USDA funding to help rural clean energy projects Nearly $11 billion in grants and loan opportunities are available to help rural energy and utility providers bring clean energy to communities across the country. In announcing the funding last week, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the effort will provide “rural com- munities with an affordable and reliable power grid, while supporting thousands of new jobs and helping lower energy costs in the future.” Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936. “All across America, rural cooperatives lift up our rural communities,” said Ali Zaidi, national climate advisor and as- sistant to the president. “For so many of our rural communities, this is simply a gamechanger. It’s a big deal.” USDA borrowers, are eligible for fund- ing. To apply, eligible entities must sub- mit a Letter of Interest between July 31 and Aug. 31. 2023, on a rolling basis until Sept. 29, 2023. The goal of the PACE program is to make clean energy affordable for vulner- able, disadvantaged, tribal and energy communities to heat their homes, run their businesses and power their cars, schools, hospitals and more.
More information on the PACE pro- gram is available at www.rd.usda.gov/ programs-services/electric-programs/ powering-affordable-clean-energy -pace-program. Loans through this pro- gram may be forgiven by 40% of the loan amount, and the maximum loan amount is $100 million. For this program, USDA will begin ac- cepting Letters of Interest starting June 30,
USDA may be able to leverage nearly $3 billion in projects through this pro- gram. This is in line with a federal ini- tiative to ensure that 40% of the overall benefits of certain investments reach disadvantaged communities impacted by pollution.
More information on the New ERA program is available at www.rd.us- da.gov/programs-services/electric -programs/empowering-rural-america -new-era-program. Rural electric coop- eratives, including current and previous
Funding is available through two pro- grams under the Inflation Reduction Act. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will open a Letter of Interest process for the Empowering Rural America, or New ERA, program, which makes $9.7 billion available to eligible rural electric cooperatives to deploy re- newable-energy, zero-emission and car- bon-capture systems. In addition to New ERA, USDA will also open a Letter of Interest process for the Powering Affordable Clean Energy program, or PACE, which makes $1 billion available in partially forgivable loans to renewable-energy developers and electric service providers, includ- ing municipals, cooperatives and in- vestor-owned and tribal utilities to help finance large-scale solar, wind, geother- mal, biomass, hydropower and energy storage projects in support of renewable energy systems. Together, the two programs represent the single largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin
Survey seeks insight on farm labor needs The California Farm Bureau, along with researchers at the University of California, Davis, and Michigan State University, are conducting a survey to gain insight into the availability of farm labor in California. challenges faced by California agricul- ture, how these challenges are impact- ing the sector, and solutions that can protect the long-term viability of agri- culture in the state.
It asks farm employers to answer questions about their ability to find enough employees to perform the work required to operate their farm business and whether labor costs are causing farmers to change their business prac- tices by raising wages or turning to au- tomation or the H-2A temporary agricul- tural worker program. The survey also asks farmers if they an- ticipate the need for an upskilled work- force to operate technology associated with the sector’s shift towards automation. Results of the survey will be used for statistical purposes to inform the Farm Bureau, its members, communi- ty leaders and policymakers about the
The survey may be completed on- line at www.surveymonkey.com/r/ farmlaborsurvey2023. The survey is ex- pected to take 10 to 20 minutes to com- plete. Responses will be anonymous and confidential and will be analyzed along with the responses of all respondents. For more information, contact Bryan Little of the California Farm Bureau, who may be reached blittle@cfbf.com or 916-561-5622, or Carrie Alexander at UC Davis at csalexander@ucdavis.edu.
For the past decade or more, California agricultural employers have struggled to recruit sufficient num- bers of farm employees to perform a variety of agricultural work, including pruning, planting and harvesting tasks essential to California’s $50 billion agricultural industry. The survey, which is designed for farm employers, seeks responses to several questions related to farm labor.
CIMIS REPORT | www.cimis.water.ca.gov
CALIFORNIA IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
For the week of May 11 - May 17, 2023 ETO (INCHES/WEEK)
YEAR
3.0
THIS YEAR
2.5
LAST YEAR AVERAGE YEAR
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
MACDOEL II (236)
BIGGS (244)
DAVIS (06)
MANTECA (70)
FRESNO (80)
SALINAS-SOUTH (214)
FIVE POINTS (2)
SHAFTER (5)
IMPERIAL (87)
THIS YEAR LAST YEAR AVG. YEAR % FROM AVG.
1.61 1.24 1.26 31
1.72 1.58 1.55 11
1.69 1.72 1.61 5
1.61 1.74 1.52 7
1.92 1.90 1.64 17
1.39 1.55 1.26 11
1.44 2.03 1.81 -21
1.80 1.77 1.65 8
2.05 2.14 2.03 0
W eekly reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is the rate of water use (evapotranspiration—the sum of soil evaporation and crop transpiration) for healthy pasture grass. Multiplying ETo by the appropriate “crop coefficient” gives estimates of the ET for other crops. For example, assume ETo on June 15 is 0.267 inches and the crop coefficient for corn on that day is 1.1. Multiplying ETo by the coefficient (0.26 inches x 1.1) results in a corn ET of 0.29 inches. This
information is useful in determining the amount and timing of irriga- tion water. Contact Richard Snyder, UC Davis, for information on coefficients, 530-752-4628. The 10 graphs provide weekly ETo rates for selected areas for average year, last year and this year. The ETo information is provided by the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) of the California Department of Water Resources.
For information contact the DWR district office or DWR state headquarters:
SACRAMENTO HEADQUARTERS: 916-651-9679 • 916-651-7218
NORTHERN REGION: Red Bluff 530-529-7301
NORTH CENTRAL REGION: West Sacramento 916-376-9630
SOUTH CENTRAL REGION:
SOUTHERN REGION:
Fresno 559-230-3334
Glendale 818-500-1645 x247 or x243
16 Ag Alert May 24, 2023
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