President Trump has said that California will not receive federal aid for recovery from wildfires unless it changes its water policy and voter identification rules.

“I just want voter ID as a start, and I want the water to be released,” Trump told reporters.“After that, I will be the greatest president that California has ever seen.”

Would he really hold up aid with losses estimated at $40 billion?

Reaction has been mixed on the Trump demand. Chair of the Kings County BOS Doug Verboon says he backs the demand that includes eliminating FEMA that” has proven to be “extremely \slow to deliver aid in King County.”Bringing more water to Kings County would be beneficial, he says noting there is alway politics involved over these disputes. He blames Gov Newsom.

In a news interview Central Valley Congressman Tom McClintock said he “absolutely” agreed with conditional federal aid to California.
“No federal aid should pass through the hands of Gavin Newsom or Karen Bass or their agencies,” he said. “They’ve proven themselves to be completely incompetent in managing public lands and completely incapable of making good decisions.”

Other GOP legislators took a more moderate tone not wanting to hold LA fire victims hostage to policy disputes.

CalMatters reported that local “Rep. David Valadao, a moderate Republican who in 2021 voted to impeach Trump, urged speedy disaster relief without mentioning any conditions. “The federal government must act quickly to save lives and homes, and once we know how much federal support California will require to rebuild, it is imperative we move as quickly as possible to deliver aid,” he said in a statement.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, who won re-election by 10 points in November, advocated on the House floor for a federal inquiry into “political failures that enabled this catastrophe” but stressed that it should not “stand in the way of getting immediate relief to the victims.” On Friday, he clarified to KCRA that he would not support tying aid to policy changes unrelated to wildfires. “

Also this week,President Trump has signed an order directing federal agencies to “maximize” water deliveries in California and “override” state policies if necessary.

The California State Water Project in 2024, saw the proposed allocation start at 10 percent and increase to 40 percent. Full allocation years, or 100 percent allocation, are rare with only one such allocation in the past decade in the extremely wet year of 2023 say officials.

Jobless rate update
The unemployment rate in Kings County was 8.4 percent in December 2024, up from a revised 7.9 perce November 2024, and below the year-ago estimate of 8.9 percent.

New Hotel planned in Hanford
Hanford’s Planning Commission approved a proposal to build a three-story, 105-room hotel called TownePlace Suites by Marriott. The proposed project is located at 12236 W. Lacey Blvd.
to be reassigned to 1920 W. Lacey Blvd, located next to FoodsCo and across from Planet Fitness.The project required a conditional use permit that passed Jan 28.This is the first Marriott-branded hotel in town.The chain is number three hotel operator by number properties in the US.

Burris Park exhibit of early Kings agriculture

Antique Images from the Collection of Michael J. Semas will be the new exhibit scheduled for the Carnegie Museum of Kings County called “A History of Kings County Agriculture”. The Burris Park Museum has also made contributions to the exhibit that features everyday farm scenes, farmers and farm workers around the turn of the century. The exhibit will open late February.

Here is your wake-up call! Breakfast items are breaking the bank even as incoming President Trump vows to lower grocery costs. Consider the increase in market price for these popular staples on your kitchen table. Info from Trading Economics.

Coffee prices …. ………….. up 76% from a year ago
Orange Juice prices………. up 537% year over year
Egg prices………………….. up 193% year over year
Milk prices……………………..up 35% from a year ago
Butter prices…………………..up 31% from a year ago

Before complaining about being gouged, know that coffee, OJ and egg production are all being impacted by weather extremes and infectious viruses. A tropical virus coupled with intense heat-juiced hurricanes has reduced the Florida orange crop in the past 20 years from 240 million boxes to 12m/boxes in 2025, pretty much a wipe-out.

Meanwhile the bird flu has killed 70% of the egg-laying hens in California in the past few months. As for your cup of Joe, heavy rain in Vietnam and not enough rain in Brazil has reduced the world coffee crop, spiking prices.

If the cost of these breakfast items is not enough, try the most popular ready-to-eat cold cereals on for-size, courtesy the Post Company. Each comes with the only cheap breakfast food ingredient – sugar. You pay later – at the dentist.

Jan 10 Update: DOW is now down 1800 points since Trump’s win. Oil prices are now up over $76 barrel and your gasoline price at the pump is up over 5 cents a gallon even as there is Too Much supply! US gasoline inventories rose by 6.33 million barrels last week, significantly exceeding forecasts of a 1.5 million barrel build, marking the eighth consecutive weekly increase.

No relief on your grocery prices or that mortgage rate either.

The there is the rising value of the dollar vs other currencies that makes our ag products sold overseas more expensive for customers to buy. Here is the Dollar Index today.

30 year mortgage rates keep climbing

Tulare County Association of Realtors website publishes regular monthly figures on the state of the local real estate economy.

This month’s trend is not your friend as it takes 31% longer to sell your home than just a year ago. Today it is more than 40 days using the latest November numbers.It is even worse compared to 3 years ago -up 121% from that time when homes were selling in under 20 days on average.

Sales are down 13% even though listings are up 8% for the first two weeks of December compared to a year earlier according to Trendgraphix.

If you are a seller, the good news is that the average home is selling for about 12% more than a year ago – about $426,000 this month.

The trends are the same nationally.

Redfin reports Dec 31 that over half of home listings last month sat on the market for 60 days or longer—the highest November share since 2019. That’s a major reason housing supply jumped 12%.
Active listings—the total number of homes for sale—climbed to the highest level since 2020 in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, rising 0.5% month over month and 12.1% year over year.

For all the talk of America’s housing shortage, one would think that’s great news. But the story is nuanced; a major reason for the jump in supply is a pileup of unsold homes, many of which buyers have deemed undesirable because they seem overpriced.

Over half (54.5%) of home listings in November sat on the market for at least 60 days without going under contract. That’s the highest share for any November since 2019 and is up from 49.9% a year earlier. The typical home that did go under contract in November did so in 43 days, the slowest November pace since 2019.

Mortgage rates don’t help

Meanwhile 30-year mortgage rates have unexpectedly risen almost a full point since October according to Zillow,making homes less affordable

30 year mortgage rates per Zillow

It didn’t take long for new Lemoore City Manager Marissa Trejo to realize she had her work cut out for her. Marissa has served as the City Manager for the City of Coalinga since 2015. Starting work in Lemoore this September, the fourth generation local resident faced a city budget crisis that would require residents to vote on a sales tax hike in a matter of weeks.The community of 27,000 has had a structural deficit for years as operational expenses outweighed revenues. Would the community be willing to increase taxes?

The answer came in early November as Measure S, a one-percent sales tax hike, won big with 67% approval of voters.The measure is expected to bring in an additional $3,850,000 annually to the city’s general fund. Sales tax monies are not just paid by residents of the community, but tourists, visitors and nearby residents who shop in town such as the thousands who live at the naval air base.
Although Lemoore will have to wait until April 2025 for the new sales revenue to make a difference, Marissa Trejo was able to juggle the budget enough to soon open the community recreation center seven days a week not only for sports activity but the indoor walking track that is so popular in town.Currently, the center is open Monday through Thursday.

Then there is some good news on the ice cream front. While landmark Foster Freeze closed in town earlier this year, Lemoore now sports a Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor that opened recently.
But the big news in town is the long-vacant Kmart building is in escrow with developer California Gold Corp who will purchase the 87,000 square-foot building, install a new Tractor Supply store along with other retailers.The building has been vacant for  6 years.
California Gold has rejuvenated multiple shopping centers around the Valley including construction of a new center in North Visalia that also includes a Tractor Supply.

Leprino shocker
Trejo and the whole community were shocked to hear in mid-November that the long standing cheese plant called Leprino East was announced to be closed in late 2025 with the loss of about 250 jobs. “Like everyone else, I first learned about it on Facebook when employees started posting the news.”
Later a company executive visited city hall and explained to Trejo the schedule to close the dairy plant.”I feel so bad for the families who are affected”, says Marissa.A Leprino official explained that the closure of the block-long Leprino East plant would not affect the operation of the much larger Leprino West plant that employs about 1000 workers. He explained that there were four main reasons why they were closing the Leprino East facility1. TheLeprino East facility dates from 1910 and is small and aging by modern standards.2. California’s business climate leads to higher costs.3  California milk production is down about 4% while other states are up 11%. Milk production is moving east, she was told.4  Leprino is building a sprawling new production facility in Lubbock Texas making the same mozzarella product as they do here and opening in January 2026.The Lubbock Economic Development Alliance announced Leprino Foods, a global leader in mozzarella, whey protein and other dairy ingredients, will invest $1 billion to build a state of the art manufacturing plant located on 258 acres. Marissa says she was disappointed that the company did not offer a transfer option for the employees to work at another Leprino facility.
Lastly, Trejo noted Leprino was putting the property on the market and was told the company was optimistic that it would sell, meaning another manufacturer would likely take over the operation of the facility in the future and bring some jobs back to the community. 

High end beauty supply retailer Sephora will open a 5000 square-foot full size format store at the Sequoia Mall in the spring of next year. So says Paynter Realty executive Jim Sanders who adds that construction of the store next to Barnes and Noble is already underway. The new outlet will be just north of the bookstore.

The new Sephora stands in contrast to the smaller inside department store model that the company has in Visalia already, about half the size of a full service store. That idea started with JCPenney – then relocating to Kohls in 2022.It will stay open.

Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products, offering nearly 340 brands alongside its own private label, the Sephora Collection. Its products include cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, nail color, beauty tools, body products, and hair care items.

The company was founded in Limoges, France in 1969.

“Getting them to land a full line store in Visalia is really exciting.” says Sanders.

Sephora and rival retailer Ulta are two industry-leading beauty product retail stores with quality products, enticing loyalty programs, innovative technology, sustainability efforts and in-house beauty services. Both now have locations in Visalia with Ulta located at Packwood Creek.In general, Sephora is considered more upscale in their offerings. Sephora offers waxing, skincare and makeup services in full service stores.

Every Ulta store is also a full-service salon. While you can go to Ulta for all of your beauty product needs, you’ll also be able to get hair services, waxing, makeup and lashes, skin services and ear piercings. They offer a wide collection of beauty products, from drugstore to high-end, along with their own line of products.

Also at the Sequoia Mall, Sanders says that the new Skechers opened on October 24th and Carter’s opened on October 31st.They are both located adjacent to Hobby Lobby.

Sander adds that several new tenants are close to signing leases at the mall.

559 California dairies impacted – over 7 million hens lost

• Central Valley is epicenter for the contagious virus
• A call for coordination between poultry and dairy industries
• USDA announces milk supply testing
• State egg industry hardest hit
• Fresno raw milk dairy operator may advise Trump administration

New cases of bird flu are being discovered and posted daily by USDA and CDFA for both the dairy and poultry industry in California. Bird flu is also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).The virus is spread by infected wild birds which can carry the virus without themselves getting sick.

The two farm animal businesses are some of the state’s
most important ag industries, clustered in the Central Valley, sometime just down the road from each other.The names of the affected facilities are not made public. But when more than half of the state’s dairies are quarantined due to the virus and some 7 million chickens in the state had to be destroyed including over 5 million egg layers – almost 50% of the egg laying flock in the Golden State – Californians might want to pay attention.

The 7 million chickens number comes from about 40 affected commercial flocks and 24 backyard flocks.

Testing Ordered

Late last week the US Department of Agriculture on Friday ordered testing of the nation’s milk supply for H5N1 starting December 16 in a number of states including California.

USDA announced this just as raw milk from a Fresno dairy was being pulled off the market because it was found containing the virus. Now in a twist, the operator, Mark McAfee, a proponent of drinking unpasteurized raw milk will be asked to join the Trump administration as an advisor to RFK Junior, whose office will oversee food safety issues. Mr. McAfee denies that his dairy has been infected by bird flu.

Meanwhile, the poultry industry is reeling from the financial impact of so many ranches being devastated in the state. Bill Mattos, who heads up the California Poultry Federation, calls the situation “really scary.”

No state has had more commercial poultry flocks affected by HPAI in 2024 than California, and the acceleration in new cases shows no signs of easing.

The latest count (Dec 6) brings the number of commercial flocks in California to be affected by HPAI this year to 26. Of those, four were in Stanislaus County (home to very large egg operations) and two were in Sacramento County.

The H5N1 virus that has been prevalent in these California poultry flocks has also been spreading in commercial dairy cattle in the state as well. According to APHIS, 269 cases of H5N1 have been confirmed in California dairies just in the past 30 days

The Valley’s poultry industry has been on a similar viral infection timeline to local dairy farms coinciding with the annual wild bird migration, the original source for the disease.

But now there is concern the stair step rise in infections at both confined animal facilities may be linked, with one affecting the other? Research shows that the virus can travel on dust particles carried by wind, says the industry publication EggNews.

Call for coordination

Mattos is calling for coordination between the poultry and dairy industries in California as they each struggle to survive. USDA has indicated they will meet with leaders in both industries soon, he says.

Unlike the dairy industry now suffering modest production losses and a limited number of cow deaths, poultry infections require the destruction of the entire flock leading to a devastating financial impact on the operator.

Already one of the state’s largest egg producers based in Wasco in Kern County – Central Valley Eggs – has filed a state WARN notice this past week announcing the permanent layoff of 56 employees. While there is no word on whether this was bird flu-related, two large unnamed Kern County egg ranches had to destroy a total of over 3.2 million birds a few weeks ago according to USDA.

Large egg ranches in Merced and Stanislaus County were just reported as well.The Merced ranch lost 1.7 million birds.but the number at Stanislaus egg ranch has yet to be released.

There is concern that other poultry operators will not be able to handle the impacts. The spread of the virus is costing farmers significant financial losses but may create more opportunities for the strain to mutate into something that could spread from person to person, says one study.

Poultry Federation president Mattos says eggs from California will be in short supply incoming months. Ranches wiped out by the virus will probably not be back in production for at least four months. USDA says the price of eggs in California has gone up about a dollar in the past week to over six dollars a dozen.

The farm gate value of California egg production is estimated at $537,600,000. In 2020, nearly 14 million laying hens produced four billion eggs in California. In early 2024 that number was down to 11.4 million before the current losses that are expected to reach half of that.

EggNews reports this past week that nationwide-year-to-date losses have attained approximately 24 million hens with the fall wave in progress. There is currently a deficit of approximately 12 million hens compared to the 2022 flock of 326 million at the onset of HPAI.

Besides egg ranches losses, the spread of the virus in the poultry industry also hit Central Valley farms raising turkeys, ducks and meat chickens called broilers.

12 cases of bird flu in Kings & Tulare poultry ranches

Since September 1, when the virus was first found in California, Tulare County has seen six poultry operations hit; Fresno has nine; Kings County has six; Merced has six and Stanislaus County has three – all put out of business for at least months.

UPDATE : ANOTHER TULARE RANCH HIT DEC 11

Some in the poultry industry are calling for USDA to provide a vaccine to ward off the virus. Already California condors have been inoculated with such a vaccine.

There is concern that any new vaccine program would have to pass muster with RFK Junior slated to preside over the federal agency in charge, the Department of Health and Human Services.

The USDA has also approved field trials to test vaccines that could prevent dairy cows from getting the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

UPDATE: SEC AG AG VILSACK CONFIRMS DAIRY VACCINE TESTING UNDERWAY

The latest news in the dairy sector is that as of December 6 CDFA confirms H5N1 bird flu in two more California dairies with a total of 506 ranches infected so far but released 20 fully recovered dairies from quarantine.

UPDATE: DEC 12: 559 CALIFORNIA DAIRIES HIT AND 32 RECOVERED

California citrus is the last guy standing- led by Tulare County

The latest USDA forecast of citrus production in Florida predicts the 24/25 orange season will result in the harvest of only 12 million boxes for all types of oranges. Florida produced over 44 million boxes in the 22/23 season. But the most recent hurricanes have hastened what you can reasonably call the collapse of the Florida industry that once produced over 300 million boxes of the tangy fruit.

The 12 million box projection would be the lowest volume of Florida oranges sent to market since the 1930s.

This 2018 USDA chart shows the rapid decline in production in Florida starting in 2009 as citrus greening disease started to take hold.

Florida not only has periodic freezes and regular and increasingly powerful hurricanes to deal with, but now has a rampant spread of citrus greening bacterial disease that has devastated the state’s citrus groves.

By contrast, California citrus regions, while having to deal with occasional freezes, have not suffered massive kill off of trees in the Central Valley nor hurricanes and has yet to suffer any infection from citrus greening infections.

USDA now says California is expected to produce just under 50 million boxes of all types of oranges this year, including Valencia and navel varieties. California also has a large volume of tangerines and lemons, which Florida does not enjoy.

California is forecast to produce 25 million boxes of tangerines and 26 million boxes of lemons this season.

Added to the oranges, California is now producing over 100 million boxes of citrus while rival Florida is down to about 13 million boxes of all types.

California is clearly the last major US citrus producing state with tiny volumes of all types coming from Florida, Texas, and Arizona. Tulare County is now the US largest citrus producing county added to its status as the number one milk producer in the US.

Tulare County is now the US largest citrus producing county added to its status as the number one milk producer in the US.

California’s Mediterranean climate stands in contrast to the tropical weather found in Florida leading to more destructive storms and insect pressure compared to the Golden State.

Floodwaters from Hurricanes Helene and Milton may have accelerated the spread of invasive wildlife and plant species into new areas of Florida and Georgia, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed this past week in a news release.

Foreign imports of citrus and particularly orange juice far outpaces US production led by Brazil,now forecast at 378 million 90-pound boxes.

The latest USDA numbers were published December 10 after two high intensity hurricanes fueled by the superheated waters of the Caribbean pounded Florida.

Caption: USDA chart from 2018

Joslyn Sunbank,a long time aviation and aerospace component maker will close their Paso Robles plant in coming weeks, laying off 64 employees. The plant has been a fixture in Paso Robles since 1958 with many employees who have worked decades at  the 1740 Commerce Way facility, some with a 50-year tenure, say sources. The news comes from a state WARN notice published this week laying out the time table for the permanent closure in mid-January 2025.

The company is a manufacturer and supplier of connector accessories and conduit systems to aerospace, military and commercial industries. The firm markets its products through a network of representatives and distributors in the United States. Joslyn Sunbank is a manufacturers of electrical wiring harness connector and conduit accessories
Joslyn Corporation purchased Sunbank in 1988, and Esterline acquired Joslyn Sunbank in 2013.Ireland-based Eaton acquired Souriau-Sunbank Connection in 2019. Eaton is a power management company that provides energy-efficient solutions. Eaton(NYSE:ETN) announced it had completed the acquisition of the Souriau-Sunbank Connection Technologies business of TransDigm Group Incorporated for $920 million.Headquartered in Versailles, France, Souriau-Sunbank is a global leader in highly engineered electrical interconnect solutions for harsh environments for customers in the aerospace, defense, industrial, energy, and transport industries. Founded over 100 years ago, the business has a workforce of approximately 3,200 people and manufacturing facilities in France, the Dominican Republic, India, Morocco, Mexico, and the United States.