California
STATE OF THE STATE
In his final State of the State address on Thursday, Jan. 8, California Governor Gavin Newsom praised “the farmers who work the soil, nourished by our rivers.” He highlighted First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s contributions to school food nutrition, as part of our ongoing efforts to get more locally grown food into school cafeterias. And he foreshadowed today’s announcement of “a budget that continues our nation-leading investments in school meals.” On California’s reputation for innovation and leadership, he specifically named agriculture as a leading industry and said, “We don’t run from change – we drive it.”
We are grateful that our climate smart ag work will continue with Prop. 4 funding in the proposed budget. We have invested nearly $600 million since 2019 to advance climate smart agricultural practices, funding nearly 3,000 projects across 300,000 acres resulting in a reduction of approximately 27.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent across the life of the projects – the equivalent of taking 6.4 million cars off the road and saving 1.5 million acre-feet of water.
In the same period, we invested over $100 million to transform the California school food system through the Farm to School Program, now reaching 49% of all California school children with projects that provide access to local, climate smart and nutritious foods while supporting local farms with new market opportunities. The budget proposes $25.2 million ongoing to advance Farm to School.
As we move with purpose into 2026, CDFA is dedicated to helping our farmers, ranchers and everyone working in the food supply chain to grow, innovate, become more resilient to climate change and economic pressures, and prepare for the opportunities that come with the very bright future for California.