up to 22,000 square feet, 17 dock-high doors, and 18 grade-level doors.The center is smaller than the million square ft behemoths  that Amazon operates as fulfillment centers that have plenty of storage. These smaller delivery centers move packages in and out quickly.

Construction is going to be completed in one phase, launched in September 2021, and concluding in June 2022. The proposed project is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2022.

The developer’s application to the city says the proposed project would be occupied by a tenant with the purpose of fulfilling internet purchases. It would operate 24 hours a day/7 days a week and would employ 545 total employees over a 24-hour period for each operation, which includes on-site delivery station employees, delivery drivers, and flex employees.

The proposed delivery station would serve as a “last mile” connection between the user’s fulfillment centers and their customers, enabling a faster and more efficient means of shipping says a statement.  Packages would be transported to the delivery stations via line-haul trucks (18-wheeler trailer trucks) from neighboring fulfillment/sorting centers, where they would be further sorted, picked, and loaded into small delivery vehicles (typically vans) and delivered to customers.

Delivery Drivers

The delivery operations would utilize 254 delivery employees who would commute to the delivery station daily via private vehicles. Each delivery employee would pick up their assigned delivery van, load a day’s worth of packages, make those deliveries, return to the project site, drop off the delivery van, and exit the site in personal vehicles. Delivery operations would begin at 10:00 a.m. and end at 11:30 a.m., and delivery employees would return to the delivery station between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.

Flex employees 

The proposed project would also employ approximately 70 flex employees, which are private contractors who use personal vehicles for deliveries. Flex employees would be contacted via an application downloaded to a mobile device and instructed when to arrive at the delivery station where they would load vehicles and be routed to their assigned delivery zones in a similar manner to the delivery van process described above. Flex employee arrivals would be staggered, with employees arriving at the facility between 4:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to load their vehicles for deliveries. These employees would not return to the delivery station at the end of their delivery shifts.

Water initiative proposing use of 2% of general fund expected to be withdrawn says news report

-January 28,2022–

Drought or no drought, a ballot measure to use 2% of the state’s general fund to pay to improve water infrastructure in California is likely to be withdrawn, says a report published in the San Jose Mercury News.

The news report says the ballot initiative, popular in the Central Valley, has drawn little financial support beyond $165,000, mostly from Valley farmers. It has been dubbed ‘More Water Now’ by supporters.

The news story says “The initiative would require that 2% of California’s general fund, or about $4 billion, be set aside every year to expand water supplies. Those could include new dams and reservoirs, desalination plants, recycled water plants and other projects such as upgrading canals and pipes. The measure also would streamline permitting for those projects.

But the campaign has failed to gain momentum and is far short of the nearly 1 million signatures needed by the end of April to qualify for the ballot.”

Need $10 million suggests report

The story concludes “Organizers say to have any chance, they must raise $10 million by Feb. 1 to hire paid signature gatherers and ramp up efforts.”

Last November, the California ballot initiative, proposed to appear on the ballot in November 2022, promised to increase the annual supply of water in California by 5 million acre-feet.

If passed by voters, the initiative would permit as much as half of those funds to be used to finance large water-supply projects immediately.

Assembly member Devon Mathis, R-Visalia, was gathering endorsements for the measure from a bipartisan list of state legislators, a Farm Bureau report said at the time. Twenty-six lawmakers joined Mathis in signing a letter of endorsement.

“We support this initiative to improve our aging water infrastructure and to construct new means to capture and deliver water to all parts of the state,” read the letter circulated by Mathis. “The funding allocated within this proposal will ensure the state achieves water resilience and adequately provide clean, safe and affordable drinking water to all Californians.”

In Tulare County, Exeter’s city council has recently signed on, joining the Tulare County Farm Bureau and the County in support of the measure.

Soggy February?

Central Coast forecaster John Lindsey says” So far, this rain season has followed a leap month pattern, with a wet October, then a dry November, followed by a wringing-wet December, succeed by a nearly parch January. The long-range guidance suggests a soggy February as the mid-winter dry spell may end.”

Covid cases spiking 3-fold at Visalia hospital

As of Jan 19 Kaweah Health is caring for 96 COVID-19 patients, 8 of whom are in the ICU -not including 9 awaiting admittance in the hospital’s ER.
Hospital occupancy remains at 101 percent and they continue to see our positive percentage 34.5% – seven days ago it was 26.1%. By comparison, on January 1 the hospital had just 30 Covid patients  with 4 in the ICU.

Work on canal fix to start

A groundbreaking ceremony to start  construction repair work on the subsidence- impacted Friant Kern Canal is set for January 25th at Ave 96  and Rd 208, near Terra Bella.

CalWater plans one million gallon tank in Downtown Visalia

CalWater District Manager Stephen Johnson says the water company plans a one million gallon water tank along Acequia, east of Downton, that would eventually replace the elevated water tower at Redwood High School. The water tower holds about 340,000 gallons, barley a third of what the proposed new ground tank.”We will replace the elevated tower but not for awhile” he says. The new tank will help bolster water pressure in Downtown.

Here come the honeybees

Bees are arriving at California farms, by the truckloads. It is pollination time for California almond growers, and beekeepers are moving some 2.5 million honeybee colonies into California orchards to pollinate 1.3 million acres of almond trees. About 2 million of the honeybee colonies are trucked in from out of state, and 500,000 come from California beekeepers. The California Department of Food and Agriculture has a pre-inspection program for out-of-state bees, says CFB.

Demand drives up produce imports as exports prices rise 21.7%

Talk about inflation – Demand is inflated this year inflation – driving up imports of  organic Mexican avocados by 44%, blueberries by 133% from 2019 and now limes, very popular at happy hour, climbing in price to $61 a carton from $28 a carton a week earlier.

The Labor Department said on Friday that prices that U.S. companies paid for imported goods increased 10.4 percent in 2021, the largest jump in 14 years.On the other side of the trade ledger, agricultural export prices increased 21.7 percent in 2021, the largest annual increase since 2007. Inflation is worldwide.

-January 17,2022-

Developer opposes Planned Parenthood location

Developer Dave Panyter who owns the Sequoia Mall including the Marshall’s store and Bed Bath and Beyond is opposing a plan by an adjacent shopping center developer, The Orosco Group, to host a new medical clinic in part because he fears they may use his center’s parking places.

Paynter is appealing the Planning Commission approval of the clinic to the City Council this week. Paynter says visitors to the clinic could impact his retailers business. In addition, Paynter says he also opposes the project because it is a Planned Parenthood clinic that could draw protests. Planned Parenthood already has a clinic on Stevenson in Visalia.

CalWater plans one million gallon tank in Downtown Visalia

CalWater District Manager Stephen Johnson says the water company plans a one million gallon water tank along Acequia, east of Downton, that would eventually replace the elevated water tower at Redwood High School. The water tower holds about 340,000 gallons, barely a third of what the proposed new ground tank.”We will replace the elevated tower but not for awhile” he says. The new tank will help bolster water pressure in Downtown.

Big Apartment complex breaks ground

Local builder BJ Perch has broken ground on one of the largest apartment complexes in years in Visalia being built by Gilder Development.The company has received a permit to construct a 219 unit complex at Akers at Sedona on 15 acres, north of Riggin. The city permitted only much smaller complexes that add up to just 204 units total for all last year, only 6 units in 2020 and a total 671 for the past ten years. There are expected to be more multi-family complexes in the pipeline this year.

Tulare County plans industrial bookends at Kern /Fresno county lines

Tulare County is promoting industrial growth at the county’s bookends, rezoning mostly ag land in Tulare County just inside the Kern and Fresno county lines. The county’s economic development manager Mike Washam says the strategy is based on the uptick in industrial demand here.”The secret is to offer lands where infrastructure like water and sewer is available” says Washam. Agreements in place or pending would allow the county to tap into Kingsburg’s municipal infrastructure on 260 acres along both sides of Highway 99 as well as adjacent Delano where there is a plan to rezone 155 acres at County Line Rd. ”We also have an agreement in Goshen where a new industry can use the Visalia municipal sewer system.” Washam says he expects new industrial development could rise at the county’s borders and in Goshen, west of 99, in the next two years. Washam adds in the case of Delano and Kingsburg, Tulare County is planning a tax sharing agreement.The County is using the Visalia sewer for its Sequoia Gateway project. Visalia may ask for a development agreement if the expansion of that big project goes forward.

Pictured: More than half the area in this photo would become industrial just south of Kingsburg 

Kaweah Health opens Cardiothoracic Surgery in downtown Visalia

Kaweah Health is opening its Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinic in downtown Visalia. At 505 West Main the t Kaweah Health clinic replaces a private practice cardiac clinic that is now closed.

The 3000sf clinic, open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 505 W. Main St., will be home to Kaweah Health’s cardiothoracic surgery team led by Dr. Frederick Mayer. The clinic will offer patients surgical procedures to treat diseases and conditions of the heart and chest performed at Kaweah Health Medical Center.

“We are happy to welcome back Dr. Frederick Mayer, who led our inaugural cardiothoracic program,” said Gary Herbst, Chief Executive Officer of Kaweah Health, whose program is one of Healthgrades’ America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery. “It has been great to see him return to Kaweah Health and be welcomed with such open arms by our physicians and staff.”

Tulare groundwater sinks

In December 2020, Tulare’s average standing water level depth was 196 feet. In December 2021, the average standing water level depth was 204 feet, representing an 8-foot drop from a year ago the city utility board heard.

-January 11,2022-

No rain till end of January

That wet pattern has dried up in January with no storms in the offing until the end of this month. That is the forecast two weeks out showing high-pressure dominating the West Coast until a good size storm breaks through around the 25th to Feb 1 perhaps lasting multiple days.The storm looks to have push from both the north, off Alaska and the tropics – a potent combination.
Here is how the GFS models it as of 1/26. Looks like an AR!

High prices for dairy products

Consumers may not be celebrating but the Central Valley dairy industry are not complaining considering their high input costs.Record high prices for butter, cheese and milk powder this month.Butter prices worldwide are nearing $3/ lb and the spot price here is $2.78 lb today compared to $1.14/lb at this time a year ago. Export happy milk powder averaged $1.05 in 2020 is $1.72 today. Dairymen are looking at $22 milk in the early part of the new year – best since 2014 when Kings County dairy operators got $21.90 per cwt.

from Oregon Public Broadcasting

Good ocean conditions could be good news for salmon, NOAA says

By Courtney Flatt (Northwest News Network)

Fish swimming out to sea over the past year have lucked into some of the best water temperatures and food abundance along the West Coast in the last 24 years, according to an analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began monitoring ocean conditions.

That could be good news for salmon and steelhead over the next few years, biologists said.
The welcoming waters in 2021 appear to be the second most favorable for fish since scientists with NOAA began monitoring ocean conditions, said Brian Burke, research fisheries biologist at NOAA Fisheries.

“It’s sort of been this growing picture of, ‘Wow, things are really looking good right now across the board,’” Burke said.
The 2021 ocean conditions were bested by what Burke called a phenomenal year in 2008, after which researchers saw an increase in salmon and steelhead runs for several years.
The researchers measure a variety of signs that make up good ocean conditions, including sea surface temperature and the amount of food available to young salmon.
This past year, researchers observed a large upwelling in the winter and spring, which brought cold waters from deep in the ocean to the coastline, creating perfect growing conditions for salmon and steelhead that migrate out to sea, Burke said.
The upwelling brought many deepsea nutrients to the surface, he said. The extra food helps the salmon grow quickly. As young salmon become larger, they escape the clutches of predators such as seabirds, he said.
“The upwelling created a really productive coastal system,” Burke said.
That productivity has built slowly over several years, Burke said, after a string of hard years for ocean-dwelling fish.
A mass of warm water known as the Blob hammered the West Coast marine ecosystem, peaking in 2014 and 2015. The Blob left fewer food sources available to young salmon entering the ocean. The marine heatwave also forced more predators to eat salmon. In addition, it caused the largest algal bloom harmful to crabs and clams recorded on the West Coast.
These marine heatwaves are becoming more common, according to a news release from NOAA about a 2019 expanse of warm water similar to the Blob.
The recent cold upwelling was a welcomed relief from the heatwaves and will likely benefit juvenile salmon and steelhead that traveled to the ocean this year, Burke said.
However, nothing is guaranteed. For example, he said, predators could swoop in and take a bite out of the growing salmon. The NOAA ocean condition assessment doesn’t account for predators.
On the other hand, the beneficial ocean conditions also help a lot of anchovies, sardines and smelt, Burke said, which could give predators more fish species to snack on.
Right now, Burke said, the researchers individually evaluate each sign that points to how hospitable the ocean is to fish, when in fact, the entire system is linked.
Eventually, he said he would like to design a way to look at the ecosystem in a more connected way, similar to a flow chart. In that sort of approach, he said, researchers could pinpoint where a bottleneck might arise in the web of ocean conditions.
Moreover, Burke said he hopes an ecosystem-wide approach to monitoring ocean conditions could help fisheries beyond salmon management. For example, he said, commercial fishers in Oregon could plan business moves several years in advance.
“Commercial fishers could know about things like squid distribution ahead of time or even estimate squid distribution based on things like marine waves,” Burke said.

Will California pork producers follow state poultry/egg farmers expansion here?

-January 6,2022-

Is there a California bacon shortage? Not yet, even though Prop 12 rules requiring more space for breeding pigs are in effect in California this new year. Besides worry about supply, there are fears that bacon will be going to $9 plus per pound. My one pound of bacon, bought at a local store after Jan 1, cost me $7.95. Other area grocers have bacon on sale for $5.98/lb. So far so good.

The 2018 animal welfare voter referendum passed statewide by 63%, requires egg-laying chickens, veal calves and pigs be given more room to stand up and turn around in farmer’s barns. For pigs, the rules ban the use of gestation crates. The rules apply to any producer who wants to sell pork in California ,even companies from out of state.

Despite the popularity of the proposition statewide – Kings County voted 57% no.

Regardless of the January 1, 2022 deadline and a 4-year wait to implement the law, most pork producers both in the state and outside have yet to comply with the new standard – a minimum of twenty-four square feet per pig. Rabobank estimates that just 4 to 5% of pig producers have done the construction work on the enhanced space mandate.

Producers argue that final rules by California have not been published.

California Pork Producers representative Jill Damskey notes that “final regulations are not yet approved and U.S. pork producers have been reluctant to make changes until they know exactly what is required.”

Even as they make that argument, opponents are lobbying the Supreme Court to throw the regulation out although they have declined to do so in the past. The industry insists adoption “could potentially mean limited availability of pork products for Californians which could lead to dramatic impacts on prices paid by consumers.”Some estimates expect an increase of 50% to 60% in California.

Others disagree. “There may be a brief period of disruption [when the regulations start Jan. 1], but nothing like the apocalyptic predictions of significant long-term shortages or drastically higher prices,” Richard J. Sexton, report co-author and distinguished professor of agricultural and resource economics at UC Davis, told CNN Business.

Corcoran’s Farmer John’s hog ranch owned by Smithfield Foods maintains a “we’ll see” attitude. ”As you may know, the California Department of Food and Agriculture is more than two years late in providing final Prop 12 regulations, so there are no definitive rules with which to comply at this time.” says company spokesman Jim Monroe.

No shortage for now

CDFA’s spokesman Steve Lyle says comments on new state rules are expected to be completed by mid-January, 2022. The agency says optimistically “we have had many discussions with pork producers who are planning not only to be compliant, but to expand their operations. Additionally, we believe there is sufficient product already in the supply chain to carry through for a number of months.”

The state consumes 15% of all U.S. pork so it is an important market for all the US pork industry that is concentrated in the corn belt.

Pressure to comply with California standards comes not just from California voters but major food companies like McDonald’s and Whole Foods who are backing the standard as are European countries where the US industry wants to export.

The California pork industry is small by comparison to other state crops generating just $26 million in annual revenue compared to $1.3 billion in the poultry/egg sector, $3 billion for cattle or the top crop, at $7 billion – milk.

The idea that animal welfare rules in California would lead to skyrocketing egg prices turned out to be true for a few months a couple of years ago. Today, California eggs fetch a slight premium but adoption of the cage free standard is now nationwide and a dozen large eggs at the grocers this week in my town was $2.50.

There are plenty of egg ranches in California numbering about 6500, says CDFA. That includes ranches, some very large, in the Central Valley they continue to operate after the new rules were put in place.

Implementation of welfare rules for meat chicken has led to expansion of poultry ranches right here in Kings County with both Pitman Farms and Foster Farms expanding their ranches in the county and adding millions of birds of capacity – many free range operations.

The operators say they plan to continue to meet consumer demand. Will the state pork producers do the same?
Covid case spike hits California & Kings

A sudden increase in new cases of Covid-19 is being seen in both California and Kings County after the new year. New cases reached an average of 52,855 in California – a 552% increase in the 14-day average.In California, the number of patients hospitalized with Covid has increased 73% but deaths statewide are down 17%. In Kings County there was also a spike as of January 4 of over 500 new cases,up from an average of 58 in mid December. Kings Country has recorded 389 deaths in the past year of which 371 were unvaccinated, says the county health department. At nearby Kaweah Health there are 35 Covid cases but just 3 in the ICU as of January 3, reflecting the idea that as of yet, the Omicron variant is less lethal.

New home permits up in 2021

Permits for single family homes in Kings County climbed to 328 in 2021 according to figures from Construction Monitor. The homes were valued at $98 million. In 2020 just 208 new homes were permitted for $50 million. The pace in home construction in 2021 still lags 2019 when 441 single family homes were permitted for $196 millions but ahead of 2018 when they permitted 292 new homes.
The top home builders in the county in 2021 were number-one Lennar followed closely by San Joaquin Valley Homes, each with over 200 homes.

Mortgage rates creep up

Mortgage rates had been drifting modestly higher in general in the past 2 weeks, but the pace is accelerating in the new year ,say the Mortgage Bankers. The net effect is an average conventional 30 yr fixed rate that is now closest to 3.375. For most of the past 2 months, the range has been 3.125-3.25%.

John Deere tractor leaves out the farmer

Look Ma, no farmer! John Deere has announced a “set and forget” autonomous tractor coming to a field near you later this year. With this technology, farmers will not only be able to take their hands off the wheel of their tractor or leave the cab — they’ll be able to leave the field altogether, letting the equipment do the work without them while monitoring things remotely using their smartphone.