UC Ag and Natural Resources and F3 are offeringfree skills training courses to help California growers navigate the hurdles of planning, marketing, social media, capital access and buyer engagement.
Small- to mid-size growers, ranchers, fishers, food producers and food business owners are invited to join the Business Launchpad, a free, cohort-based business development program designed to help them build stronger, more resilient businesses.
Growing and preparing exceptional food is only part of what it takes to build a successful food business. Today’s producers are expected to be marketers, financial managers, regulatory experts and sales professionals – all while continuing to farm, ranch, fish or manufacture food products. While they excel at their craft, many people would benefit from developing the business skills needed to grow and sustain their operations.
“We are recruiting up to 40 participants across the state to be part of a nine-week virtual cohort designed to improve the financial stability and operational resilience of small- to mid-sized agricultural enterprises in California,” said Tracy Celio, regional director of F3 Local Farm and Food Innovation and UC ANR’s Southwest Regional Food Business Center.
Business Launchpad participants will receive practical instruction from experts on key business topics, including recordkeeping, business planning, access to capital, marketing, branding and food safety. In addition to weekly online sessions, participants will receive individualized technical assistance and have opportunities to connect with peers and buyers in person.
The fall 2026 cohort will run from October through December 2026. Participants will attend one online session each week, with each session lasting approximately 2.5 hours. Weekly educational sessions and coaching are delivered virtually, while regional networking and resource fair events will be held in person in Northern California, Central California and Southern California.
The course will cover:
Business planning
Financial literacy
Regulatory compliance
Marketing and branding
Participation will be hybrid with:
Virtual courses
1:1 coaching
Regional networking events for professional growth
Applications will be accepted until Sept. 1, and applicants will be notified of acceptance by Sept. 10, 2026.
Learn more and complete the application for Business Launchpad: Growing Resilient Roots For Food, Farm and Ranch Businesses at https://bit.ly/Foodbizlaunch.
In a time of increasing water scarcity and regulatory complexity, enhancing irrigation efficiency and improving on-farm water management practices are critical for California agriculture. Microirrigation – using highly efficient, low-flow and low-pressure systems that deliver water and nutrients close to plants’ roots – is one key solution.
“Microirrigation is no longer optional in many agricultural production regions worldwide,” said Daniele Zaccaria, professor of agricultural water management for Cooperative Extension at University of California, Davis. “It is essential for producing more food per unit of water and for achieving higher fertilizer use efficiency, relying on greater application precision and pursuing improved environmental stewardship.”
Zaccaria is organizing the 2026 Advanced School on Microirrigation for Crop Production, offered in California for the first time, from March 30 to April 3 (register by March 25).
This comprehensive program combines three days of classroom instruction at UC Davis with two days of field visits, including fruit and nut production systems in the San Joaquin Valley and vegetable, berry and wine-grape systems along the Central Coast. There is also an online option for the first three days of the program.
The school is designed for a broad audience, including farmers and ranch managers, crop consultants, water resource planners and irrigation practitioners, as well as scientists, educators, students, and personnel from a variety of agencies and sectors.
“This offers a unique, hands-on opportunity to learn directly from global leaders in the field, combining cutting-edge science, real-world applications and field experience,” Zaccaria said. “It’s an excellent investment of time for anyone committed to the future of crop production in semi-arid and arid environments.”
The educational event is co‑organized by the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Chilean Water Technology Consortium and the California Irrigation Institute.
Lectures – presented by prominent experts from UC Davis, UC Cooperative Extension and other academic, agency and private partners – will draw on the latest research, technologies and practical applications.
Topics include:
Technical aspects of water delivery systems to allow for successful adoption and management of microirrigation systems
Soil-water movement and soil-plant-water relations with microirrigation
Microirrigation systems design, operation, maintenance, automation and performance evaluation
Methods and tools for microirrigation scheduling
Managing microirrigation for different crops (field and agronomic crops, vegetable crops, berry crops, fruit crops, nut crops, vineyards)
Chemigation and fertigation
Salinity management with microirrigation
All participants will receive:
A UC Certificate of Completion
A copy of the book Microirrigation for Crop Production, recently published by Elsevier
Continuing Education Units (18.5 CEUs for lectures and 9.5 CEUs for field visits) from the American Society of Agronomy, as well as CEU credits from the Irrigation Association
Register soon to secure your spot, as class size is limited to 100 participants to ensure an optimal learning environment.
Zaccaria’s work in organizing the Microirrigation School is made possible by his Alexander and Elizabeth Swantz Endowed Specialist Position and related funds from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources brings UC information and practices to all 58 California counties. Through research and Cooperative Extension in agriculture, natural resources, nutrition, economic and youth development, our mission is to improve the lives of all Californians. Learn more at ucanr.edu.
To accelerate adoption of climate-smart farming practices, the University of California Office of the President has awarded nearly $2 million to a team of UC Cooperative Extension scientists and community partners working on a network of farm demonstration sites. The project will be led by Sonja Brodt, coordinator for agriculture and environment at the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program. This UC Agriculture and Natural Resources project is one of 38 funded with $83.1 million allocated to UC by the State of California for climate action research and innovation.
Scaling up soil health and other climate-smart agricultural practices to sequester carbon, increase water and nutrient use efficiency, and improve the resilience of farms to climate-related threats like drought and floods is a core pillar identified in California’s Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy.
Climate-smart agriculture is a systems-based approach that requires localized adaptation across the diverse soils, cropping systems, socioeconomic and cultural contexts throughout California.
Sonja Brodt
“Our project will strengthen the nascent California Farm Demonstration Network for on-the-ground, regionally specific demonstration of a range of climate-smart practices,” said Brodt. “Regional farms will demonstrate practices such as cover cropping, reduced tillage, compost and mulch use, hedgerow planting, irrigation system optimization and more.”
The $1,999,524 project will pilot a participatory partnership extension model that allows farmers to learn from their peers to reduce adoption risks and adapt knowledge to an ever-changing environment, increasing the likelihood of farmer success and accelerating long-term uptake of complex, place-specific practices.
Building on the capacity of local trusted organizations, project collaborators will be organized in a hub-and-spoke network with three regional Farm Demonstration Hubs (Sacramento Valley, North Coast and Central Coast), a pilot Hmong/Mien Demonstration Hub, and a statewide Organic Demonstration Hub.
Collaborators at each hub will be responsible for identifying and nurturing farm demonstration sites, and conducting demonstration trials and farmer-to-farmer outreach activities. Centralized organization and capacity building will be provided by UC SAREP, UC Organic Agriculture Institute, the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, and the California Farm Demonstration Network Advisory Panel.
In addition to several UC Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists across the state, partners include the UC Hansen Research and Extension Center and the Rodale Institute California Organic Center, both in Ventura County, and the UC Climate Smart Agriculture Program. Eight Resource Conservation Districts will also be involved in leading Farm Demonstration Hubs.
Hope Zabronsky of the UC Climate Smart Agriculture Program shows the importance of soil structure at a cover cropping workshop.
The project will also conduct soil health assessment activities to inform soil health and resilience monitoring protocols in future research and extension efforts. Since many existing soil health metrics were designed for agroecosystems in the Midwest and Eastern U.S., this project aims to lay the groundwork for research to adapt soil health metrics to the arid and Mediterranean climates of California.
“By utilizing relationships built between demonstration hub managers and demonstration farms across different cropping systems, we will gather quantitative and qualitative soil health data, information about growers’ management practices as well as their own perspectives of what they really need to know about their soils in order to better manage for climate resilience and mitigation,” said Brodt.
Ultimately, the project partners aim to establish an enduring on-farm extension and research system that will help thousands of farmers adopt climate-smart practices tailored to their farms.
Three other projects involving UC ANR researchers received California Climate Action Seed Grants and Matching Grants subawards:
Development of a hydrogel that can work as a soil amendment to help small-scale vegetable farms conserve water led by UC San Diego associate professor Shengqiang Cai with Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, UC Cooperative Extension small farms advisor and interim director of UC SAREP; Mallika Nocco, UC Cooperative Extension specialist; and Matthew Gilbert, UC Davis professor of whole plant physiology. $297,979
Development of a tool for predicting climate-water variation led by UC Irvine professor Isabella Velicogna with Tapan Pathak, UC Cooperative Extension specialist. $199,531
A study of urban stream corridors led by UC Davis professor Gregory Pasternack with Igor Lacan, UC Cooperative Extension environmental horticulture and urban forestry advisor. $33,824
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources brings the power of UC to all 58 California counties. Through research and Cooperative Extension in agriculture, natural resources, nutrition, economic and youth development, our mission is to improve the lives of all Californians. Learn more at ucanr.edu.
