Meatless school cafeterias?

Whatever happened to having to eat your meat and drink your milk before you got dessert?

From the Associated Press:

DENVER — More kids could get vegetarian meals and nondairy food and drink in the school cafeteria under a bill proposed by Colorado congressman Jared Polis.

"One of the things I've always been dismayed by is the nutritional value of the meals schools serve," Polis said Monday before promoting his Healthy School Meals Act at a suburban Denver charter school.

Polis, a Democrat, wants to give schools an incentive to offer more plant-based food. He estimated it would cost around $50 million a year but said he believes that would be more than offset in health care savings because fewer children would suffer from juvenile diabetes, heart disease and other conditions linked to obesity.

Troy Hadrick of Advocates for Agriculture remarks:

Withholding meat and milk from our children is certainly not going to make them healthier. If we want our kids to be healthier we have to get back to the basics. They need to eat a balanced diet that includes meat and diary products, get plenty of exercise and cut down on the junk food. This congressman’s proposal is as ridiculous as it sounds. Besides that, I wonder if the parents and the congressman realize that the vegetarian option of macaroni and cheese they are promoting uses cheese which is made from milk, they very same milk that they want removed from the lunch program. Our kids do need to eat healthier, but telling them not to eat meat or drink milk won’t accomplish anything.

Judge's decision is 'powerful, excellent'

The Pacific Legal Foundation hails today's decision on the side of farmers in the Delta water lawsuit:

SACRAMENTO, May 18, 2010 --- Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys applauded Federal Judge Oliver Wanger’s issuance today of a preliminary injunction against a federal regulatory action that has contributed to devastating water cutbacks for farms and communities in Central and Southern California.

PLF is the nation’s leading legal watchdog for property rights, and has been participating in the legal challenges to the Endangered Species Act biological opinions (or "biops") that have triggered these dramatic cuts in water pumping. PLF has been representing some San Joaquin Valley farmers who have been hard-hit by the federally imposed water cutbacks.

Today’s preliminary injunction, issued by Federal Judge Oliver Wanger, targets the "biop" relating to chinook salmon and steelhead, among other species.

PLF STATEMENT: "Judge Wanger recognized that federal regulators had not taken account of how water cutoffs could damage the human environment, and they did not use the best available science," said PLF attorney Brandon Middleton.

"This is a powerful, excellent ruling," said Middleton. "The judge is telling the feds that they can’t ignore the harsh human and environmental impacts of cutting off water to farms, workers, businesses and communities. The judge is also saying the feds can’t get away with using slippery science to justify envrionmental restrictions that rob communities of their lifeblood – water."

A hearing tomorrow in Judge Wanger's Fresno courtroom will address the exact nature of the injunctive relief and how much more water pumping must be permitted.

The ruling is linked at PLF’s Liberty Blog: http://plf.typepad.com/plf/2010/05/federal-court-california-water-cutbacks-for-endangered-species-not-scientifically-justified-.html

Farmers overcame ash spewed by Mount St. Helens

Thirty years ago, on May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted violently. The headline in the May 23, 1980, Capital Press read: "St. Helens dusts NW crops with volcanic ash" and the secondary headline said "Easter Washington's rich farming lands declared disaster area."

Another front-page headline said: "Central Washington farmers 'paralyzed'" in the aftermath of the eruption.

In those early days after the eruption, experts said it was still too early to tell what the extent of damage would be to agriculture. But some things were known already. With some roads impassible, dairy farmers were forced to dump thousands of gallons of milk because they couldn't get it to market. Freight movement on the Columbia River was shut down for a time due to mudflows in the mighty river that had to be dredged to allow ocean-going ships to be able to reach port in Portland.

It was estimated that $100 million in damage was caused to crops in Eastern Washington. Farm machinery suffered additional downtime for maintenance and cleaning to remove ash or repair problems caused by the abrasive powder.

But some farmers also saw some benefits from the ash cloud that eventually reached the East Coast. The ask killed insects that would have ordinarily feasted on their crops and some crops even saw improved yields later in the year.

Normally, when stories about mountains appear in the Capital Press, it is because we are looking at the snowpack in the high elevations to determine the the availability of water for the irrigation season. Or perhaps the story is about summer grazing of livestock in mountain meadows. But 30 years ago, one Northwest mountain cast a long, ashen shadow over fruit growers, row crop farmers, dairy farmers and livestock producers in the region. The mountain's fiery was the news. And the agriculture industry, as it is famous for doing, endured nature's wrath and kept right on feeding the world in spite of the obstacles and unexpected challenges that particular season presented.

What do you remember about how Mount St. Helens affected agriculture in 1980?

A towering incongruity

That's an expression that was used by a county supervisor I used to cover, and it applies to this question I have.

Continue reading.

Convention hotel deadline is today

From the California Cattlemen's Association's legislative bulletin:

The 2010 CCA/CCW Midyear Meeting will take place June 16-17, at the Lake Natoma Inn in Folsom. This is your opportunity as a member to give direction to your association. New this year, we have a condensed two-day meeting schedule to collaborate with the 2010 CBCIA Tour, June 18-20, following the Midyear Meeting.

Registration materials will be mailed to you, but are also available to print on our Web site, www.calcattlemen.org, where online registration is now available.

The schedule is boasting with education and opportunities to mingle with your fellow ranchers. The Allied Industry Council wine and cheese reception will be a great chance to support the group and raise money for their scholarship fund. Don’t miss this fulfilling event!

Hotel reservations can be made by calling the Lake Natoma Inn at (916) 351-1500 and by mentioning the California Cattlemen’s Association you can receive the block rate of $109/night. Reservations should be made by this coming Monday, May 17.

If you have any questions about Midyear, please contact Chaley Paulson in the CCA office at (916) 444-0845 or chaley@calcattlemen.org.

Tip of the Week: Acid Loving Plants

Groovy, man. Did you know some plants dig the trip on acid?

Capital Press' Kay Marikos has the details over at the Back Forty.