Yolo and Solano Officials Look to Agriculture’s Full Potential as Economic Engine

Solano and Yolo Counties recently held a joint summit in order to engage key stakeholders in the expansion of what is known as the food chain cluster. Officials in the region see agriculture as the best way to enhance economic development because it already accounts for a $2.5 billion sector of the counties’ economies. The food chain cluster refers to an integrated circle of operations that revolve around agriculture, an industry that is undoubtedly important to Solano and Yolo. The operations include distribution, production, support (exp. Monitoring technology for air and water quality), markets for waste byproducts, and packaging/processing. Focus has turned toward expanding food chain operations as a way to create more value locally and the summit explored how the counties could capitalizes on the state’s strengths and fix any weaknesses.

The general idea is to turn Agricultural Valley into the next Silicon Valley, which would mean utilizing to the best ability the region’s competitive advantages, specifically “highly productive lands, plentiful water, top-notch research at the UC Davis, an entrepreneurial spirit, and an unwavering passion to preserve and promote agriculture.”

Solano County Supervisors Mike Reagan and John Vasquez and Yolo County Supervisors Duane Chamberlain and Don Saylor wrote an op-ed about the joint summit and what lies ahead. An except can be read here:

“Summit participants discussed obstacles, such as ready access to capital and competing regulatory interests of federal, state and local governments. Overcoming these obstacles will require a new kind of collaboration. Bankers and government need to rethink their roles to become even better partners in growing the food chain.

In the coming weeks and months, you will see more results from this joint economic effort. Our respective Boards of Supervisors received presentations on Jan. 24 on the basic road map of the most promising actions we can take together. You have our commitment to finding the funds for a public-private partnership for an agriculture ombudsman program to serve Solano and Yolo counties. We need an ombudsman to help agriculture-related entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality and create better partnerships between our businesses and regulators.

In many ways, what we have in front of us is an old-fashioned barn-raising. Our challenge is how each of us can commit to adding more value to agriculture. This cannot be about what the "other guy" should be doing. In a barn-raising, everybody pitches in because that's what communities do to meet the need. Our communities are in need right now and agriculture is at the heart of the solution.”

Read the full op-ed article here. The Food Chain Cluster report that the supervisors refer to can be found here.