By Andrew J. Hoag, Fisher Phillips LLP New legislation will require almost every employer in the State of California, including agricultural employers, to provide sexual harassment training to all employees—including temporary and seasonal employees. By January 1, 2020, all employers of five or more employees must provide at least 2two hours of sexual harassment training to all supervisory employees and …

The ongoing federal government shutdown, which began Dec. 22, may soon affect a key program of great importance to winegrape growers. Thursday, Jan. 10 is the deadline for wineries to submit grape purchase data from the 2018 harvest to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Pacific Region office. NASS collects and compiles the data for …

A report issued last week by a consortium of environmental groups on antibiotics in the meat supply chain highlights the importance of work being undertaken by California Department of Food and Agriculture as the first state in the nation to regulate the use of antibiotics in livestock. The report touched on CDFA’s efforts but it is important to clearly state …

Today’s order by President Trump will provide welcome relief to Western farmers, cities, rural communities and wildlife refuges that have struggled under water supply rules that are long overdue for an update. Prioritizing national interest and the value of California food production, the president’s order requires the re-consultation of the biological opinions to be completed and fully implemented by August …

The Silent Squeeze on Agriculture If you had to guess what percentage of the total US production of broccoli came from California, what would you guess? How about almonds, artichokes, celery, dates, figs, garlic, kiwifruit, olives, processing tomatoes, pistachios, plums, prunes, processing strawberries, or walnuts?    If you answered between 95-100% for each product, you would be correct; this is …