Whether through managed habitat, erosion controls or water conservation, farmers are continually finding ways to produce crops and protect the environment at the same time. This statewide effort, however, isn't always recognized, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
To help close this information gap, CDFA is conducting a new survey project to gather data on steps the state's farmers and ranchers take to protect wildlife and improve the environment.
Participation in the survey is voluntary and anonymous, CDFA said. It's designed to gather information from farmers and ranchers directly engaged in growing horticultural crops, fruits and nuts, and other specialty crops. A variety of management practices will be catalogued.
"This information when it's compiled will give us a story to tell," Amrith Gunasekara, science advisor to the California Department of Food and Agriculture secretary, told those attending the California Farm Bureau Federation Leaders Conference last week. "We'll be able to verify the benefits of agriculture's efforts in environmental stewardship."
Generally, the public knows California agriculture provides food and clothing—leafy greens that supply the nation, wines and happy cows, he said.
"They know about food, jobs and the economy," he said. "They also know about the habitat benefits of farming to bird migration that is happening right here in the Sacramento Valley. But there are other things farmers and ranchers do on a daily basis that don't get a lot of attention."
He cited use of cover crops, for example, and hedgerows, nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, riparian zones, attracting native pollinators, managing invasive weeds, use of water conservation systems and energy production and conservation as environmental practices not often recognized by the public.
"What the CDFA science panel is trying to do is highlight these benefits and tell agriculture's story," Gunasekara said. "To do that, we need the help of farmers and ranchers."
Gunasekara said the deadline for completing the survey is the end of May.
To participate in the CDFA EcoServices Survey, go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/CDFAsurvey. Send questions about the survey to EcosysServices@cdfa.ca.gov.