Sweet, vibrant and a favorite summertime treat, cherries are a delicious reminder of the dedication and hard work behind California’s diverse agricultural landscape. This National Cherry Day, we’re celebrating the growers, farmers, farmworkers and everyone across the supply chain who helps bring this beloved stone fruit from California orchards to tables across the state and beyond.
In 2025, California sweet cherry growers produced 49,180 tons of sweet cherries valued at $221 million, making California the second-largest sweet cherry-producing state in the nation, behind Washington.
California’s Cherry-Growing Regions
From the Sacramento Valley to the Central Valley and the Central Coast, California’s cherry orchards thrive in regions with the ideal growing conditions needed to produce high-quality fruit. According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, the top sweet cherry counties by bearing acres are San Joaquin, Fresno, Stanislaus, Tulare, Kern, Sacramento, and Kings. San Joaquin leads with 17,446 sweet cherry bearing acres, followed by Fresno with 4,350 bearing acres.
These communities are home to generations of growers who dedicate their time and expertise to cultivating sustainable California cherries and supporting the agricultural workforce that makes the industry possible.
This National Cherry Day, we thank California’s cherry growers, farmworkers, agricultural partners and all those who play a role in the journey from orchard to table. Your hard work helps make California agriculture one of the most productive and diverse agricultural systems in the world.
So, whether you enjoy them fresh, baked into a favorite recipe or shared with family and friends, please take a moment today to celebrate California cherries and the people who make them possible.
A new F3i Supercomputing Center at Fresno State is now offering Central Valley stakeholders access to advanced computing and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to accelerate innovation across California’s food and agriculture supply chain.
A partnership between Fresno State, the UC San Diego Supercomputer Center and F3 Initiative, this new resource brings advantages directly to the Central Valley. Instead of requiring businesses, researchers and educators to build their own computing systems, the F3i Supercomputing Center provides shared access to powerful computing resources and technical support allowing growers, food processors, manufacturers, logistics companies, startups and researchers to test and apply AI to real-world challenges.
“California agriculture has always been driven by innovation,” CDFA Secretary Karen Ross said. “The F3i Supercomputing Center is a perfect example of partnerships that will help our farmers, researchers and entrepreneurs access resources to solve challenges, strengthen our food system, and create opportunity in rural and local communities.”
By making these cutting-edge resources more accessible, the F3i Supercomputing Center aims to strengthen workforce develop and support opportunities for research, business growth and economic development. Read a Fresno State Today article for more information.
What you need to know: Governor Newsom signed SB 172, which permanently funds California’s nation-leading Farm to School Program, ensuring schools can continue serving students healthy meals made with California-grown ingredients. Championed by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the program supports local farmers, strengthens regional food systems, and expands nutrition education in classrooms.
SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today signed SB 172, which permanently establishes California’s nation-leading Farm to School Program into state law, ensuring children across the state continue to receive local farm-fresh nutritious school meals. This follows the Governor and First Partner’s recent announcement that nearly 3.5 billion free school meals have been served since 2021, improving meal quality and access while reducing hunger for millions of families.
Governor Gavin Newsom, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, state leaders, and supporters of the Farm to School program.
“California is leading the nation in supporting children’s health by serving nutritious, locally grown school meals and providing food education that equips students with lifelong healthy habits. Supporting California farmers, local communities, and the health of California’s children remains a top priority, which is why we have secured permanent funding for California’s nation-leading Farm to School Program.”
Governor Gavin Newsom
“California’s kids deserve access to school meals that are locally-sourced and full of nutrients to help them reach their full potential and thrive. Our Farm to School Program has been a lifeline for children across the state, not only providing free, healthy meals but strengthening local economies through food worker training and supporting California farmers and producers. I am thrilled to celebrate permanent funding for this vital program so we can continue giving kids the best start in life.”
First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom
First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom petting goats at Fiery Ginger Farm, a CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant awardee that provides ag-based learning opportunities for students and supplies K-12 local schools and institutions with healthy, locally grown food.
First Partner’s leadership in the Farm to School initiative
The First Partner has championed California’s Farm to School Program to expand access to healthy, locally grown food for students. First launched in the 2021-2022 budget, the program has helped drive lasting change in California’s school food system. Administered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Office of Farm to Fork, the Farm to School (F2S) Incubator Grant program supports sustainable, local food procurement, minimally processed school meals programs, and hands-on education for students from early childhood education through 12th grade. With ongoing funding secured in Governor Newsom’s 2026-27 state budget, in partnership with the Legislature, this program will continue to improve children’s health while strengthening local food systems and creating new opportunities for small and mid-sized farmers.
The initiative supports California farmers and local economies by helping schools purchase more food from nearby farms and producers, ensuring that more dollars stay within local communities. Through the F2S Incubator Grant Program, every $1 invested leads to $2.10 of economic activity generated for communities, illustrating the bigger impact beyond the cafeteria.
Lasting impact to children
Under the leadership of the Governor, the First Partner, and the Legislature, California allocated $60 million over two years in the 2021-2022 state budget to sustain and expand the F2S Incubator Grant Program, which connects local producers and school food buyers; increases food education in classrooms, gardens, and on farms; and engages schools and students with the agricultural community. Since 2021, the Farm to School Incubator Grant Program has invested $86 million in 375 projects, benefitting 49% of all California public school students.
“Thank you Governor Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom for the many actions you have taken to support school children,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “Farm to school programming helps students build lifelong relationships with nutritious food while providing consistent demand needed to sustain local small farmers. It has been a pleasure helping 49% of California students benefit from the Farm to School Incubator Grant Program so far, and CDFA looks forward to continuing this important work of sustaining local, resilient food systems.”
To date, 80% of Incubator grantees are Title I schools and 100% of farmer grantees are small, mid-size, or socially/economically disadvantaged producers (veterans, women, indigenous, people of color, and limited-resource farm households). Additionally, 100% of producers funded through the grant program utilize climate smart, organic, and regenerative agricultural practices, providing a stable market for adoption.
Here are a few success stories:
Los Angeles Unified School District: LAUSD utilized grant funding to connect cafeteria programs, career technical education, and an overhaul of their food procurement, warehousing, and distribution processes to increase local food procurement from small farmers, food hubs, and producers using climate smart, organic, and regenerative agricultural practices. They are on pace to purchase $4.7 million from these growers during the 2025-26 school year.
SPORK Food Hub: When SPORK first applied for the program, the new Davis-based food hub served just four school districts and generated $80,000 in sales. Now, with grant funding investments in infrastructure, staffing, and equipment, the food hub serves over 40 school districts and generates $6.5 million in annual sales – an 812% increase that directly supports California small and midsize producers who access the institutional food market through the food hub.
Burns Blossom Farm: This Chico-based organic farm invested grant funds in comprehensive food safety planning, production infrastructure, and new farming equipment to improve farm efficiency, safety, and production. Now, the farm is hosting school farm tours and planting new acreage to serve the growing school food marketplace.
The 2022-2023 state budget strengthened the state’s initial investment with an additional $30 million in funding for farm to school demonstration projects at priority, high-need schools, and included $600 million in funding available over three years for school kitchen infrastructure upgrades and equipment, food service employee training, and compensation for work related to serving universal meals using more fresh, minimally processed California-grown foods.
Governor Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom engaging with students.
Nutritious meals for all students
With 1-in-6 children facing hunger in the U.S., California became the first state to guarantee every public school student — nearly 6 million children — free school meals regardless of income. California is paving the way for the country to make healthy, minimally processed school meals a part of every child’s school day through programs like the F2S Incubator Grant Program.
Over 2 million children in California do not have access to healthy whole foods, with Black and Latino children face food insecurity at twice the rate of children in white households. Schools are a key source of food for children, and access to nutritious foods is essential to children’s health and preventing diet-related chronic disease, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Research has shown that students who participate in school meal programs are more likely to consume nutritious foods, less likely to experience nutrient deficiencies, and show improved attendance, better academic performance, fewer visits to the nurse’s office, and reductions in behavioral issues, anxiety, and depression. Through investments in hands-on education opportunities in school gardens, local farms, or culinary classes, the F2S program teaches students early on about healthy eating habits and environmental stewardship, setting up children for success and a healthier future.
California leads the nation in protecting student health, ensuring access to food
In 2021, Governor Newsom signed a landmark budget agreement with the Legislature to launch a universal school meals program for the 2022-2023 school year. This law requires local education agencies — school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education — to provide one free breakfast and one free lunch per school day to any student requesting a meal. Over the course of the past four years, approximately 3.5 billion breakfasts and lunches have been served under the School Nutrition Program since the Universal Meals Program implementation — of which nearly 3.45 billion have been eligible for universal meals reimbursement.
Since taking office, Governor Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom have worked with legislative champions to advance a series of first-in-the-nation reforms to eliminate toxic additives, strengthen nutrition standards, and expand healthy food access in schools statewide. Here are key investments the Newsom administration has made to support the well-being and nourishment of students:
Last summer, more than 4 million California children received SUN Bucks food benefits via EBT cards, with each eligible child receiving $120 in food benefits.
In October 2025, Governor Newsom signed AB 1264 (Gabriel, 2025), the first-in-the-nation law to ban ultra-processed foods from school meals — banning dangerous food dyes and chemicals that harm and interfere with children’s ability to learn.
Governor Newsom also signed AB 418 (Gabriel, 2023) and AB 2316 (Gabriel, 2024), banning four potentially harmful chemical food additives from products sold statewide, including red dye 3 and brominated vegetable oil, which is often used as a stabilizer in citrus-flavored beverages, and prohibiting schools from serving and selling foods containing synthetic food dye additives associated with risks to health harms in children, including cancer, damage to the immune system, and neurobehavioral issues. The federal government and numerous states have taken similar actions following California’s lead.
In 2024, Governor Newsom signed a legislative package to increase enrollment in state food assistance programs, reduce youth consumption of processed foods, and increase access to healthy, locally grown food in all California communities.
In 2023, California became the first state to codify President Biden’s updated federal guidelines on school nutrition standards to reduce sugar and salt in school meals, and established a process for California to maintain those standards should a different federal Administration lower the standards via SB 348 (Skinner, 2023)
Together, these investments embody a bold vision for school nutrition — one that supports student learning and health, strengthens local economies, and lightens the burden on families’ grocery budgets. Five years in, California’s transformational approach to school meals is delivering results, inside the classroom and beyond.
The Governor also announced that he has signed the following bill:
SB 1058 by Senator Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) — School districts: contracting: purchases for child nutrition programs.
July 8 is National Blueberry Day, and California has a lot to celebrate. In 2025, the Golden State harvested 81.47 million pounds of blueberries, which is a remarkable milestone that reflects the hard work, care, and dedication of growers, harvesters, packers, shippers, and everyone who helps bring this delicious crop from the field to families across California and beyond.
Blueberries may be small, but they represent a big part of California agriculture. On National Blueberry Day, CDFA is proud to recognize and thank California’s blueberry growers and all those across the supply chain who make each season possible. Your work supports local communities, strengthens our agricultural economy, and helps showcase the quality and abundance of California-grown produce.
Here’s to a berry good National Blueberry Day — and to the people behind every pound harvested. 🫐
The top three counties that produce blueberries in California in terms of acres, include: Tulare, Kern, and San Joaquin. Source: 2022 Census of Agriculture.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) invites you to participate in listening sessions for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP). These sessions are designed for specialty crop stakeholders to provide feedback to the SCBGP team ahead of the 2027 Request for Concept Proposals (RFCP) on specific topics related to the program.
Are you eligible for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program?
Specialty crops are fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.
Eligible entities include:
Non-profit and for-profit organizations
Local, state, and federal government entities, including Tribal governments (federally and non-federally recognized)
Public or private colleges and universities
Individuals are not eligible to apply
Projects must benefit the specialty crop industry as a whole; projects designed to primarily benefit one or more individuals or organizations are not eligible.
You can review the 2026 RFCP here for more information on the program.
2027 Listening Session 1
Wednesday 7/8/2026, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. PT
Agenda Topics: Guidance Documents including the Request for Concept Proposals (RFCP) & Program Priorities
Happy 250th birthday America! As we celebrate our Nation’s founding, the California Department of Food and Agriculture offers a message of gratitude for the farmers, ranchers, farmworkers and all who work so hard to produce the bounty of America’s food and steward our land.
It is especially fitting to hold up all who have a role in agriculture because it has always been foundational to our Nation’s economy and well-being.
George Washington was a soldier, our Nation’s first President and a farmer – one who experimented with new crops, crop rotations and new fertilizers. Thomas Jefferson was also an innovative farmer who wrote: “Agriculture is our wisest pursuit because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals and happiness.” In the midst of the Civil War (May 1862) , President Abraham Lincoln, who also had agrarian roots, established the United States Department of Agriculture to support farmers and rural communities with research farms on what is now the National Mall. Throughout his presidency he pushed for legislation to advance agricultural research and education with the enactment of the Homestead Act for westward development; the Pacific Railway Act (to improve transportation of crops); the Morrill Act that established the land grant university system; and, the National Academy of Sciences.
In 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the Soil Conservation Act that established the Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service) as the cornerstone of his New Deal. It was created to pay farmers for conservation practices to protect our soils in response to the Dust Bowl. To stress its importance, the President sent a letter to every Governor to encourage individual states to pass laws allowing local landowners to form and manage their own conservation districts. This framework ensured that soil erosion control was led locally rather than strictly federally. In it he said, “The nation that destroys its soils, destroys itself.”
Today I am grateful to be an American celebrating our beautiful land, our rich diversity, and the power of people coming together for the common good just as they did in July 1776.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
CDFA Secretary Karen Ross celebrated Jay Van Rein’s 30 years of state service during a recent ceremony for his retirement as acting director of the CDFA Office of Public Affairs. He worked 25 years for CDFA.
“Jay’s thoughtful and artistic hand has created artwork adorning our halls, too many publications to name and sound guidance to CDFA leadership for decades,” Ross said. “He’s dependable, creative, always ready to help, looks at issues from all angles and is never afraid to raise counter points. I’ve known him a long time, have great respect for him, and I’m thankful for so many years of working with Jay.”
Joshua Bingham, who has been a member of the CFDA team for seven years, is providing public affairs leadership in this interim time.
As California moves into the Fourth of July travel period and into the summer — thousands of vehicles will be crossing into and through the state. That seasonal surge in travel makes one thing especially important: keeping invasive pests and diseases from entering California.
This video was developed by CDFA in collaboration with the California Rice Commission, highlighting the shared commitment to sustainable rice farming and agricultural stewardship in California.
At Montna Farms in Sutter County, California rice farmer Nicole Montna Van Vleck shares how her family’s multi-generational farm has become a model for sustainability, wildlife habitat, and innovation in agriculture. From conserving water in rice production to supporting the Pacific Flyway and restoring salmon habitat through working rice fields, her story reflects how California farmers are producing food while actively enhancing ecosystems. As part of the International Year of the Woman Farmer, this conversation highlights the leadership, stewardship, and forward-thinking role women farmers play in shaping the future of agriculture.
California’s Farm to School program, championed by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, works in tandem with universal school meals to ensure more California students have access to two free school meals that are locally-sourced, delicious, and nutritious.
– Excerpt from announcement below
What you need to know: Five years ago, Governor Newsom signed into law universal school meals, a first-in-the-nation effort ensuring all public-school children have access to two nutritious free meals per school day.
SACRAMENTO – Five years ago, in partnership with the Legislature, Governor Newsom signed a landmark piece of legislation into law, making California the first state in the nation to implement a universal free school meal program for all public school students. Fast-forward to 2026, the state is expected to serve nearly 1 billion meals during this school year — improving meal quality and access while reducing hunger for millions of families.
Since the implementation of the universal school meal program in the Golden State, nearly 3.5 billion meals have been served to children — saving families time and money, supporting children’s health and learning, and reducing stigma around free school meals.
Five years ago, I was proud to sign universal school meals into law and make California the first state in the nation to guarantee every public school student a free breakfast and lunch. Today, with nearly one billion meals served each year, we’re seeing exactly what we hoped for: healthier kids, more resilient families, and expanded opportunities for every child across the state.
Governor Gavin Newsom
California’s School Meals for All program continues to be a vital investment in our children and their future. When every child starts the school day nourished and ready to learn, we are investing in their health, their academic success, and their ability to thrive. This critical program has expanded access to basic needs and demonstrated that universal school meal programs can create real, lasting change for students and their families in the classroom and beyond.
First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom
California leads the nation in protecting student health, ensuring access to food
In 2021, Governor Newsom signed a landmark budget agreement with the Legislature to launch a universal school meals program for the 2022-2023 school year. This law required local education agencies — school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education — to provide one free breakfast and one free lunch per school day to any student requesting a meal. Over the course of the past four years, there have been approximately 3.5 billion breakfasts and lunches served under the School Nutrition Program since the Universal Meals Program implementation — of which nearly 3.45 billion have been eligible for universal meals reimbursement.
Since taking office, Governor Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom working with legislative champions have advanced a series of first-in-the-nation reforms to eliminate toxic additives, strengthen nutrition standards, and expand healthy food access in schools statewide. Here are key investments the Newsom administration has made to support the well-being and nourishment of students:
Last summer, more than 4 million California children received SUN Bucks food benefits via EBT cards, with each eligible child receiving $120 in food benefits.
In October 2025, Governor Newsom signed AB 1264 (Gabriel, 2025), the first-in-the-nation law to ban ultra-processed foods from school meals — banning dangerous food dyes and chemicals that harm and interfere with children’s ability to learn.
Governor Newsom previously signed AB 418 (Gabriel, 2023) and AB 2316 (Gabriel, 2024), banning four potentially harmful chemical food additives from products sold statewide, including red dye 3 and brominated vegetable oil, which is often used as a stabilizer in citrus-flavored beverages, and prohibiting schools from serving and selling foods containing synthetic food dye additives associated with risks to health harms in children, including cancer, damage to the immune system, and neurobehavioral issues. The federal government and numerous states have taken similar actions following CA’s lead.
In 2024, Governor Newsom signed a legislative package to increase enrollment in state food assistance programs, reduce youth consumption of processed foods, and increase access to healthy, locally grown food in all California communities.
California’s Farm to School program, championed by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, works in tandem with universal school meals to ensure more California students have access to two free school meals that are locally-sourced, delicious, and nutritious.
In 2023, California became the first state to codify President Biden’s updated federal guidelines on school nutrition standards to reduce sugar and salt in school meals, and established a process for California to maintain those standards should a different federal Administration lower the standards via SB 348 (Skinner, 2023)
Together, these investments embody a bold vision for school nutrition — one that supports student learning and health, strengthens local economies, and lightens the burden on families’ grocery budgets. Five years in, California’s transformational approach to school meals is delivering results, inside and beyond the classroom.
Nutritious meals for all students
With 1-in-6 children facing hunger in the U.S., California became the first state to guarantee every public school student — nearly 6 million of them – free school meals regardless of income. California is paving the way for the country to make healthy school meals a part of every child’s educational day. The benefits of the program have extended far beyond the cafeteria. Research has shown that students who participate in school meal programs are more likely to consume nutritious foods, less likely to experience nutrient deficiencies, and show improved attendance, better academic performance, fewer visits to the nurse’s office, and reductions in behavioral issues, anxiety, and depression.
Over 2 million children in California do not have access to healthy whole foods, with Black and Latinx children reporting food insecurity twice that of children in white households. Schools are a key source of food for children and access to nutritious foods are essential to children’s health and preventing diet-related chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Approximately 3.9 million California students were eligible for free or reduced lunch during the 2019-2020 school year —- since the state’s creation of the universal school meals program nearly 3.5 billion meals have been served.
First Partner’s farm to school initiative
The First Partner spearheaded California’s Farm to School Program to expand access to healthy, locally grown food for students. The initiative works alongside California’s universal school meals program to bolster childhood nutrition while promoting economic growth in local communities and incentivizing climate-smart agriculture practices.
Under the leadership of the Governor, the First Partner, and the Legislature, allocated $60 million over two years in the 2021-2022 state budget to sustain and expand the California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, which connects local producers and school food buyers; increases food education in classrooms, gardens, and on farms; and engages schools and students with the agricultural community.
The 2022-2023 state budget strengthened this investment with an additional $30 million in funding for farm to school demonstration projects at priority, high-need schools, and includes $600 million in funding available over three years for school kitchen infrastructure upgrades and equipment, food service employee training, and compensation for work related to serving universal meals using more fresh, minimally processed California-grown foods.
