Climate Smart Agriculture

Hope's path to climate-smart agriculture began early, inspired by her mother's career in environmental policy. Hope studied environmental science at the University of Vermont, working on sustainable food systems and water quality, before her job in California doing youth sustainability education planted the…

Update:In our last blog post, we gave a high-level overview for two of the 2026 CDFA Block Grant (BG) opportunities, the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) and Healthy Soils Program (HSP) Block Grants. The California Climate Bond (Proposition 4) allocated $40 million to SWEEP and $65…

Healthy Soils Program (HSP) and the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) Block Grants Climate Bond Funding for Prop 4:Proposition 4 which was passed by California voters in November of 2024. CDFA's Office of Agricultural Resilience and Sustainability (OARS) will utilize…

Project Context:Climate Smart Agriculture team member Michael Jaquez is supporting a project that seeks to articulate the nuances surrounding the management of the Colorado River Basin. The Colorado River Basin provides a large portion of water to California residents and farmers. It is extremely important…

Agave is a perennial plant characterized by metabolic, physiological, and morphological characteristics that enable it to thrive in conditions considered extreme for most vegetation. At night, it opens its stomata—pores in its leaves and stem cells that manage gas exchange and water transpiration—to absorb…