The program is administered by the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. It is designed for small businesses that have been impacted by COVID, including farmers and ranchers. Grants will be up to $25,000.
Eligible small businesses and nonprofits may apply directly at CAReliefGrant.com, or with assistance from a partner.
One of the state’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), Lendistry, is supporting the state to distribute these grants and partnering with other CDFIs and small business centers to assist you with your application. To connect to a partner or find more information on the program and requirements, visit CAReliefGrant.com or join one of our small business webinars available daily. Those interested in a webinar briefing on the grant program may register here.
Information on the website and the webinars are available in multiple languages.
National Steinbeck Center Events Manager Cat Harper shows off some of the multimedia on display as part of the new “From Farms to Incubators” exhibition. Photo from the King City Rustler
By Ryan Cronk
A new exhibition at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas highlights a diverse generation of women innovators and their contribution to agriculture by way of technology.
“From Farms to Incubators: Women Innovators in California Agtech,” which premiered last month, uses multimedia to tell the stories of these groundbreaking female leaders and entrepreneurs, with the ultimate goal of inspiring and encouraging youth to pursue similar careers in agricultural technology.
The exhibit kicked off with a virtual opening Nov. 12, as the Steinbeck Center remains closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic. A video of the exhibition, however, can be found online at steinbeck.org/womeninagtech, with viewing available through Jan. 12.
“There is no better time to celebrate women in leadership positions,” said Amy Wu, creator of “From Farms to Incubators,” who also recently completed a documentary and book of the same name. “The year 2020 is the centennial of women’s suffrage. … We need more women at the decision-making helm of all walks of life.”
Through photographs, paintings, sculptures and videos, the exhibit brings awareness to women with different cultural and ethnic backgrounds who have historically been underrepresented in the agtech industry.
Wu said a new generation of startups led by women are creating technologies to provide solutions to various challenges that growers face, including the severe labor shortage, limited water and land supply.
“Ultimately, I hope the exhibition, film series and book and events to come serve as vehicles to inspire youth, especially those from rural or underserved communities, to consider that agriculture is a sector that offers an amazing range of opportunities that involve innovation,” she said. “All of us who contributed to this special project remain very hopeful.”
Other speakers at the exhibit’s virtual opening included California State Sen. Anna Caballero, Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology Director Dennis Donohue, DigitalNEST Founder Jacob Martinez and Frieda’s Specialty Produce CEO Karen Caplan, who all briefly spoke about the importance of women innovators.
Caballero said there is a correlation between the diversity of management teams and overall innovations.
“Companies that report above-average diversity on their management teams drive innovation-based revenue at nearly twice the rate of those companies that do not, and diverse companies have 22% lower turnover rate, which aids company growth immensely, according to Gallup,” she said. “So the data is clear — diversity works, and that includes starting at the top with women innovators, entrepreneurs and chief executive officers leading the technology revolution in agriculture.”
According to Martinez, the Salinas Valley is becoming the “agtech epicenter of the world,” but he said the community needs to ensure that youth, especially young women, are involved in that ecosystem or it risks losing them after they graduate from high school and college.
“We want those young people to come back to our home and find good jobs, find employment where they can use their creativity and their innovation to solve problems in this world,” said Martinez, who six years ago started DigitalNEST, a nonprofit youth workforce development and empowerment center headquartered in Watsonville with a location in Salinas.
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” he continued. “We need to highlight young women, innovators, entrepreneurs that are doing this work so that our future generations, or youth coming through, can see these leaders in their community and will believe that they can do it also.”
Following the guest speakers was a panel discussion led by Wu that featured some of the agtech industry’s leading women innovators, such as Marrone Bio Innovation Founder Pam Marrone, The Yield Founder Ros Harvey and Persistence Data Mining COO Penelope Nagel.
Although “From Farms to Incubators” will leave the Steinbeck Center in January, Wu said there are plans to bring the exhibition to other agriculture-based regions, including the cities of Gonzales, Sacramento and Fresno.
In addition, the forthcoming book will be published in April 2021, telling the stories of women entrepreneurs who use technology to help solve problems in the agriculture industry.
“The storytelling continues, as well,” Wu said. “We look forward to continuing to collect the stories of women founders in agtech and agbio and to add them to a future book and future documentary.”
The new administration of the president elect will break from tradition in many obvious ways—but some of the most important changes will take place under the radar. One that no one is talking about yet is the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
This relatively obscure appointee holds the power to coordinate and shape policy across federal agencies, and the director is also traditionally the chief science advisor to the President. Historically, this position has been held by physicists. This made sense in the 20th century when America’s most consequential scientific accomplishment was sending men to the moon and our most terrifying threat was the nuclear bomb.
Today, however, genomics is the cutting edge of science – the developers of genome editing won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and humanity’s most pressing, existential threat is climate change. To effectively advise on the most important challenges of the 21st century, not only climate change, but the interconnected issues of global health, mass migration, food production, and environmental protection, President-Elect Biden will need a science advisor with deep knowledge of the life sciences—especially agriculture, the linchpin of America’s fight against climate change.
Agricultural and forest soils have the potential to sequester enough carbon to make our entire country carbon neutral, if not a carbon sink. In addition to curbing greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture science is needed to address the devastating effects of climate change’s initial stages. U.S. farmers and ranchers need tools to deal with droughts, heavy rains, and warming trends that bring new pests and diseases.
Current science is far ahead of practice when it comes to on-farm carbon sequestration and climate resilience. Federal and state policies often fail to encourage best practices, and lawmakers do not provide sufficient funding for the cooperative extension programs that disseminate new innovations.
These problems are not insurmountable. Rural America could play a decisive role in mitigating climate change. Paying farmers, ranchers, and forest owners to sequester carbon on their land, for example, land that represents nearly two thirds of all the land in the United States, would contribute to President-Elect Biden’s goal of making the country carbon neutral – while bringing co-benefits to rebuild rural economies and communities, enhance water quality and preserve biodiversity.
Additionally, policies that take tools away from farmers and ranchers in the name of environmental protection, without offering anything to substitute for that loss, have engendered deep mistrust. Current policies rarely empower rural Americans to be part of the solution. For example, paying farmers through carbon markets that are underpinned by soil science would give tools back to farmers and ranchers, not take them away. It would help small farmers, rebuild rural communities, and the land itself would benefit from increased soil organic carbon, which retains more moisture and nutrients.
Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will certainly need to play a central role in driving policies that expand domestic farmers’ engagement with carbon sequestration and climate resiliency, USDA has no jurisdiction over policies that aim to solve the global challenges of mass migration, political unrest, and terrorism created by climate change. Further, the president will need a science advisor who has a strong understanding of agricultural and ecological science and policy to tie all these pieces together.
The incoming administration has already started appointing leaders to address the devastating effects of climate change, but we also need to help rural Americans and tackle their concerns. The Biden-Harris Administration will need a chief science advisor who understands and promotes science and innovation that will give farmers a heroic purpose. In the 20th century, that purpose was “feeding the world.” Today, that purpose is curbing climate change. Making farmers the climate heroes, and letting them take pride in that role, will reduce fear, increase trust, and enable the country to pivot to climate smart policies across the board.
Nicholas Goeser, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America
Tom Grumbly, President, The Supporters of Agricultural Research (SoAR) Foundation
A term we like to use around CDFA is ‘evidence-based science.’ While its meaning is self-explanatory, we see it as something that checks the boxes of the scientific method and provides advancements to agriculture.
Scientists are a linchpin of our agency, working in a number of capacities across our many programs, including our excellent laboratories. Scientists have the ability to examine microscopic insect DNA in CDFA’s ongoing invasive species program, and they maintain extensive exotic bug collections. We also have scientists working in a chemistry lab to evaluate pesticide residues, pesticide products, and fertilizing materials to make sure that produce in the marketplace complies with EPA tolerance standards for safety, and that consumers have confidence in products they purchase and apply.
When alternative fuels and electric vehicles arrived in California, scientists from CDFA’s Division of Measurement Standards (DMS) worked to make sure that changing units of measurement were equitable to consumers; and when Uber and Lyft brought their ride-sharing services to California, DMS scientists worked with them to make sure that their technology for fares was equitable.
Our scientists in the Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation are dedicated to helping farmers and ranchers reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as conserving energy and water. They work closely with our sister agencies on GHG reduction programs funded by California Climate Investments and other mechanisms, including matching funds from grant recipients.
Many of the scientists in our Division of Animal Health and Food Safety Services are veterinarians, and they do all they can to prevent foreign animal diseases from becoming established in our state – for example, Virulent Newcastle Disease from one of our earlier segments in this series.
And scientists in our Division of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services have brought cutting edge solutions to the science of pest prevention, with examples being sterile insect programs for the Mediterranean and Mexican fruit flies, and biological control of the Asian Citrus Psyllid.
I am grateful for everything our scientists do at CDFA, and I appreciate your interest in our 12 Days of Gratitude. Happy holidays and all the best in 2021!
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 via email and followed by a Zoom meeting with Animal Health Branch staff and a rotund, jolly man with a red suit, white beard, and a pocketful of candy canes. The signature on the application 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.”
An essential job at CDFA is the position of inspector. They serve in numerous capacities throughout our agency, including the inspection of the yellow sticky traps we discussed earlier this week and so much more in our division of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services.
We have an entire division named for inspections. It’s called Inspection Services, and the excellent work undertaken there ranges from organic crops to fertilizer, from certified farmers’ markets to quality standards for fruits and vegetables, and from feed safety to produce safety.
We also have a dedicated team of inspectors in our Division of Measurement Standards. They make sure that fuel of all sorts is measured accurately, that leaders in the new economy are doing business fairly, and that measurements used in commerce are conducted accurately.
Our Division of Animal Health and Food Safety Services inspects dairy foods, egg producers and livestock ownership, as well as investigating outbreaks of foreign animal disease and working to eradicate those outbreaks.
Inspectors are part of the essential food and ag workforce and it is their work that helps keep the food supply open and moving from field to customers. Their duties cannot be done remotely – they are part of the CDFA’s work continuing during this unprecedented and challenging year of COVID-19.
I am grateful for all our inspectors do to protect us.
As CDFA carries forward with its essential work to promote and protect agriculture and natural resources, I’d like to express my appreciation for the partnerships that help make it possible. It all starts with our farmers and ranchers, and the remarkable bounty they produce for the world. They are resilient and innovative, and they have established California as a world leader in food production. We benefit greatly by having their voices on CDFA’s many advisory boards and commissions, including new start-ups like cannabis and hemp.
Much of Ag’s innovation comes from research provided by our partners in the California university systems. Scientists and specialists at both the UC and CSU have dedicated their lives to advancing the possibilities of agriculture, and we’re all the better for it.
We couldn’t do any of this without our partners at the USDA. They are by our side in a multitude of ways, from invasive species programs that help protect California and the nation to funding to benefit the amazing variety of specialty crops grown in our Mediterranean-style climate.
We also have crucial partnerships with county agricultural commissioners. They carry out our invasive species, measurement standards and other programs locally. The reach of our agency is multiplied exponentially by commissioners and their hard-working staffs.
Last but certainly not least, I’d like to express my gratitude for our partner state agencies serving in the administration of Governor Gavin Newsom. We all work together to do what is best for the state of California, including our food supply, and I have enormous appreciation and respect for that.
Secretary Ross and Rich Rominger at lunch in 2016 in Winters, CA
Yesterday we learned the sad news of the passing of Yolo County farmer and agricultural leader Richard Rominger. Rich was a passionate advocate for California agriculture, farmland conservation, and environmental stewardship. He served on countless boards in leadership positions throughout his long and distinguished farming and public service career. Governor Jerry Brown appointed Rich to lead the California Department of Food and Agriculture in 1977, a position he held until 1982. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 as the Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, serving until 2001.
I met Rich and his beautiful and spunky wife of 69 years, Evelyne, shortly after moving to California and joining the Agricultural Council of California in 1989. He quickly became a friend and a mentor. He was one of the most honest, trustworthy, kindest people I know. His counsel was invaluable, and his commitment to public service inspiring. He made California agriculture better by the countless lives he touched.
He was a role model of grace and humility and effectiveness. How grateful I am to have known and worked with Rich. He has been a gentle giant in my life – not for his physical stature but for his legacy of service with integrity, his passion for agriculture, and most of all his love for Evelyne and pride in his family. My deepest sympathy to Evelyne and the Rominger family. We have lost a dear friend. May God bless Rich Rominger.
CDFA profiled Rominger and his family farming operation in this video from its Growing California series.
Ok, I’m grateful for more than just the traps, but they represent an essential first step in our efforts to exclude invasive species from California, and then respond as effectively as possible if we find them.
Yellow sticky traps are used to detect pests such as Asian Citrus Psyllids and Glassy-Winged Sharpshooters, which are major threats to crops like citrus and grapes. The two insects spread fatal plant diseases–huanglongbing and Pierce’s disease, respectively–and while scientists search for potential cures, CDFA plant health specialists work closely with county agriculture commissioners and the USDA to manage pest populations to reduce the risk to citrus and grapes.
The humble yellow sticky trap.
Those are just two examples of work that goes on in many arenas to carry out CDFA’s core function of protecting agriculture and natural resources from crop and vegetation destruction.
CDFA prioritizes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in this work. IPM is a process for excluding or rapidly responding to invasive species while minimizing risks to people and the environment. We have been engaged in this for decades and have developed cutting-edge scientific approaches. Examples are the use of sterile insect technology and biocontrol to avoid the use of pesticides.
I am grateful for our Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services Division and the talented, our dedicated staff at our border stations and laboratories, and our staff members doing the detection and pest management work in the fields and urban neighborhoods throughout the state.
As we move deeper into the 21st century, I believe we can look forward to IPM advances that will make us even better at detecting and eradicating these dangerous pests. But a simple yellow sticky trap helps us get the job done now, and I appreciate that very much.
I am grateful for the important work of state government to ensure our programs and services can benefit every community of concern. COVID-19 has starkly demonstrated disproportionate impacts to vulnerable populations, which makes Governor Newsom’s commitment to diversity and racial equity in his California For All initiative even more important.
At CDFA we understand that we must bring an equity lens to all aspects of our work for the benefit of our employees and our agency, as well as the people and communities we serve. We can be most successful when we all work together and ensure that all voices and perspectives are included – it makes us better.
Our commitment to diversity includes working to provide all California farmers with access to the agency’s many programs. CDFA has hired a Farm Equity Adviser to make sure that historically underserved farmers and ranchers are reached.
The agency is working to further change by prioritizing recommendations contained within the Farmer Equity Report, and by recognizing and acknowledging the historic contributions of people of color to agriculture and food systems.
We are prioritizing recommendations to increase the voices of farmers of color in decision-making processes, programs, boards and commissions; creating a task force of CDFA employees who will work with the CCORE (Capitol Cohort on Racial Equity) group to create a racial equity action plan; and providing educational and training opportunities for all staff: CDFA will offer implicit bias training for all CDFA staff and research other potential training opportunities that could be offered to all staff.
CDFA has signed a memorandum of understanding with the organization MANRRS—Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences—as a pilot program with the NASDA Foundation (National Association of State Departments of Agriculture). MANRRS is a national organization of young people from communities of color who are interested in food, agriculture, and resource-based careers. Our work with them will enhance the diversity, equity and inclusiveness of our recruitment programs as we seek to strengthen the resiliency of our state’s agriculture industry and move us closer to a California for All.
I’d also like to point out that The California State Board of Food and Agriculture recently led a discussion with academic leaders, non-profits, and education programs focused on strategies to bolster agricultural education program outreach, and engagement and communication with socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.
This is among the most important work our agency is undertaking. I am grateful to be a part of it and honored to be doing this work with such diverse and dedicated CDFA employees.
