Food for Thought #5: The Future of Farming

California Groundbreakers

We're running a monthly series called "Food for Thought," in-depth conversations with groundbreakers who run farms, restaurants, wineries, breweries and bars around California and are shaking up the way we eat and drink. For our fifth talk, we're emphasizing the "farm" in farm-to-fork efforts, and discussing the future of farming in California. Are there enough young farmers to take over for seasoned ones who want to retire? Can they afford to make a living in a high-cost-of-living state? Can they be profitable and sustainable when climate change makes it harder to predict what they can sow and reap? PANELISTS * Dennis Donohue, head of Western Growers' Center for Innovation and Technology * Mary Kimball, executive director of the Center for Land-Based Learning PODCAST TIMEFRAME * O to 6 minutes - Intro to California Groundbreakers - who we are, and upcoming events * 6 min - "Eventually hot salads will catch up, and then radicchio will overcome kale" -- Panelists introduce themselves, and share their favorite farm-fresh recipes * 10:20 min - "Yes, there is a town of Yolo" -- Mary Kimball, from farm girl to head of an organization that inspires and trains California's future farmers * 15:45 min - "Let's rub the two sticks together of Silicon Valley and the Salinas Valley and see where that takes us" -- Dennis Kimball, former mayor of Salinas who made AgTech a growth driver for his lower-income town * 21:45 min - "The kinds of jobs in ag and food today have completely changed in the last 10 years, and the majority of people don't have any experience with agriculture" -- The Center for Land-Based Learning's youth and adult programs for creating a skilled workforce for today's ag industry * 32 min - "Farmers by nature like to try things - we have a great history of innovation in our industry" -- How the Western Growers' Center for Innovation and Technology is connecting venture capital to AgTech, and to farmers * 44:15 min - "I want to figure out a way to irrigate my almond crop to know how exactly how much water is going to every single tree, and I can control it from the computer on my desk" -- What a California farm looks like today * 54:50 min - "In Monterey and Salinas Counties, we count on the fog, and when that doesn't happen and we have more heat events, we don't like that" -- How climate change is affecting how farmers do things * 1 hr, 8 min - "The #1 area for new jobs in California ag is in food safety, but there are very few colleges and universities around the state that are actually training people to go into these jobs, so we're behind" -- How the federal Food Safety Modernization Actwill affect farmers and consumers * 1 hr, 13:50 min - "What you're asking is the hardest question that the entire agriculture industry is grappling with" -- Helping farmers hand down their land to their kids * 1 hr, 24:20 min - "Increase demand, you're at least making sure farming is profitable" -- What food consumers can do to be better advocates for farmers * 1 hr, 29:05 min - "It's very difficult for farmers to harvest food for free" -- How is the ag industry going to make organic food accessible to people at all income levels? * 1 hr, 35 min - "We haven't yet figured out how to use robots to pick strawberries" -- How federal immigration issues are affecting California's ag workforce * 1 hr, 39:40 min - "What does it mean that Amazon is a major food supplier?" -- The forecast for higher food prices in the future * 1 hr, 45:55 min - "You got to get kids to understand that 'farm' does not equal 'farmworker'" - Keeping children of immigrants engaged in the farming community