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Newly Established San Francisco Farm Bureau Works to Enhance City Residents’ Understanding of Agriculture

California’s newest county Farm Bureau – the first chartered in the state in nearly 40 years – is dedicated to nurturing local agriculture and enhancing urban food security education in San Francisco, the 17th-largest U.S. city.

Its creation was spearheaded by California Treasurer Fiona Ma, who previously served in the California State Assembly representing San Francisco. Having committed to understanding California's vast agricultural landscape and participated in more than 220 farm tours, Ma was surprised San Francisco, her home for 30-plus years, didn’t have a Farm Bureau.

She traveled to California Farm Bureau’s annual meeting in December 2023 to personally pitch delegates on the proposal.

“We want to do more to educate our young people in terms of Ag in the Classroom and Ag Day, and make sure that they have the same opportunities so that they appreciate all of the hard work that you all do,” Ma told attendees. “I wanted to make sure that we protected our farmers and our ranchers, so we don’t have to depend on other countries or other states for our food.”

The San Francisco Farm Bureau was established following a year of diligent planning and collaboration with local agriculture enthusiasts and has been officially chartered by the California Farm Bureau.

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Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.