As California enters another stretch of wet weather that is forecast to last more than a week, and the latest Sierra snow survey shows the snowpack at an encouraging 177 percent of normal, it is important to remember that drought conditions remain firmly in place.

The US Drought Monitor indicates that almost all of California remains in in a state of dryness ranging from moderate to severe, and this chart from the California Water Bot, using data from the state Department of Water Resources, shows that reservoirs levels, while gradually rising, remain well below historical averages.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has presented a certificate of appreciation to retiring CDFA Analytical Chemistry (CAC) Food Safety Program Environmental Program Manager Tiffany Tu. The award reads, in part, “This certificate of appreciation is presented to you with gratitude and admiration for your many years of public service and your dedication to the Pesticide Data Program. We thank you for your leadership and expertise you have shared with the program.”

Tu is retiring after 33 years of public service, all with Center for Analytical Chemistry. Through her work, Tu partnered with the USDA Pesticide Data Program (USDA-PDP), a national pesticide residue monitoring program comprised of seven state laboratories that sample, test and report pesticide residues on agricultural commodities in the U.S. food supply.

USDA-PDP data is primarily used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the essential dietary exposure component of risk assessment that is part of the pesticide registration review and tolerance reassessment process mandated by the Food Quality Protection Act. The data also is used for worldwide marketing of U.S-grown produce.  

“Being a part of the USDA-PDP team gave me the opportunity to connect to policymakers, enforcement agencies, and national and international lab partners,” Tu said. “The knowledge and experience helped shape the CAC Food Safety Program’s quality system framework – one that generates the highest quality data for food surveillance and monitoring – and created a culture of innovation and creativity.”

“A total of 126 commodities, fresh and processed, have been tested by PDP lab participants since USDA-PDP began,” Tu said. “PDP data are well regarded as the gold standard and used by many food safety organizations worldwide.”

“The USDA certificate of appreciation is an affirmation of the entire CAC Food Safety team’s important contribution toward the USDA-PDP over the years,” she added. “It’s always been the workforce behind the program that truly made it a transformative success. This significant award recognizes our valuable input to the USDA-PDP and it encourages the team to maintain a culture with an innovative mindset that enables our team to grow. I am so proud of the team and our achievement. It has been such a privilege to work alongside a smart and talented group of people.”

The Center for Analytical Chemistry is a branch of CDFA’s Division of Inspection Services.

A year-end status check of levels at 17 of California’s major water supply reservoirs reveals that our recent storms, while certainly helpful, would need to be repeated several times over early in the new year to get the Golden State on track to end the ongoing drought, now beginning its fourth year. The three-year period from 2020 to 2022 is now the driest on record dating back to 1896, and the long-range forecast suggests drier-than-average conditions will persist.

Only one of these 17 major reservoirs – Millerton Lake along the eastern edge of the Central Valley – is currently above the historical average level, at 135% of normal. In contrast, the largest reservoirs in the state system, Shasta, Oroville and Trinity, are currently at 55%, 59% and 36% of their historical averages, respectively. (A longer list including smaller reservoirs is available here: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES.)

On a positive note, California’s snowpack is shaping up more to our liking, although it’s still early in the season. We need snowpack to fill our reservoirs and rivers. Statewide, our snowpack is currently at 162% of normal levels for this date. The Northern Sierra/Trinity region is currently at 133% of normal, the Central Sierra is at 160%, and the Southern Sierra is at 193%. However, the statewide average is still only 51% of the normal level for April 1, traditionally the end of the state’s major precipitation period, so again, we would need storms throughout the early part of the year to keep up the pace. (See a broader set of snowpack data from DWR here: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action)

Californians are reminded to save water by not watering lawns or ornamental landscapes within 48 hours of rain events. More tips on saving water here: https://saveourwater.com

By Karen Ross, Secretary
California Department of Food and Agriculture

Everywhere you look during this holiday season, you see the work of our California agricultural community.
From the Christmas trees and poinsettias, to the resplendent holiday tables full of California-grown specialties, to the office breakroom table brimming with goodies handmade by friends and colleagues – all of it is made tastier, more beautiful and more enjoyable because it’s grown right here in California.

Our California Agricultural Community

The food and the festivity of this season give us all a great opportunity to reflect on what it takes – what it really takes – to assemble a holiday dinner table, a catered event at a company’s holiday party, or even a grocery bag or box full of donated goods passed out by our fantastic food banks. It takes farmers and ranchers, of course – but they’d be the first to tell you that’s just the beginning. Our farmworkers, food processors, truckers, farmers’ market managers, all the way from the field to the agri-business CEO, there are people who embrace what it is to be Californian, and who instill that pride and productivity into every workday.

Our CDFA Family

The same goes for the wonderful people I’m blessed to work alongside here at the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been able to make the rounds to several of our local offices and laboratories to reconnect with my CDFA family. I’ve done this almost every year I’ve worked here (COVID notwithstanding), and there really is nothing quite like taking an unhurried moment to trade recipes and catch up with some of the finest public servants I’ve ever known.

We chatted about family and pets and holiday projects. We laughed together a lot, and we snacked, and we looked back over the year that was 2022. But, as Californians are wont to do, we usually ended up looking forward, to 2023 and the projects and promise it holds, for CDFA and for the larger agricultural community.

My thanks go to my CDFA family for another year of accomplishments and advancement of so many important projects. And my sincere appreciation and fondest holiday wishes go to our farmers, our ranchers, our farmworkers and everyone throughout the food chain who plays a part in making California such a special place to live, work, play and eat.

 

From a UC Davis analysis

The California Dairy Research Foundation (CDRF) and University of California, Davis CLEAR Center has announced the release of a new analysis of methane reduction progress titled Meeting the Call: How California is Pioneering a Pathway to Significant Dairy Sector Methane Reduction. 

The paper, authored by researchers at UC Davis concludes that efforts are on track to achieve the state’s world-leading target for reducing dairy methane emissions by 40% by 2030.

The report, written by distinguished professors of livestock emissions and agricultural economics, takes a comprehensive look at progress and projections, expanding upon the analysis of progress previously conducted by the California Air Resources Board. By documenting achievements to date, additional reduction efforts already funded, historic and current economic trends, and the projected availability of new solutions, the analysis lays out a workable path toward meeting California’s goal. The pathway shows that California dairy farms are on track to achieve the full 40% dairy methane reduction goal and will reach “climate neutrality” by 2030. Climate neutrality is the point in which no additional warming is added to the atmosphere.

“This analysis shows that California’s dairy sector is well on its way to achieving the target that was established by SB 1383 in 2016,” said CDRF’s Executive Director Denise Mullinax. “With much important work still ahead, a clear understanding of this pathway helps dairy farmers, policy makers, researchers, and other partners make decisions to strategically press forward.”

The report outlines the need for continued implementation of California’s four-part strategy for dairy methane reduction: farm efficiency and herd attrition, methane avoidance (alternative manure management), methane capture and utilization (digesters), and enteric methane reduction. Continued alignment of state and federal climate-smart agricultural approaches and incentives will also be critical to maintaining progress.

“Milk demand is growing, and California is among the world’s low-cost suppliers of dairy products. It follows that effective California policy to reduce dairy greenhouse gas emissions must recognize that measures that cause milk production to exit the state do not mitigate global climate change,” said study coauthor Daniel Sumner, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics at UC Davis. “Therefore, measures to help off-set mitigation costs, provide positive incentives for adoption of low-cost emission-reducing practices, and help stimulate innovation in methane reduction, are the economically efficient approaches.”  

The paper recognizes that enteric methane from the dairy and other livestock sectors is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and California. Several feed additives are expected to become commercially available in the next several years, which could be used to reduce enteric methane emissions from California’s dairy herd.

“Adoption of enteric feed additives will become a valuable tool for dairy value chains to meet their greenhouse gas reduction goals,” said coauthor and professor Dr. Ermias Kebreab, Associate Dean of Global Engagement and Director of the World Food Center at UC Davis. “While this report provides only a broad overview of some of the most promising solutions, there is an incredible amount of research being conducted at UC Davis, nationally and internationally. The dairy industry, global food companies, state and federal agencies, and others continue to invest heavily in supporting enteric mitigation research efforts.”

The report finds that methane reductions from California’s programs and projects in place today, coupled with the implementation of a moderate feed additive strategy to reduce enteric emissions, is on track to reduce between 7.61 to 10.59 million metric tons of methane (CO2e) by 2030, all from the dairy sector alone.

The collective investment in California’s dairy methane reduction effort — from public and private funding — now exceeds $2 billion and counting. The California dairy sector, in coordination with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, was recently awarded up to $85 million by the United States Department of Agriculture under the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities. The funding will leverage additional matching state funds and private capital investments, for a total of more than $300 million in new investment.

“It is important to highlight California’s investments and success to date as an example of what is possible within the global livestock sector,” said co-author, Dr. Frank Mitloehner, professor and air quality specialist and director of the UC Davis CLEAR Center. “California dairy farmers have demonstrated tremendous progress toward the state’s methane reduction goal over the past several years. Given the short-lived nature of methane, this rapid reduction is an important contribution to the global effort to quickly limit climate warming.”

NOTE — CDFA facilitates methane reduction through its Dairy Digester Research and Development Program and Alternative Manure Management Program, and is furthering its work in this space with a recently-announced $5 million funding allocation, the California Livestock Methane Measurement, Mitigation and Thriving Environments Research Program, for research in the areas of nutrient management and methane reduction.

Taken from a California Strategic Growth Council news release

The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) has approved over $74 million in grants to protect 54,000 acres of agricultural lands at risk of development. The investments are part of Round 8 of the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALC), a state program protecting agricultural lands, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthening primarily rural economies.

This is the eighth round of annual funding from SGC’s SALC Program and brings the total acres of agricultural land protected or in the process of being protected through SALC Program grants to 195,000 acres.

Investments from this round of funding will create 25 agricultural easements in 17 counties as far north as Siskiyou County and as far south as Santa Barbara County. This suite of easements will total approximately 54,030 acres. Safeguarding this agricultural land will avoid an estimated 619,227 metric tons of CO2 equivalent over the next 30 years, which amounts to taking 133,424 cars off the road for one year.

SGC will also award 20 capacity-building grants as part of a new component of the SALC program this year. These projects will facilitate the development of agricultural conservation acquisition projects in 33 counties as far north as Del Norte and Siskiyou counties and as far south as San Diego and Imperial counties. While initially the SALC Program had allocated up to $3 million for capacity grants, the Strategic Growth Council voted to increase the allocation to $4.4 million in response to the high demand for capacity grants from across the state. Capacity grants accelerate progress towards the California’s Natural and Working Lands goal to conserve 30 percent of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030 by increasing the number of projects supported for future investment. 

Additionally, the SALC Program has awarded three planning grants to two public agencies and one California Native American tribe to support planning for the implementation of Sustainable Community Strategies and the protection of agricultural lands.

SGC administers the SALC Program in partnership with the California Department of Conservation.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross:  “This program has been a tremendous success, as evidenced by the fact that this round of SALC awards protects about the same number of acres protected in the 20 years prior to the start of the program.  These projects will be a big help as we work to keep California agriculture sustainable and flourishing. “

SALC Round 8 Awardees:

Easement Grantees

·     Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space

·     Solano Land Trust

·     California Rangeland Trust (4 projects)

·     Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust

·     Northern California Regional Land Trust (2 projects)

·     Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority

·     California Farmland Trust (2 projects)

·     City of Davis

·     The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo (2 projects)

·     Bear Yuba Land Trust

·     Ag Land Trust (3 projects)

·     Siskiyou Land Trust

·     Shasta Land Trust (3 projects)

·     Northcoast Regional Land Trust

·     Sierra Foothill Conservancy

Capacity grantees

·     American Farmland Trust

·     Sierra Foothill Conservancy

·     Land Trust of Santa Cruz County

·     American River Conservancy

·     Siskiyou Land Trust

·     Shasta Land Trust

·     Mother Lode Land Trust

·     Tule Basin Land and Water Conservation Trust

·     San Benito Ag Land Trust

·     Land Trust for Santa Barbara County

·     Placer Land Trust

·     Mendocino Land Trust

·     California Open Lands

·     Sacramento Valley Conservancy

·     Solano Land Trust

·     San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust

·     Northcoast Regional Land Trust

·     Land Trust of Santa Clara Valley

·     California Farmland Trust

·     The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo

Planning grantees

·     San Diego LAFCO

·     Hoopa Valley Tribe

·     County of Tulare

CDFA’s Antimicrobial Use and Stewardship (AUS) program has released its fourth Annual Report. The AUS program is a comprehensive antibiotic stewardship and monitoring program, established to fulfill the mandates of California law, Livestock: Use of Antimicrobial Drugs (FAC Sections 14400 – 14408). For more information on the AUS program, and to view the AUS 2022 Annual Report, please visit our website: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/AHFSS/aus/.

The AUS 2022 Annual Report focuses on the 2021– 2022 fiscal year, spanning July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022, and provides a description of AUS activities during this time, including updates from the following program focus areas:

• Program Products: What materials and information have we produced?
• Animal Management Strategies: What health promotion and infection prevention practices can be used or further developed in California to combat antimicrobial resistance and reduce antibiotic usage?
• Antibiotic Sales & Use: What antibiotics are sold and how are they used in California?
• Antibiotic Resistance: How are we looking at trends in antibiotic resistance?
• Communication & Engagement: How are we reaching people and improving our efforts?
• AUS-Funded Research Publications & Presentations: How are our researchers building upon current scientific knowledge and informing the scientific community?
• Looking Ahead: What’s next?

The AUS program is excited to share its progress, all of which is possible due to engagement from our many stakeholder groups. We would like to thank everyone who contributes to our activities – your guidance and feedback at all stages of our work, including research, outreach, and education efforts, is crucial to the program’s success. This includes organizations and groups who support our implementation and vision, as well as livestock owners who participate in our studies and researchers who share their expertise.

News release from the Governor’s Office

Bringing offshore wind power to the West Coast. Providing funding for 90,000 new EV chargers across the state. Approving a new solar policy that will make our grid more reliable and accelerate energy independence. Finalizing a plan to cut air pollution by more than 70%. And that’s all since last week. 

“We are making history here in California, and today caps an amazing ten days for world-leading climate action,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “California is leading the world’s most significant economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution – we’re cutting pollution, turning the page on fossil fuels and creating millions of new jobs.” 

On Thursday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved an unprecedented plan to cut air pollution, shift away from fossil fuels, and ramp up clean energy production – leading the world with a comprehensive roadmap to achieve net zero pollution. The Scoping Plan will:

• Cut air pollution by 71%;
• Slash greenhouse gas emissions 85% by 2045;
  • That includes a 48% reduction of greenhouse gasses by 2030, surpassing the statutory mandate to reduce emissions to at least 40% below 1990 levels in 2030;
• Reduce fossil fuel consumption to less than one-tenth of what we use today, a 94% drop in demand for oil and 86% drop in demand for all fossil fuels;
• Create 4 million new jobs;
• Save Californians $200 billion in health costs due to pollution.

Two key state groundwater conservation programs are in the midst of public comment periods, providing stakeholders with important opportunities to help shape these programs.

One is the Department of Water Resource’s LandFlex Program, which will provide immediate drought relief to drinking water wells in drought-stricken communities and limit unsustainable groundwater pumping in critically overdrafted (COD) basins.  LandFlex will provide $25 million in block grants to Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) to grant to farmers who limit agricultural water use. GSAs would work directly with farmers to identify land that would reduce pumping impacts to nearby dry wells. LandFlex will provide financial incentives to farmers for each enrolled acre. Public comments are being accepted through December 29.

The second program of interest is the Department of Conservation’s Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program, which is working to increase regional capacity to repurpose agricultural land to reduce reliance on groundwater while providing community health, economic well-being, water supply, habitat, and climate benefits.  Public comments are being accepted through December 30.