CDFA Secretary Karen Ross is in Vietnam this week as part of a USDA trade mission offering opportunities for U.S. companies to engage face-to-face with Vietnamese buyers to build new trade linkages, strengthen existing partnerships, observe U.S. products in the marketplace, and identify emerging trends in Vietnam’s fast-changing markets. 

While in Ho Chi Minh City, Secretary Ross visited a promotional event called “Discover United Tastes” at MM Mega Mart, one of the largest hypermarket chains in Vietnam.  Featured displays included table grapes, raisins, and cheese – highlighting some of the best of CA GROWN. Other visits included meetings with Dan On Food Corporation, a leading U.S. tree nut and dried fruit processor, and Janbee Corporation, a soybean processor featuring the Sustainable U.S. Soy label.

Exports of U.S. agricultural and related products to Vietnam are just under $3.5 billion, and California’s agriculture exports are valued at more than $336 million.

Secretary Ross is joined in Vietnam by representatives of the California Fresh Fruit Association, California Table Grape Commission, California Walnut Commission, and 11 California businesses.

As peach season continues in California, come with us to Placerville to visit Beals’ Orchards to learn about peaches and other produce heading for Certified Farmers’ Market as well as progressive water use to maintain a sustainable operation.

News Release from Governor Newsom’s Office

What you need to know: The Governor today ended the drought state of emergency in 19 counties where conditions have improved significantly, maintaining it in the remaining 39 counties to address continued impacts to local water supplies and facilitate ongoing recovery. Additional action today rolls back certain provisions of prior drought- and flood-related executive orders that are no longer necessary under current conditions. 

SACRAMENTO – With California’s water year drawing to a close later this month, Governor Gavin Newsom today took action to adapt the state’s response to the historic drought and flooding that Californians have experienced in recent years.

In response to improved water conditions following two wet winters, the Governor ended the drought state of emergency in 19 counties while maintaining it in the remaining 39 counties where it continues to support long-term recovery from the three driest years on record. 

This action builds on the rollback of some drought emergency provisions in March last year and is in keeping with how the state entered the drought state of emergency in phases by region.

The Governor also rescinded certain provisions of prior executive orders related both to the drought and to flooding caused by 2023’s late winter storms which are no longer necessary under current conditions. As California grapples with more extreme cycles of wet and dry, the state remains ready to respond to changing water conditions.

“As this week’s weather makes clear, California and the West experience extreme weather swings that exacerbate our water challenges and make it more important than ever that we build a climate-resilient water system,” said Governor Newsom. “This targeted action is responsive to current conditions while continuing the tools and support for work underway to help future-proof water supplies in the most impacted communities.”

The Governor has terminated the drought state of emergency in 19 coastal and desert counties that are collectively home to 70% of the state’s population: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Marin, Mendocino, Mono, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, and Ventura counties. A copy of the proclamation terminating the drought state of emergency in these counties can be found here. 

The state of emergency remains in effect in California’s remaining 39 counties, where significant impacts from the multi-year drought – including depleted groundwater supplies, domestic well failures and harm to native fish – persist in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins, the Tulare Lake basin, the Scott, Shasta and Klamath River watersheds, and the Clear Lake watershed.

The executive order rolling back several provisions of prior drought- and flood-related executive orders further narrows the drought state of emergency in the 39 counties where it remains in effect, while also rescinding orders related to flooding following the 2023 winter storms in 53 counties. The executive order rescinds provisions that are no longer necessary to respond to those emergencies without disrupting state agencies’ legal authority and funding to continue expedited work to improve access to clean drinking water and ongoing drought resilience planning work. A copy of the executive order can be found here. 

As California approaches the beginning of a new water year, the state remains ready to respond to changing water conditions, including the potential return of dry conditions. With estimates that hotter, drier conditions could reduce California’s water supply by up to 10% by the year 2040, the state is implementing an all-of-the-above approach to safeguard and boost water supplies as outlined in the California Water Plan, Water Supply Strategy and Water Resilience Portfolio. Leveraging historic state and federal funding, California is:

• Advancing clear, ambitious targets to build drought and flood resilience, including increasing annual groundwater recharge capacity by 500,000 acre-feet
• Fast-tracking groundwater recharge efforts by streamlining permits
• Maximizing stormwater capture through new projects
• Supporting reservoir repair and expansion to boost water storage above and below ground
• Modernizing water conveyance infrastructure across the state, including the Delta Conveyance Project

CDFA joined USDA officials and congressional staff members last week to watch a detector dog in action at a FedEx facility in Orange County, on a tour organized by the California Agriculture Commissioners and Sealers Association (CACASA).

“California operates an incredibly effective program utilizing dog teams that are able to detect plant material in packages that may contain a variety of incoming pests,” said Jose Arriaga, Orange County Agricultural Commissioner. “These dog teams are key to helping us identify packages containing plant material and potential hitchhiking pests that come into California from around the world, allowing us to deter pests from infesting our local agricultural industry, the natural environment and our gardens.”

The dog at the parcel facility was “Bear,” a chocolate Labrador working with handler Vanessa Ochoa to look for unmarked packages that can carry harmful pests and diseases threatening California’s food supply and the environment. Read more about Bear.

“What is most impressive with the canine teams, is that they can clear up to 8000 parcels a day in facilities like Fed Ex, making them fast and thorough,” said Victoria Hornbaker, CDFA’s Director of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services. “The California Dog Teams are vitally important to the pest prevention system. If invasive pests become established, they could cause irreparable damage. I will add that Bear, in addition to being a hard worker, is a really handsome brown Labrador.”

Dogs selected for the state program have been screened for high food drive, sociability, intelligence, physical soundness, and low anxiety levels. Dogs and handlers must complete an intense 8-week training program at the USDA’s National Detector Dog Training Center in 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, and more.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross, along with the California Jobs First Council, recently toured the Livermore headquarters of GILLIG, the leading heavy-duty transit bus manufacturer in the United States. GILLIG’s commitment to investing in its workforce and pioneering clean, zero-emission buses illustrates how companies can be powerful economic drivers. This is precisely what the Jobs First Council aims to achieve through a grant program that will support regional projects around the state and create thousands of jobs. 

Governor Newsom launched the Jobs First Council earlier this year to help reshape California’s economic landscape. The council is co-chaired by Dee Dee Myers, Senior Advisor to the Governor and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business & Economic Development; and Stewart Knox, Secretary of Labor & Workforce Development. The council’s focus is fostering job creation and regional growth in 13 targeted areas across the state.

“I look forward to learning about the opportunities identified in the regional plans for jobs of the future in the rapidly evolving technologies in food and ag production, as well as environmental leadership on working lands, the circular economy, and building healthy, resilient local food systems”, said Secretary Ross.

With $182 million in grants available through the Governor’s Regional Investment Initiative, the council will accelerate economic and workforce projects across California. This funding will support diverse industries, driving innovation and job development throughout the state.

From a USDA News Release

The U.S. Department of Agriculture joined the U.S. Department of Education this week, along with education, parent, and school-meal partner organizations to host a virtual pep rally to celebrate the back-to-school season and thank the champions who educate and nourish our nation’s school children. The rally highlighted key steps the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to support school meals and nutrition as a key educational tool that kids need to be successful in the classroom.

“Healthy school meals are an essential part of the educational environment and fuel children to learn, grow and thrive,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “USDA is fully committed to setting kids up for success and this rally gives us the opportunity to come together and encourage one another to raise the bar for school meals in this new school year and beyond. We’re grateful to our partners at the Department of Education, along with all the schools, districts, states, and industry who care so much about the connection between healthy meals and our children’s futures, and we’re excited to continue to work together to make this back-to-school season a success.

“As someone who’s been a teacher and a school principal, I’ve seen how hard our school nutrition professionals work every day – and I’ve seen the incredible difference it makes when a student comes to class after a healthy meal, energized, with a smile on their face, ready to learn,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, “This rally is a reminder: school is not just a place where students go to learn reading and math. At its best, a school is a hub of the community, and one of the first places that a student and their family can get their most basic needs met.”

Earlier this year, USDA announced updated nutrition standards, which include changes that provide schools more options to successfully plan and prepare healthy meals. K-12 schools serve nutritious meals to about 30 million children every school day and these meals are an important source of nutrition for many children.

What’s New: Tastier, Healthier Options for Schools

Beginning this school year, schools have more options to:

·     Serve protein-rich breakfast foods such as yogurt, tofu, eggs, nuts and seeds, which can help them offer less sugary foods, while also supporting vegetarian diets and other food preferences.

·     Buy local foods. Schools can require unprocessed agricultural products to be locally grown, raised or caught when making purchases for school meal programs. More information about these new options is available on the Procuring Local Foods webpage.

Learn about how some school districts are already cutting down on added sugars and bringing more local foods into the cafeteria, with support from USDA.

Read more

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Produce Safety Program (PSP) has launched its new Farm Data Repository website for California farms and farm inspections to support statewide compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule. Also known as the PSP Portal, this new digital resource provides California produce growers and handlers the ability to:

• View their own inspection reports related to their own farms online.
• Engage and respond to inspection-related action items digitally, including document uploads.
• Communicate conveniently with CDFA PSP staff members.

Click here for more details on the Produce Safety Rules! Blog.

A roundtable discussion with young farmers was hosted this week by the Center for Land Based Learning. The event featured CDFA Secretary Karen Ross, USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small, USDA Marketing and Regulatory Programs Under Secretary Jenny Lester Moffitt, and Center for Land-Based Learning Chief Executive Officer Mary Kimball.

https://youtu.be/9vof_V2frg8?feature=shared

August 26 is a day of reflection in California as we celebrate California Farmworker Day. This day is dedicated to highlighting, remembering, and appreciating the work that farmworkers contribute daily in California to provide the food that nourishes families and communities.

The California Farmworker Foundation (CFF) is an organization deeply committed to enhancing the lives of farmworkers across the state by helping to ensure that farmworkers and their families receive the resources and services they need. 

A Strong Partnership with CDFA

CDFA is honored to partner with CFF. The organization has three pillars that are foundational to its mission: education, health and wellness, and civil services.

“Everything CFF does aligns with these three pillars, ensuring that farmworkers not only receive immediate assistance but also have the tools and resources to build better futures,” said Diana Silva, with CFF.

One of the key areas of this partnership is education, particularly in workforce development, and is supported by two CDFA grants.

In 2022, CFF was the recipient of CDFA’s Beginning Farmer and Farmworker Training & Workforce Development Grant Program. The organization received $800,000 for the “Growing Futures” project, which is helping provide farmworkers with an opportunity to achieve educational growth via credit and non-credit courses from local community colleges — courses they may take at their worksites and in their communities. This program is intended to boost current workforce skills to improve opportunities for farmworkers as well as help Central Valley growers remain competitive in the global market. CFF has partnered with Bakersfield College and Porterville College to provide educational opportunities for farmworkers in Kern and Tulare counties.

Another key grant was awarded in 2023 from CDFA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. CFF received $499,715 to help empower farmworkers by providing resources and skills to improve their job opportunities and better meet the evolving needs of the industry. The grant will help meet the need for vocational and skill development. CFF is helping to bridge the gap between agricultural operations and regional community colleges in Riverside, Imperial and San Diego counties by facilitating industry training needs with resources in the region through customized workforce training. Additionally, CFF is developing “Agricultural Vocational English as a Second Language,” a project dedicated to serving the unique linguistic needs of farmworkers and rural communities in the counties of Kern and Tulare.

CFF’s programs are designed to address challenges that farmworkers face daily. One of the most pressing issues is health and wellness. CFF partners with healthcare providers to bring mobile health clinics directly to worksites. Vision care is also a priority, with mobile clinics offering eye exams and necessary treatment.

Food insecurity is another critical issue that CFF addresses. In 2023, the foundation distributed more than 800,000 pounds of fresh food–including produce, eggs, and milk–to farmworker communities in the Pixley, Delano, and Richgrove communities. This effort remains a top priority as food security continues to be an urgent need.

In addition to health and wellness, CFF’s civil assistance program provides invaluable support to farmworkers navigating immigration services, MediCal registration, and CalFresh enrollment.

This California Farmworker Day and every day, CDFA is proud to stand alongside CFF, celebrating the incredible contributions of farmworkers and reaffirming our commitment to improving their lives. Together, we are building better futures for those who sustain California’s agriculture.

Thanks to a grant from CDFA’s Farm to School Incubator Program, the Porterville Unified School District in Tulare County is bridging the gap between local farms and school cafeterias to bring fresh, sustainable fruits and vegetables to students’ plates. The program has also created an opportunity for students working with an organization called Climate Action Pathways for Schools (CAPS) to take the lead in connecting with farmers and helping to educate their peers about the produce and the farms where it was grown, as well as potential career pathways in agriculture.

Following are excerpts from a Q&A with Porterville Unified School District (PUSD) Director of Student Nutrition Services Olga Sanchez about the program.

Can you give an overview of the Farm to [School] Incubator Grant Program at PUSD?

The Farm to [School] Incubator Grant Program at PUSD aims to bring locally sourced, farm-fresh food to our school cafeterias. This two-year grant program allows us to establish connections with local farmers and learn about their produce, harvest times and sustainability practices. Porterville is an agriculturally dense community which gives us the unique opportunity to incorporate fresh, nutrient-dense food into school meals and reduce our carbon footprint by sourcing locally.

An important component of the Farm to [School] Incubator Grant Program is education. CAPS interns have taken the lead in reaching out to farmers, interviewing them about their agricultural practices and creating educational materials for our Farm to School Food Show. The Food Show not only showcases locally sourced ingredients but also educates students about where their food comes from and the importance of sustainable agriculture.

During the Food Show, students had the opportunity to sample dishes made from locally sourced ingredients and vote for their favorites to determine which recipes would be added to the school menu. Recipes included pupusas, chicken yakitori, caldo de res, meatloaf, and fish tacos. In total, around 400 students contributed to trying the recipes and helping us shape next year’s school menu. Additionally, we invited farmers to participate in the event, giving students the chance to learn more about their farming practices and careers in regenerative ag.

What are you looking forward to for the program in the coming years?

Currently, we’re in the first year of our two-year grant cycle. This first year has been focused on establishing connections with local farmers, sourcing ingredients and testing new recipes for our school menu. As we move into the second year of the grant, I want students to have the opportunity to visit the farms, become familiar with their farming practices and understand their impact on sustainability. Using metrics and tools from CAPS, these students can assess these farms’ environmental impact to help them understand the effects of food production on climate.

Click here to read the full Q&A on the CAPS website.