February 18, 2016

WG Supports Cultivate California to “Keep State on Your Plate”

Western Growers is supporting a new public outreach program focused on educating consumers about how farmers use water efficiently and responsibly. Cultivate California, which encourages Californians to “keep the state on your plate,” highlights the importance of providing farmers with a sustainable water supply.

Western Growers Director of Strategic Initiatives and Communications, Cory Lunde, authors a guest blog discussing the origins of the effort and the intersection between Cultivate California and another Western Growers initiative – the Center for Innovation & Technology:

“It’s been a tough several years for California farmers and ranchers. Four, and now perhaps five, years of drought have made it increasingly challenging, and more expensive, for the farming community to maintain business as usual. On top of decreased water deliveries that led to hundreds of thousands of acres of fallowed farmland and direct economic impacts estimated at $1.8 billion, California farmers were also repeatedly criticized in 2015 for the amount of water needed to grow the food and farm products that Californians – and the world – rely on every day.

Yet, despite the historically dry conditions and the increased scrutiny about the natural resources necessary to grow and raise our food supply, I couldn’t be more optimistic about the future of farming and ranching in the Golden State.”

Click here to read the full blog. For more information, please contact Cory Lunde at (949) 885-2264.