The National Marine Fisheries Service is expected to close the California salmon season to commercial fishing for an unprecedented third year in a row. Recreational fishing, however, will be allowed to a limited extent for the first time since 2022.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended the closure Tuesday. Salmon stocks have remained low since the last drought due to several associated issues. Most notably for agriculture, poor in-river spawning and migration conditions have been a primary factor, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The Golden State Salmon Association blamed “excessive agricultural water diversions” for lethal river temperatures and low flows for migrating juvenile salmon. Policy advisor Barry Nelson lamented “disastrous returns” for the Sacramento River last fall. He contrasted that with record returns along the Mokelumne River, where officials trucked salmon to the ocean, to argue the “ocean conditions were fine.”
Read about how the low returns are driving new legislation in the Agri-Pulse West Newsletter hitting inboxes later this morning.
Newsom and legislative leadership commit to cap-and-trade extension
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to extend the state cap-and-trade program this year. The assurance comes less than a week after President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. Attorney General to restrict states from carrying out climate change efforts.
With support from Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire of Healdsburg and Asm. Speaker Robert Rivas of Salinas, the governor’s office will release details of the extension proposal in the coming weeks.
California launches Black Bear Conservation and Management Plan
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a long-awaited management strategy for the state’s black bears.
The 86-page document details the species’ ecology, conservation strategies in the face of climate change, and adaptive management to reduce human-bear and livestock-bear interactions.
CDFW Director Charlton Bonham said the document will inform management and regulatory recommendations and future population monitoring.
Remember: Similar to their demands for more stringent gray wolf management, the California Cattlemen’s Association has been vocal as black bear depredation incidents have become more common.
Black bears are not a protected species under the California Endangered Species Act. But in 2022 CCA flagged a new CDFW policy that created additional barriers to obtaining a black bear hunting permit. The department maintains its recommendation for nonlethal and corrective deterrence in the management plan.
Chico State drone project targets navel orangeworm
A demonstration at Chico State’s University Farm successfully ran a targeted drone application to deter a major almond pest.
Using a Suterra-brand pheromone disruptor, a small drone misted the farm’s almond tree orchard to block navel orangeworm mating rituals. Farm technicians also removed “mummy nuts” left on trees prior to the spray to minimize other breeding avenues.
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The operation used a Yamaha Motor Corp. Fazer R drone, which can stay in-air for an hour straight.
Judge orders USDA to release withheld IRA, BIL funding
A federal judge has ordered the Agriculture Department and four other agencies to release frozen funding for Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law conservation and energy programs.
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island ordered leaders of USDA to resume processing grants already awarded under the IRA and BIL and refrain from further "freezing, halting or pausing" already appropriated funds.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Arkansas, Indiana request waivers to implement SNAP restrictions
Members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet traveled across the country Tuesday to highlight the first two states to officially request waivers from this administration to restrict purchases under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Proponents of these waivers argue they work to make the country healthier and ensure taxpayer dollars are not subsidizing unhealthy foods. But anti-hunger advocates and food industry groups argue it removes choice, could pose challenges for grocers and is unlikely to increase consumption of “healthier” foods due to limited SNAP benefits.
Read our full report at Agri-Pulse.com.
White House: Farm aid ‘being considered’
President Donald Trump has taken to social media to declare his support for farmers, but they’ll have to wait for clarity on when they might get payments in compensation for his trade war.
“Relief is being considered,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in the briefing room on Tuesday. She added that Ag Secreetary Brooke Rollins has spoken to Trump about the issue.
The comments differed in tone from Rollins’ own remarks to Fox News on Sunday, when she stressed a tariff safety net “will be there” for U.S. producers.
Take note: Trump touted the support his administration gave ag producers during his first term and the benefits of his phase one deal with China in a social media post on Tuesday.
“The USA will PROTECT OUR FARMERS!!!” he wrote on Truth Social.
But, but, but: A new U.S.-China deal may still be some way off. Leavitt read a statement from the president during the media briefing that said the “ball is in China’s court” right now. “China needs to make a deal with us. We don't have to make a deal with them,” she said.
By the way: South Dakota GOP Sen. Mike Rounds recently told Agri-Pulse USDA won’t have enough money to compensate farmers this time. He also expressed doubts that there will be the necessary political support to limit payments to farmers. Rounds made his remark shortly before Trump paused his global reciprocal tariffs for 90 days and raised duties on China.
“It's good that they're recognizing that there is a problem, but the size of the bailout that would have to be imposed is significant, and at a time in which we're running $37 trillion in debt,” he said.
Legal challenges to emergency tariffs mount
A legal group is asking the Court of International Trade to strike down the president’s “Liberation Day” tariffs over what it said is a bogus emergency declaration.
The president used emergency powers to impose a 10% across-the-board tariff as well as higher duties for specific countries on April 2. The president can use such powers to address an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”
“The administration’s justification — a trade deficit in goods — is neither an emergency nor an unusual or extraordinary threat,” the Liberty Justice Center said in a statement announcing the filing. In its complaint, the group argued the emergency is “a figment of his own imagination.”
The Liberty Justice Center is the litigation arm of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute.
The group is filing the case on behalf of five businesses that they argue have been hurt by the tariffs. The case is the first legal challenge to the president’s reciprocal tariffs, but the administration is also being sued over the emergency declaration used to impose tariffs on China.
State SNAP waiver requests likely to increase
More waiver requests from states wanting to restrict soda and candy purchases through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are likely to follow Tuesday’s announcements in Arkansas and Indiana.
While those two states are the first to ask for waivers, leaders and lawmakers in several other states indicated they will file their own requests soon.
Rollins was in Arkansas and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Indiana to celebrate the developments and promote the Make America Healthy Again agenda.
However, industry groups are raising alarms about the potential patchwork of programs, and the unintended consequences state waivers could create.
What they’re saying: The National Grocers Association is urging policymakers to consider the potential impact of these SNAP restrictions to small, independent grocers that are more vulnerable to even slight disruptions in store operations. They also are pushing USDA and state agencies to provide guidance, training and communication to grocers to limit disruptions for SNAP recipients while waivers are in effect.
Take note: The American Beverage Association blasted the waiver request, criticizing Rollins and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders for “choosing to be the food police” instead of taking meaningful action to help SNAP recipients move away from the program.
Rollins pushed back on the group’s statement on social media:
“It’s disappointing that the American Beverage Association's leadership dragged its entire membership — and the patriotic American workers and their families they employ and represent — into direct conflict with this administration’s priorities for American health, well-being, and taxpayer protection,” she wrote in a post on X.
Take note: Also on Tuesday, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a bill that requires the state to submit an application for a SNAP waiver restricting soda and candy purchases. Little’s administration said in a release it is committed to securing the waiver soon.
Report: Trump considering major program and staffing cuts at USDA
Government Executive, a news site focused on the federal government, says a budget passback document from the Office of Management and Budget to suggests cuts to program budgets “nearly across the board” and staff reductions. The document outlines the administration’s goals for fiscal 2026.
The article says the plan includes consolidating the agency’s “local, county-based offices around the country into state committees that would service the FSA, NRCS and Rural Development.”
GovExec also reported possible elimination of Forest Service forest and rangeland research as well as a $773 million cut to NRCS Private Lands Conservation Operations, with some offsets.
Final word
“The last time sweeping tariffs went into effect, specialty crop growers and agricultural producers in the valley lost millions of dollars in revenue. We can’t afford to let it happen again.” — Rep. Adam Gray of Merced, who has filed a measure to revoke the president’s power to impose tariffs on ag products without congressional approval.
