By Edward Ortiz

GLENN COUNTY — Olive farmer Dan Kennedy scores a pellet-size olive with his fingernail. The scoring offers a burst of clear liquid. It’s a telling mix of oil and water.

For Kennedy, the oozing oil portends the olive’s promising future; the water is a testament to the olive as a drought-resistant crop.

In the midst of one of California’s worst droughts, that’s no small matter in the vast agricultural expanse of the Central Valley.

Farmers like Kennedy have taken notice. “We can produce (an olive) crop with 1 acre-foot of water per acre,” he said.

Typically, high-value crops such as almonds and rice demand – at minimum – twice as much water, if not much more.

In the Sacramento Valley, where water districts have been shrinking water allocations, the gritty olive tree, with its gnarly bark and thin, dusty-looking leaves, has become a go-to crop.

“Olives are a crop adaptable to warm and dry conditions. Most of the olives grown in the world are not irrigated,” said Dan Flynn, executive director of the Olive Center at the University of California, Davis.

Flynn holds up the olive tree as a model of a sustainable crop. “Olives, generally, are low-impact from the standpoint that they take less water than permanent tree crops, and they do not require the use of many pesticides and fungicides,” he said.

The California Olive Council, a statewide advocacy group, estimates that an increase in the planting of olive trees is a long-term trend, with 3,500 new acres expected to be planted each year in California through 2020. Most of the olive trees planted in the state have been put in within the last 15 years.

Currently, more than 35,000 acres of olive trees have been planted in the state. Most of the olives grown in Sacramento and San Joaquin counties are used to produce extra virgin olive oil. It is olives grown for olive oil that is the growth industry. Olives destined for oil usage accounted for 4 percent of the olive crop in the 1990s. That percentage rose to 46 percent in 2012, according to data.

Kennedy, who farms olives and other crops near the sleepy town of Artois in Glenn County, started with 125 acres of olives in 2006. He now farms 500 acres, with most of his crop sold to olive mills for crushing into oil.

Pressures from the drought pushed Kennedy to swap 250 acres of rice for olives. Olives began to look good when the Orland-Artois Water District cut his water allocations down to zero earlier this year, he said.

However, Kennedy must deal with another problem borne from drought: the difficulty of accessing plunging groundwater levels. Kennedy is pumping groundwater from nine wells to water his trees. The water is parsed out with a drip irrigation system.

Recently, Kennedy had to dig 50 feet deeper on three of his wells to reach groundwater. If thewater table continues to drop, he said, he will be forced to fallow some of his land.

Luckily, the olive tree is hardy. Unlike other crops, if olive trees are not watered, they will survive – and produce olives in subsequent years when water is available.

Kennedy grows his trees with what is called a “super high density” method – a vineyard-like approach where trees are tightly packed and kept short, usually under 12 feet. That approach, introduced in California in 1999, is seen as deeply economical because it allows the olives to be harvested completely by machine. Initially, the method was spurred by agricultural investors who saw high profitability in the approach.

High density groves are a far cry from the traditional image of an olive orchard, where trees are lightly, almost randomly spaced, and do not look pruned. The high density approach allows Kennedy to fit 559 trees into 1 acre. Traditional olive growing typically will assemble around 100 trees on an acre.

The rise in olive cultivation is also occurring nationwide. A U.S. International Trade Commission report last year established that production of olive oil has increased 50 percent annually, on average, since 2008. Olives are now grown in states like Georgia and Texas, and in Florida, where farmers are looking to the crop to replace citrus groves that have been ravaged by citrus greening disease. However, by far, the biggest olive grower is California, which produces 98 percent of domestically grown olives.

Brady Whitlow, president of Corto Olive in Lodi, said his company has gone from producing a few thousands gallons of olive oil in 2003 to a million gallons this year.

“This is a crop that has been around for a long time, but up until now it’s always been a boutique business,” he said.

Whitlow said he sees a great potential for the region’s olive oil producers. Presently, 97 percent of the olive oil consumed in the United States is imported. Most of it comes from Europe, especially Spain.

But scandal has rocked the European olive oil industry, where it has been established that much of the oil sold as extra virgin olive oil is actually low-quality or adulterated oil.

“Our biggest opportunity will come when consumers begin to understand that a lot of imported olive oil is not what it says it is,” Whitlow said. “Extra virgin olive oil that comes from Italy? It’s labeled extra virgin olive oil, but for the most part, it’s not. Americans are being deceived.”

Link to story

SAN DIEGO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed a balanced, on-time state budget that pays down debt, shores up the teachers’ retirement system, builds a solid Rainy Day Fund and directs additional funding for local schools and health care.

“This on-time budget provides for today and saves for the future,” said Governor Brown. “We’re paying off the state’s credit card, saving for the next rainy day and fixing the broken teachers’ retirement system.”

The budget includes a plan of shared responsibility among the state, school districts and teachers to shore up the State Teachers’ Retirement System (STRS). The first year’s contributions from all three entities total approximately $276 million, growing in subsequent years to more than $5 billion annually. This is projected to eliminate the unfunded liability in the system by 2046.

The budget also directs $1.6 billion into the state Rainy Day Fund – the first deposit into the fund since 2007. The fund is expected to grow to $4.6 billion by 2017-18, if voters approve of the measure on the November ballot that was proposed by the Governor and passed by the Legislature.

When Governor Brown took office, the state faced a massive $26.6 billion budget deficit and estimated annual shortfalls of roughly $20 billion. These deficits, built up over a decade, have now been eliminated by a combination of budget cuts, temporary taxes approved by voters and the recovering economy.

Significant details of the 2014-15 Budget:

Paying Down Debts and Liabilities
The budget reduces the Wall of Debt by more than $10 billion by paying down $5 billion in deferred payments to schools, paying off the Economic Recovery Bonds one year ahead of schedule, repaying various special fund loans and reimbursing $100 million in mandate claims that have been owed to local governments since at least 2004. Under the budget plan, the Wall of Debt would be completely eliminated by 2017-18.

Investing in Education and Health Care
The budget continues the state’s reinvestment in local schools, providing more than $10 billion this year alone in new Proposition 98 funding. This includes $4.7 billion for the second year of implementation for the Local Control Funding Formula, which directs new education revenues to districts serving English language learners, students from low-income families and foster youth. The budget also expands the number of low-income preschool students served, increases the rates paid to preschool providers and provides grants to improve the quality of these programs.

In health care, last year the state adopted the optional expansion of Medi-Cal under the Affordable Care Act, providing millions of Californians with affordable health coverage. Enrollment is now expected to rise from 7.9 million in 2012-13 to 11.5 million in 2014-15, for a total cost increase of $2.4 billion.

Addressing Climate Change
The budget includes $872 million of Cap-and-Trade auction proceeds – authorized by AB 32 – for greenhouse gas reduction, with an emphasis on assisting disadvantaged communities. The plan will modernize the state’s rail system, including high-speed rail and public transit, and encourage local communities to develop in a sustainable manner. It will also increase energy, water and agricultural efficiency, restore forests in both urban and rural settings and create incentives for improved recycling. The budget permanently allocates 60 percent of future auction proceeds to sustainable communities, public transit and high-speed rail. The remaining proceeds will be allocated in future budgets.

Additional details on the 2014-15 budget, including line-item vetoes, can be found at www.ebudget.ca.gov.

Link to news release

Note – National Pollinator Week for 2014 is now underway.   

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

June 16-23, 2014

                                                      California Pollinator Week

Pollinator species such as birds and insects are essential partners to farmers and ranchers in producing much of our food supply. Pollinators also provide significant environmental benefits that are necessary for maintaining biodiversity and healthy ecosystems.

The health of our national forests and grasslands depends on pollination. These open spaces provide forage, fish and wildlife, timber, water, mineral resources and recreational opportunities for our communities and the vital industries that serve them.

The State of California provides producers with conservation assistance to promote wise stewardship of lands and habitats, including the protection and maintenance of pollinators on working lands and wild lands.

As Governor of the state of California, I urge all citizens to recognize the important role that pollination plays in our state’s economy and ecosystems.

Sincerely,
EDMUND G. BROWN JR.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross and State Board of Food and Agriculture member Don Cameron at the Soil Health Symposium on June 17 at UC Davis. Photo credit – Kate Campbell, California Farm Bureau Federation.

A walk through any of California’s 700 certified farmers markets is all it takes to make the point: This state’s farms are something special. Our farmers are innovators —as creative as they are productive, to the tune of $42.6 billion worth of agricultural produce and commodities a year. But they have a lot of help right under their feet: the soil.

The California Museum in Sacramento (10th and O streets) features a new exhibit, sponsored by the California Department of Food and Agriculture and designed by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, that gives us a unique peek underground. “Dig It! The Secrets of Soil” is a 4,000-square-foot exhibit focused on educating 75,000 kindergartners through eighth-graders each year about the benefits of healthy soils.

We hope to see more and more young minds take an interest in soil, in agriculture and in the environmental sciences. As much as we know about soils and how they help us grow food, we will need a tremendous amount of new research and innovation to meet the nutritional needs of a growing global population.

Sacramento is a perfect place for this “Dig It!” exhibit. We are the “farm-to-fork capital,” and soil is the star of the show when it comes to farming. It’s what lets California farmers grow more than 400 agricultural commodities, from date palms in the high desert to veggies on the central coast, fruit trees in the foothills, wine grapes in Napa, rice up north and darned near everything else in the valleys in between.

In fact, California even has a state soil: San Joaquin soil from the great valley that is recognized as one of the richest agricultural regions in the world. With upper layers of brown loam and a subsoil of clay, this soil is well-suited for the valley’s irrigated crops such as almonds, oranges, grapes, wheat and rice. The great Central Valley boasts more than 500,000 acres of it.

Locals are used to it, but folks who come to California for the first time are awed by the variety, quality and abundance of our agriculture. Even a simple trip through our average supermarket produce section can be a jaw-dropper for someone who isn’t accustomed to our array of nutritious, tasty, healthy choices. Ask Sacramento chefs what makes this the perfect place for their restaurants to thrive, and it’s a sure bet they’ll rave about the long list of seasonal, local ingredients they have to choose from on a year-round basis.

That variety, that abundance are truly built from the ground up. Sandy or silty, loam or clay … our soils are as diverse as the food we grow in and on them. Farmers have always known that healthy soils are essential to produce good crops, but the advancing science of soils is giving us a whole new appreciation of soil diversity and soil health — and that science is giving us new tools to be better stewards of the land.

From irrigation technology that saves water to fertilizer research that protects our natural resources, science allows us to understand not just what we can grow from our soil but also what the soil itself requires to remain healthy and productive.

Soil isn’t just “dirt.” It’s a secret, underground ecosystem teeming with microbial life, nutrients, water. It is as varied and fascinating as California’s above-ground attractions, from its beaches to its mountains, valleys and deserts. It may take a scientist to see the connection, but that’s exactly what we’re hoping to find with the California Museum’s new “Dig It!” exhibit: New scientists who marvel at the magic happening right beneath our feet.

“Dig It!” is open now and will be on display at the California Museum through March 29. For more information, visit the California Museum website at www.californiamuseum.org/dig-it. Hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. (closed Mondays).

Link to article

By Eric Holthaus

By Alice Daniel

Beekeeper Chris DePrada wears protective clothing to check the health of the bees for Bradshaw Honey Farm.(Alice Daniel/KQED)

These are hard times for honeybees; colonies are collapsing for reasons ranging from pesticides to parasites. And with this year’s pitiful rainfall in California, bees are facing another plight: There’s a lot less natural forage to make honey.

Second-generation beekeeper David Bradshaw pulls his truck up alongside wooden boxes of beehives on a farm outside the Central Valley town of Visalia. Soon, a loud mechanical sound – some would say a beekeeper’s buzz kill – drowns out the lively drone of bees.

“It’s a pump,” explains Bradshaw. His hungry insects aren’t getting enough natural nectar, so Bradshaw has to feed them. “It sucks the syrup blend out of that tank, and pumps it into that garden hose. Then we go from hive to hive and fill up these little feeders here. They hold about a gallon of syrup.”

Bradshaw will spend about $80,000 on artificial nectar this summer just to keep his colonies from starving.

In a normal year, Bradshaw takes his bees to hills laden with wildflowers. But this year, those hills are bone dry and they look barren. Plants are mostly dormant, and that means the natural nectar production line is shut down.

When wildflowers do bloom, they make nectar from sugar and water. Bees use the nectar to make honey. But a drought means less water, less nectar and less honey.

So Bradshaw is keeping his bees on the valley floor. In addition to the syrup, he’s feeding them a doughy protein supplement: soy flour, brewer’s yeast, vitamins and minerals.

It’s good enough to keep the bees going, but it’s no substitute for the nectar used to make honey. That’s one reason Bradshaw sent 700 of his hives to Kansas, to feast on bee pastures there.

“We just load them up on a semi truck and send them off,” he says.

It’s like sending his kids off to summer camp.

“I worry! If they run into some bad weather where it gets too hot,” Bradshaw says. “You don’t want to be stuck on the side of the road in a broken truck with a bunch of angry bees in there.”

Bradshaw’s been keeping bees for 40 years. His 3,800 hives typically produce about 250 barrels of honey a year. In the past three years, because of the drought and lack of wildflower nectar, his bees have been producing one-tenth of that.

“You can tell the bees are hungry,” Bradshaw says. “They’re all over the truck. If there was nectar available, they wouldn’t even be around the truck. They smell the syrup there so they’re all over it.”

His bees fed, Bradshaw gets back in his truck. As he drives over a bridge spanning an empty riverbed, he says small packers from Santa Cruz to Ojai have called him begging for honey.

“Especially the more exotic honeys like sage honey or buckwheat honey,” he says. “Even alfalfa honey is gonna be in very, very short supply this year.”

Crops like alfalfa and cotton are less abundant this year because there’s not enough water to irrigate them. So beekeepers are leaning heavily on one crop: oranges.

Beekeeper Steve Godlin watches the sticky orange blossom honey move slowly down a chute at his warehouse outside the little town of Exeter, not far from the Sierra foothills.

He points to the production line where the wax gets separated from the honey and the honey gets pumped down to a tank. “That’s where we fill the barrels,” he says.

In wet years, Godlin runs his bees from the Coast Ranges to the Mojave Desert and he can make a million pounds of honey. This year he’ll produce half that much, and with less variety.

“On those wet years, there’s sage, buckwheat, blue curl, tarweed, manzanita, a lot of different plants,” he says.

On dry years, oranges are his best bet. But oranges are a crowded field. Beekeepers come from all over the country to plant their hives amid the sweet-smelling orchards.

“Everybody and their brother wanted to bring their bees to the oranges,” Godlin says. “I do my best to protect my areas but it’s a free country.”

Gene Brandi, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation, says California is typically a major honey-producing state.

“In years when California receives adequate rainfall and especially in years when California receives above-normal rainfall, like the El Niño years, California is the number one honey-producing state in the nation,” Brandi says. “We’ve done that many times in the past.”

Honey production in the state varies considerably from year to year, but in a drought year it typically gets cut by about half. This year, Brandi says, it might be worse.

“I’ve never seen a year like this when it’s not only dry but the irrigation water is so scarce,” Brandi says. “I think the honey production in California will likely be one of the lowest levels we’ve seen in a long time.”

Meanwhile wholesale honey prices are the highest Brandi has ever seen, averaging $2 a pound. That’s great for beekeepers, he says, if only they had more to sell.

Link to story

By Julie Cart

There’s not much anyone can tell Barry Sorensen about Idaho’s Big Desert that he doesn’t know. Sorensen, 72, and his brother have been running cattle in this sere landscape all their lives, and they’ve weathered every calamity man and nature have thrown at them — until this drought came along.

Sitting recently in a rustic cabin where he spends many months looking after his cattle, Sorensen’s voice was tinged with defeat.

“To be honest with you,” he said, “I think our way of life is pretty much going to be over in 10 years.”

Years-long drought has pummeled millions of acres of federal rangeland in the West into dust, leaving a devastating swath from the Rockies to the Pacific.

Add to that climate change, invasive plants and wildfire seasons that are longer and more severe, and conditions have reached a breaking point in many Western regions. The land can no longer support both livestock and wildlife.

All these issues — it’s changing the landscape of the West, dramatically,” said Ken Wixom, who grazes 4,000 ewes and lambs on BLM land in the Snake River Plain. For public lands ranchers like him who depend on federal acreage to sustain their animals, the mood ranges from brooding to surrender.

The situation was spelled out in stark terms in two recent letters from the federal Bureau of Land Management. They told the ranchers what they already knew: Unless something changes, the days of business as usual on the 154 million acres of federal grazing land are over.

This drought-stressed range in Idaho can no longer sustain livestock, the letter warned. Better plan to reduce herd numbers by at least 30% for the spring turnout.

“I knew it was coming,” said Sorensen, squinting as the afternoon sun poured through a window.

Sorensen’s grazing allotment is so compromised that he was forced to make multiple adjustments. He waited 2 1/2 weeks longer than usual before turning out his cows and calves on BLM pastures, and then released only half his herd. The rest he kept on his ranch, feeding them hay from his own fields.

Conditions could easily grow worse.

Livestock shares the range with wildlife, including the greater sage grouse, a species dependent on sagebrush and native grasslands to survive. The grouse population has plummeted by 93% in the last 50 years, and its habitat has shrunk to one-quarter of its former 240,000-square-mile range.

If the federal government grants endangered species protection to the grouse sometime next year, ranching on federal land will be cut back even more, federal officials say. In some regions, public lands ranching might end altogether.

The problem for livestock and wildlife alike is that the drought has been merciless on all plants in the West. Last week 60% of the 11 Western states were experiencing some degree of serious drought.

Climate change has altered weather patterns so much that vegetation in some regions is transforming from abundant sagebrush, grass and forbs to a new landscape of weeds and cheat grass — fast-burning fuels that propel wildfire and destroy rangeland.

In southern New Mexico, the transformation has gone one step further — from sagebrush to weeds to sand-blown desert — and biologists say the pattern is likely to be repeated across the West.

If that happens, the economics of cattle ranching will unravel.

Public lands grazing is a remnant of Washington’s interest in settling the West by providing a financial leg up to covered-wagon pioneers and private interests alike. Ranchers pay a fee, far below market rate, for each mother cow and calf they turn out to graze on BLM acreage.

If public land is not available, ranchers could find private property to graze their animals, paying as much as 16 times more than on federal ground. They could reduce their herds, losing valuable genetics and other breeding characteristics and getting perhaps $1,000 for a cow that would cost $1,600 to replace.

Ranchers could bring the cattle to their own land and feed them with hay or alfalfa they grow or buy. None of that is consistent with the business model of a public lands rancher.

“You buy hay at $200 a ton, so you feed one ton for each 100 head of cows,” said Sorensen. “If you’ve got 200 head of cows, you are feeding $400 to $500 dollars’ worth of hay a day.”

Critics of ranching on federal land have little sympathy. They say the operations are highly subsidized by taxpayers and are secondary to the goal of preserving wildlife and native ecosystems.

Grazing receipts in fiscal year 2013 were $12.2 million, while the program cost the government $48.2 million to operate. Fees are based on range conditions that existed in 1966, and the monthly charge of $1.35 for a cow and calf hasn’t significantly changed in 50 years. Sporadic attempts to raise fees have been fiercely and immediately quashed.

Ranchers argue that they are excellent stewards of the land and that they make improvements that benefit deer, birds and other wildlife as well as improve water quality.

“Without ranchers functioning, the landscape ceases to function,” said rancher Shane Rosenkrance, 52, who grazes on 110,000 acres of BLM and state land in eastern Idaho.

Equally persuasive arguments are made by biologists and conservation groups. They say historic overgrazing caused wholesale changes to the landscape and fostered the damaging growth of cheat grass — which has fanned wildfires in the West.

And, they say, when ranchers allow cattle to trample streams and riverbeds, especially in a drought, crucial riparian areas can be destroyed.

The sage grouse is particularly vulnerable to sagebrush loss. Cattle grazing reduces forbs and grasses the birds use for protection and cover, leaving them exposed to predators.

Alarmed Western state governors, fearful that an endangered species listing could also mean the end of energy, mining and other commercial activities on federal land, are scrambling to protect the birds and their breeding grounds.

Kurt Wiedenmann, a BLM manager in Boise, said the drought and the sage grouse have federal and state agencies working together to find room for both grazing and the imperiled birds. Ranchers have already been hit hard by grazing cutbacks, Wiedenmann said, noting that many of them are small-scale, not corporate operations.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is now accepting applications for the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP), authorized by emergency drought legislation (Senate Bill 103).  An estimated $10 million in competitive grant funding will be awarded to provide financial assistance to agricultural operations for implementation of water conservation measures that result in increased water efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

“Water conservation is essential as we work our way through this drought and prepare ourselves for future challenges,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “We are pleased to offer this grant program for innovative, effective projects.”

Applicants must access the Application Guidelines for detailed information and program requirements. To streamline and expedite the application process, CDFA is partnering with the State Water Resources Control Board, which hosts an online application using the Financial Assistance Application Submittal Tool (FAAST). All applicants must register for a FAAST account at https://faast.waterboards.ca.gov .

Applications must be submitted electronically using FAAST by Tuesday, July 15, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. PST.

CDFA will hold application workshops and one webinar to provide information on program requirements and the FAAST application process (see below). There is no cost to attend the workshops or webinar. Space is limited at each workshop location. Individuals planning to attend should email grants@cdfa.ca.gov with their contact information, number of seats required and workshop location. Upon confirmation of registration further details will be provided.

Modesto – June 18, 2014
1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Stanislaus County Agricultural Center
Harvest Hall, Room G
3800 Cornucopia Way
Modesto, CA 95358

Salinas – June 19, 2014
1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Monterey County Agricultural Center
1428 Abbott St.
Salinas, CA 93901

Ventura – June 25, 2014
1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
County of Ventura UC Cooperative Extension
669 County Square Dr.
California Conference Rooms A & B
Ventura, CA 93003

Tulare – June 26, 2014
1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office
Auditorium
4437 S Laspina
Tulare, CA 93274

Oroville – June 30, 2014
1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Butte County Farm Bureau
2580 Feather River Blvd.
Oroville CA 95965

Webinar – July 8, 2014
9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Webinar Information will be provided upon registration

Prospective applicants may contact CDFA’s Grants Office at grants@cdfa.ca.gov with general program questions.

Governor Brown has called on all Californians to reduce their water use by 20 percent and prevent water waste – visit  SaveOurH2O.org to find out how everyone can do their part, and visit  Drought.CA.Gov to learn more about how California is dealing with the effects of the drought.

Link to news release

Note – The farmer profiled in this story, Vonita Murray, was featured last year in CDFA’s Growing California video series. The segment can be viewed at the end of this story.

———————————————-

Northern California farmer Vonita Murray, a veteran, uses aquaponics to produce watercress.

 By Blair Anthony Robertson

Farming wasn’t Vonita Murray’s first choice, but after making a drastic career change, the 38-year-old Navy veteran, former office manager and longtime fitness enthusiastic now believes digging in the dirt, growing food and being her own boss may be the dream job she has always wanted.

The transition to farming for Murray, 38, happened gradually over the past several years. She eventually took stock of her life, sized up her talents, sharpened the focus on her dreams and decided she was no longer cut out for a desk job.

For several years, Murray had been an office manager and a CAD, or computer-assisted design, technician for an architecture firm. Much of her work focused on remodeling floor plans for a major fast food chain’s Northern California stores. But when the economic downturn hit the architecture and design industry, Murray got laid off. She saw it as a chance to make a change in her life.

“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said.

Using a $5,000 grant she received from the Davis-based Farmer Veteran Coalition, Murray bought some basic farm equipment and managed to launch her new career. She also enrolled in the first class of the California Farm Academy, a six-month farming course run by the Center for Land-based Learning in Winters.

Murray knows it will take hard work and several years before she can make a comfortable living as a farmer. But she has a long-term plan and says farming – including many 12-hour days – is exactly the lifestyle she was seeking.

“I’ve never been so tired, so broke and so happy,” she said with a laugh. “For the first time in my life, I have worth and a purpose. What I do has value in people’s lives.”

More and more veterans are turning to farming to connect in a similar way. “We’re all a family and we all try to help each other succeed,” Murray said.

When Michael O’Gorman founded the Farmer Veteran Coalition in 2009, he searched throughout the U.S. and found just nine veterans interested in going into farming. By the end of that year, the number was up to 30. These days, O’Gorman and his group have helped 3,000 veterans transition into farming.

“What’s really attracting veterans to agriculture is it offers a sense of purpose and a sense of mission,” said O’Gorman, who has farmed for 40 years. “It’s about feeding their country, offeringfood security and a better diet.”

O’Gorman is seeing more women get into farming and says Murray is a great role model.

“Vonita is dynamic, creative, energetic and smart. Whatever she does, she will do it well and take it places,” he said. “She’s a growing phenomenon. About 15 percent of those who serve in the military are women and that’s about the same percentage we hear from. More and more women are going into agriculture. The military and farming are both male-dominated. The women who have taken on both of them just seem like a really exceptional group.”

Those who encounter Murray are often impressed by her energy and her holistic, lead-by-example approach to farming. Not only does she want to grow good food, she sees the work she does as a way to help people be healthy. Indeed, Murray’s physical presence says plenty. Though she no longer trains as a bodybuilder, she remains noticeably lean and muscular. Her workouts these days focus on functional training and she is a big advocate of Crossfit, which combines classic weightlifting with mobility exercises.

“I’m doing all this because I want to get people healthy,” said Murray, noting that she hopes to someday build an obstacle course on the property so people can use it to work out.

She also has a penchant for unorthodox and innovative approaches to growing food. Standing on a portion of the land she leases in rural Elverta next to the renowned Sterling Caviar facility, Murray watches water stream past. It’s runoff from the tanks where sturgeon are raised for their prized caviar. It’s also the key to what she will grow on her new “farm” site.

Murray essentially harnesses the water, 3 million gallons a day and loaded with nutrients, to create an innovative style of growing food called aquaponics, which combines modern hydroponics with forward-thinking environmental awareness.

The water goes through a settling pond to separate solids from liquids, travels through a moat and into small ponds where Murray is growing produce she sells to restaurants and to a growing number of customers at the Saturday farmers market in Oak Park.

“It’s an excellent use of water,” Murray said as she walked part of the nine acres she leases from the caviar company. In addition to the produce she is growing – squash, melons, heirloom tomatoes, mustard greens and more – Murray is raising free-range, organic chickens that lay about 10 dozen eggs a day. She hopes to soon expand to rabbits and other non-GMO (genetically modified organism) meat.

The outgoing and optimistic Murray has put some of her energy into tapping resources that can help get her going in farming. She obtained a $35,000 low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She also received a grant to buy a 1956 Ford pickup truck, which she plans to use to sell her produce in low-income areas, in partnership with the Yolo County Family Resource Center.

Murray, whose produce operation is going to specialize in watercress, says she would have been at a loss as to how to proceed as a farmer without the education she got at the California Farm Academy. The program costs about $2,600 and various grants subsidize the tuition, according to Dawnie Andrak, director of development for the Center of Land-Based Learning.

Those who enroll run the gamut of age and work background. About 20 students graduate each year. To make it a real-world experience, they write a business plan and present it to a panel composed of people from the banking, business and farm community.

“There are more women like Vonita getting into farming,” Andrak said. “You will not find someone more dedicated and more clear about what it is she wants to do. She is certainly not one to give up.”

Jennifer Taylor, the director of the Farm Academy, is herself an example of a woman who made the career leap into farming. She was a research biologist who had no idea until well after college that a life in agriculture might appeal to her. She landed a four-month internship on a farm, was given four calves and eventually rented a barn and started dairy farming.

“If you have no connection to agriculture, it’s very difficult to imagine yourself doing it, Taylor said. “It’s a way many people want to live, an opportunity to be your own boss, work outside with your hands and be your own boss.”

But can you make a living?

“That depends,” said Taylor, noting that one young farmer from the program now sells to about 50 Bay Area restaurants and nets about $75,000 a year.

Back in Elverta, Murray is busy tending her crops and her chickens. She’s not making a profit yet, but she knows it takes time. More than anything, she loves the work, the lifestyle and the mission. She sometimes feels the stress of having debt and not knowing whether her crops will thrive.

But her farm is called Thrive Acres for a reason.

“You have to keep dreaming,” she said with a smile. “This is just the beginning.”

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