Category: Business

-October 24,2020-

Source: UC Merced

Staff worked under ash-filled skies to evacuate the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks archives to UC Merced in mid-September fearing a wildfire could overrun NP headquarters in Three Rivers.

Ward Eldredge warily monitored the fire’s progress. As curator of the archives of the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI), he deliberated what would need to be done if the nearby Castle Fire continued its approach toward the parks’ headquarters.The air around Three Rivers grew thick with smoke. It was looking bad.

“The fire had exhibited some very alarming behavior — long runs, great distances travelled,” Eldredge recalled.

Residents of the Sierra Nevada foothills community spent the weekend of Sept. 12-13 preparing to evacuate. And, if the fire reached the town, Eldredge reasoned, “it’s only five more miles up canyon before we get to headquarters.

“That’s when everybody started looking at this very closely — the idea that the fire might reach the headquarters complex,” he said. “If that’s the case, there’s going to be a whole bunch of things at risk.”

130 year history

The archives contain the 130-year history of Sequoia, the country’s second-oldest national park: documents dating to its founding; tens of thousands of photographs and negatives; early journals of guides and rangers; plant samples of every known species; and a collection of precious baskets from the Yokuts, some of the land’s earliest inhabitants.

All of it was at risk. To save it, quickly and safely, Eldredge turned to a relative newcomer on the landscape — the 15-year-old campus of UC Merced.

At  the mountain headquarters has a complete record of what a national park is, what a national park could be, how it has changed over the course of the 20th century. That story is told in this really fascinating documentary record.”

The artifacts include documents from the Mather Mountain Party, a group of influential figures led by industrialist and conservationist Stephen Mather, whose 1915 trek into the Sierra was instrumental in creating the National Park Service the next year.

“That trip was in Sequoia National Park,” Eldredge said. “We have a photo album that was assembled and belonged to one of the participants, Mark Daniels.”

There are photo albums documenting the Civilian Conservation Corps at the end of the Great Depression; park budgets and manager logs; the diaries of individual rangers who spent summers in back country cabins; administrative correspondence with outside agencies such as the Sierra Club; and wildlife observations, including all manner of bear incidents.

“Essentially, anything that happened in Sequoia and Kings Canyon,” he said. “It’s hard to exaggerate the breadth of the records.”

Having the help of UC Merced, he said, enabled them to move 12 herbarium cabinets — large metal cases — holding the parks’ collection of 8,000 plant samples known as “vouchers,” which Eldredge said are “the ultimate proof that something is here.”

“With the changing ecosystems,” he said, “it’s really important to have that physical, tangible proof.”

As the team prepared to leave Three Rivers, Eldredge said, “I was so shattered because it had been multiple days of stress.”

“There were several lucky breaks — a compounding of good fortune. And a whole bunch of that was just the good will of UC Merced. Just utterly and completely. There were parts of the collection that we wouldn’t have been able to get out without their help.”

The cooperation has sparked discussions on how UC Merced could further collaborate with the parks and Yosemite National Park, about 75 miles northeast of the campus.

“Both Yosemite and SEKI archives are located in very vulnerable locations,” Emily Lin, the UC Merced librarian said, noting that a 2018 fire nearly reached Yosemite’s archive building. “It would be a disaster if either of those were ever destroyed by fire. The other challenge is, where they’re located, they’re less accessible to researchers.”

UC Merced, Lin said, hopes to also become a hub for a “mountain-valley archive,” one that encompasses the Sierra Nevada region as well as the agricultural collections of the San Joaquin Valley.

 Tulare County backs Setton Pistachios expansion despite CRLA lawsuit

-October 5,2020-

The small farmworker town of Terra Bella in the southern part of Tulare County has just 780 households, families that average about 4 per household, 87% Latino. The community has several  ag-based industries including the region’s only lumber mill, 4 citrus packing houses, a fertilizer maker and the Setton Pistachios nut processing plant -all clustered in the industrial part of town.

By far the largest employer in town is family-owned Setton Farms who employs 750 full-time and 1000 during the harvest happening right now. This year the alternate bearing crop is huge and Setton expects 50% more pounds processed – the highest level ever.

But the processing plant in town has had a problem. At times it has an odor problem. Community members have complained about a fly problem associated with the odor saying families could not open windows or go outside and adding that the town’s businesses suffered. The issue has been ongoing for several years but is worse during harvest processing.

Setton says they can fix it by improving their wastewater treatment process and piping recycled waste water further outside the city. This happens in many ag processing plants in Valley cities who ship water out of town under the close eye of the Central Valley Regional Water Board.

But a citizens group in town – Terra Bella Voice for Change – says the community has suffered for years and with the help of legal counsel – California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) has sued the County of Tulare for permitting a planned Setton expansion project without adequate  environmental analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).The suit was filed September 18.

Yes, it is another pistachio lawsuit against Tulare County with the first legal action brought by ag giant Wonderful trying to void a permit for a rival Terra Bella area pistachio plant expansion. That company is ARO,affiliated with the Assemi family.

Days before the County approved the expansion permit for Setton that  includes improvements in the handling of the wastewater, Setton signed a Cease and Desist Order Aug 13 with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board requiring the company to fix the odor problem once and for all – prohibiting Setton from creating an odor nuisance that impacts the community.

Cease & Desist

If Setton violates this order, it can be fined up to $10,000 per day, per violation, and may lose its wastewater discharge permit. The community group, Terra Bella Voices for Change- celebrated a victory for their efforts.

Despite this water board victory, their attorneys- CRLA were adamant in opposing Setton’s expansion plan filed with the County even though that plan includes fixes for the odor problem. They also sided with Wonderful in their action against ARO.

A county staff report explains their view of the issue. ”In November 2019, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella applied for an Authority to Construct Permit (ATC) application with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District . These building permits are required in order to implement necessary odor reducing corrective measures at Setton’s plant in Terra Bella. To date, the ATC permits have not been approved by the Valley Air District. These corrective measures are part of a requirement imposed upon Setton to resolve odor issues that were present in prior year’s harvests.”

The County adds “Setton has fulfilled all County permitting and entitlement requirements. The County has approved an Addendum to the Mitigated Negative Declaration for the 2015 Community Plan of Terra Bella which reaffirmed that there would be no additional environmental impacts from the construction as a result of the ATC permits. These proposed uses are consistent with the existing zoning for this part of Tulare County. The County has conducted the required CEQA analysis necessary for the ATC permits. All of these measures are taken in order to help correct the odor concerns. For these reasons, a letter of support is being considered (to the Air Board) as the County believes Setton to have met all the necessary requirements to move forward.”

Not following CEQA?

Interestingly,the argument that the County did not study impacts properly has recently been made in another pistachio dispute involving the state’s largest nut processor Wonderful Pistachios who sued Tulare County aiming to stop another Terra Bella nut company from expanding.  Wonderful had successfully stopped the same owner in Fresno County last year but their request to void the ARO permit did not convince the Tulare County Superior Court who ruled in early September.

In that case CRLA also opposed the ARO permit using the same argument- that Tulare County had not followed properCEQA procedure.Tulare County insists they followed the same process that was used in a number of Wonderful projects approved in Tulare County in recent years.

Waiting for the Air Board

To date the Valley Air Board has not yet approved Setton’s permits and the County has urged them in Sept 22 letter to follow through and approve  them.

CEO of Setton, Lee Cohen says he expects the Air Board to approve them ”any day now” and is optimistic they will be approved.

“We are operating full bore harvesting and processing our current crop and using some new technology and strategies for the past 4 months that reduce the odors, he maintains.

“This is a problem that is industry-wide and engineering firms in the Valley are busy working on different ways to process ag wastewater.”

He says Setton has a meeting in November with all the players to go over what Cohen says has been a successful trial period using the new technology.

Cohen notes the company has decided to pipe more wastewater into their orchards that will be beneficial in a number of ways, replenishing groundwater, reducing odor impacts at a wastewater reservoir in town and adding nutrients to the soil in the orchards. He adds that orchard soil better absorbs the wastewater with decreased odor impacts. He states that the issue” has been a challenge” and the experience “has been a learning curve for us.”

Setton’s permit application includes expansion of company land available for wastewater application from 409 acres to 892 acres.

The County staff report adds “the project does not contemplate increases in discharge of process water from the expanded facility.” The project does not include modifications to wastewater ponds that  now receive water from the facility. But to decrease the potential of existing ponds to cause “objectionable” odors, the project will construct a pipeline to significantly increase the land area for the wastewater and therefore reduce the amount of wastewater stored in the existing ponds says the County staff report.

Still the CRLA lawsuit wants a Tulare County Superior Court judge to cancel the County approved permit including the planned pipeline that is being used to reduce odors in the town.

Canceling a permit during harvest may be a lot to swallow for a judge in Tulare County. The trade group American Pistachio Growers commenting on the timing of the  Wonderful lawsuit countered that “once pistachios are harvested, they must be hulled and dried within 24 hours, otherwise quality degradation occurs.“ Without the expansion of the ARO Pistachios facility, this would put potentially 100’s of farmers at risk for the timely processing of their commodity.”

The County points out that Setton has contributed to the well being of the small town through the building of parks and a proposed school. They have donated several infrastructure improvements to the community of Terra Bella, such as curbs, gutters, sidewalks, a crosswalk, a bus stop, and storm drainage improvements.

New school in works

Indeed, Setton recently announced that next year the Setton Academy will open to high school grads from Terra Bella to learn ag  automation basics and robotics in a lab setting for a chance to gain higher skills that should be good for their future. The school will open next summer.

Yokut Gas Station will will grow to 40 pumps

-September 30,2020-

The Tachi-Yokut tribe’s casino business has been suffering this year due to COVID-19, like everyone. While they do not release visitor numbers, Las Vegas casinos do and that gambling Mecca has seen a drop of 55% in their visitor numbers year to date.

There is no doubt that the pandemic has cut into the average count of 5,800 patrons per day coming to the Lemoore resort. These patrons are made up of leisure travelers, day visitors, entertainment fans and casual diners – all groups that due to mandatory and self imposed restrictions are staying home instead of spending money at venues like the Palace.

Go bigger despite pandemic

But this year’s trend has not slowed down plans to do a major expansion of the Palace resort as seen in a new environmental assessment released September 23. A virtual public meeting will be held via Zoom on October 7th, to receive comments on the project. The public meeting will start at 5:00 p.m. and will run until the last comment is heard or 7 p.m.

The plan in a nutshell – don’t retreat- go bigger. In the gambling world it is called ‘double down’.

On the table are planned expansion of 43,518 square feet of additional gaming floor space, a new 35,000 sf bingo hall/event center, 120-room hotel tower, 20,000 sf conference center, three-story parking garage with 1,000 parking spaces, and additional on-site water and wastewater treatment facilities.

The tribe says the expansion will mean an additional 100 jobs.

Already the existing resort is impressive.

The existing Tachi Palace Casino Resort, owned and managed by the Tribe, consists of one three-floor casino that contains gaming areas, bingo hall, seven restaurants, retail areas, administrative offices, and general circulation space. The gaming floor encompasses approximately 70,000 square feet (sf) of the 337,418 sf building with 1,998 Class III and 110 Class II slot machines, and 27 game tables.

The Coyote Entertainment Center is connected to the casino on its northern side and is approximately 82,415 sf. The center includes a sports bar and lounge, a cinema and a variety of games, including pool, bowling and arcade games. The hotel is approximately 125,000 sf, has 255 guest rooms and suites, and includes an on-site pool, spa, fitness center, gift shops, business center, and an indoor concert theater of approximately 20,000 sf with 1,198 seats. On-site parking facilities consist of 2,000 paved surface parking spaces.

When you add it up, the Palace would see about 60% increase in gaming square footage, a 50% increase in hotel rooms and a third increase in parking.

The adjacent Yokut Gas station and convenience store would increase its fueling capacity adding 34 gas and diesel pumps to bring their total to 40 as well as more than doubling the number of slots. With this, Yokut Gas would be one of the largest gas stations in the Central Valley.

New Compact

Asked what this means for Kings County – Supervisor Doug Verboon says the tribe and Kings County are negotiating a new compact right now that the Rancheria needs to maintain its license. The new compact will mean more money for police and fire in the county, he expects.Verboon says he has been told by tribal officials that the current pandemic and rules have made it difficult to operate but it’s possible rules  could be  loosened soon.He says he has meeting at the Palace next week. Asked for comment the Palace administration did not return phone calls.

Eagle Mountain getting newer and bigger too

Of course another nearby Indian casino, the Tule tribe’s Eagle Mountain near Porterville is betting that newer as well as bigger is better with the approved relocation of their casino from a remote  site on their reservation, 12 miles into the foothills to the City of Porterville.

The timetable to build this new resort is not much different from  the construction schedule in Lemoore with the  two competing for visitors. The new resorts will be just 55 miles apart.

The relocated Eagle Mountain casino would include a 250-room hotel, 29,000 square feet of convention space, a sports bar, restaurant, buffet and food court, entertainment lounge and 1,700 seat entertainment center.

The US Department of Interior is expected to approve the plan to bring  the new property in trust, a move recently approved by Governor Newsom. The deadline for the Department of the Interior decision is near – October 2.

In addition the tribe recently made the existing Eagle Mountain facility smoke free.

Coalinga goes to pot

No Central Valley city has traveled down the cannabis road more than Coalinga – now with 7 active tax-paying business operations in town and 3 to 5 more pot enterprises knocking on the door for city approval. Only Woodlake has a similar aggressive track record.

Coalinga Assistant City Manager Sean Brewer says there is an upcoming hearing for a new outdoor cultivation business in town (Oct 1) as well as a cannabis consumption lounge on Oct 6.

The outdoor cannabis farm would be in the city industrial area at 185 W. Gale Ave. The development, owned by Claremont Capital Partners, includes the cultivation of commercial cannabis in hoop houses and greenhouses on approximately 13 acres, the renovation of several existing accessory buildings for drying and curing, onsite improvements, construction of greenhouse structures and planting of cannabis plants.  The applicant estimates they will have 2-3 harvests per year.

Three phases are planned. Phase 1 of the development will be to commercially cultivate approximately 9.76 acres of commercial cannabis (possible hoop houses), renovation of five (5) of the existing industrial buildings on site, demolition of one existing building. By Winter 2020 Phase 2 is expected  to include the cultivation of an additional 1.53 acres of commercial cannabis, including additional security, fencing, a 6,500 sf-nursery greenhouse, and optional construction of green houses for cultivation of mature plants. Phase 3 of the development plan will include an additional 1.87 acres dedicated to commercial cultivation in the north portion of the property.

$1.4 million in revenue

This project will generate at least 5 new full time jobs (possibly more part time work during harvest), cannabis licensing fees and cultivation taxes in excess of approximately $1.4 million at full build out at the current tax rate.

So that would be $1.4 million in city revenue from one project.

As it is Brewer says the city’s 20/21 budget, just adopted, expects cannabis related revenue to the city of $1 million this year.That covers almost a third of the cost for the Coalinga police department.

-September 23,2020

There is still no announcement from the popular burger chain nor from the City but a statement that In-N-Out will open a Tulare location is expected in the next few weeks. The City Council has been asked to contribute to the off-site cost of constructing the development according to an upcoming City agenda item.

The highly anticipated project, next to Evolutions on Prosperity, has been rumored for over a year and now appears to be ready to hatch with a rapidly expanding drive-thru chicken eatery – Cane’s Chicken Fingers – to be located next to the In-N-Out pad on a site plan without naming the tenant.

Tulare Mayor Jose Sigala said he could not confirm the In-N-Out deal but did confirm Cane’s would be next door. An announcement of the whole deal will come from the City soon confirms Sigala.

Cane’s is also building a new restaurant in front of the Sequoia Mall in Visalia, also in Hanford and may be planning a second Visalia location next to In-N-Out’s new Riggin and Dinuba Blvd spot, about ready to break ground. In Bakersfield Cane’s has a store nearby another In-N -Out as well.

A Tulare staff report on the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) project says the development could bring in $3 to 5 million in sales tax adding the 2 fast food operations also will create more than 100 to 150 jobs. The report adds that construction of the 2-unit, dare we say double-double, fast food development could start later in September. Sources say that schedule will now slip to October.

The City agenda item postponed from Sept 15 says the project, owned by John Roberts and Kent McNiece is “asking for an economic development assistance grant for $21,357 as a contribution to the installation of public improvements associated with a four- acre retail development on Prosperity Avenue in the City of Tulare.” The report cites the cost of the left turn lane.

The agenda item has now been postponed to an upcoming meeting, expected October 6.

Like some corporations, In-N -Out does not like the word getting out on their plans but after 2 years of activity involving the Tulare hospital who formerly owned the parcel and now the involvement of the City in subsidizing the project – the word has spread.

–August 26,2020-

CalTrans plans work between Exeter and Lindsay includes 4 Roundabouts

Cal Trans plans to make operational improvements on State Route 65, State Route 198 and State Route 245 in Tulare County with construction of the first phase beginning in 2026. The big project includes four roundabouts. The improvements include straightening out the curve along Hwy 65 at Lindsay. Two roundabouts would be constructed on the new alignment. Roundabouts would be constructed at Hermosa Street and the north end of the new alignment where it reconnects with State Route 65, A new roundabout would-be built at the intersection of 65 and 198 near Exeter as well.

Significant drop in COVID cases at Kaweah Delta

Visalia’s Kaweah Delta Hospital reports a continued drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations.From a high earlier of 91, COVID hospitalizations  have now dropped to 38 as of Aug 25. 10 ventilators are in use out of a supply of 48.

Electric Car market share rises in California

The latest snapshot from the California New Car Dealers Association shows the electric vehicle market share for the first half of 2020 climbed to 13.4%. The number is the combination of electric and hybrid vehicles including plug-in hybrid. Electric only  climbed to 5.8% – up from 5.1% last year and 4.6% in 2018. Hybrids made up  5.6% of all sales, them number from the last period. Total electric sales like the number of all vehicles sales in California are down from year ago.Tesla for example had half the number of new registrations in the 2nd quarter than it did in the 2nd quarter of 2019 but its market share went up YTD in 2020.

Used car sales up/new cars not so much

Edmunds research says used vehicle retail prices are rising during the coronavirus pandemic. Edmunds analysts say used vehicle trade-in values are also increasing dramatically. Edmunds data reveals that the average value for all vehicles traded in during the month of July climbed to $14,066 compared to $12,083 in June, marking a 16.4% increase that is just shy of $2,000. Their analysts note that limited new vehicle inventory and a surge in demand for used vehicles are driving values up.

As for new cars the California New Car Dealers Assn recently reported that although there is an upward trend in new vehicle registrations but they are expected to fall 22% this year compared to the last.That is still better than the latest quarter in California when it hit a low point. In the first 6 months of the year passenger car sales dropped 35.6% while light trucks fell 20,5%

Oil companies closing refineries, converting some to biofuels

Count them – four California oil refineries are being shuttered with several being converted to produce low carbon biofuels it was recently reported. Phillips 66, Global Clean Energy, and Marathon Oil all plan to convert their California petroleum refineries to produce renewable diesel from plant oils and animal fats. Phillips 66 will also shut their big pipeline that brings crude north to the Bay Area and will also  close their pipeline connected refinery in Santa Maria, the company announced. The  SF Phillips 66 refinery will be re-tooled as the state’s largest biodiesel plant  In Kern County a refinery conversion in Bakersfield will use a new feedstock: Camelina sativa, an oilseed crop grown in rotation with wheat. Global Clean Energy bought the Alon Refinery for $40 million in May. It plans to make renewable diesel starting in 2022 and has a deal to sell 2.5 million bbl per year of the fuel to ExxonMobil.

County establishes 4.7% cost of living index

Tulare County cost-of-living index will be pegged at 4.76% for 2019-20 using a new formula  based on local non-residential new construction in the county.The county could have used the California per-capita personal  income index which was 3.73% but chose the higher  amount that would return a higher state appropriation.

Kaweah Delta studies 24 hour pharmacy

Kaweah Delta staff is looking at the possibility of establishing a 24 hr pharmacy in the city ,a service not available now. Spokesperson Laura Florez-McCusker says ”We are interested in having a 24-hour pharmacy in town to serve our community, and we have carefully evaluated the feasibility of opening one. Unfortunately, it is cost prohibitive at this time. In response to these studies, we have extended hours and now cover many holidays in order to better serve the population. We have also developed a strategy to fill the prescriptions of patients who are discharged from the Emergency Department when there are no other pharmacies open.”

Election notes

Dems gain in registration in Tulare /SLO counties

State registration numbers show Democrats have gained vs Republicans in the traditional GOP leaning counties of Tulare and San Luis Obispo counties.

In the case of Tulare County, Republicans still outnumber  Democrats by 71,234 to 61,132 Democrats in the latest count as of July. But that spread of about 10,000 voters countywide is smaller than September 2018 when the the spread was over 14,000 in favor of the GOP – 65,527 Republicans  vs 51,107 Democrats.

Another note -Tulare County has approved 12 new voter drop boxes in the county that are being set out to make voting easier this year.

In SLO County the registration trend is similar. Democrats now outnumber Republican registration, reversing a long term trend. In September 2018, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 59,171 to 57,076. By July of 2020 the numbers are 66,247 Democrats vs 61,883 Republicans- a swing of about 6 thousand in favor of Democrats.

-August 14,2020-

Many of King County’s top crops are having a tougher time this COVID-impacted year.

Hemp

That includes newcomers like industrial hemp – not faring well a year after a boom in new plantings spread across both US and here too.

Deputy ag commissioner Mario Gutierrez says last year Kings County saw plantings of over 600 acres of hemp.But this year at the same time, plantings are down to just 90 acres countywide.

”There was a rush last year with high hopes” says Gutierrez, but low market prices have dampened that enthusiasm.

Bloomberg reports that “ U.S. farmers appear to be fleeing the hemp market after a rush last year to meet over-hyped CBD demand resulted in plunging prices and warehouses full of unsold supply. Pricing and data firm Hemp Benchmarks said there’s been a “notable contraction” in permitted hemp production capacity this year, with U.S. licensed acreage down more than 30% from 2019..”

Looking at all the crops ,Kings County officials say the 2019 crop report should be available by the end of this month, although it is year behind what is happening now.

Cotton

This summer many of the county’s major crops are suffering low prices. That includes cotton, once king of Kings County.

The state CDFA reports that California cotton acreage in 2020 is expected to be down around 30% from last year.

The current total mapped acreage is 171,170 acres (down from 243,795 acres in 2019). The breakdown of cotton acreage is 34,945 acres in Fresno County (down from 69,615 acres in 2019), 10,825 acres in Kern County (down from 18,240 acres in 2019), 86,705 acres in Kings County (down from 98,415 acres in 2019), 440 acres in Madera County (down from 935 acres in 2019), 31,665 acres in Merced County (down from 41,690 acres in 2019), and 6,590 acres in Tulare County (down from 14,815 acres in 2019).

Of all the counties, King County appears to be down the least.It’s a far cry from fence-row to fence-row acreage seen in 1979 – almost 300,000 acres.

The on-going trade war between China and the United States has been a factor in helping collapse cotton prices to a ten-year low in 2020.

Tomatoes

Processing tomato growers agreed recently to $80 a ton price from processors for their 2020 crop. According to growers, this is just about the cost of production given today’s higher costs.

The California Processing Tomato Assn offered this perspective this summer.”Recent softer market conditions are a result of slowing global demand for processed tomato products, decreased California exports, and increasing processing capacity. California tomato exports increased from 8% of total annual movement in 2009 to more than 17% in 2014. California production and processor capacity also expanded. Since 2014, California exports have fallen by 30 percent, and are now around 12% of total annual movement. Over the same period, per capita tomato consumption and global demand has been flat. As a result, California processing capacity utilization has decreased. This put downward pressure on price.”

Yield has been flat since 2012 says the association. Kings County is the third largest county for processing tomatoes at 27,000 acres, well behind Fresno County.

Kings lost a major processor when Lemoore-based Olam shut down last year. Grower production costs are increasing says the association. The main drivers of higher costs over the next 3 to 5 years include the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and labor.

Milk

After years of low returns Kings dairymen caught a break for the past 6 months despite nationwide COVID concerns. Prices for some dairy commodities were record high earlier this summer but now they appear to be heading south as fast as they had traveled north.

Trade group California Milk Producers say the months of better times saw operators adding to their herds but in the past week Class 111 milk futures “fell off a cliff” for September dropping from $21 per cwt to $16 as volatility appears to be the name of the game. With little back to school demand in the offing, dairy farmers face an uncertain future this year.

Nuts

Another victim of trade wars are almonds, walnuts and pistachios – the boom crops of recent years, each with plenty of new trees in the ground. However, this summer there is a glut of product, a huge almond crop, as COVID and the international trade war has hurt nut exports.The U.S. exports the most tree nuts but due to Chinese retaliatory tariffs and the virus, demands are way down as are prices.

This past week The Almond Alliance of California convinced the USDA to include almonds in their Section 32 food purchase program to the tune of $40 million.The Alliance notes
that “grower prices continue to drop and there is an anticipated 3-billion-pound crop for 2020 it is clear that the assistance of a USDA commodity purchase came at a critical time”.
Almond prices that were $3/lb year ago are half that today.Walnuts are a similar story.

Pistachios are also expected to be a huge 1 billion pound crop this year and one estimate predicts prices to drop to about $2.30 to $2.40 a pound this season from $2.60 in 2019.

Poultry

One crop where there is more optimism are chickens,
Both Foster Farms and Pitman Family Farms are expanding their flocks in Kings County by the millions, both offering both organic and conventional product.Foster Farms won the bidding on 19 ranches put up for auction from bankrupt Zacky Farms, mostly in Kings and Fresno counties last year under court proceedings Demand for chicken appears to be strong.Both companies are seeking permits to expand and build new ranches in the county.

 perspective from John Lindt

How’s President Trump’s tariffs worked out for American business?

While Trump this week said he would reimpose aluminum tariffs on Canada, Joe Biden was asked if he would keep the tariffs on China?

“No. Hey, look, who said Trump’s idea’s a good one?” said Biden. “Manufacturing has gone into a recession. Agriculture lost billions of dollars that taxpayers had to pay.”

The international trade war was launched by Trump in 2018 and US producers have been the victims of retaliation since.

Today Canada announced it would retaliate against  Trump by imposing tariffs on $2.7 billion worth of U.S. goods their Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford lambasted the tariffs on Friday, lashing out at Trump and encouraging Canadians to buy local products instead of U.S. goods in protest.

Here we go again.

COVID brings yo-yo car sales in Visalia

Visalia’s largest car dealer,Don Groppetti says April sales were “a complete disaster” but by June “we had the best month in five years.”

“It seems enough people still have money,” whether from spending less elsewhere(like travel) or from federal payments. Groppetti Automotive includes sales of three of the most popular Japanese car makes.

“It’s been a challenge and we’ve had to adapt like everyone else” he adds

The dealership has been lucky with few staff affected by COVID, he says.

It’s a yo-yo sales trend riding the COVID wave.

In July the issue “has not been lack of consumer demand but lack of enough inventory” based on manufacturing backlogs.Pent up demand frustrated consumers this Spring may now be playing catch-up, he believes.

Carmakers are making it attractive to buy with low financing and record low interest rates.

“Altogether things are not so bad. We’ve had enough ingredients to have some success” even in the middle of a pandemic, sums up Groppetti.

On the national scene total new vehicle sales will reach 1,189,928 units in July 2020, down 18% from a year ago predicts ALG, Inc., a subsidiary of TrueCar.

True Car says Jeeps are selling well this summer with a boom in camping and outdoor adventure in the US vs traveling by air for a vacation.

The California new vehicle market got off to a good start in the first two months of this year, and then the bottom fell out when the COVID-19 crisis took hold in March says the California New Car Dealers Assn.

They estimate that the state new vehicle market fell by 24 percent during the first four months of 2020 versus a year earlier.New light vehicle registrations this year are predicted to fall to 1,540,000 units, a 26% decline from 2019.The association has seen a small decline in new vehicle sales in California for the past few years from 2.21 million in 2017 button they says it could fall to 1.5 million new registrations this year.

Not selling so great in 2020 are hogs- Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales fell 27% in the second quarter.The company said consumers purchased about 52,700 motorcycles globally in the second quarter, down from 71,800 in the same period a year earlier, hurt by COVID-19 impacts.

New Kaweah Delta clinic in Tulare to open in early 2021

Kaweah Delta expects to open its new clinic in Tulare in early 2021 the hospital board heard this week.The new multi-specialty care center, nearly 10,000-square-foot will be located in the former IRS building at the corner of Prosperity Avenue and Mooney Boulevard.

Kaweah Delta eyes site at proposed Hwy 99 Sequoia Gateway complex

Kaweah Delta is negotiating with Sequoia Gateway LLC for location at the proposed highway commercial center at the Caldwell/99 interchange.The potential project was listed on the healthcare district’s board agenda this week.

Sequoia Gateway has already attracted a planned Valley Children’s Hospital clinic to be part of the project – what would be a multi-phase 725,000 square foot development. First approved in 2018 the commercial center has yet to break ground although some curb and gutter work has recently moved forward. The property owners had hoped to open in 2020 but leasing has reportedly lagged. No other tenants have been announced.

Valley Children’s Hospital spokesperson Zara Arboleda reported that for their site “Valley Children’s expects to close escrow on the property in late 2020, pending the seller’s completion of necessary infrastructure improvements.”She added that future times lines for their clinic would follow.

The site is adjacent to the Visalia city limits and all approvals have been down through the county.

The City of Visalia has yet to approve a planned connection to the center from the city wastewater treatment plant across 99.

Meanwhile Sequoia Gateway owners Bill Travis and Fred Ruiz are marketing 83 acres for regional commercial use this summer, a planned future phase adjacent to the smaller highway commercial center.

Developers had estimated Sequoia Gateway would create more than 2,000 jobs and $17 million in annual tax revenue.

To be located at the southeast corner of Caldwell Avenue and Highway 99, Sequoia Gateway is to be built in phases over the next eight to ten years they announced in late 2018.

The first phase includes a Valley Children’s specialty care center, as well as gas stations and fast food restaurants.Phase two is to include hotels, retail stores, and a visitor’s center.

The regional commercial is a third phase.

Caption :planned commercial development includes medical uses but also a much larger regional commercial offering