Retiring FREP Supervisor Mark Cady (left) shown working in the field and (right) accepting a retirement proclamation from Jenna Leal, Inspection Services Division Feed, Fertilizer and Livestock Drugs Regulatory Services branch chief.
After a career spanning 11 years with the California Department of Food and Agriculture Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) and over 25 years working at regulatory and non-profit organizations in sustainable agriculture and water quality issues, FREP Supervisor Mark Cady retired on May 31, 2025. The FREP team sat down with him on his last day to ask him about his career and hear his thoughts on how FREP evolved under his leadership.
When did you start at FREP and what are some of the most significant changes you’ve witnessed during your time working here?
In 2014, I got hired as a senior environmental scientist with Dr. Barzin Moradi as my supervisor, and we both started on the same day. From my understanding, it was a really big change in the program when we started. Since that time, the program has grown some in terms of personnel and activities. It has stayed the same in terms of the grant program and the conference, which have always been the meat and potatoes of FREP. However, in the last six or seven years, we have branched out into more direct support in the field through other programs like the Irrigation and Nitrogen Management Training Program for growers and the Nitrogen and Irrigation Initiative (NII). Additionally, when Dr. Moradi and I started at FREP, the program became more active in the community. We started going to more regulatory board meetings, met with other agencies, and got more involved in activities that we thought would move the goals of the program forward beyond just the grant program. FREP has broadened from encompassing grants, the annual conference, and other kinds of outreach to include more proactive support for growers, the fertilizer industry, and environmental outcomes.
What has been the best part of your job working with FREP?
Working with great coworkers. Amadou [Ba, who was the Feed, Fertilizer and Livestock Drugs Regulatory Services (FFLDRS) branch chief overseeing FREP from 2014-2024] always wanted this program in particular to hire well. And we have done that. It has been great to work with people who want to do the work, are competent, want to get things done, and do it cheerfully and cooperatively as a team. We have a good team, and it has been a pleasure to participate on and lead that team.
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced doing this work?
For me, trying to move in a more active direction has been challenging. As far as the nitrate in groundwater issue, we have been trying to stay ahead of regulations as they evolve, but they evolve at very unpredictable rates. Finding the right time to implement new programs is challenging because you want to stay ahead of the regulations and use or promote the best technology and practices, but you do not want to get too far ahead because then it is hard to realize their value. You do not want to get behind the eightball either because then you are just catching up and find yourself in panic mode trying to get the resources out as quickly as possible.
Can you share some of your favorite memories and experiences from working with FREP?
Working with others and having the opportunity to be in the field with different people, including the FREP team, but also Water Board staff, growers and Certified Crop Advisors (CCAs). Meeting people in the field is always the best part of a job because you can participate and learn from real people doing real work with real concerns. We have done some good field trips with the Irrigated Lands Roundtable and FFLDRS branch staff. Also meeting with coalition members over lunch in a Mexican restaurant in some agricultural town to understand what our various challenges are and how we can each address them so we can be synergistic in our work.
What advice would you give to someone starting in this role?
Continue to hire well, to bring people on the team who are competent, clearly able to collaborate, and have the technical background to understand what we are doing and where we are going. Continue to nurture the relationships across agencies and in the field with CCAs and growers whenever possible, because that is where you get really good information. You have to know what is happening on the ground and in the field in the various places [we have an impact] because on the ground for a grower is going to be different than on the ground for a water quality regulator. You need to know both to be able to say, well, where is the mismatch? How can I step in and where would our resources play a role? So those are two things, but it is all about relationships in the end. We assume we have a good technical understanding of fertilizer, plants, and soils. However, what is not necessarily in the job description is working well with people and working well with people in very different organizations and industries.
Leadership and staff within the CDFA Inspection Services Division wish to congratulate Mark on his well-deserved retirement and thank him for all his work! We will miss your camaraderie, sense of humor, guidance and vision, and wish you all the best in this next chapter.