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Category Archives: Food Access

Ag Day – A Celebration of the Future

March 21, 2012   Karen Ross, California Agriculture Secretary, and Linda

I am blessed to be in my 15th month as California’s secretary of agriculture. In my travels around the state, I have gained a new appreciation for the miracles that farmers and ranchers create every day, against considerable odds. As we look to the future and its anticipated demand that world food production double over the next 40 years, we …

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Posted in AG Vision, Agricultural Education, Community-based Food System, Food Access, Specialty Crops, Trade, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Connecting Consumers to Farmers and Farmers to Resources – the New Food Compass

March 9, 2012   Karen Ross, California Agriculture Secretary, and Linda

From my experience at the USDA, I know the great wealth of data the agency has at its fingertips. With the release of the new Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food website tool – the food compass – resources and information about our local food systems become readily available. Did you know California has more than 435 farmers markets and …

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Posted in AG Vision, Agricultural Education, Community-based Food System, Environment, Food Access, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Communicating to the Consumer in a Changing Marketplace

February 17, 2012   Bill Bishop, Brick Meets Click

 Turmoil in the retail marketplace and new technology are opening opportunities for California food and agriculture.  The turmoil shows in the increasingly competitive retail and food service marketplace, which is changing the way, where and how people buy food.  The technology impact is clear in the consumer’s growing use of the internet. As retailers and food service operators strive to …

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Posted in Agricultural Marketing, Food Access | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Secretary Ross Opinion Piece Praises Work of Food and Ag Board President Craig McNamara to Train New Farmers – McNamara Receives Irvine Foundation Leadership Award

February 12, 2012   Office of Public Affairs

California State Board of Food and Agriculture President Craig McNamara has been named as a recipient of the 2012 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. More information about the award program may be found here. To recognize McNamara’s leadership in programs training new farmers, CDFA Secretary Karen Ross authored an opinion piece in the Sacramento Bee: Viewpoints: How California can nurture …

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Posted in AG Vision, Agricultural Education, Community-based Food System, Food Access, State Board of Food and Agriculture, Succession Planning, Trade, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Robust testing for BSE (Mad Cow Disease) in California and U.S.

February 10, 2012   Dr. Annette Jones, California State Veterinarian

There was some confusion this week about bovine spongeform encephalopathy (BSE), or, as it’s commonly known, mad cow disease. Humans who are exposed to it by eating infected animal tissues–the only way it can be contracted–develop a disease called Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (VCJD), which is frequently confused with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), a neurological illness that is not associated with VCJD. California …

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Posted in Food Access, Food Safety, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Future is bullish for Ag graduates

January 26, 2012   Karen Ross, California Agriculture Secretary, and Linda

My email in-box lit up last week after Yahoo! published a story claiming that college degrees in agriculture are useless.  It certainly is a counterintuitive statement. Across our country, farming is hotter than ever. Agricultural exports broke records in 2011, and demand for local production of food made available through farmers’ markets and other venues is an exciting trend that I firmly believe is …

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Posted in AG Vision, Agricultural Education, Community-based Food System, Food Access, Trade, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Ag Alert – Agriculture must engage in conversations about change

January 26, 2012   Office of Public Affairs

http://www.agalert.com/story/?id=3761 By Tom Nassif and Paul Wenger Increasingly, people want a say in how we produce and distribute food in the United States. We’ve long heard from environmental and animal rights groups. Now, the voices of celebrity chefs, authors and filmmakers are becoming much more prominent. Even hospitals, public health and medical groups are weighing in to encourage changes in the …

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Posted in AG Vision, Agricultural Education, Community-based Food System, Farmers' Markets, Food Access, Food Safety, Trade, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

USDA Blog – First Lady Michelle Obama introduces new nutrition standards for school lunches

January 25, 2012   Office of Public Affairs

http://blogs.usda.gov/2012/01/25/healthy-meals-and-healthy-kids/ Healthy Meals and Healthy Kids Posted by Rebecca [USDA Moderator], on January 25, 2012 at 11:38 AM Today we celebrate an historic achievement on behalf of kids across America. We have accomplished a critical step on the road to deliver healthier, more nutritious food to our nation’s schoolchildren.  Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the final rule that …

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Posted in AG Vision, Agricultural Education, Food Access, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

California State Board of Food and Agriculture President Craig Mc Namara on KQED Radio – The changing face of farming

January 18, 2012   Office of Public Affairs

http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201201131000 California State Board of Food and Agriculture President Craig Mc Namara was among the guests recently on KQED’s “Forum” program.  The discussion centered on the fact that the average farmer in California is nearly 60 years old – and nearly 20 percent are older than 70.  An influx of new farmers is a necessity.

Posted in AG Vision, Agricultural Education, Community-based Food System, Food Access, State Board of Food and Agriculture, Trade, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Sacramento to host inaugural bacon fest

January 17, 2012   Office of Public Affairs

http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/62222/Sacramento_hosts_inaugural_Bacon_Fest Local musician Brian Guido and Nick Miller, Managing Editor for Sacramento News & Review, have joined forces with five local restaurants to put together the first Sacramento Bacon Fest, held from Jan. 20 – 22. Guido said he got inspiration from reading about similar events in Des Moines and Chicago and decided that Sacramento needed something where local chefs …

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Posted in Agricultural Education, Food Access, Uncategorized | Leave a comment