DATE: February 26, 2019
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Melissa Cregan, Interim Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights and Measures
SUBJECT: Retroactive Cooperative Agreement for the Bee Safe Program
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a retroactive Cooperative Agreement with the California Department of Food and Agriculture for the Bee Safe Program, effective November 15, 2018 through June 30, 2019, with a total reimbursement amount of $122,481.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended action will allow the County to enter into an agreement with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to reimburse the Department’s costs for Bee Safe Program activities.
This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board not approve the recommended action, the Department will not receive funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for the Bee Safe Program.
RETROACTIVE AGREEMENT:
This revenue agreement is retroactive to November 15, 2018. The Department received the agreement from the CDFA on December 28, 2018.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in net County cost associated with the recommended action. Fresno County will receive approximately $122,481 in revenue from CDFA to fund this mandated program. The estimated revenues and appropriations to fund the full cost of the program are included in the FY2018-19 Adopted Budget for Department of Agriculture Org. 40101010.
DISCUSSION:
The health of managed honey bees gained national attention in 2006 following a 50 percent overwinter loss rate of commercial honey bees, then attributed to “Colony Collapse Disorder”. In 2012, a report from the United States Department of Agriculture concluded that on-going honey bee losses were the result of the combined effects of four key honey bee stressors: pests and parasites, nutrition and lack of forage, pesticide exposure, and genetics.
Managed honey bees play a critical role in the production of a variety of commodities throughout the state, most notably in the almond industry. Each year, over 1.5 million bee hives, contained in thousands of shipments, are brought into California to pollinate almonds. Almonds are Fresno County’s number one agricultural commodity with a 2017 value of over 1.2 billion.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) secured approximately $1.8 million in state general funds per year for three years, beginning in FY 2018/19, to develop and implement a program intended to protect pollinators, and the beekeeping industry, from negative impacts caused by theft, pests, lack of adequate forage, and exposure to pesticides.
County Agricultural Commissioners are granted authority identified in the Food and Agricultural Code to enforce various apiary and pest prevention laws (i.e. registration, identification, and placement of hives; inspection and abatement of pests) intended to ensure the vitality of the beekeeping industry and to prevent the introduction or the spread of pests.
This Agreement provides funds for Department staff to develop and implement a program that focuses on apiary theft prevention, and pest inspection, quarantine, and abatement activities. Many of these activities are already being performed to a lesser extent, however this funding will provide resources to cover a more robust program to protect apiary health utilizing existing staffing levels.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Agreement
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander