Tim Hearden

Redding

Content Director at Western Farm Press

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Articles

Organic distributor acquires California citrus farm to preserve legacy

1 week ago | farmprogress.com | Tim Hearden

In early 2024, Orland, Calif., farmer Rich Johansen approached the Organically Grown Co. with a proposition. Johansen Ranch, established in 1910 and situated on the northernmost citrus-growing ground in California, is known for producing premium organic Satsuma and Clementine mandarins and other citrus varieties. For more than four decades, the 77-acre ranch has supplied its harvest to the Portland, Ore.-based OGC for distribution throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Farmers prepare as temperatures soar

1 week ago | farmprogress.com | Tim Hearden

It isn’t technically summer yet, but California growers don’t need a calendar to know that they’re entering the hottest months of the year. Many areas in the Central Valley are poised to experience their first triple-digit temperatures of the year on Friday and Saturday, May 30-31. Some areas may flirt with record highs for late May, warns the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
Consumer trust grows amid clean label trend

2 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Tim Hearden

Amid the proliferation of food labels touting organic, “natural” and “GMO-free” products, the USDA Organic seal remains a constant source of trust and confidence for consumers, a recent Organic Trade Association report finds. As the number of claims and labels on retail aisles continued to expand in 2024, the group’s research showed that younger consumers consider the impact of production on both the planet and people.
California wildlife agency addresses wolf safety concerns, new mapping tool

2 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Tim Hearden

California’s wildlife agency is “unaware of any public safety threats” caused by gray wolves despite several counties’ declarations that the apex predators are becoming a danger to humans, a top state official said. “Our law enforcement team will continue to investigate any reports of abnormal wolf behavior that could lead to a threat to public safety,” said Kaitlin Talbot, the state Department of Food and Agriculture’s deputy director of communications.
Colorado uses range riders to mitigate wolf-livestock conflicts

2 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Tim Hearden

Tim Hearden, Senior Editor, Western Farm PressRiders on horseback.Heather Smith ThomasColorado has hired, trained and deployed 13 range riders to help ranchers prevent the wolf-livestock conflicts that resulted after the state in late 2023. The state’s departments of Agriculture and Parks and Wildlife began offering the riders this spring.
Impact on predator recovery in California

3 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Tim Hearden

Tim Hearden, Senior Editor, Western Farm PressA gray wolf is captured on a game camera approaching a bull in June 2023.Tina Saitone and Ken Tate/UC DavisWe know that beef can be a valuable source of protein in humans’ diet. But what about the diets of gray wolves? Could the calories from cows and calves be fueling the recovery of the once-imperiled – and still protected – predator species?
California wolf population growth leads to increased cattle predation

3 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Tim Hearden

Rick Roberti is one of what appears to be a growing number of ranchers in northeastern California losing cattle to gray wolves. “We always lose a few calves (to predators), but by the time I found them, they were so far gone I couldn’t get anybody to look at them,” said Roberti, a fourth-generation Sierra Valley rancher and president of the California Cattlemen’s Association. “Last August, one was killed about a quarter of a mile from the ranch. It was eaten up.
California counties declare emergency over wolf presence near homes

3 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Tim Hearden

Supervisors in Modoc, Plumas, Sierra and Shasta counties in northeastern California have recently passed resolutions declaring gray wolves a potential threat to humans and asking state officials to authorize removal of problem packs. “The vast majority of the livestock that were killed in the last three months in the northeast counties … have all occurred within 100 to 300 feet of family-occupied ranch homes,” said rancher Ned Coe, chairman of the Modoc County Board of Supervisors.
California considers coyote hunting restrictions, ranchers object

3 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Tim Hearden

Tim Hearden, Senior Editor, Western Farm PressA collared coyote overlooks downtown Los Angeles.Johanna Turner/UCANRA subcommittee of the Califrornia Fish and Game Commission will meet Thursday, May 15, to consider putting limits on a rule allowing coyotes to be taken at any time of the year and at any number.
Make America Healthy Again boosts organic farming support in Congress

1 month ago | farmprogress.com | Tim Hearden

For more than 40 years, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, has owned and worked an organic farm on the island of North Haven, growing and selling produce for farmers’ markets and local restaurants. She quips that the experience makes her the ranking organic farmer in Congress, where she is serving her ninth term.