Policy year in review for almonds * Conservatives look to stop ag labor fix

The Central Valley Water Board is embarking on a year-long process to reduce requirements or add exemptions for some fee payers.

Farmers and ranchers are facing the painful impacts of the rising cost of compliance over the last decade.

Water Board raises fees * Stopgap bill demands trade aid report * Lighthizer, Dems continue talks * Cash accounting at risk

The impacts of salt and nitrate pollution are costing the state at least $3 billion per year and taking ag land out of production, with salts impacting the valley for decades to come.

With 95 percent of California’s Central Valley wetlands lost over the last century to urbanization and highly productive agriculture, researchers warn that the area’s once prolific native salmon could disappear within 50 years.