Growers Assess Freeze Damage
By Miles Shuper and John Lindt
Tulare County - There was a glimmer of hope that a significant portion of the central valley citrus crop may still be harvested after the devastating freeze last month appeared to have dealt a knock out blow to this year's crop.
“Today our industry has pockets of optimism in the form of quality fruit for the fresh market. They are isolated but there are there. We will harvest over the next several weeks, utilize our consumer protection program and complete the season early, a season that normally runs into June,” says California Mutual president Phil LoBue.
The official damage estimate to the California citrus crop is the following:
• Naval Oranges — 40m cartons lost at $410m
• Valencia Oranges — 20m cartons lost at $184m
• Lemons — 7.6m cartons lost at $114m
• Mandarin Varieties — 15m cartons lost at $67m
• Grapefruit — 4m cartons lost at $28.5m
That's a gross dollar loss of $800 million.
Tulare County Supervisors, who reaffirmed Declaration of State of Emergency for the 2007 Freeze, were told this week the county's citrus crop damage is about 75 percent loss of the unpicked fruit.
Agriculture Commissioner Gary Kunkel said however that the estimate was based on a five-year county citrus crop average and this year the crop was one of the best in years. He also said that only about 30 percent of the county crop was picked prior to the devastating freeze which has racked the county into disaster status. That puts the overall crop loss at closer to 50 percent of the total this growing year.
Supervisors and other county officials were quick to point out that the overall economic loss to the area is considerably more. Supervisor Phil Cox said he felt the total loss would likely run into the $2 billion range.
Supervisor Allen Ishida also noted that keeping citrus industry workers in the area is a prime concern and he cited an effort in Lindsay to find funding to create and maintain public works projects to keep employment as high as possible. He also said such a concept is likely to spread.
Only 5 Packing Houses Run Full Time
Kunkel said of the county's 59 packing houses only five are opened full time. Twenty seven of them are running part time and 25 are closed. He noted however there is some consolidation in packing operations.
He said orange juicing facilities are “backed up” with loads of damaged oranges waiting to be processed. He also said that the extent of tree damage still is uncertain but that young small trees were the hardest hit. Adding that there appears to be no “widespread” tree loss, but and he is being 'cautiously optimistic.”
Kunkel said some areas were extremely hard hit, including Lindsay and Lemon Cove, while other acres suffered less.
This week growers were out learning how to use a new black light flashlight to assess just how much crop could be salvaged. It is expected in the next few weeks that officials will have a better handle on just what is left that can go to the fresh fruit market (see other story).
“Also in early spring the industry will begin harvesting Valencia oranges and while the damage appears to be significant at this time only the harvesting results will determine the final numbers. A slightly damaged Valencia orange has the ability to heal itself. That fruit experiencing temperatures in the low 20s for 10 hours or longer is no doubt lost,” says LoBue.
“Damage varies from grower to grower,” says Citrus Research Board head Ted Batkin. “There were spots upslope that were warmers.” There is fruit but is it economically feasible to pick it? That's the question. The rule of thumb is that 20% of a grove must be good to do the picking, he says.
Specialty citrus farmer Greg Kirkpatrick, a Visalia city council member, says his family adopted a unique strategy to save their frost sensitive trees. “We bought out all the plastic they had at Fruit Growers Supply” to cover 300 trees and heated them underneath likely saving the trees.
Farmers say they ran lots of water to help keep temps up but ran out of propane used to fuel their wind machines at just the wrong time as demand for the fuel exceeded local supply.
“Even in the severe freeze we have just experienced, there are warm pockets where citrus and other growers suffered minimal damage while others have lost their entire crop. We have found oranges, avocadoes, mandarins and lemons all frost-free. Lettuce is one of the vegetable crops that took a total hit,” says grower Bob McKellar.
“It's important to recognize the wide variety of fruits and vegetables still available fresh here.”
Earlier this week several growers told the Voice that some groves in the Ivanhoe area did quite well in comparison to other areas where the total crops were frozen. Immediately after the freeze growers were getting up to $120 per ton for juice but that price has dropped in the last week.
The price for fresh oranges which were picked prior to the freeze or escaped damage were fetching in the mid to upper $30 range last week. Growers whose crops were not totally lost said their losses are not likely to be as severe as first indicated. Late last week Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual said, “Always after a disaster of this magnitude there is a knee-jerk price reaction from all production areas.” He said prices at shipping point rose 2 1/2 times above pre-freeze price but have leveled off to about 1 ½ percent now. “Obviously the industry is attempting to capture lost revenue but as mentioned a few weeks ago, there is a tipping point when product exceeds competitive levels.
Nelsen also noted the amount of good fruit still remaining on the trees. “It's amazing but it's there.” There is a significant tonnage yet to be harvested and employment in the field is still normal. Layoffs have and will occur at packing houses reflecting lower volume until the season concludes much sooner than normal.
During Tuesday's board meeting Ernie Hernandez, executive director of the United Way in Tulare County, received a $1,000 check from U. S. Sen. Diane Feinstein and $5,000 check from Tulare County Supervisors. The $5,000 represented $1,000 from each of the five supervisorial districts.
Hernandez outlined to the board how various funds are being received noting that several foundations are in the process of making contributions.
David Crawford of Tulare Works, the county welfare agency, said nearly 4,000 persons have received help and that 2,366 unemployment claims relating to the freeze have been filed. He said 1,300 requests for energy assistance also have been made. He said there has been a 17 percent increase in welfare claims over last year.
Washington Trip
What amounted to a Freeze Task Force by Tulare County and local city officials appears to have had an impact on lots of ears in Washington, D.C.
Supervisor Allen Ishida outlined last week's trip which had been planned prior to the devastating freeze which ruined the Valley citrus crop.
Although officials did make inroads into efforts to find mitigation solutions to the San Joaquin Valley Settlement regarding the Valley's groundwater needs, the original focus of the trip, the cry for assistant to the freeze disaster made headlines.
The Tulare County contingent had 18 meetings with federal lawmakers and various federal agency officials. Fourteen of those meetings dealt with freeze relief.
Ishida and others on the trip told how they had to split up into groups to meet with cabinet and agency officials in an effort to get things done. He said working with U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and Valley lawmakers, the group got considerable attention “Because Tulare County is now recognized in Washington,” he said, adding “We are not educating them” in terms of where the county is, but telling them what needs to be done and how immediate are the needs. Using prior disaster legislation sped up the process. County Executive Brian Haddix said getting the emergency aide bills attached to the allocation bills for the Afganistan and Iraq war should hasten the action on the measures.
Tulare County - Remember black lights from the 60s? Wayward youth “tripped out” on the eerie light it would give off. Flash forward to 2007 to discover that the same florescent lights can now be used to detect freeze damage in citrus groves at night or in a black light lit packing house. The new technology allows a quick and simple way for orange growers to decide what to do with their fruit a major problem right now just weeks after a devastating freeze.
The Citrus Research Board paid for research that showed that freeze damaged fruit tends to produce high levels of ethanol and the peel exterior has bright yellow dots when exposed to black light.
This week the technology was introduced to growers at Lobue Brothers Exeter packing plant and in Orange Cove in both packing houses and at night in small groups to be able to see what the damage looks like.
The flashlights can cost as little as $250 a far more cost effective method than simply guessing, says Ted Batkin of Citrus Research Board. “Until now the only way you could test for damage was to cut the fruit.” Even with the black light detection, growers are urged to cut the fruit to confirm damage. But this certainly speeds up the detection process for growers.
Right now citrus growers are waiting to see just how much fruit they can pick before they opt to send their crop to the juice market. “We definitely don't want to ship bad fruit to the fresh market,” says Batkin.
The research funded by the research group led to collaboration between Davis and USDA, says Dr. Jim Thompson, a UC Extension engineering specialist. Thompson offers the following summary of the technology:
The ethanol is detected by placing an individual fruit in a sealed plastic bag, waiting 30 minutes and then sampling the gas in the headspace of the bag with an $800, specially modified breath alcohol detector (Alcosensor IV, Intoximeters, Kansas City, MO). Any detectable ethanol (0.01mg/liter or greater) indicates a damaged fruit. Laboratory tests show the ethanol method agrees with the CDFA segment cut method on over 90% of the lots tested.
The UV fluorescence method has potential for detecting freeze-damaged fruit in the grove before picking, at the packinghouse before packing and in real-time during packing. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UVA at 365 nanometers wavelength) the outside of the peel often fluoresces with bright yellow pinpoint dots. The fluorescence appears to last for weeks after a freeze. Very preliminary evaluations of fruit affected by this year's freeze indicate the fluorescence correlates with the CDFA segment cut method for 40% to 90% of fruit.
In the grove, fruit damage can be assessed by viewing fruit at night with a special flashlight with UV emitting LEDs (Tektite, Trenton, NJ or Xenpos Electronix, Austin TX). The light must emit UV at 365 nm and adequately sized units with 14 or 40 LEDs cost from $250 to $600 each. Less expensive UV flashlights usually emit UV at longer wavelengths and are not effective. Preliminary tests suggest that even a few small yellow dots indicate damage. The damage threshold may vary among fruit lots and with differing freeze conditions. Growers will need to test their fruit with the UV light and cut fruit to determine amount of fluorescence corresponding to damaged fruit for their individual groves. But once they understand the calibration, this tool will be helpful in surveying they will be able to easily sura grove to learn where the better fruit are located.
Before packing, fruit can be run through a standard black light room and freeze damaged fruit removed. One packer who tested this approach ran a lot that would not pass grade through his black light room and was able to drop the damage level well below CDFA standards without throwing out too much good fruit. The fluorescence can be subtle (see left picture below) and the fruit should move through the room at a slow speed to allow sorters to see the damaged fruit. Fruit must be sorted before waxing because some waxes fluoresce and interfere with detecting damage. This concept can be implemented with little or no capital cost and we recommend packers experiment with this idea on a few lots with damaged fruit. Check the damage in both the passed and rejected fruit.
UV fluorescence detection is probably adaptable to high speed sorting equipment. In principle, it can be implemented by changing the illumination source in an existing sorter and writing new software for the detection camera. UC and USDA are negotiating with packing equipment manufacturers to bring this concept to market.
A new generation of simple relatively inexpensive nuclear magnetic resonance equipment can also detect damaged fruit. It has the potential of operating at packing line speeds and lab tests have shown a good correlation with fruit identified as damaged by this method and the standard manual inspection technique.
Tulare County - The passage of a statewide bond that will mean $1 billion for Highway 99 as well as voter approval in November of Measure R promise a one-two punch that will bring millions of dollars of new road and transit projects that could crank up sooner than later, says a county TCAG official, Ted Smalley.
“It's typical that big ticket projects have to wait 5 years before the money is spent,” says Smalley, “but in our case we will see construction start on many regional projects as soon as the summer of 2008. And road maintenance across the county will start this summer.” Around the rural parts of the county of Tulare potholes are legendary and in the past decade the county has had to abandon roads rather than pave them due to perennial lack of money.
Once the two measures passed last November, Smalley says the word went out to local communities “looks like we have money.” He didn't have to twist their arm to come up with priority projects that could finally move forward after years of frustration and inactivity.
Across the county, local officials have prepared their priority list of road and transit projects that will be finalized in the next few months. Tulare County manager Darryl Pyle says, rather than wait for the tax money to come in from Measure R, the county will bond for millions of dollars to start projects right away including likely the big Highway 99 interchanges Cartmill, Paige and Commercial (the new Agri Center interchange). “It looks like Measure R may pay for most of these improvements,” says Pyle a huge shot in the arm to Tulare's economic development.
Smalley says as a result of new monies “Mooney Blvd. widening could begin as soon as this summer” depending on whether the right-of-way acquisition is complete. Road 80 widening and Plaza Dr. interchange widening to 6 lanes is now scheduled to begin soon with the California Transportation Commission (CTC) approving over $18 million for the project that will be widened all the way to Dinuba. Road 108 Demaree from Caldwell to Tulare will move forward.
On Highway 99 a list of priority projects submitted to the CTC will be finalized February 28, says Smalley, with the locally approved list likely to get the green light.
“The big news here is that long suffering Highway 198 from Goshen to Hanford will be funded with construction to start in summer 2009 and completed by 2012.” This accident alley has been one of the most dangerous highways in the state (see other story).
As far as Highway 99 is concerned, local officials expect funding to be approved to widen 99 to 6 lanes from Goshen to Prosperity in Tulare the next leg with construction to start as soon as the builders are done widening 99 from Kingsburg to Goshen.
Measure R is good news for the Porterville area, says mayor Cam Hamilton noting that three major projects will be able to start construction as soon as 2008 including Highway 65 south of Highway 190, Highway 198 from 65 to the community of Poplar and work on Scranton/Indiana. “Not only regionally but for our cities Measure R will mean $635,000 in annual funding for the next 30 years. We can fix a lot of roads for that.”
Hamilton says besides the benefit of a chance to bond for money, Measure R also puts the county down as a “self help” county enabling us to go the head of the line when state funds are doled out. “That's just a huge benefit,” he says.
Transit agencies around the county will now be able to expand service beginning this summer as a result of Measure R.
As for bike lane expansions and trails these two are part of Measure R funding and will receive funding through the same process. Smalley says he expects the planned acquisition of the Santa Fe rail line between Tulare and Visalia “will be a priority program” that would allow a walking and bike trail between the two towns and likely feature a light rail line between the two cities eventually.
Visalia's Mill Creek downtown will get a shot in the arm with $5 million funding from Measure R to put in a walking trail as well helping to fund the East Visalia Civic Center plan. Packwood Creek trail work is beginning soon.
Significantly, the Measure R road tax money is likely to help offset the negative economic climate from last months big freeze that will mean millions in new construction dollars even before the benefits of new roads and trails.
Tulare County - The passage of Statewide Proposition 1B on the November ballot will likely result in the long-needed widening of Route 198 between Hanford and Highway 99. A decision about how to spend the $1.9 billion in future bonds that was approved by the voters will be announced by the California Transportation Commission on February 28.
Among the proposals submitted by the January 16 deadline was a project to convert SR-198 to a four-lane expressway from “near Hanford on Route 198 from east of Route 43 in Kings County to west of Route 99 in Tulare County.”
The project was co-nominated by Caltrans, the Tulare County Association of Governments and the Kings County Association of Governments, with support from cities in the area. It was voted as the region's top priority by both Tulare and Kings Counties.
The expansion would cost an estimated $124 million. Approximately $33.8 million of that is currently funded; the remaining $89.5 million is being sought from the Corridor Mobility Investment Account (CMIA) that was created along with the SR-99 Account following the approval of Proposition 1B.
As expected, the California Transportation Commission received proposals that cannot all be approved within its new budget. About $4.5 billion has been budgeted for state roads and more than $11 billion in proposals have been submitted. As a result, there will be competition for the funds.
“We're in pretty good shape right now,” said Alan McCuen, Deputy District Director of Planning for Caltrans District 6. “Our project is competitive and hopefully it will get funded.”
If approved, construction on Route 198 is scheduled to start in August 2009.
McCuen noted that some of the other projects have been submitted by single government agencies. “It's not likely that a non-co-nominated project will survive because they weren't jointly nominated,” he said.
Even before the California Transportation Commission decision, plans to widen Route 198 are “still moving forward,” according to McCuen. “The preliminary, engineering, environmental and design work have been completed,” he said. “We are currently purchasing property. The bid requests from contractors we can't do until we get money.”
Another project candidate in Tulare County on the preliminary draft list is the stretch of Highway 99 from Prosperity Avenue to Goshen that would be converted into a six-lane freeway at a cost of $108 million.
Eyes State Prison Crisis
By Miles Shuper
Tulare County - Fearing that the State of California will soon hang out “No Vacancy” signs at its state prisons, Tulare County is going full tilt in making space for it's own inmate population.
Another 64 beds for Tulare County inmates are expected to be opened within 90 days at the Men's Correctional Center while Sheriff Bill Wittman and his staff are keeping a wary eye on what the State of California will do with its state prison inmate crisis.
Talks between the county and the state for specific contract to house state inmates which had been ongoing for about a year have ceased and the county is working on opening even more beds and continuing to hire correctional deputies.
Although the 384-bed pre-trial facility center at the Bob Wiley Detention Center still is only a little more than half full, sheriff's officials now expect it to be fully occupied sometime next year. The facility was completed several years ago but remained vacant due to a county budget crunch on staffing and operational funding. The county's improved budget situation including the hiring of additional staff has resulted in opening more beds at the Detention Center which now houses more than 200 inmates.
At the adjacent Men's Correctional Center, the opening of the 64 new beds, bringing the total to 366, should be completed in 90 days, according to Sheriff's Capt. Kevin Mizner.
The hiring of Correctional Deputies, whose entry level pay of around $41,000 per year is comparable to a deputy sheriff, has been going well, Mizner said, noting that since August 2005, there have been about 2,000 applicants. Correctional deputies must pass department training requirements but don't have to attend the Police Officers Training Academy (POST). Correctional Deputies are armed but only while on duty.
Recruitment for law enforcement personnel has been a major issue along with departments and agencies attempting to retain their personnel.
Only last month, Tulare County Supervisors gave a 10 percent raise to probation officers in the county's juvenile detention facilities and some officials said it was not enough. County employee relations specialists Eric Martin, who said the pay increase was the result of a survey, noted that the pay for those jobs is now better the survey indicated but there still is room for even more improvement.
While official continue to increase pay and benefits, jail space still remains one of the prime problems throughout the state and Tulare County is no exception. Many counties, including Tulare County, have been forced to release inmates earlier than the term of their sentences to avoid overcrowding. Fresno County, especially, has a crisis situation and has one of the highest early release rates in the state.
Tulare County's early release total for 2006 was 2,593, and has been on the increase for several years. In 2004, the total was 1,641 and climbed more than 500 has by 2005.
While counties struggle to house their own criminals, the State of California's prison system is bursting at the seams, not only releasing inmates early but sending them out of state. Last October, Gov. Schwarzenegger issued an emergency proclamation citing overcrowding as a threat to health and safety in 29 of the state's 33 prisons. The proclamation allows Corrections officials to immediately contract with out-of-state correctional facilities to house California inmates on a temporary basis.
Just before Christmas, the Governor unveiled a comprehensive prison reform proposal to deal with overcrowding and reduce the high recidivism rate. The plan would add 16,238 beds in state correctional facilities, building 45,000 local jail beds, setting aside $1 billion for 10,000 medical and mental health beds, pursuant to the state's Receivers' plan.
Within recent weeks, plans have been in the works to send several thousand California inmates to Nevada.
Although there has been no official announcement of such a plan, county officials and others across the state are anticipating actions which would extend local jail terms to up to three years. Local jail sentences, in almost all cases, are limited to one-year terms.
Tulare County currently sends about 30 inmates to state prison each month.
“We already have a burden. I don't know how we are going to do it if the state extends local jail terms. We want them out of here as soon as possible,” Wittman says of the prison-bound inmates. “We have our own plans to worry about,” he added.
Capt. Mizner, who has been the department's jail expert, agrees that making room for local prisoners is tough enough without having to tote the state's inmate burden.
The California Sheriff's Association is scheduled to meet this week in San Rafael and Wittman expects the state prison crisis to be a major focus. He anticipates the state's sheriffs to come up with a plan of action against the state from keeping more inmates in local custody.
State Department of Corrections officials reportedly are already working on a list of criteria to determine which inmates would stay in custody locally and which would be accepted into prison.
CVS Pharmacies Coming To Tulare/Visalia
Tulare/Visalia - The nation's second largest drug store chain, CVS Pharmacies, will open at least three stores in Tulare County later this year including two in Tulare and one in Visalia. The chain is playing catch up to number one Walgreens who has been on a tear to open new stores across the nation as well as here. Rite Aid and Longs are each opening new outlets in 2007 as well.
Sacramento based developer Armstrong Development has applied for conditional use permits in the city of Tulare to open two CVS drug stores in town including one at the southwest corner of Bardsley and Mooney and a second at the southwest corner of Tulare and West.
Both projects will be heard by planning commission March 5, says planner Bonnie Simoes. The company needs a conditional use permit because they plan to see liquor.
The locations one in west Tulare and one in the east will mean popular local pharmacies on the west side will get new competition and on the east the company will pioneer a new shopping area that could bring in other retailers at a corner where there is now no commercial development.
In Visalia, a new CVS Pharmacy is planned at Houston and Demaree in a new shopping center on the southwest corner. The developer here plans a phased development, says city planner Paul Schibel that in the first phase includes a gas station and a bank and a supermarket in the second phase. The development will come to planning commission likely in March. CVS is likely to open more stores in Visalia, say sources.
Walgreens has recently opened a new store in Tulare and plans a new store at the proposed Lowes shopping center at Demaree and Riggin, says developer Craig Mangano. That corner could begin construction later this Spring.
Also in Visalia, California based Longs Drug store plans to open at a new location at the southwest corner of Demaree and Caldwell in a project that has recently got the green light from the City of Visalia and is expected to break ground this year. Longs has some 477 stores all on the West Coast. The company is relocating their Tulare store to a new site that will also have a drive thru a major factor in the construction of new chain pharmacies who seek the convenience of drive thru pick up at their new stores.
Visalia would get a 4th Rite Aid if plans for a new store also at Houston and Demaree on the west side of Demaree move forward. In Tulare, Rite Aid recently opened a new store at Laspina and Tulare Ave.
Based on the number of prescriptions, CVS actually is the largest pharmacy chain in the US although rival Walgreens has more total sales. The Walgreens combine a convenience center, dime store and beauty supply store with the pharmacy offering the convenience of 24 hour service for goods improving the popularity of their stores. Still the big money is made in prescriptions, says industry sources.
The companies have pretty much blown over the mom and pop drug stores across the nation but most look over their shoulder at Walmart who has been challenging the chains on price at their existing stores and supercenters. Walmart in Visalia is being converted to a supercenter and plans for a new supercenter in Tulare are waiting for plans to move forward at their huge Cartmill Crossing shopping center in Tulare.
New Household Water Treatment System Could Solve Hanford's Arsenic Problems
Hanford - Abul Hussam, an associate professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, will receive the Grainger Challenge Gold Award of $1 million for his SONO filter, a household water treatment system, at a gala dinner in Washington, D.C. on February 20. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced his name as among the winners of the 2007 Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability. The contest sought innovative solutions for removing arsenic from drinking water that is slowly poisoning tens of millions of people in developing countries.
The prizewinners are recognized for the development, in-field verification, and dissemination of effective techniques for reducing arsenic levels in water. The systems must be affordable, reliable, easy to maintain, socially acceptable and environmentally friendly. All of the winning systems meet or exceed the local government guidelines for arsenic removal and require no electricity.
The Gold Award-winning SONO filter is a point-of-use method for removing arsenic from drinking water. A top bucket is filled with locally available coarse river sand and a composite iron matrix (CIM). The sand filters coarse particles and imparts mechanical stability, while the CIM removes inorganic arsenic. The water then flows into a second bucket where it again filters through coarse river sand, then wood charcoal to remove organics, and finally through fine river sand and wet brick chips to remove fine particles and stabilize water flow. The SONO filter is now manufactured and used in Bangladesh.
“We have been involved in the development of electroanalytical techniques for the study of toxic species in the environment,” Hussam explained. “We are particularly interested in the aquatic chemistry of arsenic in groundwater and the development of inexpensive arsenic filters.
“First, we have developed a field technique to measure parts-per-billion level of arsenic species in groundwater,” he added. “Second, we have devised a simple method to purify groundwater from toxic arsenic species. More than 10,000 such filters are in use in Bangladesh and continue to provide more than a billion liters of clean drinking water.”
Currently, the filters are being manufactured in Kushtia, Bangla Desh, for a modest cost of $35 to $40 apiece. More than 30,000 are currently in use, solving the arsenic problems of more than 400,000 people.
Meanwhile, the Hanford City Council is looking at its options to reduce the arsenic from its water. Currently, the city's water system has arsenic levels of from four to 40 parts per billion. This is higher than the new EPA standard of five to 10 parts per billion.
To cover the cost of drilling new deeper wells by the December 2009 deadline, the city needs to raise an estimated $8 million. Among the options the city council is considering is a 25 percent rate hike.
When presented with information about the SONO filtration system, City Manager Alan Christensen said, “It sounds promising, but we'd have to find out what kind of system the state and federal government would allow.”
Christensen said that he would forward the information to the city council and to city engineers. “We'd have to do a lot more research,” he said. “I don't want to set up any expectations.”
Using the low cost filter in each home would mean cities like Hanford, Corcoran and others could solve the arsenic problem inexpensively location-by-location, rather than through a multi-million dollar system-wide solution.
Visalia Dairy Co-op Goes Hormone Free
Visalia - With corporate headquarters now in Visalia, California Dairies, who supply about 43% of the milk produced in California, has voted to go rBST hormone free at their most recent board meeting, says Gary Korsmeier, special assistant to the board.
“We've told our membership we want all milk to be rBST free by August 1,” says Korsmeier, the former CEO of the company who retired as of January. “Our buyers are demanding it,” says Korsmeier noting that Kroger (Ralphs) has announced it wants all fluid milk supplied to the southern California chain to be free of the artificial growth hormone as of April 1. Safeway and Albertsons are expected to follow. California Dairies supplies all of Safeway (Vons) milk.
“We are the first major milk co-op to go rBST free,” says Korsmeier saying he believes it will be the trend to follow. Consumer demand is fueling the trend even as organic milk products have become more popular.
About one third of the members of the cooperative, use the Monsanto-made growth hormone that is injected into cows to enhance production. “We told our producers that if they want to withdraw from the co-op, we will release them,” says Korsmeier who expects a few dairymen will.
The pressure to go rBST free is coming from fluid milk processors while dairymen who supply milk that goes to cheese aren't for the most part being questioned about their use of the product that supporters say mimic the natural hormone found in the milk anyway.
Ironically, California Dairies like other milk co-ops, is looking for ways to reduce an oversupply of milk nationwide and in California and a halt in the use of the injected hormone is expected to do just that.
Korsmeier says California dairy production was up 3.1 percent in December a “somewhat surprising” turn of events given low milk prices. He says the organization, Cooperatives Working Together, is expected to announce a new nationwide herd retirement program that they hope will cut milk production.
Korsmeier says dairymen are facing tough times these days with the high cost of corn due to its use to make ethanol. “We've been told the situation is going to get worse for dairymen since about 20 percent of the corn crop goes to ethanol and within a few years it will jump to 50% of the corn crop.”
Dairymen are experimenting with other feeds that have the impact of cutting milk production.
Regarding the co-op decision to move corporate headquarters to Visalia from Artesia, Korsmeier says the move became official in December. California Dairies will open a new plant in Visalia, a converted Frito-Lay facility, in December. The new CEO of the company is located in Turlock and most of the co-op members are now in the Valley. There are some 700 California Dairies members.
What's New
Construction is about to begin on a new 12,000-square-foot Social Security building on Lovers Lane, south of Tulare Avenue and across the street from the U.S. Post Office. The three-story building has been designed in a Spanish style by Lyle L. Munsch, A.I.A. of Canby Associates. Construction should be completed in August. The federal agency is expected to move from its Court Street location later this year. A one-story, 6,100-square-foot office building, designed to accommodate three tenants, will be built next door.
Finally some rain coming into the central valley as this issue goes to press. Still, predictions by NOAA that we would have an El Niño winter have yet to pan out. UC researcher Alexander Gershunov of Scripps told the Voice he isn't surprised and says he never thought we would have an El Niño pattern this winter and expect to be relatively dry. Significantly, Gershunov says his study of the likelihood the recent freeze and global warming ironically are related noting that the dry cold air mass that visited us had a signature counterclockwise pattern similar to all the other freezes we've seen in the 90s he suspects are related to the global warming phenomenon that causes storm events to be more exaggerated.
A Three Rivers landmark, The Cider Mill on 198 has changed hands. After 27 years Hector and Julliete Delcon have sold the restaurant to Efrain Ponce who will open a restaurant specializing in grilled chicken and steak with plans for a grand opening in the next few months. The restaurant offers beer and wine.
Visalia Industrial Park has a big new tenant, Relizone, a business form company will open a 118,000 square foot distribution center at the Allen Group's Midstate Hayes Number 2. The forms company will relocate from various spaces including some in Tulare. Also coming from Tulare, Land 'O Lakes has opened a 3200 square foot sales office for their feed division at Bill Clarks Mission Oaks office complex on Akers. In the same complex Reynen and Bardis builders have moved into their new 7500 square foot office space.
The four Visalia Rotary clubs have pledged some $50,000 toward freeze relief through the Visalia Rotary Community foundation. The money went to purchase food to be distributed through Food Link. Besides Food Link (651-3663) people who want to donate can donate through Visalia Emergency Aid (732-0101), American Red Cross (732-6436) United Way (800-283-9323) Salvation Army (733-2784) among others.
Visalia - The City of Visalia is moving closer to making a decision about annexing new land for the Visalia Industrial Park. A consultant study done last year pointed out that the Visalia Industrial Park has no land actively being marketed for sale larger than 5 acres. But months earlier they had decided to begin the annexation process on two large parcels north of Riggin at Plaza but only if land carried a 40 acre minimum parcel size.
As a result of that provision one land owner, Russ Doe, withdrew his application according to his realtor Lou Ginese.
The original idea was to bring 640 acres—320 on both sides of Plaza north of Riggin but with Doe deciding against the annexation, the annexation would now be cut down to 480 acres. The issue has been stalled for almost a year.
The second land owner, the Vargas family, is represented by an industrial developer, MSJ Partners of Los Angeles. That group continues to push for an annexation, says partner Pat Daniels who has been talking to Visalia business groups in the past month trying to work out an accommodation on parcel size that would work for both the city and his company.
Both the Chamber and Visalia EDC recently voted in support of the application to the city without specific limits on parcel size.
“We're still in conversation trying to work this thing out,” says Daniels. “We believe the industrial park should offer all sizes of parcels to meet demand.” The 2000 acre industrial park has buildings that range from over 800,000 to 2000 square feet, he notes. Daniels says the Visalia Industrial Park is about two thirds built out.
In a meeting with the BIA recently, Daniels argued that the expansion of the park could add another 6000 to 9000 jobs.
MSJ Partners of San Clemente has several industrial projects including a 116 acre project adjacent the Bakersfield airport and a 220 acre business park in Poway. The company was founded in 2002 by Hillwood West Development—a Ross Perot Jr. company. They also build residential and resort projects.
What the consultant report showed was that many new prospects for the industrial park and seek to buy their parcel rather than lease and two main industrial developers in the industrial park seek to mainly lease buildings as their marketing strategy.
The city had indicated the need for the annexation to offer large acreage parcels to potential industrial clients. Now the debate may be how to divide up MSJ Partners 480 acres to meet the need for larger parcels while still offering flexibility. Daniels says once they get the go ahead it may take two years until new industries can move in.
“I have the feeling we can work something out,” says vice mayor Greg Kirkpatrick.
Visalia faces increasing competition for industrial land from other cities in the valley and from nearby Tulare who is adding over 1000 acres to their land inventory in their new general plan.
Tipton - Fast growing Mozzarella Fresca will be purchased by a French owned company in coming months if the federal government doesn't block the transaction. The company's only production facility is in Tipton on Highway 99—the historic Arden Creamery.
Lactalis American Group Inc. announced the deal January 24 calling Mozzarella Fresca “the leading manufacturer” of fresh mozzarella lines of Italian style cheeses.
The announcement says Mozzarella Fresca with offices in Concord, California, will continue to run their operation but with added resources of the Lactalis worldwide network. Lactalis is a $10 billion worldwide dairy operation who sells cheeses under the familiar names of Sorrento, President and Precious brands.
Mozzarella Fresca will continue to be run by founder Andrew Branagh, says company vice president Jason Knight and with added financial resources of the French company “we will absolutely be able to expand our Tipton plant,” he says, likely beginning this year. At peak times the Tipton plant already employs 250 workers.
Knight tells the Voice that Mozzarella Fresca believes it has a 70% market share in the west in the fresh mozzarella food category and the products are available nationwide. These products are certified Kosher and free of hormones, says the company. The product can be found locally at Costco.
Knight says Mozzarella Fresca also makes all the Trader Joe's branded fresh mozzarella.
The gourmet cheese has exploded in popularity in the US in the past decade as the soft cheese is being used by chefs on breads, salads, and as a topping for gourmet dishes. The company has won several cheese awards in recent years for its line of fresh mozzarella, marinated mozzarella, ricotta and mascarpone cheeses. The cheese are spun or pulled from the curd and worked into a ball or shapes. Fresh mozzarella is different from pizza style mozzarella which tends to be dry and flaky instead of soft and wet like fresh mozzarella.
Visalia - The City of Visalia has offered to pay for additional work by a County-hired consultant to study a site for some County offices in the new East Visalia Civic Center area at Burke and Oak St.
Council passed a resolution this week after months of lobbying the County to weigh a location where the city plans to establish future offices east of the Downtown area.
In a letter last November, Visalia mayor Jesus Gamboa asked the county consultant, Vaniar Construction Management to be asked to consider this alternate site for expansion of county facilities in the future. Already Vaniar had been asked by the county to study expansion at the county-owned sites of Mooney and Burrel as well as Government Plaza on south Mooney.
On January 11 newly elected chair of the Board of Supervisors, Allen Ishida, wrote Gamboa that the county would not consider adding the East Visalia site to relocate the County Civic Center, but was open to the idea of consolidating “various county offices centrally located throughout the City of Visalia.” The letter said the county would order Vaniar to study an East Visalia site if the city agreed to pay the additional cost of the expanded study. Now the city has offered to kick in up to $25,000 for the study. That study is expected to take a matter of months.
Sources say if the county decides to locate a building or buildings in East Visalia, they would have the choice of either buying or leasing the office space.
The county has recently sold several properties and is sitting on a nest egg for future facilities. The latest was the sale of Sequoia Dawn in Springville. The county in 2007 is in better financial shape than in past years due in part to increased property tax receipts putting supervisors in a better mood to consider new space commitments.
Besides the City of Visalia, the Downtown Visalia Alliance has written supervisors to consider the benefits of locations in Downtown including its free trolley service that connects the area.
Allen Ishida told the Voice that the East Visalia study could take a little longer “since we are looking at the possibility of some medical space and may need some renderings.” The county leases space for its psychiatric counseling services currently. Ishida says the current study also offers the possibility of relocation from Government Plaza and building a new building somewhere. But as for the County Civic Center “we aren't looking at relocating any of these services.”
Ishida says it's important to carry out this space needs study “because we need to make a decision in the next year. It takes time to decide, time to design and probably two years to build.”
The city would welcome the county to the East Visalia where they are expected to build a new police and fire station followed by a new Civic Center and have always sought to join with other public entities including the County and possibly the Visalia Unified School District to co-locate offices in the 50 acre area—an old railroad yard that will be reborn as the city's new government, business and Downtown hub over the next decade.
Fowler - Fowler-based Bee Sweet Citrus has decided to pull out of Sunkist Growers only months after joining the marketing co-op. So says president Jim Marderosian. “We joined for one year to take a look at the cooperative and they were gracious enough to let us out after the most recent freeze,” says Marderosian saying the citrus grower and shipper will remain independent. Marderosian says the company was hard hit by the freeze but still has fruit it is shipping.
Bee Sweet Citrus was founded in 1987 and offers a line of traditional and exotic citrus. They pack some 6 million cartons of citrus in a typical year under the names Bee Sweet, Sweetheart, Royal Bee and Abeja label. The news that Bee Sweet would join Sunkist was announced just last September. Sources say Bee Sweet has not packed any fruit under the Sunkist label in the interim.
by Dave Adalian
Hanford - Owners of Modular Rubber Drains, Inc., a Goshen-based firm with a scheme for turning old tires into new products, will go back before the Hanford Planning Commission as soon as next month after losing their permit to build a recycling facility at the Kings Industrial Park due to a technicality.
According to city staff there was an error on the city’s part when issuing public hearing notices to neighboring business owners at the industrial park, and that means plans for building Modular Rubber Drain’s 12-acre facility there will have to make another trip through the review process.
“We’ll figure it out,” said Greg Graham, Modular’s vice president for marketing and a co-owner of the company along with John Koster and brothers Bob and Larry Grimes. “The products we’re going to make, we’ve already got big contracts. It’s going to work.”
Modular’s recycling process involves turning chunks of worn tires, known as tire crumb, into new products by combining old rubber with used agricultural plastic sheeting. Funded by grants from the California Integrated Waste Management Board, Modular’s products, such as roadside drains, have already been approved for use in the State Parks System and are being reviewed for use by Caltrans. Graham estimates the company will do $5 to $6 million in business during it’s first year.
But before that can happen, Modular may have to meet the objections of its prospective neighbors at the industrial park and a Hanford-based citizens group.
Prior to the retraction of Modular’s conditional use permit by the city, Leopold Wierzbickz, owner of Crown Natural Foods, a producer of yogurt, cheese and other foods, and California Bioproductex, a maker of liquid food supplements for livestock, attempted to file an objection based on his concerns over the possible effect of emissions from Modular’s manufacturing process on his own products.
Wierzbickz’s businesses occupy a location next to the 12 acres intended for Modular’s facility, and he says his was the only business in the park that received notice from the city about hearings preceding the issuance of Modular’s conditional use permit. Be believes other businesses in the park might also object to Modular’s presence.
“No matter what you produce, there is no such thing as zero emission,” said Wierzbickz, who holds doctorates in food science and bioengineering. “The city should have a special location where [recycling businesses] won’t be exposed to other industry.”
Graham says Modular’s patented recycling procedure has been reviewed twice by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and twice been handed exemptions by that body. It has also been in use for years in Utah, where it has proved itself to be safe.
“We’re not saying it’s emission-free, we’re saying it’s so low-emission it’s not even regulated,” Graham said. “The state has been trying to get this process in California for three years. They’re behind it.”
Also voicing objections to Modular’s plan are Andy and Robin Mattos, husband and wife co-chairs of the Hanford Environmental Awareness Team or HEAT. While they share Wierzbickz’s worry about possible cross contamination, the couple also says there was an insufficient environmental review of Modular’s manufacturing process and the company lacks a contingency plan in the event of a fire involving the tire crumbs.
“On the one hand, you have new technology ... to melt the plastic and tire crumb. We never saw any peer review of the process. None was included in the application,” Andy Mattos said. “Fire suppression was also a concern.”
Modular’s manufacturing process does not rely on heating tire crumbs and plastic with an external source, but causes the material to melt using “thermokinetic” mixing, which Graham says is essentially using high-torque mixers to stir the components until they blend and can then be pressed into molds.
The Mattoses, however, say material safety data information filed with the Air Resources Board is incomplete, with Graham countering that Modular’s process has now been reviewed a second time by that agency with “a fine-toothed comb.”
“They’re a very rigorous agency,” he said. “They don’t give out many exemptions.”
As for the lack of an environmental impact report, Graham said Modular has not been required by law to produce one for its proposal and that the cost of such a report could exceed $50,000. Modular has also complied with all fire safety standards in the design of their facility, he said.
“We’re meeting all the requirements we’ve been asked,” he said. “We’re not going to have piles of tires out there. We’re going to have crumbs in totes inside. It’s all stored and neat and clean. You’ll have more tire rubber stored in a tire store downtown in tires than we’re going to have on our premises.”
While awaiting results of its permit application, Modular will fill its orders using production facilities in Utah, and should the situation in Hanford prove unsolvable Modular is prepared to look elsewhere.
“We’ve been approached by some other counties wanting this business,” said Graham, adding that tax breaks such as those which drew Modular to Kings County are available in other locations. “We liked Hanford. We’re not sure they like us.”
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
February 7, 2007
