Left to right, Growing California Chair Kasey Cronquist, Visit California CEO Caroline Beteta, Governor Brown and CDFA Secretary Karen Ross.

Driven by the farm-to-fork movement and a growing interest among travelers for culinary experiences, Visit California is partnering with California Grown to launch a new marketing campaign, “California, Always in Season.”

The two entities announced their partnership at the campaign launch during California Agriculture Day 2014 at the State Capitol.

Tourists in California spent $28.5 billion on food and beverages in 2012, making it the largest segment in the state’s tourism economy. The “California, Always in Season” program is designed to market California’s agricultural abundance and pioneering and innovative spirit of the state’s chefs, farmers and ranchers.

“This partnership further defines California as the premier destination for culinary travelers,” said Caroline Beteta, president & CEO of Visit California. “Today’s travelers seek culinary experiences from farm tours and farm-to-fork dinners, to artisan purveyors, wine festivals and culinary tours. When it comes to travel, food and agriculture – California is always in season.”

“We are excited about all of the opportunities, benefits and attention that this newly formed relationship with Visit California will bring California agriculture,” explains California Grown Chair Kasey Cronquist. “Our ‘California, Always in Season’ campaign is just the first example of this new vision highlighting the valuable cultural and economic influence our farmers and ranchers have on the Golden State.”

The cornerstone of this campaign is a $1 million media buy with Food & Wine magazine, which will deliver more than 58 million impressions through print spreads, videos, custom media rich content, targeted digital media and a co-branded landing page on Food & Wine’s website. Much of the content in the magazine will focus on the relationship between California farmers and their collaboration with local chefs, the diversity and abundance of specialty crops throughout the state as well as stories that demonstrate that California’s culinary pioneers are part of the fabric that makes the state an iconic destination.

The Golden State grows more than 400 commodities and produces 90 percent of the wine and half of the fruit, nuts and vegetables grown in the United States. The state’s commitment to agriculture and agritourism is demonstrated by California’s passionate farmers, ranchers, chefs and winemakers 365 days a year.

“Ranchers and farmers are developing their own cult status and becoming the next rock stars of the culinary scene,” Beteta said. “They are the ones that help California deliver on its promise of being the ultimate dreamland. It’s these passionate people who make this state’s culinary scene the best in the world.”

The first issue of Food & Wine featuring the “California, Always in Season” content is on newsstands now. For a look at the campaign, visit www.FoodandWine.com/California. For more information on culinary experiences in California, visit www.VisitCalifornia.com.

This project is possible with funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

Visit California (formerly known as the California Travel & Tourism Commission) is a non-profit organization with a mission to develop and maintain marketing programs – in partnership with the state’s travel industry – that keep California top-of-mind as a premier travel destination. According to Visit California, travel and tourism expenditures total $112 billion annually in California, support jobs for 917,000 Californians and generate $6.6 billion in state and local tax revenues. For more information about Visit California and for a free California Official State Visitor’s Guide, go to www.visitcalifornia.com. For story ideas, media information, downloadable images and more, go to media.visitcalifornia.com.

California Grown (also known as the Buy California Marketing Agreement, BCMA) is a joint effort of agricultural industry groups representing the products of California’s farms, ranches, forests and fisheries. Working as an advisory board to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, BCMA brings together industry and government resources to increase the awareness, consumption and value of California agricultural products, helping the state’s consumers enjoy the best of the California lifestyle. California Grown is funded through public and private contributions by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and California agricultural organizations. For more information, visitwww.californiagrown.org.

Link to news release

The annual California Ag Day has been scheduled for March 19 at the west steps of the State Capitol. Ag Day is one of a series of events scheduled that week to celebrate farming and ranching in our state and across the nation.

Ag Day is presented by CDFA and its co-sponsors, California Women for Agriculture, and the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, which is planning several activities that week to promote agriculture.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross (left) speaking about the drought today at a meeting of the California State Board of Food Agriculture. To Secretary Ross’ left are Dr. Mark Starr of the California Department of Public Health, Secretary John Laird of the California Natural Resources Agency, and Mark Ghilarducci, Director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

Members of Governor Brown’s Interagency Drought Task Force visited UC Merced today for meetings with local government leaders and the California State Board of Food and Agriculture, which held its regular monthly meeting on the Merced campus. Task Force representatives were CDFA Secretary Karen Ross, California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, State Water Board Chair Felicia Marcus, Office of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci, and Department of Public Health Deputy Director Dr. Mark Starr.  The Task Force is planning additional meetings around California to listen to the concerns of local communities as the drought continues.

Below is coverage of the State Board of Food and Agriculture meeting from Modesto Bee reporter John Holland

MERCED —Farmers and their allies pleaded with state officials Tuesday for quick action on the drought emergency and long-term solutions to keep it from happening again.

More than 200 people packed a University of California at Merced conference room for a meeting of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Drought Task Force and the State Board of Food and Agriculture.

“Your decisions will have a long and lasting effect on the local, regional and state economy,” said Aldo Sansoni, who grows almonds, tomatoes and other crops in Merced County.

Speakers warned that the drought, now in its third and by far worst year, could put many people out of work. “You have farmworkers right now, who feed the nation and world, and they’re in bread lines out in Mendota,” said Javier Guzman, a retired farmworker from Fresno. “This is very shameful.”

Members of the task force are traveling around the state to learn how communities are coping with the effects of the drought. It includes top officials involved with agriculture, water supplies, public health and other issues. The meeting came on the heels of President Barack Obama’s visit to Merced County on Feb. 14 to address the water shortage.

The drought has forced irrigation cuts of varying severity in the San Joaquin Valley. The state and federal water systems plan to deliver zero water to most farmers this year. The Merced Irrigation District could run out of reservoir water this year, and the Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts are striving for a small carryover for 2015.

Farmers are increasing their use of wells, if they have them, and could skip some annual crops so orchards and vineyards can get water.

“This is a lot more desperate than a lot of us realize,” said Laurian Bettencourt, a dairy farmer near Gustine. He said his groundwater is adequate but water district rules keep him from selling to orchard owners just outside the boundary.

The drought is forcing well pumping that could worsen the land subsidence problem in parts of Merced County, said Jean Okuye, a Livingston-area almond grower and president of the county Farm Bureau. She urged wastewater recycling and other measures to keep farms in production.

“If we destroy all of this, we will have nothing,” Okuye said. “We will be a dust bowl.”

Ron Macedo, an almond grower and chairman of the Turlock Irrigation District board, said TID has cut allotments to farmers by about 40 percent and will work to reduce canal spills and other waste. “Hopefully, it’s going to get us through this year all right,” he said.

Bill Harp, a Kern County almond grower, said yields will drop in orchards where water is extremely short, but others can get by if the reduced irrigation is timed right. He also noted the ripple effect from almonds, the state’s top farm export.

“The almond industry creates jobs, not only in farm operations but also as the crop moves down the supply chain,” Harp said.

He urged state officials to increase the capacity for recharging aquifers during wet years.

Labor advocates said farmworkers, most of whom emigrated from Mexico illegally in search of better lives, face a shortage of work in the months ahead. “Those impacts are huge for the small, rural towns we deal with,” said Marco Lizarraga, executive director of La Cooperativa Campesina de California, based in Sacramento.

Even with adequate water, farmworkers deal with low pay, poor housing and other problems, said Ilene Jacobs, an attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance, based in Oakland. “We know that these conditions are exacerbated by a drought,” she said. “They’re exacerbated by any disaster.”

Jacobs said the state will need to help out-of-work farmworkers through food banks, utility bill assistance and protection against eviction or forcelosure. A bill signed by Brown last week includes some of this, along with emergency water projects.

The snowpack stood at 39 percent of average in the central Sierra Nevada and 33 percent statewide Tuesday, the California Department of Water Resources reported. The recent storms, while welcome, will not nearly make up for a bone-dry stretch that started in early December.

When the rain did come last month, as much as 25,000 cubic feet per second of river runoff went out to sea rather than being stored, said Dan Nelson, executive director of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority. “Do you know how many acres we could have kept in production?” he asked.

The authority represents 29 water suppliers from Tracy to Kern County, plus parts of San Benito and Santa Clara counties. Nelson said at least half of the 1.1 million total acres will not grow crops this year.

Task force member Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, said some of the precious river water will have to be released to keep ocean water from intruding into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. If that were not done, she said, salt would contaminate Delta water that is pumped to many farms and city users.

Task force member John Laird, the governor’s natural resources secretary, said the recent storms have lulled people into thinking the drought has eased. “It has brought us up to the level of the worst previous drought on record, in 1977,” he said.

Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross said the state will work to get unemployment benefits, food and other services for the farmworkers who lose jobs. She also said climate change has made such disasters more likely.

“Droughts will happen, and we must be prepared every time,” Ross said.

The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is reminding public entities and their partners that there are $5 million in Emergency Watershed Program Protection (EWP) funds available for potential drought protection.

Eligible projects would include improvements to dirt or gravel maintenance roads to reduce water use for dust control, silt fences to protect homes and other structures from drought-caused silt deposition, area seeding and vegetation establishment, or anything that is feasible to keep soil in place.

In order for a project to qualify there must be a local unit of government willing to be a sponsor and provide property rights, permits and local cost sharing. Potential public entities would be government agencies, resource conservation districts, irrigation districts and tribes.

The NRCS is working quickly to try to get the word out to potential applicants and will be holding briefings via teleconference on March 3 and March 5. Additional briefings could be scheduled if there is ongoing interest. For more information about this program and the briefings, please visit the NRCS web site. You could also contact me directly at john.harrington@ca.usda.gov or Luana Kiger at Luana.kiger@ca.usda.gov.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross talks with students at CSU Chico

By Heather Hacking

“We need to reconnect farmers with consumers and create an ag-literate populace,” said Karen Ross, secretary of California Department of Food and Agriculture, who spoke to students at the Chico State University Farm Tuesday. “If people don’t understand agriculture, we lose policy that keeps our food secure.”

A fortunate outcome of the drought is that people have become more aware of ag issues, Ross said. People are “paying more attention” and learning that with drought, land isn’t farmed, which means fewer jobs and impacts to local economies.

Ross was in Chico Tuesday as guest speaker at the Chico Rotary Club. She also toured the University Farm before meeting with students and local ag leaders.

The state Department of Agriculture has a lot going on, with 400 commodities grown in the state, and ongoing efforts to prevent the spread of animal diseases, invasive species and pests.

In addition to growing products used throughout the United States, California is also a major entryway for imports, she said.

This provides many challenges. Wood packaging on cargo ships is an especially important issue for keeping pests from crossing into the United States, Ross said.

As is the case with many government programs, CDFA is doing more with less, The budget was trimmed by 33 percent in the past two years, Ross said.

The strategy, for pests and weeds for example, will be to “identify high-risk pathways,” rather than “waiting at the borders.”

One student asked about a recent proposal by the governor to eliminate grant funding for FFA ag education.

When asked how to lobby against this move, Ross said students themselves can send a powerful message. Students in the “blue jackets” of FFA can and should “stand up at school board meetings” and talk about the importance of investing in youth, she continued.

Jamie Johansson, a member of the Butte County Farm Bureau, said Assembly Bill 2033 has been introduced to reinstate the $4.1 million in grant funding that is on the chopping block.

What about conflicting messages that come from various sectors of agriculture, asked Dave Daley, an instructor at Chico State?

Ross said there is room for many different segments of the food industry — organic and conventional and all the variations in between.

“Consumers want assurance that they have a choice,” Ross said. Having many different markets also provides opportunities for producers. She said she knows many farmers who grow organic fields, as well as genetically modified foods, to meet different market demands.

Embracing diversity provides resilience, she said.

The problem is when it feels like “us vs. them.”

For students wondering which direction to go with after college, Ross encouraged young people to consider careers with CDFA and USDA. Many people are at retirement age, and a fresh workforce is welcome, she said.

For any ag producer, it’s important to be able to communicate, and to clearly express themselves through writing, she added.

The stories of the farm cannot be told in “140 characters,” the length of a Twitter entry. Also, the ability to communicate science to non-farmers will become increasingly important, Ross noted.

Another job gap will be in farm management, Ross said. A trillion dollars worth of ag assets are ready to transition to new leadership, as farmers reach older ages.

Ross said climate change is another topic frequently discussed.

Farming has always included adaptation, Ross said, from equipment use to ongoing plant research. As the world population increases and open land decreases, improvements to farming will continue. Her dream, Ross said, is that plant breeders develop plants that provide food, and also useful byproducts. Or perhaps plants will be developed that help improve groundwater problems or other land issues, Ross said.

Link to story – http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_25228259/california-ag-secretary-takes-spin-around-chico-state