18 projects in tribal communities, counties and cities across the state mark first step in creating open-access middle-mile network to provide missing broadband infrastructure

Part of state’s $6 billion investment to expand broadband infrastructure and enhance internet access for unserved and underserved communities

Advancing California’s commitment to bridge the digital divide, Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that the state has identified 18 projects to begin work on an open-access middle-mile network that will provide missing infrastructure paths to bring broadband to all communities.

As part of the historic $6 billion broadband investment advanced in partnership with legislative leaders earlier this year, the initial project locations are based on known unserved and underserved areas across the state. The projects will connect to the core of the global internet and interconnect to last-mile infrastructure, which is the final leg that provides internet service to a customer.

“California is committed to taking on the challenges laid bare by the pandemic, including the digital divide holding back too many communities across the state,” said Governor Newsom. “These projects are the first step to delivering on our historic investment that will ensure all Californians have access to high-quality broadband internet, while also creating new jobs to support our nation-leading economic recovery.”

The initial 18 projects represent a range of geographic locations and technical approaches. Projects are being initiated in the following tribal communities, counties and cities: Alpine County; Amador County; Calaveras County; Central Coast; Coachella Valley; Colusa Area; Inyo County; Kern County; Kern/San Luis Obispo Area; Lake County Area; Los Angeles and South Los Angeles; Oakland; Orange County; Plumas Area; Riverside/San Diego Area; San Bernardino County; Siskiyou Area; and West Fresno.

A map and additional information on the initial projects can be found here.

“A reliable broadband connection makes the difference between having access to full-service health care, education and employment or sometimes going without,” said State Chief Information Officer Amy Tong. “Through a historic partnership between our Governor, the Legislature, state agencies and a third-party administrator, we are taking immediate action to improve connectivity for Californians in the northern, central and southern parts of the state.”

Evaluation of project areas included consideration of public comments, prioritization of unserved or underserved areas of the state, and inclusion of tribal communities, cities and counties. An unserved or underserved area has households that do not reliably have download speeds of at least 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) and upload of at least 3 Mbps.

State partners implementing the middle-mile initiative include the California Department of Technology, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Caltrans. GoldenStateNet was selected as the Third-Party Administrator (TPA) to manage the development, acquisition, construction, maintenance and operation of the statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network. As the TPA, GoldenStateNet will partner with key stakeholder groups across the state to investigate the best technical, financial and operational models to meet the needs of the project sites.  

Read more here

By Brad Hooker

Speaking last week at the Methane Pavilion at the UN Climate Conference, Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph and CDFA Secretary Karen Ross discussed the state’s methane goals. California is the only jurisdiction in the world that has a law to reduce short-lived climate pollutants, according to Jorge Daniel Taillant, director of the Center for Human Rights and Environment, an Argentina-based NGO.

The Newsom administration is working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on a methane satellite to spot “the worst actors,” explained Randolph. The regulatory agencies will use that to “take action” and inform new and existing policies.

Ross attributed the success in reducing emissions to the voluntary approach incorporated into the SB 1383 framework, along with cap-and-trade investments for incentives grants.

“Really the magic here is the low-carbon fuel standard,” said Ross. “It’s very powerful if we can rededicate [the emissions] to replacing fossil fuels.” The most challenging area, she explained, is enteric emissions from cows, since no “magic solutions” exist yet.

Ross added that—contrary to outcry from environmental justice groups—data has not shown that dairy digesters are leading to increased cow numbers and more air pollution. Having a large number of cows in condensed areas, she explained, means the state’s dairies have the smallest environmental footprint for every gallon of milk produced.

She stressed that the Newsom and Brown administrations have made significant investments in bringing community-based organizations to the table as “trusted messengers” for hard-to-reach communities.

Link to Agri-Pulse

From a USDA news release

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced is awarding $25 million to conservation partners across the country for 18 new projects under the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials program.

On-Farm Trials projects support widespread adoption and evaluation of innovative conservation approaches in partnership with agricultural producers. This year’s awarded projects increase the adoption of new approaches and technologies to help agricultural producers mitigate the effects of climate change, increase the resilience of their operations and boost soil health.

“Farmers, ranchers and forest landowners play a crucial role in charting the course towards a climate-smart future,” said Terry Cosby, Chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). “On-Farm Trials enable partners to work with producers to test and adopt new climate-smart systems on their operations that support agricultural production and conserve natural resources, while also building climate resilience.”

Awarded Projects:

• Climate-smart Irrigation for Drought, Fertility, and Structural Resilience in Almond Systems (California) University of California, Davis will incentivize almond growers to adopt deep root irrigation, pressure compensated subsurface drip irrigation and Hybrid Pb.
• Decision Support System for Irrigation with Limited Water (California, Oregon) Irrigation for the Future will demonstrate an advanced decision support system designed to calculate the productivity of water and optimize the economics of irrigation management field-by-field.
• Regional LoRa Networks to Improve High Elevation Flood Irrigation Water Management (Colorado) Trout Unlimited will work within Colorado’s Gunnison River and Rio Grande basins, working with eight producers to deploy the use of Long-Range Low Power Area Networks (LoRa) to improve wild flood and furrow irrigation water management on irrigated mountain valleys above 5,500 feet elevation.
• Converting Wasteful, Flood-Irrigated Fields to Low-Cost, Gravity-Powered Drip Irrigation with Decision-Support Technology: A Water-Smart, Enhanced Crop Yield Agriculture Solution for Colorado River Indian Tribes and Other Producers (Arizona) N-Drip will work with approximately 20 producers of the Colorado River Indian Tribes to implement a drip irrigation system on flood irrigated fields.
• Beyond Yield: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers for Reducing Nitrous Oxide Emissions and Ammonia Volatilization in Corn Systems (North Carolina) North Carolina State University will provide critical information on the efficacy of reducing nitrogen and using inhibitors on emissions and corn yield in the low soil carbon, hot and humid conditions of the southeast.
• Trialing Dietary Interventions to Mitigate Enteric Methane Emissions in Dairy Cattle (Michigan, Wisconsin) The Nature Conservancy will evaluate different dairy feed management strategies, including emerging feed additives. The goal of the project is to better inform greenhouse gas mitigation strategies for cattle, NRCS programs and the development of protocols for measuring enteric emissions.
• Regenerative Egg Farming Project (Kentucky) Handsome Brook Farm will support five beginning farmers in adopting climate-smart regenerative egg practices. This on-farm trial will establish on-farm manure management, storage and distribution systems designed to reduce GHG emissions, and reduce on-farm soil erosion and drastically reduce watershed pollution through pasture enhancements and investments in housing infrastructure.
• Stacking Climate-Smart Agriculture and Pollinator Conservation to Leverage Market-Based Incentives (California, Maine, Montana, Oregon, Washington) Xerces Society will demonstrate, evaluate, and quantify conservation practices designed to maximize the dual goals of climate-smart agriculture and pollinator conservation at the farm level
• Reimagining Modern Crop Fields: Delivering Economic, Environmental, and Societal Benefits through Increased Adoption of Precision Conservation (Iowa, Minnesota) Pheasants Forever will explore a financial assistance model that promotes the adoption of precision agriculture and precision conservation strategies and tools on a farm-wide scale to identify opportunities for conservation and inform decision-making.
• Inland Northwest Farmers Leading Our United Revolution in Soil Health (FLOURISH) (Washington, Idaho, Oregon) Palouse Conservation District will work with crop producers of the inland Pacific Northwest to demonstrate farming practices that build soil health and increase the resilience of dryland cropping systems. The overall goal of this project is to support widespread adoption of soil health management systems −specifically cover cropping, interseeding and cover crop-livestock integration.
• Addressing Barriers for Historically Underserved Producers in California’s San Joaquin Valley to Implement Combined Soil Health Practices through Participatory Planning and Evaluation on Diversified Farms (California) The Regents of the University of California will address barriers faced by small-scale historically underserved producers to adopt soil health practices and systems. The project will build flexibility for producers to adapt practices to the unique circumstances of their operations and to test the performance of various practice combinations.
• Bale Grazing: A Practical, Low-Cost, and Environmentally-Sound Management Strategy to Winter Beef Cattle (Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, Virginia, West Virginia) The University of Kentucky Research Foundation will increase adoption of bale grazing to improve winter feed management for beef cattle farmers by demonstrating the practical, economic and ecological benefits of this strategy.
• Utah Soil Health Partnership: Utah Soil Health Network (Utah) Many of Utah’s dryland producers still practice summer fallow with frequent full width tillage through the fallow period. The Utah Association of Conservation Districts will increase the adoption of soil health practices in Utah with this on-farm trial focused on diverse farming systems.
• Grazing for Soil Health (Montana) Piikani Lodge Health Institute will work with Tribal Nations to support greater adoption and implementation of regenerative grazing practices on rangelands and irrigated pastures.
• Diversifying Appalachia’s Pastures to Improve Soil Health (West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania) WVU Research Corporation will promote and evaluate pasture diversification through reseeding as an innovative conservation strategy.
• A Colorado Soil Health Program: Supporting Producers and Conservation Districts to Improve Drought Resilience and Water Utilization (Colorado) The Colorado Department of Agriculture will encourage the widespread adoption of soil health practices to achieve water quality, water conservation and on-farm economic benefits.
• Promoting Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices Among Underserved Small-Scale farmers in Arizona using Farmer Participatory Research (Arizona) This on-farm demonstration trial will promote climate-smart and soil health agricultural practices among small-scale farmers. The University of Arizona and collaborating farmers will use farmer participatory research to promote climate-smart agricultural and soil health management systems.
• From Farmers to Soil Health Managers – Participatory Design of On-Farm Trials to Stimulate Adoption of Innovative Conservation Techniques by Historically Underserved Farmers in the Puget Sound Region (Washington) Grow Food will engage historically underserved farmers to conduct trials of innovative Soil Health Management Systems techniques and demonstrate the benefits of adoption through environmental, social and economic evaluation of the on-farm trials.

For details on the awarded projects, visit the NRCS website.

With COP26 concluding today, Secretary Ross appeared on the Farm to Table Talk podcast to share her thoughts from her trip to Scotland, and the challenges and opportunities ahead with respect to climate change, telling host Rodger Wasson, “It’s not going to be one state, or one country, or one sector. It’s going to take all of us working together, and I’ve seen more collaboration than I’ve ever seen in my very long career. And I feel optimistic because people are focused on implementation…How do we transition to carbon neutrality?”

Listen in for more

CDFA secretary Karen Ross (second from left in photo) joined in the applause last week following the ribbon cutting for the first fuel cell dairy digester project in the nation at Bar 20 Dairy in Fresno County.

Methane from the digester — produced by California Bioenergy in partnership with Bloom Energy — will be used to generate renewable electricity to power BMW electric vehicles. Carbon emission reductions due to the digester are the equivalent of providing renewable energy to 17,000 electric vehicles each year.

The project is an example of innovation that will help meet the Global Methane Pledge, an initiative to reduce global methane emissions to keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach. The Pledge was announced by last week at COP26 by President Biden and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

This digester/fuel cell project is funded in part by CDFA’s Dairy Digester Development and Research Program.

Others in the photo are, from left, Carl Guardino, Bloom Energy; Ross Buckenham, California Bioenergy; John, Stephen, Richard and Scott Shehadey, Bar 20 Dairy; and Adam Langton, BMW.

See a news report about this innovative digester project on ABC-30 TV, Fresno.

By CDFA Secretary Karen Ross

I am grateful for the opportunity to join California’s delegation in Scotland for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) from November 9^th through the 12^th. The conference presents an opportunity to meet with many colleagues from around the world in our common pursuit of climate-change solutions while meeting the essential food security needs of our communities.

While on the ground in Scotland, I’ll be focusing on the ways our farmers and ranchers in California and around the world can be – and in many cases already are – accomplishing meaningful progress toward our climate goals. California is accustomed to leading, but we are also constantly learning. That’s what this trip is about – leading, but also learning how to do it better. Specifically, I’m focusing on issues and elements such as:

• Supporting farmers and ranchers as part of the solution on climate change
• Building climate resilience in our natural and working lands
• Scaling up technologies and practices that are already proven
• Bolstering research efforts to keep those solutions coming

I am looking forward to a meeting with the Irish minister for land use and biodiversity as well as meetings with the Scottish and English ministers for agriculture. And I’m honored to be making presentations at several events to provide information about California’s Climate Smart Agriculture programs. Our state is home to amazingly innovative farmers and ranchers! I am proud to share their success stories and eager to hear from our partners around the world.