California accounts for 36 percent of all organic production in the United States, leading the nation, and organic production and organic sales are expected to continue to grow.
According to the must recent figures, organic sales in 2020 totaled $11.99 billion, which is an increase of 14 percent from 2019. The top five counties in terms of overall gross sales for 2020 were Monterey County, Los Angeles County, Santa Cruz County, Kern County and Merced County.
Between 2014 and 2020, California farmland in organic production increased 22 percent, from 1,796,080 acres to 2,186,551 acres.
The information mentioned above and more may be found in the California Agricultural Organic Report for 2020-2021, which is scheduled to be published in early 2022. A link to the the 2019-2020 report may be found here.
Click here to view the California Farm to School Network December newsletter.
The California Farm to School Network includes farm to school practitioners and enthusiasts statewide. Click on the newsletter subscribe button to also receive these monthly updates that include information about grants, resources, research, webinars, events and news from the National Farm to School Network. The California Farm to School Program is part of the California Department of Food and Agriculture Office of Farm to Fork (CDFA-F2F) in the Division of Inspection Services.
PDP is a federal partnership with nine states that monitors pesticide residues in the U.S. food supply. PDP data helps demonstrate the high quality of the U.S. food supply — analyses show that pesticide residues are lower than the limits established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in nearly all food samples (typically >99%).
The partnership between the agencies started with a screening list of 28 pesticide compounds. It has since expanded the scope to detect and quantify more than 515 compounds.
Partnering in this project has helped the CAC Food Safety program model its quality system framework into one that generates the highest-quality data for enforcement and regulatory purposes. Innovation was fostered through CAC scientists applying novel analytical methods and custom-made software to automate data processing and review.
“These endeavors opened doors to continuous technical improvement and enabled us to significantly increase our capability to generate high-quality, defensible data in a fast-turnaround work environment,” said CAC Environmental Program Manager Tiffany Tu. “The benefit gained from collaborating with other agencies in the pesticide analysis field in impactful scientific projects helped further our goal of being in the forefront of the pesticide analysis arena, which also ensures CAC Food Safety program’s relevance in our mission of promoting and protecting California agriculture.”
California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom (seated) is joined by CDFA Secretary Karen Ross during a recent farm to school tour in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District in Contra Costa County. CDFA’s Office of Farm to Fork coordinated the tour to demonstrate the importance of integrated farm to school programs that connect climate-smart, California-produced food in cafeterias to food education in classrooms and gardens, as well as at farms and in local communities.The Office of Farm to Fork is administering a grant program approved by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Newsom to expand these opportunities. The First Partner and Secretary Ross have visited a number of school districts together to learn more about their farm to school programs and plan to continue doing so.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) is now accepting concept proposals for the 2022 grant cycle. FREP’s competitive grant program funds research that advances fertilization practices and minimizes environmental impacts of fertilizing materials.
The 2022 Request for Proposals (RFP) includes several initiatives put forth by the department to help effectively manage fertilizing materials in California agriculture.
This year’s priorities include demonstrating and/or validating management practices that optimize fertilizer and irrigation water use, addressing challenges and barriers to adoption of management practices, technical education, filling knowledge gaps in nitrogen management for specific crops, research on the role of organic input materials in soil nutrient management, understanding nitrogen movement, and investigating mitigation strategies to reduce nitrogen loss.
HOW DO YOU WORK FOR THE CALIFORNIA FOOD SUPPLY? I educate and regulate producers of fertilizing materials to assure safe and effective products are available to growers of California’s precious commodities. Sampling of fertilizer products and audits of manufacturers are daily activities that contribute to the quality and effectiveness of fertilizers sold and distributed in California.
THOUGHTS OF WORKING AT INSPECTION SERVICES? I have enjoyed my experiences with the CDFA. I work with people that share the same passion for agriculture as I do. And I think that is important to those we serve. The diverse group of people make our offices interesting and unique.
MEMORABLE MOMENT ON THE JOB? A few weeks on the job, while investigating an issue at a worm casting facility, I asked a barefooted man, dressed in a white tank top with jeans and a cowboy hat, what his job title was? His response: “Head Worm-Wrangler.” I think my training partner and I laughed all the way back to the office.
The 2021 Nutrient Management Conference included a panel, “The Evolving Role of Coalitions in the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program,” which included (R-L) CDFA facilitator Mark Cady and panelists Sarah Lopez, Central Coast Water Quality Preservation Inc., Jodi Switzer, Farm Bureau of Ventura County, and Donald Ikemiya, Kaweah Basin Water Quality Association.
The 29th Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) and Western Plant Health (WPH) Nutrient Management Conference was held in San Luis Obispo, CA, October 27-28, 2021. The conference had more than 100 attendees, including crop consultants, growers, industry representatives, researchers and government personnel.
Check out this California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) FREP blog post for a recap of the event and links to more detailed information about the ongoing research projects presented at the conference.
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Each year since 1990, FREP has funded research, demonstration and education projects related to the environmentally safe and agronomically sound use and handling of fertilizing materials. Visit the FREP Grant Program webpage to learn how to apply for funding and visit the FREP Research & Project Database to see how these research projects are available, understandable and convenient for growers to implement.
Click here to view the California Farm to School Network November newsletter.
The California Farm to School Network includes farm to school practitioners and enthusiasts statewide. Click on the newsletter subscribe button to also receive these monthly updates that include information about grants, resources, research, webinars, events and news from the National Farm to School Network. The California Farm to School Program is part of the California Department of Food and Agriculture Office of Farm to Fork (CDFA-F2F) in the Division of Inspection Services.
(L-R) Bahar Nakhjavan, Jason Bland and Maryam Khosravifard
California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Center for Analytical Chemistry (CAC) Environmental Safety Laboratory scientists Bahar Nakhjavan, Jason Bland and Maryam Khosravifard had their article, “Optimization of a Multiresidue Analysis of 65 Pesticides in Surface Water Using Solid-Phase Extraction by LC-MS/MS,” published November 1 in the academic journal Molecules.
The article reviews an improved method developed in the CAC laboratories. Historically, CAC applied a liquid extraction technique to determine 59 pesticide compounds in surface water monitoring. This improved method utilizes a solid phase extraction technique that can determine an expanded 65 compounds. This new technique is faster, simpler, and needs less sample volume (100 ml vs. 1,000 ml) and solvent volume (35 ml vs. 1,000 ml) for extraction, making it more environmentally friendly.
An analytical method was developed and validated for simultaneous quantitation of 65 pesticides, including one single solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure in surface water by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectroscopy. Different parameters that have an influence on extraction efficiency were evaluated in this research. Different types of cartridges, elution solvents, and sorbent drying time were investigated, and the most appropriate one was selected. Moreover, various pretreatment techniques were applied to remove sediments from water without the loss of pesticides. Centrifugation was introduced as the best option at the beginning of sample preparation to resolve the clogging of the sorbent cartridges. The recoveries of all pesticides ranged from 70% to 120%, with a relative standard deviation of less than 13.7%. The feasibility of the method was evaluated on 10 surface water samples with different concentrations of sand, sediment, and particles.
Citation
Nakhjavan, B., Bland, J., Khosravifard, M., “Optimization of a Multiresidue Analysis of 65 Pesticides in Surface Water Using Solid-Phase Extraction by LC-MS/MS.” Molecules, 2021, 26 (21), 6627; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26216627.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Office of Farm to Fork (CDFA-F2F) announces it is currently accepting proposals for a 2022 California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP) expansion for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition programs. This CNIP expansion is possible because of a recently announced $20 million increase in CNIP funding as part of an additional $127 million state budget allocation for CDFA-F2F programs.
CDFA’s CNIP provides competitive grant funding to organizations to provide incentives to nutrition benefit shoppers, as well as support program operations and outreach. For this request, CDFA is seeking project proposals from qualified entities to distribute incentives at Certified Farmers’ Markets, Community Supported Agriculture and farm stands throughout California. Incentives should be available to shoppers using WIC and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program benefits to purchase California grown-fresh fruits and vegetables. Participants should be able to receive the incentive at the time of purchase. Projects that reach underserved populations will be prioritized. This is a competitive process.
Applications must be submitted by email to cafarmtofork@cdfa.ca.gov, no later than 5 p.m. (PST), December 13, 2021. Further information on the grant program, including the Request for Proposals, timeline and application criteria is available at: https://cafarmtofork.cdfa.ca.gov/cnip.html.
This is a blog for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Inspection Services Division (ISD). Read here for the latest news about how ISD is providing Californians professional services that support and contribute to a safe, abundant and quality food supply; environmentally sound agricultural practices; and an equitable marketplace for California agriculture.
