August 28, 2009

Welcome to Weekly Update, a publication of Western United Environmental Services (WUES), designed to bring you valuable information and helpful tips for compliance with the Waste Discharge Requirements of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. We strive to provide your dairy with quality service, while at the same time saving you money as you face the challenges of compliance. Each week you will find features on compliance issues, regulatory changes or common questions, as well as workshop notices. If you have missed any of our past issues, they can be found on our website at www.wuenvironmental.com.

WUD makes appeal to Vilsack for large cheese purchase

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack held a town hall meeting in Modesto Wednesday afternoon and heard several personal pleas for assistance from California dairy producers dealing with the impact of the current economic crisis. The room at the Stanislaus County Ag center held a crowd of approximately 250 for lunch, while an overflow room held another 200 people. Dairy producers appeared to dominate the meeting as they took the opportunity to directly question the Secretary about steps being taken to help the industry. Western United Dairymen President Ray Souza called on the USDA to take action “within a matter of weeks” by making a surplus cheese purchase of 100 million pounds for direct donations to food banks who are out of stocks. Such a step would move cheese to consumers via food banks and send the market “a positive message.” Souza estimated that a cheese purchase could lift the all-milk price to $13.69 per hundredweight and save the USDA $360 million to $370 million by decreasing MILC payments. Vilsack called the proposal “a very positive suggestion” but cautioned that USDA’s ability to take quick action is hampered in the short-term because the funds for such a purchase have been nearly depleted by the many programs USDA has implemented to help shore up declining dairy prices. “We don’t have any more flexibility because Congress has capped that resource,” pointed out Vilsack. “If Congress could come up with some sort of a dairy relief program, we could do it.”  Vilsack noted that the funding source would be refurbished by Oct. 1. Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced) who hosted the town hall, told the audience that “When Congress gets back onto session Sept. 8, we will meet and see if we can get some action” on the cheese purchase proposal. Aug. 26, 2009 WUD
 

DAIRY TALK. WUD President Ray Souza, left, talks with USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack while touring the Durrer Dairy in Modesto Wednesday. (Photo by Mark Looker)

Environmental stewardship classes in Modesto and Tulare

Environmental stewardship classes focused on air and water quality issues and regulations will be held in Modesto and Tulare beginning September 1. The courses are offered by the California Dairy Quality Assurance program (CDQAP) and will be held over a three-week period. Producers who hope to pursue certification in the Environmental Stewardship Program must complete two hours of air quality classes and six hours of water quality classes prior to the third-party evaluation needed for certification. The instructors will be Dr. Frank Mitloehner and Dr. Deanne Meyer.

The Modesto workshops will be held at the Stanislaus County Ag Center. The air quality workshop will be on September 1 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The water quality courses will be September 15 and September 22, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for both days.

The Tulare workshops will be held at the Tulare County Ag Center. The air quality session will be September 3 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The water quality courses are scheduled for September 17 and September 24, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for both days.

Further information is available from CDQAP at (866) 662-3727 or by contacting the WUD field representative for your area.

EPA to reclassify Central Valley for ozone air pollution

The Central Valley would get under 2024 to clean up the ozone pollution of the air under a reclassification of the problem proposed Friday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA move is seen as “signing off on a formality,” by Seyed Sadredin, executive director of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. The air direct had made the request in 2007 to have the region’s ozone pollution classified as among the worst in the nation to gain time to find ways to lessen it to meet federal standards. Attainment of the cleaner air standards by 2013, the earlier deadline, was impossible, says Sadredin. But attainment by 2024 is also impossible since there is no known technology to do it, he says.

Tesco sticks carbon footprint labels to milk bottles

Tesco has begun displaying carbon footprint labels on milk bottles as part of a series of measures designed to reduce the environmental impact of milk production. Before pursuing the initiative the UK retailer commissioned a survey on green attitudes to determine its feasibility. Half of the respondents understood what carbon footprint meant and over half said they would seek lower carbon footprint products when shopping.

Greener choices

Tesco said the attitudes were an improvement on those expressed a year ago and now justify the introduction of carbon footprint labeling. The hope is that by adding the labels Tesco will persuade people to make greener choices and inform them about the environmental impact of different products.  <more> Aug. 21, 2009 Dairy Reporter

Tree cover far bigger than expected on farms: study

Almost half of the world's farmland has at least 10 percent tree cover, according to a study on Monday indicating that farmers are far less destructive to carbon-storing forests than previously believed. "The area revealed in this study is twice the size of the Amazon, and shows that farmers are protecting and planting trees spontaneously," Dennis Garrity, Director General of the World Agroforestry Center in Nairobi, said in a statement. The Centre's report, based on satellite images and the first to estimate tree cover on the world's farms, showed tree canopies exceeded 10 percent on farmland of 10 million square kms (3.9 million sq miles) -- 46 percent of all agricultural land and an area the size of Canada or China. <more> Aug. 24, 2009 Reuters     

CALENDAR OF MONTHLY MONITORING ACTIVITIES

AUGUST

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