Note – The California Department of Food and Agriculture will celebrate its 100th anniversary as a state agency in 2019. In the time leading up to that we’ll be running an occasional series of stories, “CDFA Through History,” chronicling the Department’s contributions to California.  

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (then simply the Dept. of Ag) began in 1919 when various Ag regulatory programs were pulled together under one umbrella. However, there are several other starting points of note – in 1878, 1880, 1899 and 1913. In fact, the agency has already celebrated a ‘100th anniversary,’ back in 1980.

An early Ag regulatory effort came in 1878, when the State Legislature passed a law to prohibit the labeling of oleomargarine as butter, but made no provision for enforcement.

Two years later, in 1880–the development embraced for the first 100th anniversary–the Legislature appointed a seven-member State Board of Viticulture to protect grapevines from phylloxera root rot.

In 1899, California began its long relationship with invasive fruit flies by pioneering an effort to keep the Mexican fruit fly out of the United States. CDFA’s Division of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services still battles that pest as well as many others as it carries out its mission to protect California’s food supply and the environment.

Also in 1899, the office of the California State Veterinarian was established by the Legislature to “protect the health of all domestic animals of the state from all contagious and infectious diseases, so far as practical.” It gave birth to what is now CDFA’s Animal Health Branch.

In 1913, the Legislature created the Office of the State Superintendent of Weights and Measures. The office’s early responsibilities included inspections of railroad track scales and weights and measures used in state hospitals and prisons. The office joined the Department of Agriculture in 1921 as the Division of Weights and Measures and took on duties like mattress inspection and bread standardization. CDFA’s Division of Measurement Standards continues with the core functions of that work today, making sure that measurements used in commerce are fair and accurate.

From that multi-faceted beginning CDFA has progressed to a thoroughly modern agency organized into six divisions. The Department operates at more than 100 locations throughout the state. These divisions provide valuable services to producers, merchants and the public. Many of CDFA’s programs are conducted in partnership with local county offices of the agricultural commissioners and sealers.

CDFA strives to support a tradition of innovation and agricultural diversity by working with private industry, academia and public sector agencies. These partnerships allow the department to adapt public policy to a rapidly changing industry – California agriculture.

By Debbie Arrington

Levi’s Stadium took farm-to-fork to new heights.

The $1.2 billion Santa Clara home of the 49ers has unveiled a rooftop farm that will help supply fresh produce and herbs to the facility’s club level food service.

Dubbed “Faithful Farm” in honor of Niners’ fans, the 4,000-square-foot organic garden is the first-ever rooftop farm at a major professional sports venue, according to team and stadium officials. Fresh-picked shishito peppers, special “49ers Squash” and much more will be served to patrons at games.

Expected to produce about 150 pounds of fresh vegetables and herbs a week, the rooftop farm is all about being green, they said.

The USDA has announced the investment of $26.6 million into 45 projects that will spur innovative conservation initiatives on both rural and urban farms across the country, including nearly $6 million for projects benefiting California. Public and private grantees will provide matching investments, bringing the total value of support across the country to $59 million.

The USDA investment is made through the agency’s Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program, which fosters innovation in conservation tools and strategies to improve things like on-farm energy and fertilizer use as well as market-based strategies to improve water quality or mitigate climate change.

The projects connected to California are:

• Kings River Watershed Coalition Authority – $2 million for conservation practices to protect groundwater quality
• Resource Conservation District of Monterey County – $1.37 milion to improve water quality on irrigated lands
• Sustainable Conservation – $833,250 for demonstration of a subsurface drip irrigation system utilizing dairy manure to improve water use efficiency and nutrient application uniformity
• American Rivers – $498,888 for “pay-for-success” conservation programs in the Central Valley
• The Nature Conservancy –  $169,716 for an “impact investing” loan program offering reduced interest rates in exchange for conservation practices
• The American Forest Foundation – $750,000 for the development of a forest resilience bond on private forest lands
• KCOE Isom – $433,807 to catalyze private investment in habitat mitigation markets

The 2016 projects focus on water quality, conservation finance and assistance to historically underserved USDA customers. Approximately 25 percent of the funding will go to projects that benefit historically underserved producers, military veterans, and new and beginning farmers.  A full listing of this fiscal year’s selected projects is available here: www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/cig.

CIG is funded through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The maximum grant is $2 million per project and the length of time for project completion is three years. The CIG projects are designed to engage EQIP-eligible producers in on-the-ground conservation activities that accelerate transfer and adoption of innovative conservation technology and approaches.

CIG awards competitive grants to local and state units of governments, American Indian tribes and individuals. Through CIG, USDA works with other public and private entities to accelerate transfer and adoption of promising technologies and approaches to address some of the nation’s most pressing natural resource concerns.

Link to news release

The USDA has announced nearly $1.4 million in research-and-development investment in 14 projects at 11 different California companies. The grant program is for research related to food security, natural resources, and agricultural issues. California’s portion is part of a nationwide pledge of $7.4 million in R&D grants. The grants are made through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, a competitive funding source that is coordinated by the Small Business Administration and administered by 11 federal agencies, including USDA, to encourage domestic small businesses to engage in high-growth research and development that has the potential for commercialization and could lead to significant public benefit.

The projects in California include:

• Algae production for aquaculture feed – Global Algae Innovations Inc., El Cajon
• Portable automation technology for rapid detection of foodborne pathogens – HJ Science & Technology Inc., Santa Clara
• Deployable low-cost device for monitoring nitrate levels in water – Intelligent Optical Systems Inc., Torrance
• Biologically-based material and method for control of invasive fire ants – Foresight Science and Technology Inc.,  Comptche (Mendocino County)

Since 1983 the SBIR program has awarded more than 2,000 research and development grants to American-owned, independently operated, for-profit businesses with 500 employees or fewer. Past examples of successful USDA-funded SBIR projects include Eldertide LLC’s research to cultivate elderberry varieties with high antioxidant levels that are now harvested and marketed for their anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties. Another business, Micronic Technologies, has developed a sustainable water desalination and purification technology. Its water treatment system, MicroDesal, is capable of taking water from any source and cleaning it to potable water standards.

Link to USDA news release
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CDFA Deputy Secretary Jenny Lester-Moffitt has been named as one of 24 fellows in Class 47 of the California Agricultural Leadership Program. The program offers a 17-month study of leadership theory, effective communication, motivation, critical and strategic thinking, change management, emotional intelligence and complex social and cultural issues.

Lester-Moffitt will join other emerging leaders in agriculture in a program that includes seminars delivered by four partner universities: Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Fresno State and UC Davis. Additionally, there is an eight-day national travel seminar and a 15-day international travel seminar. Those in public service who have completed ‘Ag Leadership’ include CDFA Secretary Karen Ross, who served for seven years on the foundation board, California State Board of Food and Agriculture President Craig McNamara, and the USDA’s California state director of Rural Development, Glenda Humiston.

Ag Leadership is considered to be one of the premier leadership programs in the United States. Since it was first developed in 1970, more than 1,200 men and women have participated in the program and have become influential leaders and active volunteers in the agriculture industry and other areas.

Link to news release

 

 

 

Executive Summary

California leads the nation in organic farms, land in organic production, and organic sales.  According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service, organic acreage has grown 46 percent from 2008 to 2014. California alone produced over $2.2 billion in organic agriculture in 2014, accounting for more than 40 percent of the nation’s organic production. Consequently, organic agriculture plays a key role in California’s economy.

The California Organic Foods Act of 1990 created the State Organic Program (SOP) at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).  That same year the National Organic Program (NOP) was created within USDA and regulations to implement the NOP were completed in 2002. State legislation in 2003 aligned the state and national programs, and chartered CDFA with enforcement of the federal and state regulations.  The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) enforces laws pertaining to processed products marketed as organic.

The SOP is also an information resource for industry stakeholders. It provides training for county biologists, proactively conducts spot inspections, and, conducts marketplace surveillance and pesticide residue testing.  The SOP is funded entirely by industry registration fees and verifies compliance from production to point of sale, ensuring organic integrity in California.

CDFA is committed to continued improvement of its service to the California organic community. In recognition of this, CDFA Secretary Karen Ross convened the Organic Stakeholder Working Group (Working Group) in the spring of 2016 to review the existing SOP and provide recommendations to the Secretary on how to maximize program efficiency and responsiveness.

The Working Group is comprised of a diverse group of 23 representatives from several sectors including growers, distributors, producers, certifiers, trade associations, a County Agricultural Commissioner, and state and federal agencies. The process was designed to ensure equitable representation of statewide interests and was facilitated by the Center for Collaborative Policy at the California State University, Sacramento.  The Working Group set goals to:

• Define the current benefits and challenges of the existing SOP;
• Discuss future projects for CDFA’s consideration; and
• Prepare recommendations for the Secretary and the California Organic Products Advisory Committee (COPAC).

This report is the result of the Working Group’s efforts.

Through a series of four meetings held regionally throughout the state, the Working Group developed a series of recommendations. These recommendations identified six key topic areas with the intent to maximize the efficiency and responsiveness of the SOP.  These include:

1. Streamline the CDFA Registration Process, Enhance Data Collection and Maximize Data Utilization
2. Improve Enforcement Activities and Enhance Training
3. Expand Outreach and Communication to Stakeholders
4. Empower and Energize the California Organic Products Advisory Committee (COPAC)
5. Integrate Organic Throughout CDFA and Other State Agencies
6. Leverage California’s SOP and California Organic Producers on a National Scale

This report covers the Working Group’s processes, meeting outcomes, and final recommendations. The consolidated recommendations will go to the CDFA Secretary and COPAC to be used as a guidance document for future decision-making.

 

Link to full report

By Josue’ Medellin-Azuara, Duncan MacEwan, Richard E. Howitt, Daniel A. Sumner and Jay R. Lund

Authors acknowledge NASA Ames Research Center for sharing satellite-derived data on idle acreage in the Central Valley.

EXCERPTED:

On August 15, a team from UC Davis, ERA Economics and the UC Agricultural Issues Center released an economic impact report related to the California drought of 2016.

Several commentaries have indicated that land fallowing in the summer of 2016 exceeds the approximately 80 thousand acres in the 2016 drought report. Therefore, this short “supplement” provides additional details and clarification on how we estimated the impact of the 2016 drought on land idling as opposed to other causes of water shortages in 2016. (The same clarification applies to jobs and other economic aggregates.)

The main point is that our estimates specifically and solely relate to what was caused by the lack of normal precipitation and other climatic events in 2016, building on conditions as we entered the 2016 production season. Crop rotation needs, market conditions, regulatory cutbacks to protect fish and habitat all affect land idling in addition to impacts of water scarcity due to drought.

Our methodology to determine how much land was idled due to the 2016 drought included surveys, modeling, and assessment of crop-by-crop planting data. Surveys of water districts in the Central Valley have provided, for the past three years, information on planting time water supply expectations for surface water allocations and access to groundwater. Remotely sensed data has helped us understand farm and district adaptation to drought.

Drought related water shortage
Central Valley Project contractors west of the Tulare Lake Basin were estimated to receive 5 percent of contracted allocations of surface water. Friant division contractors on the east side in the San Joaquin Valley were allocated 75 percent of Class 1 supply. The State Water Project contractors were slated to receive 60 percent of their contracted allocations. The net water supply losses in the Central Valley of nearly 680 thousand acre-feet results in a projected fallowing of 77 thousand acres. (Note that crop shifts and stress irrigation also reduce applied water). These acres are concentrated in the Tulare Lake Basin. The drought in 2016 implied minor losses of acreage in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins, north of Tulare Lake and an additional 2,000 acres were lost in the Central Coast.

Other information sources and factors that have caused fallowed or idled acres in 2016
Market conditions and statistical information

Crop reports from USDA for principle crops (mainly forage crops, grains, oilseeds and cotton) indicate a substantial recovery in 2016 relative to 2015. But 2016 acreage for these crops remains below 2011 by about one million acres. Table G-1 in the drought report appendix G provides a breakdown by crop. Rice is back to nearly normal conditions with just above 550,000 acres. In contrast, corn is down by about 140,000 acres, winter wheat is down by about 190,000 acres and cotton is down by about 170,000 acres from pre-drought plantings in 2012. It is worth noting that some grain crops are non-irrigated and that that there is some double cropping, especially for small grain and silage corn. That means that the sum of these acreages of individual crops is larger than irrigated acres planted for principle crops for the year. Low prices of these commodities bundled with lack of water explains much of the reduction in crop area.

Idle land estimates from remote sensing

Recently, NASA-Ames presented their estimates for summer idle land for June 1, 2016 through July 31st, 2016. They find idled acres in summer 2016 are higher than summer 2011 by about 470,000 acres in the Central Valley. As the season progresses, the measured idle acreage is anticipated to decline slightly through the end of September as new orchards and other emerging irrigated areas develop canopies that can be detected by NASA and USGS satellites. Based on patterns observed in previous years, this reduction is likely to be on the order of 100,000 acres by September 30, 2016. Areas that show the largest differences between 2011 and 2016 in idle land are located in the Tulare Lake Basin..

While conducting surveys of irrigation districts, many among the Sacramento Valley settlement and service contractors expressed concerns on potential curtailments due to temperature controls for fish protection, particularly spawning. These controls have likely caused additional summer fallowing due to difficulties in diverting water from the Sacramento River. Regulatory concerns about water quality due to debris from recent fires have also challenged water supply management in the eastern San Joaquin Valley.

Pumping restrictions in the Delta to prevent reverse flows and operations of the San Luis Reservoir have also affected quantity and timing of water to agricultural users south of the Delta. The combination of these effects contributed to the additional fallowing on top of drought-related fallowing. Thus a number of regulatory issues not directly related to the drought of 2016 have contributed to idled land observed in the Central Valley in 2016.

Final Remarks
Our drought report for 2016 attempted to highlight economic consequences caused by the weather conditions in 2016. For accurate drought analysis and state level policy, it’s vital to separate lands idled due to 2016 weather from those lands idled for other reasons. We recognize that significant land idling occurs even without drought conditions, but that was not the subject of our drought report. It is important to highlight that we did not attempt to quantify the amount of land idled that can be attributed to government regulations or agency decisions that relate to the broad long-term water and environmental conditions in California. Analysis of models and data to develop such estimates is an important topic, but that was not the purpose of our 2016 drought report.

Link to clarification document

 

The USDA’s Economic Research Service  (ERS) has compiled and released preliminary agricultural production statistics for 2015 in California.  This first set of data indicates that production value fell by $9.5 billion, or nearly 17 percent compared to 2014, to a total of $47,071,513,000. California remains the leading agricultural state in the nation.

These numbers certainly reflect drought impacts in 2015, which led to the fallowing of 540,000 acres. But the data also reflects changes in currency exchange rates as well as global supply and demand, including a burgeoning milk supply and a slowdown in export demand. Dairy production value fell by more than $3 billion in 2015, and the value of nut production declined considerably across the board.

California’s agricultural abundance includes more than 400 commodities. Over a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts are grown in California. These were the state’s top-ten commodities in 2015:

• Milk — $6.29 billion
• Almonds — $5.33 billion
• Grapes — $4.95 billion
• Cattle, Calves — $3.39 billion
• Lettuce – 2.25 billion
• Strawberries — $1.86 billion
• Tomatoes — $1.71 billion
• Poultry/Eggs – $1.7 billion
• Walnuts – $977 million
• Hay — $ 945 million

California agricultural statistics derive primarily from USDA reports. The California Department of Food and Agriculture also publishes statistics related to California dairy production and, in cooperation with the University of California at Davis, statistics for California agricultural exports. For most timely research into California dairy statistics, please see our dairy pages under Division of Marketing Services. For county-level reporting please see the CDFA County Liaison site.

To reiterate, the ERS production figures for 2015 are preliminary numbers. It is customary for the USDA to revise these figures over a period of several months following the initial release.  Accordingly the figures on the report may change several times between now and early 2017.

 

 

 

 

By Scott Smith

A drone whirred to life in a cloud of dust, then shot hundreds of feet skyward for a bird’s-eye view of a vast tomato field in California’s Central Valley, the nation’s most productive farming region.

Equipped with a state-of-the-art thermal camera, the drone crisscrossed the field, scanning it for cool, soggy patches where a gopher may have chewed through the buried drip irrigation line and caused a leak.

In the drought-prone West, where every drop of water counts, California farmers are in a constant search for ways to efficiently use the increasingly scarce resource. Cannon Michael is putting drone technology to work on his fields at Bowles Farming Co. near Los Banos, 120 miles southeast of San Francisco.

About 2,100 companies and individuals have federal permission to fly drones for farming, according to the drone industry’s Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. Federal regulators Monday relaxed the rules on small, commercial drones, a move that could spur even greater use of such aircraft on farms.

Michael is descended from Henry Miller, a renowned cattle rancher, farmer and Western landowner who helped transform semi-arid central California into fertile farmland 150 years ago by building irrigation canals, some still flowing today.

Six generations later, Michael farms a 17-square-mile portion of that same land, growing melons, carrots, onions, cotton and almonds, while carrying on in the same pioneering spirit as Miller.

“I’ve always been a big fan of technology,” said Michael, 44, mindful of how climate change is making water more precious. “I think it’s really the only way we’re going to stay in business.”

On his 2,400-acre tomato crop alone, Michael estimates that this year his leak-detecting drones could save enough water to sustain more than 550 families of four for a year.

California endured the driest four-year period on record before a relatively wet and snowy winter this year overflowed some reservoirs in the northern part of the state. Southern California, however, remains dry, and the statewide drought has not ended.

Beyond California, drones are becoming fixtures on farms in places such as Canada, Australia, South Africa and Latin America as they become more affordable and easier to use, said Ian Smith of DroneDeploy, a San Francisco-based industry leader in drone software development.

A farmer can order a commercial-grade drone online for $2,000 and receive it in the mail days later, he said. Its video camera is then paired up with a smartphone or computer tablet that is used to control the drone.

“Hook it up to a smartphone. Boom. Take off and you’re in business,” Smith said.

Many farmers, however, have yet to grasp the full potential beyond capturing video images of crops or using infrared cameras to spot color variations in the plants that can signal a problem.

Few have used technology and invested in it to the degree Michael has. This year he began using the thermal camera, which can cost up to $10,000 and can show moisture variations in soil. He also created a new management position at his company dedicated to overseeing drones.

Recently, Danny Royer, the new vice president of technology at Bowles, stood at the tailgate of his pickup studying live images transmitted to the screen of his tablet as a drone buzzed 300 feet overhead.

Rows of mature tomato plants appeared on the screen in glowing burnt orange, indicating warmer, drier areas, while dark patches of purple showed the cool moist soil hidden below the plants.

After taking the images back to his office to analyze them, he decided there were no leaks to repair, but the soil needed to be enriched in places to help the field grow evenly.

On Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration eased the rules so that operators of commercial drones that weigh less than 55 pounds will no longer need to go through the long, expensive process of earning an airplane pilot’s license.

Instead, they will have to take a written test — but not an actual flying test at the controls of a plane — and will be issued a drone license for $150.

The rule change and emerging technology could make drones more attractive tools for farmers, said Brandon Stark, director of the University of California’s Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Safety, based at the Merced campus.

However, he said that until federal regulators clarify parts of the new rules, commercial drones must continue to fly below 400 feet, limiting their use on very large fields.

Stark is seeking what he calls the Holy Grail of drone use in agriculture — enabling them to directly diagnose what ails a tree, whether it’s deficiencies in water or nutrients, or a pest — without having to send a person into the field.

“We’re just getting started,” Stark said. “The research is really still in its infancy.”

Link to story