North Bay Business Journal

North Coast water-quality regulators plan to complete regulations for how dairies deal with manure to prevent contamination of waterways during rainstorms, but the industry in Marin and Sonoma counties has a three-decade head start thanks to a public-private self-monitoring program.

The stretch of hot weather in the first half of October brightened the outlook of North Coast winegrape growers that had been anxiously waiting for their grapes to ripen in a long, cool season punctuated with spring frost and showers and a few fall days of ill-timed sizzling temperatures followed by rain.

CALIFORNIA – A new, first-of-its-kind insurance service aimed at fending off costly environmental claims against farmers and ranchers has the potential to level the playing field between regulatory agencies and the agricultural community, according to those in the North Bay familiar with the policy.

PETALUMA – Joining the growing community of North Bay artisan cheese makers are Joel and Carleen Weirauch, who have applied for a dairy processing permit and intend to make farmstead sheep milk cheese.

WEST MARIN COUNTY – Seeking relief from wildly fluctuating milk prices, another organic dairy family has turned to cheese making.

NORTH BAY — U.S. Agriculture Department’s Natural Resources Conservation Service today said it has set aside $1 million to help farmers in seven California counties, including four in the North Bay, pay for environmentally friendly options control the spread of the European grapevine moth, which can destroy winegrape crops.

NAPA – The Napa Farmers Market will open in a new location this year in the northeast parking lot of the Oxbow Public Market at 610 First St. in Napa. It will be open Tuesday and Saturday from 7:30 to noon May 1 through Oct. 30, offering locally grown, farm-direct produce, gourmet food and handmade crafts.

SANTA ROSA — Members of the Sonoma County Fair board will hold a public meeting March 16 on plans to create a permanent public market year-round at the fairgrounds.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to hear what Yolo and Solano county residents have to say on the types of programs and policies needed to support the counties’ rural areas.

PETALUMA — Straus Family Creamery plans to move its offices and warehousing from the West Marin community of Marshall to a more central location in Petaluma early next year.

SANTA ROSA — In 2007, Syamak Taromi, a housing developer in the Bay Area for more than 30 years, purchased a 10-acre lot in northwest Santa Rosa with plans to build a 230-unit senior facility.

NORTH BAY — Clover Stornetta Farms and Straus Family Creamery, which have nearly 2,000 and 1,000 Facebook page fans, respectively, were surprised to hear early last week of a recent change in the giant Internet social network’s promotions policy banning dairy products.

UPDATE, Dec. 22, 2009: Facebook revised its promotions policy to remove the ban on mentioning dairy but still prohibits the offering of dairy products as prizes.

SAN RAFAEL – Dominican University of California is receiving a $989,798 grant from the 2008 Farm Bill to establish the National Ornamentals Research Site at Dominican University.

Scientists from the national and international research community will conduct studies focused on understanding and controlling Phytophthora ramorum, the plant pathogen known to cause Sudden Oak Death and ramorum blight on nursery stock.

The research site will be the first in the United States dedicated to the study of diseases of ornamental plants in a simulated nursery setting.

HEALDSBURG – A year and a half ago, Saggio Hills in Healdsburg collected acorns to make seedlings to plant on the site of the proposed spa and residential development. About 5,000 acorns were collected, but the seedlings didn’t take and a year later workers went back to collect more.

NORTH BAY – Despite the loss of all $27 million in state reimbursements this fiscal year to counties for lowering property taxes on agricultural land, the six North Bay counties largely are continuing the programs.

MARIN – College of Marin is able to move ahead with its Sustainable Food Systems program due to a new two-year chancellor’s grant of $374,254.

NORTH BAY – One of the ramifications of the $16.6 billion in cuts to the newly adopted state budget is the loss of about $2 million in annual reimbursements the six North Bay counties have received for accepting much lower taxes on agricultural land protected under conservation contacts.

CALIFORNIA – Some California farmers will for the first time receive crop insurance coverage for losses created by a quarantine, according to a new pilot program announced by federal officials this month.

PETALUMA – Kevin Imm, who has been chief executive officer of dairy processor Clover Stornetta Farms for five years and working there for 20, plans to retire from company management and ownership at the end of this year.

In a step back hundreds of years when most food mills were powered by the wind, fine olive-oil producer McEvoy Ranch has erected the first windmill of its size in California to be put to agricultural use. According to company agroecologist Jeff Creque, the windmill is the first step toward producing all of the ranch’s power onsite.