CGFA - News/Press Releases

The California Grain & Feed Association’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Zanobini as the Executive Vice President of the Association. Also joining the team are Dennis Albiani from California Advocates, who will serve as the main lobbyist for the organization, and Tad Bell who will handle regulatory and government issues for the Association. CGFA lobbyist Debbie Murdock will continue to support the lobbying and regulatory activities. According to CGFA President Bill Adams, “ We are really excited to have Chris on board as our Executive Vice President; his familiarity with Agriculture and the CGFA staff are positive benefits that will assist in positioning the association for the future. Under Chris’ leadership the board is confident that the association team will continue to maintain the high standards of service and representation for the membership.” Chris Zanobini stated, “I am really pleased with the great team of people we have brought together and I am excited to continue to work with the dedicated staff and board of CGFA.”

Chris Zanobini was Vice President of Administration and Business Development for the California Grain & Feed Association this past year. He is the Executive Director of the California Pear Advisory Board. Prior to joining the California Pear Advisory Board, he was Director of Floral Sales for Dierberg’s Markets in St. Louis, MO and as General Manager and owner of wholesale and retail flower operations in California. In his career, Chris has served as President of the California Ag Export Council, Treasurer and Secretary of the Ag Issues Forum, President and Vice President of the World Apple and Pear Association and Chairman of the Buy California Marketing Agreement. Chris also is a board member of the California Minor Crops Council and The California State Fair Agricultural Advisory Committee. Chris graduated from the University of California at Davis with a degree in Plant Science and an emphasis in Agricultural Management. He holds a Masters in Business Administration emphasizing marketing and management from the U.C. Davis Graduate School of Management. He has completed post graduate work in education.

Dennis Albiani, California Advocates, has over 11 years experience in advocacy and public policy. He was most recently the Deputy Legislative Secretary for Resources, Energy, Food and Agriculture and Cal EPA for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Previously, he served in the Davis administration as the appointed Deputy Secretary at California Department of Food and Agriculture. His legislative experience includes a position as consultant to the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources for then state Senator, now Congressman Costa and as Government Affairs Counsel for the Agricultural Council of California. He has extensive business experience in livestock production, real estate and land use. Dennis is a member of the California State Bar and graduated from McGeorge School of Law with distinction. Dennis has a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business and minor in Water Science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he was recognized as an outstanding graduate from the College of Agriculture. Dennis was a fellow in the prestigious California Agricultural Leadership Program and a graduate from the Dale Carnegie Institute.

Tad Bell spent eighteen years at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, holding several positions including Senior Biologist, Director of Policy Development and Undersecretary of Agriculture. Since leaving the Department Tad has focused on regulatory issues, and is currently a principal in Velo Consulting in Sacramento. Tad provided key support to the California grain and feed industry during the Karnal bunt crisis and is extremely familiar with state and federal regulatory affairs.

To: All CGFA Members

I just wanted to send a personal note to all CGFA members about some changes here at the association. I have been in consultation with CGFA President Bill Adams regarding this matter and he has also been in consultation with the CGFA Executive Committee regarding it.

I am writing today to let you all know that I have been asked by the California Farm Bureau Federation to succeed George Gomes, now Undersecretary of Agriculture, as the Administrator of that organization. It is not easy to leave what has been a very good organization to work for for nearly thirty years, but after careful consideration I decided to take the position with the Farm Bureau.

Some of you are probably members of your county farm bureau and are familiar with the organization. For those who may not be familiar, Farm Bureau is the largest farm organization in the state with nearly 92,000 members. They are at the forefront on all major issues impacting California agriculture.

This is a great opportunity for me and I am looking forward to becoming part of the management team at Farm Bureau. It will give me the opportunity to work with all of California agriculture in meeting the many, many challenges the industry faces today.

I am very grateful for my years with CGFA. Roberta and I have made so many close friends in the association and shared many good times with so many of you. Therefore, it is also with great sadness that I make this move and we will miss the regular contact we have had with all of you.

The scheduled date for me to assume my new responsibilities with the Farm Bureau is August 1. Rest assured I will be working with President Adams and the CGFA Board and staff to assist during the transition period in any way I can.

Thanks to all of you for the support you have given me and the CGFA over the years. CGFA is a wonderful and effective organization and I wish the association and all of you all the best in the future.

CGFA has been working on a proposal for several years to gain approval by the Cal-OSHA Standards Board of Grain Handling Safety Orders. The proposal was developed by CGFA’s Industrial and Environmental Safety Study Group and an advisory committee to the Standards Board. The proposal would put most safety regulations impacting the grain and feed industries into one order to make the safety orders more user friendly and deal with some inadequacies in the current orders.The grain handling safety orders were taken up by the board in April 2006 and at that time two parties submitted comments to the proposal asking for a number of changes to the proposed draft. One commenter was federal OSHA and one was an agricultural safety consultant. Standards Board staff have now reworked the proposal to address the concerns raised by Fed-OSHA and the other commenter. CGFA has continued to discuss the concerns with the interested parties and the agency and is currently reviewing the proposed changes which appear upon first review to be minor and in the spirit of the initial draft. Comments on the revised draft must be received by the agency by October 2 and CGFA will be submitting comments on that draft next week. The proposal will then be scheduled for a future meeting of the Standards Board for final approval.

Governor Schwarzenegger has vetoed legislation which would have imposed a new fee of $60 per 40 foot cargo container on all containers moving in and out of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The measure, SB 927 (Lowenthal), was opposed by a large coalition of business and agricultural organizations including California Grain and Feed Association which heavily lobbied the measure as it worked its way through the legislature and has been working to gain a veto by the governor.

Agricultural organizations were concerned about this new multi million dollar tax on the state’s agricultural industry. Also, while the measure was targeted at LA and Long Beach, concerns were that the precedent setting fee would ultimately be expanded to include all ports.

The fees were to be used for a vague set of programs including air emissions mitigation projects, homeland security and some traffic congestion relief although none of the funds could be used for new roads and highways in and around ports. The administration already has other infrastructure funding and port traffic congestion initiatives underway.

EPA this week rolled out its final National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) addressing particulate matter (PM) pollution. The standards address both fine particles and inhalable coarse particles, defining “fine” as 2.5 micrometers or smaller, and “inhalable” as 2.5-10 micrometers in diameter.

The final action reduces allowable PM under the current EPA standard from 65 micrograms of particles per cubic meter to 35 micrograms per cubic meter. The PM10 standard for inhalable coarse particles – which is a standard much of agricultural production lives under – will be retained at the current level of 150 micrograms per cubic meter. The agency is also revoking the annual coarse particle standard because “available evidence does not suggest an association between long-term exposure to coarse particles” at existing ambient levels and health effects.

The Sierra Club denounced the EPA action, saying, “The weak standards give polluting industries excessive freedom at the cost of public health.” The environmental group said it would push states to take more stringent actions. States have until 2015 to implement the rules, but may qualify for an extension to 2020 under certain circumstances. For full information about the new PM standards, go to www.epa.gov/pm/naaqsrev2006.html.

USDA announced the new entities that will provide official grain inspection services in California. As expected, California Agri-Inspection will provide official inspection services from Stockton and West Sacramento. A somewhat unexpected move was that Farwell Grain Inspection will provide service to southern California (Corcoran, Los Angeles and Imperial Valley). It appears that the business plan supplied by the other applicant for southern California did not meet the expectations or standards of approval of the Federal Grain Inspection Service’s Compliance Division.

FGIS’s state manager, Mike Johnson, is in the process of meeting with Farwell and local industry stakeholders in southern California to ensure a smooth and readily available service. It is anticipated that personnel and levels of service that industry has been accustomed to should remain available in Corcoran and Imperial Valley. Customers in the Los Angeles market have not expressed significant interest in official grain inspection, but service will remain available there in some form.

CGFA Board of Directors, Staff and the Grain Study Group was instrumental in coordinating and facilitating a successful resolution to industry concerns. While this process has been difficult to manage since the beginning, CGFA wishes to recognize the efforts of Mike Johnson and Chuck Britton with FGIS and Asif Maan and Steve Mauch at CDFA. These folks have worked hard to ensure that official services remain available and that a smooth transition occurs during these challenging times. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Kevin Clutter at 916-441-2272.

In the first installment of the new Safe Animal Feed and Education Program (SAFE), over 70 participants attended the livestock feed quality assurance workshop last week. One workshop was conducted for on-farm producers several months ago, but this workshop was the first of the SAFE program for the commercial feed industry. This program is the first of its kind in that it is a partnership effort between CGFA and CDFA.

Special thanks go to David Fairfield and the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA). David played a major part in the instructional aspect of the workshop and brought a uniquely qualified approach to his subject matter involving specific production aspects of feed quality assurance. Participants appreciated his hands-on experience and details of knowledge about common issues they face.

Other than the manufacturing-related topics, other highlights included a feed toxicity presentation by Dr. Birgit Puschner of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, the coming trend of HACCP in the feed industry presented by David Fairfield, and an interesting perspective of food quality assurance by Dr. Ronald Thompson of California Dairies.

CGFA would also like to recognize the hard work of Mike Davidson and Katherine Gray of CDFA for the coordination of the workshop.

President Bush has appointed Nebraska’s Republican governor to be secretary of agriculture. Gov. Mike Johanns, 54, replaces Ann Veneman as head of an agency of more than 100,000 employees, who oversee farm, forest and food stamp programs worth $75 billion a year.

Bush praised Johanns, a tax-cutting champion of farm-grown fuels, as someone with deep experience in agriculture-related matters, ranging from drought relief and ethanol bio-fuel production to global missions to increase U.S. food exports.

“As a son of Iowa dairy farmers, he grew up close to the land,” Bush said in a White House nomination ceremony, with Johanns at his side. “He will bring to this position a lifetime of involvement in agriculture, and a long record of a faithful friend to America’s farmers and ranchers.” Johanns, who served as mayor of Lincoln before becoming governor of Nebraska, said he was proud of his “ag background.”

Johanns was raised on a dairy farm in Osage, Iowa, where he played football and softball and wrestled. He graduated from St. Mary’s College in Winona, Minn., earned a law degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., and clerked at the Nebraska Supreme Court before practicing law in O’Neill, Neb., and, later, in Lincoln. He was elected to the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners in 1982 and later served on the Lincoln City Council before being elected mayor of Lincoln, and, later, governor.

Some of the duties of the U.S. Department of Agriculture include: inspects meat, poultry and egg products and oversees soil, water and wildlife conservation programs on private lands and 192 million acres of national forests and rangelands.

Your association continues to deal with the ongoing energy crisis every day. We hear daily about the crippling effects of skyrocketing natural gas and electricity prices and folks’ efforts to get around this problem. Based on much of the contact with our office, we felt that the following information would be useful for assessing what if anything can be done when it comes to alternative energy sources. You should be able to use the following information to calculate the price difference between your current bills and other possible fuel solutions for your business. Simply calculate the daily market rate for a given fuel by the applicable unit volume and see where you stand. If you have any questions, call Kevin Clutter at the association office and we will assist you in any way we can.

FUEL HEATING VALUE/VOLUME COMPARISONS

* For approximation purposes, yellow grease, animal fats and vegetable oils can be calculated at 7.6 pounds per gallon. The specifications listed for yellow grease can be used for other vegetable oils for comparison purposes.

Note: This information is to be used as a guide for comparison purposes only. Information contained herein has been rounded for approximating purposes. In order to get detailed information on a specific product or comparison, you can call the association office or the product supplier. Please also note that air emissions will vary for each fuel source and may or may not be permitted in your local air district.

OVERVIEW
At times, our processing members may contract with outside parties to perform repair, maintenance and capital improvement work on various equipment and facilities. In today’s regulatory environment, members should be concerned about the potential liability exposure created by outside contractors.

The following checklist is provided to assist you with ensuring that you and your outside contractors are adequately prepared before commencing a project.

COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE REGULATORY AGENCIES

SAFETY FOR CONTRACTOR AND COMPANY EMPLOYEES

General Requirements

Specific Requirements

In order to help protect the host employer and outside contractors from injury, it is essential that the following requirements be strictly adhered to:

Before work commences, the contractor’s superintendent/foreman must meet with the plant manager in order to demonstrate how the contractor’s compliance with company safety programs will be accomplished and monitored.

Minimum Training Requirements

The following training requirements must be facility and job-specific:

The information contained herein (“Guide”) was compiled by the California Grain and Feed Association (“Association”) from various sources for use by Association members. Every effort has been made to provide the most accurate and current information available. However, the Association makes no warranties regarding the information contained in the Guide or the applicability of such information to a particular operation. The Association specifically disclaims any and all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties or merchantability and fitness for a particular use. The Association does not warrant that the information contained in the materials will be error-free or that defects will be corrected. This Guide is not intended as legal advice and is intended for informational purposes only. Nothing in this Guide is intended to replace a member’s own technical experts or legal advisors, and the Association encourages each member to consult such professionals before implementing specific procedures. This Guide is not intended, nor should it be interpreted, to create an industry-wide standard against which members will be measured, regardless of whether they choose to follow any or all of the suggestions in the Guide. The Association may update the materials in this Guide from time to time, but the Association does not accept or undertake any responsibility to update the information provided in this Guide on a regular basis or at all.