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Category Archives: Specialty Crops

Secretary Ross joined by former CDFA and USDA secretary Ann Veneman for grand opening of Central Valley Ag innovation center

June 6, 2022   Office of Public Affairs

CDFA secretary Karen Ross and former CDFA and USDA secretary Ann Veneman recently participated in the grand opening of the Sun World International Center for Innovation in the Kern County community of Wasco. The center is developing fruit varietals with a commitment to improve productivity and resiliency while using fewer inputs and providing consumers with outstanding flavor and optimal nutrition.

Posted in AG Vision, Growing California, Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

USDA announcement for Commodity Container Assistance Program includes Port of Oakland

May 25, 2022   Office of Public Affairs

From a USDA news release USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will begin accepting applications for the Commodity Container Assistance Program (CCAP), which currently includes a partnership with the Port of Oakland and the Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA), which is a marine cargo operating partnership between the Port of Seattle and the Port of …

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Posted in Agricultural Marketing, Specialty Crops, Trade, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

CDFA helps ensure that California cherries meet industry standards and consumer expectations

May 24, 2022   Office of Public Affairs

Did you know that CDFA’s Shipping Point Inspection Program conducts cherry inspections at packing houses to help ensure that California cherries meet state and national standards? Packing houses are hard at work this month to get freshly-picked California cherries to consumers worldwide. Packing house inspectors must go through 40 initial hours of training–and eight additional hours annually–to receive a USDA …

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Posted in Agricultural Marketing, Growing California, Specialty Crops, Trade, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Secretary Ross tours San Francisco wholesale produce market

May 20, 2022   Office of Public Affairs

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross, CDFA Inspection Services Director Natalie Krout-Greenberg, and California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) visited San Francisco’s SF Market early this morning (May 20) to learn how the Market–a wholesale produce market–provides food and relationships that help businesses, Bay Area communities, and hundreds of farmers thrive. The SF Market is home to 26 merchants moving millions …

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Posted in Community-based Food System, Food Access, Specialty Crops, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Video: California Strawberry Farmer Uriel Hernandez

May 19, 2021   Office of Public Affairs

Our California Strawberry Commission is doing some beautiful work introducing some of its farmers through videos, like this one on Uriel Hernandez and his journey coming from a hard-working family of 11 kids, his experience with FFA, and earning an agricultural economics degree on his way to becoming his own boss.

Posted in Agricultural Education, Specialty Crops | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Road Trip! “Scrumptious California Tour” shows foodies the salad bowl of the world

April 11, 2018   Office of Public Affairs

Get your foodie passport ready to tour scrumptious California veggie country! With over 970 thousand acres of harvested vegetables, melons, and strawberries, the just released USDA NASS Vegetables 2017 Summary places California at a whopping $7.85 billion in vegetable production – over half of the U.S. total of $13.8 billion. Where are all of these amazing crops grown? Let’s take a trip …

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Posted in Agricultural Education, Agricultural Marketing, Specialty Crops | Leave a comment

California-grown coffee generating a buzz – from NPR

February 26, 2018   Office of Public Affairs

By Jodi Helmer In most coffee shops, you can choose a cup of joe brewed with beans from countries like Ethiopia, Colombia, Costa Rica and Yemen. Now, a new crop of coffee growers is working to get coffee brewed from California-grown beans included on those menus. When Mark Gaskell moved to California after working in coffee-growing regions in Central America, …

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Posted in Agricultural Marketing, Specialty Crops | 1 Comment

Climate Smart Agriculture – Chile trip concludes

December 5, 2017   Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture

We ended our Climate Smart Agriculture delegation visit last week by visiting the La Serena region of Chile. This region, North of Santiago, is a cool season agricultural region very similar to Ventura and Salinas, California. This region received little rain during the drought and there is an overall downward trend in how much water the region has been receiving over time. …

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Posted in Climate Change, Climate Smart Agriculture, Specialty Crops | Leave a comment

California and Australia – a continuing partnership

March 30, 2017   Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture

Our visit to Australia was another step in furthering California’s commitment on climate smart agriculture. The trip not only allowed us the opportunity to meet with government officials and academia, but also to see on-farm adaptations related to water management in citrus, nut and grape production.  Australia is a perfect climate analog for California. The landscape, temperature and farming operations …

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Posted in Climate Smart Agriculture, Healthy soils, Specialty Crops | 1 Comment

Climate Smart Agriculture Online Webinar: Netherlands & California Discuss Saline Agriculture

August 17, 2016   Office of Public Affairs

Last month CDFA hosted a climate smart agriculture webinar in partnership with the Netherlands and the University of California’s World Food Center addressing salinity in specialty crops within California’s Central Valley and along coastal areas. The webinar is now available online with included presentations. Saline agriculture, the ability to produce crops with brackish water and in high salinity soils could …

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Posted in Climate Change, Drought, Specialty Crops | 1 Comment