from Europe, he said production will ramp up significantly over the next five years. The Novihum representatives said the product is priced competitively with the current overseas shipping costs absorbed as a marketing cost by the company. Today’s price in the U.S. is similar to what growers will be paying once the product is manufactured here. McAbee said a full application of Novihum, such as 1500 pounds per acre, continually improves the soil without need for an annual application. However, many growers lease land and are more inclined to pay costs associated with shorter term improvements rather than a longer lasting—and more expensive—application. That is why the company has several different products, including those in a concentration that does call for an annual application. One strong believer in the product is WG member Alan Boyce, who is executive chairman of Materra Farming Company, Bakersfield, CA. “We field trialed it several years ago in the desert and noticed the plants were much healthier.” Consequently, the farming operation utilized Novihum on a new planting of lemons in Imperial County. “Right now, the trees are 36 months old and they look like they have been in the ground five years,” Boyce said. He noted the soil in Imperial is very sandy without a lot of organic matter. The use of Novihum has improved the soil immensely. Boyce is proud of his cutting-edge farming philosophy and of being open to being the first farmer to try something. “We tried robotic spraying on a large pistachio planting, and it worked great. My farm team said we have a perfect score. So, I told them that means we aren’t trying enough new things. We are early adopters.” He noted that when planting permanent trees, the company is very much an advocate of using soil amendments and other strategies that can speed up growth on the front end. “With permanent crops you can go broke waiting to be rich. If we can cut off 18 months on the front end (between planting and first harvest) that’s golden.” He said Novihum is doing a great job on the lemons. He believes the trees have absorbed less salt and are less brittle than others in the area and have stronger growth. He is a believer. “We’re preparing ground right now for a date planting and we are going to use Novihum,” he said.
The top 5 percent of earners pay 67.2 percent of the state’s total personal income tax revenue (up from 66.6 percent in the 2019 edition).
Earners
CA Personal Income Tax
Businesses pay more than two-thirds of the total property tax burden, at 67.05 percent in the 2019-20 assessment period (homeowners account for the remaining 32.95 percent). Businesses’ share of property taxes is up from 63.35 percent two years earlier, and is almost 9 percent higher than immediately after passage of Proposition 13 (the tax reform measure of 1978).
32.95%
41.84%
36.65%
58.16%
63.35%
67.05%
1979-80
2016-17
2019-20
From 2000 to 2018, the collective revenue of 482 California cities grew from $47.6 billion to $92.2 billion, while spending by those cities increased from $46.7 billion to $85.2 billion.
Spending Revenue
2000 2018
$46.7 billion
$47.6 billion
$85.2 billion
$92.2 billion
100
80
60
40
20
0
20
40
60
80
100
Data provided by the California Tax Foundation
MAY | JUNE 2021
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