Caleb Hampton

1 week ago | santamariatimes.com | Caleb Hampton

Sheep and goats, deployed to graze flammable vegetation in targeted areas, have become a key part of California’s efforts to reduce wildfire fuels and prevent future infernos like those that have devastated parts of the state during the past decade. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has in recent years awarded millions of dollars in wildfire prevention grants for projects involving targeted grazing.

2 weeks ago | thedesertreview.com | Caleb Hampton

But California’s targeted grazing sector, which depends on a viable sheep and goat ranching industry, may be in jeopardy due to a steep rise in the minimum wage ranchers must pay the herders who look after their animals around the clock. Since 2019, that wage has more than doubled. Meanwhile, from 2022 to 2024, California’s sheep inventory declined 13%, compared to a national decline of 3%, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

2 weeks ago | agalert.com | Caleb Hampton

By Caleb Hampton Sheep and goats, deployed to graze flammable vegetation in targeted areas, have become a key part of California’s efforts to reduce wildfire fuels and prevent future infernos like those that have devastated parts of the state during the past decade. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has in recent years awarded millions of dollars in wildfire prevention grants for projects involving targeted grazing.

2 weeks ago | agalert.com | Caleb Hampton

By Caleb Hampton One hundred dollars a week. That’s how much California’s agricultural overtime law has cost farmworkers, according to University of California, Berkeley, assistant professor Alexandra Hill. In 2023, Hill published research showing the state’s 2016 agricultural overtime law had not achieved its goal of increasing earnings for farmworkers.

2 weeks ago | santamariatimes.com | Caleb Hampton

One hundred dollars a week. That’s how much California’s agricultural overtime law has cost farmworkers, according to University of California, Berkeley, assistant professor Alexandra Hill. In 2023, Hill published research showing the state’s 2016 agricultural overtime law had not achieved its goal of increasing earnings for farmworkers. On the contrary, she found, Assembly Bill 1066 caused workers to lose hours and pay as farmers shortened the workweek to balance their wage bills.