Great news: California has a record-setting budget surplus!
While Governor Newsom and the California State Assembly decide what to do with these funds, Center for Food Safety has joined a diverse coalition of food system advocates in supporting Assemblymember Robert Rivas’ new plan to use this surplus to invest in California’s recovery while making our food system more equitable and resilient.
Our coalition supports a food and farm resilience spending plan put forward by Assemblymember Robert Rivas and fellow Assembly and Senate members. It takes a holistic and equitable approach to the food and farming system, and would create jobs and speed up California’s economic recovery. This plan calls for:
- Making farms more resilient to wildfires, flood, and other climate crisis impacts
- Supporting sustainable and organic agriculture practices
- Increasing access of agricultural lands to farmers of color, beginning farmers, and indigenous tribes
- Securing multi-unit housing for farmworkers and their families
- Improving access to healthy foods through school kitchens, farmers’ markets, and farm-to-senior programs
- Decreasing food waste and increasing compost production
- Protecting California’s groundwater
- Strengthening regional food systems so that your food doesn’t have to travel far to reach your plate
Programs like these are essential if we’re going to make sure our food system is sustainable for generations to come.
Learn more about AB 125 here and here. Read the full bill language here.