”CalAgPlate” program provides funding to agriculture education

Jan 19, 2015

Over 19,000 plates sold since program started in 2012

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) awarded over $200,000 to five programs that combine agriculture and education across the state.

The availability of these funds is made possible by the 2014 California Special Interest License Plate grant program. “CalAgPlates” (California Agricultural Plates) are available through the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Funded projects include a farm-to-school initiative, agriculture tours to bring attention to careers in the agriculture industry, seminars, and even programs for elementary school children to show them the impact of agriculture on daily life from an early age.

“Agricultural education is fundamental to the appreciation of how agriculture and food production touches every Californian,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross in a press release. “The projects being funded are great examples of how to connect students and consumers to agriculture and the many career possibilities within the food and agricultural system.”

The total amount being dispersed to the winning programs is $215,670, and the recipients include:

Centennial Farm Ag Education
Centennial Farm Foundation
Their three acre crop and livestock farm provides education for children and has been doing so for 25 years. The programs focus on where food comes from, the role agriculture has in daily life, and basics about California’s ag industry. For their efforts, they received $25,000.

Increasing Agricultural Career Opportunities Awareness by Student Tours
Stanley W Strew Educational Funds
As baby boomers continue to exit the workforce, more career opportunities will be available. The program wants to showcase the opportunities by providing two one-day tours. One near Butte College and one near Woodland College. The tours will include farming and agribusiness stops and feature guest speakers for the students to interact with. They’ve received $7,010 in funding.

California’s largest commodity in 2013 was almonds with a production value of over $5 billion.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.