Planting Seeds - Food & Farming News from CDFA

Monthly Archives: June 2016

Governor Brown approves bill that could improve food access for needy families – from the San José Mercury News

  By Annie Sciacca California Gov. Jerry Brown has approved a bill that could boost a program increasing access to healthy food for low-income families through farmers’ markets that has already grown considerably in the Bay Area. The governor has … Continue reading

Posted in Farmers' Markets, Food Access, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Thousands of pounds of illegal fireworks seized at CDFA’s Truckee and Yermo Border Inspection Stations – from the Sierra Sun

By Kevin McMillan If you’ve been wondering why westbound lanes of Interstate 80 have seemed overly backed up near Truckee’s agricultural inspection station the past several days, it’s due to increased enforcement from state officials looking for illegal fireworks. Earlier … Continue reading

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Debate on Stanford study showing deep groundwater reserve in California – from the Washington Post

By Chris Mooney In a surprising new study, Stanford researchers have found that drought-ravaged California is sitting on top of a vast and previously unrecognized water resource, in the form of deep groundwater, residing at depths between 1,000 and nearly … Continue reading

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Secretary Ross thanks CDFA’s Rick Jensen for more than 40 years of service

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Apps for Ag Hackathon scheduled for July 15-17 at UC Davis

From the Apps for Ag website: Apps for Ag is a series of agriculture focused hackathons. Our purpose is to bring together the seemingly disparate worlds of software development and commercial farming into a collaborative event. Our mission is to … Continue reading

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Climate Smart Israel – a visit to the ‘Financial Innovations Lab’

Secretary Ross traveled through Israel this week with a California delegation interested in adaptation strategies for climate change and drought Yesterday, as our travels through Israel neared their conclusion, our delegation participated in the Financial Innovations Lab of the California-Israel … Continue reading

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California State Fair honors “Best of Show” in wine, beer, cheese and olive oil

  For more than 160 years, the California State Fair has showcased the best of the Golden State. This year’s competition welcomed an impressive range of wine, cheese, beer and olive oil entries, and the “Best of Show” honors were … Continue reading

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Climate Smart Israel – to Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee

Secretary Ross is traveling through Israel this week with a California delegation interested in adaptation strategies for climate change and drought Yesterday took us north to the Sea of Galilee. The sense of history here leaves me in a state … Continue reading

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Climate Smart Israel – the Negev Desert

Secretary Ross is traveling through Israel this week with a California delegation interested in adaptation strategies for climate change and drought Yesterday we visited the Ben Gurion University Desert Research Institute. Ben Gurion was Israel’s first prime minister. He believed … Continue reading

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Climate Smart Agriculture – California and the Netherlands to co-host joint webinar on July 7

The California Department of Food and Agriculture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands will co-host a joint webinar on Climate Smart Agriculture on July 7, 2016. The webinar will feature discussions and presentations addressing salinity in specialty crops … Continue reading

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