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
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Produce Safety Program (PSP) is hosting a series of workshops in November and December to train California produce farmers and growers how to use the PSP Portal. Five in-person workshops will be held across the state between Nov. 18 and Dec. 17, and a virtual workshop will be held on Nov. 19.
Workshops will include a presentation that provides an overview of the CDFA Produce Safety Program, PSP Portal and live training tutorials on how to navigate the portal. All in-person workshops will have the first hour reserved for the training presentation and the remaining time dedicated for attendees that wish to receive one-on-one technical support with the PSP Portal. The virtual webinar will have the first hour reserved for the training presentation followed by a Q&A session.
The PSP Portal allows California produce farmers and growers to view their own farm information and access inspection reports related to on-farm compliance with the federal Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule. It also provides a convenient way for California growers to connect with PSP staff.
Click here to view a Produce Safety Rules! Blog post with more information.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) Grant Program annually funds research projects related to the environmentally safe and agronomically sound use and handling of fertilizing materials in California.
Pima Cotton Nitrogen Management, Uptake, Removal – Impacts of Varieties, Subsurface Drip and Furrow Irrigation
Project Location: Kern, Kings, Fresno, and Merced county-sites
Overview: This FREP-funded project evaluated the impacts of nitrogen (N) application rates, varieties, and irrigation methods (subsurface drip versus furrow) on total plant N uptake and harvest removal for Pima cotton and a widely planted Upland variety in the Central Valley. In addition, to better understand Pima N requirements, this project determined total aboveground plant N uptake at early open-boll timing, and N removal with harvest in three grower fields.
Highlights:
Both Pima and Upland cultivars had similar yield responses to fertilizer N rates under furrow and subsurface drip irrigation
The most N-deficient treatments resulted in lower yields and had significantly lower seed N concentrations and removal
There were no significant, consistent differences in seed N concentrations between Upland versus Pima varieties
Yields peaked for both Pima and Upland cultivars at N application rates based on 75% and 100% of the N requirement, while fertilizing at 125% of the estimated N requirement tended to reduce yield.
No trends toward impacts of N treatments and irrigation methods on important fiber quality parameters were observed (data not presented in this blog post)
Click here to read more about this project in a FREP Research Update blog.
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.
