1 Exploring Sustainable Agriculture in California’s Regulatory and Demographic Landscape Mark S. Rentz Deputy Director, Policy Coordination CA. Dep’t. of Pesticide Regulation

2 Overview of California Challenges n Diversity of Crops - Top 10 Commodities: *Milk and Cream: $5.37 Lettuce: $1.46 Grapes, All Types: $2.76 Strawberries: $1.22 Nursery Products: $2.65 Tomatoes: $1.09 Almonds: $2.20 Hay: $1.01 Cattle and Calves: $1.63 Flowers: $1.00 * Categories current as of calendar year 2004 and dollar amounts are in billions.

3 Overview of California Challenges n Geographic Diversity: n Geographic Diversity: Southern Mediterranean coast; cooler Central Coast; North Coast; coastal mountains; coastal valleys; inland valleys; deserts; Sierra foothills. n Water Challenges: n Water Challenges: Transfers from the north to south; from inland headwaters to coastal areas. n T & E species: n T & E species: CESA: 79 animals; 223 plants FESA: 309 species (Not all affect agriculture) n Population Growth & Urban Sprawl: : 4.7 million; : 4.5 million

4 Existing Coordination Efforts in California n n Cal/EPA-CDFA Ag Working Group: Meets monthly to identify issues affecting agriculture and opportunities for cross-media coordination. n n Inter-Agency Coordination Team: Federal and State agencies that meet quarterly to identify opportunities to assist California’s agricultural community achieve environmental and conservation goals in an efficient and cost effective manner by maximizing, leveraging, and coordinating the delivery of technical and financial assistance.

5 Existing Coordination Efforts in California n n Sustainable Agriculture Roundtable: Reps. from environmental groups, agriculture, educational institutions, sustainable agriculture programs, state and federal government exploring opportunities to advance sustainable agriculture practices. n n Agricultural Commodity Groups: Voluntarily developing sustainable agriculture principles. n n Cal/EPA-CDFA Efforts: Evaluating opportunities to incorporate sustainable agriculture principles to achieve environmental mandates.

6 Env. Assurances Accountability Transparency Flexibility Env. Mandates Certainty Fiscal Feasibility Predictability Resource Efficiency Affordability Sustainable Agriculture – Conceptual Model