About the Global Soil Health Challenge Announced by California and France at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, the Global Soil Health Challenge calls on national and sub-national governments (like Baja California) to include ambitious programs of action … Continue reading →

The USDA has announced that it will issue $9.4 million in grants to provide enhanced training, outreach, and technical assistance to underserved and veteran farmers and ranchers. Two organizations in California will receive a combined amount of nearly $373,000 Agriculture & … Continue reading →

  By CDFA Secretary Karen Ross Here in California, harvest is practically a rolling, year-round occurrence. It’s just one of the many blessings of this wonderful place if you’re a farmer. It’s fitting, though, that National Farmers Day comes at … Continue reading →

  Video from the Fresno Bee.    The Big Fresno Fair runs through October 14, but the Tractor Tree will remain as a permanent museum exhibit at the fairgrounds. Here’s a story about the Big Fresno Fair in The Business … Continue reading →

CDFA joins the rest of the nation in observing the designation of October as Firewood Awareness Month. We are providing a video on the invasive species risk of moving firewood as well as tips from our Division of Measurement Standards … Continue reading →

The passing last week of noted claymation artist Will Vinton brought back memories of his highly-celebrated work in agriculture: the California Raisins, featuring animated characters that rocketed to fame in the ’80s. Vinton himself found fame long before that – … Continue reading →

Farmers have been struggling with not only a labor shortage on one end, but long-term supervisors, farm managers and farm owners starting to age-out of the business. The Center for Land-Based Learning, a non-profit organization located in Winters, recently created … Continue reading →

A trip to Southern California this week was a welcome reminder of the remarkable work our employees do to protect us from threats posed by invasive species. My first stop was the joint CDFA/USDA Medfly Preventative Release Program in Los … Continue reading →

By Tim Hearden In recent years, I’ve had the good fortune to visit and work with some of California’s most successful trade schools and career-technical education programs. About a year ago, I visited with instructors and students involved with an … Continue reading →