California

California AgrAbility served as a sponsor of the 34th Annual California Small Farms Conference. The conference was a hybrid event that featured over 50 different online workshops and forums for the California small farm and local food community as well as several in-person gatherings around the state. Each region's in-person gathering was unique and gave conference-goers the opportunity to connect with fellow farmers, ranchers, and farm advocates.

California AgrAbility staff attended the National AgrAbility all staff meeting on March 2nd. The meeting opened with introductions from new AgrAbility staff members followed by an update from the AgrAbility USDA representative. Topics in the meeting included upcoming events and initiatives, upgraded NAP website update, and an update from Maine AgrAbility's Richard Brzozowski on fact sheet progress.

In mid-March, California AgrAbility team members attended the week-long AgrAbility National Training Workshop in Madison, Wisconsin. Team member Esme Mandujano participated in panel presentations on the topics of cultural humility and migrant farmworker assistive technology. Throughout the week, the California AgrAbility team had the opportunity to attend various workshops and learned about low-stress marketing for farmers, small business resources, developing a client management system, and how to use art to address mental health and stress issues in farmworker populations. Staff also attended the in-person AgrAbility Marketing and Media Community of Interest meeting. Team members ended the week with a full day of dairy tours.

Submitted by California AgrAbility