From the PBS program “Inside California Education.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JA6fROKQ1A

By Virginia Jameson, CDFA Deputy Secretary for Climate and Working Lands

When it comes to public policy, the term “natural and working lands” refers to California’s farms, ranches, rangelands, forests, urban green spaces, and wetlands. These lands are home to the most diverse sources of food, fiber, and renewable energy in the country. They support the state’s water supply as well as clean air, wildlife habitat, and local and regional economies. They’re also on the leading edge of climate change and have a critical function – they sequester carbon from the atmosphere, helping us adapt to our changing climate by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

In connection with AB 32, a GHG reduction bill signed into law in 2006, state government maintains a climate change scoping plan that describes the approach California will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions statewide, including natural and working lands.       

The scoping plan is updated every five years, and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) held an update workshop this week in which it addressed a new target: achieving carbon neutrality by 2045 as opposed to simply reducing emissions.

For the first time ever, CARB is modeling a series of scenarios for managing natural and working lands to show what the climate outcomes would be under various  strategies. The results indicate that without aggressive management, these lands are at risk of generating more emissions than they actually reduce. These results underscore the importance of making sure this doesn’t happen by making our lands a “carbon sink.”  

The modeling focuses on above-ground biomass (trees and shrubs) and prioritizes what may happen to these carbon stocks because they are most at risk for wildfire. The modeling did not include many areas and practices such as total soil carbon sequestration potential, irrigated pasturelands, whole orchard recycling, and cropping systems that use little to no synthetic fertilizers. In what was modeled, however, we see that management activities such as wetlands restoration and forest thinning on natural lands, and climate-smart agriculture practices like cover cropping and no-till, can all have a significant carbon benefit.

Conservation practices, including those that the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service classifies as “climate smart,” have increased in the agriculture sector in recent years, according to a new USDA report. The authors estimate that these increases resulted in 8.8 million tons of carbon gained on cultivated cropland nationally between 2013 and 2016. And we know there are significant co-benefits of these practices, including increased performance in the face of drought due to the water holding capacity in soils, as well as increased yields and improved air and water quality. All of this makes the lands that supply our food more resilient to climate change.

CDFA is committed to ongoing collaboration with our state agency and stakeholder partners to prioritize the active management of our natural and working lands, and to incentivize and expand the use of climate smart agriculture in pursuit of carbon neutrality and climate resiliency goals.

#AgDay2022

From Morning Ag Clips

 A new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report shows use of no-till, crop rotations, more efficient irrigation methods and advanced technologies have climbed in recent years.

The report from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) demonstrates progress made through voluntary conservation over a 10-year period. Findings from the report will inform future conservation strategies, including USDA’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

The “Conservation Practices on Cultivated Cropland: A Comparison of CEAP I and CEAP II Survey Data and Modeling” was developed by USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP). It found significant gains for soil health and soil carbon storage, while also identifying areas where additional and targeted nutrient management strategies are needed.

“This latest CEAP report shows that farmers have done an outstanding job over the years in using innovative conservation strategies that help mitigate climate change,” said NRCS Chief Terry Cosby, “But we have more work to do. Reports like this one help us better understand conservation approaches and make improvements to increase positive impacts. This report will help steer our conservation efforts well into the future to help us adapt to changing trends in production, climate and technology.”

Key findings include:

• Farmers increasingly adopted advanced technology, including enhanced-efficiency fertilizers and variable rate fertilization to improve efficiency, assist agricultural economies and benefit the environment.
• More efficient conservation tillage systems, particularly no-till, became the dominant form of tillage, improving soil health and reducing fuel use.
• Use of structural practices increased, largely in combination with conservation tillage as farmers increasingly integrated conservation treatments to gain efficiencies. Structural practices include terraces, filter and buffer strips, grassed waterways and field borders.
• Irrigation expanded in more humid areas, and as irrigators shifted to more efficient systems and improved water management strategies, per-acre water application rates decreased by 19% and withdrawals by 7 million-acre-feet.
• Nearly 70% of cultivated cropland had conservation crop rotations, and 28% had high-biomass conservation crop rotations.

Because of this increased conservation, the report estimates:

• Average annual water (sheet and rill) and wind erosion dropped by 70 million and 94 million tons, respectively, and edge-of-field sediment loss declined by 74 million tons.
• Nearly 26 million additional acres of cultivated cropland were gaining soil carbon, and carbon gains on all cultivated cropland increased by over 8.8 million tons per year.
• Nitrogen and phosphorus losses through surface runoff declined by 3% and 6%, respectively.
• Average annual fuel use dropped by 110 million gallons of diesel fuel equivalents, avoiding associated greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents.

About the Report

For this report, farmer survey data was collected from 2003-2006 and again from 2013-2016. NRCS evaluates conservation practice adoption through the CEAP Cropland Assessment, using a combination of farmer surveys, land use and soils information, along with resource models. CEAP project findings are used to guide USDA conservation policy and program development, along with assisting conservationists, farmers and ranchers and other land stewards with making sound and science-based conservation decisions.

Link to story on Morning Ag Clips web site

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross today reconvened the department’s Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) policy mission in Western Cape, South Africa with a virtual signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two entities.

The MOU galvanizes further international collaboration on CSA between Western Cape and CDFA.

“California is pleased to join the Western Cape in furthering opportunities for farmers and ranchers in climate smart agriculture,” said Secretary Ross.“Our shared commitment to connect farmers, academia and government will help to expand on-farm adaptation of practices that benefit our natural and working lands.”

Secretary Ross was joined by the Western Cape Provincial Government Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Ivan Meyer, who also took part in the signing. Other dignitaries present for the signing and information-sharing dialog included Western Cape Provincial Premier Alan Winde; U.S. Acting Consul General, Cape Town Will Stevens; and USDA/FAS Minister Counselor US Embassy (Pretoria), Ali Abdi.

————

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

BETWEEN

THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OF THE PROVINCE OF THE WESTERN CAPE OF SOUTH AFRICA

AND

THE DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The Western Cape Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, hereinafter referred to as “the Participants”, agree as follows;

WHEREAS The agricultural sector in the Western Cape and California share many similarities and challenges related to production, climate, and soils. As Mediterranean climates, both regions are important to global food production and security;

AND CONSIDERING the strategic role of agriculture in addressing current global, national, regional, and local food security needs and environmental challenges, the Participants are committed to ensuring that local agricultural sectors stay competitive in an evolving national and international marketplace, while continuously adapting on-farm practices to address climate change;

WHEREAS ongoing collaboration between the Participants will help to inform on climate smart agricultural practices through exchanges and connections between farmers, ranchers, academia and government.

WHEREAS The goals of this agreement are to:

• Exchange information on climate change mitigation and best practices within the agricultural sector.
• Connect academic institutions to further research and collaboration on water-use efficiency in the agricultural sector
• Further the use and availability of climate smart agricultural technology and on-farm practices to improve soil health, water-use efficiency, and modeling to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Therefore, the Participants have reached the following understanding:

SECTION I

Objective

The purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding is to establish a flexible framework between the Participants in order to permit them to promote mutually beneficial relationships in the collaboration and exchange of information related to climate smart agriculture. In doing so, the Participants share the following common objectives:

1. Expand the exchange of information, on-farm practices and technologies to support a robust and climate resilient agricultural sector;

• Work collaboratively to further international engagement by sub-national governments on climate smart agricultural initiatives;

SECTION ll

Areas of Cooperation

The Participants intend to expand the exchange of information, on-farm practices and technologies to support a robust and climate resilient agricultural sector, through initiatives focused particularly on, but not limited to, the following areas of cooperation:

1. Improve water-use efficiency with specific reference to groundwater modeling and remote sensing;

• Modeling the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector;

• Exchange of information regarding policies and regulations, governance models, and documentation;

• Intergovernmental and international visits involving policymakers, regulators, academic institutions, and businesses;

• Joint activities such as organization of and participation in seminars, workshops, and meetings to share information and practices, educate key stakeholders, and promote ties between our two agricultural sectors twice annually;

• Facilitation of innovative partnerships, bringing together parties from public, private and academic entities, bilaterally or multilaterally, to co-develop new technologies and solutions.

SECTION lll

Coordination

The Participants respectively designate the Office of Business Planning and Strategy of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and the [Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation at the Department of Food and Agriculture at the State of California] to establish the creation of an action plan to implement the objectives of this Memorandum of Understanding.

SECTION IV

Specific Activities

Specific activities to achieve the objectives of this Memorandum of Understanding for the key sectors and initiatives identified in Section II may include:

SECTION VI

No Legal Obligations, Rights, or Remedies

This Memorandum of Understanding is a voluntary initiative.  It does not create any legally binding rights or obligations and creates no legally cognizable or enforceable rights or remedies, legal or equitable, in any forum whatsoever. In addition, the pledges in this Memorandum of Understanding are not conditioned upon reciprocal actions by other Participants; each Participant retains full discretion over implementation of its pledges in light of the Participant’s individual circumstances, laws, and policies; and each Participant is free to withdraw from the Memorandum. 

SECTION VII

Availability of Personnel and Resources

This Memorandum of Understanding does not involve the exchange of funds, nor does it represent any obligation of funds by either Participant. All costs that may arise from activities covered by, mentioned in, or pursuant to this Memorandum of Understanding will be assumed by the Participant who incurs them, unless otherwise expressly agreed in a future written arrangement in accordance with applicable laws. All activities undertaken pursuant to this Memorandum of Understanding are subject to the availability of funds, personnel and other resources of each Participant.

The personnel designated by a Participant for the execution of this Memorandum of Understanding will work under the orders and responsibility of that Participant and any other organization or institution to which the personnel already belongs, at all times maintaining any preexisting employment relationship only with that Participant and  organization or institution, and not with any other Participant.

SECTION VIII

Compliance with Applicable Laws

This MOU shall be construed consistent with all applicable laws, and activities undertaken in connection with this MOU shall be subject to, and shall be undertaken in a manner consistent with, all otherwise-applicable laws.

SECTION IX

Interpretation and Application

Any difference that may arise in relation to the interpretation or application of this Memorandum of Understanding will be resolved through consultations between the Participants, who will endeavor in good faith to resolve such differences.

SECTION X

Final Provisions

This Memorandum of Understanding is effective from the date of its signature, for a five year period, unless renewed or extended by the Participants in the same manner that the Participants may otherwise modify this Memorandum of Understanding.

This Memorandum of Understanding may be modified at any time by mutual consent of the Participants. Any modification shall be made in writing and specify the date on which such modification is to become effective.

Any of the Participants may, at any time, withdraw from this Memorandum of Understanding by providing a written notice to the other Participant(s).  A Participant who intends to withdraw from this MOU shall endeavor to provide notice of such withdrawal to other Participants [30] days in advance.

The termination of this Memorandum of Understanding shall not affect the conclusion of the cooperation activities that may have been initiated during the time this Memorandum of Understanding is in effect, unless the Participants mutually decide otherwise.

Signed in Cape Town, South Africa and Sacramento, California on Friday, March 11, 2022, in two original copies in English.

FOR THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE OF THE WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA		FOR THE SECRETARY OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Dr Ivan Meyer Minister of Agriculture		Ms Karen Ross Secretary of Food and Agriculture

By Hannah Getahun

Tucked behind the First Congregational Church, in one of Santa Ana’s oldest neighborhoods, are verdant rows of spinach, Brussels sprouts and other leafy greens dotted with the orange hues of marigolds.

Six-year-old Diana Bautista, a mainstay and unofficial tour guide at the CRECE Urban Farms Co-op in the Orange County city, takes care of the lavender, tends to the oyster mushrooms and teaches patrons the difference between the fragrant and not-so-fragrant herbs.

“We help the plants, and the plants help us,” she said.

Founded in 2016 as a farming co-op by Abel Ruiz, Valeria Esqueda, Emanuel Presiado and Diana’s father, Jaime Bautista, the CRECE garden had a simple goal: to give back to the city through food. The operation serves a steady clientele of local customers by providing produce staples that they can pick up at the farm.

Serving its low-income immigrant community, CRECE represents just a small part of urban farming ventures—from modest community co-ops to larger-scale agriculture—that are now thriving in many California cities.

The ventures have been helped along in part due to 2014 California legislation, Assembly Bill 551, which allowed cities to create urban agricultural incentive zones that offer tax incentives for urban farmers.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom also allocated $12 million to jump-start the state’s first-ever Urban Agriculture Program. These days, the University of California’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program provides educational resources and technical assistance for city agriculture.

“Urban farmers can bridge gaps between their more peri-urban and rural counterparts and inner-city food supply needs, serve as community food systems leaders and support healthy retail opportunities at the micro and small scale,” said Rob Bennaton, an urban agriculture advisor for UC Cooperative Extension, which includes the sustainable agriculture program.

To be certain, expansive rural farms in California’s traditional agricultural economy provide the overwhelming share of produce in urban markets and food banks. But inner-city farms provide a convenient, healthy produce niche in communities with a dearth of nearby grocery stores. They can also foster a close relationship between farms and customers.

Over 1 million Californians, many from low-income communities, live without easy access to fresh food, according to California FreshWorks, a grant and loan program that provides financing for urban food producers.

“It’s a very common story to be growing up in neighborhoods where a bunch of liquor stores and junk-food places are everywhere, more so than in the more affluent sides of town,” said Ruiz, a driving force behind the CRECE farm.

The farm provides everything from kohlrabi to kale, which Ruiz said is one of its most popular produce items. CRECE also runs a small-scale crop-swapping program, through which people exchange fruit from their yards for farm-grown leafy greens.

The urban garden also grows produce of specific cultural interest to its neighbors in Santa Ana, which has a large population of immigrants from Mexico. Among its selections are prickly-pear cactus and pitayas, both of which are native to Mexico but grow well under the Southern California sun.

Globally, the urban farming market accounted for $213 billion out of the world’s $5.5 trillion agricultural industry in 2020, and is projected to increase as populations grow, according to IndustryARC, a market research firm. Advocates say it is a natural for California, which boasts both America’s largest agricultural economy and its greatest concentration of cities.

According to UC Agriculture and Natural Resources research, urban farms can stimulate local economies, promote local job creation, help people save on food and potentially serve as incubators for growing businesses and technologies.

Open Silo, a nonprofit organization that provides educational resources and assistance for urban agriculture in Los Angeles County, now lists 18 client farms including in Compton, Boyle Heights, El Monte, Long Beach, Whittier, Vernon and Bell.

In East San Jose, the 6-acre Veggielution farm started in 2008 and benefited in the years since from technical advice from UC urban agriculture farm advisors “who are able to help us through any questions we have,” said Emily Schwing, the farm’s public affairs director.

In the past two years, Veggielution has partnered with other community farms and workers to grow $6 million in produce for the local food ecosystem. Schwing said the urban farms are providing food as well as “compensating and contributing to the economic well-being of those who are growing our produce and driving the produce to us.”

Urban agriculturalists say the pandemic likely helped sprout a wider appeal for their farms as people took to eating more at home and looked for easy-to-obtain local produce. Some urban gardens also stepped up with additional provisions as California food banks reported increased demand amid the pandemic. And many inner-city farmers who worked in wholesale pivoted toward community-supported agriculture after pandemic-related restaurant closures.

“I think there was a feeling of safety in the local food supply chain, and in particular in (community-supported agriculture) because the relationship with your farmers is so much more close,” said Julia Van Soelen Kim, North Bay food systems advisor for UCCE.

Veggielution recently transitioned to a farm box donation model to help families in the low-income Mayfair neighborhood of East San Jose. Many families included members who were medically vulnerable to COVID or became unemployed due to the pandemic.

What began as a 40-person program two years ago has now ballooned to hundreds of patrons, with 500 individuals benefiting from the program by next summer, Schwing estimated. Veggielution is providing community members with vegetables such as lettuce, radishes, carrots and beets.

Schwing said nonprofits such as Veggielution help connect residents to what they eat by providing them food grown in their own neighborhoods.

When Ruiz co-founded CRECE Urban Farms in Santa Ana, he brought with him a knowledge of gardening that many immigrants know from traditional growing practices back home. From learning how to farm from his grandparents in the small town of Tlachichila in Mexico to helping feed residents of Santa Ana, Ruiz has spent his life working around food.

“I was able to fill in that gap between my childhood and what I want to do with what I am doing now for a living,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz said he and his team members take their mission to heart and are working toward obtaining land for more urban farms throughout the city, and they’ve already acquired some property through a land trust. He said they also want to start wide-scale fruit exchanges, start operating an aquaponics system and plant more culturally relevant foods such as quelites, wild greens native to Mexico, and amaranth.

“I really look forward to that,” Ruiz said, “(to) being able to incorporate plants that not even the stores have.”

Link to Ag Alert story on California Farm Bureau website

Today is International Women’s Day, and March is Women’s History Month, and CDFA would like to highlight and recognize the substantial contributions of women farmers in our state. According to the USDA’s Census of Agriculture, California’s 46,235 farming and ranching women account for 10.9 million acres and $15.6 billion in agriculture sales. 

Share a photo – #CAWomenFarmers

USDA-NRCS news release

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California is encouraging producers to sign up for a special cover crop initiative offered through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Interested producers can apply and final selections will be made by March 10, 2022.

NRCS previously announced that it is providing $6.8 million in fiscal year 2022 for the utilization of Cover Crops on agricultural land throughout California as part of a targeted effort to improve soil health through EQIP. Cover crops can provide a multitude of benefits including reduction of soil erosion, increasing soil organic matter, managing soil moisture, suppressing weeds, and increasing biodiversity. Through this voluntary conservation program, NRCS can support the goals of agricultural producers throughout the state and increase the critical benefits that cover crops provide. More information on EQIP and the initiative can be found here.

This initiative will accelerate such outcomes by incentivizing the implementation of conservation practice standard 340 Cover Crop through a rapid and streamlined contracting process. Applicants must have farm records established with their local Farm Service Agency and meet all eligibility criteria to be considered for selection.

NRCS is a federal agency that works in partnership with resource conservation districts and other conservation partners. With the mission of “Helping People Help the Land,” NRCS provides products and services that enable people to be good stewards of the nation’s soil, water, and related natural resources on non-federal lands. More information on NRCS’ products and services can be found on the NRCS California web site at www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov.

Whether you are a California resident, a visiting tourist, or you own a company that does business in the state, you engage daily in transactions that include weighing, measurement or counting using a commercial weighing or measuring device. It is crucial that commercial scales and meters are accurate.

Take vehicle fuel for example. California consumers are currently paying an average of $4.79 per gallon for regular gasoline. That’s a $1.10 increase in one year. While the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Division of Measurement Standards (DMS) cannot control the prices of fuel, DMS can help ensure that each motorist who buys gas gets exactly what they pay for. DMS partners with county offices of weights and measures to test dispenser accuracy at approximately10,000 fueling stations in California. State and county officials also check pricing on dispensers and street sign advertising to make sure they match. In addition, DMS operates two laboratories that analyze fuel, lubricants, and other automotive products for quality purposes. 

California leads the nation in the adoption of alternative transportation options, including fuel cell electric and battery electric vehicles (EVs). As Californians embrace EVs, state and county weights and measures officials are expanding their testing programs to ensure that electric charging stations and hydrogen dispensers are operating correctly and to protect consumers and businesses.

Supply chain issues, labor shortages, and other factors have disrupted nearly every facet of the marketplace. Right now, grocery prices are another focal point for consumers.  Isn’t it good to know then that somebody is checking the accuracy of grocery scales, checking packages to make sure they contain the correct amount, and conducting pricing checks throughout stores? Weights and measures officials in California’s 58 counties are actively doing these checks throughout the year.

There are more than 1.8 million commercial weighing and measuring devices in the state. Everything gets checked; from retail water dispensers, farmers market scales and propane meters all the way to truck and railroad scales.

National Weights and Measures Week, every March 1 – 7, is recognized to celebrate the first U.S. weights and measures law signed by President John Adams in 1799. The theme for 2022, “For the Sake of Equity,” addresses the importance of equity in commerce for both the consumer and seller.  This week is an opportunity to remember that behind each commercial transaction there are people dedicated to preserving and defending our established standards of measurement.

In-depth study will interview more than 500 truck drivers to examine critical link in supply chain and state’s economy

California agencies overseeing agriculture, business, labor and transportation are commissioning a study to examine the unique aspects of agricultural trucking in the state and provide policy recommendations to address longstanding driver recruitment and retention issues that have worsened since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study led by Dr. Steve Viscelli of the University of Pennsylvania – in partnership with the UC Berkeley Labor Center, the UC Davis Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, and the UC Merced Community and Labor Center – will provide the first in-depth look at the labor market for agricultural truck drivers in California. Jointly funded by the California Workforce Development Board, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), and the California State Transportation Agency, the study is expected to be completed in mid-2023.

“Agriculture is one of the primary engines powering the fifth-largest economy in the world – contributing tens of billions of dollars every year to California – and this research will be critical to maintaining that competitive edge,” said the Governor’s Chief Economic and Business Advisor and Director of GO-Biz Dee Dee Myers.

“People all over the world enjoy California-grown crops every day, and that journey begins from the field in a truck,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “Hauling crops is a vital piece of the supply chain, and this study will help explore ways to make those jobs more desirable.”

“With more than 480,000 Class A commercial driver’s license holders in California, we know the problem is less a lack of available workers and more about attracting and retaining talent,” said Natalie Palugyai, Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. “This study will add critical insight and provide policy recommendations to improve recruitment, reduce turnover and stabilize the industry.”

As part of the study, Dr. Viscelli will lead a team of researchers conducting surveys and in-depth interviews in multiple languages with more than 500 truck drivers, along with agricultural shippers, trucking carriers and other stakeholders. They will also observe workers hauling a variety of crops and visit processing and packing facilities that handle multiple crops to understand the unique characteristics of the job. 

While focused on the perspective of agricultural truck drivers in California, the study also will put the findings in context with the broader industry and national truck driver labor market.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for in-depth research on every link in the supply chain, particularly the long-haul trucking industry and hearing directly from the drivers,” said Dr. Viscelli, whose work has been cited by the White House Supply Chain Task Force. “There has not been a study of this workforce anywhere in the U.S. in almost 30 years, and California’s nation-leading agriculture sector provides unparalleled conditions for this much-needed research to find a better way forward.”

California’s agriculture producers have been facing challenges recruiting and retaining truck drivers for decades, which the COVID-19 pandemic only intensified as part of broader supply chain disruptions. Unlike most other trucking jobs, hauling agricultural commodities often is seasonal and can require specialized equipment. California’s nation-leading variety of 400-plus different crops and livestock commodities creates additional layers of complexity and further illustrates the need for a close examination of the sector’s unique characteristics, employer challenges and workforce barriers.

“California’s agricultural trucking sector sits at the intersection of transportation, commerce and labor, and I thank my fellow agency leaders for coming together to fund this study so we can better understand the complexities of this critical industry and help its workforce and our economy thrive,” said Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency.

To learn more, please visit the UC Berkeley Labor Center’s California Agriculture Truck Driver Study overview.