The California Department of Food and Agriculture's (CDFA) Urban Agriculture Grant Program, 2023 is an exclusive and competitive funding opportunity designed to support and elevate agriculture in urban areas across California. This one-time grant program will fund programs and projects that enhance the sustainability and success of urban agriculture throughout California. Urban agriculture encompasses a variety of practices aimed at cultivating, processing, and distributing agricultural ..read more

On August 25th, UCCE's Urban Ag & Food Systems Program tabled, paneled and supported the 8th Annual Food, Faith and Farms Conference in San Rafael, CA, hosted by Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative. The national Faithlands Conference, coordinated between Interfaith and the Agrarian Trust, which hosts the national Faithlands web page as a hub for sharing resources, followed on August 26-27. Rob Bennaton, Urban Ag and Food Systems Advisor, was panel moderator for the Successful Farms ..read more

What does it mean to build a just and sustainable Agroecological City? Over this past year, the pandemic, climate disruptions and ongoing harm caused by racial violence have challenged our urban communities and food systems in unprecedented ways. Pathways for healing and community resilience can be found in many urban farms. An upcoming free, online conference, The Agroecological City: Sovereignty, Resilience, and the Future of Food, seeks to engage in critical conversations around what it ..read more

The urbanization of society has long since pushed people far away from producing their own agricultural products and into relying on imported goods from rural areas. However, there is an increasing trend in recent years to have livestock and poultry in urban and peri-urban areas for reasons such as producing their own food for both themselves and the community as well as keeping farm animals as pets. Knowledge on caring for farm animals is often not as intuitive and requires specific husbandry ..read more

A summer of smoke and ash in many parts of California has raised questions about the safety of produce growing on farms and in the garden, eggs laid by chickens who peck around in ash-laden areas, and remediation needed to safely and effectively grow food in the future. UC Agriculture and Natural Resources brought together experts who have researched the effects of previous fires' fallout and studied soil contaminants to share their insight in a two-hour webinar now available on ..read more

As our world grapples with the containment of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), essential services including food provisioning remain vital to the health and well-being of our communities. Yet, many small farms are struggling as they face rapid decline in sales as restaurants, schools and other farm-to-institutions programs close. Many urban farms and community gardens who share the mission of providing fresh, health and affordable food to some of our most vulnerable community members are ..read more

If you have backyard livestock or poultry or are a small-scale producer of livestock or poultry, this survey is for you. This questionnaire asks about the specific practices and perceptions that you apply to your animals' health, husbandry, and antimicrobial use. It is being conducted for research and outreach purposes in order to find better ways to serve people and communities with backyard and small-scale livestock or poultry. Conducted by the University of California Cooperative Extension ..read more

Note: This post is first of a series in which we will recap our UC ANR Urban Agriculture Workshop series. We'll share key points, as well as links to videos and handouts. Even if you couldn't make it in person, you can still access the content. Finding land is one of the key challenges for aspiring urban farmers. Identifying an appropriate site, working out an agreement with the landowner, and signing a lease are huge milestones. But once the land is secured, how should the new farm be set ..read more