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Category Archives: Specialty Crops

CDFA Launches Farm2Food Accelerator Program to Empower Small Business Growth for Women, Minorities, and Small-Scale Farms and Ranches

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Office of Public Affairs

Applications are Open and Classes begin in November. Classes are also available in Spanish with bilingual instruction and curriculum. CDFA is partnering with the NASDA Foundation (National Association of State Departments of Agriculture) to launch a Farm2Food Accelerator Program in … Continue reading →

Posted in Agricultural Education, Agricultural Marketing, Community-based Food System, Specialty Crops | Leave a comment

Secretary Ross joined by former CDFA and USDA secretary Ann Veneman for grand opening of Central Valley Ag innovation center

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Office of Public Affairs

CDFA secretary Karen Ross and former CDFA and USDA secretary Ann Veneman recently participated in the grand opening of the Sun World International Center for Innovation in the Kern County community of Wasco. The center is developing fruit varietals with … Continue reading →

Posted in AG Vision, Growing California, Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

USDA announcement for Commodity Container Assistance Program includes Port of Oakland

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Office of Public Affairs

From a USDA news release USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will begin accepting applications for the Commodity Container Assistance Program (CCAP), which currently includes a partnership with the Port of Oakland and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Agricultural Marketing, Specialty Crops, Trade, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

CDFA helps ensure that California cherries meet industry standards and consumer expectations

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Office of Public Affairs

Did you know that CDFA’s Shipping Point Inspection Program conducts cherry inspections at packing houses to help ensure that California cherries meet state and national standards? Packing houses are hard at work this month to get freshly-picked California cherries to … Continue reading →

Posted in Agricultural Marketing, Growing California, Specialty Crops, Trade, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Secretary Ross tours San Francisco wholesale produce market

Posted on May 20, 2022 by Office of Public Affairs

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross, CDFA Inspection Services Director Natalie Krout-Greenberg, and California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) visited San Francisco’s SF Market early this morning (May 20) to learn how the Market–a wholesale produce market–provides food and relationships that … Continue reading →

Posted in Community-based Food System, Food Access, Specialty Crops, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Video: California Strawberry Farmer Uriel Hernandez

Posted on May 19, 2021 by Office of Public Affairs

Our California Strawberry Commission is doing some beautiful work introducing some of its farmers through videos, like this one on Uriel Hernandez and his journey coming from a hard-working family of 11 kids, his experience with FFA, and earning an … Continue reading →

Posted in Agricultural Education, Specialty Crops | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Road Trip! “Scrumptious California Tour” shows foodies the salad bowl of the world

Posted on April 11, 2018 by Office of Public Affairs

Get your foodie passport ready to tour scrumptious California veggie country! With over 970 thousand acres of harvested vegetables, melons, and strawberries, the just released USDA NASS Vegetables 2017 Summary places California at a whopping $7.85 billion in vegetable production – over … Continue reading →

Posted in Agricultural Education, Agricultural Marketing, Specialty Crops | Leave a comment

California-grown coffee generating a buzz – from NPR

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Office of Public Affairs

By Jodi Helmer In most coffee shops, you can choose a cup of joe brewed with beans from countries like Ethiopia, Colombia, Costa Rica and Yemen. Now, a new crop of coffee growers is working to get coffee brewed from … Continue reading →

Posted in Agricultural Marketing, Specialty Crops | 1 Comment

Climate Smart Agriculture – Chile trip concludes

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture

We ended our Climate Smart Agriculture delegation visit last week by visiting the La Serena region of Chile. This region, North of Santiago, is a cool season agricultural region very similar to Ventura and Salinas, California. This region received little rain during … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Climate Smart Agriculture, Specialty Crops | Leave a comment

California and Australia – a continuing partnership

Posted on March 30, 2017 by Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture

Our visit to Australia was another step in furthering California’s commitment on climate smart agriculture. The trip not only allowed us the opportunity to meet with government officials and academia, but also to see on-farm adaptations related to water management … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Smart Agriculture, Healthy soils, Specialty Crops | 1 Comment