California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment

The California Roundtable on Ag and the Environment (CRAE) is a broad coalition of agriculture, environment, labor, and public agency leaders working to promote an agriculture that is economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially responsible.

CRAE was founded in September 2004 to build broad-based support for the expansion of the Environmental Quality Improvement Program in the Federal Farm Bill. Since that time the group the group has expanded its efforts to include:

• Promoting Farm Bill reform
• Working with the University of California to address the research needs of agriculture and the environment
• Exploring ways to use third-party certification of farms as a way to improve environmental performance and create regulatory incentives on farms
• Developing a proactive response to food safety issues that protects health and the environment
• Preserving agricultural land in California
• Supporting AgJobs legislation
• Protecting agricultural production and environmental resources from invasive pests

CRAE works primarily at the policy level, providing information and perspective to state and federal legislators and regulators.