Ag Innovations receives $100,000 grant from PG&E to conduct Innovation Labs around forests, fire in Lake Sonoma

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On November 29, 2017, Ag Innovations was awarded the Better Together Resilient Communities grant through PG&E , providing $100,000 to examine new ways of managing forest and watershed land to prevent wildfires.  We will partner with the Sonoma County Water Agency to bring together public agencies, private landowners, tribes, scientists, and forestry experts to develop collaborative solutions […]

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California Roundtable for Ag and the Environment Writes Recommendations on US Farm Bill 2018

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In 2017, the California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment took a systems-view approach to the Federal Farm Bill review of 2018.  CRAE started by focusing on the question, what are the pressures facing California agriculture, and why is it important to all of California to ensure agriculture’s vitality?  With pressures such as climate change, […]

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Leaders Convene to Discuss the Future California Bioeconomy

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Fundamental here is something about the way we work together as institutions and individuals – a collaborative spirit is needed to solve this problem that does not acknowledge siloed boundaries. –Joseph McIntyre, Ag Innovations Is waste wasted? Or is our thinking too limited? Everyday California farmers produce byproducts that must be disposed of in one […]

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Cultivating California’s Bioeconomy: Turning Ag Waste Into Profit

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Is waste wasted? Or is our thinking too limited? Everyday California farmers produce byproducts of the food we eat that must be disposed of one way or the other. But are we throwing away money? What if we could transform waste into profit and at the same time deliver substantial environmental benefits? There is an […]

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Longstanding CRAE Member, Richard Rominger, Awarded UC Davis’s Highest Award

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On June 9, longtime advocates for California agriculture, Richard (Rich) and Evelyne Rominger will be awarded UC Davis Medals, the highest honor the university presents to individuals. Rich is a longstanding member of Ag Innovation’s California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment (CRAE), a working group that has been active for over a decade to bring leaders together to address […]

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CRAE Summit: 4 Opportunities for Preserving and Enhancing California’s Working Lands

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What needs to happen next to preserve and enhance working lands in California? This was the final question posed to leaders who participated in the 2015 CRAE Summit on the Future of Working Lands. The answers were as diverse as the state’s farms, ranches, and working forests, which have adapted to environments ranging from the deserts of […]

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CRAE Summit: New Perspectives on How Working Lands Work

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If there is to be a future for working lands in California, that future is the effective shepherding of our working lands to maximize economic value and the variety of ecosystem services upon which we all depend. – Joseph McIntyre, Ag Innovations President Last month, over 70 leaders from diverse sectors came together to co-create […]

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California’s Drought: We’re All in This Together

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As California endures its fourth straight year of severe drought, anxiety about our water supply intensifies. The members of the California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment (CRAE) – a forum for dialogue among agricultural, environmental, and governmental leaders—ask our fellow Californians to adopt a fresh perspective. Media coverage about the current California drought has been extensive. Unfortunately, […]

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Moving the Dial on Regulations

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In the year and half since Ag Innovations’ last word on the topic of regulations, progress has been made toward the recommendations advanced in our two reports on the subject: Permitting Restoration (2010) and Regulating for Agricultural and Public Outcomes (2014). Last September, the Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Act was passed, simplifying the permitting process for small-scale, voluntary habitat […]

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5 Key Strategies to CRAE Success

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Members of the California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment (CRAE) recently took some time to reflect on what strategies help CRAE function at its best. Five key strategies, which draw on ten years of collaborative problem solving in food systems, surfaced: 1. Setting clear objectives CRAE members try to maintain a clear sense of why they have come […]

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