Dear Colleagues,

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) announced the scheduling of public listening sessions to seek comment on the 2019 Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Technical Assistance Grant Program

CDFA will conduct two public listening sessions to seek public comment on the draft Request for Proposals and application materials developed for grant program.

CDFA was authorized to administer the program under Assembly Bill No. 2377 (2018), which established a grant program to provide funds for CSA technical assistance providers to aid applicants of the Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP), the Healthy Soils Program (HSP), and the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP).

Funds awarded through this competitive grant process, as specified in the 2018 bill, will be distributed to technical assistance providers from Resource Conservation Districts, the University of California Cooperative Extension, and nonprofit organizations with demonstrated technical expertise in designing and implementing agricultural management practices to support CDFA's 2019 CSA incentive programs.

The listening sessions will be conducted at locations noted below on the following dates:

• Sacramento – Wednesday, May 15, 2019 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., California Department of Food and Agriculture, 1220 N Street, Sacramento, CA.

• Salinas – Monday, May 20, 2019 10:00 am to 12 noon, UC Cooperative Extension and Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner's Office, 1432 Abbott St., Salinas, CA.

CDFA requests interested stakeholders and the public to attend the sessions and provide comments and suggestions on the draft Request for Proposals (RFP) for the 2019 CSA Technical Assistance Grant Program.

The draft RFP is available at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/technical/index.html.

Comments must be sent via email to cdfa.oefi@cdfa.ca.gov.  The public comment period will close on May 24, 2019 at 5 p.m. PT.  Input received will be considered when finalizing the 2019 CSA Technical Assistance Grant Program.

Thank you.

Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)