Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 21, 2007
4. Water Quality
AG ISSUES:
Distributors eye farming changes - Associated Press
LOS OSOS:
Major Osos creditors told to wait - San Luis Obispo Tribune
AG ISSUES:
Distributors eye farming changes
Associated Press – 3/21/07
By Jacob Adelman, staff writer
LOS ANGELES - Trying to prevent more E. coli outbreaks and regain consumer confidence, some produce distributors are pressuring farmers to abandon practices that have long been considered environmentally friendly.
Fresh Express, the nation's No. 1 maker of packaged salads, is refusing to buy lettuce and spinach from farmers who don't stop using compost and recycled water.
''If there's a risk there, we don't want to take it,'' said Jim Lugg, food safety director of Fresh Express, a division of Chiquita Brands LLC.
Other shippers and handlers want farmers to stop planting native grasses that limit erosion but can attract animals and trap disease-causing bacteria.
Farmers complain that they are being subjected to requirements based more on conjecture than sound science, and that the mandates could undo years of work aimed at making farming less disruptive to the environment.
''There's been some real knee-jerk decisions made in the industry,'' said Dirk Giannini, who operates a lettuce farm in the agriculture-rich
The
One incident in September left three people dead and sickened more than 200 others. The contamination was tracked to a spinach field in
Food and Drug Administration officials said lettuce grown in the Central Valley was the likely source of an E. coli outbreak in December that sickened about 80 customers at Taco
Not all distributors are adopting the stringent policies regarding farm practices.
Will Daniels, food safety chief for Natural Selections LLC, which also distributes packaged produce, said there wasn't enough evidence linking compost use and non-crop growth on farms to the spread of E. coli.
"It's difficult to put blanket statements out there to say, 'There will be no use of grass for erosion control,'" he said.
Industry groups and government officials in
Distributors have until April 1 to sign a statewide self-regulating agreement coordinated by the Western Growers Association, which represents the fresh produce industry in
The most recent draft of the plan would prohibit deals with farmers who use raw manure as fertilizer and allow livestock near crops, among other practices.
Farmer George Fontes said companies have already stopped buying lettuce grown on his
''There's no real proven connection between contamination and compost,'' he said.
Fontes believes that using compost instead of chemical nutrients is better for the long-term health of his fields. Fertilizer can harm nearby waterways because runoff contains nitrogen and other elements that promote algae growth and decrease oxygen, killing fish, he said.
The healthier soil fostered by compost also attracts fewer insects, reducing the need for insecticides that can seep into groundwater, Fontes said.
Lugg said Fresh Express does not buy from farmers who use compost because of concerns that it could contain manure infested with disease-causing bacteria.
The company also refuses to buy from farmers who collect and reuse excess irrigation water because of worries that it could spread bacteria among crops. he said.
Giannini defended his use of reclaimed water, saying it's safe if tested each time it's cycled among crops. In addition, the practice requires less energy than pumping fresh water from wells and keeps farmers from depleting
''It would be hard to say the valley can survive with well water only,'' he said.
Many farmers along the
Now, they are getting a strong message from distributors that ''any kind of vegetation or wildlife around your crops is a food safety risk,'' said Alison Jones, an environmental scientist with the board.
Diana Stuart is studying the conflicts between food safety and environmental protection as part of her doctoral studies at the
She has found no conclusive research showing that tilling with compost or planting grass strips along waterways can spread disease-causing bacteria.
''Everyone basically agrees there's a lack of good science, but they think they have to do everything possible to restore consumer trust, so there's this need to move immediately,'' Stuart said. #
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/16944841.htm
LOS OSOS:
Major Osos creditors told to wait
By Sona Patel, staff writer
Two creditors purportedly holding the largest claims in the Los Osos bankruptcy must hold off trying to collect money owed by the town’s services district until the district can come up with a way to deal with nearly $40 million in debts, a judge ruled Tuesday.
The decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robin L. Riblet in
They had asked for permission to pursue arbitration against the Los Osos Community Services District in hopes of recovering money the agency owes the contractors.
Such a move would have essentially put the companies first in line to recover money owed by the services district. The district’s creditors have been barred from trying to collect money they are owed since the agency filed for federal bankruptcy protection in August.
According to the list of unsecured creditors filed in bankruptcy court,
Barnard and
Attorneys for Barnard and
A brief filed by attorneys for both companies said that "the arbitration proceeding should be far less expensive to all concerned if the debtor does not simply — continue to — stubbornly oppose the contractors at every turn just to avoid the inevitable ... the debtor is going to have to pay to liquidate the contractors’ claims somewhere, someday."
A newly seated district board in September 2005 halted construction on a sewer after Los Osos voters recalled the board majority that had started work the month before.
The services district was responsible for building a sewer in the town of more than 14,000, which relies on septic tanks for disposing waste.
State water quality regulators want a sewer built in hopes of halting pollution of the groundwater suspected of being caused by those septic systems. Under a plan by Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, that was approved last year by the state Legislature, the county is now charged with designing and building a sewer.
According to Deputy County Counsel Warren Jensen, Riblet agreed with the county and creditors’ arguments that the parties in the case should focus on crafting a plan to adjust the district’s debt.
The judge also agreed that if the contractors pursued arbitration with the services district, the agency would run out of what little money it has.
The construction companies were given two options: pursue their claim and have their Tuesday motion in court denied, and then re-file the claim at a later date; or postpone the issue until mid-June.
The construction companies chose the latter, which was meant to give time to the district and the creditors’ committee to work out a way to financially restructure the agency.
Jensen said Tuesday’s ruling also signaled that if at some point a plan is not developed, the contractors could be allowed to proceed with arbitration. #
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispotribune/16944545.htm
####
No comments:
Post a Comment