The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) announces three vacancies on the Feed Inspection Advisory Board (FIAB). This board makes regulatory and enforcement recommendations to CDFA to help ensure that commercial feed inspections contribute to a clean and wholesome supply of milk, meat and eggs.
The FIAB vacancies are for three commercial feed industry representatives. Board member applicants must hold a current California Commercial Feed License. The term of office for board members is up to three years. Board members do not receive compensation, but they are entitled to necessary travel expenses.
Individuals interested in a board appointment must submit a resume and a completed Prospective Member Appointment Questionnaire (PMAQ). The PMAQ is available on the CDFA website at: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/ffldrs/pdfs/PMAQ_Feed_IAB.pdf. Both the resume and PMAQ are due by February 7, 2025.
Send resume and PMAQ via email to Brittnie.Williams@cdfa.ca.gov or by mail to: CDFA Feed, Fertilizer and Livestock Drugs Regulatory Service Branch Attn: Brittnie Williams 1220 N Street Sacramento, CA 95814
Events at Navel Orange Maturity Field Day in Kern County included (top left) a titration demonstration to determine if navels meet the California standard, (top right) a display with examples of oranges meeting and failing the color requirement, and (bottom photos) county inspectors performing courtesy color checks.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) California Citrus Program partnered with Kern County recently to host a Navel Orange Maturity Field Day at the Kern County Agricultural Commissioner’s office.
The educational event was proposed by CDFA’s California Citrus Advisory Committee after last season’s weather-related maturity challenges. It showcased navel orange minimum maturity standards with a focus on “orange color (A)” requirement and the California Standard Scale, an indicator of taste that measures the balance between brix (sugar content/sweetness) and acidity.
Many segments of the citrus industry attended the event, including citrus growers and handlers, labor contractors, industry associations and juice processors. Over 20 citrus packinghouses located throughout the state were represented.
The event kicked off with remarks from the industry and CDFA’s county partners. An overview of maturity requirements was presented and attendees took part in interactive exhibits previewing “orange color (A)” displays with examples of oranges meeting and failing the color requirement. Titration demonstrations highlighted the process used to measure the sugar-to-acid ratio that determines if a navel orange lot meets the California Standard maturity requirement. Kern County inspection staff offered courtesy color checks for industry members who brought navel orange samples. Courtesy color checks are performed early in the season at industry request to assist with the determining fruit readiness relative to the color requirement.
“Overall, the field day was a success,” CDFA California Citrus Program Supervisor Karrie Batchelor said. “It was a great opportunity for state and county staff to interact with citrus industry members in an informal setting to gain a better understanding of the navel maturity requirements and work through concerns that surfaced during last year’s harvest season. Many thanks to our collaborating partners at California Citrus Mutual for advertising the event and to Kern County staff for hosting and supporting the fruitful affair.”
NAME: Brittnie Williams TIME AT CDFA: 9 years BRANCH: Feed, Fertilizer and Livestock Drugs Regulatory Services POSITION TITLE: Branch Analyst
USUAL DAILY ACTIVITIES ON THE JOB?I am responsible for personnel appointments and ensuring a smooth and timely new hire onboarding. I serve as primary contact for the feed and fertilizer inspection advisory boards where I plan/organize meetings, ensure board materials are formatted in compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards, and monitor/track board appointments and term expirations and required filings/trainings. I prepare procurement activity for the branch’s fleet and assist with fleet-related matters. I help coordinate draft regulations pertaining to branch programs by preparing and submitting rulemaking packages to the Office of Administrative Law and prepare out-of-state travel for field inspection staff for Travel and Governor’s Office approval, among other program administrative duties.
HOW DO YOU WORK FOR THE CALIFORNIA FOOD SUPPLY?I support, coordinate and facilitate activities necessary to carry out the sensitive nature of each of the branch’s programs that assure the safety of fertilizer, feed and food products for people and the environment by regulating sales, labeling and distribution of fertilizing materials, livestock feed and livestock drug products.
THOUGHTS OF WORKING AT INSPECTION SERVICES?I enjoy my time working for Inspection Services because of the diverse tasks that come with my role. Whether it involves personnel, advisory boards, regulations, fleet or travel, I continuously learn and develop new skills while performing my day-to-day work. I am proud to be part of a team that has great leadership and support and provides opportunities for growth and a positive work environment.
MEMORABLE MOMENT ON THE JOB?Planning and preparing my first advisory board meeting and observing conversations where the board advises and makes recommendations concerning topics such as assessment fees, enforcement and legal services, the program’s annual budgets, and the adoption of new or amended laws and regulations.
PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE?Self-care comes first. Before you can take care of your family and friends, you need to take care of yourself.
SOMETHING UNIQUE ABOUT YOU?My favorite hobby is interior decorating. I also enjoy dance and yoga in my free time.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Inspection Services Division announces the release of its Strategic Direction.
“As we continue our public service, Inspection Services sets this Strategic Direction as our guiding document,” Division Director Natalie Krout-Greenberg states in the publication. “For ourselves and our stakeholders, this document lays out our intention.”
Strategic Direction goals include:
Workforce Development
Support individual professional development and personal wellbeing
Invigorate employee onboarding
Communication
Agricultural systems literacy
Innovation
Leverage technology to discover new ways of doing business
Click here to view the Inspection Services Strategic Direction.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Division of Inspection Services announces the release of its 2024 Annual Report.
“We’re big believers in collaboration, including with other CDFA programs, sister state agencies and agricultural stakeholders,” Inspection Services Director Natalie Krout-Greenberg states in the report’s overview. “Collaboration is cornerstone to progress and overall success.”
Highlights include:
Fiscal year 2023-24 division expenditures
Figures from each branch/office highlighting inspections, laboratory analyses and grant funding
CDFA and the Monterey County Farm Bureau are announcing the joint release of the report “California Agricultural Neighbors: Building a Proactive Food Safety Culture.”
California Agricultural Neighbors (CAN) was formed in January 2021 to bring together members of the Salinas Valley agriculture community to review what could be done to help reduce outbreaks of pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 associated with leafy greens.
CAN initially facilitated discussions to enhance food safety practices between neighboring farms when various agricultural operations are adjacent to one another. An Action Report released in 2022 touched on neighbor-to-neighbor best practices.
Four work groups then focused on those practices to develop the new report, which offers next steps to continue to build a proactive food safety culture:
Communication to broaden engagement that is supportive of a proactive food safety culture
Expanded research partnerships and leveraging data science to fill information gaps essential for more effective action
Engagement of additional partners and collaborators, including the California Longitudinal Study, a joint effort between CDFA and the FDA, to accelerate translation of new information to action.
Investing in the future expertise and capacity to enhance transfer of knowledge from research into applied practice
Click here to view “California Agricultural Neighbors: Building a Proactive Food Safety Culture.”
Click here to view a flyer about the report and its Next Steps.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture Office of Farm to Fork (CDFA-F2F) announces it is seeking public comments for its draft request for applications (RFA) for the new Farm to Community Food Hubs Grant Program. The draft RFA and associated grant documents are available at https://cafarmtofork.cdfa.ca.gov/F2CFHP.html. Public comments are due by 11:59 p.m. PST, Friday, December 6, 2024.
The Farm to Community Food Hubs Grant Program will award up to $14.4 million in competitive grants for organizations developing and expanding community food hubs in California. Grants will fund planning activities, food aggregation, distribution infrastructure and operational costs needed to develop or expand capacity for community food hubs to increase the purchasing of local, environmentally sustainable, climate-smart and equitably produced foods by schools and other institutions. These investments aim to build a better food system economy, support the local farming and indigenous food production economies, accelerate climate adaptation and resilience, and employ food system workers with fair wages and working conditions. Ten percent of the available funding will be set aside for projects led by California Native American Tribes and Tribal-serving nonprofit organizations.
Public comments about the Farm to Community Food Hubs Grant Program draft RFA may be submitted via letters to cafoodhubs@cdfa.ca.gov, via an online survey at https://forms.office.com/g/Ve6ShuvP5B or by attending a virtual public feedback session. CDFA will be hosting the following virtual sessions to share more about the grant program and hear feedback:
CDFA will consider all public comments about the draft RFA before finalizing the grant program and opening the application period, tentatively scheduled for winter 2025. The Farm to Community Food Hubs Program is a new initiative that builds on CDFA’s investments in food hubs through its Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, Healthy Refrigeration Grant Program and California Specialty Crop Grant Program. Learn more at https://cafarmtofork.cdfa.ca.gov/F2CFHP.html.
Click here to view this original CDFA news release.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture Office of Farm to Fork (CDFA-F2F) announces proposals are now being accepted for the 2025 California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP) Expansion – Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (WIC FMNP) and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP).
CNIP provides monetary incentives to double the amount nutrition benefit clients have to spend on healthy, California-grown fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts. This request for proposals (RFP) is specific for CNIP funds to match nutrition benefits in the WIC, WIC FMNP and/or SFMNP programs at Certified Farmers’ Markets throughout California, and/or to provide support for SFMNP and WIC/WIC FMNP benefits and nutrition incentives distributed using the new electronic Farmers’ Market Card.
Projects that reach low-access areas and low-income populations, particularly communities where a large proportion of the population is eligible for nutrition benefits (such as CalFresh, WIC, WIC FMNP, and SFMNP) and experiences high rates of diet-related diseases, will be prioritized. This is a competitive process.
Visit the CNIP webpage to view the RFP for this 2025 CNIP Expansion for WIC and WIC/Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs. The RFP includes further information on the grant program, its implementation timeline and application criteria. Applications must be submitted by email to cafarmtofork@cdfa.ca.gov no later than 5 p.m. PT, December 16, 2024.
Click here to view this original CDFA news release.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) announces pre-proposals are now being accepted for the 2025 FREP Grant Program cycle.
FREP’s competitive grant program funds proposals that advance fertilization and irrigation practices and minimize environmental impacts of fertilizing materials. The 2025 request for pre-proposals (RFP) includes several initiatives put forth by the department to help effectively manage irrigation water and fertilizing materials in California agriculture.
This year’s priorities include: outreach, education and demonstration projects focused on increasing the adoption of efficient crop nutrient and irrigation management practices and technologies; evaluating challenges and barriers to adoption of management practices; the role of organic input materials in soil nutrient management; demonstrating and/or validating management practices that optimize nutrient and/or irrigation water use; filling knowledge gaps for nutrient and irrigation management in specific crops; understanding nutrient movement from the root zone; and mitigation strategies to reduce nutrient losses.
California’s agricultural communities are diverse, and many have historically lacked access to resources and information needed to successfully run their businesses. Thus, CDFA encourages projects that include demonstrable benefits for socially disadvantaged farmers and farmworkers. Socially disadvantaged groups include those whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic, or gender discrimination.
Applicants are invited to submit pre-proposals to FREP by Monday, December 16, 2024. Pre-proposals submitted should be aligned with at least one of the identified priority research areas and use the provided pre-proposal template. Further information on the 2025 FREP Grant Program RFP, including timelines, priority research areas and templates are available on the grant program web page at www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/ffldrs/frep/CompetitiveGrantProgram.html.
All pre-proposals will be reviewed by the Fertilizer Inspection Advisory Board’s Technical Advisory Subcommittee (TASC). Applicants whose pre-proposals are selected by TASC will be invited to develop full proposals.
Since 1990, the FREP Grant Program has funded more than 270 projects, investing over $31 million in research, outreach and education projects focusing on irrigation and nutrient management practices in California. A database of completed and ongoing research is available on the FREP Research web page at www.cdfa.ca.gov/go/FREPresearch. For more information, please send email inquiries to FREP@cdfa.ca.gov.
Click here to view this original CDFA news release.
October is National Farm to School Month. CDFA encourages educators, school food service employees, farmers and farm to school enthusiasts across California to join in the celebration. Visit https://www.farmtoschool.org/ for more information.
(Top) CDFA Farm to School Network San Joaquin Regional Lead Jane Alvarado Banister (red dress) joins Sanger Unified officials at the Fairmont Ag Complex ribbon cutting. (Bottom) CDFA Farm to School Central Regional Producer Engagement Specialist Michael Ackley-Grady (third from right) joins Fresno Unified School District staff on a tour of local farms for possible inclusion of their culturally diverse foods into school meals.
Did you know CDFA’s Farm to School Program has regional staff throughout California available to foster farm to school participation and connect producers with local school districts?
Farm to School Network Regional Leads are working to facilitate relationships with partners across the school food ecosystem and more. For example, Farm to School Network San Joaquin Regional Lead Jane Alvarado Banister recently worked with Sanger Unified School District to connect their educational initiatives with the school meal program. In the accompanying photo, Jane joins Sanger Unified officials at the ribbon cutting for the Fairmont Ag Complex, an agricultural education hub for the region.
Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialists are working to provide value chain coordination for producers looking to sell foods to school districts with a focus on small and midsize farms and ranches. For example, Farm to School Central Regional Producer Engagement Specialist Michael Ackley-Grady recently helped the Asian Business Institute and Resource Center (ABIRC) connect Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) with local, ethnically diverse farmers so that the school may incorporate new crops into school meals that are culturally appropriate for many of the students. In the accompanying photo, Michael joins FUSD officials and others on an ABIRC-led tour and taste-test of ethnically diverse micro farms.
There are eight California Farm to School Regions. Reach out to contact the regional staff in your area!
North Coast Region Pamela Lee, Farm to School Network Regional Lead, Pamela.Lee Meerae Park, Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialist, Meerae.Park@cdfa.ca.gov
Greater Los Angeles Region Sophia Riemer Bopp, Farm to School Network Regional Lead, Sophia.Bopp@cdfa.ca.gov Tracey Kimura, Farm to School Regional Producer Engagement Specialist, Tracey.Kimura@cdfa.ca.gov
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.
