News Release from the California State Fair

In celebrating the tradition and innovation of the State’s number one industry, agriculture, the California State Fair Board of Directors, upon the recommendation of the Agricultural Advisory Council, selects Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) as Agriculturalist of the Year.

The Agriculturalist of the Year award is presented to an individual who has contributed extensively, in a professional capacity, to California’s agricultural industry. Award criteria stipulates this individual must have demonstrated leadership and clearly represented the industry over a number of years in one or more of the following areas: finance, government, production agriculture, education, labor, research, communications, trade and public service. Through her passion and advocacy for farmers and ranchers, Secretary Ross is held in high regards by industry leaders and her peers

Secretary Ross: “There is a wealth of education and real-world experience to be learned on a farm, like the one where I grew up. Every day is a reminder of that when I meet with farmers and ranchers, speak to a group of FFA and 4-H students, or attend a fair.  I count myself fortunate to have lived this experience, as so many past recipients of this award have done – and that list is humbling.  One of the greatest blessings in my life is to serve the people of California and its great innovators:  our farmers and ranchers – the stewards of our land.  It is a true labor of love and I am honored and grateful to the California State Fair Board for this recognition.”

Initially appointed as Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture in 2011 by former Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Ross was re-appointed on January 9, 2019 by Governor Gavin Newsom. Governor Newsom cited her unmatched leadership experience in agricultural issues nationally, internationally, and here in California; including environmental stewardship, climate change adaptation, and trade. 

During Secretary Ross’ tenure, the Department has focused on core functions to protect and promote California agriculture, investing in the Department’s employees to provide the best service to farmers, ranchers and consumers and fostering an agricultural industry that embraces its role as a global leader on everything from the most technical aspects of farming to the broadest environmental imperatives.

Secretary Ross has strengthened partnerships across government, academia and the non-profit sector in the drive to maintain and improve environmental stewardship and to develop adaptation strategies for the specific impacts of climate change. She has initiated programs to provide greater opportunities for farmers and ranchers to engage in sustainable environmental stewardship practices through water conservation, energy efficiency, nutrient management, and ecosystem services; and she has worked to provide greater access to farm-fresh foods at school cafeterias through CDFA’s Farm to Fork Program. Secretary Ross is passionate about fostering the reconnection of consumers to the land and the people who produce their food, and improving the access of all California citizens to healthy, nutritious California-grown agricultural products, celebrated for their diversity and abundance in serving local, national and global markets.

Secretary Ross grew up as a 4-H kid on a farm in western Nebraska. She and her husband, Barry, own 800 acres of the family farm where her younger brother, a fourth-generation farmer, grows no-till wheat and feed grains, incorporating cover crops and rotational grazing for beef production. The Secretary has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is a graduate of the Nebraska Ag Leadership Program. She has served on numerous boards and committees in California agriculture and with various academic institutions.

Secretary Ross will be publically recognized at the California Agriculture Day on the west steps of the State Capitol on Wednesday, March 20, 2019. She will formally be honored at the California State Fair Gala benefitting the youth scholarship programs of the Friends of the California State Fair on Thursday, June 27, 2019.

Link to State Fair web site

Op-ed in Sacramento Bee by Secretary Ross and Caroline Beteta

California cuisine has long embodied the state’s spirit of discovery and unrivaled agricultural foundation.

A bounty of fresh ingredients has fused with creative inspiration from diverse sources to make the Golden State a global food destination.

And now California — from its proud and industrious culinary community to millions of adventurous diners — can celebrate recognition as the first state to receive its own Michelin Guide.

California’s groundbreaking partnership with Michelin will expand and elevate the global profile of the state as a food destination, bestowing world-class status on hundreds of restaurants in the prestigious series of books, from three-star establishments to local favorites awarded the “inspector recommended” designations, Plates and Bib Gourmands.

Food trends, cooking techniques and dining scenes come and go, but for more than a century, the Michelin Guide has held firm on its founding mission — to foster a culture of travel and eating out. It’s this promise of helping people find those hidden gems that puts the Michelin Guide above all others.

Farm-to-table cuisine is ingrained into local lifestyles across the state. It also is becoming a growing attraction for visitors – one of the reasons California is the top visitor destination in the United States. Tourism generated $132 billion in traveler spending and supports more than 1.1 million jobs for California workers.

One study showed as many as one-quarter of potential visitors may choose California as their destination because of culinary opportunities here. And dining is consistently the top experience travelers spend on — with food and beverage purveyors seeing $35.9 billion in travel-related revenue in 2017.

Sacramento will certainly benefit from Michelin’s decision to publish a California guide. The capital city has long been seen as a culinary leader by residents and visitors. As Visit Sacramento CEO Mike Testa said at Tuesday’s announcement, the credibility that Michelin brings will further cement the region’s identity as a culinary powerhouse.

The Michelin Guide’s emergence in California underscores the importance of the state’s world-renowned agriculture industry and its impact on our Michelin star-worthy restaurants.

California is home to 76,400 farms and ranches. Our state generates at least $100 billion in agricultural-related economic activity. It’s a powerhouse thanks to a year-round growing season, ideal climate and a mouth-watering abundance of crops.

Each diverse region contributes its own specialty to the state’s bounty, whether it be Napa and Sonoma’s vineyards, Butte County’s almond orchards, Fallbrook’s avocados or Gilroy’s garlic. These are just a few of the distinct offerings in which California’s communities take pride, and they represent only a fraction of our agricultural output.

The Golden State has always been an icon of endless possibilities. Food is no exception. Fostering the reconnection of consumers to the land and the people who produce their food — and improving access to California-grown agricultural products while also sharing it with the world — is what makes California special.

Receiving a Michelin star is the highest honor bestowed on a restaurant. Receiving an entire guidebook is an honor that speaks volumes for the Golden State’s agricultural and culinary prowess.

Link to op-ed

I had a nice breakfast today. Covered all of my food groups. It was fresh and tasty – which is pretty easy to do in California, even when we’re just emerging from winter. And I thought, as I often do when I’m eating a quiet meal, about the many farmers and ranchers, skilled workers and other professionals whose work makes these meals possible.

Having now spent eight years as California’s agriculture secretary, my next thoughts naturally tend to the people here at CDFA and in other public service capacities who support what our agricultural community does. It’s such an important role – ensuring food safety and quality, making sure supplies are steady and reliable, enabling and encouraging innovation that makes us safer and more efficient, less wasteful, more sustainable.

Throughout the year, there are several greeting-card-inspired occasions that provide opportunities for various industries and employers to express their appreciation to workers. One of these “employee appreciation days” was just last week, and supervisors and managers in our office took part in the occasion by bringing baked goods to the morning meeting, or by taking staff to lunch or providing coffee or snacks.

It strikes me how often these “thank-yous” include food and drink, regardless of the person, office or industry doing the thanking. It’s quite a compliment to our growers, and to our public servants who support them, that the product of our labor is so widely considered a gift and so often placed at the center of a celebration.

I hope my staff at CDFA understand how much I appreciate what they do to support the industry that I love and the community that raised me. I hope as well that our growers understand how hard we work to help them.

Each time a consumer (like me) sits down to a safe, nutritious, flavorful, fresh meal, that’s “employee appreciation day” around here.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture is celebrating its 100^th anniversary as a state agency in 2019. Throughout the year this blog will feature a number of items to commemorate this milestone. Today we are introducing the Centennial Reflections video series, featuring CDFA employees remembering their histories, and the agency’s.

Note – Lundberg Farms vice-president Bryce Lundberg is a member of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture.

Information about the Leopold Conservation Award is available here.

By Jonathan H. Harsch and Sara Wyant

“Adapt or die.”

That saying, made famous in the early 1970s by then-Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz as he encouraged farmers to look for ways to be more efficient and responsive to market signals, still rings true for many in agriculture today.

Butz, who grew up on a small Indiana farm and graduated from Purdue University during the depths of the Great Depression, understood that farmers would need to change to stay in business. He didn’t advocate for farmers to necessarily get larger but maintained they would need to adopt new business models to be more efficient. During his lifetime (he died in 2008 at the age of 98), Butz witnessed significant advancements in plant and animal breeding, mechanization, specialization, the advent of biofuels and the rise of organic agriculture, as well as increased urbanization and globalization – just to name a few trends.

Indeed, throughout the last century, U.S. farmers have adapted in response to market demands, new technologies, government decisions and the weather.

“Agriculture is getting incredibly more sophisticated,” notes Barry Flinchbaugh, Kansas State Professor Emeritus. “You have no choice but to adapt and change with the times if you are going to survive.” He also foresees “less and less commodity production” and “more crops grown with specific attributes desired by customers.”

Consider just a few key changes in U.S.cropping patterns over the last 100 years:

Oats: One of the first major U.S. crops, oats initially were grown primarily as feed for horses and mules pulling farm equipment. Acreage peaked at 45.5 million and continued in the 35-40 million range until 1955, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. By 2018, growers planted less than 3 million acres.

Soybeans: Soybeans were first planted in the U.S. in the early 1920s and reached 1 million acres by 1930. But as interest grew in the plant’s ability to fix nitrogen in the soil and market demand ramped up, growers again responded. Last year, farmers sowed over 89 million acres with the oilseed.
At the same time, new seed varieties have enabled production to move north. North Dakota growers planted almost 7 million acres in 2018, compared to only 44,000 acres in 1950.  

At the same time, new seed varieties have enabled production to move north. North Dakota growers planted almost 7 million acres in 2018, compared to only 44,000 acres in 1950.

Grapes: Before Prohibition made alcohol illegal in 1920, Iowa was the nation’s sixth-largest wine producer. A movement toward the production of more row crops, the development of new herbicides in the mid-1900s, coupled with a severe blizzard in 1940 all knocked down the amount of grapes grown in Iowa, according to the Iowa Wine Growers Association. Now the industry is making a comeback, with about 100 commercial wineries across the state. Still, the majority of U.S. grapes are grown in California, Oregon and Washington.

California changing: Until the 1950s, Los Angeles County was the top agricultural producer in the U.S, with an estimated 10,000 farms raising cattle, wheat and a variety of other crops, according to an oral history of California Agriculture.  As the county’s population grew, agriculture moved to other parts of the state. The growth of irrigated farming in the Central Valley and Imperial Valley, watered by the Colorado River, bumped California to first place among all states in value of agricultural products in the 1950s, a position it holds to this day.                                                                          

Hemp: Used primarily for its fiber and seed oils, hemp was a prominent crop in the early years of the U.S. According to the February 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, hemp, which is related to marijuana, could be used in 25,000 different products and was on the verge of becoming “the billion-dollar crop.” However, lawmakers proposed prohibitive tax laws in 1937 and hemp production was banned later that year. Lawmakers reversed course in 1942 when they needed hemp for the war effort and released a documentary called Hemp for Victory, encouraging farmers to grow hemp to support the war. This led to over 400,000 acres of hemp being planted during 1942-1945. Last year, hemp production was legalized in all 50 states as part of the 2018 farm bill, and more U.S. growers are expected to enter the market.  In 2018, global hemp retail sales reached $3.74 billion, with an annual growth rate of 15 percent, according to New Frontier Data.

These historical trends provide important perspectives on how growers have adapted in the past and will continue to adapt with new crop varieties and production methods as they make room for a new generation in 2040. As the amount of U.S. cropland continues to decline due to urbanization, there will be a focus on growing more on less acreage and doing so in a sustainable fashion.

Full article: “How and where will food be produced in 2040” from Agri-Pulse

The California Department of Food and Agriculture is celebrating its 100^th anniversary as a state agency in 2019. Throughout the year this blog will feature a number of items to commemorate this milestone.  

At the 1939 San Francisco World’s Fair, held at Treasure Island, CDFA (then the Department of Agriculture) presented an educational exhibit called, “The History of California Agriculture.” This booklet remains.

The reader is taken back to the time of explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a native of Portugal in the service of Spain.

Cabrillo entered San Diego Bay in 1542 and was met by indigenous peoples telling him of maize and other foods that were abundant in fertile valleys.

The historical account quickly shifts to the 18th century and the mission period, which brought with it Spanish approaches to agriculture – specifically, grapes, cattle and sheep.

The first record of citrus plantings is referenced in 1782 at Monterey, and in 1804 what was believed to be California’s first mission orange grove was planted at Mission San Gabriel.

Also covered is the Gold Rush and a mention of how its waning period allowed for a flourishing of California agriculture that continued over the next roughly 80 years.

Other highlights:

“The state’s agriculture value (1939) exceeds $600,000,000 annually.” That figure today (2017) is more than $50 billion, #1 in the nation.

“Lettuce is sometimes called ‘green gold’ and goes to market from this state in nearly every month.” Lettuce is currently the sixth-ranked commodity by production value in California.

“The Division of Animal Industry renders great assistance to the state’s important poultry and egg industry through the operation of four poultry pathological laboratories.” The present day Division of Animal Health and Food Safety Services operates four labs in cooperation with UC Davis; in Davis, Turlock, Tulare and San Bernardino. These labs, known collectively as the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory (CAHFS), is the backbone of California’s warning system to help protect the health of California’s livestock and poultry.  

“One of the important functions is the administration of laws enacted to keep out insect pests and plant disease not now found in California, and to control and eradicate, if possible, those already here.” Those activities are still essential today and carried out by the Division of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services.

“Much of the Department’s work in the field is accomplished through cooperation of the county agricultural commissioners and the sealers of weights and measures…The Department works closely at all times with other agencies engaged in service for agriculture, such as the University of California and the United States Department of Agriculture.” All of these relationships remain essential and strong today.

“Headquarters are in Sacramento. Branch offices are in San Francisco and Los Angeles.” Today CDFA has offices at more than 100 locations around the state.