REGIONS :: Northern San Joaquin Valley

• Check out photos of our recent Alternative Weed Management field day near Livingston. (coming soon)
• See our new brochure about Integrated Farm Drainage Management. (coming soon)

Motivated by impending clean air regulations that will ban burning orchard prunings, more than 300 growers turned out in November, 2003 for a chipping demonstration near Ripon.	Growers inspect the teeth of a machine that reduces orchard prunings to mulch-sized pieces.
Orchard growers watch a tractor-pulled chipping machine grind its way through a pile of orchard prunings.

• Economic Options / Integrated Farm Drainage Management

  CAFF member-farmers have developed innovative means to restore soil health while producing economically viable crops and eliminating off-farm discharges of selenium-affected water. Sound too good to be true? Farmers are working with this system right now. Recent field days are demonstrating good results. This work is supported by the Westside Resource Conservation District and the California Department of Water Resources. Read more in our full-color project brochure. (coming soon)

• Farm-to-School

  Farm-to-School educates children about their relationship to agriculture by highlighting their interactions with the community, the environment and the food they eat. Through the existing Farm-to-School Project in Atwater, and with additional projects forming in Merced, CAFF brings fresh local produce into schools, teaching kids to make their own healthy eating choices, and giving them the opportunity to try new foods from local farms. This is an investment in the next generation of eaters, helping children make healthy eating choices, hopefully preventing obesity and creating new markets of our local farms. This work in Merced County is supported by the California Endowment and the Chez Panisse Foundation.

• Watershed Stewardship Project

  The Watershed Stewardship Project provides farmers and rural landowners in Merced County information and contacts for improving their management of natural resources. Healthy watersheds are important for every member of our communities. Wise watershed management is the best way to sustain the local economy and the health of the rural environment. This work is supported by the CALFED Bay-Delta Ecosystem Restoration Program. Read more about the project here.

Local Staff:
Matt Valdin

Sustainable Cotton Project

matt@sustainablecotton.org

Local Board Members:
  To contact our board members, please click here.

Norman Kline, Farmer
Riverbank

Cynthia Lashbrook, Farmer
Livingston