There are many solutions that California can adopt to help our farms and ranches thrive even as climate change progresses. In this chapter, we focus on policy, program, and investment solutions that address climate-driven risk and financial resilience responses, including policy and regulatory support opportunities, technological innovations, market and supply chain stability and strengthening measures, and opportunities to build a climate-smart agricultural workforce.
Strategy 1.1 Support financial reduction measures for farmers.
- 1.1.1 Expand insurance options for specialty crops, especially to reduce risk from extreme weather-related losses.
- 1.1.2 Effectively promote and deploy the California Underserved and Small Producers (CUSP) program.
Strategy 1.2 Reduce workload associated with meetings or exceeding regulatory goals.
- 1.2.1 Simplify and streamline regulatory compliance reporting.
Strategy 1.3 Invest in research and development to provide new options for building resilience on farms.
- 1.3.1 Invest in research for agriculture technology to identify how to optimize inputs and improve efficiency.
- 1.3.2 Ensure equitable deployment of technical tools and support for small and under-resourced farmers.
- 1.3.3 Provide infrastructure support for broadband upgrades.
- 1.3.4 Invest in R&D for climate adaptive, heat- and drought-resistant crop varieties.
Strategy 1.4 Strengthen local and regional food systems to build resilience.
- 1.4.1 Strengthen farm-to-market pathways, direct-to-consumer sales, and localized processing to reduce reliance on vulnerable supply chains.
- 1.4.2 The circular bioeconomy: supporting the creation of new income streams for farmers.
- 1.4.3 Ensure the highest and best use of diverted organics to animal feed while ensuring safety.
Strategy 1.5 Increase investment in climate-smart agriculture.
- 1.5.1 Expand pathways to increase investment in climate-smart agriculture.
- 1.5.2 Increase Technical Assistance for investments in climate-smart agriculture.
Strategy 1.6 Support workforce development through programs and training.
- 1.6.1 Uplift existing technical assistance pathways.
- 1.6.2 Build partnerships to foster multifaceted technical assistance capacity.
- 1.6.3 Coordinate with California higher education systems to expand training and career development in agriculture.
- 1.6.4 Promote Jobs First programs to increase the agricultural workforce.
Strategy 1.7 Expand climate-smart agricultural marketing efforts.
- 1.7.1 Expand the CA Grown Marketing Campaign to expand awareness of climate-smart practices and the programs that support them.
- 1.7.2 Expand marketing efforts to highlight products from the circular economy.
Strategy 1.8 Engage in international and subnational partnerships and collaboration.
- 1.8.1 Grow international climate partnerships and collaboration with other national and subnational governments.