BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 2413 (J. Perez) - The Office of Farm to Fork
Amended: As Introduced Policy Vote: Agriculture 5-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 11, 2014
Consultant: Robert Ingenito
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2413 would create the Office of Farm to Fork
(OFF) within the California Department of Food and Agriculture
(CDFA), both (1) to work with various entities involved in
promoting food access, and (2) to increase the amount of
agricultural products available to schools and underserved
communities in the State.
Fiscal Impact: CDFA currently operates a farm to fork program
via an interagency agreement with two other state departments.
However, the duties of OFF, as prescribed in this bill, would
likely result in workload and subsequent costs that exceed the
current value of the contract by a potentially several hundred
thousands of dollars (special fund, see Staff Comments). Costs
to CDFA to create a new account within the Food and Agriculture
Fund would be minor and absorbable.
Background: "Farm-to-Fork" is a term that encompasses efforts
that bring local or regionally produced foods to people who
desire these products. The concept is currently being
accomplished in many different ways in California, including
farmer's markets, community supported agriculture (CSA), and
other venues where people can buy food directly from growers.
Other examples include farm to school programs that increase
access and awareness for fresh fruits and vegetables through the
use of school gardens and education, and community and urban
gardens that help communities grow their own foods.
Proposed Law: This bill would do the following:
Create OFF within CDFA that shall work with the
agricultural industry, direct marketing organizations, food
policy councils, public health groups, nonprofit and
AB 2413 (J. Perez)
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philanthropic organizations, academic institutions,
district agricultural associations, government agencies,
and other organizations involved in promoting food access.
Require OFF to do all of the following:
o Work with stakeholders to identify urban and
rural communities that lack access to healthy food,
determine current barriers, and share information to
encourage best practices.
o Coordinate with governmental agencies to
increase awareness of programs promoting greater food
access.
o Promote retail sale of healthy foods in
underserved communities, including promoting the use
of CalFresh and WIC benefits at farmers' markets,
supporting urban agriculture, and increasing the
quantity and quality of retail food stores.
o Foster partnerships among community partners,
including farmers, businessmen and nonprofit
philanthropic organizations.
o Identify distribution barriers that affect
food access and overcome those barriers by encouraging
food hubs, coordinating institutional food-buying
practices, and increasing access to resources such as
the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative.
o Identify opportunities and provide assistance
for collaboration between farmers and food banks or
other nonprofit organizations to distribute
agricultural products to reduce hunger and increase
access to healthy foods.
o Identify opportunities to collaborate with
community organizations to provide cooking and
nutrition classes to underserved residents.
o Coordinate with school districts to encourage
best purchasing practices, increase nutrition in
schools, and increase access to nutrition education.
AB 2413 (J. Perez)
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Create the Farm to Fork Account within the Food and
Agriculture Fund that shall consist of monies made
available from federal, state, industry, philanthropic, and
private sources, and be appropriated continuously without
regard to fiscal year to carry out purposes of the above
provisions.
Related Legislation: AB 38 (Pérez) of 2013. Would create the
Office of Farm to Fork within CDFA to, among other things,
promote food access and increase the amount of agricultural
products available to underserved communities and schools within
California. The bill was held under submission in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
Staff Comments: This bill codifies the farm to fork program
within CDFA, which currently operates via an interagency
contract between DFA, the Department of Education (CDE), and the
Department of Public Health (DPH). The contract supports two
full-time positions, and amounts to $200,000. The OFF, as
specified in the bill, would be required to engage in wide range
of activities whose scope would likely require more than the two
existing positions. The increase is currently unknown, but
would likely be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars
annually. Staff recommends removing the continuous appropriation
in the bill, as it reduced Legislative oversight.