Back in 2022, California enacted SB 54: The Plastic Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act. The goal is to reduce single-use packaging and plastic food service ware. The law requires to producers to transition to recyclable or compostable materials by 2032 through a new extended producer responsibility framework. CalRecycle is currently developing regulations and within 30 days of completion, producers will have to register and report material usage for 2023 to a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO). Circular Action Alliance has been approved to serve as the first PRO. 

To assist with this complex regulation CalRecycle has published some Producer Reporting Guidance Documents and Covered Material Categories Updates including an update to covered material categories (CMC) and two producer reporting guidance documents to support implementation of the regulation. These documents can be found here.

Update to Covered Materials Categories: This document provides an update of CMCs relative to the December 31, 2024, version, and does not include an update to determinations of recyclability or compostability, which will be updated by January 1, 2026.
Covered Material Category Producer Reporting Guidance: This document provides background and guidance for categorizing covered material into covered material categories.
Source Reduction Producer Reporting Guidance: This document provides guidance on how to estimate the amount of plastic covered material sold, offered for sale, or distributed in the state, including the number of plastic components and the weight of plastic covered material for both the source reduction baseline and source reduction reporting required.
 
The Association has developed a summary of the regulation and the Association’s legal counsel has developed a Reporting Requirements Summary. If any member need the summary of the regulation or the requirement summary, please contact our office at (559) 252-0684. We feel most cotton operations will be exempted in one way or another, we felt it was important to make sure everyone knows what the requirements are in case they don’t. Stay tuned for further details as they develop. 

Two members of the California State Assembly, Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria (Fresno) and Assemblymember Jose Solache (Los Angeles) toured a cotton harvest operation and a pistachio processing facility last Friday as part of an educational visit hosted by the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association (CCGGA) and the Western Tree Nut Association (WTNA).
 
The tour kicked off at Ingleby Eriksson LLC in Fresno County, a fully integrated pistachio operation where Wyatt McKean, Conner McKean, and Doenitz Lopez guided the group through each step of the growing and processing process. With a focus on sustainability, technology, innovation, and strict quality standards, the Assemblymembers learned about the delicate balance between maintaining premium crop quality and managing the ongoing challenges and regulatory compliance that growers face in California.
 
President & CEO Roger Isom and Assistant Vice President Priscilla Rodriguez provided the Assemblymembers and their staff with firsthand insight into the complexity of the tree nut and cotton industries, highlighting the operational challenges and regulatory hurdles that farms and processing facilities must navigate.
 
Following the processing tour, the group visited a nearby cotton field to experience a live cotton harvest. For Assemblymember Solache, who represents an urban Los Angeles district with no direct agricultural base, the experience offered a deeper understanding of how agricultural farms operate. He had first-hand experience getting to ride along a cotton harvester and make his very first round module. Both legislators also had the opportunity to ride a tractor and participate in discing a field.
 
CCGGA and WTNA coordinated the tour as part of an ongoing effort to strengthen relationships with legislators and ensure they understand the critical role agriculture plays and also the challenges our growers face in adapting to new regulations, rising costs, and resource limitations.

AB 732 (Macedo) was signed by the Governor this past month. Initiated by County Ag Commissioners and co-sponsored by the Association, the bill authorizes county agricultural commissioners (CAC), in lieu of imposing a lien on a property that has been determined to be neglected or abandoned, to levy a civil penalty against a person who maintains a pest-related public nuisance in violation of current law. This bill authorizes county agricultural commissioners to impose civil penalties—up to $500 per acre, or $1,000 if no good faith effort to remedy the issue is made within 30 days of the original notice by the owner of the property. The industry has experienced a major uptick in rodent and pest pressures in fields and orchards near abandoned orchards and fields.  Association President/CEO Roger A. Isom stated “the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), coupled with increased operating costs and continuing low commodity prices have taken a toll on the agricultural industry in the San Joaquin Valley, forcing some landowners to walk away from their orchards and vineyards. However, if those orchards and vineyards aren’t managed or have the trees or vines removed in a timely manner, they can harbor extremely damaging pests and rodents in turn impacting nearby orchards and vineyards. AB 732 is a necessary tool to help ag commissioners manage these lands and hold everyone accountable to maintain existing orchards and vineyards. We are grateful for Assemblywoman Macedo’s leadership and courage to carry the bill and applaud the Governor for signing this very important legislation.”

Last week, the Association’s Assistant Vice President of Technical Services – Chris McGlothlin spoke at the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association’s (CACASA) Fall Conference in Sacramento. As part of CACASA’s Food, Fiber, Plant and Resource Protection Committee, McGlothlin presented a current state of the commodity within the state. With threats of the Cotton Seed Bug being found throughout 7 southern California counties, as well as the rapid spread of the Cotton Jassid throughout the South East of the U.S., the time for more adequate pest monitoring and controls are desperately needed. CCGGA would like to thank CACASA for the opportunity to present at their Fall Conference.

It’s time for nominations to be submitted for the upcoming election of directors to open positions on the Board of Directors of the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association.  There are four (4) Grower Director terms expiring this year, including Gary Martin, Wyatt McKean, Renato Serrano from Fresno County and Doug Cardoza from Tulare County.   The positions are for these specific counties. There are two (2) Ginner Director terms expiring this year and two vacancies, including Kirk Gilkey and Raymond Gomez.  Nominations forms are being sent out this week and all nomination forms must be completed and returned to the Association office by Wednesday, November 26^th, 2025.  Please take time to nominate one or more Ginner or Grower candidates in good standing with the Association (and yourself if you intend to be a candidate) and make sure that each person you name agrees to being nominated and files the Candidate Statement form required to be placed on the ballot for the upcoming election. The form must be completed for each nomination, so please copy the form if you nominate more than one person and provide the form to each person you nominate.    Thank you for your participation in the process. Please feel free to contact me at (559)252-0684 or via email at roger@ccgga.org if you have any questions.

Earlier this month, the Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee (JPIBPC) met to make a final determination on the request to phase out woven polypropylene bagging and wire ties on bales. This topic has been a hotly contested item across the cotton-belt, and the committee has met 3 times prior to discuss the options before them. In a roll-call vote, the committee approved the timeline as detailed below:

• Woven PPE bagging will be loan eligible for the next 6 years, with the final year being 2031
• Wire ties will be loan eligible for 9 years, however, in 2031 (after the 5^th crop year) would be restricted to export only

National Cotton Council staff will now begin educational efforts within the industry to prepare gins for the transition. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Lauren Krogman, Manager of Marketing and Processing Technology for the National Cotton Council at lkrogman@cotton.org.  

Over the weekend Governor Gavin Newsom sign SB 279 (McNerney) which increases the exemption for on-farm composting from 1,000 cubic yards to 5,000 cubic yards. The legislation was cosponsored by the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association and Western Tree Nut Association along with the California Association of Winegrape Growers, Californians Against Waste, and the People Food & Land Foundation. The legislation carried by Senator Jerry McNerney was passed unanimously in both the State Senate and Assembly. “California farmers and winegrape growers are facing a new challenge now that burning agricultural waste is no longer allowed and must ship their green waste to large composting facilities, often hundreds of miles away at great expense,” said Sen. McNerney, D-Pleasanton, who is a member of the Senate Agricultural Committee. “SB 279 is a significant tool that could help agriculture begin to answer the major dilemma it faces with the closure of so many biomass plants. It opens the door for many of our growers to get introduced to composting, which is especially critical in those times when you have to replace an entire orchard. For our smaller growers this may be the only solution, and we welcome its passage at a time we so desperately need answers,” said Roger Isom,  CCGGA and WTNA President/CEO.  SB 279 takes effect on January 1, 2026.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has just issued a “pest exclusion advisory” for the “cotton jassid (Amrasca biguttula)”. The cotton jassid is a plant-sucking leafhopper that was recently discovered in the Southeastern US, specifically Florida back in January.  From there, it has quickly spread to several states in the southeast. It feeds on juices in the plant leaves and creates a condition known as “hopperburn”, which stunts the plan and is characterized by yellowing, browning, curling and eventual loss of the leaves and abortion of the flowers/fruits. It is known to be pest of several plant families including cotton, grapevine, tomato, okra, eggplant, sunflower and hibiscus. It is not a strong flier and is most likely spread by wind or through movement of infected plants, particularly hibiscus. See the full advisory here.

This week the Association participated in an important meeting held at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to discuss the ongoing rodent crisis, especially rats and squirrels. The Associations’ President/CEO Roger A. Isom kicked off the meeting by stating “the rat crisis in the San Joaquin Valley is destructive and ongoing. It is costing our growers thousands in irrigation system replacement, and we are looking to this meeting to help develop a strategy on how we are going to tackle this issue.” In addition to CDFA, other state and local agencies participating in the meeting included the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR), UC Cooperative Extension, and the Ag Commissioners from Fresno and Kings Counties. Industry was well represented with attendees including the California Farm Bureau, Almond Alliance of California, Almond Board of California, California Association of Pest Control Advisors, and California Citrus Mutual. Representing the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association and the Western Tree Nut Association were Assistant Vice President Priscilla Rodriguez, and President/CEO Roger A. Isom. Isom closed the meeting by asking the participants “…to have a sense of urgency.  We have a grower who has replaced his entire irrigation system three times. We have another grower who went from a yield of 4,000 pounds of almonds per acre in 2023 to only 900 pounds per acre in 2024. This cannot be sustained, and we need every tool we can get to fight this issue.” 

In partnership with the Nisei Farmers League, the Association co-hosted Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Hilton for a sit down with agricultural stakeholders at the CCGGA office.  With his prior experience working as a Senior Policy and Strategy Advisor within the British Conservative Party, and hosting a weekly show on Fox News in the United States, Hilton has become a more recognizable face within the crowded Governor’s race. 

Hilton opened the discussion by acknowledging the difficulties of having an “R” next to the name on the ballot in California, but detailed his perspective on the frustration with the current administration’s priorities.  Citing affordability for everyday Californians, energy unreliability, the limitation to develop any substantial project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), as well as the mountain of regulatory requirements levied on business, Hilton envisions that a large percentage of the state is fed up.  Hilton then opened up the discussion to understand the big issues in agriculture. 

Hilton heard perspective from several commodity organizations such as the Western Tree Nut Association, California Citrus Mutual, the Nisei Farmers League, California Avocado Commission, American Pistachio Growers, California Apple Commission, California Blueberry Commission, California Olive Committee as well as several business owners and operational managers.  Hilton has some prior understanding of the significant issues agriculture faces such, as water availability, and increasing energy rates, and the current Federal Administration’s ongoing immigration policy, but took the time to hear from each representative on their big-ticket items.