AGRICULTURE

Treatment targets apple moth

State and federal agriculture officials will try to eradicate the light brown apple moth around San Rafael by placing pheromone-infused "twist ties" on plants and trees.

The treatment will begin March 4 at a half-dozen locations. A similar effort helped eradicate small infestations last year in Los Angeles and Napa counties, officials said.

The pheromone treatment, which relies on the moth's natural scent, can confuse the male moths and disrupt the mating cycle.

The moth, native to Australia, threatens many crops, plants and trees, including grapes, citrus and redwoods. It was first detected in the Bay Area in early 2007 and since has been identified along the Central Coast region. To date the moth has not been found in Sonoma County.

The federal government will spend nearly $75 million this year to eradicate the moth.

An open house on the treatment program will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Coleman Elementary School, 800 Belle Ave., San Rafael.

Dairy production records set

California's dairy industry once more set records for milk and cheese production last year.

The state, the nation's leading milk producer, produced 40.6 billion pounds of milk last year, up 4.8 percent from 2006, according to the state's Milk Advisory Board.

The state's cheese makers produced nearly 2.3 billion pounds of cheese, up 3.6 percent.

California's cheese production has increased by more than 80 percent during the past decade, and the state is eventually expected to surpass Wisconsin as the nation's top cheese producer.

Nearly half of California's milk supply goes to making cheese, which accounts for a quarter of all cheese produced in the United States.

Dairy farming is the largest agricultural commodity in the state, producing about $4.5 billion in annual sales.

Ag worker program criticized

The California Farm Bureau Federation says that proposed changes by the Bush administration to a federal temporary-worker program will provide only a partial solution to the needs of farmers and ranchers.

"It must be more flexible and efficient," said federation President Doug Mosebar. Even with the proposed changes, the program "will still have many of the problems that have made it unworkable."

At harvest, the state's farms employ as many as 450,000 people. Of those, only about 5,000 enter the country to work under the program, known as H-2A.

The federation, which has 91,000 members statewide, supports passage of the federal AgJobs bill. It would legalize the immigration status of undocumented workers who have held agricultural jobs in the United States for the past two years or longer.

-- Robert Digitale