California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary Karen Ross outlined her 2015 broad water, energy and food agenda at a UC Center Sacramento policy briefing earlier this week. The CDFA over the past four years has emerged as a leadership force in the Brown administration’s unique inter-agency collaborative management of sustainability. Of course, Secretary Ross was a sustainability pioneer as president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, working to create an ag resources best practices management program that became a national template.
She rolled out the 2015 model: “precision agriculture.” This means applying the right amount of what are called “inputs” by growers (water, fertilizer, pesticide) in the right place at the right time for maximum yield and minimal, if any, environmental impacts. She foresees accelerated adoption of agricultural technology by California agriculture to become more efficient and to meet the needs of a growing population for nutritious, safe and affordable food. (And The Gualco Group, Inc. agrees — we’ve co-founded the pro bono AgTech Roundtable to encourage this goal.) About 95% of California’s food industry customers are beyond the state’s borders, she said, so we have a global responsibility and vast opportunities.
State interagency cooperation will grow, too, as water and energy conservation measures are promulgated in 2015. “Gov. Brown has told us (Cabinet secretaries) to smash silos,” Ross said. Which is an effort she leads, as CDFA engages in groundwater, water bond, water-energy nexus, bio-energy, soil health and pesticide management issues. Reducing food waste is another program goal next year, she noted, saying, “We must connect food waste reduction to food access.”
CDFA is reenergized and refocused — jump on board.