On October 15, members of the SACOG Board of Directors, local staff and representatives from state and federal legislative offices spent a day exploring agricultural practices in rural (and urban) Sacramento County. This tour was the final in a series that covered all counties within the SACOG region.
The tour began in Sacramento at Produce Express, a produce distributor. Produce Express is working closely with small farmers in the region to create Restaurant Supported Agriculture (RSA). RSA helps local farms get their product in restaurants on a regular schedule or work with chefs to grow specialty products.
The second stop on the tour was at Soil Born Farms, a 40-acre operation along the American River Parkway that focuses on bringing fresh, organic food to the urban area that surrounds it.
Soil Born works directly with the local community creating access to fresh health foods and teaching sustainable growing practices.
During the tour, participants heard from Sacramento County staff on topics including agritourism policy planning, pesticide useand management, and unique outreach to immigrant farmers in the south county area.
The tour then headed south to HAVE Angus Ranch and listened to presentations from a variety of agricultural stakeholders. Charlotte Mitchell, executive director of the Sacramento County Farm Bureau, spoke to the need for supportive land use policies to preserve agricultural lands. Rabbi Davis Wechsler-Azen, CEO of Fresh Producers, talked about the need to increase access to fresh and healthy foods to lower-income youth. Students from the Florin High School Ag TECH Academy and 4-H talked to the group about the academic and social benefits of the two programs and trying to connect urban youth with agricultural professions.
After lunch, the tour visited the Tollenaar Ranch and Dairy in Galt, a 300-acre ranch that also has a methane digester to manage dairy operation waste and produce electricity, resulting in additional income for owners Jon and Tami Tollenaar.
One interesting innovation led by the Sacramento County Farm Bureau is the Sacramento Grow & Buy Local initiative. Libby O'Sullivan, a UC Davis graduate student, and other researchers from the university are analyzing the county's market opportunities for local growers and developing strategies for more viable agriculture.
The tour also stopped at the Cosumnes River Preserve, the historic town of Locke, a cold storage facility and a U-Pick farm.
For more information on the RUCS project, please go to: www.sacog.org/rucs.