Bill to Implement Single-Payer Dies in Assembly

February 1st, 2022

AB 1400, authored by Assemblymember Ash Kalra, failed yesterday to meet the deadline to pass out of the Assembly. The bill would have created the single-payer healthcare system in California under a program called CalCare.

Western Growers was part of a large business coalition in strong opposition to this bill and was an early voice in opposition. The coalition worked tirelessly lobbying the Assembly to stop this bill because it would create an exorbitantly expensive new government bureaucracy that would likely lead to significant job loss. The estimated costs to establish a single-payer healthcare system range from $200 billion to $500 billion. For comparison, the proposed California state budget for 2022-2023 is $286.4 billion.

It is unclear if this proposal will be re-introduced in another bill this year. WG will continue to advocate strongly against single-payer healthcare.

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Produce Shippers: Beware of CATs in Ohio and elsewhere

February 4th, 2022

Recently, the state of Ohio Department of Taxation has been ramping up notices sent to companies selling produce in Ohio encouraging compliance with the Commercial Activity Tax (CAT).  The tax is not new. We covered it here in 2015. At that time, the state’s tax on out of state shippers was vindicated by the Ohio Supreme Court. Fast forward to 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled 50 years of Commerce Clause jurisprudence and held that a state may require sellers with no physical presence in the state to collect and remit sales tax for goods sold within the state (South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc.) and Ohio is more emboldened than ever.

The CAT is a tax imposed on companies that do business in Ohio, even if they don’t have a physical presence in the state, and is calculated based on taxable gross receipts sitused in Ohio.  Unlike a sales tax, the CAT cannot be passed on to the Company’s customers.

Taxpayers having over $150,000 in taxable gross receipts sitused to Ohio for the calendar year must first register for CAT with the Department of Taxation and then file tax returns for the CAT. Shippers with  $150,000 to $1 million in Ohio based gross receipts in a calendar year must pay an annual minimum tax (AMT) of $150. The AMT for shippers with total taxable gross receipts more than $1 million but less than or equal to $2 million will be $800; AMT for shippers with taxable gross receipts more than $2 million but less than or equal to $4 million, $2,100; and AMT for shippers with taxable gross receipts in excess of $4 million, $2,600.  Unlike some states that exempt the sale of fresh produce from their gross receipts tax, there is no such exception for fresh produce in Ohio. 

Companies that fail to file the Ohio CAT can be subject to an audit with a 10-year lookback to recover uncollected taxes plus penalties and interest. However, shippers that enroll in the state’s voluntary disclosure program can shorten the lookback to three years and eliminate potential penalties if they timely pay any CAT. Keep in mind that the voluntary disclosure program is only available to companies that enroll before receiving a notice from the state; companies that have received a notice from the Ohio tax authority may not avail themselves of the program.

Shippers with Ohio receipts should consult with their tax advisors about entering into a Voluntary Disclosure Agreement with the state before receiving a notice of non-compliance. Additional information can be found on Ohio’s Taxation website here.

Finally, other states, such as Oregon have enacted a similar CAT on gross receipts sitused in the state, or are considering doing so to boost tax revenues.

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California to End Universal Mask Mandate

February 10th, 2022

California will let its statewide indoor mask mandate expire on Feb. 15, according to a statement by the California Department of Health, effective Feb. 16, only unvaccinated individuals will still be required to wear masks in indoor public settings.  Local jurisdictions can continue to impose indoor masking requirements, and some cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco will keep the stricter rules in place until further notice.

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Farmworker’s Daughter Nominated to State Supreme Court

February 18th, 2022

Gov. Gavin Newsom has selected 4th District Court of Appeal Justice Patricia Guerrero to replace Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar on the California Supreme Court. Guerrero formerly served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and was a partner at Latham & Watkins. 

According to the Daily Journal, Guerrero is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She grew up in Imperial County where her father worked as a ranch foreman.  Newsom reportedly set out to choose a Latina justice to replace Cuellar, the only Hispanic justice on the court.

Guerrero was born in the Imperial Valley and graduated from Imperial High School in 1990. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1994, graduating magna cum laude, and a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School in 1997.

Congratulations to Justice Guerrero on her appointment, her accomplished legal career and her connection to California agriculture.

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New 2022 Meal Charge and Reimbursement Rates for H-2A Workers

February 24th, 2022

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration has announced the allowable meal charges and reimbursement for travel subsistence for H-2A and H-2B workers (“H-2 workers”), which was published in the Federal Register on February 23, 2022.  The new rates are effective immediately on Feb. 23. 2022.

Allowable Meal Charge

H-2 employers must offer and provide each H-2 worker three meals per day or provide the workers free and convenient cooking facilities. If an employer elects to provide the meals to the H-2 workers, the job offer must state the charge, if any, to the worker for the meals. The updated maximum allowable meal charge in 2022 is $14.00 per day, a $0.33 increase over the 2021 meal charge.  An employer is not permitted to charge a worker more than $14.00 per day unless the Certifying Officer approves a higher charge, upon presentation of evidence justifying the higher charge.

Reimbursement for Travel-Related Subsistence

H-2 employers must also pay travel and subsistence costs, including the costs of meals and lodging, incurred by H-2 workers during travel to the worksite from the place of departure in the H-2A workers’ home country, and from the place of employment to the place from which the worker departed to work for the employer, as well as any such costs incurred by the worker incident to obtaining a visa authorizing entry to the U.S. for the purpose of H-2 employment.

For 2022, the standard meal and incidental expense rate is $59.00 per day (when receipts are provided). For meals for less than a full day, the employer may limit the meal expense reimbursement, with receipts, to 75 percent of the maximum reimbursement for meals, or $44.25. If a worker does not provide receipts, the employer is not required to reimburse above the minimum standard of $14.00 per day.

An H-2A employer is responsible for providing, paying in advance, or reimbursing a worker for the reasonable costs of daily travel-related subsistence between the employer’s worksite and the place from which the worker has come to work for the employer, if the worker completes 50 percent of the work contract period. The employer must provide (or pay at the time of departure) the worker’s return costs upon the worker completing the contract or being dismissed without cause.

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Western Growers Announces Food Safety Cohort to Quickly Develop Cutting-Edge Prevention and Diagnostic Technologies

February 3rd, 2022

The AgTechX Food Safety Cohort is comprised of innovators who will receive exclusive resources to help them launch and scale

YUMA, ARIZ. (February 3, 2022) – As part of the inaugural AgTechX Food Safety event hosted by the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology, the Center for Produce Safety and the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture, WG introduced the AgTechX Food Safety Cohort, a global group of innovators specializing in prevention technologies and rapid diagnostics who will receive exclusive resources to help them launch and scale their projects.

“We are excited to welcome a talented group of innovators and entrepreneurs to Yuma to begin a year of focus on accelerating new food safety solutions,” said Dennis Donohue, Director of the WGCIT. “We have learned that co-development between growers and processers and technology companies is how progress really happens. We have a great group to get started with and we hope to attract other players as we proceed through the year.”

The initial members of the cohort are:

  • Javier Atencia, CEO & Founder, Pathotrak
  • Alex Athey, CEO, En Solución Inc.
  • Rafael Davila, Founder, Priority Sampling
  • Dr. Eyal Gerecht, President & CEO, TeraBAT, Inc.
  • Mike Hogan PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, PathogenDx
  • Tom Jacobs, VP Sales and Marketing, SnapDNA
  • Marc Petitpas, Senior Director, North America Sales, ScanTech Sciences, Inc.
  • Carl “Skip” Rapp, CEO TeraBAT, Inc.
  • Jonathan Sierra, CEO, Yarok Microbio Ltd.
  • Chip Starns, Co-Founder, EVP, ScanTech Sciences, Inc.

The AgTechX Food Safety Yuma event, which featured panels on industry issues, regulatory views and food safety innovation, kicked off a yearlong initiative aimed at food safety technology acceleration to improve the toolkit of rapid diagnostics and prevention technologies. The next two events in the series are planned for later this year in Woodland, Calif. and King City, Calif. 

About Western Growers:
Founded in 1926, Western Growers represents local and regional family farmers growing fresh produce in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Western Growers’ members and their workers provide over half the nation’s fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts, including half of America’s fresh organic produce. Connect and learn more about Western Growers on Twitter and Facebook. 

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Voices of the Valley: Building a Resilient, Safe Food Supply

February 23rd, 2022

IRVINE, CALIF. (February 23, 2022) – The past month’s episodes of Voices of the Valley, the podcast hosted by Dennis Donohue, the Director of Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology, and Candace Wilson, CEO of GreenVenus, feature three agricultural leaders discussing how they are working in their respective spheres to ensure the nation maintains a safe food supply despite mounting pressures.

Casey Creamer, the President of California Citrus Mutual, spoke about bridging the gap between government, consumers and farmers and using science and automation to create a path that is beneficial for all parties.

Bonnie Fernandez-Fenaroli, the Executive Director of the Center for Produce Safety, talked about the steps that are necessary to establish science-backed trust between growers, regulators and consumers.

In a two-part interview Orange County Producer Owner and Former Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture A.G. Kawamura discussed the future of agriculture amid hard-learned lessons of the past. “It’s going to be easier to end hunger than ever before,” he said. “Since World War 2, we’ve had the capacity to feed the whole planet but, country by country, we just haven’t had the will to do it.”

Embed codes for the podcasts are available below:

Casey Creamer

<iframe src=”https://anchor.fm/voicesofthevalley/embed/episodes/Lemons-and-Oranges-and-Limes–Oh-My-e1dqsv0/a-a7ba5v2” height=”102px” width=”400px” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”></iframe>

Bonnie Fernandez-Fenaroli

<iframe src=”https://anchor.fm/voicesofthevalley/embed/episodes/How-to-Establish-Trust-When-it-Comes-to-Food-Safety-e1e4hig/a-a7ccr1s” height=”102px” width=”400px” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”></iframe>

A.G. Kawamura Pt. 1

<iframe src=”https://anchor.fm/voicesofthevalley/embed/episodes/AG-Kawamura-Part-1-Dissecting-the-21st-Century-Ag-Renaissance-e1eepih” height=”102px” width=”400px” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”></iframe>

A.G. Kawamura Pt. 2

<iframe src=”https://anchor.fm/voicesofthevalley/embed/episodes/AG-Kawamura-Part-2-Forging-Uncommon-Collaborations-to-Solve-World-Hunger-e1ep78n” height=”102px” width=”400px” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”></iframe>

About Western Growers:

Founded in 1926, Western Growers represents local and regional family farmers growing fresh produce in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Western Growers’ members and their workers provide over half the nation’s fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts, including half of America’s fresh organic produce. Connect and learn more about Western Growers on Twitter and Facebook. 

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AZ Ag Leadership Program Now Accepting Applications

February 17th, 2022

Applications for Project CENTRL— a 12-month, competitively selected and tuition-free leadership development program for 16 individuals connected to rural Arizona — are now open.

Over the course of nine seminars across Arizona, Washington, DC and Sonora, Mexico, Project CENTRL builds personal leadership skills, educates on the issues facing rural Arizona and connects leaders and experts. The program is hosted by the Arizona Center for Rural Leadership, an organization dedicated to cultivating passionate educated leaders who provide a voice for and serve rural communities in Arizona.

The deadline to apply for Project CENTRL is Tuesday, March 15, 2022. Click here to see this year’s course schedule. To apply, visit: www.centrl.org/apply.

About Arizona Center for Rural Leadership:
Arizona Center for Rural Leadership has been shaping the state of Arizona since 1983 through three dynamic programs. The flagship program, Project CENTRL, is a twelve-month, experiential-learning leadership development program. Second is the Alumni in Action, a network of over 650 alumni, working at the grassroots, local, county, state and national level to improve the quality of life in rural Arizona. Finally, through the Make a Difference program, the Arizona Center for Rural Leadership identifies needs, gathers teams and influences change. This includes the incorporation of the town of Maricopa, finding the current home for Pima County Cooperative Extension and building a Veterans memorial in Miami; all projects that happened through Make a Difference projects. By training leaders, inspiring action, and getting things done, rural Arizona is becoming vibrant, healthy and sustainable.

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Apply for AZ Specialty Crop Block Grant Program

February 2nd, 2022

Applications for the 2022 Arizona Specialty Crop Block Grant Program are now being accepted. To apply, visit https://agriculture.az.gov/grants.  

Applications, which are required to be submitted online, close on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. MST.  

The Arizona Department of Agriculture projects that approximately $1,100,000 will be available to be distributed in the fiscal year 2022 funding cycle. Grant monies are expected to be available to successful applicants by late 2022.

For more information, review the grant manual here or participate in one of the following grant application webinar workshops:

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Western Growers Releases Inaugural Global Harvest Automation Report

February 7th, 2022

IRVINE, CALIF. (Feb. 17, 2022) – Growers are keen to adopt automation to bridge the growing labor gap and ensure that their crops can be picked in time, according to the Global Harvest Automation Report, a first-of-its-kind study commissioned by Western Growers. The report is the first in a new annual series that will track, measure and report on industry progress in harvest automation across the fresh produce industry.

The Global Harvest Automation Report is part of WG’s Global Harvest Automation Initiative, which aims to accelerate ag automation by 50 percent in 10 years.

“One of the main aims of the report was to take a comprehensive look at the entire harvest ecosystem and provide a quantitative look to the Western Growers membership at how much harvest innovation is impacting their operations across fresh products for specialty crops, where the most progress is occurring, and why,” says WG VP of Innovation Walt Duflock. “Second, we wanted to provide an in-depth view of the innovators who are doing the heavy lifting by crop type, so growers would know who to contact based on the crops they grow.”

Among the findings of the report, which was prepared in collaboration with consultants at Roland Berger:

  • 65 percent of participating growers have invested in automation over the past three years
  • The average annual spend on automation was $350,000-$400,000 per grower
  • Spending occurred in pre-harvest and harvest assist activities, including weeding, thinning, harvesting platforms and autonomous ground vehicles. It is anticipated that 30-60 percent of these activities will be automated by 2025.
  • Harvest automation itself remains limited because of the technical difficulties in replicating the human hand to harvest delicate crops. It is anticipated that 20 percent of harvest activities will be automated by 2025.

The Global Harvest Automation Report is available for download by clicking here. 

About Western Growers:

Founded in 1926, Western Growers represents local and regional family farmers growing fresh produce in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Western Growers’ members and their workers provide over half the nation’s fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts, including half of America’s fresh organic produce. Connect and learn more about Western Growers on Twitter and Facebook. 

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Western Growers’ Updated 2022 Personnel Procedures Manual Now Available

February 24th, 2022

The 2022 Personnel Procedures Manual provides vital and accurate information for Human Resources Department professionals and managers to ensure their organization remains compliant amid the ever-shifting landscape of labor law. Updated topics for 2022 include changes impacting workplace safety, wage and hour, protected leave, post-termination issues, workplace notices and recordkeeping.

WG members receive a discount subscription price for this comprehensive digital resource that provides agricultural-specific guidance and an index with more than 100 forms. The PPM provides users relevant information on all newly enacted California legislative changes for 2022 in addition to guidance on existing federal, California and Arizona laws. Hyperlinks are provided for instant access to applicable government web sites in order to receive additional updated information.

The PPM subscription is available to Western Growers members for $100; Non-members can subscribe for $200. To order, please click here. More information about the PPM can be found here.

For additional information on purchasing the PPM, please contact Cheryl Hall at [email protected]. For information on the content of the PPM, please contact Teresa McQueen a [email protected].

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Social Media Workshop: Learn How Use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to Elevate Your Company

February 9th, 2022

Join us for a WG Women Social Media Training on February 24, where you will learn how to use social media to find and expand your company’s voice. The training will include case studies as well as tangible strategies and tactics that you can implement immediately.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

  • Strategies for launching and growing social media accounts on behalf of your food and agricultural operation
  • Tips for finding and creating relevant content
  • Tools for day-to-day management
  • How to handle roadblocks and challenges on digital platforms
  • Methods for implementing an ad campaign
  • Practical approaches for balancing a personal and corporate social media presence

WORKSHOP DETAILS:

Date: Thursday, February 24, 2022

Time: 12:00 p.m.  – 1:30 p.m. PT

Speaker: Stephanie Metzinger, Senior Communications Manager at Western Growers. Bio.

Cost: This workshop if free for Western Growers members.

Register: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER 

This event is only available to participants of the WG Women Program and is completely FREE. Please note that you MUST be a participant of the WG Women Program to register for this event. To apply for the program, fill out the application here. 

For questions, contact Stephanie Metzinger at (949) 529-8781. 

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