Ag Secretary Kawamura at Fresno State

Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura visited the Fresno State campus today. He spoke at the Risk Management Workshop for California Small Farm Producers of Specialty Crops and toured the university farm.

The daylong workshop provided small-farm producers of specialty crops information on risk-management tools designed to enhance profitability.

Speakers included several Fresno State professors from the College of Agriculture Sciences and Technology (CAST) as well as the CSU, Chico Department of Agriculture, UC Cooperative Extension, Fresno County Farm Service Agency and the Rain and Hail Insurance Service.

Kawamura told the farmers about his experiences as an Orange County farmer and the state’s new food safety programs and discussed California’s part in the new farm bill before Congress.

He met with University president John D. Welty and CAST dean Dr. Charles Boyer. Accompanied by Joe Bezerra, director of the California Agriculture Technology Institute, Kawamura visited the Viticulture and Enology Research Center and Fresno State Winery. VERC director Robert Wample and winemaster Kenneth Fugelsang discussed academic programs and research projects.

Dr. Xiaohui Sarah Deng, Fresno State agricultural economics professor (right), chats with Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura (center) before his talk at the Risk Management Workshop for California Small Farm Producers of Specialty Crops on campus.