Monthly Archives: January 2015

  By Edward Ortiz  The fate of the world’s food supply, the relationship of food to health, and the role of venture capital in farming were among a slate of issues tackled by noted national scientists and others during the official launch of the Innovation Institute for Food and Health at UC Davis on Wednesday. The center is a partnership …

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that 115 high-impact projects across all 50 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico will receive more than $370 million in federal funding as part of the new USDA Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP).  In addition, these projects will leverage an estimated $400 million more in partner contributions—for a total of nearly $800 million—to …

An old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The California Department of Food and Agriculture practices this principle through its Border Protection Stations. There are 16 of them along the state’s perimeter, staffed by state employees dedicated to protecting our food supply and environment from invasive species. Each year, the Border Stations intercept thousands …

Over the last several years I have been honored to receive invitations from the California Cut Flower Commission to spend time with them at the Tournament of Roses, and I was fortunate to be able to visit Pasadena again last week for the annual festivities. The Commission has developed partnerships with the Buy California Marketing Agreement (CA Grown), the floral …

  By Edward Ortiz It’s farm to fork to farm. That describes the loop that is near and dear to Sacramentan David Baker, co-founder of ReSoil Sacramento, a local effort to use bikes to pick up food scraps at area restaurants and deliver them to local farms and gardens. Baker and ReSoil program director Scott Thompson have designed it is …