‘It’s about doing food differently.’ Fresno plan marked for $30 million in state budget
The May revision of California’s state budget brings an estimated $30 million to the Fresno-Merced Future of Food Innovation Initiative, according to regional leaders.
The initiative funded in the latest version of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget is a sweeping effort to change the way farmers operate in the breadbasket that is the central San Joaquin Valley.
Those efforts are aimed at equitable economic benefits for small farms in the region while improving the outlooks surrounding climate change and the drought, according to Josh Viers, a UC Merced professor involved in the initiative.
“It isn’t just about food, but it’s about doing food differently,” he said. “If you look at the entire value chain from production to consumer, there are a number of instances where a change in practice — more importantly the infusion of technology — could make a difference.“
Approximately three out of four California farmers operate on less than $100,000 in annual sales, according to state officials. That makes them more vulnerable to market changes than their larger counterparts while farmworkers see an unstable job market.
The initiative that also partners UC Merced and Fresno State is a component of the Fresno Driving the Region’s Inclusive and Vibrant Economy, or DRIVE, Initiative.
Viers said the kind of technologies being developed at the university level that could benefit those smaller farms range from automated systems that use the least amount of water possible to using lasers to assess agriculture and calculate the amount of carbon the crops could trap.
At the same time the initiative aims to improve technology for farmers and export those practices to other countries, it also looks to retrain farmworkers who could be displaced by automation.
It also is pointed at climate change and drought issues.
“The focus here is really on economic development, but the things that we are talking about are complementary to and help advance other parts of the governor’s budget, particularly around drought,” Viers said. “And I would say it fits very well with climate change goals.”
The initiative also has an educational component to partner the higher-learning campuses with younger students, who also have more options for studying subjects like robotics that may help prepare them for an industry with more technology.
Governor’s budget
The $267.8 billion revised budget plan would direct billions in spending toward stimulus checks for Californians, give millions of children a start on college savings accounts and provide grants of up to $25,000 apiece to businesses set back by COVID-19.
Newsom’s plan, which proposes $196.8 billion in general fund spending, also includes massive efforts to modernize the state’s roads, bridges and broadband.
It would essentially create a new grade in California public schools called transitional kindergarten and expand child care slots. It would also expand eligibility for Medi-Cal, the state-funded health program for low-income people, to undocumented people over age 60.
And it would put $24.4 billion into reserve accounts, including the so-called Rainy Day Fund that gives lawmakers a cushion when revenue falls.
“This is our plan to get California not only back on its feet, but California roaring back, once again, to its rightful status as the most essential and dominant state, not only in the United States, but one of the most essential modern economies anywhere in the world,” Newsom said.
The Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 15, 2021 at 12:22 PM.
