More than 60 specialty crop growers in California have been selected for the American Farmland Trust Stewardship Profiles for implementing exemplary conservation practices on their farms. These profiles are housed on a new interactive webpage that is searchable by crop(s) grown, conservation practices used, and geography.
The intention of these profiles is to inform and inspire other specialty crop growers to pursue environmental quality as an integral and prominent feature of their operations. Thus, the profiles contain contact information and each grower has agreed to be contacted as a resource for other California farmers hoping to implement similar practices. All interested California farmers are encouraged to reach out to the growers profiled in order to learn more about the practices they have undertaken.
“These stewardship profiles clearly show how much California specialty crop growers love the land and the commitment they have to constant adaptation and preparing for the next generation,” says Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “As consumers, we are the beneficiaries of the bounty of what California agriculture produces and the care with which it is grown. We salute the growers who are featured and commend American Farmland Trust for sharing their stories!”
These profiles help meet the recommendations generated by state agriculture leaders as part of the California Agricultural Vision: Strategies for Sustainability strategic planning process which charted a course for the future of agriculture in the nation’s leading farm state.
One of the key recommendations was to encourage the state’s farmers and ranchers to make environmental quality “an integral and prominent feature of the California brand.” In an effort to further this goal, and with a grant from the California Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Block Grant program, American Farmland Trust undertook an effort to document outstanding examples of environmental stewardship by California specialty crop growers into Profiles in Stewardship: How California Specialty Crop Growers are Producing a Better Environment.
“In a world where consumers increasingly care about how and where their food is produced, better stewardship practices are key to enhancing the California agricultural brand,” says Edward Thompson, Jr., California State Director of American Farmland Trust.
