California’s specialty crop growers are facing mounting climate challenges that make it more difficult to maintain productivity and manage risk. At the 2025 Sustainable Ag Summit, a group of industry experts shared what’s working — and what’s next — for producers and partners across the value chain.
The conversation covered the most pressing risks, practices to reduce risk, and the role of buyers and incentives in driving change. Discover the key takeaways and practical insights.
What are the Most Pressing Climate Risks for Specialty Crops?
Lisa Franchoni from the California Sustainable Winegrowers Alliance explained that her team recently completed a three-year adaptation and mitigation project with the USDA California Climate Hub. She said the findings were clear: California agriculture is facing higher temperatures throughout the season, limited water availability, decreased rainfall, and more frequent droughts. Franchoni also noted that extreme weather events and wildfires are becoming more common, and pest pressure is increasing because pests are living longer and moving into new regions.
Daniel Vidstra, who leads sustainability at the Almond Board, emphasized that water is the biggest concern for almonds. He described how growers are dealing with extreme swings in temperature and water availability, with some years being very wet and others extremely dry. According to Vidstra, the state’s water infrastructure is not equipped to handle these changes. He also pointed out that permanent crops like almonds need chill hours to break dormancy, and those chill hours are disappearing. On top of that, growers are facing new pests, which makes pest pressure a major issue.
Tommy Bottoms, who grows processing tomatoes, agreed with the other speakers but added an interesting perspective. He said that climate change can sometimes have a positive impact, such as increased yields in certain years. However, he warned that a single summer that is too hot can wipe out those gains. Bottoms stressed the need for resilience and suggested that soil health is a big opportunity to help balance out these extremes.
Eric Morgan, an industry expert, added that agriculture in California is slowly moving north. He explained that growing seasons for annual crops in the southern part of the state are ending sooner because of heat, which is changing where crops can be grown.
Practices to Reduce Climate Risks and Deliver Co-Benefits for Grower Buy-In
Vidstra highlighted two practices that are gaining attention in the almond industry.
- Active groundwater recharge, which involves using dormant orchards to store excess floodwater during wet seasons. This approach faces policy challenges, such as questions about water rights, but it has great potential.
- Whole orchard recycling, which means chipping trees at the end of their life and incorporating the wood chips back into the soil. This improves soil water holding capacity and future yields, but requires careful management, such as adjusting nitrogen levels.
Bottoms reminded the audience that growers rarely adopt practices just for climate benefits – financial incentives and productivity gains are what drive adoption. He pointed to precision irrigation as a prime example of a practice that improves efficiency and reduces climate risk at the same time.
Morgan spoke passionately about the role of cover crops. He explained that instead of leaving land fallow, cover crops help with groundwater recharge and can prevent flooding. Cover crops also improve soil structure for the next planting and keep live roots in the ground, which supports reduced tillage systems. Morgan noted that photosynthesis is the main way carbon is pulled from the air, and cover crops allow this process to continue year-round. However, he cautioned that cover crops must make financial sense for growers.
How Climate-Resilience Strategies can be Successful
Franchoni explained that vineyards have unique opportunities because they are often located next to wineries. She said that winegrowers can use processing wastewater for irrigation and can graze animals without the food safety concerns that fresh market crops face.
Vidstra returned to the topic of cover crops, saying they add diversity to farms and support pollinators. He noted, cover crops help keep bees anchored in orchards, which is important for almonds. However, he cautioned that some regions of California do not get enough rainfall to support cover crops, and growers need to consider whether using irrigation water for them is practical.
Bottoms shared that rotating multiple specialty crops and cover crops on the same farm in one year creates temporal, spatial, and food safety challenges. These complexities make it harder to implement certain practices, but they can be managed successfully if growers plan ahead and stay vigilant.
Morgan said that data is essential to prove the benefits of climate-resilience practices. He explained that building soil organic matter is critical because it helps retain water and makes farms more resilient to extreme weather.
What Buyers Are Asking for and how They’re Supporting You
Franchoni said that the wine industry has a strong third-party audited sustainability program that can serve as a model. She shared that 60 percent of California wine acreage is certified “sustainable”, which creates market pull because buyers value the claims this enables.
Vidstra highlighted the California Almond Stewardship Program, which helps growers assess and report their practices. He said the program provides valuable data for benchmarking against global frameworks and allows growers to earn instant certification under the Farm Sustainability Assessment. He also noted that buyers support these efforts because they see the value of having reliable data.
Bottoms shared an example from Campbell Soup Company, which offered a cost-sharing program for regenerative practices. He said growers were appreciative but hesitant because they didn’t understand the end goal. Tommy observed that buyers often know they want sustainability, but they do not always know what that means. He warned that “reporting without incentive creates resentment” and called for clearer definitions of desired outcomes and measurable progress.
Morgan said that many sustainability efforts feel like “box checking.” He explained that growers and packers often comply with buyer requests without integrating sustainability into their farm management strategies. Eric argued that the industry needs new farming models that improve profitability and resilience while delivering the outcomes buyers want.
What Barriers Limit Scaling of Climate-Resilience Practices?
Franchoni said time and money are the biggest constraints. She explained that it’s hard to make the case for practices that require significant investment without providing clear benefits in return.
Vidstra noted that even good ideas can face logistical or technological hurdles. He said that different farms require different approaches, so there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Bottoms pointed out that incentive programs can be dangerous because the incentives can eventually disappear, leaving growers with increased costs that they cannot support. He said that practices need to be profitable on their own so growers can sustain them without ongoing financial support. Incentives are helpful for covering upfront costs, but they do not solve long-term profitability.
Morgan said that education is a major barrier. He explained that growers need better communication about why these practices matter and how they benefit their operations.
Key Takeaways for Sustainability Professionals
- Align climate resilience with grower economics. Practices that improve profitability gain traction faster.
- Leverage co-benefits such as soil health, water retention, and pollinator diversity to encourage adoption.
- Support data-driven frameworks like certification programs to build trust and market value.
- Advocate for policy and infrastructure improvements, especially around water rights and storage systems.
California’s specialty crop sector faces complex climate challenges, but the strategies discussed at the summit offer a roadmap for meaningful progress. For sustainability professionals, the opportunity lies in connecting science, economics, and market signals to accelerate climate-resilient agriculture.
