Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) Equipment-Only Grant Program

CDFA is opening a limited 2025 Equipment-Only Solicitation to distribute funds remaining from the 2024 Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI) Solicitation. Approximately $2.3 million will be awarded to purchase one piece of equipment to be used to support middle of the supply chain activities for eligible commodities. Projects may begin upon USDA approval; Recipients are expected to complete all purchases by December 31, 2025.

The Request for Proposals will be available June 11, 2025. The two-phase application process will consist of a short Concept Proposal PDF form which must be emailed to grants@cdfa.ca.gov no later than 5:00 p.m. PT on July 17, 2025. The applicants with the highest-ranked projects will then work with CDFA staff to complete a more detailed Grant Proposal for submission to USDA.

Additional limitations apply to this funding extension. For all details, please review the Request for Proposals at www.cdfa.ca.gov/rfsi. The Concept Proposal application form, Frequently Asked Questions, Q&A, and registration links for webinar and office hours will also be available on the CDFA RFSI website.

California Underserved and Small Producer (CUSP) Grant Program

The California Underserved and Small Producers Program (CUSP) offers relief grants directly to agricultural producers impacted by drought and extreme weather conditions, including floods and wildfires. Eligible producers may receive up to $20,000 in CUSP Drought Relief funds, as well as up to $20,000 in CUSP Extreme Weather Relief funds (for a total of up to $40,000) within a 12-month period.

Please visit the CUSP Program website to get details on eligible practices and reimbursable costs for the CUSP Drought and Extreme Weather Relief grants.

CUSP Program Application Assistance

Need some help with your CUSP application? CUSP granting organizations, as well as the UCANR Small Farms Network, offer CUSP grant application technical assistance. In addition, these organizations may offer technical support on a variety of other topics. For example, in addition to offering technical assistance to support growers in navigating and applying for federal and state economic and disaster relief programs, UCANR Small Farms Network Advisors and staff offer technical assistance in pest, disease, and nutrient management; on-farm food safety; ground water and irrigation management; and marketing assistance.  

Apply for Extreme Weather and Drought Relief Grants from these organizations

CUSP grant applications are accepted throughout the year, depending on application cycles of the organization managing the fund. All of the application dates are listed and updated regularly on the CUSP Program website.

Currently Open:

CCOF Foundation

Inland Empire Resource Conservation District

Ventura County Resource Conservation District

Check the CUSP Program website to get an update on upcoming application cycles from these organizations:

Asian Business Institute and Resource Center 

Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Sierra Resource Conservation District 

Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS) Grant Program 

The Office of Pesticide Consultation and Analysis (OPCA), within the Office of Agricultural Resilience and Sustainability, is now accepting concept proposals for its Biologically Integrated Farming Systems Grant Program (BIFS). Public or private colleges and universities, local, State, and federal government entities including tribal governments, non-profit organizations, and commodity groups are eligible to apply. For more information, please see the Request for Proposals below and visit the BIFS Program website to get details on the priority topics.

The program funds on-farm demonstration and grower outreach activities related to innovative, biologically based farming systems that employ sustainable pest management (SPM) strategies.

A total of $1 million is available for this funding cycle, and applicants can request up to that amount. 

Concept proposals are due by 5 PM PST, June 27, 2025

BIFS RFP

Biologically Integrated Farming Systems Grant Program

CDFA Produce Safety Program offers multilingual support

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Produce Safety Program (PSP) and Technical Assistance Program (TAP) offer multilingual support to help California farmers comply with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule (FSMA PSR).

The FSMA PSR went into effect January 26, 2016, and includes science-based minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing and holding of fruits, vegetables and tree nuts grown for human consumption. PSP endeavors to bring California produce farms into compliance with the FSMA PSR through education, outreach and performing on-farm inspections to verify compliance with required food safety practices.

If you produce fresh fruits, vegetables or tree nuts and are interested in receiving language support to assist in your compliance with the FSMA PSR, please reach out to PSP at producesafety@cdfa.ca.gov or 916-654-0466. PSP gathers information regarding language needs directly from growers during farm verification calls. PSP currently has three staff members who can provide bilingual verbal support in Spanish during On Farm Readiness Reviews (OFRRs) and FSMA PSR inspections. OFRRs are free, voluntary, customized assessments conducted before an initial regulatory inspection that includes a farm walk-around and one-on-one conversations with CDFA PSP staff to discuss how the FSMA PSR applies to each operation. Please visit https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/producesafety/ for more information.

TAP is a partnership between CDFA and the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) that provides educational resources at no cost to California produce growers and handlers to support compliance with the FSMA PSR. Through a CDFA grant, the program includes specialists, advisors and community educators who have expertise in on-farm food safety practices and can assist California farmers during their food safety implementation journey, including multilingual support. TAP can currently provide language support in Cantonese, Hmong, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. Please visit  https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/technicalassistance/ for more information.

URCTA Technical Assistance for Small Farms

The URCTA Technical Assistance for Small Farms was developed and is administered by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) Underrepresented Communities, California Tribes, and Small Farmers Groundwater Technical Assistance (URCTA) program. The program started in 2021 to provide groundwater-related technical assistance services to eligible small farmers within Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)-regulated basins. The Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) and the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Small Farms Network are conducting outreach and extending SGMA related education to small farmers in the SGMA regulated basins below.

The URCTA Small Farmer Groundwater services include the following:

• One-on-one groundwater consultation with small farmers, including explanation of the regional plans for groundwater by subbasin
• Outreach and Engagement opportunities including farm visits, field days, workshops, and facilitation of meetings with local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies
• SGMA education and participation
• Research and extension
• Legal services through the University of California, Davis School of Law Small Farmer Water Justice Clinic
• Technical assessments from DUDEK including groundwater level monitoring, aquifer testing, analysis for well interference, groundwater quality testing, groundwater well analysis and more

Please visit DWR’s URCTA program website for more information.
To contact URCTA Program, please email URCTA@water.ca.gov
To contact CAFF, please email sgma@caff.org
To contact UC ANR, please email sgma@ucanr.edu

California Agricultural Mediation Program

The California Agricultural Mediation Program (CALAMP) provides free mediation services to the agricultural community on many issues, through a confidential process that allows participants to discuss topics, and if desired, make a plan for moving forward. CALAMP can handle topics ranging from: credit counseling, ag-related debt; credit counseling; family farm succession planning; leases; contracts, farmers’ market issues, cooperatives, labor issues, neighbor disputes; farm credit and loans; federal farm and conservation programs; wetlands determinations; grazing permits on national forest system lands; rural housing loans; any adverse decision by a USDA agency; and any topic designated as a priority by the California Secretary of Agriculture.

With mediation, the decision- making authority rests with the participants. The mediator helps them to have the conversation; but they make the decisions. Mediation can be a fast, simple, affordable, and private alternative to litigation or difficult conversations and a way to resolve disputes using an impartial person to assist parties in negotiating their differences.

Mediation Services for Agricultural Producers

CALAMP has mediators that speak both English and Spanish and can provide translation services in other languages.

Please visit the CALAMP website for more information and steps to request their mediation services.

CDFA's Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Producer Advisory Committee advises Secretary Karen Ross and CDFA on the implementation of AB 1348, the Farm Equity Act, and programs and policies related to ensure socially disadvantaged producers have a voice in programs and policies at the Department. The Small-Scale Producer Advisory Committee (SSPAC) advises the Secretary on matters pertaining to small-scale and medium scale producers in California.  

The Committees meet on a quarterly basis, and some of the topics of discussion have included recommendations on enhancing CDFA grant programs and defining emergency scenarios for small farms. Committee meetings are open to the public, and agendas, meeting materials, and Zoom meeting links are posted on the Committees' websites.

Committee Webpages                                                                

BIPOC Producer Advisory Committee                                   

Small-Scale Producer Advisory Committee                          

UC Davis- Skills and Training Needs for Ag Workers Survey

The UC Davis Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (WCAHS) is collecting information about training needs for agricultural workers. The survey has 9 questions, is anonymous, and asks about desired agricultural worker skills and training preferences. WCAHS will use survey responses to create new trainings on priority topics. 

For questions on the survey, please contact Heather E. Riden at heriden@ucdavis.edu

Survey Links

English

Español

Roots of Change Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) Mapping Project

Roots of Change and CDFA are working together on a Regional Food System Infrastructure (RFSI) project to develop a comprehensive map of middle of the supply chain existing, planned, and needed infrastructure in California, supporting small and mid-size producers. The resulting Infrastructure Map and accompanying Network Map, and Vision and Financing Plan will serve to inform future supply chain development and investment for years to come. Producer and grower voices and other stakeholders with supply chain investment/knowledge, with insights on post-harvest value-added processing, are needed to make this map representative of the current supply chain and to inform areas of need and improvement. 

This project is currently in the data collection phase, looking for individual feedback on regional infrastructure and any existing data sets. To share your insights, we’re holding data gathering listening sessions, both in-person and online, and we’d love for you to join. Additionally, you can share your insights on existing infrastructure or planned and needed infrastructure through the linked forms. Stipends are available for regional representatives and individual growers. 

To attend a listening session, please register using the links below. For the full schedule of sessions, please visit Roots of Change's RFSI Project's webpage.

Virtual Regional Meetings

• Thursday, June 12 – San Luis Obispo. Register here
• Tuesday, June 17 – Fresno. Register here

Tribe focused regional meetings (virtual)

• Thursday, June 12, Northern California. Register here
• Tuesday, June 17, Central California. Register here
• Monday, July 7, Southern California. Register here

Though all sessions are open to all, the listed region will be the area of focus during the meeting, so we encourage people to attend the meeting that best matches their location/ insights. Translation services available upon request.

Please direct any questions to coco@rootsofchange.org.

The 2025 Salinas Biological Summit

June 24-25, 2025- Woodland, CA

Information and registration:

Salinas Summit

California Black Farmers Conference

September 11-13, 2025- Santa Cruz, CA

Information and Registration:

California Black Farmers Conference

Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP)

USDA to Provide $1 Billion to Livestock Producers Impacted by Drought or Wildfire in 2023 and 2024

The USDA recently announced the release of Congressionally mandated Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) payments to cover grazing losses due to eligible drought or wildfire events in 2023 and/or 2024.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) is leveraging existing Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) data to streamline payment calculations and expedite relief. Emergency relief payments are automatically issued for producers who have an approved LFP application on file for 2023 and/or 2024, and do not have to contact USDA to receive payments.

Supplemental Disaster Assistance Timeline

USDA is fully committed to expediting remaining disaster assistance provided by the American Relief Act, 2025. On May 7, USDA launched the 2023/2024 Supplemental Disaster Assistance public landing page where the status of USDA disaster assistance and block grant rollout timeline can be tracked. The page is updated regularly and accessible through fsa.usda.gov.

The Act also authorized $10 billion in economic loss assistance to producers of covered commodities based on 2024 planted and prevented planted acres. To date, USDA has delivered more than $7.7 billion to producers through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP). The ECAP deadline is Aug. 15, 2025. Contact your local FSA county office for information.

The CDFA is a lead partner in the Southwest Regional Food Business Center (SWRFBC), a five-year project that is part of the USDA's network of Regional Food Business Centers Program. The SWRFBC seeks to strengthen resilient, diverse, and competitive local and regional food systems by improving opportunities for food and farm businesses across Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.

SWRFBC Bulletin sign-up

Technical Assistance for food and farm businesses: SWRFBC's network partners are taking on new clients. Regional leads can be contacted through https://swfoodbiz.org/contact-us/

Business Builder: The Regional Food Business Center Program is under USDA review. Once the review is complete and funding resumes, the SWRFBC plans to launch another round of TA Linked/ non-competitive awards. This will include a statewide program as well as focused programs in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernadino and Imperial Counties. Pending review, the SWRFBC will also launch a business builder competitive grant program in Fall 2025.

Intertribal Food Business Center: A resource for tribal communities is the Intertribal Food Business Center (IFBC), offering TA-linked noncompetitive awards. IFBC can be reached through their website https://www.indianag.org/intertribalfbc or email nifbc@indianag.org.