By CDFA Secretary Karen Ross

Secretary Ross is leading a climate and trade delegation to Denmark and the Netherlands to focus on building partnerships for California.

(Photos: Right — Secretary Ross with US Ambassador Shefali Razdan Duggal, USDA Under Secretary Alexis Taylor, and Josette Lewis of the Almond Board of California. Below — discussing sustainable pest management solutions at Koppert)

The Netherlands portion of California’s Climate Smart Ag Policy Mission began with a focus on trade collaboration and innovation. Joining with the USDA Agricultural Trade Mission to the Netherlands, we were welcomed by U.S. Ambassador Shefali Razdan Duggal and USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor, who emphasized the Netherlands as an important trading partner as well as a partner on climate and innovation.

Our visits to Royal Steensma’s Food Innovation Academy and Koppert focused on innovation, both within the food industry and in agricultural production.

Royal Steensma highlighted bakery ingredient innovations and also workforce development opportunities provided to young adults and college students to improve engagement and career development within the food system. Royal Steensma is a supplier of a wide range of bakery products that include an array of California almond ingredients.

At Koppert, we had a chance to engage on sustainability – discussing research and innovation to provide natural solutions for growers and farmers on sustainable pest management. In “Partnering with Nature,” Koppert is working to provide biological solutions to agricultural sustainability challenges and is a strong potential partner in assisting the agricultural sector on California’s Sustainable Pest Management Roadmap.

As we continue our Netherlands visit – I look forward to engaging with the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and visiting with producers focusing on circular agriculture and ag tech partnerships.

April is Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month

(Photo — inspection dog Yeti on the job in San Diego County, alongside handler Jeremy Partch)

The purpose of California’s Dog Teams, a joint program between CDFA, the USDA, and county agricultural commissioners, is to enhance inspection and surveillance activities related to plant products entering the State of California via parcel delivery facilities and airfreight terminals, to help protect the food supply, the environment, and plant health.

Most dogs in the program have been rescued through animal shelters, breed rescue groups, and newspaper/internet ads.

Dogs selected for the program have been screened for high food drive, sociability, intelligence, physical soundness and low anxiety levels.

Dogs and handlers must complete an intense eight-week training program at the USDA National Detector Dog Training Center (Newnan, Georgia) prior to beginning inspections in California. Dogs are initially trained to detect the following five target odors in parcels: citrus, apple, mango, guava and stone fruit. Once the teams have mastered the five target odors, handlers work with their partners to increase their repertoire to plants, soil, insects, etc.

Once fully trained, the dogs alert on marked and unmarked parcels that contain agricultural products. Trained biologists then inspect the packages for any unwanted plant pests, including insect species, diseases or other harmful organisms that may pose a threat.

Currently, California Dog Teams conduct inspections at the US Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, OnTrac, and other private parcel carriers throughout California.

California Dog Teams operate out of the following counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Los Angeles (3 teams), Sacramento (2 teams), San Bernardino, San Diego (2 teams), Santa Barbara and Santa Clara.

Over the life of the program, Dog Teams have alerted on thousands of marked and unmarked parcels containing agricultural products, and as result a number of those have been cited for violation of state and federal plant quarantine laws and regulations.

SCROLL DOWN to watch a recording of the webinar

In recognition of Earth Day this week CDFA is hosting a webinar on biodiversity on farms and ranches. We hope you’ll join us!

NOTE — new Zoom log-in information:

Link to the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84292720401

ID: 842 9272 0401

Passcode: Cdfa!220

Phone Access code: 53510063 The webinar is at 12 noon.

Please disregard the log-in information in the infographic.

Watch the a recording of the webinar below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqZyPhqRDno

Was your California farming operation impacted by a natural disaster? Or do you live in a California agricultural community that was impacted? Join us for a virtual question-and-answer session to learn more about programs and resources that may be available to you.

What:              Question-and-answer session with USDA and California Department of Food and Agriculture about Disaster Assistance in California 

When:            Thursday, April 20, 2023 at 8 a.m. PT 

Where:           Virtual via Microsoft Teams. Click here to join.

This session builds on the California disaster assistance webinar hosted last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) that covered programs that can help farmers and agricultural communities impacted by current disasters.

In this session, you’ll be able to submit questions to USDA’s Farm Production and

Conservation Deputy Under Secretary Gloria Montaño Greene and CDFA’s Undersecretary Christine Birdsong.

If you weren’t able to attend the webinar, you can watch the recording here.

Additional Resources

Other resources are available to producers, including the online Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance fact sheet, and Loan Assistance Tool. For rural communities, there are USDA Rural Development (RD) programs and services that can help rural residents, businesses and communities impacted by disasters and support long-term planning and recovery efforts. Please visit the Resource Guides that are availableinEnglish and Spanish. 

For more information on resources to recover and rebuild, visit your local USDA service center.

By CDFA Secretary Karen Ross

Secretary Ross is leading a climate and trade delegation to Denmark and the Netherlands to focus on building partnerships for California.

As the EU moves forward on an ambitious green transition, Denmark is a leading example on how innovation, green farm technology, and data sharing is supporting agriculture’s pathway to carbon neutrality.

Denmark has set a goal of reducing carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. The country has one of the world’s highest percentages of cultivated land and high levels of agricultural exports – 90 percent of its pork production and 80 percent of its dairy production. The government and industry are committed to delivering on climate action, not just for Denmark but for the world as well. 

Innovation is a key to moving Denmark’s carbon footprint (impact) to a handprint (mitigation), enabling sustainability to be a value proposition and market driver for consumers. Technology-driven solutions on fertilizer strategies, water management, and cropping systems have considerable mitigation potential.

Our visit to Denmark allowed us to meet with a variety of companies and organizations. Chr. Hansen and Novozymes are using natural and biological solutions to provide important tools for the agricultural sector. Agro Food Park and Bio Innovation Institute are providing platforms for launching and supporting new agricultural businesses within the green transition – Robotti, SEGES Innovation and Cordulus. We also met with farmers Holger Poulsen and Peter Melchoir, each of whom are passionate innovators in helping move their industry sector forward on local and global sustainability.

I would like to thank our colleagues at the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration and the Danish Trade Council for an amazing visit. We look forward to strengthening our climate partnership.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross is leading a climate and trade delegation to Denmark and the Netherlands to focus on building partnerships for California.

The Danish Agriculture and Food Council has committed to the goal of being carbon-neutral by 2050. This strategy not only focuses on increasing food production on existing lands, but also increasing soil carbon. Agricultural technology and science-based tools are critical to help further climate action on natural and working lands.

Denmark and the Netherlands are important climate partners for advancements and innovations within agricultural technology and science based-tools to support a circular agricultural economy. From controlled-environment agriculture to smart technology in fruit cultivation for more environmentally sustainable crop production, continuing partnerships and exchanges will further assist California in gaining knowledge to support a more sustainable, diverse, and resilient specialty crop sector.

While in the Netherlands, Secretary Ross will join a USDA Agricultural Trade Mission to highlight agricultural trade and California’s climate action.

The internet is critical to everyday life. Yet 1 out of 5 Californians lack access to affordable, reliable broadband service, devices, and the skills to use them. 

As a result, millions in our state are unable to access essential government services and realize other social and economic benefits. This gap is referred to as the “digital divide” which most impacts rural residents, low-income households, seniors, the disabled, veterans, those with low levels of literacy and language barriers, and tribal communities, among other groups. 

Broadband for All is the state’s overarching program to close the digital divide and foster digital equity in our communities. The state has invested billions of dollars to achieve Broadband for All and ensure that every resident has access to economical and dependable internet, devices, and skills-training. But more needs to be done.

CDFA is part of the State Digital Equity team led by the Department of Technology and the California Public Utilities Commission. The agencies are working together to offer a series of planning workshops. There will be 20 of them. The first ones are this week. Local organizations and community members are urged to attend and encouraged to make their voices heard in the development of a five-year action plan to determine how future federal dollars are allocated to address digital inequities. 

Below is a list of workshops this month.

Date	Location	Registration Link
April 14	Merced – (Merced College – Library)	Register
April 15	Fresno – (Fresno City College, Old Administration Building – Cafeteria)	Register
April 21	San Diego – (San Diego Central Library)	Register
April 27	Chico – (Chico Masonic Family Center)	Register
April 28	Santa Rosa – (Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building)	Register

Please reach out to digitalequity@state.ca.gov for more information.

While California’s boon of rain and snow this year is a much-needed respite from drought as well a bit of a buffer against the hotter and drier conditions the state is facing over the long-term, the wet weather is bringing risks of flooding to pockets of California, and dairies in Tulare County and neighboring Kings County are already contending with high water.

In response to that, CDFA is working with farmers, ranchers and government partners to make sure cows are protected and can keep providing milk if and when they’re moved from their home dairies.  CDFA staff have put in long hours to provide farmers and pet owners with the most up to date flood information, to connect local and state emergency managers with on-farm needs, and have helped find livestock transportation resources when the water was quickly rising. 

According to local livestock haulers, thousands of cows have been relocated in the two counties, with a number of them lactating dairy cows moved mostly to neighboring dairy farms as local producers are working together tirelessly to weather the crisis. Local environmental officials, in partnership with CDFA, have issued permits facilitating safe milk production at the new locations.

Federal regulation is also in place for milk products, and CDFA, which has dairy food safety oversight in the state, is acting as a liaison with the Food and Drug Administration to ensure that products from affected areas may continue to move through interstate commerce.

Tulare County and Kings County collectively represent one of the largest milk production areas in the nation, producing about 37 percent of all milk in California, which is the largest milk producing state in the country.

CDFA and the USDA are hosting a webinar to help California farmers and agricultural communities impacted by current disasters understand programs and resources that may be available to them.  

If your farming operation in California was impacted by a natural disaster or if you live in an agricultural community impacted and are looking for resources to recover and rebuild, please join us for a webinar that will be hosted on Microsoft Teams on Tuesday April 11, 2023 at 9 a.m. PT.  

During the webinar, you’ll hear from: 

• USDA: Farm Production and Conservation Deputy Under Secretary Gloria Montaño Greene, Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Blong Xiong, Natural Resources Conservation Service State Conservationist Carlos Suarez, and Rural Development State Director Maria Gallegos Herrera; and 
• CDFA: Undersecretary Christine Birdsong.  

The webinar is free to join. You can join on your computer or via the Teams app on your smartphone. You do not have to RSVP in advance to attend. Attendees will have a chance to submit written questions during the event. 

California Disaster Assistance Webinar
April 11, 2023 at 9 a.m. PT
Join the meeting (using Microsoft Teams)
Add the meeting to your calendar: Google Calendar, iCalendar, and Outlook

Taken from a USDA news release 

CDFA is joining the USDA in declaring April 2023 Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month . 

This national outreach month is dedicated to highlighting the impact of invasive plant pests and diseases on plants nationwide. The focus is on raising public awareness about the threat and how residents can help.

Each year, invasive insects and plant diseases cause an estimated $40 billion in damages to plants in the US. 

Non-native plant pests can hitchhike in untreated firewood, attach themselves to cars, boats, and other outdoor surfaces—or take a ride in the mail. They can travel to new areas on agricultural material such as soil, seeds, homegrown produce, and plants.  

Invasive pests have few or no natural predators in their new environments, so their populations quickly outpace native species and spread. These non-native plant pests and diseases disrupt our ecosystems and reduce biological diversity. 

Climate change can magnify the impact of invasive species by increasing the level of plant pest infestations and disease infection, allowing pests to produce more generations each year, and increasing their suitable habitat. 

To protect domestic plant health:   

• Learn about possible quarantines in your area, as well as the signs of invasive pest infestation on plants. 
• it’s important to clean your car and outdoor gear before traveling with them to new places, because invasive species can travel with you. 
• If you find signs of new invasive plant pests and diseases in your area, report them to your local  Extension office,  CDFA’s Pest Hotline, or your  USDA State Plant Health Director’s office. 
• Don’t move untreated firewood—even if it looks pest-free on the outside. To avoid unintentionally spreading tree-killing beetles that hide in firewood, buy or source wood locally, or use certified, heat-treated firewood. 
• Source your plants and seeds responsibly. When ordering online, ensure the plant is coming from a domestic source or follow import regulations. If you don’t know where an agricultural product is coming from, don’t buy it online. U.S. regulations apply to the importer of record—meaning the person purchasing and importing the product from overseas—not the online merchant. Learn how to safely and legally order plants and seeds online.  
• Don’t mail homegrown plants, fruits and vegetables to avoid inadvertently mailing a plant pest with them.  
• To comply with U.S. laws and avoid introducing new invasive species into the U.S., declare all agricultural items, including seeds, soil, and handicrafts to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for inspection when returning from overseas travel. 

Link to CDFA’s Report a Pest Page
Link to the USDA’s Hungry Pests Page