By Cara Rosenbloom

If you’ve noticed a positive change in food trends over the last 10 years, thank a millennial. Loosely defined as people born from the early 1980s until about 2004, millennials are the largest U.S. age demographic, and as such they are key tastemakers. Their food preferences are helping determine what you’ll find in grocery stores and restaurants across the country.

Millennials are in college, starting new jobs, getting married or having kids. Right now, there are more millennials in the workforce than any other age bracket, and their consumer choices matter. Here’s how this generation is influencing the way we eat. ( These are generalizations based on statistics, and not necessarily true for every millennial you know.)

They want the truth from food manufacturers. Big food producers are starting to listen to consumer demands for transparency about ingredients and sources, and this request is largely driven by millennials who want to know how their food is made. We all benefit from seeing more informative food labels on grocery store products.

They love customization. Millennials don’t want the same sad burger that everyone else is eating. They want to custom-design the flavor and personalize their meal. And why not? They are paying for the food; it may as well be exactly what they want. If you notice more quick-service restaurants offering customizable options that you love, thank a millennial for that.

They want easy. According to the International Food Information Council’s 2017 Food and Health Survey, 55 percent of millennials say convenience is a top driver when buying food, while baby boomers say taste matters more. Millennials are the drivers behind meal kits, grocery delivery services, food trucks, online ordering and the growth of heat-and-eat options at grocery stores.

They are redefining “healthy.” If you ask a millennial what a “healthy” restaurant food is, they won’t say low-fat or high-fiber. According to statistics, they may tell you it’s food that’s natural, organic, locally sourced or sustainable . That’s why many menus now list the farm where your lettuce was grown or offer organic options.

They want better baby food. When my daughter was born 11 years ago, feeding a baby was all about powdered rice cereal and jars of mashed green beans. Have you strolled down the baby food aisle lately? You’ll find gourmet blends in convenient pouches — organic chicken risotto and portabella mushrooms, anyone? Becoming a parent changes food habits more than any other milestone, and millennials tend to focus on food quality once they realize they are responsible for feeding a little person. While some of the products are outlandish, the variety and quality has certainly improved because of demand.

They value the planet. While older shoppers still read labels for information about calories and fat grams, millennials are more interested in how the food was sourced and grown, and how that affects their carbon footprint. Sustainability is a priority for them when buying food at grocery stores or restaurants. Millennials’ awareness of environmental issues has influenced food manufacturers to institute better earth-friendly practices.

They love to snack. Because some millennials graze instead of eating large meals, snack options have exploded, and there are many healthy offerings, such as chia seed pudding, roasted chickpeas and popped sorghum. Millennials have also pushed food companies to meet their need for convenience by demanding food packages that are resealable, easy to open and portable.

They love the keto diet. According to IFIC, 47 percent of millennials say animal protein is healthy, whereas just 26 percent of older cohorts say this. And millennials are more likely than older cohorts to say saturated fat (found in keto-friendly coconut oil, cream and butter) is healthy. Whether you love or loathe the high-fat keto diet, millennial interest is driving researchers to take a closer look at it, so we will have some evidence-based answers about its efficacy soon.

They will try anything. Millennials are described as open-minded and curious. They like trying new flavors, love ethnic cuisine and won’t shy away from vegetarian and vegan options. As menu choices expand and you try new things, know that’s driven by millennials.

While there are many positive changes in food and nutrition because of millennials, there is one troublesome statistic to note. According to IFIC, about 40 percent of millennials say that friends and family are a top source of their nutrition information (only 21 percent of boomers give that answer — they trust doctors and dietitians more).

There’s no way to know how trustworthy someone’s sister’s nutrition information is. Plus, millennials rely heavily on websites, bloggers and social media fitness professionals for health information. This can spread nutrition myths (like their love of organic food), and can be harmful for future generations, including their very well-fed babies.

Registered dietitian Cara Rosenbloom is president of Words to Eat By, a nutrition communications company specializing in writing, nutrition education and recipe development. She is the co-author of “Nourish: Whole Food Recipes Featuring Seeds, Nuts and Beans.”

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Photo courtesy of AgNetWest

Note – This beginning farmer training program received funding from CDFA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

A recently developed beginning farmer training program has officially been approved by the California State Division of Apprenticeship Standards.  The California Farm Academy Beginning Farm and Ranch Manager Apprenticeship Program has been established by the Center for Land-Based Learning (CLBL) as a means to increase the number of young people who are prepared to take on managerial roles on the farm.

There is an increasing need to further develop the next generation of farmers and ranchers to become skilled farming professionals.  As older farmers begin contemplating retirement, those management positions will need someone to step in and take over.  There have also been other efforts in recent years aimed at enabling young and beginning farmers to start their own operations.

“Having an accredited apprenticeship like this for agriculture in California is a big milestone,” said CLBL Executive Director Mary Kimball. “California is facing a shortage of qualified farm managers and operators, as an entire generation is on the cusp of retirement. This is also incredibly helpful to beginning farmers in the state, who finally have a legal, formal apprenticeship program approved by the State that trains to one standard,” Kimball noted.

The Beginning Farm and Ranch Manager Apprenticeship provides professional training for producing specialty crops.  The program requires 250 hours of coursework and another 3,000 hours of paid on-the-job training on a farming operation.  Participants will receive hands-on experience under the mentorship of a seasoned farmer.  After completing the program, apprentices will have the necessary education and business management skills to advance their professional agricultural career.

The effort to get the beginning farmer training program approved was a collaboration between CLBL, Soil Born Farms and the Division of Apprenticeship Standards. The California Department of Food and Agriculture was also integral to the two-year process with grant funding provided by their Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

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Joint ACP Biocontrol Task Force honorees this month at the Department of Pesticide Regulation’s annual integrated pest management awards ceremony. From left, Dr. Mark Hoddle of UC Riverside, Dr. Gregory Simmons of USDA, Dr. David Morgan of CDFA, Department of Pesticide Regulation director Brian Leahy, and Jim Gorden, chair of the task force.

From a California Department of Pesticide Regulation news release

The California Citrus Research Board (CRB) has received an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Achievement Award for its work in establishing biological controls for the Asian citrus psyllid.

The awards, bestowed annually by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), recognize organizations that use IPM to address the diverse pest management needs throughout California. IPM is a tool that allows the management of pests by using natural and preventative strategies, and thus reducing the use of chemical pesticides.

Each time I drive through California’s Central Valley I am in awe of how much food it produces. The Valley is responsible for almost 10 percent of the country’s agriculture value and is home to many of California’s most productive dairies. In fact, 90 percent of California’s milk is produced in eight counties – all located in the center of our great state. California is the country’s number-one milk producer and our dairy farmers work diligently to provide the highest quality milk for America’s families.

A great many of these dairies are family run. They have been passed from one generation to the next and have become a staple of the Valley’s landscape. But along with milk, Central Valley dairy farmers are increasingly producing something they never have before – renewable energy – and are doing it using manure from cows.

Earlier this month I joined hundreds of dairy farmers, industry representatives, public officials and academics for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Lakeview Dairy Digester and two other digester facilities in Kern County.  The mood was electric (although that might have been the electricity buzzing through the digester system!)

As I spoke with our partners who helped make this project a reality, I could not help but appreciate a genuine synergy.  When we were developing the Dairy Digester Research and Development and Program that helped fund the project, we knew that sister agencies like the California Energy Commission, the Air Resources Board, and the California Public Utilities Commission as well as private partners like California Bio Energy would be integral in bringing these projects to life and having them stay operational for many years to come. It was refreshing and energizing to see dairy families working with public and private partners to create something that produces benefits for all Californians.

Digesters work by capturing methane released by manure in covered lagoons. The captured methane is then broken down in a high-efficiency generator, where it produces renewable electricity. By using this system, the Lakeview Dairy Project is expected to cut methane emissions by approximately 75 percent and produce 6.7 million kWh of electricity annually – enough to power 757 homes for one year!

Along with energy production, these three projects will collectively reduce an estimated 503,990 metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent over 10 years, which is equal to taking 107,921 passenger vehicles off the road. In total, the 24 projects supported by the DDRDP will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent.

The Lakeview project also serves as an excellent example of California’s innovative “hub and spoke” model for meeting our low carbon fuel standards, reducing emissions, and upgrading California’s transportation infrastructure. The concept is simple. One centrally located operation (the hub – in this case Lakeview) collects raw dairy biogas through low pressure PVC pipelines (spokes), from a group of existing dairies. The hub then serves as focal point for cleaning, conditioning and upgrading the gas to be used as fuel for transportation.  Not only does this model significantly reduce construction costs and environmental impacts, but also demonstrates how cooperation and collective action helps us modernize transportation to meet our climate goals.

I am particularly proud of the environmental rigor in these projects. These digesters have met the strictest water and air quality requirements by double-lining their lagoons to meet the San Joaquin Valley’s strict NOx air quality limits and ensure protection of groundwater from nitrates. These technologies also help reduce odors and reduce overall dairy operating costs.

It was heartening to hear the experience of Cal Bio Energy’s management team explain their appreciation and positive experience in meeting the new requirement for community outreach. According to them, this turned into a great opportunity to understand any existing concerns, answer questions, and explain to employees, neighbors and other local community stakeholders how the project operates.

I want to applaud the leadership of all the parties involved in making these projects possible. Achieving our ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals will require cooperation between industry, government agencies and the public.  To quote Governor Jerry Brown, “Taking significant amounts of carbon out of our economy without harming its vibrancy is exactly the sort of challenge at which California excels.”

Photo courtesy of Cultivate California

By Danielle A. Martin

Rick Borges knew at a young age that he was going to be a farmer.

It was something his great grandfather, grandfather and father did before him.

“As I grew up, raised on the farm, every weekend all summer I spent it out in the open, on the farm helping my dad and my grandfather,” Borges said. “When I went to school, going though classes and being indoors made me realize I don’t like being indoors. I do not want to be in an office, I want to be out in the open and that is what solidified my role in life.”

Borges now continues the legacy generations before him started with his son, Greg. The family farms cotton on the west side of Tulare.

“We are two years away from being on the same piece of property for 100 years,” Borges said, “It makes me so proud having him here and wanting to continue this on. He had different aspirations when he was away in college but when he came back he realized, as I did early on, out on the ranch back home is the best place to be.”

Whether it’s the memories Borges creates with his son or the nostalgia he gets from farming with his father and grandfather, he truly appreciates the simple joys farming gives him.

“…going back old school, going back to when I grew up, in the open air, with the smell of fresh cut hay, fresh-tilled soil and sitting on a tractor with no radio, alone with your thoughts, just makes me feel great,” Borges said. “That’s why my heart drew me to stay in agriculture.”

Each member of the Borges family was at the World Ag Expo Show (earlier this week) either as volunteers or exhibitors.

The Borges family is also part of the 97 percent of farming operations owned by families. Farmers agree it’s the tradition and the bond that has kept businesses in the family generation after generation.

“Those of us who have been in agriculture, especially here in Central California, are some of the luckiest people in the world,” said Steve Malanca, creator of My Job Depends On Ag campaign. “We would like people to realize that agriculture is family farms.”

But, keeping a family farm alive is becoming another challenge farmers are facing. Individuals in the agriculture industry are also fighting battles with regulations, foreign competitors, trade and in California, water.

Young adults born into a family farming operation or the agriculture industry are seeking careers with fewer hurdles, Malanca said.

“I can tell you that the generation that created these millennials today have a perception that agriculture things are so tough, especially in this state and the thing that we deal with is almost insurmountable,” Malanca said.

For those interested in a career in agriculture, Malaca compared opportunities in the Central Valley to tech opportunities in Silicon Valley.  He argued because of its diversity, the Valley is a great place for first time farmers.

Programs such as Future Farmers of America and universities with agriculture programs encourage students that the industry can be just as rewarding and is filled with opportunity.

Genevieve Regli, California FFA state officer, is a fifth-generation dairy farmer.

“The day after I was born I was dragged home to the farm and since then part of my daily routine was feeding calves, getting up at 6 a.m., moving irrigation, milking cows, you name it, we did it,” Regli said. “Ever since then, I’ve had such a passion for agriculture and that background really helped foster that.”

She used her story as a dairy farmer and student to educated and promote the industry to young people at the farm show.

“The actual average age of a farmer is 58 years old. And while you see young students interested in agriculture, it’s not the actual production side of things,” she said. “It could be ag marketing or ag lobbying.”

Her family motto is simple.

“Faith, family and agriculture was our way of life,” Regli said. “…97 percent of the world’s agriculture is family-owned and operated and that plays such a huge factor in making sure the youth know, maybe they aren’t a fifth-generation farmer, but they can be a first-generation farmer.”

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USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue (r) shakes hands with dairy farmer Paul Rovey after signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the United States Department of Agriculture and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy .

USDA News Release

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy to jointly promote and enhance environmental sustainability in the dairy industry. The pact extends and builds upon a MOU originally signed in 2009.

Secretary Perdue signed the MOU yesterday with Arizona dairy farmer Paul Rovey, chairman of Dairy Management Inc. and an Innovation Center board member, at DeGroot Dairies in Hanford, CA.

“USDA and the Innovation Center will continue to work together to accelerate the adoption of innovative technologies and increase energy efficiency improvements on U.S. dairy farms,” Secretary Perdue said. “These improvements will help producers diversify revenues and reduce utility expenses, while they strive to support their families and local communities by operating economically, environmentally sustainable dairy farms.”

“USDA has resources that can help the dairy industry be successful but in many cases they are difficult to find because they are spread out through various agencies,” Secretary Perdue continued. “This MOU hopefully will be a potential navigator to the Innovation Center and give a ‘green light’ to interact with our agencies and centralize our various research and voluntary conservation efforts to reach their goals.”

USDA’s support for agricultural and waste-to-energy research has played a key role in the agreement’s success to date. USDA will continue to work on enhancing the application and approval process for Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) programs, to make the process more efficient and tailored for producer convenience. USDA will also continue to examine ways to expand the award of conservation grants for sustainability initiatives by producers, cooperatives, non-governmental organizations and state and local governments.

The Innovation Center agrees to work with its member companies to partner with USDA in communicating and educating producers on the value of sustainable practices while encouraging them to take advantage of conservation program opportunities.

“Over the years, we have pursued creative and common-sense ways to work together that have allowed us to develop research, technologies, and on-the-ground practices that move us closer to our collective goals,” said Barb O’Brien, president of the Innovation Center. “The Innovation Center is proud of the synergy that has resulted from our collaboration with USDA, and we have no question that this public/private partnership works in the best interest of farmers, our dairy community and, most importantly, consumers of dairy who trust us to produce nutritious products they can feel good about feeding to their families.”

USDA’s national and locally-based teams of subject matter experts and portfolio of programs help improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers and ranchers, and the quality of life in rural America.

“This MOU allows the dairy industry to continue to build on all of the good work we have done for years with USDA,” Rovey said. “It allows our industry to have a voice and work within a structure where we can continue making progress toward our shared goals and priorities. We are thankful to have USDA at the table with us.”

Previous and current collaborations have resulted in research, resources and a variety of programs that have advanced sustainability within the dairy community, including anaerobic digesters on farms, food waste reduction and the development of nutrient recovery technologies through NRCS and dairy’s Newtrient company.  Additionally, the Farm Smart Project led to the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Environmental Stewardship module. This voluntary tool empowers farmers to identify opportunities for sustainability improvements on their farm as detailed within the FARM program. Ninety-eight percent of the U.S. milk supply participates in FARM.

Note – CDFA’s Dairy Digester Research and Development Program is also working for enhanced environmental sustainability on dairies. 

Note – According to the California Cut Flower Commission, roughly 99 percent of the roses sold in the US are imported.

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