Secretary Ross with Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement chairman Steve Church.

From an LGMA News Release:

The California leafy greens community met in Salinas last week to recognize those responsible for creating the unique public-private partnership formed ten years ago under the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA).

“It’s not often that a group of farmers comes to government asking to be regulated,” said Steve Church, of Church Brothers, who serves as the current chairman of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, “but in the aftermath of the 2006 E. coli outbreak associated with spinach, that is exactly what was needed to help California leafy greens producers regain consumer confidence.

“Without the support of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement wouldn’t exist,” continued Church. “In honor of that support which existed in 2006 and continues today, we are presenting CDFA Secretary Karen Ross with the LGMA’s Golden Checkmark Award.”

The Secretary was honored August 10, 2017 during a meeting of Salinas-area LGMA members. The event was the first in a series of grower meetings being held across the state to commemorate ten years since the LGMA food safety program was created and to recognize the commitment to protecting public health embodied in the LGMA system. The LGMA’s Golden Checkmark Award was created to honor those who support mandatory government oversight of food safety in the produce industry. Past recipients include Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura.

“The LGMA is a true public-private partnership where government and industry work together to ensure safe food,” continued Church.  “Both are committed to this important job and the California leafy greens community is proud to be one of the first commodity groups to be regulated under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) that will soon become federal law.”

“I’m so proud to be here today and I want to recognize all of the great people who came before me and who are still at the Department of Food and Agriculture who helped create the LGMA,” said Secretary Ross as she accepted the award. “I can only imagine the hours that were spent to come up with this food safety program that is real, robust and represents change.”

Since its creation 10 years ago, the LGMA has included a system of mandatory government audits to verify that leafy greens are being grown using science-based food safety practices. The audits are performed by government inspectors employed by CDFA who are trained and licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture.

“I am always in awe when I see what the leafy greens community has done with this program,” Secretary Ross continued. “You have transformed an industry to establish a culture where everyone is thinking about how to make sure the food we’re delivering is safe. What you have accomplished in a remarkably short period should be held up as an example.”

CDFA will be responsible for overseeing implementation of the Produce Safety Rule included under FSMA for an estimated 20,000 California produce farms under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to Ross, her department plans to work closely with existing industry groups like the LGMA to ensure compliance with the new law.  The LGMA has been working over the past several months to ensure its food safety practices are aligned with those required under the FSMA Produce Safety Rule.

Cow’s milk processors displaying the Real California Cheese and/or Milk seals brought home 22 awards from the 2017 annual cheese competition held by the American Cheese Society (ACS), July 26-29, 2017 in Denver, Colorado.

The American Cheese Society recognizes the finest cheeses and dairy products made in the Americas. A record number of 2,024 cheese and cultured dairy products were entered the competition. Cheeses made with 100 percent California milk had another strong showing this year in a field of 281 processors representing the United States, Canada and Columbia.

Cow’s milk cheeses displaying the Real California seals won 6 first-place, 5 second-place and 11 third-place awards in this year’s judging. Highlights from these wins include:

• Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co., Pt. Reyes, 1^st for Toma and 3^rd for Baby Toma, Farmstead Cheeses/Aged 60 Days or More, 2^nd for Gouda 2 Years, American Made/International Style – Dutch Style, and 3^rd for Bay Blue, Blue Mold Cheeses/Blue Veined with Rind/External Coating
• Central Coast Creamery, Paso Robles, 1^st for Bishops Peak, American Originals/Original Recipe and 3^rd for Holey Cow, American Made/International Style – Emmental-Style
• Sierra Nevada Cheese Company, Willows, 1^st for Graziers Grass Fed Kefir – Plain, Cultured Milk & Cream/Kefir, Drinkable Yogurt, etc. and 3^rd for Graziers Grass Fed Vat Cultured Euro Style Butter – Unsalted
• Oakdale Cheese & Specialties, Oakdale, 1^st for Cumin Gouda, Flavored Cheeses, International Style w/Flavor Added
• Rogue Creamery, Central Point, OR, 1^st for Organic Caveman Blue Cheese, Blue Mold Cheeses/Blue Veined with Rind/External Coating
• Peluso Cheese Company, Los Banos, 1^st for Teleme, American Originals, Teleme
• Marquez Brothers International, Inc., San Jose, 2^nd place each for Peach Drinkable Yogurt and Prune Smoothie and 3^rdplace for Strawberry Drinkable Yogurt, Yogurt & Cultured Products w/Flavors Added, and 3^rd for Oaxaca, Hispanic & Portuguese Style Cheeses/Cooking Hispanic.
• Rumiano Cheese Company, Crescent City, 2^nd for Dry Monterey Jack and 3^rd for Peppercorn Dry Jack, American Originals / Dry Jack Made from Cow’s Milk, 3^rdfor Organic Smoked Mozzarella, Smoked Cheeses/Italian Styles, and 3^rd for Organic Salted Butter, Butters/Salted
• Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, Nicasio, 2^nd for San Geronimo, Washed Rind Cheeses/Raclette Style Aged > 45 Days
• Karoun Dairies, Inc., Turlock, 3^rd for Drinkable Kefir, Cultured Milk & Cream Products, Kefir, Drinkables, etc.
• Marin French Cheese Co., Petaluma, 3^rd for Petite Jalapeño, Flavored Cheeses, Soft-Ripened with Flavor Added
• Rizo Lopez Foods, Inc., Modesto, 3^rd for Panela, Hispanic & Portuguese Style Cheeses, Fresh/Unripened

In total, 12 cow’s milk cheese and dairy producers won awards for products made with 100% Real California milk from the state’s more than 1300 dairy farm families. Real California cheeses and dairy products can be found at retailers throughout the U.S., Mexico and Asia. For more information about cheese and dairy products that carry the Real California Cheese or Milk seal, visit: RealCaliforniaMilk.com. For more information on ACS competition winners, go to: cheesesociety.org.

Link to Morning Ag Clips

The Federal Reserve and USDA have unveiled a new report to showcase how local and regional food systems can help the economies of rural and urban communities, as well as increase access to healthier food and create a more productive workforce.

The report is intended to signal that local food is no longer just for “foodies,” but instead is in high demand by consumers across the country and is ripe for investment and financing.

Through a compilation of research, essays and case studies, the report highlights possibilities like communities using regional food strategies to meet economic goals; opportunities in the regional food system sector; systems that benefit low- and moderate-income households; and models of partnerships between policymakers, members of the community, and the financial industry.

The report arrives at a critical time in light of the heightened attention to the condition of rural America, said Jen O’Brien Cheek, executive director of the Farmers Market Coalition. (A board member of the group contributed to the report).

“We want to bring in investors and institutions that offer loans and grants to make sure initiatives are supported, because it’s been demonstrated that they have a lasting impact on economic prosperity,” O’Brien Cheek said. “Really successful food systems respond to unique needs of a community.”

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors, in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the USDA Rural Development and Agricultural Marketing Service, hosted a forum to release the report, which explores “unanswered research, policy and resources gaps,” that need to be addressed.

Link to item at Politico

The USDA has proclaimed Aug. 6-13 to be National Farmers Market Week. This is the eighteenth year the USDA has supported local producers by encouraging families to meet and buy from farmers at local farmers markets.

The proclamation notes that farmers markets and other agricultural direct marketing operations contribute approximately $9 billion each year to the U.S. economy and serve as significant outlets by which producers market agricultural products, generating revenue that supports the sustainability of family farms and the health of rural communities nationwide.

California is the national leader in farmers’ markets. More than 800 Certified Farmers’ Markets operate in the state, offering the best in seasonal produce from approximately 2,500 licensed producers. Certified Farmers Markets began in 1977 following legislation signed by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.

Throughout this dedicated week, thousands of farmers markets across the country will highlight the range of products  available from local and regional farmers. The USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory makes it easy to locate farmers markets in towns and neighborhoods across the country, including California. Buying directly from farmers helps diversify farm incomes and supports other businesses by keeping more money in the local economy.

In addition to being good for the farmers and convenient for consumers, farmers markets are a gathering place that help build a sense of community.

CDFA agricultural technician Maritza Paredes uses an aspirator to collect adult Asian citrus psyllid samples from a tangerine tree in the backyard of a home in Riverside. It’s part of the work underway to try to detect additional cases of huanglongbing, or citrus greening in the area. Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG

By Mark Muckenfuss

Workers with the California Department of Food and Agriculture are methodically checking what are likely hundreds of citrus trees in a mostly residential area north of the 60/91/215 freeway interchange in Riverside for signs of a deadly disease.

Huanglongbing, or citrus greening, is a bacterial disease that wiped out much of Florida’s citrus industry in the past decade, was positively identified in a grapefruit tree near Chicago Avenue and Marlborough Street last week. The tree was removed from the property.

Since then, agricultural inspectors have been canvassing an area within an 800-meter-radius of the infected tree.

“We’re doing a house-to-house survey and checking every tree,” said Yenny Melgoza, a pest-prevention assistant. “We started the survey the day we got the positive (results on the) tree.”

Temperatures that have pushed beyond 100 degrees and some heavy thunderstorms have not stopped the work. Melgoza said she doesn’t know how long it will take the 17 workers the state has deployed to finish the testing. There is no count yet on the citrus trees in the test area.

About 20 leaves are being collected from each tree, with a focus on those that might show symptoms of the disease.

“I’m just looking for any type of leaves that have any kind of yellow on them,” said Maritza Paredes, a technician who is not only collecting leaves, but any Asian citrus psyllids she might find on a tree.

Huanglongbing is transmitted to citrus plants by a tiny insect, the Asian citrus psyllid. Not all psyllids carry the bacteria, but they are the only known insect that serves as a vector for it. Symptoms of the disease may not show up for a couple of years, but citrus greening disease usually kills a tree within three to five years.

The fruit of infected trees doesn’t ripen properly. Fruit is green and misshapen and has a bitter taste. Leaves become mottled and misshapen.

Melgoza said patchy yellowing of the leaves is usually asymmetrical. She singles out a leaf on a tree in the yard of Charlie Glick, where she and Paredes are working. While the leaf is mottled, the yellow and green patches on either side of the leaf’s midline are about the same. With HLB, she said, the patches are more random.

Officials have been expecting the disease for some time.

The Asian citrus psyllid arrived in California in 2008 and soon moved into the Inland Empire. The first tree infected with huanglongbing was found in Hacienda Heights in 2012. Since then, trees have been identified in San Gabriel, Cerritos and, in May, La Habra.

The disease has infected about 75 percent of citrus trees in Florida, resulting in more than $4 billion in lost citrus. More than 26 million citrus trees have been lost in Brazil. Texas growers also are battling the disease.

Glick, 70, said he has been keeping track of the progress of the disease. He said he won’t be heartbroken if his six small citrus trees are found to be infected and have to be removed, but he worries about the bigger picture.

“It is very concerning,” he said. “I just hope we can keep our California oranges. What would the Orange Blossom Festival be without oranges?”

Link to article

Link to CDFA web page