Summit Continued from Page 1
Joining vir- tually from Washington, D.C., California Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson speaks during the Food & Ag Summit West.
kind of this constant battle of trying to de- fend against these increases, to educate on how we actually use energy.” Asked what policy change he’d make if given the chance, Johnston said he’d like to see the state stop sticking utility ratepayers with the bill for its initiatives. “This treat- ment of ratepayers as a blank check for whatever the cause du jour is, I think, is not the right way to go about it,” Johnston said. Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Department of Natural Resources, devoted a session to updating water management for a changing climate. While the existing water system built over decades allowed California to become an economic powerhouse, “that water sys- tem is outmoded for the challenges that we face,” Crowfoot said. “It’s 20th-century in- frastructure for a 21st-century challenge.” For example, he cited systems meant to capture spring runoff from the Sierra snowpack, which has become less reliable as warmer winters result in more precipita- tion falling as rain instead of snow. “Frankly, we built a water-delivery sys- tem and a water-supply system anticipat- ing that slow melt of snow in the spring and summer,” Crowfoot said. “You have less snowpack to rely on as a result of these hot temperatures. In the spring and summer, temperatures are warmer, so more of that snowpack that we anticipate would go into
the reservoirs is absorbing into very dry ground or evaporating into warm air.” Water management also needs to be- come less adversarial, Crowfoot noted. “What we’re trying to do is break out of this endless cycle of regulation and liti- gation, where water management is ulti- mately decided, for example, in a federal court and then persists for a decade or more,” Crowfoot said. “It’s a really prob- lematic way to manage our system.” In its place, Crowfoot said, he’d like to see a shared approach. Among those urging cooperation over vitriol was Ashley Swearengin, chief ex- ecutive of the Central Valley Community Foundation. She said contentious politics often gets in the way of resolving challeng- es for agriculture. “I feel like the various components of the overall industry and ecosystem are tired of that fight,” Swearengin said. “Nobody’s get-
ting what they want. People are realizing we actually have to do food at scale, and we’ve got to do it in a regenerative way.” She said “a new path” may be being forged. “I’ve heard some people sitting and talking to one another who have been al- most mortal enemies in recent years—and that seems to be shifting,” she said. Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said communities are focusing on jobs of the future. “We have to think very carefully about all the ways that the entire workforce will benefit from employers shifting their in- vestments to automation, and then focus on workforce development,” Ross said. Gabe Youtsey, chief innovation officer at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, is focused on in- novation—and inspiring young people to pursue the agricultural jobs of tomorrow.
“We’re not just trying to create a new set of technologies,” he said during a summit session. “We’re trying to create a brand- new industry, an ag-tech industry, with leadership from the Central Valley.” That effort, Youtsey added, requires “a hugely interdisciplinary set of skills and people” from computer science, food sci- ence, environmental science and climate technologies. Connecting to students from community colleges, high schools and ju- nior high schools will be critical, he added. “Once kids are exposed to these new careers of the future—even if they don’t have a full understanding of all the various possibilities—they get extremely excited,” Youtsey said. “And in some cases, it’s abso- lutely changed career directions.” (Kevin Hecteman is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)
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July 20, 2022 Ag Alert 3
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