November 2024
farmbureaunews Meeting today’s challenges. Planning for tomorrow.
san joaquin
Vol. 109 No. 11
Detector dogs sniffs out ag contraband in packages A RELATIVELY NEW San Joaquin County Agricultural Commissioner Office employee, Waylon, has a nose for agricultural contraband and has been described as “one of the bestest ag inspector hires ever.” The 2-year-old black Lab mix, who is partnered with handler Erik Baxter, inspects packages at many of the county’s express carrier facilities including UPS, FedEx and DHL. The team also works in Stanislaus County as part of efforts to intercept pests that may hitchhike on illegal agricultural shipments, said San Joaquin County Ag Commissioner Kamal Bagri. The detector dog team complements county agricultural biologists who profile and inspect agricultural packages at the facilities. San Joaquin Farm Bureau First
Courtesy San Joaquin Ag Commissioner’s Office
By Vicky Boyd
Waylon, a detector dog with the San Joaquin Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, even has his own trading card, complete with personal statistics.
Vice President James Chinchiolo, who farms cherries and walnuts with his father near Lodi and Linden, applauded these proactive See Detector dogs, page 3
HARVEST ISSUE
SJ County harvest outlook impacted by high input costs By Craig W. Anderson AS 2024 GRINDS to a finish, members of the San Joaquin Farm Bureau reflect on the nearly completed year of agriculture, looking into the past and toward the future of the various agriculture sectors. Some issues that ag faces include high hourly wages (but a bipartisan group in the U.S. House is urging relief for farmers via a temporary freeze on rising wages) and the idea that California wants to harness more than half its land to combat climate change by 2045 along with the revival of the $18 billion tunnel to
INSIDE: 2 Planning for tomorrow
w w w.sjf b.org
Vicky Boyd
TOP STORY
San Joaquin County farmers and ranchers have been busy this time of year bringing in crops during harvest, valued at more than $3.22 billion created by 2,948 farms with more than 34,000 workers.
send Delta water to Southern California. One of the important elements of 2024, according to SFJB Executive Director An-
2 Many issues impacting agriculture
drew Genasci was that it completed a “back-to-back of two good water years,” and that the See Harvest, page 5
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