Initiative aims to promote sustainable agriculture in California

A new initiative from San Francisco-based food technology company GrubMarket will invest a portion of the company’s net profits in activities aimed at promoting and enhancing agricultural sustainability in California.

The Sustainable California initiative will help plant trees in the Central Valley and other areas in the state, financially support local farmers obtaining organic certifications, and develop technologies to improve sustainability in areas including farming and food procurement, sales, storage and logistics.

These efforts will aim to address challenges facing California’s agricultural industry such as water scarcity, soil depletion, environmental preservation challenges and climate change.

“California farmers, especially farmers in the Central Valley, are challenged every day as farming becomes harder and harder, due to an increasingly hot climate, depleted water supply, and deteriorating soil conditions from over-farming,” Mike Xu, CEO of GrubMarket, said in a news release. “The farm-grown produce available today in California’s local farmers’ markets are much less in richness, variety, and diversity, compared to several years ago. Moreover, the past few years have seen economic uncertainty and supply chain disruptions that have presented a unique opportunity for long-term innovation in food production and environmental protection.

“We are excited to launch the Sustainable California initiative to protect, support, and uplift California’s fragile agricultural ecosystem.”

According to the release, organic agriculture represents just 4% to 5% of cropland in California, though the state produces more than 40% of organic commodities sold in the U.S., including most of the country’s organic vegetables. The company hopes to help offset the costs of organic certification for farmers and to enable them to produce more high-margin and high-quality organic products.

California farmers, growers and technologists interested in learning more about the initiative can message SustainableCA@grubmarket.com.