With an estimated 40 percent of all California state employees eligible to retire in the next five years, and nearly 50 percent here at CDFA, the agency recognizes a substantial need to recruit new employees and will hold its second annual career fair in Sacramento on April 7, 2017, from 9 am to 1 pm at 2800 Gateway Oaks Drive Sacramento, CA 95833.

Current and future job openings cover the full spectrum of programs at CDFA, including plant health; animal health; dairy food safety; weights and measures – including work in alternative fuels; information technology; marketing; climate smart agriculture; oversight programs for certified farmers markets and organic agriculture; and administration and other support functions.

The agency will need scientists and other subject matter experts as well as veterinarians, entomologists, chemists, technical specialists, analysts, and a full complement of support personnel.

So come on out and learn about career opportunities at CDFA!

2017 Career Fair Event Schedule

New South Wales: Our trip to Australia included a trip near the village of of Yenda, for a tour with the irrigation, energy and wastewater management team for Casella Family Brands, the owners of Yellow Tail and Peter Lehmann wines, among other labels. Yellow Tail was launched in the USA in 2001 and quickly surpassed all initial projections to become one of the world’s most recognized wines.

The family-owned winery is a leader in adopting technology in the vineyards and its processing facility. All irrigation pumps are linked by radio and cellular phone for scheduling by computer. Soil moisture probes feed into the information system every 15 minutes along with a network of weather station data. The integrated data management system requires fewer pumping hours–a 25-30 percent savings of energy use- brings reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,  and it saves money! The computer system from Australia’s Right Energy Solutions was a capital investment with a fifteen-month payback!

New South Wales: One of our last stops in Australia was so fun – Ferrero Rocher, the world’s third largest confectionary!! Claudio Cavallini, general manager of the company’s Australian agriculture program, welcomed us to the 2,000-hectare property -a former cattle ranch being converted to hazelnut plantings. In addition to its famous namesake chocolates, Nutella is one of the company’s products.

The company sources its hazelnuts from Turkey, Italy, Chile, Argentina, the U.S., Spain, South Africa and Serbia. Australia is the latest addition to its growing sites, which are selected for climate, chill hours, soils and access to water. Diversifying sourcing locations helps manage risk and ensure the best quality and freshest hazelnuts.

New South Wales: Australian farmers grow some of the same specialty crops as we do in California, including citrus. Frank Mercuri, chairman of Pacific Fresh, hosted us for a tour of as citrus packing house and an orchard. Pacific Fresh is owned by 8 farmers and packs for another 22 growers. The co-op was established in 1997 and has quickly grown to the country’s fifth-largest. It is affiliated with Sunkist in California. Exports are critical to the Australian citrus industry. It ships 65 percent of its production overseas.

CANBERRA, the Australian capital: A number of us were late in arriving to Canberra because of weather delays while traveling. So we made a quick turnaround to join up with the rest of the delegation and our hosts for day-one of our visit, starting at the offices of the Australian agriculture ministry.

We then observed the Parliamentary “Question Time” at the Capitol building. Now that is an interesting way for members to question/challenge the prime minister and majority party about leadership policies and proposals!

As we left the building there was quite a display of military in front of the Parliament awaiting review by the prime minister. The Capitol itself is an impressive structure; it is built upon a hill overlooking a reflecting pool, the nation’s war museum, and a mall leading to a war memorial.