Legacy Spring 2023

OUR MISSION

Help Farmers Protect the Best Farmland in the World

CURRENTLY SERVING

Sacramento, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, and Fresno counties

Board Officers:

Patrick Johnston, Brentwood | President

Sam Zanutto, Sebastopol | Vice President

Theresa Kiehn, Modesto | Secretary

Ken Oneto, Elk Grove | Treasurer

Directors:

Ron Dolinsek, Rocklin

Ron Freitas, Modesto

Bill Hoobler, Patterson

Ryan Jacobsen, Fresno

Jim Jorgensen, Rocklin

Michael Machado, Linden

Maxwell Norton, Merced

Barbara Smith, Courtland

Trustee Council:

Jennifer Beretta

Ed Nishio

Emily Rooney

Ann Veneman

Paul Wenger

Becca Whitman

Staff:

Gerad Borrego | Development Director

Lauren Fox | Program Associate

Charlotte Mitchell | Executive Director

Chelsea Slaton | Conservation Director

Amy Wolfe | Strategic Marketing & Development

Manager

Contributors:

Lauren Fox

Charlotte Mitchell

Chelsea Slaton

Amy Wolfe

Bryan Gold

Fusaro Photography

In the heart of Los Angeles, kids learn about agriculture and farming

By Charlotte Mitchell, Executive Director

With just 1.3% of the US population employed as farmers and ranchers and a steep decline of farms in the US, it is refreshing to see teachers like Carrie Robertson who, in the middle of Los Angeles, are engaging students in the practice of farming and appreciation of open space.

In this issue of the Legacy, we are highlighting this amazing story of a teacher who is committed to giving city kids a chance to connect with the food they eat and to appreciate the people who grow it every day. On her 2 acres of land that backs up to Sunset Boulevard and a school that has frequent Hollywood filming on campus, her “land lab” is an oasis of wonderment. Students are learning how to take care of goats, chickens, rabbits, and other small animals. They also tend to grape vines, orchards, and row crops, producing grapes, stone fruit, alfalfa, pumpkins, tomatoes, and herbs.

Carrie works towards building a land ethic that reaches beyond the classroom. These students have a sense of pride when they pick the crop they worked so hard to produce, feeling the same as real farmers and ranchers do, she explains. In her classroom, she uses our Orange You Glad We Have Farmland activity, to explain the finite resource of farmland and further support her teaching of land ethics and appreciation for producing food by so few.

Just like Carrie who is leaving an immense impact on her students who are going on to their adult lives with an appreciation and understanding of what it takes to be a farmer, you can also leave a legacy by making a gift to CFT. No amount is too small, it takes all of us! You can use the enclosed envelope to make your gift, online at cafarmtrust.org/donate, or call me at 916-544-2712 and I can take your payment over the phone. Thank you to all of our donors on the Big Day of Giving, May 4 th With your generosity, our impact and your legacy will be felt for generations to come.

I hope you will enjoy this issue of the Legacy.

Wishing you a wonderful spring,

Charlotte Mitchell, Executive Director

THANK YOU! Big Day of Giving (BDOG) 2023 was May 4th and was a 24-hour community-wide movement uniting the charitable sector to help raise unrestricted funds for nonprofit organizations. For California Farmland Trust, BDOG was used to raise vital funds to better position us to protect valuable farmland throughout California and we did just that! With your financial gifts you are now leaving your legacy to ensure that your children, grandchildren, and the generations to come will live in a place that has fresh, healthy, and safe food, produced by family farmers on local farms. For CFT, we are using your generous support to continue our vital work of protecting farmland, preserving family farms, and promoting agricultural education.

Staff Updates

WELCOME, AMY WOLFE!

We are pleased to welcome Amy Wolfe to the CFT team. Amy will serve as the Strategic Marketing and Development Manager.

Amy has spent nearly 20 years in executive capacities within the charitable sector, most recently as the Interim Executive Director of the American Leadership Forum – Great Valley Chapter. Prior to that, Amy dedicated 11 years as the President and CEO of AgSafe. Her career also includes tenure with the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation, as a professional staff member with the California State Assembly, and with the creative team for E&J Gallo Winery.

She currently serves on the Ag Innovations, Modesto Rotary Club, and League of Women Voters of Stanislaus County Boards of Directors. Her previous Board service and leadership includes the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Modesto Chamber of Commerce, Protected Harvest, and United Way of Stanislaus County. Amy is a partner with Mujeres Poderosas, a collaboration of women who share their wisdom to improve organizations. The CFT team will certainly benefit from her knowledge and skills.

“I am thrilled that Amy has joined the CFT team, as her knowledge of CFT and previous experience with the organization are invaluable,” said Charlotte Mitchell, Executive Director at CFT. “In the early years of CFT, Amy assisted the young organization with strategic and philanthropic planning with the board and staff. I am extremely excited to have Amy join our team and lead our marketing and development efforts.”

Amy possesses a Master of Public Policy and Administration from California State University, Sacramento, and a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Communications from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. In addition, she is accredited as a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). She, her husband (a high school agriculture teacher), and their daughter enjoy traveling, outdoor sports, and playing with their Great Dane.

GREETINGS, GERAD BORREGO!

California Farmland Trust is excited to welcome Gerad Borrego to the team who will be serving the organization as our Development Director.

Gerad brings to CFT over twenty years of wealth management and commercial banking experience in the financial service sector. While at SAFE Credit Union, Gerad developed and oversaw SAFE's Nonprofit Platform which provided financial resources and services to our region's nonprofit organizations. While working directly with our region's largest nonprofit organizations, Gerad was introduced to and developed a strong passion for fundraising and fund development.

Over the next seven years, Gerad would serve our region's largest food banks, building and caring for relationships with supporters, donors, and volunteers who provide these organizations with the support they need to do outstanding work within our shared communities. Gerad achieved his designation and accreditation as a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) in 2021, to ensure that the philanthropic vision of the donors of the organization he serves are honored and fulfilled

While Gerad spent time at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, he longed to work with an organization closer to his hometown roots that lay in the fertile soil of the Central Valley town of Caruthers. For this reason, Charlotte Mitchell, Executive Director at CFT, shares that she is "thrilled that Gerad has joined the CFT team," and further states that "his knowledge of finances and experience in managing major gift relationships with large-scale nonprofit organizations are invaluable to our team and supporters."

As a husband and father of 8 children with his lovely wife Gina, Gerad spends every moment outside work with his family, enjoying the various sports and activities his children are involved in while introducing and sharing with them his love of fishing and hunting.

Race to Slow the Pace | September 17, 2023

In the third annual Race to Slow the Pace 5K/10K runners will experience an epic journey through Bokisch vineyards all while supporting CFTs mission to slow the pace of development and protect more farmland. Set for September 17, 2023 at Bokisch Vineyards in Lodi, CA, runners will traverse their way through the vines and eventually cross the finish line at Bokisch’s infamous oak tree picnic area, where they will be greeted with wine, paella, and one-of-a-kind ambiance.

Not a runner? Not a problem! We’ve got a Couch to 5K training plan to help you get in shape for the race. Or, you can still enjoy the day with us and celebrate others as they come across the finish line with a Brunch Only registration. If you’re not able to join us in Lodi, participate wherever you are with a Virtual registration. This is a family, stroller and pet-friendly event designed to get you out into the beauty of Lodi and a working vineyard. Find more information and register for the race at cafarmtrust.org/ racetoslowthepace.

2023 Race to Slow the Pace Sponsors

YOU CAN BECOME A SPONSOR, TOO!

Thank you to the sponsors who have already committed to this year’s race: Farm Credit Alliance, Fluetsch and Busby Insurance, Mujeres Poderosas, Vino Farms, Mitchell Farms, Zenith Agribusiness Solutions, and KLM Ranches. You can get your name and logo out there too with a Race to Slow the Pace sponsorship. We still have Wine Bag, Victory, Presenting, and Title sponsorship opportunities avaliable. To be a 2023 race sponsor, please contact Amy Wolfe at 209-499-4091 or awolfe@cafarmtrust.org.

Presenting

Victory

Wine Bag

Middle school agriculture teacher Carrie Robertson embodies our organizational pillars as her father and grandfather were in the cattle business, she champions agriculture education, and she has lived and continues to live by the belief that farmland is precious.

“We know, through experience and data, which places on Earth can produce food,” Robertson said. “Soil used for farming and ranching is a living ecosystem, fragile and finite, that is essential for every human. It's critical to protect the places we farm, and the people who do the work.”

Only 3% of Earth is useful farmland that has suitable climate and productive soil. Water covers about 75% of Earth and deserts, swamps, mountains, polar regions, and land that is too rocky, wet, or hot to grow food make up the remaining 22% of the planet.

The best way to preserve farmland is to use the land for its intended purpose – farming. CFT and partners including Raley’s and the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC)

Outstanding Educator Award Winner Embodies CFT Pillars

are determined to maximize available farmland statewide by educating the next generation.

PROMOTE AGRICULTURE EDUCATION

Our Orange You Glad We Have Farmland curriculum and activity seeks to teach students about the importance of farmland. Specifically, we discuss how much land is ideal for growing the food that feeds them and others worldwide. Students also learn how they can be good stewards of the land.

“Knowing the importance of keeping farmland healthy by participating in recycling programs, water conservation, and not littering can help nurture the land to produce the food that feeds the world,” noted our program partners. “When farmland is protected, we all benefit by having food to eat and natural resources, like wildlife, that farmland provides.”

Anyone and everyone can become land “custodians” by learning the difference between land good for farming and land good for shopping malls and homes, eating California-grown foods, and

learning about conservation easements, which allow landowners to forever protect their farmland.

With just 3% worldwide of viable space, educators like Robertson are doing their part to use education to preserve farmland. The teacher at Paul Revere Charter Middle School and Magnet Center, located some 30 minutes from Hollywood and the heart of downtown Los Angeles, teaches students about agriculture on a two-acre campus farm.

The school, which attracts students from more than 100 ZIP codes, is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the nation. “There is a huge ripple effect that agriculture programs in urban areas can have. Everyone here, working together to support our school farm, normalizes our connections to agriculture,” Robertson said. “Agriculture, farmers, and farming are no longer separate or strange. We are farmers! My students have a chance to build an authentic land ethic because they actually do help me farm our property. I hope this connection will carry forward in their lives, forever.”

Orange You Glad We Have Farmland activity helps to teach ‘land ethics’ in the middle of Los Angeles.

| Carrie Roberts is a middle school teacher in Los Angeles, teaching students about agriculture using the on-campus two-acre farm.

Robertson directs a “land lab” that includes a vineyard, orchard, raised farm beds, native gardens, and a hiking trail in addition to a traditional classroom.

Fertile land helps the students produce grapes, stone fruit, alfalfa, pumpkins, kale, tomatoes, artichokes, and herbs. They also look after animals including chickens, rabbits, goats, and a pot belly pig.

AITC Executive Director Judy Culbertson said the educational experience Robertson presents allows kids from the city to connect with farming, the natural environment, and the food they eat. Robertson continues to take that connection with her students one step further and last year received AITC’s Outstanding Educator Award presented at the California Farm Bureau Annual Meeting.

“Carrie is a true advocate for agricultural education. Her dedication and creativity in her classroom have made a positive, lifelong impact on her students, and the enthusiasm she has for incorporating agriculture into the classroom is undeniable,” Culbertson said. “Carrie understands the critical importance of agriculture and she works to instill this appreciation in her students.”

FAMILY FARM

Robertson’s history plays a big part in her enthusiasm. Her father and grandfather were cattle ranchers in the outer part of Los Angeles. She wrote on her school page that the business provided an early education in production agriculture. Robertson can also refer to her background as she helps her students understand technology used in modern farming.

The activities of her youth included FFA, in which she raised pigs and steers, and she farmed citrus and avocado trees during college. All of it helped shape her perspective.

“I love learning about agriculture (and) I'm proud to bring the story of agriculture to my students each day!” she wrote on her school page.

“Agriculture is life,” Robertson said. “All human beings are dependent on agriculture for food, clothing, and shelter, but also for employment, innovation, communities, and to solve issues around climate change.”

She added, “The outdoor, experiential nature of agricultural education provides so many positive benefits to students, including social skills, sensory input, and stress relief. I find that my students have a deep loyalty to our program, our farm animals, and the special places at our farm like the hiking trail and vineyard.”

Only about 3% of Earth is useful farmland, as water covers about 75% and 22% of the planet consists of deserts, swamps, mountains, polar regions, and land that is too rocky, wet, or hot to grow food.

The Orange You Glad We Have Farmland poster from CFT was developed in partnership with Raley's and California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC). It presents a simple way to demonstrate that 3% of the land in the entire world is capable to produce food. The demonstration consists of an orange, representing the world, a plastic knife, and a cutting board with the activity printed on it.

1. Slice the orange into four equal pieces. Set aside three of the pieces, as they represent the percentage of water that covers the planet.

2. Take the one remaining quarter of the orange and slice that into four equal pieces. Again, set aside three of the pieces, as they represent the deserts, swamps, mountains, polar regions, and unfarmable land.

3. Remove the peel from the quarter of a quarter of an orange. That is the percentage of useful farmland on Earth.

To learn more about the Orange You Glad We Have Farmland curriculum and activity, go to https://www.cafarmtrust.org/education-outreach/

| The students participate in gardening and land stewardship activities and also look after animals.

Around Town...

CFT IN ACTION AT AGVENTURE

San Joaquin County AgVenture is a county-sponsored agriculture and nutrition education program for third graders across San Joaquin County. The event teaches young consumers about the County’s booming agriculture industry and nutrition education through four strategically located field days. With over 2,900 students participating on March 2nd, CFT once again brought its Orange You Glad We Have Farmland activity to demonstrate the importance of farmland.

Thank you to Raley’s for their continued support and partnership of the Orange You Glad We Have Farmland curriculum and activity. This partnership allows us to demonstrate this message across the state to thousands of consumers. Be watching for our soon-to-be-released Spanish speaking version of the Orange You Glad We Have Farmland demonstration.

CFT CELEBRATING AG DAY!

Ag Day at the Capitol held on March 21 st is an annual celebration recognizing California’s agricultural community by showcasing the bounty of crops and commodities produced in our state. It is also a day for farmers and ranchers to show their appreciation by bringing together state legislators, government leaders and the public for agricultural education. March 21st was also recognized as National Ag Day, with similar celebrations across the nation. CFT greeted legislative members, legislative staff, agency representatives and the public with popcorn and a showing of Concrete California, a documentary emphasizing that when we cover the land with concrete, it is a one-time harvest.

GROW RIVERSIDE AND BEYOND

CFT was invited to speak at the Grow Riverside and Beyond Conference in March. This conference is a result of a multistakeholder initiative to cultivate food and agricultural activities across the Inland Southern California region. The conference equipped the public with tools and knowledge to create a strong marketplace for local food systems, generate opportunities for community and economic development, advance public policy related to food and agriculture, and provided a venue for stakeholders to network. Charlotte Mitchell, in collaboration with the University of California Ag and Natural Resource provided a session on Land Access for Farmers and the tools of a farmland conservation easement to help protect the working landscape.

ENGAGING WITH FARMERS

CFT attended a fun evening engaging with the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau Annual Meeting of Members, while informing attendees about farmland protection and ways to do this with an agricultural conservation easement.

How We Can Work Together To Protect Farmland

Your contributions to California Farmland Trust will help to ensure that our food stays local. By protecting our finite resource of productive farmland in California, we can ensure our family farmers can continue to care for and steward viable farmland while providing an abundant safe and nutritious food supply that helps feed your family and mine.

By working together, the permanent protection and conservation of farmland can continue. We will remain steadfast and committed to protecting not just farmland, but California’s valuable agricultural industry that produces more than 400 commodities. With your contribution, you are leaving your legacy to ensure that your children, grandchildren, and the generations to come will live in a place that produces the freshest, healthiest, and safest food by local family farmers.

Consider a gift today to California Farmland Trust and leave YOUR legacy! Ways to Partner with California Farmland Trust

• IRA Gift/Qualified Charitable Distributions - If you are 72 1/2 years or older, you have additional donation options that can greatly benefit California Farmland Trust and provide some tax benefits to you. You can give any amount, up to $100,000 per year, as a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from your IRA, also known as an IRA charitable rollover. This donation is tax-free if it is paid directly to a qualified charity, such as California Farmland Trust. Please talk to your plan administrator or tax advisor for more information.

• Donor Advised Fund Gifts - A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a charitable program where a donor makes a tax-deductible contribution to a public charity (like Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, etc.), and then can recommend grants over time to one or more of their favorite non-profits. DAFs have quickly become a popular vehicle to help donors simplify their philanthropic goals and make their giving more strategic.

• Employer Match – Do you know if your company offers a gift matching program? Many times, employers will give where you give – doubling the impact of your gift. Check with your HR department to see if these options are available to you.

• Giving Tuesday – Tuesday, November 28 is Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving and generosity. Everyone’s act of kindness counts and makes a difference no matter how large or small. To give on Giving Tuesday visit our website www.cafarmtrust.org and click “Donate” or simply include a donation in the envelope inserted in this issue of Legacy.

• Year End – A tax-deductible gift before December 31, 2023 will help further CFT’s mission and will be leveraged to help us secure additional grants and funding to protect additional farms and farmland.

You can make a donation online, using our fast, safe and secure system. Mail a check payable to California Farmland Trust to our office at P.O. Box 1960, Elk Grove, CA 95759, or by calling Gerad Borrego, Development Director at 916-430-6802 or Amy Wolfe, Strategic Marketing and Development Manager at 209-499-4091. They can provide additional details and take your payment over the phone.

Protecting = Healthy

CFT is in the process of protecting 1,015 acres of farmland, resulting in a healthy food supply, a healthy economy, and a healthy environment.

California’s Central Valley not only provides a diverse range of ecological benefits, but it’s also the engine that drives California’s agricultural food production, providing over a third of the vegetables and three-quarters of fruits and nuts in the United States. Rapid urban and rural residential development are accelerating the conversion of agricultural land to urban uses, threatening our food supply.

Protecting high-quality agricultural land has been recognized as a nature-based climate solution by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, California Air Resources Board’s 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan, and California Department of Conservation. It’s estimated that by keeping natural and working lands intact, 125.9 Million Metric Tons (MMT) of CO2e can be avoided by allowing vegetation and soil to continue absorb carbon from the atmosphere, also known as carbon sequestration.

CFT’s current efforts are helping contribute to that number, with 1,105 acres in process, avoiding 195,631 metric tons of CO2e and 471,707,687 vehicle miles traveled.

Absorbing carbon isn’t the only climate benefit provided by protecting our working lands. An Agricultural Conservation Easement (ACE) extinguish development rights, which in turn avoids increases in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) due to avoiding vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Preventing development reduces opportunities for vehicle dependent forms of development and avoids emissions from construction and building energy from heating.

Groundwater infiltration, groundwater recharge, flood attenuation, open space, and wildlife habitat are other environmental benefits provided by farmland conservation.

Amid solar energy rush, let’s protect our farmlands

By Mike Wade

A commentary originally published in the AgAlert and reprinted with permission from the California Farm Bureau.

Excellent soils and a Mediterranean climate make California one of the most productive agricultural centers in the world, allowing our state to produce two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts, and one-third of its vegetables. Not making the best use of this unique agricultural resource would be a big mistake.

Yet, the U.S Department of Agriculture says California lost 1 million acres of irrigated farmland between 1997 and 2017. After years of failures to build new state water storage infrastructure, another 1.2 million acres were fallowed in 2020 and 2021 alone due to drought and water shortages, according to the University of California, Merced.

For generations, much of the lost farmland has been attributed to urban or suburban development, a reality that will continue as the state’s population keeps growing. Now there is a significant new threat to farmlands: California’s desire to build a massive amount of new solar facilities.

In 2018, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 100, the 100 Percent Clean Energy Act. It sets a 2045 target date of supplying all retail electricity sold in California and state agency electricity needs, with renewable and zero-carbon energy resources. This new electricity will come from solar, wind and geothermal sources. Solar facilities are expected to account for 81.1% of the total.

California will need to add about 70 gigawatts, or 70,000 megawatts, of new commercial solar generation by 2045 to meet the legislative target. The California Energy Commission says it requires between 7 and 10 acres of solar to generate 1 megawatt of electricity, meaning the state will need 490,000 to 700,000 acres of land to achieve the goal. Does that mean productive farmland will be the only location for new solar facilities?

Not necessarily. In fact, farmland already fallowed due to a lack of water or retired because of soil quality and drainage concerns could provide much of the land needed for new solar facilities.

An October staff report to the state energy commission identified areas where solar cannot be built, including population centers, military installations, tribal lands and property set aside for environmental protection, mining or other uses. That left much of the remaining allowable land for solar production in agricultural areas, including much of the Central Valley and the Salinas, Imperial and Palo Verde valleys.

and, if additional property is required, to use only land that will be fallowed due to state’s groundwater law. Otherwise, unless California finds a way to use solar development in some way to support its remaining agricultural land, who will grow the food that feeds much of America and the world?

The California Energy Commission says it will make every effort to put new solar facilities on the least productive land possible. But solar facilities depend on transmission capabilities to move electricity from where it is generated to where it will be used. Existing transmission lines aren’t currently in all areas the commission identified for potential solar development. That means there is a potential loss of highervalue farmland.

- Mike Wade

There is significant interest in farmland that could be fallowed due to California’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. In its report, the Public Policy Institute of California said, “In the San Joaquin Valley, this will likely mean taking more than 500,000 acres of agricultural land out of intensive irrigated production.” That is in addition to land already fallowed.

However, it is important to remember that much of the farmland expected to go out of production was at one time sustainably farmed using groundwater resources because adequate surface water supplies helped replenish the aquifer. Due to periodic droughts, inadequate infrastructure and water policies limiting surface water deliveries, the declining level of surface water delivered during the last 30 years has contributed directly to current levels of overdraft.

California’s intent should be to build solar facilities on previously retired land

The commission can work to minimize this by talking to local planners and agricultural advisors, such as county agricultural commissioners and University of California Cooperative Extension specialists. Those experts can provide valuable advice when decisions are being made on where to locate new solar facilities.

California’s agricultural viability has been taken for granted far too long. In the future, we may wish we had taken better care of our farmland and the farmers who grow our food. We shouldn’t waste precious, dwindling agricultural acreage, especially not when we can support sustainable solar energy production while also protecting our remaining farmland. Throughout California’s history, development has shaped the kind of state in which we live. Developing new sources of renewable energy is good and deserves support. However, we shouldn’t try to fix our energy problem by creating an even bigger food problem.

Mike Wade is executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition. He may be contacted at mwade@ farmwater.org.

Otherwise, unless California finds a way to use solar development in some way to support its remaining agricultural land, who will grow the food that feeds much of America and the world?