Australia Post: Canberra Fresh Deciduous Fruit Report 2009 USDA FAS

Australia Post: Canberra Fresh Deciduous Fruit Report 2009 USDA FAS


Report Highlights: Domestic and export market conditions for apples and pears have been described as difficult with a historically high Australian dollar reducing the competitiveness (and returns) of exports. Production of apples for CY 2010 is forecast to decline to 275,000 MT. Production of pears for CY 2010 is forecast at 105,000 MT, down significantly on the revised estimate of 125,000 MT for the previous year.


General At the time of writing this report, Australia continues to suffer drought conditions despite receiving rainfall in the second half of CY 2009. Irrigation water supplies continue to remain at historically low levels and this, along with difficult market conditions, has continued to place downward pressure on area planted to deciduous tree fruit and tree numbers. Market conditions have been described by industry sources as “difficult”, with competition from other fruits placing downward pressure on prices. Stone fruit has been described as particularly competitive this year. Export conditions have also been described as difficult with an historically high Australian dollar reducing the competitiveness (and returns) of apples and pears for export. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publication “Agricultural Survey, Apples and Pears” which previously served as post’s principle guide, has been discontinued due to a lack of funding. As a result, post is now unable to adjust back year data in line with an official Government of Australia (GOA) data series. Post will continue to review ABS data changes in the future. Post has relied on Industry sources to estimate production across the S&D series.


Biosecurity Australia Australian quarantine regulation effectively prevents the importation of apples despite efforts by countries such as New Zealand to open the Australian market to imported apples. On October 29, 2009, Biosecurity Australia a released a draft Import Risk Analysis report for fresh apple fruit from the northwest states of the United States.


The draft report proposes that the importation of apple fruit be permitted, subject to quarantine measures for pests and diseases of quarantine concern. The draft report was put out for public consultation for a period of 60 days and concluded on December 21, 2009. Respondents to this consultation have included Australian State Government Departments as well as Australian Industry groups. The United States Department of Agriculture (Animal Plant Health Inspection Service Agency) is also listed as a respondent. Biosecurity Australia is expected to review the comments received before revising the Draft IRA. For more information see Biosecurity Australia’s website www.biosecurityaustralia.gov.au Pears Production Production of pears for CY 2010 is forecast at 105,000 MT, down significantly on the revised estimate of 125,000 MT for the previous year. If achieved, this level of production would represent the lowest level in over a decade. Poor pollination in the second half of CY 2009 accounts for a large part of the decline. However, the industry also remains under longer-term downward pressure from steadily falling tree numbers. Poor climatic conditions, a lack of irrigation water and poor prices have seen production contract steadily since 2000/01. Source: ABARE/DAFF

Thousands protest sheriff's immigration efforts - Washington Post

Thousands protest sheriff's immigration efforts - Washington Post

PHOENIX -- Thousands of immigrant rights advocates marched in front of a county jail in Phoenix Saturday in a protest that was aimed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration efforts and was marked by a clash between a small group of protesters and police officers.

Organizers say the protest was meant to show officials in Washington that Arpaio shouldn't handle immigration enforcement, and that Congress and the Obama administration need to come up with a way for immigrant workers to come to the country legally.

The three-mile walk that started in a west Phoenix park ended by afternoon at the Durango Jail Complex, a collection of five jails, where officials played music, including a record by singer Linda Ronstadt, to drown out noise made by protesters. Ronstadt took part in Saturday's protest.

Protesters chanted "Joe must go" as they approached the jail complex. One person carried a sign that said "We are human" and bore a picture of a lawman with a wolf's face. A family of five wore T-shirts saying "Who would Jesus deport?"

For his part, Arpaio said he wasn't bothered by the protesters and that they should be directing their frustrations at Congress because it has the power to change America's immigration laws.

"They are zeroing in on the wrong guy," Arpaio said. "They ought to be zeroing in on the president."

ad_icon

The demonstration was peaceful until police say protesters near the end of the procession started throwing water bottles at officers. Phoenix Police Lt. Pat Hofmann said officers used pepper spray as they tried to separate protesters from an officer who was trying to take away the bottles.

Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said on-scene supervisors described a group of demonstrators purposefully disrupting the demonstration by assaulting several police officers and a police horse.

He said one demonstrator struck a police sergeant on the head and chest with a flagpole. Two others threw water bottles, possibly containing rocks, at other officers, but missed.

Hill also said a police officer on horseback was assaulted while her horse was mobbed, punched and pushed. The officer used pepper spray to stop the assault.

"Most regrettably, a nearby 2-year-old child was hit by some of the pepper spray," said Hill, adding that the Phoenix Fire Department was called to the scene to treat the girl. "I am told she was released and was expected to be OK."

No one else was seriously injured, he said.

Phoenix police said Saturday night that five people were arrested during the protest and taken to Maricopa County Jail. Four were booked on suspicion of aggravated assault on police. The other faces disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Though the scene of the disturbance was cleared within minutes, the aftermath was chaotic. Protesters yelled obscenities at police officers in riot gear. One officer shook his pepper spray canister as he ordered people to keep moving. One protester wore goggles, and several others wrapped bandanas around their mouths.

Critics have accused deputies working in Arpaio's immigration efforts of racial profiling, which the sheriff denies. He says his deputies approach people when they have probable cause to believe they had committed crimes.

Ten months ago, Arpaio learned he was under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for alleged discrimination and unconstitutional searches. He says the investigation was prompted by his immigration efforts, although federal authorities haven't provided details.

Since early 2008, Arpaio has run 13 immigration and crimes sweeps involving officers who flood a section of a city - in some cases heavily Latino areas - to seek out traffic violators and arrest other violators.

Arpaio's power to make federal immigration arrests was stripped away three months ago by officials in Washington, but he continues his immigration efforts through the enforcement of two state laws.

A federal grand jury also is investigating Arpaio and his office on allegations of abusing his powers.

Piñera wins presidency as Chile returns to the right FT

Piñera wins presidency as Chile returns to the right FT

Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire businessman, has defeated Chile’s ruling leftist coalition to return the right to power for the first time since the return of democracy after General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990.

The silver-haired airline magnate, who has pledged to implement a change of style but is not expected to make big policy shifts, scored a clear victory over Eduardo Frei, a former president who had been seeking a fifth consecutive term for the ruling Concertación coalition but failed to overcome the left’s image as stagnant and riven by infighting.

With 99.2 per cent of the vote counted, giving Mr Piñera a lead of 51.61 per cent to Mr Frei’s 48.38 per cent, the former president conceded defeat. It was the right’s first victory at the ballot box in Chile since 1958 and bucks a South American trend with the left in power in many countries from Venezuela to Brazil to Argentina.

“I want to congratulate Sebastián Piñera … I wish him success,” said a grim-faced Mr Frei, flanked by two other former Concertación presidents, Patricio Aylwin and Ricardo Lagos. President Michelle Bachelet also telephoned him with congratulations, urging him to continue on the path of social justice plotted by the left in the past two decades.

Political analysts said Mr Piñera owed his victory more to voter dissatisfaction with the left than an embrace of the right in a country where memories of the Pinochet years are still raw. But delighted followers drove through the streets of Santiago honking horns and flag-waving supporters thronged the hotel where Mr Piñera was expected to make a victory speech later.

“This was a vote much more for a change of pilot than for a change of course,” said Patricio Navia, a political analyst. “Chileans want to see new faces.”

Mr Piñera, 60, who holds a doctorate in economics from Harvard, sought during the campaign to allay fears that a return of the right would revive ghosts of the Pinochet dictatorship. He has made ambitious pledges for his four-year term which begins in March, including the creation of 1m new jobs and 6 per cent a year economic growth in the world’s top copper producing nation which joined the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development this month.

“This is perfectly feasible,” said Felipe Larraín, who is tipped by some analysts to be Mr Piñera’s finance minister.

Mr Piñera, described by colleagues as a pragmatic, tireless man motivated by winning, will have to work with a divided Congress on his policy plans, which include improving the education system and potentially opening up state-owned copper giant Codelco to private investment. After the government of President Michelle Bachelet used windfall profits from Codelco to cushion the impact of the recession in Chile, Mr Piñera could use more of the cash to fund spending programmes, analysts say.

Mr Piñera, who built a business empire spanning an airline, television station and Chile’s top soccer team, is worth a reputed $1.2bn but cultivates a down-to-earth image complete with brightly coloured plastic watch.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

New Official Named With Portfolio to Unite Agencies and Improve Food Safety - NYT

New Official Named With Portfolio to Unite Agencies and Improve Food Safety - NYT

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, moving to address the nation’s fractured food safety system, on Wednesday appointed Michael R. Taylor, a veteran food expert, as deputy commissioner for foods at the Food and Drug Administration. The newly created position is the first to oversee all the agency’s many food and nutrition programs.

The federal government’s oversight of the nation’s food supply has for decades been split among 13 disparate and sometimes feuding agencies. The result has been a growing menu of food recalls, including contaminated peanut butter, spinach and cookie dough, and the annual sickening of about 70 million people.

With new powers and extensive Washington experience, Mr. Taylor is supposed to fix this mess. But he is likely to be on a short leash.

Some powerful legislators in Congress had proposed creating a new agency combining the government’s many food functions. The compromise legislation headed for passage by spring will instead invest more food authority and money in the F.D.A. functions Mr. Taylor will oversee.

But if Mr. Taylor proves unable to prevent or quickly resolve the growing number of food scares, the idea of a separate food agency is likely to be revisited.

In an interview at a Washington coffee shop, Mr. Taylor said his biggest task was readying the F.D.A. to handle the new powers that Congress will soon give it. The legislation is expected to grant the agency the power to recall suspect foods, require manufacturers to establish plans to prevent contamination, and increase food inspections.

“Unless we work in a more unified way, we won’t be able to implement the law effectively,” Mr. Taylor said.

Setting safety standards for produce — a source of a growing number of food scares in recent years — is a top priority, although the task is enormously complicated, Mr. Taylor said. Even more difficult will be enforcing the rules, since there are more than two million farms in the nation, he said.

Mr. Taylor started his career in 1976 as an F.D.A. staff lawyer and over the next three decades migrated among government, industry and academia. He returned to the F.D.A. in 1991 as deputy commissioner for policy and moved in 1994 to head the Department of Agriculture’s meat inspection service.

Since July, he has served as a senior adviser to Commissioner Margaret Hamburg of the F.D.A. He once worked for Monsanto, the agribusiness giant, leading some in the organic movement to oppose his appointment.

Mr. Taylor is popular among many food-safety and nutrition advocates, who call him intelligent and courageous. But he stumbled in his first major policy initiative since returning to the agency in July, and his considerable experience may have been his undoing.

Fifteen years ago, Mr. Taylor took the top job at the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the unit within the Agriculture Department that oversees meat inspections. Within weeks, he told a gathering of meat industry executives that the government would soon insist on tougher safety standards. An uproar ensued, but Mr. Taylor prevailed.

Then in November, a few months after rejoining the F.D.A., Mr. Taylor told a conclave of oyster industry officials that voluntary efforts to eliminate deaths associated with consumption of live Gulf Coast oysters harvested in warm months had not worked, and that the agency would soon ban their sale. Same speech, different audience.

But after members of Congress protested, the agency indefinitely delayed the new rules. (Mr. Taylor said that the agency was still committed to its goal of reducing oyster-related deaths.)

Dr. David Acheson, who was until last year the F.D.A.’s top food official, said the oyster reversal was the result of an alarming naïveté on Mr. Taylor’s part that seriously damaged the agency’s credibility. Dr. Acheson criticized Mr. Taylor for failing to live up to President Obama’s promise to increase significantly the safety of the nation’s food supply.

“We’re nearly a year into this new administration, and what have they done to move the ball forward?” Dr. Acheson asked. “I think the answer is a big fat zero.”

At a food-safety conference in Washington last year, Dr. Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, stood in the hallway and debated Mr. Taylor’s qualities with Russell Libby, the executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. “He’s extremely knowledgeable and public-health oriented,” Dr. Jacobson said in a later interview.

Mr. Libby responded that Mr. Taylor reflects the view “that everybody’s going to eat food from large corporations and we need someone from that world to solve these problems.”

At the interview, Mr. Taylor got coffee, but no pastry. He said that he was trying to avoid gaining the usual 15 pounds that top F.D.A. officials often pack on, but that candy corn was a problem.

“We want accountability at the F.D.A., so check back with me on the weight thing,” Mr. Taylor said.

Former McAllen mayor Othal Brand dies at age 90 - The Monitor

Former McAllen mayor Othal Brand dies at age 90 - The Monitor

McALLEN — Othal Brand, the iconic mayor credited with laying the foundation for much of the city’s boon today, died here Saturday. He was 90.

Brand died of congestive heart failure at 1:05 a.m. at Rio Grande Regional Hospital.

“He was the patriarch of our family,” his daughter Lynn Ferrell said. “He was much loved and respected.”

Brand was a polarizing figure in the city and could be a study in contradictions at times. His admirers saw him as a strong and determined leader. A deeply religious man, Brand was also an active member of Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen and an ardent supporter of education.

But his deep convictions could also get the better of him. Even his closest friends and political allies noted that he had his flaws, chief among them his brash governing style. The 6-foot-2, broad-shouldered Brand once infamously brandished a gun at farm laborers and union organizers who were attacking workers at one of his company-owned farms in the 1970s.

Several friends and family came through Brand’s McAllen home throughout the day Saturday to pay their respects.

Later that night, almost 100 people attended an annual fund-raising dinner at Valley Christian Heritage School in Alamo, where officials dedicated the school in honor of Brand and his wife, Kay.

Brand was a long-time supporter of the school and donated more than $100,000 since it opened its new facility in 2006.

“We ought to know what kind of man he was,” Valley Christian Superintendent Mary Rydl said. “He hasn’t missed (one of our annual dinners) yet. He passed today, but he’s here with us in spirit.”

Brand’s journey from a child of the Great Depression to agribusiness magnate and, finally, to political powerbroker was a long one.

Born the second of six children in rural Grayson, Ga., in 1919, Brand quit school at 16 to help support his family during the Great Depression.

His father had lost an arm in a farming accident and later suffered a stroke that left him unable to work.

So Brand sold strawberries door to door before joining his three brothers to form Atlanta-based Brand Brothers Produce in the late 1930s. The company bought fruits and vegetables from all over the South, and, eventually, in Latin America, as well.

Brand enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. He spent four years in the military, eventually marrying Kay, whom he met while both were stationed at a Marine base in Virginia.

He returned to business in Atlanta and made increasingly frequent trips to South Texas to buy onions. Liking the Rio Grande Valley so much, he and Kay moved to McAllen with their two children in 1954.



MAYOR

Brand Brothers Produce grew into Griffin & Brand Inc., the world’s largest producer of onions and one of the largest vegetable growers.

But Brand had other ambitions.

In the early ‘60s, he ran for the McAllen school board. He won and served as a board trustee for nine years. He then ran for the McAllen City Commission and won a seat in 1973.

After serving one term as a city commissioner, Brand set his sights on the mayor’s seat. He won his first race and went on to serve five terms — 20 years — before narrowly losing to McAllen lawyer and then-city commissioner Leo Montalvo in 1997. Montalvo became McAllen’s first Hispanic mayor.

Until the race he lost to Montalvo, Brand had lost just one local election and faced only one serious challenge for the mayor’s office, in 1981.

As mayor, Brand was known for his opinionated governing style and for bristling at criticism. He detested and avoided bureaucratic red tape, putting an emphasis on results rather than process.

In a 1997 article, Brand described himself as a “conservative visionary” whose foresight and planning were a major factor in McAllen’s transformation from a small agricultural community to a business boomtown.

Some of the hallmarks of his two decades as mayor included establishing what was then South Texas Community College and the McAllen Boys & Girls Club.

He also created the McAllen Economic Development Corp. in 1989 and hired priest and local activist Mike Allen as director. Allen went on to expand the maquiladora industry and bring thousands of jobs to McAllen and the rest of the Rio Grande Valley.

“He was a living legend,” said former McAllen City Manager Mike Blum, who served with him on the city’s Public Utility Board and personally delivered the U.S. presidential permit with him for the Anzalduas International Bridge in 1992. “He did so many things for so many people over his time. His service really goes way beyond City Hall into a lot of different arenas that a lot of people don’t really know about.”

Brand won a reputation for his focus on numbers and details and for diligently studying any issue he encountered in office.

But during the early 1990s, he often clashed with members of the City Commission, who complained he stacked committees with his political allies and sometimes acted without the commission’s consent on major issues such as brokering a $3.1 million warehouse construction deal in backroom negotiations.

He tended to respond to such criticism by noting he got things done while others bickered over minor details. He said the key to an effective city leader is being able to see the big picture and to plan for the future.

Brand’s fiery outspokenness mired him in public controversy in 1995, when he used his mayoral authority to stop a truck driver speeding down 10th Street.

Police tapes of Brand’s phone call to the dispatcher recorded Brand pressing the trucker on his citizenship status and asking him where he was born. He berated the trucker with a slew of expletives. Brand also asked police to check the authenticity of the man’s green card.

Brand also garnered criticism for his heavy-handed tactics in 1993, when he threatened to jail a man, who would later become a city commissioner, for speaking out at a city meeting.

Shortly before the 1997 election, Brand admitted to earning $36,000 for helping to broker a land deal between the city and a third party.

The 1997 race mostly proved to be a referendum on Brand’s leadership style and governing approach rather than on any one issue. Montalvo ran on a platform promising a more inclusive city government.

Voters elected Montalvo to office by a slim margin of just 144 votes. Brand, true to his reputation for stubbornness, challenged the results, but to no avail.



POWER PLAYER

Brand did not fade from the public scene after his loss, however.

He quickly injected himself into a 2002 debate over the location of the city’s new convention center, arguing that the proposed site in downtown McAllen had insufficient space and access and was out of step with the city’s westward growth. Brand and another former McAllen mayor, Jack Whetsel, lobbied hard against the chosen location in favor of the facility’s current site along South Ware Road.

Brand also continued to run Griffin & Brand.

He surprised many residents when, at age 85, he ran for mayor again in 2005. Brand finished third in a five-way race, losing out to Montalvo’s preferred successor, current Mayor Richard Cortez, who went on to win a runoff election.

Brand campaigned on a platform of improving infrastructure such as streets and drainage to accommodate growth, providing more job training options, keeping taxes low enough to attract businesses and bringing more transparency to city government.

“Today I believe that myself and the City Commission are the disciples of a philosophy started a long time ago: that McAllen is friendly to business and took care of family and family values,” Cortez said.

But a few months after the May 2005 election, Brand was implicated in a votes-for-money scheme.

Video of a sting involving the Texas Rangers showed a 22-year-old McAllen man offering Brand’s son and campaign manager, Othal Jr., 400 votes for his father in exchange for $4,000. Brand’s son acknowledged paying the man but said he did it to highlight the potential for fraud in the absentee voting process.

A grand jury indicted Othal Jr. in 2005, but Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra dropped the felony charges immediately after Guerra won re-election in a tight race.

Brand remained vigorous and in apparent good health until he was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2007. Doctors removed the growths and Brand said he was continuing to work seven hours a day at Griffin & Brand, despite his illness.

A year later, he had an emergency hip replacement after he stubbed his toe and fell.

Brand was taken to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., last week and was rushed into the emergency room for treatment of pre-congestive heart failure.

The family decided to fly Brand home from the Mayo Clinic on Wednesday after his condition worsened. After returning to McAllen, they admitted him to Rio Grande Regional Hospital, where he died peacefully early Saturday, Othal Jr. said.

Brand’s daughter Lynn Ferrell spoke about her father Saturday afternoon at the modest, one-story brick home he built more than 50 years ago. She recalled once trying to get her parents to move to San Antonio when she was living there. Her father wouldn’t budge.

“He said, ‘I’ve spent my entire adult life here building schools, churches and a damn fine city, and I will live here my entire life and I will be buried here,’” she said. “He was semi-conscious in his last hours, and he said, ‘It’s good to be home.’”

Strube - Chicago Tribune

Robert W. Strube, 1918-2010: Fresh-produce maven helped found Greater Chicago Food Depository
Helped turn his father's vegetable business into leader in world of wholesale produce


Robert W. Strube spent his life surrounded by fresh food and made it his mission to do everything he could to see that people didn't go hungry.

Mr. Strube was one of the founders of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, started 30 years ago in a stall he set aside at his South Water Market headquarters. It now stockpiles food in a 268,000-square-foot warehouse on the Southwest Side and serves a half-million people in Cook County each year.

Mr. Strube, 91, died on Thursday, Jan. 14, at his Glencoe home, said his son, Robert Jr. He had suffered from various maladies, but an exact cause of death was not clear.

"This guy understood there was a hunger issue, and he had the vision to see something like the Food Depository could go a long way toward addressing it," said Michael Mulqueen, executive director of the facility from 1991 to 2006.

Mr. Strube's Chicago roots were deep. Strube Celery & Vegetable was opened in 1913 by his father, Frederick, in the city's original produce market on Water Street downtown. The business made the move to South Water Market in 1925, and Mr. Strube began working there at a young age.

After graduating from Lake View High School and serving in the Army, he took over the company from his dad in 1946 and became a leader in the tightly knit world of wholesale produce. He served as president of the South Water Market Association and for many years was the host of a regular segment, "Produce Report," on WBBM-AM radio, offering his expertise on the season's best fruits and vegetables.

Amid the abundance of the market, and the frequent waste inevitable in the produce business, Mr. Strube made efforts to donate surplus to food pantries and church groups that could get it to those in need.

But nothing took hold on a large-scale basis until he and about five others started the Greater Chicago Food Depository in 1979. The first year, the depository supplied about 40 food pantries with about a half-million pounds of food, Mulqueen said. Growth was exponential, and the organization moved to a succession of bigger warehouses.

Mr. Strube was an enthusiastic and occasionally blunt fundraiser who didn't mince words when asking for cash, Mulqueen said. He'd lead potential donors through the colorful South Water Market, charming society matrons and others with stories from the all-night operation.

"He was very gruff, loud, no-nonsense; he was a businessman," Mulqueen said. "But he had a heart as big as all outdoors."

Mr. Strube's goal was to end hunger in the U.S. by the millennium, his son said. Although that wasn't achieved, the whopping success of the Food Depository filled him with pride.

"The fact ... it's expanded so much beyond what he ever anticipated, he was extremely proud of that," his son said.

Strube Celery & Vegetable is run by Mr. Strube's two children, and fourth-generation family members also are working for the company.

Mr. Strube is survived by his wife of 68 years, Helen; a daughter, Janet Fleming; six grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.

Visitation is set for 3 to 8 p.m. Monday at Donnellan Family Funeral Home, 10045 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, and for 12:30 p.m. until a service at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at North Shore United Methodist Church, 213 Hazel Ave., Glencoe.

Colorado River water deal overturned LA Times

Colorado River water deal overturned LA Times
A California judge's ruling on a 2003 agreement governing the state's use of Colorado River supplies could affect how farms and cities share water.


A state judge has overturned a celebrated 2003 deal governing the state's use of Colorado River water supplies, a ruling that could tilt the equation for how Southern California's farms and cities share the scarce resource.

The Superior Court decision, released Thursday, sets in motion an appeals process as well as efforts to salvage the landmark pact.

"It is not the end," said Dennis Cushman, assistant general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority, a major beneficiary of the deal.

The 2003 agreement put California on a schedule to wean itself from surplus deliveries of Colorado River water. Years in the making, the pact created a multibillion-dollar transfer of Imperial Valley irrigation water to San Diego and the Coachella Valley and also called for the restoration of the ailing Salton Sea.

Several environmental challenges were filed against the deal. In his final decision, Judge Roland L. Candee sidestepped those issues and ruled on a narrow contract matter involving funding to restore the Salton Sea.

But Candee also concluded that because restoration and other aspects of the pact were closely related, the agreement itself was not valid. That broad ruling surprised and delighted one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, who argued on behalf of landowners near the Salton Sea.

"I never anticipated I would win," said Malissa Hathaway McKeith.

Created a century ago by a breakaway diversion of the Colorado River, the sea has survived as a giant drainage pit for irrigation runoff from the Imperial Valley's sprawling agricultural operations, which get the lion's share of the state's Colorado River allotment.

But the water transfers to residential areas, which will gradually increase, mean there will be less farm runoff flowing into the increasingly salty inland lake.

"The [pact] has accelerated the death of the Salton Sea," argued McKeith. "It's 6 feet lower than it was in 2003, and that should not have happened.

"I don't believe water transfers should be permitted until the environmental and economic impacts are fully analyzed and addressed."

A receding sea, she said, will send contaminated dust from the lake bottom wafting over desert towns and field crops.

Parties to the 2003 agreement, including the Imperial Irrigation District, said they will pursue an appeal and ask for a stay to allow the water transfers to continue.

The irrigation district is set to receive $5.4 billion over the 75-year life of the transfer agreement.

Kevin Kelley, spokesman for the district, said the agency is in talks with the state and litigants over the restoration issue.

As part of the deal, the state and the irrigators committed to help pay for what will probably be a hugely expensive fix for the sea, an important stopover for migrating waterfowl.

But the judge found that the state's funding commitment was so open-ended it amounted to a blank check and therefore violated California's constitutional limits on state debt.

John Schlotterbeck, senior deputy general counsel at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a party to the deal, said it was too early to know the full implications of the ruling or how the judge's concerns might be remedied.

"It's really hard to say what the fix is going to be," he said

Greenlee: Are we sustainable yet? - Boulder buzzword

Greenlee: Are we sustainable yet?
By Bob Greenlee
Posted: 01/17/2010 01:00:00 AM MST

Next weekend Boulder`s newly constituted City Council will endure a biannual ritual and ponder their priority goals for the coming years. If past endeavors are any indication it will be a chance for all nine counselors to individually and collectively lecture, pontificate, and perhaps accidentally hammer out an agenda that actually address matters important to Boulder`s future.

High on nearly every council member`s list will be efforts to confront the city`s growing budget quandary by focusing on new economic realities. Faced with declining tax revenues, increasing demands to fix this, do that, and finding it uncomfortable doing less with less, the challenges faced by council are somewhat daunting.

Meanwhile, the city`s Comprehensive Plan, which has never been either comprehensive nor much of a plan, is up for major revisions. A key element missing from this already bloated document is any serious comprehensive economic plan. This could be the year that something meaningful might actually receive the attention it deserves. Unfortunately, there may be more emphasis given to how the city can increase revenues simply by raising both taxes and fees. Former mayor Matt Appelbaum has already asked council to consider any number of new taxes that might be placed on this fall`s ballot.

One approach that has never caught on in Boulder is to employ what some describe as "zero-based budgeting" to focus on fundamental issues related to revenues and expenditures. The process involves rebuilding operating departments and costs consistent with community needs as well as resources. City manager Jane Brautigam has come as close as anyone has to achieving this laudable goal by suggesting council employ "priority based budgeting" as a way of dealing with the fundamental conflicts inherent in trying to do too much with not enough. Before council goes too far asking taxpayers to cough up more, they should first resolve to discover how the city can live within its current means.

"Sustainability" is a fashionable new term that will be spewed endlessly during council`s retreat. It`s the latest fad term that has become so misused in public discourse that it`s virtually meaningless. Some claim nothing qualifies as being sustainable because both organic and man-made systems continuously merge, evolve, or adapt. Many argue that emphasizing sustainability implies things should just remain static and believe the status quo is entirely acceptable. In many ways Boulder has suffered from trying to maintain the status quo by being unwilling to adapt, evolve, or deal with issues that would help to ensure the city will remain viable. Growth limits, height limits, housing size limits, limiting choices as well as opportunities have been the way Boulder has addressed its perverse sense of sustainability. Such ultraconservative thinking has created many of the problems the city now confronts and there`s genuine concern that things will never change.

If council truly wants the city to remain viable it should invite more value-oriented retailers to the city. It should immediately seek a cooperative arrangement with the University of Colorado and make building a community conference center a top priority. Same for revitalizing the decrepit University Hill. If the city really wants to provide more "affordable housing" it must encourage rather than discourage increased densities and building heights in the still developing and awkwardly named "Transit Village" and elsewhere. A revised Comp Plan should embrace adding more undeveloped land into the city limits and modify the city`s restrictive and ponderous planning and development processes.

It will be interesting to see if anything meaningful comes out of the upcoming goal-setting session. This is Boulder. Don`t hold your breath.

Bob Greenlee was a member of Boulder City Council for 16 years and served his last two years as mayor. He can be reached at: robertdgreenlee@aol.com.

Obesity rates stabilize but remain high

Obesity rates stabilize but remain high

(Health.com) -- Obesity rates in the United States are still sky-high, but for the moment they appear to have stopped climbing higher, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One out of every three American adults is obese, and two out of every three are overweight, according to the data. Among children and teens, the numbers aren't much better: Roughly 17 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 19 are considered obese. All of these percentages have increased sharply since 1980, the data show.

The obesity rate among women and children hasn't changed measurably over the past decade, however, and it has remained largely flat among men for the past five years, according to the CDC report, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Obesity experts reacted positively to the report, but emphasized that there was little to celebrate about the big picture.

"The obesity rates have somewhat leveled off, and for the most part that's good, but the bad news is that they have leveled off at a prevalence rate that is alarmingly high," says Scott Kahan, M.D., the co-director of the George Washington University Weight Management Program, in Washington, D.C. "We have a lot of work to do, and this has to be a national priority to move forward from here."

Health.com: 20 meals that won't kill your cholesterol

Louis J. Aronne, M.D., the director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, says that "it's premature to declare victory in our war against obesity, but this is the first battle that has been won." He adds, "Obesity is still the leading nutritional health problem facing Americans and the leading driver of health-care costs. Stopping it from going up is a nice start, but more is needed."

It's not exactly clear what's responsible for the stabilization of the nation's waistlines. Experts say that the trend may be due to greater public awareness about healthy diets and the importance of regular exercise, and to the various school- and community-based programs that have been launched to fight the obesity epidemic. The growing popularity of gastric bypass surgery may also have played a role, according to Aronne.

Health.com: A sample menu for a low-fat diet

"It could be that we're finally having an impact on people's behavior, and starting to take enough aggressive action with weight-loss surgery to stem the tide of obesity," he says.

The data in the CDC report were based on height and weight measurements collected during a biannual national survey of more than 5,500 adults and 4,000 teens, children, and infants. Those measurements were then used to estimate the average body mass index (BMI) of various segments of the population. Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or above, and overweight is defined as a BMI of 25 or above.

Health.com: 25 diet-busting foods you should never eat

Some groups are at greater risk for obesity than others, the survey showed. The prevalence of obesity among women (36 percent) was slightly higher than that among men (32 percent), and it was also higher among blacks (44 percent) and Hispanics (38 percent) than among whites (33 percent). The researchers caution, however, that these group differences in BMI may not present an accurate picture of obesity, since people of different ethnic groups tend to carry their weight differently and have different ratios of fat to lean tissue.

Excess weight has been implicated in more than 60 diseases, included heart disease, diabetes, and breast cancer, according to Aronne, who stresses that lowering the obesity rates must remain a national priority. "Obesity has to remain at the top of the list of problems we need to manage to improve the health of Americans and control health care costs," he says.

Health.com: 5 surprising myths about excess weight

The CDC researchers caution that obesity trends are difficult to forecast, and that while rates may have stabilized somewhat, "future large changes cannot be ruled out."

Listing calorie counts and other nutritional information on menus, using taxes on junk food and soda to fund obesity programs or subsidize fruit and vegetable prices, and re-establishing physical education in the nation's schools are "all part of the solution," says Kahan.

Health.com: Is the fat acceptance movement bad for our health?

"Obesity is now a part of the national dialogue," he adds. "If we continue with our social and political will, we very well might see continued progress."

Clock ticks on Congress' bold agenda - Arizona Republic

Clock ticks on Congress' bold agenda - Arizona Republic
Big issues still left to tackle before elections stall push

President Barack Obama
entered the White House one year ago Wednesday with everything going for him: Momentum from his historic election, high poll numbers and overwhelming Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

But Obama and Congress took on an ambitious agenda that they couldn't finish in 2009.

Although Obama scored some big legislative victories such as the passage of the $787 billion economic-stimulus package, historic tobacco-industry regulations and credit-card reform, he found Capitol Hill something of a quagmire for his top domestic priorities such as health-care reform, climate-change legislation and financial-services regulation. The drawn-out and bruising health-care battle pushed other major issues such as immigration reform to the back burner.

With health-care reform likely in its precarious final stages - House and Senate leaders are ironing out differences between bills passed in each chamber - Congress this week resumes working toward the other major goals its leaders outlined in 2009, as well as on the still-sluggish economic recovery.

Lawmakers aim to tackle complicated issues, including job creation, immigration reform
and climate change. But they'll have less time than last year to do it because many face re-election and must devote time to their political campaigns at home.

Meanwhile, Obama's poll ratings continue to droop, and the Senate Democratic caucus faces the possibility of losing its filibuster-proof 60-member majority after November - or even after this week, if Republicans win an upset Tuesday in the unexpectedly tough fight for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts.

It's a lot of work, but some political experts believe the current Congress is up to the task, noting it already has made historic progress.

"Most Congresses would not be able to get this done," said Rodolfo Espino, an assistant professor of political science at Arizona State University. "But if you look at what this Congress has done in the last year, they've really charged forward on a lot of fronts more quickly than most observers of Congress would have thought was possible."

Some recent developments might make the Democratic Congress' job even tougher - while adding to its urgency to finish what it started while it can.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., came under fire this month after a new book about the 2008 campaign revealed he made clumsy racial comments about Obama. Reid, who is up for re-election this year, is reeling in the polls back home. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., the embattled chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, announced he will retire rather than face voters again in November. Veteran Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., also has said he won't run again.

Election-year dynamics will complicate matters even further. Traditionally, lawmakers don't take on as heavy a workload - and are more reluctant to tackle hot-button, politically controversial topics - as during non-election years. By the summer, many members will start fixating on their races, a reality that leadership accepts and understands will affect Capitol Hill's work schedule.

"That will shorten the calendar quite a bit," said Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., the senior member of the state's House delegation. "You'll see us going in later in the week and probably leaving earlier in the week. The calendar is dictated a lot by what's happening in the different elections. We'll probably be done in October."

By contrast, the Senate last year didn't pass its version of the health-care bill until Christmas Eve.

Still, it's not impossible to get things done even during midterm-election years, particularly in the first six months or so. Although Congress tried and was unable to pass immigration reform in 2006, it did enact other legislation such as the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, a law cracking down on child predators and sex offenders. In 2002, the GOP-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate kept busy responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the looming Iraq war but also passed campaign-finance reform and enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, designed to minimize corporate accounting scandals like the one that led to the downfall of Enron.

Immigration reform

So far, the prospect of an abbreviated schedule amid election-year politics hasn't made Democratic leaders and Obama administration officials shy away from contentious issues such as comprehensive immigration reform.

During the presidential campaign, Obama promised Hispanic voters that he would try to fix the nation's broken immigration system early in his administration. But even some rank-and-file lawmakers who support the idea are skeptical that Congress can get it done this year.

"I think that the president is very intent on this being part of the 2010 agenda," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Obama's point-person on immigration reform and a former Arizona governor, recently told The Arizona Republic's Editorial Board. "It would have to go early in 2010, but as you can tell from the newspapers now, they are making real headway on health care, and as health care gets resolved, there will be time now opening up legislatively to look at immigration, to look at financial regulatory reform . . . to look at job creation."

The House will wait for the Senate to pass an immigration bill now in development by Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. The strategy, Pastor said, is for the House to quickly pass whatever measure makes it out of the upper chamber. House Democratic leaders don't intend to facilitate "a prolonged debate" on what they know is "a political hot potato," he said.

"If immigration reform isn't done by early spring, it's not going to happen. They'll take it off the table," Pastor said.

Jobs and banking

Obama will lay out his 2010 priorities in his State of the Union address to Congress, which has not yet been formally scheduled but could be as soon as Jan. 26. The White House had hoped that the House and Senate would reconcile differences in their competing versions of the health-care legislation before the speech, but that might not happen.

The economy is back on Obama's radar screen in a big way. The stimulus package was a major accomplishment of his first year in the Oval Office, but the national unemployment rate remains at 10 percent. Obama may call for some additional stimulus-style jobs spending.

"They have got to start focusing on jobs because the job situation is still bad, the economy is still in the tank, and we've been spending all this time talking about health care and the environment," said Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the No. 2 Senate GOP leader. "And my guess is, in his State of the Union, Obama is going to do nothing but talk about the deficit and jobs."

The House passed a jobs bill before recessing for the holidays, but the Senate has yet to act.

"With unemployment as it is, and jobs and the economy being an issue, obviously there will be something (done to address the problem)," Pastor said.

The Obama administration and Democratic leaders also aim to enact a battery of new regulations, including a possible fee on banks, to protect consumers and taxpayers and help rein in the financial-industry excesses that contributed to the 2008 economic meltdown.

Dodd's intention to retire might actually free him up to pursue even more aggressive changes, Espino said.

"They know that Americans are very angry at Wall Street profits while the American people on Main Street are suffering very badly," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Much else still to do

Another holdover from last year is energy reform and climate change. The House narrowly passed a sweeping and in some quarters controversial cap-and-trade measure in June, but the legislation quickly ran into trouble in the Senate.

Democrats from some states, such as coal-friendly West Virginia, don't like the bill. McCain, who in the past has been sympathetic to fighting global warming, said he is disappointed the measure does not address nuclear power, which he supports, in any meaningful way. He called the legislation protectionist because it would put tariffs on goods from countries that don't meet U.S. environmental standards.

"As far as I'm concerned, what they've got now is a non-starter," McCain said.

In addition to such outstanding major issues, Congress also is responsible for passing a budget and a series of appropriations bills and must decide the fate of President George W. Bush's signature tax cuts, which are set to expire this year. The Senate may need to consider one or two international treaties, too, Kyl said. One is a new arms-reduction treaty. A comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty that the Senate rejected in 1999 also may return.

That raises questions about how much lawmakers can reasonably expect to accomplish given this year's election constraints on their time. Last year demonstrated how easy it is to underestimate how long it takes to pass complex, landmark pieces of legislation.

"Congress works a little bit slower than the president wants - that's always the case," Espino said.

Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., said there is always a possibility that lawmakers might have to return to work after the November elections for a lame-duck session, as they did in 2008, when they bailed out the sinking U.S. auto industry, and in 2006.

"No one really likes them, but they end up happening anyway," he said.

A fresh W. House veg scam

A fresh W. House veg scam

By RITA DELFINER

Last Updated: 5:41 PM, January 16, 2010

Posted: 2:46 AM, January 16, 2010
And the secret ingredient in the White House Iron Chef of America special --

stand-in vegetables.

In a garden-variety produce-gate, the fresh

veggies publicized as coming from the White House garden for the episode actually

were stunt doubles, including ringer radishes. The Jan. 3 special

pitted White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford and Bobby Flay against the

team of Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse. The four chefs harvested the

veggies from Michelle Obama's White House garden in a segment taped in late

October. The substitution of other fresh produce became necessary because the

actual "Kitchen Stadium" contest in New York took place about a week later. But

the Food Network did not reveal the substitutions on air, politicsdaily.com

said.

Politicsdaily.com columnist Lynn Sweet wrote that First Lady

Michelle Obama's staff e-mailed her that the veggies the four chefs picked at the

White House garden in October were donated to a local food kitchen.on air,

USDA Joins National Dairy Council and NFL in a Public - Private Partnership to Improve Health and Wellness in America's Schools

USDA Joins National Dairy Council and NFL in a Public - Private Partnership to Improve Health and Wellness in America's Schools

Fuel Up to Play 60 Campaign Unites Government, Health Professionals, Industry and Educators to Defeat Childhood Obesity

NEW YORK, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has joined a campaign to fight and defeat childhood obesity in cooperation with the NFL, National Dairy Council, multiple health organizations and several major corporations. The campaign, known as Fuel Up to Play 60, is funded with an initial private sector financial commitment of $250 million over five years by America's Dairy Farmers. Funding is expected to grow as government, business, communities and families join this effort to improve nutrient-rich food choices and achieve 60 minutes of physical activity each day among children. More than 58,000, or 60 percent, of the nation's 96,000 private and public schools are currently enrolled in Fuel Up to Play 60.

It is possible that today's children could become the first American generation with a shorter life expectancy than their parents.(1) One-third of American children are overweight or obese. The obesity prevalence is about three to four times that of just one generation ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.(2)(3)

"Today is a significant milestone in the fight against childhood obesity because this unprecedented partnership will help educate our youth about steps they can and should take to lead healthy lives," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Increasing access to more nutrient-rich foods and physical activity in America's schools is no simple task, and will require the combined effort of private and public interests. Partnerships like these, combined with a strong reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Programs, can make a significant difference in our battle against childhood obesity."

Vilsack joined Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner, and Tom Gallagher, CEO of Dairy Management Inc., the managing organization for National Dairy Council, at a New York City public school to support and promote the initiative. Other speakers included: Eric Goldstein, Chief Executive Officer, Nutrition and Transportation, New York City Department of Education; Dr. David Satcher, Action for Healthy Kids founding chair and 16th U.S. Surgeon General; and Maurice Jones-Drew, #32 running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Also attending the event were leaders from Action for Healthy Kids, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Dietetic Association, National Hispanic Medical Association, National Medical Association and School Nutrition Association, and hundreds of students from Central Park East Middle School in New York City.

As an initial step, these partners will work together to promote and expand Fuel Up to Play 60. Based on the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the program empowers students in grades 4 through 10 to engage their peers to "fuel up" with nutrient-rich foods they often lack – particularly low-fat and fat-free milk and milk products, fruits, vegetables and whole grains – and "get up and play" with 60 minutes of daily physical activity. Components, developed for and by youth – such as program curriculum, in-school promotional materials, a Web site and youth social media partnerships – are customizable and non-prescriptive. The program's design allows youth and schools to determine which tools and resources best help schools meet local youth wellness goals and school wellness policies. Partner-supported school grants will help schools make long-term healthy changes.

Fuel Up to Play 60 also gives leaders in health, business, government and communities nationwide the opportunity to be a part of a movement that relies on participation, collaboration and action by youth and adults to help develop and maintain healthy habits to last a lifetime.

The program taps the power of the NFL and its teams, players and physical activity programming to add recognition and value for students. National Dairy Council's trusted school relationships are crucial in sustaining the program. All 32 NFL teams are participating in the program through local dairy councils and schools in their respective markets.

"The National Football League is strongly committed to helping the next generation of youth achieve healthier lifestyles. In 2007, we launched NFL PLAY 60 to encourage kids to get active and play 60 minutes a day. We are excited that Fuel Up to Play 60 extends that message to include healthy eating," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. "Through Fuel Up to Play 60, we want young people to discover that healthy habits can be both fun and empowering."

"For nearly 100 years, child nutrition research and education has been a major commitment for dairy farm families and a cornerstone of National Dairy Council," Gallagher said. "Fuel Up to Play 60 realizes our commitment to child health and sustaining the future. It will continue to expand in the coming years through bold leadership and new partnerships with organizations and industry leaders that no single organization could achieve alone."

By giving students both a voice and a valuable role in shaping the future of their generation, National Dairy Council, the NFL and USDA are providing concrete opportunities for children to lead real change in the fight against childhood obesity.

Player participation for the event was scheduled by NFL Players. More information about Fuel Up to Play 60 is available at FuelUpToPlay60.com.

School lunch: Time to improve programl lunch

School lunch: Time to improve programl lunch: Time to improve As Congress gets back to business next week, it is scheduled to take up the Child Nutrition Act, which comes up for reauthorization every five years. And the timing couldn’t be better.

It’s an opportunity for lawmakers to tweak requirements for the federal school nutrition program. This "free lunch" program fed about 19 million children last year, including 417,000 in New Jersey.

Those numbers are steadily growing, according to school districts, with more and more families applying for the program.

Clifton saw one of the biggest increases this year, with 37 percent of children now qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches, up from 21 percent of students four years ago.

Further south, the Lenape Regional High School District in Burlington County has seen a 131 percent increase in the number of students applying for free and reduced-price lunches between 2004 and 2009.

Advocates say the bump in applications is partly due to the economy and partly to efforts by school districts to get more eligible children signed up.

That’s a good thing, because hungry children have lower levels of concentration in class. But advocates for the poor say paying for lunch is still a struggle for families just above the income cutoff — 130 percent of the poverty level, or about $28,665 for a family of four.

Lawmakers can address that by raising the income cap, allowing more families to qualify — and more children to eat and learn.

NY farm labor bill back - and so is opposition

Farm labor bill is back, and so is opposition

One side says state legislation proposed this week will give farmworkers long-overdue rights, including overtime pay after they work 10 hours in one day or 60 hours in one week.

"It puts into place basic rights for farmworkers," Jordan Wells, coordinator of the Justice for Farmworkers campaign, said on Friday. "And it recognizes the particular aspects that are unique to farming."

Wells is a hailing the legislation as a "compromise bill" that he said included feedback from New York Farm Bureau.

But NYFB on Friday said the legislation -- Assembly Bill 1867 and Senate Bill 2247 -- would force many farms to close, and would put New York agriculture at a competitive disadvantage with nearby states and Canada.

"If this passes we won't be producing things like fruits and vegetables in New York State," said Julie Suarez, public policy director for New York Farm Bureau. "We'll be doing wheat and oats that can be machine-harvested."

Wells works for the Rural Migrant Ministry in Poughkeepsie. That agency, which has an office in Brockport, has been part of a push for more farmworker labor rights the past 15 years. It has drawn churches, students and labor interests into the movement. It also has state senators Pedro Espada and John Sampson as chief sponsors in Albany. Those New York City residents are part of the Democratic leadership in the state Senate, which was wrestled away from Republicans for the first time last year in 40 years.

The farmworker labor legislation was presented several times last year, and was narrowly rejected. But with the changes in the bill, Wells said he hopes the legislation will finally be passed in the Assembly and Senate.

"I don't want to make any predictions," he said. "You never know with the state Legislature."

Wells said the legislation makes many concessions to farmers, including pushing back the implementation until 2011, if the bill passes this year. The Justice campaign backed off of collective bargaining for all farmworkers and now would limit those rights to workers on farms with sales exceeding $500,000, which Wells said exempts 95 percent of agriculture.

The overtime threshold, before time-and-half kicks in, was changed from 8-hour days and 40-hour weeks to 10-hour days and 60-hour weeks, and on a seventh consecutive day of work. In 2013, overtime would start after 55 hours in a week.

The legislation also changes earlier proposals and will no longer require unemployment tax liability on guestworker wages. That will save farmers at least $1 million, according to the Justice campaign.

The proposed legislation also would continue exemptions for small farms from workers compensation and unemployment insurance tax liabilities.

Dean Norton, president of New York Farm Bureau, said the bill threatens the upstate economy, and the farms on Long Island. The bill will add $200 million in mandates to the state's farmers, said Norton, a Batavia resident who works as an accountant and business consultant for farms. His family runs a dairy farm in Elba.

"Producing food is a basic need, and unless the Legislature seriously rethinks this legislation it will jeopardize our farmers' ability to produce local food for local people," Norton said in a statement released by NYFB.

The labor bill would have a tremendous impact on New York's smaller farms, while also putting "unsustainable pressure" on larger family farms that provide the bulk of the fresh New York-grown products, Norton said.

California would be the only state with stricter labor mandates, and that state has a year-round growing season and an agricultural industry more than triple the size of New York's $4 billion agricultural industry, NYFB said.

Norton also blasted the collective bargaining provisions, saying 99 percent of New York's farms are owned by families -- "not huge corporate manufacturers with staff to negotiate with New York's powerful unions."

Farm Bureau on Friday released statements, condemning the labor bill, from several organizations, including New York Apple Association, New York State Vegetable Growers Association, Unshackle Upstate, the Business Council of New York State Inc., Farm Credit East, Dairylea Cooperative Inc., Agri-Mark, and the National Federation of Independent Business.

"In today's economic times, with competitive pressure from all over the world, putting New York agriculture at a disadvantage will hurt our ability to thrive and sustain our industry," Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association, said in a statement released by NYFB.

"I am amazed at why Albany does not try to enhance New York agriculture, the state's No. 1 industry, rather than constantly add more barriers that help drive farmers out of business."

The state's dairy industry, which accounts for about half of the state's total farm receipts, is coming off a disastrous year, when farms were paid far below their production costs. The timing of the labor bill comes when dairy farmers are trying to dig out of their steep debts.

Farm Credit East studied New York farmers' labor costs, based on the 2007 Census of Agriculture, and discovered that New York farmers paid $13.82 for every $100 of production, or 56 percent more than the U.S. average of $8.88.

"Farmers are a vital part of New York's economy," said Kenneth Adams, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State. "They provide local food production, help to preserve open space and support many businesses in their communities. This legislation would damage New York's farmers and our economy."

The Rev. Richard Witt, director of Rural & Migrant Ministry, released his own statement. He said the amendments to the legislation "are quite substantial" and "demonstrate particular sensitivity toward small family farms."

He praised the Senate leadership for facilitating the changes.

"We hope that all interested parties will now act in good faith as New York takes this major step toward justice and equality for all workers," Witt said.