Our Mission:

CalCAN is a statewide coalition that advances state and federal policy to catalyze the powerful climate solutions offered by sustainable and organic agriculture. We use policy to move California agriculture towards a system that is increasingly resilient and just.

Our Vision:

We envision a California agriculture system that is resilient, is a sink for greenhouse gases rather than a source, and that supports wildlife habitat and biological diversity.

Sustainable and organic farming and ranching practices rooted in ecological principles are widespread, readily accessible to all farmers, and supported by a robust network of technical advisors and researchers.

The people who grow our food have safe working conditions and agricultural communities have clean air and water, access to healthy food, and thriving rural economies.

To ensure our food security, abundant productive agricultural land is permanently protected, and new farmers have access to the land, capital, and technical resources they need to be successful.

Our Guiding Principles:

Climate-friendly agriculture benefits all Californians
Organic and sustainable agriculture practices offer environmental and public health benefits for all Californians, urban and rural.

There is power in structural change
Policy change can drive a widespread transition to sustainable and organic agricultural practices that achieve economic justice and health equity.

Farmer experience must lead
Farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, and other agriculture experts must be meaningfully consulted and engaged in leadership roles in order to develop and implement policy that leads to change on California’s farms and ranches.

All producers can contribute
Agricultural sustainability is a continuum, and improvements can be made on all farms.

Policy must redress racial and economic injustice
Agriculture and climate policy must explicitly address the needs of small and medium-scale farmers and those who are low-income/low wealth, people of color and women, as well as farmworkers and other marginalized populations that have been systematically disenfranchised by generations of injustices and health inequities.

Public resources can advance equity
Public funding and technical assistance must be prioritized for small and medium-scale, diversified, and systematically disenfranchised farmers.

CalCAN is a fiscally sponsored project of Earth Island Institute.