Signature Gathering Underway for ‘More Water Now’ Ballot Initiative; Volunteer to Help the Effort – It’s Easy!
By Geoff Vanden Heuvel, Director of Regulatory and Economic Affairs
The petition process to qualify the More Water Now initiative for the November 2022 ballot is officially underway. Signatures from 1.5 million registered voters must be gathered by April 15, 2022, just five short months from now. The campaign has a goal of collecting a third of the required signatures from paid signature gatherers (think the people outside your local big-box store), another third via direct mail and the final third from volunteers – the more volunteers engaged in the signature collection process, the better. It costs nearly $4 per signature to hire a paid signature gatherer!
There are multiple ways you can volunteer to help gather signatures and support the effort:
• Request a petition from the website, which will be mailed to you for your signature.
• Circulate petitions to gather multiple signatures from registered voters.
• Make petitions available to the public at your place of business.
• Donate to cover the cost of printing and mailing petitions.
As we’ve noted in previous MPC Friday Reports, this initiative provides an opportunity to make a substantial – and long overdue – investment in California’s water supply infrastructure, with funding put in place until five million acrefeet of new water is developed. Learn more about volunteering at MoreWaterNow.Com/Volunteer. Milk, Dairy and Grain
Market Commentary By Sarina Sharp, Daily Dairy Report
Pretty much everything – except cheese – costs more than it did a year ago. Last month the average price of a basket of consumer goods jumped 6.2% year over year, the steepest increase in inflation since the days of neon tracksuits and acid-washed jeans. Shoppers are paying a little more for everyday items like food (5.3%), clothing (4.3%), and household furnishings (6.1%).
Meanwhile, on the farm, expenses are soaring. Labor is hard to find and commands a premium. Energy costs 30% more than it did a year ago, and freight expenses are on the rise. Fertilizer prices are at least twice as high as they were last year, and they’re still climbing.