Smart Climate Agriculture Program: plant-based agriculture.

Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. Existing law, the Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995, requires the department to establish and oversee an environmental farming program to provide incentives to farmers whose practices promote the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and wildlife and their habitat. This bill would establish the Smart Climate Agriculture Program under the administration of the department. As part of the program, the bill would require the department to, among other things, provide grants to persons farming on small to midsize farms to transition the use of the land from raising livestock or growing feed crops to plant-based agriculture and to provide technical assistance to those persons with regard to the program. The bill would require a person who receives a grant to provide a report, in consultation with a specified technical assistance provider, to the department that demonstrates that the person is transitioning to plant-based agriculture.