Porse has built an outstanding career in water as a research engineer with the Office of Water Programs at California State University, Sacramento and an assistant adjunct professor with UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. His research focuses on urban and water resources management. He specializes in bringing together interdisciplinary teams to investigate complex environmental management questions.
Porse earned a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering (water resources) from UC Davis and a master’s degree in public policy (science and technology) from George Mason University. His professional experience includes international work and teaching in Mexico, Europe, Japan and East Africa. He has authored over 50 reports and peer-reviewed articles.
“UC ANR is fortunate to have a director with broad professional experience in science and policy at the United Nations, the U.S. government, private sector firms and research laboratories,” said Deanne Meyer, UC ANR interim associate vice president for programs and strategic initiatives. “Erik’s recent research has collaborated with scientists and projects addressing priority areas in the California Water Resilience Portfolio, including safe drinking water, efficient urban water use, sustainable groundwater management, water reuse, beneficial uses of stormwater, and environmental finance.”
The CIWR is the California hub of the national network of water research institutes supported by the federal Water Resources Research Act of 1964 and provides and communicates solutions to complex water issues and will serve a critical role to support applied water research that tackles large problems with systems approaches, including groundwater recharge, water rights, irrigation management, water finance, and drinking water access. The CIWR works with scientists throughout California as well as through the national network to bring defensible solutions and alternatives to California’s water management community.
“Water is a necessity for life and management of water is essential for California’s economy and prosperity,” Meyer said. “Porse’s leadership with multidisciplinary research teams, water policy research, and integrated systems modeling will serve the CIWR and ANR for years to come.”
Porse succeeds Doug Parker, who retired in 2022 after 11 years as CIWR director. — By Pamela Kan-Rice, UCANR
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources brings the power of UC to all 58 California counties.Through research and Cooperative Extension in agriculture, natural resources, nutrition,economic and youth development, our mission is to improve the lives of all Californians. Learn more at ucanr.eduand support our work at donate.ucanr.edu.
The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is streamlining its Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) to ultimately better help agricultural producers and private landowners conserve wetlands, productive farmlands and at-risk grasslands. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is rolling out several improvements to this important program, which has more than 5 million acres of land enrolled, in response to feedback from producers, landowners and conservation partners.
Specifically, NRCS is updating its processes around appraisals, land surveys, as well as certifying eligible entities who help NRCS and producers enroll land into easements. These changes are for ACEP Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) as well as Wetland Reserve Easements (WRE).
“NRCS’ changes to the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program will help us more efficiently and effectively work with producers and partners to protect lands in conservation easements,” said NRCS Chief Terry Cosby. “We want our program to be more responsive to our customer needs so that ACEP continues to be a valuable and effective conservation tool that provides long-term protection of our nation’s farmland and wetland resources.”
NRCS is streamlining ACEP appraisals, land surveys, as well as certifying eligible entities who help NRCS and producers enroll land into easements.
Key program changes include:
Appraisals for ALE: The threshold for national review of ALE appraisals is now $3 million, raised from $1 million. NRCS raised the threshold to align program requirements with increased land values, enabling the agency to better target staff resources and speed up implementation. Appraisals help ensure cost-effective and appropriate use of federal funds that are contributed to a conservation partner for their purchase of the ALE from the farmer or rancher.
Land Surveys for WRE: NRCS plans to encourage procurement of land surveys earlier in the acquisition timeline, such as when an application has been tentatively selected for a WRE. These surveys help with locating land boundaries, which is needed to purchase and manage the easement. NRCS is also increasing its use of partnerships to assist with acquiring the land surveys and has simplified the review process for producer-acquired land surveys. This will speed up the time it takes producers and landowners to enroll.
Certification of Entities for ALE: For ALE, NRCS works with eligible entities, such as American Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations, to conserve prime farmland and at-risk grasslands. NRCS is working to expand the number of entities by launching a certification initiative to proactively notify potentially eligible entities that they qualify for administrative flexibilities. Certified entities have greater independence and less oversight in their purchase of easements funded under ALE. Information for entities on how to get certified is available on the ALE webpage.
These improvements are the first step in an ongoing effort to streamline ACEP as well as other NRCS conservation programs to ensure that they are easier and more convenient to utilize, and it will strengthen implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which included $1.4 billion in additional funding for ACEP over five years.
More Information
In total, the IRA provides $19.5 billion over five years to support USDA’s oversubscribed conservation programs like ACEP. The IRA, part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, represents the single largest investment in climate and clean energy solutions in American history.
ACEP is administered by NRCS and aids landowners and eligible entities with conserving, restoring, and protecting wetlands, productive agricultural lands, and grasslands at risk to conversion to non-grassland uses. Healthy wetlands, grasslands and farmlands sequester carbon and provide many other natural resource benefits.
NRCS accepts producer applications for its conservation programs – including ACEP – year-round. Producers interested in easements should contact their local Service Center or view their state application ranking dates.
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has released the draft mill assessment recommendations, which are part of an independently conducted study to identify the structure and funding necessary for the department to continue to effectively carry out its pesticide regulatory program and support the state’s accelerated transition to sustainable pest management. The study’s author, Crowe LLC, will collect public feedback on the draft study through May 30 to inform its final recommendations.
DPR’s mill assessment is paid by a pesticide retailer or manufacturer when a pesticide is first sold into California and provides approximately 80% of the department’s current funding. The mill assessment was last increased in 2004.
The mill assessment study was commissioned by DPR in 2021 with funding from the Legislature to identify long-term resource needs and mechanisms to address the department’s funding imbalance and meet its increasing programmatic responsibilities. Over the last decade, the department has expanded its programs and outreach to address the evolving risks and impacts of pesticide use on people and the environment.
To sustainably fund DPR and the pesticide-related work of County Agricultural Commissioners (CACs) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the draft study recommendations consider incremental increases of the mill assessment from the current $0.021 up to $0.0339 per dollar of pesticide sales. The draft implementation recommendations include phasing-in the increase and continuing the mill assessment’s flat rate structure to start, while considering a tiered mill assessment in the future.
“Stakeholder consultation is critical to informing the structure and implementation of necessary long-term funding for the department,” said DPR Director Julie Henderson. “We look forward to continued dialogue with stakeholders as we continue to improve the state’s equitable protection of people and the environment from pesticide risks and advance a systemwide transition to sustainable pest management.”
Crowe LLP is seeking feedback on the draft to inform its final recommendations for department funding, which are expected to be released this summer. The feedback period is open today through May 30 at 5 p.m. Comments may be sent via email to ProjectMillStudy@cdpr.ca.gov, or by mail to 1001 I Street, P.O. Box 4015, Sacramento, CA 95812.
Crowe LLP is conducting a Q&A session on Tuesday, May 16 (1:30 – 3p.m. PST) for stakeholders. To sign up for a Q&A session, interested participants should email Jamey.Hammond@crowe.com
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s mission is to protect human health and the environment. The department achieves this mission by fostering safer and sustainable pest management and operating a robust pesticide regulatory system. DPR’s work includes registering all pesticides sold or used in California, conducting pre- and post-registration scientific evaluations of pesticides to assess and mitigate potential harm to human health or the environment for pesticides in the air and water, and enforcing pesticide use laws and regulations in coordination with 55 County Agriculture Commissioners and their 500 field inspectors.
DPR also conducts outreach to ensure pesticide workers, farmworkers and local communities have access to pesticide safety information. More information about DPR can be found on our website.
Organic food sales in the United States in 2022 broke through $60 billion for the first time, hitting another high-level mark for the resilient organic sector. Total organic sales – including organic non-food products, were a record $67.6 billion*, according to the 2023 Organic Industry Survey released Wednesday by the Organic Trade Association.
The organic market grew despite challenging headwinds: inflation pressures tightening consumer wallets, supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic and global political events, a proliferation of competing food labels in the grocery aisles and a labor shortage felt acutely by organic producers. Inflation heated up costs across the organic supply chain – indeed, the entire food supply chain — and boosted prices in the grocery aisles. As a result, the organic sector reflected the overall food sector, with the value of organic sales rising even as the growth in the volume of sales for some categories slipped.
The sector’s four-percent growth in sales value was nearly twice the pace of growth in 2021. Organic food sales totaled $61.7 billion, while the value of organic non-food sales hit nearly $6 billion. Certified Organic now accounts for 6 percent of total food sales in the United States.
“Organic has proven it can withstand short-term economic storms. Despite the fluctuation of any given moment, Americans are still investing in their personal health, and, with increasing interest, in the environment, and organic is the answer,” said Organic Trade Association CEO Tom Chapman. “Organic’s fundamental values remain strong, and consumers have demonstrated they will come back time and again because the organic system is verified, and better for people, the planet and the economy.”
Produce still leads organic
Organic produce, often the entry point for new organic buyers, easily held its position as the top seller of all organic categories. Sales of organic produce totaled $22 billion, accounting for 15 percent of all fruit and vegetable sales in this country.
Organic beverages were the second best-selling organic category, reporting $9 billion in sales in 2022, up 4 percent. Organic coffee maintained its position as the biggest-selling organic beverage, up almost 7 percent from the year before, with close to $2.3 billion in sales. Organic soft drinks and enhanced drinks broke through $500 million in sales at $503 million and saw robust growth of almost 14 percent.
“Organic beverages continue to climb. They’re an area where shoppers are willing to experiment and are less price sensitive,” noted Angela Jagiello, Director of Education and Insights for OTA and coordinator of the annual survey. “Soft and enhanced drinks had a great year, with the non-alcoholic trend being a big contributing factor. Many younger shoppers are reducing or eliminating alcohol, and these organic beverages are a celebratory and sophisticated alternative.”
The third highest-selling organic category was dairy and eggs at $7.9 billion, up over 7 percent from the previous year. Organic dairy and eggs now constitute close to 8 percent of the total dairy and egg market. Continued demand and inflationary price increases helped boost the dollar sales in that category; yogurt and eggs both saw double-digit growth, with organic yogurt sales jumping by over 12 percent to $1.5 billion, and organic egg sales by 11 percent to around $1.2 billion.
While the growth pace of organic sales has predictably slowed from the barnburner rates during the pandemic, a wide and diverse smattering of organic products showed outstanding growth as consumers bring organic more fully into their lives. To name a few: organic baby food and formula sales up almost 13 percent to $1.4 billion, sales of organic rice, grains and potato products up over 10 percent to $387 million, organic dip sales up a big 18 percent to $194 million, and sales of organic pork up more than 10 percent to $63 million.
In the organic non-food category, sales of organic linens and clothing accounted for some 40 percent of sales, recording $2.4 billion in sales for a gain of 2.5 percent. Organic supplement sales held steady with sales of around $2 billion, while organic personal care products rose over 5 percent to $1.2 billion.
Organic future is bright
The success of organic is not a new story. In the last ten years, organic sales have more than doubled as Americans are eating and using more organic products than ever before. Total organic sales broke through the $50 billion mark for the first time in 2018, and organic food sales hit $50 billion for the first time just a few years ago in 2019.
“Organic is at that right intersection of environmental and personal health,” said OTA’s Chapman. “Organic brings together the interest in human health and a healthy environment, and that offers organic a positive pathway forward and will help organic businesses withstand challenges in the future.”
This year’s survey was conducted early in 2023 from January 13 through April 4 and was produced on behalf of the Organic Trade Association by Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ). Numerous data sources were compiled to create as complete a picture as possible of the organic industry which consists largely of private companies. Inputs include but are not limited to point-of-sale data, expert interviews, annual report data, and in-depth direct survey data. About 100 companies completed a significant portion of the in-depth survey.
Executive summaries of the survey are available to the media upon request. The full report can be purchased; online orders can be placed on this page.
The 2023 OTA Organic Industry Survey is available in full as a benefit to association members. To learn more about OTA membership and its benefits, contact Director of Industry Relations, Membership, and Development Cassandra Christine at cchristine@ota.com.
*Based on newly available data for the Convenience Store channel, OTA has updated its data model, and as a result, restated current and historical figures for several food categories.
About the Organic Trade Association
The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is the membership-based business association for organic agriculture and products in North America. OTA is the leading voice for the organic trade in the United States, representing more than 10,000 organic businesses across 50 states. Its members include growers, shippers, processors, certifiers, farmers’ associations, distributors, importers, exporters, consultants, retailers and others. OTA’s Board of Directors is democratically elected by its members. OTA’s mission is to promote and protect ORGANIC with a unifying voice that serves and engages its diverse members from farm to marketplace.
Brent Hales will be joining University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources as the new associate vice president for research and Cooperative Extension beginning July 1.
“After a nationwide search, Brent emerged as a proven and respected leader who will help us to strengthen partnerships, build trust, address challenges and define our 2040 strategic vision,” said Glenda Humiston, UC vice president for agriculture and natural resources.
Hales brings over 20 years of higher education research and leadership experience, including at land grant institutions and in Cooperative Extension. He currently serves as an associate dean of Pennsylvania State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences and director of Penn State Extension.
“I am very excited to join the UC ANR family,” Hales said. “My grandfather was a 1939 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and both of my parents grew up in California.”
Before joining Penn State in 2019, he served as the senior associate dean and chief financial officer of the University of Minnesota Extension, associate dean for the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Community Vitality, and the director of the Economic Development Authority Center at University of Minnesota, Crookston.
His research focuses on holistic community and economic development and entrepreneurship. He has spent his career working across the United States and the globe with underrepresented communities. Since 1998, Hales has worked with Native American Nations in asset development and capacity building.
“I am excited to collaborate with California’s Native Nations, urban residents and underinvolved Californians as they seek to achieve their goals,” Hales said. “Some notable areas are tackling climate change, food security and workforce development.”
“What excites me most is to be part of the leadership team for the premier institution of Ag and Natural Resources research and extension in the United States,” Hales said. “The people, the facilities, the opportunities and the engagement with the communities and organizations of California is second to none.”
Hales earned a Ph.D. in rural sociology from Iowa State University, a master’s degree in sociology from Middle Tennessee State University and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Brigham Young University in Utah.
He is the father of six children, is the grandfather of six grandchildren and has been married to his best friend Candy for over 30 years.
Deanne Meyer, UC Cooperative Extension livestock specialist, has been serving UC ANR as interim associate vice president for research and Cooperative Extension over the past year and is assisting Hales with the transition.
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources brings the power of UC to all 58 California counties.Through research and Cooperative Extension in agriculture, natural resources, nutrition,economic and youth development, our mission is to improve the lives of all Californians. Learn more at ucanr.edu and support our work at donate.ucanr.edu.
Due to severe water shortages, rice acres planted in California plummeted by 37% from 2021 to 2022, according to numbers released recently by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. But now, thanks to University of California researchers, growers have a new tool they could potentially use to cope with droughts and other environmental and socioeconomic changes.
A crop rotation calculator provides farmers in the Sacramento Valley – where 97% of California rice is grown – with projections on the economic impacts of transitioning their fields from rice into four less water-intensive crops: dry beans, safflower, sunflower or tomato.
The tool represents an initial attempt to address the dearth of research on rice crop rotation in California, while giving growers much-needed, science-backed data on whether the practice would make financial sense for their farms.
“I believe more rice growers could benefit from the many advantages of crop rotation, and this new tool is an excellent first step by the UC to help growers look into making such a transition,” said George Tibbitts, a Colusa County rice farmer.
Funded in part by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, through the Western Integrated Pest Management Center, the calculator is a collaborative effort of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Integrated Pest Management and UC Davis to fill a major gap in rice research.
“I do think there are people who would have tried rotational crops in the past, but it’s just so unknown, we didn’t have anything we could give them and be like, ‘Hey, this is the recommended crop for your area,’” said Whitney Brim-DeForest, UC Cooperative Extension rice advisor. “This tool gives them some preliminary data they can use to make a more informed decision.”
Crop rotation a potential boon to growers, environment
UC Davis doctoral student Sara Rosenberg and Brim-DeForest, alongside other members of the UC rice research team, surveyed California rice growers in 2020 on their experiences with and perceptions of crop rotation. Although the practice is rare in the Sacramento Valley (only an estimated 10% of rice acreage is under rotation), some farmers reported benefits that could be crucial in a water-scarce future.
“From having conversations with growers who do rotate, one of the biggest benefits they describe is their flexibility in times of drought, where they can keep producing on their land when there isn’t enough water to grow rice,” said Rosenberg, noting that crop rotation could be one option in a “toolbox” of strategies that growers also use to manage fertilizer price shocks, herbicide resistance and other challenges.
Given the dearth of quantitative data on crop rotation in rice, more studies are needed on the practice in California, according to Whitney Brim-DeForest, UCCE rice advisor. Photo by Evett Kilmartin
During the ongoing drought that caused about half of California’s rice acreage to go fallow in 2022, Tibbitts said his water district was only able to allocate 10% of his usual allotment.
“With such a limited supply, it would have been tough to grow even one field of rice,” he said. “But it was enough water so that we could rent two of our fields to a tomato grower – tomatoes under drip irrigation use much less water than a flooded field of rice. We were also able to grow one field of sunflowers, which doesn’t need any irrigation at all if you can plant the seeds into existing moisture in the early spring.”
While drought is one motivating factor to rotate crops, Tibbitts said that on principle he avoids planting all his acreage in rice and “not have all (his) eggs in one basket.”
“My primary motivation for rotating into and out of rice has been to help with weed and disease control,” he added. “Crop rotation is a primary tool of IPM (integrated pest management), and I feel it has helped me greatly over the years.”
According to Brim-DeForest, rotating cropping systems can allow for the use of different weed control tools, such as different herbicide modes of action, and different cultural controls such as tillage, reducing the chances of selecting for herbicide-resistant weeds – an increasingly pervasive issue in rice systems.
Rosenberg noted that, in some situations – and depending on the crops in rotation – the practice can also disrupt the life cycles of insects and diseases and potentially improve soil structure and increase nutrient cycling and uptake, which may lead to a reduction in inputs such as fertilizer.
More research on crop diversification needed in rice systems
The benefits of crop rotation for California rice growers are largely theoretical and anecdotal, however, so the UC rice team is looking to add evidence-based grounding through a variety of studies – from looking at long-term effects on soil health indicators to testing various cover crops (which may deliver some benefits of diversification, similar to those of rotation).
In addition to crop rotation in rice, researchers are also studying cover cropping, which may deliver some benefits of diversification, says UC Davis doctoral student Sara Rosenberg.
“In California, there is no quantitative data on crop rotation in rice,” said Brim-DeForest. “You’d think after a hundred and some odd years (of UC agricultural research), all the research would have been done, but, no – there’s tons still to do.”
Through interviews with Sacramento Valley growers, researchers found that cost was frequently mentioned as a barrier to trying crop rotation, along with incompatible soil conditions and a lack of equipment, knowledge and experience.
To help clarify those economic uncertainties, the new calculator tool allows growers to enter baseline information specific to their circumstances – whether they rent or own their own land, whether they contract out the work to plant the rotational crop, and other factors. The calculator then generates potential costs and benefits of staying in rice versus rotating to dry beans, safflower, sunflower or tomato, during the first year and in an “average” year for those crops.
The upfront costs of rotation during “year one” can be daunting. Therefore, the tool only focuses on a short-term profitability perspective. Researchers are currently working on longer term modeling for crop rotation – incorporating the possibility of reduced herbicide use over time, and under different crop yield scenarios, for example – that could significantly change the growers’ calculus.
“You could actually be profitable in the long term, whereas this first, short glimpse is showing you a negative,” said Rosenberg.
In addition, thanks to collaboration with the UC IPM team, the rice rotation calculator is an evolving tool that will be continually improved based on user feedback and additional data. Brim-DeForest also said that it could be adapted to other cropping systems – for example, alfalfa going into another rotational crop.
Other contributors to the project include Bruce Linquist, Luis Espino, Ellen Bruno, Kassim Al-Khatib and Michelle Leinfelder-Miles of UCCE; Cameron Pittelkow of UC Davis; as well as UC IPM team members Chinh Lam, Tunyalee Martin and Hanna Zorlu; and the California rice growers and industry members who participated in the research. — By Mike Hsu, UCANR
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources brings the power of UC to all 58 California counties. Through research and Cooperative Extension in agriculture, natural resources, nutrition, economic and youth development, our mission is to improve the lives of all Californians. Learn more at ucanr.edu and support our work at donate.ucanr.edu.
Today, the Animal Agriculture Alliance and the North American Meat Institute expressed disappointment and serious concern for the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on California’s Proposition 12.
“Prop 12 remains a costly burden to producers and provides no benefit to animals or consumers,” said Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO of the North American Meat Institute. “We are disappointed in the Court’s decision and will carefully study the ruling to determine next steps.”
The Animal Agriculture Alliance shared the following:
“Animal rights extremist organizations have been pushing for state-level legislation banning frequently-used animal care practices, such as gestation stalls for pregnant sows or cages for laying hens, for years. The true motive of these changes is to make it less efficient and more expensive for farmers to raise animals for food, driving up the cost of meat, dairy, poultry, and eggs for consumers, forcing them to make tough choices about what they can afford to feed their families and forcing farmers to make costly changes that may make it impossible to keep their business afloat.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision on California’s Proposition 12 sets a dangerous precedent for animal rights extremist groups to target other states with similar ballot initiatives. The Humane Society of the United States is a prime example of a group that focuses efforts on states that will be minimally impacted by the legislation, knowing they will receive less resistance within the state while setting a precedent. In California, specifically, farmers in the state raise less than 1% of pigs in the U.S. yet consume 13% of the pork. This means that a significant majority of California’s pork is produced in other states, who will now be expected to comply with regulations passed by voters outside of their own state.
“Other states should prepare for similar initiatives, particularly those that allow for legislation to be passed via ballot measures. Ballot initiatives allow these extremist groups to bypass the traditional legislative process to go straight to voters on issues that the general public typically has little knowledge of and that tend to be oversimplified in ballot measure wording. This is particularly effective when it comes to emotional issues such as animal welfare. It’s extremely costly for the animal agriculture community to push back against ballot initiative campaigns, as the target audience is the state’s entire population rather than a limited number of state legislators. We need to be proactive in communicating and building trust with the public to reduce the effectiveness of these animal rights extremist-led campaigns that attempt to capitalize on misinformation.
“Animal care is too important of a topic to be dictated by oversimplified legislation based on emotion. Rather, it needs to be based in science and research.
About the Animal Agriculture Alliance
The Animal Agriculture Alliance safeguards the future of animal agriculture and its value to society by bridging the communication gap between the farm and food communities. We connect key food industry stakeholders to arm them with responses to emerging issues. We engage food chain influencers and promote consumer choice by helping them better understand modern animal agriculture. We protect by exposing those who threaten our nation’s food security with damaging misinformation.
About North American Meat Institute
The Meat Institute is the United States’ oldest and largest trade association representing packers and processors of beef, pork, lamb, veal, turkey, and processed meat products. NAMI members include more than 350 meat packing and processing companies, the majority of which have fewer than 100 employees, and account for more than 95 percent of the United States’ output of meat and 70 percent of turkey production.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Governor Newsom’s revised budget proposes another $290 million to support flood response and projects to protect communities from future floods, on top of the Governor’s $202 million proposed in January – a total of $492 million. Governor Newsom also announced that the state is providing funding to raise a levee in Corcoran that’s critical to maintaining public safety in the Tulare Basin region.
Governor Gavin Newsom today announced his revised budget proposal will include $492 million in funding to help protect Californians from ongoing flooding impacts in the Central Valley and throughout the state. The one-time funding will support at-risk communities, including those in the Tulare Basin, respond to the impacts of this year’s winter storms and better withstand future flooding.
What Governor Newsom said: “California is facing unprecedented weather whiplash – we just experienced the driest three years on record, and now we’re dealing with historic flooding. Our investments must match this reality of climate-driven extremes. We’re committing even more resources to support communities up and down the state as they continue responding to the impacts of this year’s storms.”
The Governor’s May revision of the budget, which will be announced Friday, invests $290 million in new flood proposals:
$125 million to support preparedness, response and recovery related to the 2023 storms – funding shifted from drought contingency to flood contingency to address the weather whiplash California is facing;
$75 million to support local flood control projects;
$25 million to expand the current California Small Agricultural Business Drought Relief Grant Program to provide direct assistance to eligible agriculture-related businesses that have been affected by the recent storms;
$25 million for potential additional disaster relief and response costs in this fiscal year to address immediate impacts;
$40 million for the San Joaquin Floodplain restoration
The $290 million is on top of the Governor’s January proposal of $202 million in flood investments to protect urban areas, improve levees in the Delta region and support projects in the Central Valley – bringing total flood investments to nearly $500 million.
The Governor’s budget also includes proposed legislation that codifies provisions from recent executive orders that allow for the safe diversion of flood flows for groundwater recharge purposes. These provisions would make it easier to capture floodwater to recharge groundwater by setting clear conditions for diverting floodwaters without permits or affecting water rights.
Also today, the Governor announced that the state will fund raising the Corcoran Levee in the Tulare Basin, which is key to protecting critical infrastructure, including large correctional and medical facilities, and public safety for the immediate surrounding communities. This marks the third time the state or federal government has intervened to raise the levee. Due to over-pumping groundwater, the ground beneath the levee has subsided. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) made repairs to the levee in 1969 and again in 1983. The state’s funding will allow the local flood control district to raise the levee to 192 feet.
The state’s funding will be contingent upon on locals’ ability to meet a set of criteria to ensure the work is done efficiently and at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers.
BACKGROUND:
State officials have been on the ground since storms first started hitting, supporting and coordinating emergency response. California has since shifted to focus on flood prevention and recovery efforts, while continuing to respond to lingering drought impacts, and will support local response in the coming weeks, months and years.
The state response to flooding, both in the Tulare Basin and across California, includes:
Over 1.7 million sandbags and roughly 21,700 supersacks distributed to help prevent flooding;
12,000 feet of muscle walls constructed;
Over 54 million pounds of rock and sand used to shore up rivers and levees;
Over 60 shelters opened for folks who got displaced by flooding and snowfall;
Over 600 comfort kits distributed to impacted families;
Over 3.5 million miles of California roads plowed or maintained.
Governor Newsom joined state and local officials and community leaders in the Tulare Basin at the end of April to survey recent flooding. Also last month, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and USACE met with county officials and emergency response personnel in the Tulare Lake Basin to help organize local flood response plans to prepare for snowmelt in the coming months.
The state, in partnership with USACE and local entities, is prioritizing snowmelt forecasting, reservoir operations, flooding assessments and flood response support. California is also working closely with county and other local government partners to share the latest advance planning tools DWR has used to support other flood prone areas of the state and to help local agencies in the basin prepare for flooding. DWR has also launched a $5 million program to provide temporary pumps to local water districts to increase flood diversions.
In late March, Governor Newsom signed an executive order to support the ongoing response to flooding by expediting levee repairs, floodwater diversion and other emergency response activities. California also secured a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to support storm response and recovery in Tulare County and other impacted counties. Following the Disaster Declaration, Disaster Recovery Centers across the state are now open, serving as central hubs to connect community members and businesses with support.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is taking additional steps as part of its commitment to strengthen the market for domestically grown organic goods, and to support producers seeking organic certification. These funding opportunities are part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Organic Transition Initiative, launched in fall 2022, which is a suite of offerings to help existing organic farmers and those transitioning to organic production and processing.
“As USDA works to help make our nation’s food system more resilient and create more options for producers and consumers, we recognize the important role the organic industry can play in expanding opportunities for value-added agriculture, strengthening supply chains and generating revenue for farmers,” Vilsack said. “For many farmers, the transition period before attaining organic certification can be cost-prohibitive, so USDA is also helping mitigate the risk involved for farmers who want to be able to grow and market organic crops.”
Consumer demand for organically produced goods surpassed $67 billion in 2022, and multi-year trends of strong growth in the sector provide market incentives for U.S. farmers across a broad range of products. However, through public comment and listening sessions USDA has heard that producers may be less willing to commit to the three-year transition to organic certification because of risks related to inadequate organic processing, storage, and handling capacity, cost barriers due to limited markets for rotational crops, a lack of certainty about market access, and insufficient supply of certain organic ingredients. The organic livestock and processed product markets depend heavily on imported agricultural products for feed grains and key ingredients. These are longstanding market issues that were brought into sharp focus due to the impacts of the pandemic and international conflicts in critical overseas organic supply regions, resulting in limitations on certain domestic organic products in the face of rising demand. Both opportunities announced today help to address these challenges.
Organic Market Development Grants Program
Through the new Organic Market Development Grant (OMDG) Program, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will issue up to $75 million in competitive grants to non-profit organizations, tribal governments, and state and local government entities to fund projects designed to expand and improve markets for domestically produced organic products. OMDG is intended to increase the consumption of domestic agricultural commodities by aiding in the expansion of markets or development of new markets, marketing facilities, and uses for such commodities. For example, applicants may seek funding to develop and launch new consumer products using rotational grains, or invest in infrastructure like processing equipment to give producers better access to markets.
Through OMDG, AMS encourages applications that serve smaller farms and ranches, new and beginning farmers and ranchers, underserved producers, veteran producers and underserved communities.
AMS is accepting applications for the program now through July 10, 2023.
Cost Share for Organic Certification
As part of USDA’s broader effort to support organic producers and in response to stakeholder feedback, this year the Farm Service Agency increased the cost share amount under the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP), which helps organic producers cover organic certification costs, to the maximum amount allowed by statute.
Specifically, FSA will cover up to 75% of costs associated with organic certification, up to $750 for crops, wild crops, livestock, processing/handling and state organic program fees (California only). OCCSP will cover costs incurred from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023.
FSA begins accepting applications for OCCSP Monday, May 15. Applications are due Oct. 31, 2023. To apply, producers and handlers should contact the FSA at their local USDA Service Center. As part of completing the OCCSP application, producers and handlers will need to provide documentation of their organic certification and eligible expenses. Organic producers and handlers may also apply for OCCSP through participating state departments of agriculture.
FSA is also accepting applications from state departments of agriculture to administer OCCSP. FSA will post a synopsis of the funding opportunity on grants.gov and will send more information to all eligible state departments of agriculture. Additional details can be found on the OCCSP webpage.
Other USDA Organic Assistance
These two programs build on several others offered under USDA’s Organic Transition Initiative, which range from conservation assistance to improved crop insurance options.
For example, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service recently announced $75 million in assistance for conservation practices required for organic certification. AMS’ Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) builds mentorship relationships between transitioning and existing organic farmers to provide technical assistance and wrap-around support in six U.S. regions.
Additionally, as announced earlier in 2023, the Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program (ODMAP) will provide marketing assistance to organic dairy producers facing a unique set of challenges, such as significant increases in marketing costs, compounded by increases in feed and transportation costs and the unavailability of organic grain and forage commodities. FSA will announce program and application details soon.
March Madness was taken to a whole new level this year when torrential rainfall and snowmelt caused unprecedented flooding in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, necessitating the evacuation of homes, communities and about 100,000 dairy cattle. Watch this brief video with Anja Raudabaugh, CEO of Western United Dairies as she clarifies what really happened and how this tragedy has impacted the local dairy community.
The organic market grew despite challenging headwinds: inflation pressures tightening consumer wallets, supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic and global political events, a proliferation of competing food labels in the grocery aisles and a labor shortage felt acutely by organic producers. 
