Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program

California Paves the Way for Reconciling Agriculture and the Environment

For many years, a key international strategy to ending hunger has been to grow more food: push for higher yields, develop ways for farmers to intensify their farming, focus on technologies that drive both. But that focus may be shifting towards another strategy that better accounts for the environment and human well-being – agroecology.

In late September, the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program hosted a tour of Sacramento public school kitchens and gardens to introduce policy makers to Farm to School efforts in Sacramento and promote a dialogue around how policy can build a strong Farm to School network in the region.

Tour attendees learned from school Food Service Directors about the complexity of planning healthy, locally sourced meals for students, and from Garden Educators about the role garden-based education plays in promoting healthy eating.

California produces more than 80 percent of the world's commercial almonds. Popularity of the nuts has spurred almond acreage in the state to expand from 510,000 acres in 2000 to roughly 890,000 acres in 2015, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Originally appeared on the UC ANR Green Blog.

This week, scientists from around the world are convening in Sacramento for the Ecological Society of America’s annual meeting to discuss cutting-edge research for a sustainable future. The meeting comes at a pivotal time for California, as the three-year drought drags on. According to the latest Drought Monitor report, more than 58 percent of the state is experiencing “exceptional drought,” the most severe classification, characterized by extreme water shortages and crop loss.

With a growing interest in gardening, food preservation and livestock, urban agriculture is making its way to the forefront of planning and policy agendas. The UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Division (UC ANR) released a portal for Urban Ag enthusiasts and farmers at the beginning of July. The portal features an array of information for beginning and experiences farmers alike. "The site will be a resource for urban farmers who are selling what they grown, as well as school and community gardeners, and folks who are keeping some backyard chickens and bees.

The mid-afternoon sun beats down on the dry earth as Elleman Mumba takes us to the cool shade of his musangu trees – tall 8-year-old trees that he has planted in wide rows in the middle of the crop fields where he grows maize and other annual crops for food and sale. Mr. Mumba is one of a growing number of farmers across Zambia and other southern African countries who are bucking conventional wisdom that planting trees in crop fields creates competition with the standing crop for sunlight, water, and nutrients.