Photo Caption: Senator Adam Schiff meets with organic farmers and policy advocates, including BFI’s Jeanne Merrill and Steve Fukagawa.

BFI’s Executive Director, Jeanne Merrill, and BFI Advisory Council member and organic stone fruit farmer, Steve Fukagawa met with Senator Adam Schiff, the first California U.S. Senator on the Agriculture Committee in over 30 years. At the conference, Senator Schiff held a conversation with the conference’s organic farmers and food system leaders to learn about industry challenges, their farm bill priorities, and the ways he could support their work.

BFI’s Executive Director, Jeanne Merrill, and BFI Advisory Council member and organic stone fruit farmer, Steve Fukagawa met with Senator Adam Schiff, the first California U.S. Senator on the Agriculture Committee in over 30 years. At the conference, Senator Schiff held a conversation with the conference’s organic farmers and food system leaders to learn about industry challenges, their farm bill priorities, and the ways he could support their work.

BFI also sponsored six UC Berkeley students’ attendance at EcoFarm as part of BFI’s career pathways project that identifies opportunities in the organic food supply chain and technical assistance careers. The students began their conference experience with a pre-conference, all-day workshop entitled “Sustainable Paths – Strengthening the Organic Produce Supply Chain,” which explored the complexities of the modern day organic food supply chain. Among the discussions was the challenge for many farmers in receiving fair prices for organic products from large corporate retailers.

Caption: BFI Food & Farm Systems Engagement Fellow Ana Trujillo asks a workshop panel about future opportunities to get involved in food as medicine work.

Throughout the conference, students joined and participated in discussions over food issues important to them, from food as medicine to agrivoltaics to immigration and farm labor. 

BFI’s ability to bring students to EcoFarm was made possible by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP). TOPP is a program of the USDA Organic Transition Initiative and is administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP).