CDFA Secretary Karen Ross (fourth from right) at a trade meeting in Vietnam. Richard Matoian of the American Pistachio Growers is two spots to her right.

In returning to California after three days in Vietnam, I’m greatly impressed by the potential the market has for California as well as the commitment of the Vietnamese government to farmers; trade; and climate change, mitigation and adaptation.

During my short visit, I had the opportunity to visit the nation’s largest dairy processor – Vinamilk – whose state-of-the-art facility in Binh Duong Province underscores the market potential that Vietnam holds. Not only is Vinamilk committed to product innovation and environmental sustainability, the new facility is a world-class operation dedicated to meeting the future growth of the country.  In addition, Vinamilk’s management is very eager to learn and partner with California to improve the prospects and potential for the dairy industry in both countries.

The eagerness for cooperation was consistent in all my interactions with the Vietnamese people – business and government alike. In my governmental meetings with the ministries of agriculture and trade, I underscored our commitment to trade and our appreciation for the continued progress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. California and the United States can benefit significantly from increased market access and a reduction in tariff barriers to region. Vietnam is a $200 million market for California agricultural products – our 12th largest export destination – and it increased 43 percent from the previous year.

I was very thankful to be joined on this trip by a great group of small businesses who are eager to expand their business and California exports. Of the 11 companies that participated, we had trading companies, winery exporters, growers and a even a small seasoning company from Calaveras County. I was pleased to have Richard Matoian of American Pistachio Growers join me on my governmental meetings and visits. Trade missions like this are an excellent opportunity for companies to expand business relationships and the Fresno Center for International Trade Development is a great partner in making activities like this possible.

I look forward to visiting more markets in the future to promote the California brand and support our farmers and ranchers.

Secretary Ross was in Asia as part of a trade mission facilitated by the Fresno Center for International Trade Development and funded by a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Other attendees were:

1.) Allison Cecchini, Cecchini & Cecchini 

2.) Joel Weinstein, Foodlinx

3.) Tie Zhang, Gold Coast Wine Group

4.) Tina Soong, International Merchants Group

5.) Jag Kalkat & Ravie Aujla, Kalkat Fruit & Nut

6.) Richard Kindle, Kindle and Associates

7.) Leo Wang, Kings River, Inc.

8.) Vladimir Algin, Manzana Products

9.) Greg Martellotto, One Vine Wines

10.) Roy Campbell, Roy’s Seasoning

11.) Jason Lee, Cal Ranch, Inc.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross chats with an exhibitor at the first California Week, which opened last week in Shanghai. The four-day event aimed to build up a “California brand” by showcasing products like wine, soft drinks, fruit and snacks. The US Consul General in Shanghai Robert Griffiths (behind Secretary Ross) was also present.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/Business/finance/California-dreaming-in-Shanghai/shdaily.shtml

To further bolster business ties between China and California in the United States, California Week was opened in Shanghai (last week), (at) which (there is) an exhibit at the city’s downtown Yandang Road of the best agricultural and lifestyle products from the state.

The event was planned when California Governor Jerry Brown visited Shanghai in April as he joined a celebration of setting up a trade and investment office in the city to enhance economic cooperation.

“We hope to bring Shanghai people a real taste of California,” said Karen Ross, secretary of California Department of Food and Agriculture.

California is a gateway of the United States to the Asia Pacific. It is home to 53 companies in the Fortune Global 500 list and also a major producer of agricultural products.

Last year, more than 584,000 Chinese tourists visited California, where over 25,000 Chinese students studied.

The four-day event, which showcased many things California — from wine, soft drinks, fruit and snacks to culture and attractions, aimed at building up a “California brand.”

As a major exporter in the US to Asia, California sold US$13.6 billion in goods to China last year.

In June, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Barack Obama had a summit in California, which was a historic meeting to build up a closer bilateral relationship between the world’s two biggest economies.

Last month, China’s National Development and Reform Commission signed an agreement with California to strengthen collaboration in the areas of climate change and low-carbon development.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross (third from left, at table, facing camera) at a briefing at the California-China Office of Trade in Shanghai. To her right is Keith Schneller, director of the US Agricultural Trade Office there.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to return to Asia this week on a trade mission along with ten California companies looking to establish stronger relationships in the region. One of our first stops was the California-China Office of Trade and Investment in Shanghai, which was opened in April of this year by Governor Brown. It is a valuable resource for California businesses as a venue for meetings, temporary office space, and an opportunity to connect with staff members who are eager to assist California companies interested in doing business in China, which is California’s third largest export market for agricultural products, with over $1.7 billion in shipments in 2012.

During our briefing this week with the Foreign Agricultural Service Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) of the United States Department of Agriculture, we learned that China is still a fast-growing market for food, beverage and agricultural commodities.  We heard from two importer/distribution companies with over twenty years of experience importing products to China. Both firms, Goodwell China and the Nanpu Group, have impressive infrastructures to reach beyond first-tier cities in China’s coastal areas (Hong Kong, Shanghai) to service second-tier cities throughout the country’s vast interior.

When I last visited China in the spring, our delegation learned how significant on-line shopping has become for the food and beverage industry, and that was underscored during our briefing with the ATO. A major company in this realm is Yihaodian, the number one on-line provider in the food and beverage category. The company started in 2008 and has seen remarkable growth fueled by its creativity and the demographics of its middle-income users.  As the ATO staff briefing us explained, the company’s users represent “bigger buying power looking for better life.”  The company is focused on apps for mobile users, which is important for connecting with hundreds of millions of consumers throughout China.

On this visit I also had the opportunity to meet with Director Sun Lei with the Shanghai Municipal Agriculture Commission. The region has 1.5 million farmers with an average farm size of about one hectare. Mr. Sun expressed concern about the pressure on farmland to be more productive, to minimize the environmental footprint of farming, and to improve food safety practices. The commission is also focused on the challenge of attracting new and younger people to farming.  We enjoyed a lively discussion about the importance of cooperation and collaboration on these kinds of issues, which are key to the future of all people, regardless of where they reside on our planet.

Economics – the search for new markets – is the primary objective of this and all agricultural trade missions that CDFA sponsors with our partner, the California Center for International Trade Development in Fresno.  However, the connections we make with the Chinese people and the government leaders remind me of our shared aspirations for a better world and the vital role agriculture plays to improve the quality of life of our citizens.

Secretary Ross is in Asia as part of trade mission organized by the Fresno Center for International Trade Development and supported through a grant by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/egov/Press_Releases/Press_Release.asp?PRnum=13-025

The California Department of Food and Agriculture is pleased to announce what is believed to be the first-ever Ecosystem Services Database, which is now available at http://apps.cdfa.ca.gov/EcosystemServices

Ecosystem Services are defined as the multiple benefits we gain from farming and ranching, including crop and livestock production. Many of these benefits extend into environmental stewardship and conservation. For example, the maintenance of wildlife habitats, biodiversity enhancements on working lands, renewable energy use and production, increased nutrient cycling and storage, soil enrichment, water conservation, and support for pollinating insects are some of the benefits. A more comprehensive list of ecosystem service benefits in agriculture can be found at http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/EnvironmentalStewardship/EcosystemServices.html

“California’s working farms and ranches are an important part of our natural landscape,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “The commitment to ecosystem services demonstrates clearly that beyond the productivity of fields and pastures, resource management decisions by farmers and ranchers provide us with wildlife and pollinator habitat, contribute to clean water and air, provide recreational and tourism connections, and much more.”

The database contains nearly 400 farms and ranches. It is intended to easily communicate to a broad audience the multiple benefits provided by agriculture in California. The database can be queried by key word, county, crop type, and type of ecosystem service. An interactive map allows users to view where the services are taking place.

The purpose of the database is twofold. It helps the department discuss the multiple benefits provided by California agriculture, and it assists growers, ranchers, and stakeholders who want to learn more about ecosystem services.

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/egov/Press_Releases/Press_Release.asp?PRnum=13-026&print=yes

The California Department of Food and Agriculture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and their partner agencies in the California/Federal Dairy Digester Working Group have announced a joint solicitation for dairy digester concept proposals.

California is the largest dairy state in the USA, with approximately 1.7 million cows producing more than 3.6 million dry tons of manure per year that must be managed to reduce or mitigate environmental impacts. Manure can be processed by anaerobic digesters to produce biogas, a flexible renewable source of energy. The ultimate goals of the collaboration are to see the widespread adoption of digester systems to better manage manure and nutrients, help address air and water quality concerns, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and produce renewable energy, fertilizer, and other value-added products.

“California farmers and ranchers are innovators by nature,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “Dairy digester technology is an idea whose time has come, and that is largely due to work done right here on California’s dairy farms. We are at a point where focused funding can help us make the transition to wider adoption and implementation of digesters in our state.”

“Dairy digesters can benefit the environment by reducing greenhouse gasses and generating renewable energy”, said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “EPA is optimistic that this call for proposals will result in unique and innovative technologies that will benefit California, the nation’s number-one dairy state.”

In 2011, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture convened the California/Federal Dairy Digester Working Group. This partnership of state, federal and local agencies, academia, industry, non-profits and utilities came together to identify and remove barriers to the development and permitting of dairy digester systems in California. The work has culminated in specific recommendations to reduce the economic, technical and regulatory hurdles currently in place, making digester systems more feasible in the nation’s number-one dairy producing state (http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/EnvironmentalStewardship/pdfs/StatemntOfPrinciples-CA-FederalDairyDigesterWorkGroup.pdf). This joint solicitation for dairy digester concept proposals is another important result of the working group (http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/dairy_digester_proposal/).

Proposals should include development, installation and operation of dairy manure digester and co-digester projects and may include processes for the treatment and disposal of waste streams from the digester operations to address environmental impacts. Dairy digester and co-digester development is expected to take place on individual dairies or at centralized facilities located within California.

Funding may be provided by various participating agencies of the California/Federal Diary Digester Working Group for proposals that are deemed most viable with the greatest measurable outcomes. Individual digester projects will have to qualify for funding on a case-by-case basis and projects can potentially receive financial support from multiple participants. To assist in identifying potential funding sources, the California/Federal Dairy Digester Working Group has put together a Funding Matrix document. The matrix identifies potential funding sources along with general criteria for the types of projects that would qualify for the funding. A copy of solicitation and the funding matrix can be found athttp://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/dairy_digester_proposal/dd_solicitation_guidance_v4.pdf

For more information on diary digesters, please go tohttp://www.calepa.ca.gov/digester/Dairies/default.htm andhttp://www.cdfa.ca.gov/EnvironmentalStewardship/Dairy_DigesterS.html

In observance of the twelfth anniversary of the September 11th attack, Cal Expo officials have announced the California State Fair 9/11 Memorial Plaza will be open to the general public on Wednesday, September 11 to honor the victims lost twelve years ago.

The memorial will be open from 8:00AM – 6:00PM, and is located inside the Main Gate on the fairgrounds in Sacramento. Admission and parking will be free. No formal ceremony is planned.

Central to the exhibit is a beautiful fountain which includes a granite ball inscribed with all of the names of the September 11th victims. Additional features include a massive 125,000 pound steel I-beam from the World Trade Center extracted from Ground Zero, which had been a horizontal support beam from the North Tower and a carillon bell tower, pictorial reflections of the World Trade Center and individual memorials offering tribute to American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93, which aborted in a field in Pennsylvania.

The next segment in the Growing California video series, a partnership with California Grown, is “Reedley’s Gold,” a story about the olive oil program at Reedley College in Fresno County.

http://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18193

9-9-2013

SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued a proclamation declaring September 9, 2013 as Admission Day in the State of California.

The text of the proclamation is below:

Soon after the outbreak of war in 1846, United States forces invaded the Mexican province of Alta California. Seven months later, on January 13, 1847, representatives of both countries signed the Treaty of Cahuenga in the San Fernando Valley, ending the fighting. For three years thereafter, California remained under American martial law. During this period, our population exploded following the discovery of gold, giving impetus to the demand that California be admitted to the Union. In 1849, leaders from around the future state met in Monterey to draft the first constitution, which was approved on November 13 of that year by a vote of 12,064 to 811. Peter Burnett was elected governor, and in January, 1850, the State Legislature began its first two-year session.

As our lawmakers went about establishing the basic institutions of state governance, the United States Congress argued about whether to admit California to the Union as a slave or free state or as two separate states, one slave and one free. The issue was resolved by the famous Compromise of 1850, and on September 9th of that year California was admitted to the Union as the 31st state.

The observance of Admission Day was once prominent in the civic life of our state and nation. On September 9, 1924, by order of President Coolidge, the Bear Flag flew over the White House in honor of California’s admission to the Union. In 1976, I vetoed a measure to remove the observance of Admission Day as a state holiday, writing: “For 125 years California has celebrated its admission into the Union on September 9th. To change now comes a bit late in our history and hardly seems in keeping with the Bicentennial Spirit.” In 1984, however, Governor Deukmejian signed legislation eliminating our traditional observance of Admission Day on September 9th in favor of a “personal” holiday—convenient to some but in no way respectful of our storied founding.

California’s early history is too often neglected in schools and among our citizens. For that reason, I call upon Californians to pause and celebrate Admission Day this year by reflecting on how it was that California became the 31st state.

NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim September 9th, 2013, as “Admission Day.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 6th day of September 2013.

___________________________________
EDMUND G. BROWN JR.
Governor of California

ATTEST:

__________________________________
DEBRA BOWEN
Secretary of State

http://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18187

9-3-2013

SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued a proclamation declaring September, 2013, as California Wine Month in the State of California.

The text of the proclamation is below:

PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

The first vineyard in Spanish California was not planted within the area that would become our state, but rather at the short-lived Misión San Bruno in what is now the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. The Italian Jesuit priest Eusebio Francisco Kino established this mission in 1683 at the beginning of his long career exploring and proselytizing in the region that would become the Southwestern United States. Although a drought caused him to abandon San Bruno less than two years after its establishment, the vines that Padre Kino planted—optimistically, perhaps—speak to the great cultural and religious significance of grapes and wine in the Mediterranean cultures that produced our state’s first European settlers.

In 1768, King Carlos III expelled all Jesuits from New Spain, and administration of the Baja California missions passed to the Franciscan order. That same year, the Catalan Franciscan friar Junípero Serra, beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1988, embarked on his historic expedition to Alta California and established the first mission in the future Golden State at San Diego in 1769. While there is some dispute as to when and where the first vines were planted, it is clear that California viticulture was flourishing by the late 1770s. The first winery was established at Mission San Gabriel during this period. Nearly all grapes grown in California at the time were of a hardy, disease-resistant strain that came to be known as the “mission grape,” a mainstay of the early commercial industry that is still used in some fine California wines and sherries today.

In the 19th century, Americans and Europeans arriving in California expanded viticulture beyond the missions and brought grape varietals and winemaking traditions from various parts of the Old World. The “good pirate” Joseph Chapman, who was captured in a raid on Monterey in 1818 and settled in California after his release from prison, founded the territory’s first commercial vineyard in Los Angeles in 1824. The Frenchman Jean-Louis Vignes was first to introduce French vines in the 1830s, and his products quickly surpassed the mission-grape wines in quality. However, much of the credit for the amazing diversity of Vitis vinifera grapes grown in our state today goes to the Hungarian Count Agoston Haraszthy, who introduced scores of varietals that may have included Zinfandel, one of the most iconic California wine grapes. Haraszthy was the founder of the Buena Vista Winery—the oldest winery in the state that still makes wines—in Sonoma in 1857.

The first cultivated grapevines in Napa Valley are thought to have been planted in 1836 by the early settler George Calvert Yount, in the area that would come to be called Yountville. Noticing a large number of native Californian grapes growing on his property, Yount decided to try his hand at viticulture, setting in motion the chain of events that led to the establishment of one of the world’s most acclaimed wine-growing regions. Some of the best-known names in the valley today date back to this era, beginning with Charles Krug, a former employee of Haraszthy, who is credited with founding the first commercial winery in Napa Valley in 1861.

By then, the Gold Rush and subsequent population booms had created a large market for wine within the young state. As the quality of our industry’s products improved, foreign markets took note, setting California on the path to becoming one of the world’s top exporters of wine. A Frenchman, Captain Gustave Niebaum, founded the Inglenook Winery in Rutherford in 1879 to produce the state’s first Bordeaux, and ten years later these wines won gold medals at the World’s Fair of Paris. By the turn of the 20th century, California wines were already world-renowned and had won medals at numerous European and other international competitions.

The greatest setback in the development of our modern wine industry occurred during the federal prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933. Much of the diversity and quality that the industry’s founders had built was lost during this period as growers replaced wine varietals with table grapes. Others shipped concentrated products for the home production of grape juice, accompanied by “warnings” detailing the steps one would avoid if one did not wish the product to ferment into wine. The industry also returned to its religious roots, in a way, as shipments of sacramental wine increased substantially under the new laws. Some California vintners were able to remain in continuous operation by shifting production to this market.

After the repeal of Prohibition, the industry did not recover quickly. The majority of Americans drank beer or spirits, and fine wine was still the province of high society on the one hand and, on the other, ethnic and religious groups that maintained their Old World traditions. Even as the industry made great technical strides and the quality of some California wines became superb in the mid-twentieth century, the bulk of sales were still of low-quality fortified wines. It is a testament to the pioneering efforts of industry leaders like Robert Mondavi that today, the number of Americans identifying wine as their alcoholic beverage of choice is on a par with the number who choose beer. Our public universities have also played a prominent role in advancing the science and technology that have helped make wine one of the Golden State’s most successful and beloved industries.

This month, millions of tourists will come to our state from around the world to sample our vintages and enjoy the many other attractions that our several distinct wine regions have to offer. I hope that many Californians will join me in raising a glass to the pioneers, beginning with Padre Kino, who helped bring this amazing bounty to California, and the many diligent and innovative workers today who help the industry continue to thrive.

NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim September, 2013, as “California Wine Month.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 21st day of August 2013.

________________________________________
EDMUND G. BROWN JR.
Governor of California

ATTEST:

________________________________________
DEBRA BOWEN
Secretary of State