YOUR SOURCE FOR CAWG AND INDUSTRY NEWS. FOR CAWG MEMBERS ONLY. |
|
- Revisions to COVID Workplace Standards
- UFW Frustrated with Governor Newsom
-
LAO Reports on Climate Change Impacts Across California
- CDFA Awards $5 Million for Water Efficiency Technical Assistance Program
- Proposed Unemployment Benefits for Undocumented Workers
- CAWG Events: Awards Reception, Roadshow, Golf Tournament
- ...And More
|
|
Revisions to COVID Workplace Standards |
|
CAWG staff are reviewing the proposed revisions, but it appears most revisions to the ETS are relatively minor. For example, the term “high-risk exposure period” has been replaced with “infectious period.” However, one substantive change is cause for concern: the revised ETS appears to provide those employees who are otherwise required to submit a negative test result during a COVID outbreak (3 cases or more), may choose instead to take paid time off for a period from the date the employee refuses to take the test until 10 days after exposure.
A notable improvement is the elimination of all requirements to clean and disinfect surface areas in the workplace or employer provided housing.
|
|
UFW Frustrated with Governor Newsom |
|
Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed March 31, 2022, as César Chávez Day, but the UFW and farm labor advocates were frustrated he wasn’t present to celebrate the day with them. At a rally in Fresno, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero upbraided Gov. Newsom for failing to meet with them: “César Chávez’s life was all about helping farmworkers win respect and be treated as important human beings,” she said. “It is disappointing that Gavin Newsom won’t show them the same respect by meeting with elected farmworker leaders on César Chávez’s birthday.”
The UFW and their supporters marched in 13 California cities to publicize demands that Gov. Newsom sign a bill that would allow unions to control the ballot process in elections held to allow farmworkers to determine whether they want to unionize. CAWG and other farm groups strongly oppose the Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act, AB 2183.
Last year, Assemblymember Mark Stone, a Democrat from Santa Cruz, authored AB 616, a bill that would ease the way for unions to organize California farmworkers. Gov. Newsom vetoed that bill.
The UFW has misrepresented the intent and purpose of AB 616 and AB 2183, as simply allowing workers to vote by mail. However, the bill undermines the right of farmworkers to secret ballot election as the means of determining whether to unionize. The bill would grant unions, like the UFW the extraordinary power to distribute and collect ballots from workers, opening the door to rigged elections.
|
|
LAO Reports on Climate Change Impacts Across California |
|
This week, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released a series of six reports aimed at helping California policymakers think about the wide-ranging effects climate change will have on various aspects of the state’s economy and communities. The LAO has provided nonpartisan fiscal and policy analysis to the California Legislature since 1941.
The reports paint a dire picture and are intended as framing documents to help the California Legislature adopt a “climate lens” across policy areas. In an article published this week by CalMatters, a nonprofit news source, some of the report’s key findings are summarized as follows –
-
Workers in outdoor industries like agriculture, construction, forestry and recreation — 10% of California’s workforce and mostly made up of Latinos — will continue to bear the brunt of extreme heat and smoke.
-
Wildfire smoke may have killed about 20 people among every 100,000 older Californians in 2020 and is projected to become more deadly. A 50% increase in smoke could kill nine to 20 more people among every 100,000 each year
-
Housing, rail lines, bridges, ports, power plants, freeways and other structures are vulnerable to rising seas and tides. “Between $8 billion and $10 billion of existing property in California is likely to be underwater by 2050, with an additional $6 billion to $10 billion at risk during high tide.”
- Extreme heat is projected to cause nine deaths per 100,000 people each year, “roughly equivalent to the 2019 annual mortality rate from automobile accidents in California.”
|
|
CDFA Awards $5 Million for Water Efficiency Technical Assistance Program |
|
CDFA’s Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation has selected 11 organizations to receive $5 million in funding through a new competitive grant program, the Water Efficiency Technical Assistance (WETA) program. WETA was developed in response to the Budget Act of 2021, which allocated funding to support technical assistance for water efficiency and nutrient management for California farmers and ranchers.
Supported activities include providing on-farm pump and irrigation system evaluations and recommendations, providing pump efficiency testing, and delivering training in irrigation efficiency and nutrient management. View WETA awarded projects
|
|
Proposed Unemployment Benefits for Undocumented Workers |
|
The efforts of a group of California Democratic lawmakers to extend unemployment benefits to undocumented workers received a boost from a new report by the UC Merced Community and Labor Center. Authors of the report argue making unemployment benefits available to undocumented workers would benefit the California economy and families of undocumented workers.
A bill, AB 2847, introduced by State Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, a Democrat from Coachella, would create the Excluded Workers Pilot Program, a two-year program that would provide funds to undocumented workers who lose their job or have their hours reduced during the calendar year 2023. The bill, estimated to cost $597 million, plus administrative costs, would provide qualifying, unemployed individuals who are undocumented to receive up to $300 a week for 20 weeks.
The UC Merced report argues undocumented workers who play a key role in California’s economy are deserving of the same support that is available to authorized workers. The estimated one million undocumented workers in California represent 6% of the state’s 17.1 million workers. The report declares these undocumented workers provided an estimated $3.7 billion in annual state and local tax revenues. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these workers were categorized as “essential workers.”
|
|
USDA ARS Scientist Recognized for Work on Intelligent Sprayer Technology |
|
Heping Zhu, Ph.D., with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) ARS's Application Technology Research Unit in Wooster, Ohio, was recognized by the agency as a one of four Senior Research Scientists of the Year. Dr. Zhu was credited for having made significant advances in intelligent spray technology to protect diverse horticultural crops and ecosystems.
Last year, Trinchero Family Estates (TFE) conducted trials in Lodi area vineyards with new smart guided sprayer control technology developed by a team of scientists headed by Dr. Zhu. Systems are now being used in commercial agricultural applications nationwide. TFE is reported to be one of the first California vineyards to use the system and hosted the first grower field demonstration in a California vineyard last May in conjunction with the Lodi Winegrape Commission.
A key advantage of the system developed by Dr. Zhu is the ability to retrofit existing sprayer systems with a kit that uses LiDAR (light detection and ranging) on the front of the sprayer unit or tractor to scan the vine canopy and guide a series of spray nozzles to target only the canopy. This avoids directing spray into voids in the canopy.
|
|
· CAWG Regional Roadshow - REGISTER NOW · |
|
 |
May 12 | Lake County
The Ripe Choice Farm
2550 Soda Bay Rd, Lake Port
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Wine Social
Guest Speaker: John Roncoroni, Ph.D., Weed Specialist
May 17 | Madera
The Vineyard Restaurant
605 S I St, Madera
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Wine Social
Guest Speaker: John Roncoroni, Ph.D. Weed Specialist
|
|
|
|
June 27 | Lodi
Woodbridge Golf & Country
800 East Woodbridge Rd, Woodbridge
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Wine Social
Guest Speaker John Roncoroni, Ph.D., Weed Specialist
Only THREE
Meetings Left!
|
|
|
|
THANK YOU to our Regional Roadshow Premier Sponsors! |
|
|
Complimentary registration for all CAWG members.
|
|
Celebrate CAWG Awards of Excellence Winners on April 26 |
|
Please join us in celebrating the winners of this year's CAWG's Awards of Excellence Grower and Leader of the Year. The Grower of the Year and Leader of the Year will be honored with an evening reception to take place on Tuesday, April 26, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM, at the Sutter Club, located in downtown Sacramento.
2022 Grower of the Year Award winner, Bogle Vineyards. The Grower of the Year Award is the highest honor given by CAWG. It is bestowed to an individual, family or company that represents an outstanding example of excellence in viticulture and management. The Bogles – Warren, Jody and Ryan – are leaders in the Clarksburg AVA and role models for growers throughout the state through their longtime commitment to sustainability, success in producing quality wines, advocacy for their community and fellow growers, and well-deserved respect as an employer.
2022 Leader of the Year Award winner, Dr. Anita Oberholster, Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. The Leader of the Year Award recognizes an individual whose record of exceptional leadership has benefited California’s wine industry and is an inspiration to others. Dr. Oberholster is an esteemed researcher and leading voice as an educator and expert on the complicated issues surrounding wildfire smoke and winegrapes. Relentless in her efforts to educate and help growers and wineries who have been challenged by wildfire smoke issues, Oberholster has excelled as a researcher and educator. CAWG appreciates all she has done for California’s winegrowers.
We hope to see you in Sacramento on April 26.
|
|
CAWG Foundation Golf Tournament |
|
The California Association of Winegrape Growers Foundation 3rd Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament, sponsored by Duarte Nursery, is scheduled for Monday, June 27 at Woodbridge Golf and Country Club. Tournament proceeds support scholarships for college age children whose parent or guardian is employed by a California winegrape grower.
Tournament check-in opens at 9 a.m. followed by a 10 a.m. shotgun start. The tournament will be played as a four-person scramble format. The day will include games, a hole in one contest, and a reception with prizes, drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Following the golf tournament CAWG will host its Regional Roadshow reception at the club house, 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM. To register for the tournament, click here.
The 92-year-old Woodbridge Golf & Country Club is located in the heart of Lodi’s wine country and the valley’s finest wineries. The golf course features 27 distinctive holes on its three-championship course.
For information about the CAWG Foundation, please click here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
