The California Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) program is designed to identify, grow and develop young Farm Bureau members and provide them with opportunities and experiences to help them become effective leaders in the agriculture community. 

Now in its 35^th year, the Small Farm Conference will be held this year from February 26 to March 6. Organized each year since 2018 by the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), this year’s conference will once again be a hybrid event, said Evan Wiig, CAFF’s director of membership and communications. 

The Central Valley of California is the largest producer of agricultural commodities in the nation, and agriculture is by far the largest segment of the region’s economy. But as Dr. Sharon Freeman, an assistant professor at California State University Fresno puts it, the state’s changing demographics mean agriculture has to change as well.

After a two-year COVID-induced pause, 4-H animal judging returned this year, and if the state program coordinator has anything to say about it, the program will be bigger and better than ever next year.

When you’re a small, family-owned winery without a large advertising budget, the best way to spread the word about the quality of your wines is to have key influencers taste them. But since the 300 members of the Family Winemakers of California are located from Eureka to San Diego and many points in between, it can be difficult to get these influencers to come to you.

Farm Credit is the largest provider of credit to U.S. agriculture, but its support goes much deeper than that. Farm Credit is also committed to the sustainability and long-term viability of agriculture and rural communities and strongly supports non-profits working to preserve and protect California agriculture.

California’s farmers grow more than 400 commodities each year, making the state the nation’s breadbasket. And for 36 years, the nonprofit California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom has been educating students around the state that the nutritious and tasty fruits and vegetables they eat don’t just come from the supermarket.