California Assembly Passes Climate-Resilient Food & Farming Bill

California’s agricultural sector plays a key role in fighting our climate crisis. On the one hand, agriculture emits approximately 8% of the state’s total greenhouse gases. That percentage would be much higher if it accounted for emissions throughout the entire food and farming supply chain. On the other hand, climate change—drought, flooding, wildfires, and extreme temperatures—also disrupts farms and food systems. To help reduce emissions and create a more resilient food system, Assemblymember Lori Wilson introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 408, the Climate-resilient Farms, Sustainable Healthy Food Access, and Farmworker Protection Bond Act of 2024. The Assembly passed AB 408, sending a clear message that funding for climate change must include investments in agricultural resilience. We hope Senators echo this message as AB 408 makes its way through the Senate.

AB 408 proposes a robust funding package of incentives, technical assistance, market development, and infrastructure to transform California’s food and agricultural sector into one that helps draw down carbon emissions, better withstand extreme weather events, protects farmworkers, and increases access to healthy and sustainably grown food. The bill also acknowledges the history of divestment from disadvantaged communities, socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, and Tribal growers, and sets aside an unprecedented 50% of the bill’s funding for these groups. 

The bill includes funding for: 

• Regenerative agriculture practices—including organic agriculture and agroforestry—that build soil health, reduce our reliance on fertilizers and pesticides, protect biodiversity, and conserve our precious water resources.
• Affordable, community-based, and energy efficient housing for our essential farmworker families and communities.
• School kitchens, community gardens, and programs that help low-income eaters buy farm-fresh food grown with climate-friendly practices.
• Regional food hubs, meat and other processing facilities, and small-scale commercial fishing infrastructure.

This bill builds on a three-year campaign led by the California Food & Farm Resilience Coalition (FFRC), which is a coalition of 17 groups that came together in 2021 to raise the profile of agriculture to fight climate change and to advocate for systems-level changes to our food and farming system. AB 408 was written with the input of grassroots and advocacy groups across the state, and because of the coalition’s holistic approach to organizing and drafting language over the last three years, the campaign has garnered support from more than 100 organizations across California. 

With bipartisan support in the legislature and a growing list of coauthors, including Speaker-Elect Robert Rivas, legislators are saying that agriculture cannot be ignored in the context of climate change investments—a necessary signal given Governor Newsom’s proposed cuts to key food and farming programs in his May Revise. The Governor also indicated his interest in supporting a climate bond, and thankfully, AB 408 provides a handy package of climate-related food and agriculture investments the Governor can copy and include in his own proposal. We will continue applying pressure to elected leaders to make sure investments in climate change include money for a healthier, more equitable, and more climate-resilient food and farming system.