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Born from one of the industry’s greatest challenges, the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement has spent 20 years strengthening food safety through prevention, verification, and continuous improvement to build systems that support the production of safeleafy greens.
There are a lot of reasons that plant leaves turn yellow and this can be beyond just the most obvious like nutrient deficiency or sickness, and sometimes includes things that we don’t think about at the beginning.
In this vein, consider the pictures below of the yellowing caused in raspberry leaves when they are blocked from a sufficient amount of light. In this case, two leaves were covering another leaf below, and the result, which is visible when those two leaves are pulled aside, was a pattern of yellowing in the same shape as the leaves which were lying upon it. The lack of sunlight causes the chloroplasts which are responsible for the manufacture of green chlorophyll to become less active, eventually degrade with the net result of degreening and a fade to yellow.
Understanding this concept explains as well why the insides of raspberry hedgerowsare often filled with yellow and dying plants. There is little light getting through there, so the leaves lose their purpose and over time senesce. —Story by Mark P. Bolda, UC Ag and Natural Resource
Emotion showed on the face of a farmer as she walked across the rec yard of California State Prison Solano.
As Sarah Weil talked with incarcerated residents of the facility in Vacaville, many of them shook her hand and thanked her for the mandarins she had supplied to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
“Those are fire,” said Andre Pierson, chair of the Inmate Advisory Council, which liaises between residents and prison administration.
“The only issue I have with the mandarins is we don’t get five of them,” said Patrick Range, another resident of the Solano facility.
Weil, the co-owner of Twin Tree Farms in Madera, said she mainly sells her mandarins to wholesalers and thus rarely gets to hear such heartfelt appreciation from the people who are actually eating her fruit.
“I literally cried at some point because I was so moved by how meaningful a mandarin can be,” Weil said. “For the people there, it’s a lifeline, and I was able to be a part of providing them that lifeline. That gave me a tremendous sense of satisfaction and purpose in what I’m doing in being a farmer.”
Weil’s 47-acre mandarin farm is currently one of about 30 small- and medium-sized farms across the state participating in Harvest of the Month, a “farm to corrections” program bringing California-grown produce to CDCR facilities. Since its pilot phase in 2023, the program has expanded to supply fresh fruit and vegetables to all 30 adult facilities that house a total of about 90,000 people.
The result of a cross-sector partnership initiated by University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Nutrition Policy Institute, Harvest of the Month is the only program of its kind in a U.S. correctional system. NPI brought aboard the nonprofit Impact Justice and ChangeLab Solutions, and together they developed a partnership with CDCR and Spork Food Hub to launch this project.
In late April, the current partners hosted stakeholders — including farmers like Weil — at a panel discussion about the program at Spork in Davis and a tour of the Solano facility. Weil was grateful for the chance to meet with the incarcerated residents and understand the full impact of her mandarins.
“Harvest of the Month means everything to me,” said Range, citing the health benefits of fresh produce.
Weil recalled residents telling her that the citrus didn’t just nourish their bodies – it nourished their souls. “It brought them a sense of connection to the outside; it brought them a sense of connection to nature, a connection to something that’s living,” Weil explained.
For that firsthand experience and her involvement with Harvest of the Month, Weil also expressed her thanks to the partners behind the program, led by the NPI team of principal investigator Wendi Gosliner, project director Ron Strochlic and project manager Kassandra Bacon.
“I feel very, very blessed to be a part of it,” Weil said.
NPI, Impact Justice grew partnership that led to CDCR efforts
In 2019, Impact Justice invited Gosliner to a stakeholder interview to talk about food and nutrition and how they affect incarcerated people. Subsequently, Gosliner and Strochlic saw an opportunity to increase access to California-grown fruits and vegetables in carceral settings through a California Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant funding opportunity. Gosliner invited Impact Justice and ChangeLab Solutions to partner on the proposal.
Awarded an initial grant in 2020, the team spent a couple years gathering input from experts and stakeholders across the country, including formerly incarcerated individuals. The project managers also gradually cultivated a working relationship with CDCR – the State of California’s largest single purchaser of food.
Departmental managers initially resisted the idea due to financial considerations, as a single serving of California-grown produce from a small or medium grower costs about 35 cents, compared to their typical cost of 12 to 15 cents per serving sourced from large distributors or places like Mexico.
But CDCR, like all California state entities, was facing a requirement to purchase — by the end of 2025 — at least 60% of their food from California growers and producers, as mandated by AB 778.
“In order to do this, food services began to collaborate with other departments and agencies,” said CDCR food administrator Lance Eshelman.
The partners eventually settled on an approach based on the existing Harvest of the Month model, used in K through 12 settings to encourage young people to eat a variety of foods and receive nutrition education – while supporting small and medium farmers at the same time. The team sought to deliver one select produce item each month, starting with three correctional facilities in July 2023.
“We thought of a bite-size, small-step way to get our foot in the door with this, and that’s where Harvest of the Month began,” said Heile Gantan-Keo, program manager of Impact Justice’s Food in Prison Project.
But piloting the program at the outset, even at a modest scale, presented challenges.
“There were just a lot of logistics to manage in terms of getting the right product, having it delivered at the highest quality, and then getting it utilized well by the facilities,” Gosliner said. “There were learning curves all across that entire chain of experience.”
Fortunately, they were able to lean on the expertise of Spork Food Hub.
Harvest of the Month Offers Stability, New Market for California Farmers
When the COVID pandemic disrupted food supply chains, a handful of Sacramento Valley growers formed Spork to pool their crops and sell them to local school districts, according to Hope Sippola, co-owner of the food hub.
The project team brought in Spork because of its ability to fill a substantial order from a large purchaser like CDCR by pulling together organically or sustainably grown products from a variety of operations. Spork works with 120 farms ranging in size from two to several hundred acres, with about 60% of them operated by people who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color.
Sippola – who is also co-owner of Fiery Ginger Farm in Yolo County – said her small farm has supplied bok choy and pluots to Harvest of the Month.
“For a tiny farm like ours, it’s really important,” she said. “We wouldn’t be able to access this market if it weren’t for the fact that a food hub could aggregate the different quantities from the different farms.”
Working together also distributes risks among farmers and mitigates any potential shortfall of a particular crop, said Tim Mueller, chief executive officer of Riverdog Farm, a mixed fruit, nut, vegetable and livestock operation on 350 acres in the Capay Valley. His farm has supplied purple and watermelon daikon radishes, broccoli and cabbage to the program.
Harvest of the Month can absorb unexpected overruns, Mueller noted, and having a reliable customer in Spork gives his operation stability. That means he is able to give his 40 employees steady work, which strengthens the economy and social fabric of the entire community.
“These are people who aren’t chasing harvests across California, up and down the West Coast – they’re here; this is their home,” Mueller explained. “They have year-round work, and a program like Harvest of the Month helps make that a reality.”
Weil, who grows mandarins exclusively and also operates her own packing house, said the consistency and volume of Harvest of the Month orders enable her to stay in production and retain her picking and packing crews – a challenge for many growers.
“We’re talking about 50 people – from the pickers to the packers and other people that are involved,” Weil said. “A lot of people benefited from this program; it’s really been a godsend and I’m so grateful for it.”
Thus, despite the slightly lower price point offered through the Harvest of the Month program, participating farmers nevertheless appreciate access to a significant new market and the guaranteed sales — as well as other opportunities.
“For example, Orozco Farms — also known as Melon Bros — they didn’t grow in the winter and grew only summer crops,” Sippola said. “But now they’re growing in the winter for this program specifically, and we’ve been crop planning with them.”
Growth of Program Presents Delivery, Kitchen Challenges
Given the many benefits for growers and incarcerated individuals alike, Harvest of the Month grew steadily, with the program partners adding three CDCR facilities each quarter. Through an additional $5 million allocation from the California legislature to help CDCR comply with AB 778, all 30 adult facilities in the system now get multiple servings of fresh fruit and vegetables every month.
This presented a major test for Spork’s logistical reach.
“We’re driving all the way to the Oregon border and all the way to the southern border of California, which is a lot for our five little trucks,” said Sippola, who added that Spork is also partnering with a third-party company to help deliver the produce to all CDCR facilities.
Although it started as a regional food hub, Spork now sources from farms all over California.
“We have a lot of coastal farmers, which gives us season extension and they can grow things like berries year-round,” Sippola said. “We source from most of California, with a focus on the Central Valley and Central California coast, as far south as Santa Maria.”
Another challenge has been ensuring that the fruits and vegetables can be properly processed by the diverse facilities across the CDCR system.
“When we’re dealing with 30 different kitchens – some as old as San Quentin, some as new as the Stockton medical facility – we have different equipment,” Eshelman explained. “They all don’t have the same infrastructure or equipment, and some cooks get creative in order to produce a quality product.”
Butternut squash was, quite literally, a tough case in point. Gantan-Keo of Impact Justice said she heard many questions from food service staff – what to make with this, how does this fit into the statewide menus they need to comply with, and how do they even cut up the hard squash, without industrial choppers, processors, or the sharp knives that one might find at home.
“We learned from that; we listened and surveyed food managers who have been implementing the program,” Gantan-Keo said. “And then we tried to go for a softer variety of squash, like delicata squash.”
The program team also has been gathering feedback from the residents of the facilities.
“When Heile and the team are going to the facilities, they’re not just talking to food service staff or the food managers. They’re also talking to the incarcerated individuals – they’re the ones that are consuming these products,” Eshelman said. “They also know how to prepare ingredients in their cell, from the food they purchase from the canteen [a commissary in a correctional facility].”
With State Support, Harvest of the Month Will Continue to Improve
Pierson and Range, incarcerated residents at the Solano facility, have been using the fresh vegetables in the soups they make. Pierson said he is teaching the younger men how to prepare the soup, and Range added that he appreciates being able to add different vegetables to his rice bowls, such as the bok choy.
“In the ’90s, when I got here, you got a handful of lettuce,” recalled Range, who has to manage kidney disease.
He said that in 2023, he was told he would need dialysis by the end of the year, but after watching his diet and increasing his intake of fruit and vegetables, he noted that his kidney function had actually improved in the intervening years.
“My kidneys are better and my health is better,” Range said.
Other residents in the rec yard told attendees of the stakeholder tour that the fresh produce was a great boon for their mental and emotional health. By eating less processed food and more fruits and vegetables, some observed that they felt less sluggish or had fewer mood swings, and were less prone to destructive behavior.
They especially enjoyed the greater variety on offer — from pluots to persimmons, and avocados to asparagus.
“Every time I got these vegetables, I called my mom and asked her what to do with them,” said Brian Cortez.
The produce will keep coming, at least for the foreseeable future. Harvest of the Month will continue, even as the grant money that supported program logistics and management runs out. A second specialty crop block grant that the NPI team received ends later this month.
“The idea behind those grants is that the project should be self-sustaining and not continue to require grant funds,” said Gosliner, the NPI principal investigator. “We’ve been trying these past three years to figure out how to make Harvest of the Month embedded in systems, so it doesn’t require our effort for the work to continue.”
The funding for purchasing the food from Spork has been entirely provided by CDCR, noted Strochlic, the NPI project director.
“It’s all come from CDCR, which has demonstrated their commitment to the program and making sure that it’s successful,” he said. “They’ve been a great collaborator, as well as a great champion.”
Eshelman, the departmental food administrator, credits CDCR leadership — Secretary Jeff Macomber and the federally appointed Receivers overseeing health care – for their support of the program.
As long as the state’s budget permits, Eshelman said he will continue to grow and improve upon the template that has been established by Harvest of the Month.
“We have plans, we have ideas, and now we know how to make it work,” he said. “And we’re looking forward to the future.”
— Story by UC Ag and Natural Resources
California and Arizona cantaloupe growers in the southern desert production region report that current short-supply conditions are significant but temporary.
“While weather-related production challenges have impacted the desert growing region, approximately 70 percent of California’s cantaloupe crop is produced in the San Joaquin Valley, where harvest is expected to begin by the June 29, which is right on schedule,” said Garrett Patricio, President of Classic Fruit Company and chairman of the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board, who stressed shippers are expecting promotable volume to be available by early July.”
In the meantime, unusual weather patterns have severely impacted melon production in California’s Imperial Valley and the Yuma, Ariz. growing region. Growers expect extremely limited supplies of all melon varieties, including cantaloupe, during the next two weeks.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my more than 30 years of growing cantaloupe,” said Barry Zwillinger owner of Legend Produce. “We would love to be able to fill retail orders at any price, but at the moment we simply do not have the volume available.”
Zwillinger explained that a combination of unusual weather conditions contributed to the shortage. Warmer-than-normal winter temperatures and the absence of freezing weather allowed pest populations to increase significantly. This was followed by an exceptionally warm spring, causing harvest to begin nearly two weeks earlier than normal.
“Spring harvest started out fantastic, but as the season progressed, we noticed plants becoming weaker, and yields in many fields declined by as much as 40 to 60 percent,” Zwillinger said. “Those conditions have led to the supply gap we’re experiencing today, with very few melons available over the next couple of weeks.”
Patricio emphasized that growing conditions in California’s San Joaquin Valley have been considerably more stable, and harvest timing is expected to be normal.
“The good news is that we expect strong cantaloupe volume beginning in early July and continuing throughout the remainder of the summer,” Patricio said. “Consumers and retailers can look forward to a steady supply of high-quality California cantaloupes once the San Joaquin Valley season gets underway.”
About 75 percent of all cantaloupes consumed in the United States are grown in California. As the San Joaquin Valley harvest gets underway, the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board is launching an expanded consumer marketing campaign designed to drive demand throughout the summer season. The program includes digital advertising, retail support materials, influencer partnerships and a strong emphasis on reaching younger Gen Z consumers through social media platforms.
“California growers are looking forward to a great summer season with an abundant supply of high-quality cantaloupes,” said Patricio. “We encourage retailers and consumers to follow our social media channels on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X for selecting and eating tips, nutrition information and a lot of fun and engaging content from California cantaloupe growers.”
“We appreciate the patience and support of our retail partners during this short transition period and look forward to supplying promotable volumes throughout the remainder of the summer,” said Patricio. — Story contributed by the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board
Effective June 18, the CDFA is expanding the sweet orange scab (SOS) quarantine in the Burbank, Los Angeles and Long Beach areas of Los Angeles County and the Anaheim and Garden Grove areas of Orange County (grids 438, 439, 455, 456, 457, 470, and 471). A map of the new boundary can be found at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus/pests_diseases/sos/regulation.html.
Regulated articles and conditions for intrastate movement under the quarantine can be found at Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) section 3443. Pursuant to 3 CCR § 3443, any interested party or local entity may appeal a quarantine area designation.
Process to Appeal the Expanded Boundary
The appeal must be submitted to the Department in writing and supported by clear and convincing evidence. The appeal must be filed no later than ten (10) working days from the date of this notification. During the pending of the appeal, the designated quarantine boundary under appeal shall remain in effect.
Mail Appeals to: CDFA – Citrus Division 1220 N Street Sacramento, Calif. 95814
Electronic Notification of Boundary Changes
California Code of Regulation allows interested parties to be notified of quarantine area boundary changes, as well as the opportunity to submit quarantine boundary appeals. If interested in receiving notifications, please sign up for regulatory updates through the email notification at: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/CADFA/subscriber/new
For questions regarding the regulations or map, email Raymond Niem (Raymond.Niem@CDFA.ca.gov) or call (916) 274-6300. — Story contributed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture
A portion of San Diego County has been placed under quarantine for the Mexican fruit fly following the detection of one mated female fly in and around the unincorporated community of Spring Valley. This new quarantine will overlap a portion of the existing La Mesa Mexican Fruit Fly quarantine by 19 square miles. The USDA, the San Diego County Agricultural Commissioner and the CDFA are working collaboratively on this project.
The new quarantine area in San Diego County measures 76 square miles, bordered on the north by El Cajon; on the south by Proctor Valley; on the west by Lemon Grove; and on the east by McGinty Mountain. A link to the quarantine map may be found here: www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/mexfly/regulation.html.
Sterile male Mexican fruit flies will be released in the area as part of the eradication effort. The release rate will be up to approximately 250,000 males per square mile per week in an area up to 50 square miles around the infestation.
The quarantine will affect growers, wholesalers and retailers of susceptible fruit in the area as well as nurseries that grow and sell Mexican fruit fly host plants. The quarantine will also affect local residents; home gardeners are urged to consume homegrown produce on site and not move it from their property. These actions protect against the spread of the infestation to nearby regions where it could affect California’s food supply and backyard gardens and landscapes.
The Mexican fruit fly can lay its eggs in and infest more than 50 types of fruits and vegetables, severely impacting California agricultural exports and backyard gardens alike. For more information on the pest, please see the pest profile at: www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/go/MexFly. Residents who believe their fruits and vegetables may be infested with fruit fly larvae are encouraged to call the state’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899.
The eradication approach used in the Spring Valley area of San Diego County is the standard program used by CDFA and it is the safest and most effective and efficient response program available.
While fruit flies and other invasive species that threaten California’s crops and natural environment are sometimes detected in agricultural areas, the vast majority are found in urban and suburban communities. The most common pathway for these invasive species to enter our state is by “hitchhiking” in fruits and vegetables brought back illegally by travelers as they return from infested regions of the world. To help protect California’s agriculture and natural resources, CDFA urges travelers to follow the Don’t Pack a Pest program guidelines (www.dontpackapest.com). — Story Contributed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture
UC Ag and Natural Resources is hosting a berry production workshop in Escondido. Whether it’s backyard and container-grown production, or commercial, field-grown operations, growers can learn the essentials of cultivating, managing and the economics of growing strawberries, blackberries and blueberries in San Diego County.
The workshop will cover site selection, planting, irrigation, pest management, harvesting and market considerations for berry production at any scale. Practices, strategies, and challenges for production of strawberries and cane berries
Issues and strategies for container-grown blueberries in San Diego County. Challenges for commercial, field-grown production of blueberries in San Diego County Economic consideration for berry production, tasting and value-added product development with berries will also be discussed.
Registration is $40 per person. The deadline is 5 p.m. June 15, or earlier if capacity is reached.
Day of walk-ups will not be admitted. Registration includes educational materials, continental breakfast and tasting of berries and berry products.
Registration Link: https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=49412
For questions about registration, contact Lupe Ibarra at (858)822-7711 or llibarra@ucanr.edu. For questions about the program, contact Ramiro Lobo at (858)243-4608 or relobo@ucanr.edu. — Story contributed by UC Ag and Natural Resources
Effective June, the CDFA is expanding the sweet orange scab (SOS) quarantine boundary in the Artesia area of Los Angeles County and Buena Park area of Orange County (grids 470 and 471). A map of the new boundary can be found at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus/pests_diseases/sos/regulation.html.
Regulated articles and conditions for intrastate movement under the quarantine can be found at Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) section 3443. Pursuant to 3 CCR § 3443, any interested party or local entity may appeal a quarantine area designation.
Process to Appeal the Expanded Boundary
The appeal must be submitted to the Department in writing and supported by clear and convincing evidence. The appeal must be filed no later than 10 working days from the date of this notification. During the pending of the appeal, the designated quarantine boundary under appeal shall remain in effect.
Mail Appeals to: CDFA – Citrus Division 1220 N Street Sacramento, CA 95814
Electronic Notification of Boundary Changes
California Code of Regulation allows interested parties to be notified of quarantine area boundary changes, as well as the opportunity to submit quarantine boundary appeals. If interested in receiving notifications, please sign up for regulatory updates through the email notification at: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/CADFA/subscriber/new
For questions regarding the regulations or map, email Raymond Niem (Raymond.Niem@cdfa.ca.gov) or call 916.274.6300. — Story contributed by the California Department of Food and Ag
The California Avocado Commission is encouraging its growers to apply for aid from the USDA Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers (ASCF) program
For growers who submitted their 2025 eligible acres before the April 24 deadline, the ACSF has allocated $1.6 billion through a one-time bridge payment for specialty crops not covered through the Farm Bridge Assistance program. Payment limitations are set at $250,000 and the program has an adjusted gross income limitation of $900,000. The program is designed to provide financial support to allow specialty crop growers pay for production and marketing inputs in the face of significant market disruptions during the 2025 growing season.
To be eligible, producers must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien and have reported eligible acres for the 2025 crop year by April 24. Avocado growers are considered tier 2 at $255 per acre.
Pre-filled applications are available for growers who reported their 2025 crop acreage report by the deadline. Producers also can request their pre-filled application from their local Farm Service Agency office beginning June 8. Completed applications can be returned in person, via email or fax or electronically using Box and One-span.
The deadline to apply is August 7, 2026. — Story contributed by the California Avocado Commission
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Strawberry growers in California are operating in an increasingly demanding environment, where rising labor costs, tightening margins, and greater production risk are becoming the norm rather than the exception. In a crop that is highly labor-intensive and sensitive to timing, even small disruptions can have significant financial consequences. At the same time, growers are navigating ongoing challenges from soil-borne diseases, evolving pest pressure, and the rising cost of land and inputs—making it more difficult to maintain consistent profitability even in strong production years.
Layered on top of these structural pressures is an increasing level of weather volatility that can quickly disrupt both yield and market conditions. Excess rainfall during critical harvest periods can damage fields and impact fruit quality, while unseasonably warm or cool conditions can shift production windows and affect pricing. As a result, many growers are facing a widening gap between their operational costs and the predictability of their revenue—creating less visibility from one season to the next and increasing the importance of managing risk more proactively. In this environment, maintaining a strong risk management strategy is critical—not only to protect revenue, but also to ensure operations are well positioned should disaster assistance programs become available.
In response to these challenges, federal crop insurance programs have evolved to better reflect the realities of specialty crop farming. Programs such as the Production & Revenue History (PRH) plan and Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) now provide strawberry growers with tools to manage not only traditional production risk, but broader revenue exposure as well. When structured appropriately, these highly subsidized programs can make comprehensive coverage surprisingly affordable—helping to stabilize income during difficult seasons and providing a layer of financial protection when both production and market conditions are working against the operation.
– Adverse weather (hail, frost, heat, freeze, wind, drought, excess rain/flooding)
– Earthquake
– Irrigation water failure due to insured perils
– Fire and wildfire (including smoke exposure)
– Insects and plant disease (excluding mismanagement)
– Wildlife damage
– Volcanic eruption
– Harvest price decline (when revenue coverage is selected)
The PRH program uses your own historical production and revenue data to build a customized insurance guarantee tailored to how your operation actually performs.
Available Coverage Options:
– Production (Yield) Protection: Covers loss of production due to natural causes
– Revenue Protection: Covers both yield loss and declines in market pricing
– Revenue Protection Plus: Covers yield loss or revenue decline, whichever is greater
PRH coverage is currently available in Fresno, Merced, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Ventura counties.
Effective for the 2027 crop year, PRH may also be available in additional counties through a written agreement (special request), subject to approval.
– Summer Planting: July 1
– Winter Planting: September 30
– Dual Season Counties: July 1
– Covers 50% of average yield
– Paid at 55% of the RMA price
– Fully subsidized premium
– $655 flat administrative fee per county
Buy-up coverage offers stronger protection levels (50%–85%) and is designed to protect against moderate losses that can still have a meaningful financial impact on the operation.
One of the most important—and often overlooked—features of crop insurance is the level of federal subsidy built into the program. A significant portion of the total premium is paid on behalf of the grower, making higher levels of coverage far more affordable than many expect.
These enhancements further reduce the grower-paid portion of the premium, improving the overall value and affordability of higher coverage levels.
In many cases, growers are only paying 30%–40% of the true premium cost at common coverage levels—and even less at lower levels—while still gaining meaningful protection against both production and revenue risk. When evaluating coverage, it’s important to focus on the **grower-paid premium—not the total premium—**to understand the true cost of the policy.
WFRP covers total farm revenue across all commodities and is based on your historical Schedule F tax records coupled with your expected revenue for the upcoming crop year.
Depending on your operation and overall risk strategy, Whole Farm may be elected as a standalone alternative to PRH or used in conjunction with PRH to better align coverage with both crop-level and whole-farm revenue exposure.
– Up to 80% subsidy support —among the highest available in federal crop insurance
– Revenue-based across the entire operation
– Can be paired with PRH to create a more comprehensive, layered risk management strategy
– Single commodity strawberry growers are now eligible for WFRP
– Coverage levels available up to 90%
– February 28 (WFRP)
– March 31 (Micro Farm)
– November 20 (Early Fiscal Filers)
– Similar to Whole Farm but designed for smaller operations
– Up to $350,000 revenue eligibility
– Simplified reporting
For newer operators, federal crop insurance programs—including PRH, Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP), and Micro Farm—offer enhanced benefits designed to make coverage more accessible and affordable.
To qualify, growers must have 10 years or less of farming experience (not necessarily consecutive), with additional eligibility pathways available for Veteran Farmer & Rancher status.
These provisions are designed to help newer and transitioning operations get meaningful coverage in place earlier, without being heavily penalized for limited history. In many cases, this results in stronger protection and significantly lower net cost, particularly when factoring in waived administrative fees and increased subsidy support.
Each coverage option serves a different purpose, and the right approach will depend on how your operation is structured, how your fruit is marketed, and your overall risk tolerance.
In some cases, Whole Farm may be used alongside PRH to create a more layered risk management strategy, depending on how the operation is structured.
In addition to the protection provided under crop insurance programs, participation in federal crop insurance also plays an important role in positioning growers for disaster assistance through Farm Service Agency (FSA) programs, such as the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) and other ad hoc relief initiatives.
When disaster programs are implemented, growers with crop insurance coverage are generally eligible for Stage 1 benefits, which are:
By contrast, growers without crop insurance coverage are often directed to Stage 2 assistance, which:
Maintaining crop insurance coverage not only provides direct protection against production and revenue losses, but also helps ensure you are better positioned to access federal disaster relief when it becomes available. In many cases, insured growers are able to receive assistance more quickly and with fewer administrative hurdles than those without coverage.
As a result, crop insurance should be viewed not only as a risk management tool, but also as an important component of a broader strategy to maintain financial stability during years impacted by adverse events.
Strawberry crop insurance has evolved significantly in recent years, and growers now have more flexibility than ever in how they protect their operation. Programs like PRH allow you to tailor coverage based on your own production and pricing history, while Whole Farm provides a broader approach tied to total farm revenue—including now for single-commodity strawberry operations beginning in 2026.
The right strategy ultimately depends on:
With strong federal subsidies helping offset a significant portion of the premium, many growers are able to secure meaningful levels of protection at a relatively low out-of-pocket cost. For eligible Beginning and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers, additional benefits—such as increased subsidy support and waived administrative fees—can further improve the economics of coverage. When structured appropriately, coverage can serve as a financial backstop during years when both production and market conditions are working against the operation.
Beyond direct protection, maintaining crop insurance coverage also ensures growers are better positioned to access federal disaster assistance programs, such as those administered through the Farm Service Agency. In many cases, insured growers are eligible for earlier-stage relief (Stage 1 benefits), which are typically delivered sooner and with fewer administrative hurdles than later-stage assistance. This can play an important role in maintaining cash flow and operational continuity following a difficult season.
As a result, crop insurance should be viewed not only as a risk management tool, but as a key component of a broader financial strategy—helping to protect revenue, manage volatility, and position the operation for potential relief opportunities when adverse events occur.
James Dillon
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Relation Insurance Services
CA Individual License #0I59029
CA Agency License #0F89850
7673 N. Ingram Avenue, Suite 103
Fresno, California, 93711
Office: (559) 777-6106
Mobile: (559) 321-6686
james.dillon@relationinsurance.com
relationinsurance.com
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PROVIDER OF FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE