Wendy McNaughton is a New York Times writer/illustrator who creates the column “Meanwhile” in the paper’s Sunday Business Section. She recently spoke with CDFA Secretary Karen Ross about healthy soils, their essential place in food production, and their vital role in adapting to climate change. The story is told in the images above and below. A quote from Secretary Ross is featured in two separate slides: “It’s easy to take the soil beneath our feet for granted because it’s always been there. We need to pay attention to what’s feeding our soil so it can continue to feed us.”
Today is the seventh annual School Lunch Hero Day, a time to honor those who work tirelessly to bring healthy meals to American school children. During the production of CDFA’s Growing California video series, we profiled a School Lunch Hero making a difference in Riverside, Rodney Taylor. While Taylor has since moved on to a school district in the Washington DC-area, his story in Riverside, “Salad Bar Superstar,” is worthy of sharing once again.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a state agency in 2019. Throughout the year this blog will feature a number of items to commemorate this milestone. Today we continue with the Centennial Reflections video series, featuring CDFA employees remembering their histories, and the agency’s.
Despite taking a variety of steps to alleviate chronic shortages of agricultural employees, California farmers and ranchers continue to report problems in hiring enough people for on-farm jobs. A survey released today shows 56% of participating farmers had been unable to hire all the employees they needed at some point during the previous five years.
The voluntary survey of 1,071 farmers and ranchers, conducted by the California Farm Bureau Federation in collaboration with the University of California, Davis, also indicated worsening problems the past two years. Of those farmers reporting employee shortages, at least 70% said they had more trouble hiring employees in 2017 and 2018.
“The survey shows farmers have tried and are trying all the tactics available to them, such as increased wages, changes in farming and cropping patterns, use of the existing H-2A visa program and automation where appropriate,” CFBF President Jamie Johansson said. “The missing element is an improved agricultural immigration system, to match willing employees with farm employers.”
The great majority of California farmers responding to the survey—86%—said they had raised wages in efforts to hire enough people. Sixty-one percent reported they had hired a farm labor contractor to recruit employees. More than half reported they have started using mechanization and of those, 56% said it was due to employee shortages. Thirty-seven percent said they had adjusted cultivation practices, for example by reducing or delaying weeding and pruning. About one-third, 31%, said they are switching acreage. More farmers have also sought to hire people via the H-2A agricultural visa program, but only about 6% of surveyed farmers said they had enrolled in it.
“Through the years, the H-2A program has proven inadequate for farms in California and throughout the nation,” Johansson said. “Farm Bureau will continue to work with Congress to create a secure, flexible, market-based immigration program that works better for both farmers and farm employees.”
In terms of the proportion of farmers reporting employee shortages, the 2019 results are similar to a CFBF survey in 2017, which showed 55% of farmers experiencing shortages.
As climate change continues to threaten the state’s water
infrastructure and reliability, Governor Gavin Newsom today signed an executive
order directing his administration to think differently and act boldly by
developing a comprehensive strategy to build a climate-resilient water system.
The order seeks to
broaden California’s approach on water as the state faces a range of existing
challenges, including unsafe drinking water, major flood risks that threaten
public safety, severely depleted groundwater aquifers, agricultural communities
coping with uncertain water supplies and native fish populations threatened
with extinction.
“California’s water challenges are daunting, from severely
depleted groundwater basins to vulnerable infrastructure to unsafe drinking
water in far too many communities. Climate change magnifies the risks,” said
Governor Newsom. “To meet these challenges, we need to harness the best in
science, engineering and innovation to prepare for what’s ahead and ensure
long-term water resilience and ecosystem health. We’ll need an all-of-above
approach to get there.”
The order directs the secretaries of the California Natural
Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency and the California
Department of Food and Agriculture to identify and assess a suite of
complementary actions to ensure safe and resilient water supplies, flood
protection and healthy waterways for the state’s communities, economy and
environment.
The order directs the state to think bigger and more strategically
on water by directing the agencies to inventory and assess current water
supplies and the health of waterways, future demands and challenges. The
agencies will seek input over the coming weeks and months through listening
sessions, information workshops and other public meetings to help inform the
water resilience portfolio that will be recommended to the Governor.
A copy of the order issued by Governor Newsom today can be
found here.
Our week-long recognition of Earth Day continues with photos of some California farms. CDFA secretary Karen Ross reminded us earlier this week that farming is both a creative art and a productive process. It’s also a commitment to sustainable stewardship of working lands.
Photos by Ventura County agricultural commissioner Ed Williams.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a state agency in 2019. Throughout the year this blog will feature a number of items to commemorate this milestone. Today we continue with the Centennial Reflections video series, featuring CDFA employees remembering their histories, and the agency’s.
Central Valley farmer Jose Robles spreads mulch and compost under his almond trees. Photo from KQED.
By Lauren Sommer
California’s climate change efforts can be spotted all over the Bay Area in the growing number of electric cars and solar panels. But now, California is enlisting people from a more conservative part of the state — even if they don’t think climate change is much of a concern.
California’s farmers are receiving millions of dollars to pull carbon out of the atmosphere, something the state says is crucial for meeting its ambitious climate goals.
The state is paying them to grow plants, which absorb carbon and help move it into the soil where it can be stored long-term. That makes California home to some of the first official “carbon farmers” in the country.
For some, like almond grower Jose Robles of Modesto, climate change was an afterthought, if that. That’s something they talk about in Sacramento, he says, not where he lives and works.
But in December, the ground under Robles’ almond trees was a carpet of green, full of mustard plant and clover. It’s not a common sight in the Central Valley. After all, most farmers hate weeds.
“Everybody wants to have the orchards nice and clean,” Robles says, laughing.
His neighbors really don’t understand it.
“I’ve heard them say, ‘We’re in the business of growing almonds, not in the business of growing weeds,’” he says, laughing.
Adapting to Drought
Robles got the idea a few years ago, during California’s severe drought, when he had to cut back on watering his trees.
“We had no water,” he says. “It made us look at things different.”
Robles knew that richer earth with more microorganisms holds moisture longer, but there wasn’t a lot of organic matter in his orchard to build the soil up. Like most farmers, he sprayed herbicides to kill weeds.
So he decided to grow organic matter specifically to feed his soil. Once the weeds, also known as a “cover crop,” get a few feet tall, he mows them and lets them decompose, along with some extra compost and mulch. A $21,000 grant from California helps cover his extra costs and labor.
It can be tricky, because almonds are harvested from the ground after they’re shaken off the trees. Having mulch or weed remnants on the ground would interfere with that, so Robles has to make sure the organic matter breaks down before harvest begins.
He’s already seen a difference.
“The trees, they don’t stress as much, because they hold the moisture a lot longer,” Robles says.
Absorbing Carbon Emissions
Though climate change didn’t really factor into Robles’ decision, his grant comes from a program designed to be part of the state’s climate change strategy. California’s Healthy Soils initiative is now in its third year.
Farms and forests could absorb as much as 20 percent of California’s current level of emissions, says a state report.
“I think there’s great potential for agriculture to play a really important role,” says Kate Scow, professor of soil microbial ecology at UC Davis, of the state’s climate goals. She’s standing in a large wheat field at Russell Ranch, seven miles west of the campus, where the university plants crops to study sustainable agriculture.
“Soil is alive,” she says. “There’s farmers that know that.”
To show me, Scow starts enthusiastically digging in the dirt.
“All right, see, we’re starting to hit the mineral soil.”
This is where the carbon is stored. Plants soak up the carbon dioxide in the air to build their leaves and stems. Their roots pump carbon down into the earth. Then, when the plant dies, its organic matter gets broken down by microbes and fungi. That’s how carbon from the air gets into the soil.
“The deeper you can get it in the soil, especially below the plow layer, the more stable and secure it’s going to be,” she says.
That’s key to prevent the carbon from being released back into the air, and is how agriculture could play a part in the state’s climate effort.
“We have very ambitious climate goals, and without natural and working lands, California simply won’t get there,” says Jeanne Merrill, with the California Climate & Agriculture Network, a coalition of ag groups working on climate policy.
Before leaving office, Gov. Jerry Brown set a goal for California to be carbon neutral by 2045. That will likely mean not just reducing carbon emissions from cars and buildings, but absorbing carbon already in the air.
Merrill says California’s farmers are already on the frontlines of facing climate impacts, like more extreme weather.
“Some are willing to say that it’s climate change,” she says. “Others are unsure. But I think many know that things are changing and they need different tools.”
Farmers are interested in the climate programs, Merrill says, if only because it can help them weather extended droughts.
Hundreds have signed up. But state climate officials say the Healthy Soils program needs to be five times larger. That means the state Legislature will have to boost its $15 million budget, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has requested more money for the program.
Merrill says that would send a signal that California’s climate efforts will take the entire state, not just coastal cities.
“It’s bridging that coastal-Valley divide,” she says. “It’s saying that we need that Valley base pretty significantly.”
Food waste is a problem everyone can tackle, including our nation’s youth. As part of Winning on Reducing Food Waste Month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is launching Ace the Waste! A student competition for food waste reduction ideas. This first-ever competition calls on students to come up with creative solutions to reduce food loss and waste in the United States.
The problem of food waste affects everyone. More than one third of food in the U.S. is lost or wasted. This amounts to 133 billion pounds, or $161 billion worth of food each year. Food is the single largest type of waste in landfills. Students age 11 to 18 are encouraged to submit proposals on reducing food loss and waste anywhere along the supply chain, from the farm to the dinner table and beyond. Topic ideas for the proposal include:
Preventing food waste – such as ideas to prolong the storage life of food; improve efficiencies in the processing of food and its distribution; and create new products from unharvested or unsold crops (like so-called “ugly fruit and vegetables”) or from food processing by-products.
Recovering wholesome, excess food to feed people – such as innovative approaches for getting excess food to people who need it and measuring the value of food donations.
Recycling food scraps to keep them out of landfills – such as ideas to connect food waste generators with recyclers and to create animal feed, compost, and energy.
Raising awareness – such as ideas about how to make students more aware about the amount of food being wasted and let them know how to reduce it.
Students may submit 1-2 page proposals or 1-2 minute videos. Proposals will be judged on impact potential; originality and creativity; clarity of expression; and adherence/appropriateness to theme. Judges will include representatives from USDA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). One winner will be selected from each of two categories – ages 11-14 and ages 15-18. The winner of the challenge will be honored with recognition on USDA’s social media accounts and website, receive a certificate of appreciation, and will have the opportunity to discuss their proposals with USDA leadership.
The deadline for proposals is 5 p.m. EDT, Friday, May 24, 2019. Submit your ideas to the Ace the Waste! competition (PDF, 238 KB) today.
About the Winning on Reducing Food Waste Initiative
The Winning on Reducing Food Waste Initiative is a collaborative effort among USDA, EPA, and FDA to affirm their shared commitment to work towards the national goal of reducing food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030. The agencies agree to coordinate food loss and waste actions such as: education and outreach, research, community investments, voluntary programs, public-private partnerships, tool development, technical assistance, event participation, and policy discussion on the impacts and importance of reducing food loss and waste.
During Winning on Reducing Food Waste Month and beyond, join the conversation on social media with the #NoWastedFood hashtag. Learn more about USDA, EPA, and FDA programs and resources to reduce food loss and waste.
By Karen Ross, Secretary California Department of Food & Agriculture
When we celebrate Earth Day, we come together to recognize our earth as a giant, complex ecosystem that we – humans – have pushed out of balance. Why is it a celebration? Because in recognizing our role, we can identify and enact measures that move us back toward that balance.
All over the world on Earth Day, school kids are learning about words and concepts like “anthropogenic” and “permafrost” and “greenhouse effect.” They are learning that science is not just a tool that confirms and measures the damage that has been done, but also a source of specific solutions to mitigate damage today as well as transformational ideas to preserve our earth tomorrow. Many of these ideas are already at work transforming our farms and ranches.
California’s farmers and ranchers are students, too. They are students of the earth – of its remarkable creative, regenerative and restorative power. They work their whole lives to become experts in the powerful characteristics and combinations of soil, water and sunshine. We study microbes, pollination and life cycles; we invent tools to plant, irrigate, fertilize and harvest; we hybridize and optimize. Science is hard at work alongside every farmer and rancher, every day. My job lets me spend a good deal of time with farmers on their land, and I am so often in awe not just of their knowledge and work ethic, but also of their constant drive to learn, improve and innovate.
I’m proud of the work that our California Department of Food and Agriculture does to bring science to bear in responding to climate change, through our Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation. Our Healthy Soils Program is one example, providing incentives for farmers and ranchers to implement and demonstrate practices such as cover cropping, no-till, reduced-till, mulching, compost application, and conservation plantings.
It’s no accident that soil is also known simply as “earth.” Soil holds tremendous power – and not just to grow food. It’s easy to understand why students and scientists alike are drawn to the vastness of space or the deep, dark oceans. But I would argue that a single square foot of soil – its components, processes and possibilities – conceals enough mystery to rival any other opportunity for scientific discovery.
When soil is healthy, it has the power to draw down and store carbon that could otherwise add to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It also has the power to store tremendous amounts of water, improving our ability to conserve resources and withstand droughts. As we invest in the science that gives us these solutions, I look forward to new discoveries about our earth that allow us to take the next step.
Farming is both a creative art and a productive process. We grow food to feed us, fiber to clothe and house us, and even flowers to inspire us. While agriculture is often characterized as an industry, it is also very much a way of life. For a farmer, Earth Day is both a celebration of what our earth makes possible, and a sincere acknowledgement of our role in keeping this giant, complex system on track for future generations.
