I have always appreciated the proverb, "May you live in interesting times."  We certainly do, and I am honored to have been chosen to serve as Secretary of Agriculture for California during these interesting, challenging times. The difficult road ahead makes our partnership with California's agricultural commissioners and sealers more important than ever. There is a possibility that our paradigm could shift significantly over the next several years, and we must work together to make sure we continue to protect the agriculture of our state and consumers.

The climate here in Sacramento is tough. You all know that budget problems are ongoing. At CDFA, Governor Brown asked us to work with a consortium of industry members to achieve $15 million in general fund reductions for 2011-2012, and another $15 million for 2012-2013.  CACASA joined the consortium and has made crucial contributions. I want to specifically recognize outgoing CACASA president Bob Atkins and incoming president Mary Pfeiffer for their efforts.  The consortium represents a broad cross-section of California agriculture. I want to thank those industry leaders personally for their commitment in helping us reach the governor's budget reduction target. We have agreed to a series of proposals that hit at some of the core functions of the department, and we are now continuing to explore ways to augment funding so the threat to our ability to protect California is limited. During this process we kept in mind the core mission of the California Department of Food and Agriculture: To ensure food safety and protect the state from invasive pests and animal diseases. To date, the solutions identified include a mixture of fund shifts, new or increased fees or assessments identified by industry groups, and reduction or elimination of programs.      

When I interviewed with the Governor he explained that the budget - getting our fiscal house in order so we could grow the economy and create jobs - had to be our focus or we would not be able to do any of the things we might wish to do. As you may know, he is a frugal man and he is bringing those values to the job. He wants to make sure that all of us, as taxpayers, get what we pay for.  At CDFA, we're committed to that principle.   

That being said, the Governor is very interested in innovation and capitalizing on our rich history of innovators and inventors, especially around renewable energy and the green economy.  He appreciates California agriculture's economic contribution and the impressive growth we continue to show on exports.  He is very mindful of agriculture's productivity, our outstanding reputation in fast growing emerging Asian markets, and our ports and infrastructure that support international trade.

At the Department, I am working closely with our Division Directors on a couple of initiatives near and dear to my heart:

1) Our comprehensive surveillance and rapid response systems must be preserved to be sure we can ensure food safety and protect agriculture from invasive pests and diseases.  While there will be some reductions in the scope of several of these programs, we will also be undertaking department-wide process improvement initiatives to streamline our systems and look for smarter, more efficient ways of providing our services.  These systems have been built over several decades and we should not be afraid to carefully examine them for areas of overlap and duplication and think about new ways to provide the same levels of protection to keep product moving into trade channels. Input from CACASA members is vitally important as we move forward. 

2) For a number of years, the concern of farmers and ranchers about the cumulative impact of regulations that are often conflicting or redundant has been increasing and I am determined to position CDFA to be of assistance.  Throughout the Department we have knowledgeable scientific and technical expertise that provides credibility for all of our programs.  I believe we can deploy that same level of scientific credibility in providing data, impact assessments and information about alternative strategies to our sister agencies in the regulatory arena.  I intend to work closely with Ag stakeholders to ensure that our efforts enhance agriculture's contribution to the state's economic, environmental and public health.

For too many people in urban California, CDFA and how its programs operate are a mystery.  We see all around us the lack of public trust in our government and the failure of taxpayers to connect the services they enjoy to the dollars they send to Sacramento and Washington, D.C.   Having aggressive public outreach and communication activities on an ongoing basis and immediately starting local community outreach when an eradication program is contemplated are critical to CDFA's ability to successfully protect agriculture.  I intend to invest much personal time and attention to build coalitions and broaden the base of support for CDFA and its programs on behalf of the farm community.

I invite each one of you individually and the CACASA organization to join us in this effort. We must all work together to achieve what is, in my mind, the ultimate sustainability - the ability of our grandchildren and their grandchildren to farm productively in California.

 A key element of this plan will be to identify the best strategies for encouraging and educating growers and others to use the new web based PPUR reporting system or one of the third party electronic systems as a more efficient and accurate alternative to submitting hardcopy reports. Some counties have already successfully reduced their level of data-entry reports and CACASA is seeking to emulate those successes to achieve the phased-in reduction of data-entry contracts statewide before FY 12/13.  This effort coincides with the new Cal Ag Permits System being developed that will continue capturing needed information and help create additional reporting efficiencies that will help counties reduce the amount of data entries.