For three years, CalCAN and a coalition of food and farming advocates have been calling on state legislators to put a climate bond measure on the ballot that includes robust investments in a healthy, just and resilient food system.  In November of 2024, voters passed Proposition 4, $10 billion Climate Resilience bond, with nearly 60% support!

The passing of Proposition 4 is a win for California’s food system and a major step forward in climate resilience. With this victory, the state is set to make critical investments to make rural and agricultural communities safer and more resilient to wildfires, floods, droughts, and extreme heat. This includes unprecedented investments of hundreds of millions of dollars in climate smart agriculture, local food system infrastructure, and farmworker health and well-being.

In total, over $1 billion of the coalition’s priorities are reflected in Proposition 4. Food and farming investments include funding for climate resilient, sustainable agriculture, local food system infrastructure and healthy food access,  and farmworker health and well-being.

We encourage you to read our recent blog post for more details on the investments.

COWS Act

The COWS Act would establish a new USDA manure management conservation program and fund it at $1.5 billion over 5 years. The voluntary program will provide resources to help the dairy and other livestock operations install manure handling systems that achieve these goals:

1. Reduce methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas
2. Improve air and water quality
3. Boost profitability by modernizing technologies for manure management

The program is modeled on California’s successful and very popular AMMP program. Grants cover the costs of various types of equipment to scrape manure from barns and into compost piles instead of flushing it into lagoons, separate and dry out or compost manure solids, build compost pack barns or other infrastructure to aerate manure, and increase the amount of time cows spend on pasture—all of which reduce methane emissions.

To add your organization or farm name to a support letter and receive updates on the COWS Act, please sign on here.

Farm Bill

Over the past year, CalCAN has been working in partnership with ten other California members of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition to outline our collective Farm Bill Platform of the CA Caucus. The goal of this document is to elevate California’s unique agricultural context into the national conversation and to center climate resilience and racial equity as key pillars of the next farm bill. For an extremely comprehensive list of recommendations across farm bill programs and policies, see NSAC’sFarm Bill Platform.

The set of priorities outlined in the CA Caucus Platform call for:

1. Improvements to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program;
2. A national program modeled on California’s Alternative Manure Management Program,
3. Increase investment in conservation-based research and extension;
4. Increase organic certification cost share opportunities and streamline administration;
5. Additional set-asides, loan forgiveness, and grants for underserved farmers and farmers of color;
6. Increased funding for the Farming Opportunities, Training, and Outreach (FOTO) Program and the Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production grant program;
7. Support for regional food system infrastructure including food hubs and meat processing facilities;
8. Implement civil rights reform at USDA;
9. Disaster relief for farmers and farmworkers.