California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply
The California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply is a forum for select leaders at the intersection of agriculture and water management to uncover obstacles, identify strategic and widely accepted solutions, and generate recommendations to assure a reliable, long-term supply of water to California’s specialty crop producers while optimizing other beneficial uses of water. The Roundtable is a space where these thoughtful and committed leaders can engage in a facilitated, off-the-record dialogue where creativity and wisdom can flourish, and new thinking and paths forward for sound water management can emerge.
The Roundtable aims to:
- Build relationships between specialty crop representatives and environmental and public interests to reduce polarization and increase support for sound water management on farms.
- Develop a unified set of principles that can underlie long-term solutions.
- Create recommendations for decision makers and the general public on balanced solutions to tough water issues.
- Package recommendations in formats appropriate for the intended audiences.
The Roundtable will address several key areas of opportunity over the course of the group’s work together. The first module is focused on agricultural water stewardship. Updates will be posted in the Action button at the left side of the page.
Ag Water Resource Center
Dec. 2011 On December 8, 2011, CRWFS launched a new and expanded online Agricultural Water Stewardship Resource Center.
Read More »CRWFS testifies before State Board of Food and Agriculture
Oct. 2011 On October 26, 2011, the California State Board of Food and Agriculture met on the subject of water transfers for agriculture. Katy Mamen, of Ag Innovations Network, presented to the Board about the progress the multi-stakeholder collaboration has made in the water supply space, and shared lessons learned about building bridges among various interests to craft collaborative policy that serves a variety of needs.
Cultivating Civility - A New Approach to Old Water Wars
July 2011 This op-ed by Roundtable member, Dr. Juliet Christian-Smith of Pacific Institute, describes the power of consensus-building bodies like the California Roundtables.
Read More »CRWFS Releases Ag Water Stewardship Recommendations
June 2011 On June 22, the California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply released a set of recommendations to shift thinking and spur appropriate action to balance the water needs of both farms and aquatic ecosystems.