CDFA secretary Karen Ross is in Peru as part of a Climate Smart Agriculture Policy Mission focusing on expanding collaboration on innovation, on-farm practices, and technologies to assist California’s specialty crop growers in adapting to climate change. Here are some comments from her on day one.
Our first day in Peru took us to the capital city of Lima, with our Climate Smart Ag Delegation visiting the U.S. Embassy to meet with Ambassador Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath and receive an excellent briefing from staff. We then had a very full day of meetings with the Agriculture Minister of Peru, Miguel Manero, and tours of research facilities to understand top production challenges they face in their work to adapt to our changing climate.
Our day ended with an excellent dialogue with academia and ag business leaders on shared challenges, opportunities, and possible topics for follow-up and collaboration. We learned today that there are many similarities between California and Peru!