Agriculture

CalCAN Endorses Newly Introduced Federal Climate & Agriculture Bill Posted on Wednesday, February 26th, 2020 by Renata Brillinger Agriculture Resilience Act Offers California Farmers Climate Change Solutions Today, Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1) introduced the Agriculture Resilience Act (H.R. 5861), which addresses the role of agriculture in combating climate change with a comprehensive suite of practical, science-based, farmer-driven policy solutions. CalCAN endorses this bill and commends Rep. Pingree’s leadership. “Agriculture has so much to offer—and much at stake—when it comes to turning our farms into carbon sinks and making our food system more secure,” said Jeanne Merrill, CalCAN Policy Director.  “The Agriculture Resilience Act will provide the resources needed to turn agricultural solutions to climate change into wins for farmers, our health and the environment.” Importantly, the Agriculture Resilience Act sets out a national goal for agriculture sector of ...

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) opened the application period for its Healthy Soils Program (HSP) today. A record $25 million is available – up from $14 million last year. It’s a good time to apply to the Healthy Soils Program. CDFA has made a number of exciting improvements to the program in response to stakeholder feedback. Here’s what you need to know: 25+ Eligible Healthy Soils Practices: The Healthy Soils Program provides incentives grants of up to $100,000 (new!) to farmers to implement practices that improve soil health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and sequester carbon. Over 25 practices are eligible in the program, including compost application, cover cropping, prescribed grazing, mulch, reduced-tillage, hedgerows, riparian plantings, and a number of other conservation plantings. New this year: 4-Month Rolling Application Period with a First-Come, First-Serve Award Process for Incentives Grants (new!): CDFA is introducing a rolling application...

The California Assembly voted 78-0 recently to pass AB 1071, a climate and agriculture resilience bill by Assemblymember Monique Limón and sponsored by CalCAN. The Ag Climate Adaptation Tools bill responds to the immediate and long-term climate change risks farmers are facing by establishing a competitive grant program to achieve three objectives: 1. strong for California farmers, similar to the AgroClimate Toolkit and Adaptation Workbook that have been developed for other regions in the US. Such decision-support tools are intended to incorporate the best available climate science into farm management planning to help inform farmer decision-making about a number of climate related issues affecting their operations, including crop/cultivar selection for a changing climate and how to improve resilience to more frequent and intense droughts, floods, and heat waves. 2. Pilot the decision-support tools in three agricultural regions of the state – the Central Valley, Central Coast, and Des...

Applications Due March 27th The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) recently announced a new round of available funding for the Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP).  Between $6.1 million and $10.7 million will be available for grants to dairy and livestock producers interested in projects that reduce methane emissions on their operations by shifting away from wet manure handling and storage to dry manure management, including pasture-based practices. In our recent analysis of AMMP projects, about two-thirds of awardees turn their manure into compost. For a complete list of eligible practices, see the recent Request for Grant Applications. CDFA is also making available $450,000 for AMMP Demonstration Projects to support outreach and education efforts to highlight the multiple benefits of AMMP projects for producers. Eligible applicants include California universities, UCCE, RCDs and nonprofits with agriculture outreach expertise, working in collaboration with...

We often associate gratitude as closely with Thanksgiving Day as we do turkey and cranberries, reflecting on where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are going. Looking back, I can see that it has been a big year for CalCAN’s efforts to advance agriculture’s climate solutions. We marked our 10th birthday and hosted our 6th California Climate & Agriculture Summit that was attended by 400 people. We celebrated a big increase in the budget of the Healthy Soils Program, almost doubling over last year, as well as the launch of a game-changing technical assistance program to support farmers in three of the state’s Climate Smart Agriculture programs. Our influence in the state climate and agriculture policy arena continues to grow thanks to dedication of our staff and amazing network of coalition members, farmers and ranchers, advocates, community groups and scientists. We also had a big year in the media, with almost 30 stories and radio interviews featuring CalCAN staff, advisors,...

Last week the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and partner agencies hosted events for legislators and staff to learn more about the groundbreaking work farmers and ranchers are doing throughout the state to prevent soil erosion. The events took place as part of the December 5th World Soil Day celebration and awareness campaign by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Last Thursday, in honor of World Soil Day, CalCAN, the California Compost Coalition, and Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) organized a tour for legislative staff to discover the benefits of soil health practices by visiting a compost facility, a ranch and a farm. The first stop on the tour was the Recology Compost facility, Jepson Prairie Organics. Jepson Prairie is one of the largest food scrap composting facilities in the nation, taking in organics material from the surrounding communities in Solano County. Recology hauls food waste from restaurants, hotels, market...

This week, $56.9 million dollars were awarded to protect nearly 21,000 acres of farmland and rangeland by the Department of Conservation (DOC) in its fifth round of Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALCP) grants. The program provides grants for organizations and local governments to either purchase agricultural conservation easements or to develop plans to protect agricultural land. By permanently protecting croplands and rangelands at risk of urban development and rural ranchettes, the program avoids the higher levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with more energy-intensive land use. $55.5 million dollars was awarded for 31 easement grants going to 15 land and agriculture trusts and conservancies and one city government that aggregate the funding and handle the legal issues on behalf of the participating farmers and ranchers. The projects are concentrated in the Central Valley  and span 19 counties from Santa Barbara to Plumas. The DOC estimates tha...

The Union of Concerned Scientists recently released a report entitled “Farmworkers at Risk: the Growing Dangers of Pesticides and Heat” detailing how climate change elevates certain health risks for farmworkers. It focuses on the country’s three states that produce the most labor-intensive crops—California, Washington and Florida—and describes how climate change is causing intensified risks to the workers on whom we depend to produce our fruits, nuts and vegetables. “While pesticide exposure and heat stress conditions each already represent a threat to farmworkers’ health, climate change promises to compound these threats.” It is widely understood that climate change is causing more frequent high-temperature days, leading to greater risk of heat stress and heat-related injuries in workers. It is also documented that climate change leads to increased pesticide use due to insect pest, weed and pathogen ranges shifting and expanding, and increased pesticide volatilization (the process o...