Every two years, CalCAN hosts a California Climate & Agriculture Summit, bringing together a diverse group of farmers and ranchers, researchers, agriculture professionals, agriculture and environmental nonprofit organizations, local and state policymakers and government agencies.
The two-day event includes a farm tour as well as a full day of plenary, workshop and poster presentations about the latest science, policy and practice related to climate and agriculture.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, our summit has been on hold. Please sign up for our newsletter for news on when we will reconvene.
The 2019 CalCAN Summit
The 6th California Climate & Agriculture Summit was held on March 4-5, 2019, including a farm and ranch tour of three climate-friendly farms in Yolo and Solano Counties, a full-day conference at UC Davis, and a festive evening celebration of CalCAN’s 10th anniversary.
The tour visited:
- The Cloverleaf Farm in Davis located at the Collins Farm
- Bobcat Ranch in Winters
- River Garden Farms in Knights Landing
The conference offered three tracks—practice, policy, and science—as well as a series of lightning talks. See the full program here. Find titles of each workshop below: if you are interested in the presentations, please email info@calclimateag.org and indicate the presenter’s name.
Plenary Presentation
Climate & Agriculture Policy: Vision & Action
- Jeanne Merrill, CalCAN Policy Director
Practice Track
Creative Financing Tools for Agricultural Conservation
Moderator: Sacha Lozano, Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz
- Brett Melone, California FarmLink
- Jeff Schahczenski, National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT)
Protecting Ag Land, Protecting the Climate
Moderator: Kara Heckert, American Farmland Trust
- Matt Freeman, Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
- Michele Clark, Yolo Land Trust
- David Bunn, Department of Conservation
Triple Win: Manure Management Strategies on California Dairies
Moderator: Mike Griffin, Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative
- Lynne McBride, California Dairy Campaign
- Jana McClelland, McClelland’s Dairy
- Jake Magneson, Magneson Dairy
Technical Assistance as a Driver of Climate Smart Agriculture
Moderator: Dave Runsten, Community Alliance with Family Farmers
- Rex Dufour, National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT)
- Doug Parker, UC California Institute for Water Resources
- Karen Buhr, California Association of Resource Conservation Districts
What It Takes On the Ground to Get Carbon Into the Ground
Moderator: Sara Tiffany, Community Alliance with Family Farmers
- Ellee Igoe, Solidarity Farm and SD Carbon Sink Farms
- Blake Alexandre, Alexandre Family Farm
Policy Track
Getting the Most Out of California’s Climate Smart Agriculture Incentives Programs
Moderator: Vicky Dawley, Resource Conservation District of Tehama County
- Kristin Sesser, Point Blue
- Jessica Rudnick, UC Davis
- Jeanne Merrill, CalCAN
Connecting California’s Climate & Agriculture Policies to Equity
Moderator: Gail Wadsworth, California Institute for Rural Studies (CIRS)
- Thea Rittenhouse, California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)
- Teresa Andrews, Western Center for Agriculture & Health Safety at UC Davis
- Kassandra Hishida, Community Alliance for Agroecology
Groundwater Management Implications for Agriculture
Moderator: Helen McGrath, Ditch Ranch & Flying M Ranch
- Keith Wallace, California Department of Water Resources
- Stacie Ann Silva, New Current Water & Land LLC.
SWEEP & Other Successful Water Conservation Programs
Moderator: Brian Shobe, CalCAN
- Daniele Zaccaria, Cooperative Extension at the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources of University of California, Davis
- Miguel Garcia, Napa County Resource Conservation District
- Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, UC Cooperative Extension
Climate Adaptation: What Can We Do to Keep Producers Producing?
Moderator: Wendell Gilgert, Point Blue Conservation
- Eric Larson, San Diego County Farm Bureau
- Tapan Pathak, UC Merced Cooperative Extension
- Adam Cline, Yocha Dehe Farm and Ranch
Science Track
Rethinking the Nutrient Management Paradigm for Soil Health
Moderator: Judith Redmond, Full Belly Farm
- Kabir Zahangir, USDA NRCS
- Tim Bowles, UC Berkeley
- Cristina Lazcano, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Managing Agroecosystems for Climate Resilience
Moderator: Jo Ann Baumgartner, Wild Farm Alliance
- Amélie Gaudin, UC Davis
- Caitlin Peterson, UC Davis
- Valerie Eviner, UC Davis
The Many Forms of Nitrogen in Agriculture and the Environment
Moderator: Ann Thrupp, Down-to-Earth Innovations
- Mike FitzGibbon, California Air Resources Board
- Genevieve Gale, Central Valley Air Quality Coalition
- Noelle Cremers, California Farm Bureau Federation
Cutting Edge Soil Science
Moderator: Jane Sooby, CCOF
- Charlotte Decock, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
- Jessica Chiartas, UC Davis
- Rebecca Ryals, UC Merced
Lightning Talks
Moderator: Anthony Chang, Kitchen Table Advisors
Can seaweed reduce methane emissions from cattle?
- Ermias Kebreab, UC Davis
Reducing tillage on organic farms: Farmer-led research
- Cynthia Daley California State University, Chico Organic Dairy Program
The benefits of beaver stewardship to California agriculture and rangelands
- Kate Lundquist, Occidental Arts & Ecology Center WATER Institute
The power of visual storytelling to educate, inspire and drive change in our food system
- Oliver English, Common Table Creative
From research to tools: How the California Climate Hub supports climate-smart agriculture
- Lauren Parker, UC Davis
An uncertain future of first-generation ranchers
- Kate Munden-Dixon, UC Davis
State-of-the-art climate smart farmworker housing
- Alexandra Alvarado, Mutual Housing California
Agriculture is green infrastructure: Blazing the trail on land use planning and funding in San Jose
- Andrea Mackenzie, Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
