Agriculture briefs

Yearling sale

at Fairgrounds

Racehorse breeders and buyers will gather Tuesday at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds for the 2008 Northern California Yearling Sale.

The California Thoroughbred Breeders Association is hosting the annual sale, which will feature 206 registered colts and fillies.

Last year's event at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton raised $1.2 million in gross sales.

The sale begins at noon. For more information, call the association, (626) 445-7800, ext. 243.

The ranching and farm families of Marin County are featured in a new documentary that will debut Friday in San Francisco as part of the Slow Food Nation event.

"Hidden Bounty of Marin: farm families in transition," will be shown at 5:30 p.m. at the Foreign Cinema Restaurant in San Francisco.

The 28-minute documentary features the landscape and the daily life of cattle, dairy and sheep ranches, plus shows the operations of oyster farmers, cheese makers and vegetable producers.

It was produced by Novato Public Access Television with funding from Marin Community Foundation, Marin County Board of Supervisors, and California Communities Program at UC Davis. Ellie Rilla and Steve Quirt at UC Cooperative Extension wrote and directed the film.

It also will screen at Sept. 18 at Tomales Town Hall and Sept. 26 at the Dance Palace in Point Reyes. Public television KRCB, Channel 22, plans to run the film on a Monday night in September, though the date and time has yet to be set.

Water conservation efforts are on the minds of farmers around the state.

The Sonoma County Water Agency is crediting Russian River grape growers with helping to reduce overall water use from the river by about 15 percent this summer.

"We've been working extensively with grape growers this summer, more so than last summer," said water agency spokesman Brad Sherwood.

The effort offers the chance for growers to reduce their electric use for pumps, improve the quality of their grapes and conserve water for salmon and steelhead.

Meanwhile, the California Farm Bureau Federation concludes that farmers could face mandatory rationing in much of the state unless the state experiences a wet winter.

The Department of Water Resources says that is 73 percent of average water storage for this date. Lake Oroville is expected to drop this fall to the lowest level since the dam was built.

The federation said that under rationing Southern California farmers could lose as much as 90 percent of their water allocations.

-- Robert Digitale