Certified Farmers’ Markets (CFMs):

·         CDFA Guidance for Operating Certified Farmers’ Markets During COVID-19 Pandemic.

·         CDFA Guidance for Sales of Pre-Bagged Items from Multiple Farms at CFMs

Fair and Livestock Market Guidance

·         Guidance for Sale of Junior Livestock Market Animals

Nurseries:

·         Guidance and Best Practices for Nurseries During COVID-19 Pandemic

·         Orentacion y Mejores Practicas para los Viveros Durante la Pandemia de COVID-19

·         CDFA Guidance on Nursery License Registration Late Fees

 

California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Guidance

·         Exemption for Qualified Applicator License Category Requirements to Support COVID-19 Control

 

COVID-19 Infection Prevention for Agricultural Employers and Employees

NEW! Employer Resources

Recognizing that there is a need to pull the plethora of employer need-to-know information on COVID-19 into one manual, the Department of Public Health released the following Employer Playbook today: https://files.covid19.ca.gov/pdf/employer-playbook-for-safe-reopening--en.pdf.

As a reminder, Cal/OSHA has great material on their web site at https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/coronavirus/Health-Care-General-Industry.html, and CDFA maintains our COVID website as a resource portal for agriculture: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/coronavirus/.

NEW! Outreach and Education

Building on other public awareness campaigns there will be an enhanced public awareness campaign focused on essential workers and the LatinX community to inform them of ways they can break the cycle of spread and reduce their risk for COVID-19 at work, at home, and in their community. We know many of your organizations have been doing outreach and media/radio spots as well and we hope this new media material will aid in your outreach:

Watch the new PSAs about how we can all do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19 and keep California healthy here:

• Make It Happen (English)
• Juntos (Spanish)

Listen to radio spots for essential workers about how to safely transition from work to home here:

• Essential Workers (English)
• Essential Workers (Spanish)

 

CDPH Workplace Outbreak Guidance

CAL-OSHA has prepared a document that details how Agricultural Employers can update their: Injury and Illness Prevention Programs (IIPPs) in regards to COVID-19 Infection Prevention

·         COVID-19 Infection Prevention for Agricultural Employers and Employees

Employer and Employee Training Information on COVID-19 Infection Prevention:

·         COVID-19 Tailgate Training    |    COVID-19 Tailgate Training (Spanish Version)

·        COVID-19 Employer Checklist   |    COVID-19 Employer Checklist (Spanish Version)

NEW! Testing

Last Monday California Department of Public Health announced new testing guidance that established prioritization in testing, individuals working in agriculture are in the third tier of testing priority, behind hospitalized, and health care, congregate care, emergency services and correctional workers. Here is the full guidance:

https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Updated-COVID-19-Testing-Guidance.aspx

 

NEW! Housing for the Harvest

https://covid19.ca.gov/housing-for-agricultural-workers/

Housing for the Harvest will be led by CDFA, with Department of Social Services, Department of General Services, Public Health and CalOES and in strong partnership with counties and local partners. The program provides safe, temporary isolation spaces for agricultural and farmworkers who test positive or were exposed to the virus, which limits the risk of spreading COVID-19 to their coworkers or households. This program will operate in partnership with counties and local partners in the Central Valley, Central Coast, and Imperial Valley – the regions with the highest number of agricultural workers and expand to additional counties as need arises.

I want to thank Jenny for her tireless work with our partner state agencies to launch this program.  More information is on the web page, and we will be posting additional materials and holding one-on-one calls with counties in the coming week. We will also hold a call/webinar with you all to share information and ways in which the ag industry can support this program. Stay tuned!

Public Health Guidance, Personal Protective Equipment, and Supply Ordering 

Face Coverings

As of May 1, the County is requiring you to wear face coverings in many public settings. The coverings help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and are part of our path to reopening San Diego. See full health order.

Agricultural fieldworkers must have the face coverings around their necks and may leave the face coverings off their faces when social distancing of 6 feet or more is occurring. The workers must put the face covering on their faces when approaching others within 6 feet.

Face coverings can be made of cloth. Homemade coverings, bandanas, scarves and neck gaiters may be used. Medical grade masks should be saved for healthcare workers. State and CDC guidelines and instructions for face coverings are below:

·         State guidelines on face coverings

·         CDC instructions

More details on face coverings can be found at: Face Coverings

Personal Protective Equipment for Pesticide Applicators

Due to the shortage of personal protective equipment, CDPR has compiled list of respirators and exposure controls that offer the same or better protection than what is commonly used and has also sent out guidance and tips on safety gloves. Please see the attached documents.

Acceptable PPE Alternatives-95 Mask

Acceptable PPE-Gloves

Disinfection for COVID-19 and Prevention Measures

Department of Environmental Health guidance on disinfection of surfaces for COVID-19 (coronavirus) in English and various other languages which can be accessed via the following link www.coronavirus-sd.com under Resources and Material. The guidance provides information on COVID-19, disinfection for COVID-19, and prevention measures.

·         Never Mix Bleach with Other Cleaners

·         Nunca Mezcle el Blanqueador con Otros Limpiadores

Supplies

List of Suppliers offering certain important supplies, which may be useful:

·          List of Suppliers

Thomas is a well-established industrial supply company, and their website has already registered over 1000 vendors offering COVID19 products, materials, or manufacturing services.

·         Main Webpage: https://www.thomasnet.com/

·         COVID-19 Specific: https://www.thomasnet.com/nsearch.html?cov=NA&heading=97010359&navsource=gnb

The suppliers listed have gone through a thorough vetting process to confirm legitimacy and availability of products and services.

Other Resources

US Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan Available to US Agricultural Businesses Impacted by COVID-19 Pandemic

U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Jovita Carranza announced today that agricultural businesses are now eligible for SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance programs. SBA’s EIDL portal will reopen today as a result of funding authorized by Congress through the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act. The legislation, signed into law by the President one week ago, provided additional funding for farmers and ranchers and certain other agricultural businesses affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

 

DMV Licensing and Registration Updates, New Virtual Field Office

 DMV has posted a news release regarding commercial driver license extensions:

·         https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/newsrel/2020/2020_17

While DMV offices are currently closed to the public, extended online services are now available through the DMV Virtual Field Office as well as by mail:

·         http://virtual.dmv.ca.gov

Essential Worker Childcare -https://mychildcare.ca.gov/#/home

The website is intended to help Essential Workers that may be experiencing childcare challenges. The website is designed to help connect Essential Workers with licensed childcare providers that are open and available during this time of COVID-19. The information on the site is being updated daily as information for additional licensed child-care providers are added.                                                                                                        

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NEW! Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Detected in Poway

Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease (RHD) is a viral hemorrhagic disease that can affect both domesticated and wild rabbits.

The disease has an incubation period of 1-5 days and it may cause rabbits to die suddenly without showing any outward signs of illness. In some cases, rabbits may show fever, inappetence, lethargy, spasms, breathing difficulties, blue colored lips or mucous membranes, or bleeding from body cavities.

Rabbit owners should immediately contact the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Animal Health and Food Safety Services’ Animal Health Division at 916-900-5002 to report dead rabbits or rabbits with the noted symptoms.

To report dead wild rabbits or hares please contact the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Investigations Lab at 916-358-2790 or report online at:

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Laboratories/Wildlife-Investigations/Monitoring/Mortality-Report

For more information on RHD please visit the following links:

Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease was detected in a wild rabbit population for the first time in California in May 2020- California Fish and Wildlife Flyer

·         CDFA Factsheet Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease

·         CDFA Guidance on How to Keep Your Rabbits Safe from RHD

·         United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) General Guidance for Disinfecting of RHD Contaminated Premises

·         CDFA RHD Biosecurity Guidance for Veterinary Clinics Factsheet

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Nursery License Renewal Late Fees

AWM would like to share some information provided by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) on nursery license fees.  The guidance provides direction on how to avoid a late payment charge when renewing your nursery license.

CDFA Guidance on Nursery License Registration Late Fees

NEW! Find links to the most up to date information for growers and residents on our Citrus Quarantine Program page  ***Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) and Huanglongbing (HLB) Information***

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Private Applicator Certification Exam: Schedule Online

Private Applicator Certificate Exams have been temporarily suspended.

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