2019 was a year of celebration and reflection at CDFA, as we observed our centennial and looked back at 100 years of accomplishments and milestones. As CDFA Secretary Karen Ross and her senior staff made the rounds to Sacramento-area offices and facilities this week, they passed on personal wishes for the season as well as simple, sincere “thanks” for all of the hard work the department has done this past year for California’s farmers and ranchers, and for the broader agricultural community.

Secretary Ross also looked forward to 2020 as “a year of clarity” (get it? 20-20?)  and further accomplishment for CDFA and the industry it promotes and protects.

May your holidays be filled with family and friends, may your table be filled with all that California’s bounty has to offer, and may your hearts be filled with anticipation for the coming year.

California State Veterinarian Dr. Annette Jones has granted a 24-hour permit clearing all brand inspection and health requirements for nine reindeer scheduled to visit California on the evening of December 24 and in the early morning hours of December 25.

The permit application was filed in person by a rotund, jolly man with a red suit, a white beard, and a pocketful of candy canes to share with CDFA staff. The signature on the paperwork reads, “K. Kringle.”

State law mandates that all animals entering California be individually identified. The nine reindeer named on the permit are: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph.

The permit was granted with two conditions: the nine reindeer may not co-mingle with other reindeer in the State of California, and the visiting reindeer may not be used for breeding purposes while in the state. They are, however, invited to partake of the Golden State’s famous and varied agricultural bounty if they need to refuel.

“We are pleased to issue this permit to Mr. Kringle,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “We wish him safe travels and plenty of California milk and cookies as he and his reindeer make deliveries to the good children of our state.”

Visit CDFA’s web site for more information

By Jeanette E. Warnert, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources

Hedgerows bordering farmland – plantings with native trees, shrubs, bunch grasses and wildflowers – support bug-eating birds, which helps with on-farm pest control, according to research by recent UC Davis graduate Sacha Heath and UC Cooperative Extension advisor Rachael Long. The study was published in the October 2019 issue of the online journal Ecosphere.

The authors glued codling moth cocoons to walnut tree trunks and covered some with cages that exclude birds to test the effect that bird predation has on controlling moth pests. If moths emerge from cocoons, they produce larvae that feed on the nuts the following spring, causing significant and costly damage to the crop.

“Permitting bird access to cocoons during the wintertime increased codling moth predation from 11% to 46%, and predation increased with an increasing amount of natural habitat within 500 meters (one-third mile) of the orchard,” the researchers wrote.

Long was not surprised by the finding. She often walks in her family’s almond orchard, where a large hedgerow of native California plants grows on the field edge.

“When I walk past the hedgerow,” she said, “I hear birds singing. I see white-crowned sparrows, goldfinches and mocking birds. It’s so alive. It’s really important to provide habitat to ensure birds have a place to live on farms.”

Songbirds are voracious predators of bugs, including aphids, whitefly, scale, caterpillars, ants and earwigs, especially early in the season when they are feeding baby birds.

Heath said they were surprised to find that the walnut orchards also provided habitat for birds. Woodpeckers and codling moth reduction were highest in orchards where big, old walnut trees were retained.

Currently, 34% of earth’s arable land is managed for agriculture. With the human population projected to reach nearly 11 billion by 2100, increased food demand will require increased agricultural area and intensity that will further diminish birds’ natural habitat. Providing habitat along field crop borders benefits songbirds, which in turn helps farmers with natural pest control on farms.

Birds’ suffer a reputation as agricultural pests. But Long said that planting hedgerows along field edges won’t attract more pest birds.

“Birds like crows, that can damage crops like walnuts, are not cuing in on hedgerows, they’re cuing in on the crops,” Long said.

Heath added, “Insect-eating birds – like chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers – move along hedges, riparian streams, old oak trees, and among crops to feed on pests.”

Maintaining hedgerows of native plants on farms has the side benefit of attracting natural enemies and native bees for better pest control and pollination in adjacent crops.

Read more on the UC ANR Green Blog

Opinion Piece by Judith Redmond and Julie Finigan Morris

When you think about farms at the front lines of climate-related challenges, you may think of extreme weather, floods or drought. But did you know we’re also at the front lines of wildfire?

Both of our farms — Full Belly Farm in the Capay Valley and Morris Grassfed in San Benito County — have felt the stress of climate change. At Morris Grassfed, we’ve had to cut back our herd numbers so as not to overgraze during drought. Last June at Full Belly we came face to face with the Sand Fire, prompting mandatory evacuations and burning some of our farm buildings and 25 acres of heirloom wheat. One year before that, we were up-front observers of the fight to put out the County Fire that burned more than 90,000 acres, leaving still-prominent scars in the hills surrounding our farm.

Farms, ranches, dairies and rural communities can help protect our neighbors by creating wildfire buffers around urban areas. And well-managed agricultural land offers additional climate-smart solutions, like recharging groundwater tables, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and storing carbon, all while producing healthy food.

At Morris Grassfed, we manage our cattle grazing to optimize soil health, plant biodiversity and water quality. The benefits to our community include carbon sequestration, improved watershed health, wildlife habitat and breathtaking views of open space, a vanishing part of the California landscape.

At Full Belly Farm, where we produce more than 100 organic products, we are experimenting with a combination of cover crops, compost, reduced tillage and hedgerows of trees and shrubs to maximize soil carbon storage which also improves yields, disease resistance and water-holding capacity.

We think these high-impact, low-cost practices are worthy of investments to encourage farmers and ranchers to take the risk of trying new practices. And many of our elected officials seem to agree.

The state has invested more than $330 million in the past five years on climate smart strategies. More than 320 grants totaling about $50 million have been made for soil health practices like the ones we use, turning farms and ranches into carbon sinks. And these aren’t the only agricultural climate solutions the state funds.

Farmers and ranchers can conserve water and energy by improving irrigation efficiency, installing state-of-the-art soil moisture monitoring equipment and converting to solar. Dairy producers can reduce potent methane emissions and turning manure into compost. Protecting agricultural land from urban sprawl development — and creating those critical wildfire buffers — is another powerful climate solution.

The state programs have all been very popular and but there has not been enough funding available to meet the demand.

With larger investments, more of our farms and ranches could soak up carbon, reduce air and water pollution to create healthier people, and increase their resilience to the droughts, fires and floods that threaten our food supply and communities. Farmers and ranchers need the support of the governor and legislature to unleash the many climate solutions they can contribute so that all Californians benefit.

Let’s scale up California’s climate smart agriculture solutions by advancing policies and public investments so we can manage for the outcomes we want — healthy people, thriving landscapes and robust rural economies.

Judith Redmond is co-owner of Full Belly Farm, a diversified organic fruit, nut and vegetable operation in Guinda, CA.

Julie Finigan Morris is co-owner of Morris Grassfed, a grassfed beef operation in San Juan Bautista, CA.

Link to story on the Sacramento Bee web page