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Tons of Ag Plastic to Get a New Life – From the Salinas Californian

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Office of Public Affairs

http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20130817/BUSINESS/308170022/Tons-ag-plastic-get-new-life?nclick_check=1

An agricultural plastics recycling center that will easily dwarf the Salinas Wal-Mart in size is slated to begin operations this fall in the Firestone Business Park, eventually employing up to 500 workers.

The deal, brokered by Cassidy Turley Commercial Real Estate Services in Salinas, will bring to Monterey County the newly formed Encore Recycling, a subsidiary spun out of Vernon-based Command Packaging. Command is a privately owned maker of plastic and reusable shopping and restaurant bags. Its customers range from The Cheesecake Factory to Cost Plus World Markets.

Agriculture is a plastic-intensive industry, creating 100 million pounds of plastic waste every year — that’s like burying the weight of the USS Missouri in California landfills every 12 months.

Pete Grande, the chief executive officer of Command Packaging and Encore Recycling, explained his concept of a “closed loop” company. As a maker of plastic bags, Command is also a major recycler of plastic.

“We’ve tried to be a solutions company for two decades,” Grande said Friday from his Vernon offices. “We recognize there is a problem. And implementing a sustainable recycling model that works for the consumer, the grocery store, and the environment, is a win-win for all.”

The Encore plastic will be recycled into reusable plastic bags called Smarterbags that will be manufactured by Command, Grande said.

The recycling process will focus on four primary types of agriculture plastic waste: fumigation film, mulch film, drip irrigation tape and the “hoop” plastic that covers greenhouses. Other plastics, such as the liners in wooden harvest crates, will also be recycled, Grande said. The plastic will be gathered from farms in Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito and San Luis Obispo counties.

Regional economic development officials say the Encore project is exactly what Monterey County is hoping to attract — the marriage of agriculture with green technology. David Spaur, director of the Monterey County Economic Development Department, said the success of the deal was owed in a large part to inter-agency cooperation, as well as working with Command to meet its needs.

“The company was very flexible and helpful, and the county staff was very flexible and helpful,” Spaur said.

For example, if an industrial site has what is called a general development plan, then a company can cruise in and go through the permitting process in roughly a month. The Firestone Business Park does not, so that would normally extend the process to six months and add another $6,000 in costs to the business. Spaur said that working with Greg Findley, partner with Cassidy Turley who headed up the brokerage side, and Marti Noel, in charge of special projects for the county Planning Department, they were able to run some of the permitting processes concurrently to speed up the timeline for Command.

The agricultural community appears to be on board with the project. Dole, Driscoll, Pacific Gold Farms, Ramco, Red Blossom Strawberries, and a number of independent growers, are listed as partners with Encore to ensure that their plastic is collected and recycled.

“It offers us the unique opportunity to avoid sending approximately 135 tons of agricultural plastic to the landfill,” said Thomas Flewell, a spokesperson for Dole Berry Co. said. “We anticipate that participating in the program will result in significant cost savings.”

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UCLA student researchers find urban agriculture thriving in Los Angeles County

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Office of Public Affairs
an Urban agriculture place
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-student-researchers-find-247882.aspx

A group of graduate students in urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs has created the first comprehensive picture of urban agriculture in Los Angeles County.

While farming has long been the domain of rural landscapes, increasing interest in the local-food movement, healthy eating and sustainable cities has sparked the growth of farming in urban environments. The new report, “Cultivate L.A.: An Assessment of Urban Agriculture in L.A. County,” is intended to aid city planners as they learn how to accommodate these new land uses in the nation’s most populous county.

Project managers also expect the data to be a useful tool for urban agriculture practitioners and start-up entrepreneurs seeking information about current and future business models and siting opportunities for urban agriculture enterprises. Advocates, such as the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, will use the research to inform efforts to create a more seamless infrastructure and support system for urban agriculture in Los Angeles County’s food ecosystem.

Drawing on public records, personal interviews and sophisticated surveying and validation methods, the researchers produced an interactive map — hosted at cultivatelosangeles.org — detailing the location of every formal urban agriculture site across the county, excluding residential backyard gardens. The map is supplemented by a report, downloadable from the same website, with in-depth analysis, case studies and other resources.

The report includes an appendix that catalogs laws and regulations governing urban agriculture in each of L.A. County’s 88 municipalities. A handy chart that summarizes permitted and prohibited urban agriculture in each city is also available for download from the Cultivate Los Angeles website.

Urban agriculture, as defined in the report, is any undertaking that produces, processes, distributes or sells fruits, vegetables, livestock, floral goods or other materials in urban settings or their immediate surroundings.

“Much of the existing discussion and promotion of urban agriculture has focused on the qualitative benefits and ambitions of the movement,” said Carol Goldstein, a lecturer in urban planning. “We’re thrilled to be able to add some quantitative data to the discussion.”

Goldstein and Stephanie Pincetl, professor and director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, were co-faculty advisors for the project.

In conducting its research, the group contacted more than 3,000 community organizations, schools, businesses and individuals to establish a baseline understanding of:

  • Land use regulations for urban agriculture.
  • The spatial distribution of urban agriculture.
  • The role of Los Angeles County’s 761 school gardens in educating students about nutrition and sustainability.
  • The economics and geography of farmers markets.
  • Distribution strategies for urban farmers in Los Angeles County.

Among the group’s findings:

  • There are a total of 1,261 verified urban agriculture sites — categorized as school gardens, community gardens and commercial primary growing sites — in Los Angeles County.
  • School gardens make up the majority of L.A. County’s urban agriculture activity, with 761 sites. Commercial agricultural operations (nurseries and farms) total 382 sites, and the researchers documented 118 community gardens.
  • Among the county’s 88 cities and unincorporated areas, 87 percent regulate animal farming but only 25 percent regulate fruits, vegetables and other flora. Unclear, complex and conflicting regulations were found to constrain agricultural entrepreneurs.
  • Definitions for agricultural activities in municipal codes vary widely across the county, making it difficult — if not impossible — for urban farmers to operate in compliance with local health and zoning regulations.
  • School gardens present unique opportunities for hands-on learning, combining practical experience in math, science and nutrition with outdoor physical activity. Outdated school district policies should be updated to encourage this type of educational experience.
  • L.A. County’s urban farmers travel an average of 13.9 miles to distribute their goods versus the 46.8 mile average traveled by the county’s farmers market vendors.

“The work accomplished by the graduate students is intended as a baseline, one that can be compared with new data in the future,” Pincetl said. “We hope to provide the region with a better understanding of the urban agriculture activities taking place and show how the landscape changes over time.”

The report was part of the graduate students’ capstone project, which matches teams of UCLA Luskin students with client agencies across Los Angeles to tackle community policy issues.

For this project, the students worked with Rachel Surls, sustainable food systems advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension-Los Angeles County. UCCE, part of the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, works with home gardeners and commercial agriculture but has only recently begun a coordinated effort to address the needs of urban farmers. Results of the UCLA study will help guide UCCE’s efforts to develop education programs for urban farmers in Los Angeles and around the state.

The interactive map, full report and additional documents are available atcultivatelosangeles.org.

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Protecting the Promise of California Agriculture – a report

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Karen Ross, California Agriculture Secretary, and Linda

CDFA Report CoverView the report here.

In turbulent economic times, assessing a government agency’s effectiveness can be a trying task. Our nation’s and indeed the world’s recent financial history did more than force government to cut budgets; it forced many great industries to reinvent themselves. Fortunately for CDFA, the foundation was strong. Before the Great Recession and the ensuing fiscal turmoil that tied the world’s financial system and government in knots, the Little Hoover Commission’s California Performance Review issued a glowing assessment of CDFA’s condition and effectiveness, declaring the organization “the model of vertically integrated, customer focused and mission driven department this organizational framework hopes to replicate throughout state government.”  The challenge, then, when faced with hard decisions to make about the allocation of decreased resources, was to ensure that we maintain our core mission and customer focus to effectively support a thriving agricultural sector.

When I joined Governor Jerry Brown’s administration in January 2011, the Department worked with stakeholders to prioritize services, eliminate redundancies, scale back important programs and, to the extent possible, minimize impacts of general fundreductions that were required to help stabilize the state’s fiscal situation. The process forced us to focus on our core mission and the most vital programs to ensure agricultural products can move to markets across county lines, throughout the country and around the globe. The result of this budget-cutting underscores the critical nature of our partnership with the federal government, county Agricultural Commissioners and the agricultural community to deliver services in the most efficient and effective way.

With the Governor’s leadership, the State of California is recovering and its budget is balanced. This is a good time for CDFA to take stock of its capabilities and achievements. Despite challenging times, the dedication and creativity of our staff ensures CDFA is positioned to help capture the promise of a very bright future. Agriculture has been a star in the economy and it is seeing fast-growing demand for its bountiful offering of consistently high-quality, safe products by local, national and international consumers.

This report is by no means a full account of the department’s activities, but it does take stock of many of our achievements over the past two years and offers a look ahead at the projects and developments that will carry us forward.

Posted in AG Vision, Agricultural Education, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Invasive Species | Tagged , | Leave a comment

News Release – Oriental fruit fly quarantine in Southern California

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Office of Public Affairs

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/egov/Press_Releases/Press_Release.asp?PRnum=13-023

A quarantine for the Oriental fruit fly has been declared in the Anaheim area of Orange County and in the Artesia/Cerritos area of Los Angeles County.

Multiple adult flies and larvae have been detected on properties in the quarantine zone. Additional information, including a map of the 130-square-mile quarantine zone, is available at: www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/go/OFFq.

The zone is centered on the Anaheim (Orange County) and Artesia/Cerritos (Los Angeles County) areas and includes portions of Buena Park, Cypress, and Stanton, reaching south to Westminster Boulevard, north to Florence Avenue, west to Paramount Boulevard, and to the east to Anaheim Boulevard.

“Our system to detect invasive species like the oriental fruit fly is working well and according to design,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “The key is to respond quickly and take action before the pests can spread.”

Following the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), CDFA uses “male attractant” technique as the mainstay of its eradication effort for this pest. This approach has successfully eliminated dozens of fruit fly infestations from California. Trained workers squirt a small patch of fly attractant mixed with a very small dose of pesticide approximately 8-10 feet off the ground on street trees and similar surfaces; male flies are attracted to the mixture and die after consuming it.

The male attractant treatment program is being carried out over several square miles surrounding the sites where the Oriental fruit flies were trapped. Maps of the treatment areas are available online at: www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/go/FFmaps-peps

On or near properties where flies have been detected, additional measures include removal of host fruits and vegetables, fruit cutting to detect any fly larvae that may be present, and treatment of host trees and plants with the organic-approved material spinosad.

To prevent the spread of fruit flies through homegrown fruits and vegetables, residents of fruit fly quarantine areas are urged not to move any fruits or vegetables from their property. Fruits and vegetables may be consumed or processed (i.e. juiced, frozen, cooked, or ground in the garbage disposal) at the property where they are picked.

To help prevent infestations, officials ask that residents do not bring or mail fresh fruit, vegetables, plants, or soil into California unless agricultural inspectors have cleared the shipment beforehand, as fruit flies and other pests can hide in a variety of produce. It is important to cooperate with any quarantine restrictions and to allow authorized agricultural workers access to your property to inspect fruit and oriental fruit fly traps for signs of an infestation.

The oriental fruit fly is known to target over 230 different fruit, vegetable and plant commodities. Damage occurs when the female lays eggs inside the fruit. The eggs hatch into maggots that tunnel through the flesh of the fruit, making it unfit for consumption.

While fruit flies and other pests threaten California’s crops, the vast majority of them are detected in urban and suburban areas. The most common pathway for these pests to enter the state is by “hitchhiking” in fruits and vegetables brought back illegally by travelers as they return from infested regions around the world. The oriental fruit fly is widespread throughout much of the mainland of Southern Asia and neighboring islands including Sri Lanka and Taiwan. It is also found in Hawaii.

Residents with questions about the project may call the department’s Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899.

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Back To School: MyPlate Helps Teach Our Kids to Make Healthy Choices

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Karen Ross, California Agriculture Secretary, and Linda

Image of the MyPlate Pledge certificate

Take the MyPlate pledge with your kids at www.ChooseMyPlate.gov

“Back to school” is an exciting time. Summer may be drawing to a close, but our kids miss their friends and they’re filled with nervous energy about all that awaits them. I remember – do you? 

Of all the important lessons our students will learn in school, one of the most vital is how to eat healthy and be active every day. That’s where the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion’s MyPlate Kids’ Place web page comes in. It’s part of the ChooseMyPlate.gov site, and it’s designed for kids between the ages of 8 and 12. It offers games, videos, songs and messages that give these kids the tools to make good decisions about eating and physical activity throughout the coming school year. (For more background, take a look at the USDA blog about MyPlate.)

Parents, you can get in on the fun, too: the site includes a MyPlate Champions Pledge that you can print with your children’s names. Kids who take the pledge agree to “keep my body and mind healthy every day.” You’ll probably put a lot of things on the refrigerator door this school year – but the MyPlate Pledge may just be the most encouraging, constructive and appropriate item. Click on over to ChooseMyPlate.gov, take the pledge, and get this school year off to a healthy start!

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Venture aims to be world’s largest aquaponics farm – From the Santa Cruz Sentinel

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Office of Public Affairs
Native California sturgeon provide an essential element to the aquaponic process Jon Parr and Drew Hopkins are creating in Watsonville. The sturgeon will also be sold to fish markets and restaurants as they grow. (Shmuel Thaler/Sentinel) ( Shmuel Thaler )
 
 

By Donna Jones

WATSONVILLE — Hundreds of native sturgeon, the largest no more than six-inches long, swim inside a 305-gallon barrel in a greenhouse on Coward Road.

The water, containing their waste, is pumped out and through a series of biological filters before flowing into long troughs upon which float rafts of leafy greens.

The plants’ roots dangle into the water, feeding on the nutrients generated by the fish waste and cleaning the water for circulation back into the fish tank.

This is Viridis Aquaponics, a Pajaro Valley start-up with global ambitions.

Partners Jon Parr and Drew Hopkins are attempting to create the largest commercial aquaponics operation in the country at a former rose nursery. If all goes as planned, they’ll fill 350,000 square feet of greenhouses with fruits, vegetables and fish within 18 months, all grown in a sustainable, environmentally friendly manner.

“This is the future of agriculture,” said Hopkins.

The concept isn’t new. Ancient farmers used the technique. The modern version of aquaponics, which combines hydroponics — the practice of growing plants in water — and aquaculture or fish farming, dates back to at least the 1960s.

But it’s never been done on the scale Parr and Hopkins envision for the 10-acre property they purchased a few weeks ago for $2.32 million.

Parr, a Soquel resident, is a former contractor who was casting about fora new line as the construction industry tanked. Aquaponics had been a hobby, and he spent several years researching the topic before hooking up with Hopkins and moving forward with the commercial venture.

A family tragedy brought Hopkins to Santa Cruz from Park City, Utah. An event promoter and contractor, he said life hadn’t been the same since his son was killed in a snowmobile accident a few years ago. But in April, he and his wife came to Santa Cruz to visit friends, and during a pleasant evening at the Crow’s Nest, began to imagine a new life. He also had been interested in aquaponics, and a friend introduced him to Parr.

Their vision is to create a self-contained operation. The aquaponics system will allow them to use far less water than conventional growers, and no fertilizer or pesticides. To control bugs, they’ll regularly infuse greenhouses with carbon dioxide, a by-product of the wood-chip burning gasification oven that will power the generator that will supply electricity.

Aquaponics is so efficient, Parr said, they’ll be able to grow a head of lettuce in a month and more than four heads in a square foot, each month all year. A conventional farmer might get one head of lettuce per square foot, and two to three crops per year, he said.

In three years, they’ll be able to send 15-pound sturgeon to the market as well.

If it sounds too good to be true, Parr said he thought so too at first. But his research and experience have convinced him it will work.

Not everybody is so sure about the economics, even advocates.

Chris Newman started Santa Cruz Aquaponics in 2009 in a rented Corralitos greenhouse. By the end of 2011, he was out of business and his $350,000 investment gone.

“It does seem like a great idea, but I’m not convinced the vegetable world is ready for it,” Newman said.

In his case, he said, several issues brought the business down, including financing problems, conflicts with partners, and his first choice of fish — the non-native tilapia that faces regulatory hurdles.

But there also was resistance from existing agricultural interests and marketing difficulties.

“From a biosustainable point of view, I was trying to do something responsible,” Newman said. “But the market’s not paying attention. The market pays attention to price.”

Ryan Chatterson also is skeptical about large-scale aquaponics, at least for the present. A biologist, he worked in the field for 10 years, before starting to build his own operation in 2012 in Clermont, Fla., about 25 miles east of Orlando. He’s been producing crops for about three months.

He thinks small-scale, local concerns charging a premium to a market interested in healthy lifestyles is the way to go, and once he gets his initial venture off the ground, he plans to grow by opening satellite operations.

Though it took a long time, hydroponics went mainstream, Chatterson said, mentioning a 200-acre operation in Arizona. Aquaponics is a better system because you don’t need all the chemical inputs, he said. It too eventually will go mainstream.

“The science is there, the environment, we’re going to have to go that way,” Chatterson said. “It’s just a matter of how quickly we’re going to get there.”

California, he said, will probably get there first.

Parr and Hopkins are betting on it. Though they declined to say how much they’ve spent so far, it’s clear their investment is substantial.

Parr said his years of research, including investigating what went wrong with failed ventures, will help Viridis avoid mistakes and turn a profit.

But first they have build the ecosystem, which includes tweaking the biofilters to get the microbes working correctly to break down the fish waste. They also are experimenting with different sizes of fish tanks to figure out what works best in a commercial setting.

Only a few demonstration troughs are planted now. But as workers cart out pots of rose bushes, another crew consisting of family and friends is building more aquaponics beds on either side of a row of blue 500 gallon tanks.

Parr plucked a bouquet of red-vine sorrel and oak leaf lettuce from a raft brought from his home garden. The produce will be delivered live, the roots bagged to retain moisture. He said Viridis plans to market to restaurants, where chefs can have greens like basil sitting in a cup of water on the counter top, fresh until the last leaf is picked.

One day, he said, Viridis, which means green or fresh in Latin, will be producing a wide variety of produce, from lettuce and tomatoes to strawberries and raspberries.

“This farm model we’re creating is going to be replicated by everyone,” Parr said.

 
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Hunger and Food Access in the Central Valley

Posted on August 7, 2013 by State Board of Food and Agriculture President Craig McNamara

Yesterday, the California State Board of Food and Agriculture convened in Fresno to discuss the issue of hunger and food access in the Central Valley. It’s shocking, that the most productive agricultural region in the United States also has one of the highest levels of food insecurity.  California’s great Central Valley is only one example of a national problem – 50 million Americans (1 in 6) are food insecure, and this includes 1 in 4 American children. 

We can do something about this and California farmers and ranchers are leading the charge. Through organizations such as Ag Against Hunger and Hidden Harvest, products from California fields are being offered in food banks around the state. The Farm-to-Family program, part of the California Association of Food Banks, works directly with growers to source product and make it available for individuals in need. These programs are just the beginning and they do not count the individual efforts of farmers, the great role of faith-based communities, and the work that local farm bureaus, farm organizations and communities are doing to address the issue.

Sometimes a simple idea can grow into an elegant and powerful solution – such as the suggestion at the board meeting that farmers dedicate a row or an acre to help feed their communities. At the State Board we are working to double farm contributions to food banks by the year 2015 – that would be 200 million pounds annually for food insecure families. California with more than 81,000 farms can easily accomplish this goal.

Our meeting was truly inspirational as it brought together a diversity of stakeholders (farmers, food banks, and faith-based communities) to address the issue of hunger and food access in the Valley. I’m hopeful that the personal connections made at this meeting are helpful in furthering the great work that California is doing to combat hunger.

In closing, a documentary that was released earlier this year, A Place at the Table, really provides context on the issue of hunger and food access.  I encourage you to watch this film and become involved in your local community to help address an issue that is prevalent in all of our neighborhoods.

Posted in AG Vision, Food Access, State Board of Food and Agriculture | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Unusual State Jobs: Seed Botanist – From the Sacramento Bee

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Office of Public Affairs

http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2013/07/fascinating-jobs-in-the-state-of-california-seed-botanist.html  

CDFA Seed Botanist Robert Price

CDFA Associate Seed Botanist Robert Price

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the second installment in our (Sacramento Bee) series on California state employees whose jobs don’t immediately come to mind when you think of government work.

Name: Robert Price

Job Title: Associate seed botanist, Department of Food and Agriculture

Number of years working with state: Four

 

What does a typical week in the life of a seed botanist look like?

“All sorts of things come to our offices (via the mail). Basically, we are sitting at our microscopes. The people who have my job are looking for seed purity, looking at seed and plant material to see what is there and analyzing them according the state and federal law. We do both standard kinds of samples, to see that labels are accurate in the state of California, or we do things for companies, certificates for export. … Farmers ask us to do specific tests on types of products. … It is very diverse. That is one of the fun aspects of the job, you never know what will happen on any given day of the week.”

�
What is the most extraordinary or interesting thing that has happened while you were on the job?
“People sometimes try to ship in various types of fruits and vegetables that they have not declared in customs. They have dog teams that look for vegetable matter that is not declared. Particularly, they are looking for insects that could damage the state’s agriculture (and) we just get all sorts of strange things that we try to figure out what they are. … (We had) this big shipment of poppy seeds that was flagged by the border agency. They (poppy seeds) have to be non-living for commerce in the United States, but the ones we found were all alive. We were not sure what someone was intending to do with them.”

�
How did you come to be a seed botanist?
“Friends of mine told me that were was an opening in the Department of Agriculture. I have a broad background in botany. I’ve been a university teacher and I have been a scientific editor and it just seemed like a really interesting job to do.”

�
Is there anything you want people to know about your job?
“It’s a very rewarding job to know that we are protecting the field of agriculture in California, which is a billion-dollar industry. We especially … try to prevent (invasive species) from getting established because they are very hard and offensive to get rid of, so if we can, we keep them out in the first place.”

 

 

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CDFA’s Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) unveils new crop fertilization guidelines

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Asif Maan; Branch Chief; Feed, Fertilizer, and Livestock Drugs Regulatory Services

Photo of broccoli fieldOver the years, numerous research projects have investigated different aspects of fertilizer management for crops grown in California. In many cases, however, a comprehensive , current, research-based overview of fertilizer management is missing.

In an effort to address this, FREP is working collaboratively with researchers at UC Davis to make this  information accessible in a user-friendly way. This project aims to synthesize information from peer-reviewed journal articles and research reports, and to make these summaries available online.

This joint effort has resulted in a series of interactive fertilization guidelines for major crops grown in California that present accurate, timely, efficient and effective crop nutrient information in a user-friendly, visually interactive interface. The guidelines include information about application rates, time of application, fertilizer placement and types of fertilizers. In addition, deficiency symptoms are described and the use of soil and plant tissue analysis is discussed.

An initial ten priority crops were identified by considering acreage and nitrate sensitivity of the area in which they are grown. Guidelines for almonds, processing tomatoes, broccoli, and lettuce are already available online. The remaining guidelines will be uploaded to the web page on a flow basis.

Developed by Dr. Daniel Geisseler, a post-doctoral researcher at UC Davis, the guidelines provide an overview of the fertilization management of these crops. However, they are not thought of as a replacement for in-depth discussions with local farm advisors or fertilization experts about site-specific adjustments based on soil type, climate and crop management.

The guidelines complement the searchable, web-based database of FREP-funded research  introduced last year. Over the past 20 years, CDFA’s Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) has funded over $12 million dollars worth of scientific research on the environmentally safe and agronomically sound use of fertilizing materials.  Summaries of completed FREP research projects can now be accessed through the database.

These initiatives are part of a larger departmental effort to bring practical solutions that aid growers in enhancing on-farm environmental stewardship practices and effectively using agricultural inputs. Balancing agricultural inputs with the output of food and fiber production to supply a growing global population is an important part of farming in California.

 

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News Release – State Board meeting to address hunger in Central Valley

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Office of Public Affairs

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/egov/Press_Releases/Press_Release.asp?PRnum=13-021

The California State Board of Food and Agriculture will address the issue of hunger in the San Joaquin Valley at its upcoming meeting on August 6th in Fresno. The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at California State University, Fresno – Satellite Student Union, 2485 E. San Ramon, Fresno, CA 93740.

“The San Joaquin Valley is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the nation and yet we have a number of individuals in these communities who do not know where their next meal is coming from,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “Bringing together the agricultural community with local food banks, faith based organizations and other stakeholders, is an important step in addressing food insecurity in the Valley.”

 In 2012, the University of California, Los Angeles – Center for Health Policy Research identified that approximately 3.8 million individuals were food-insecure within California. This report also identified the San Joaquin Valley as having one of the highest rates of food insecurity within the state. This meeting will provide an overview of successful farm-to-food bank programs occurring in other areas of the state and provide a forum for local stakeholders to discuss potential initiatives at the local level.

Invited speakers include: Lori Silverbush, director of the documentary A Place at the Table; Sarah Reyes, California Endowment; Genoveva Islas-Hooker, California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley; Lindsay Coate, Ag Against Hunger; Christy Porter, Hidden Harvest; and Gail Gray, California Association of Food Banks. Additional speakers will include California farmers and ranchers as well as representatives from local farm bureaus, food banks, faith based communities, and other community stakeholders.

“Over the last three years the state board has worked to double farm contributions to food banks,” said Craig McNamara, president of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture. “Hunger in the San Joaquin Valley, and all of California, is an issue we need to address and farmers can play an important role by working with their local food banks.”

The California State Board of Food and Agriculture advises the governor and the CDFA secretary on agricultural issues and consumer needs. The state board conducts forums that bring together local, state and federal government officials, agricultural representative and citizens to discuss current issues of concern to California agriculture.

Follow the board on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/Cafood_agboard

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