CA GROWN on CDFA board agenda

SACRAMENTO — The California State Board of Food and Agriculture will be discussing value-based marketing opportunities for California’s farmers and ranchers at its upcoming meeting on Tuesday. The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, 1220 N St. — Main Auditorium, Sacramento.

“We have an amazing story to tell in California agriculture,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “We farm in one of the most iconic places, with the highest environmental and labor standards and produce some of the finest, most nutritious products in the nation. Our practices — how we farm — are of interest to buyers and consumers and we need to engage with them to build relationships that can enhance their appreciation and support for what our farmers and ranchers do to make California a better place to live.”

From the popular ‘California Thursdays’ initiative in 71 school districts throughout the state, introducing freshly prepared school meals made from California-grown food to more than 1.85 million students, to the partnership between CA GROWN and Visit California featuring the state’s producers; California’s farmers and ranchers have many value-based marketing opportunities in schools, supermarkets and restaurants to tell the California agriculture story.

Invited speakers for the meeting include: Walter Robb, Whole Foods Market; Zenobia Barlow, Center for Ecoliteracy; Karen Brown, Center for Ecoliteracy; Cherie Watte, Buy California Marketing Agreement (CA GROWN); and Sarah Hanson, CDFA’S Office of Farm to Fork.

“Building relationships between retail and foodservice buyers is something California farmers and ranchers can do very effectively,” said President Craig Mcnamara, California State Board of Food and Agriculture.