Organic farmers will benefit from technical assistance from CDFA and UC ANR

California organic farmers will receive production and marketing assistance from CDFA and UC ANR.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture is awarding $1.85 million to California University of Agriculture and Natural Resources to increase technical assistance to organic farmers in California.

The CDFA State Organic Program is running $850,000 contracts with UC ANR through September 2024, while the CDFA Office of Environmental Agriculture and Innovation is awarding $1 million for the period of July 2022 to June 2025.

“California farmers supply 36% of all organic production in the United States,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “This funding extends technical assistance to growers transitioning to certified organic agriculture and supports our strong California community of organic farmers and consumers by conducting field trials and demonstration projects with farmers to improve practices. organic."

California organically farms just over 2 million acres, or about 8% of the state's total farm acreage, and will likely continue to expand over time as consumer demand continues to grow. increase, according to Houston Wilson, director of UC ANR's Institute of Organic Agriculture.

“The demand for organic farming has grown steadily every year for the past two decades,” Wilson said. "Organic currently accounts for 5.8% of national food sales."

“We are delighted to see CDFA increasing its support for organic agriculture as part of a broader climate-smart agriculture strategy,” Wilson said. "As the demand for organic produce continues to grow, California growers need increasingly focused technical assistance in all areas of organic production and marketing."

CDFA funds will enable UC ANR to hire two academic coordinators, who are currently being recruited.

"Academic coordinators will work directly with producers, as well as develop research and extension projects that will involve existing UC Cooperative Extension staff," Wilson said. "One of the coordinators will focus specifically on connecting our efforts with historically underserved small-scale producers through our partnership with the UC Small Farms program."

Organic practices can be used by both conventional and organic farms.

“Just as organic farmers benefit from research on pest control, irrigation and agricultural production at UC ANR, the new knowledge developed on organic practices by the UC Organic Agriculture Institute will be useful to all. California farmers,” said UC Vice President Glenda Humiston. for agriculture and natural resources.

Some of the main objectives of the UC ANR project include:

Conduct research on soil health management, carbon sequestration and crop rotation in organic systems Create new extension and training opportunities for organic growers throughout California Provide technical assistance to certified and transitioning organic producers Review and summarize organic acreage and practices in California Develop an economic analysis of organic production and markets

The 2022-23 state budget signed last week by Governor Gavin Newsom includes $5 million in funds for CDFA to help farmers transition to organic farming, and the USDA has recently announced an investment of up to $300 million for the same purpose.