Farm land photo by Karsten Winegeart on unsplash.com

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Jobs First Council announced on Friday $80 million in funding to support 11 economic development projects in California, including $28.6 million for ag tech and farm equipment.

The awards are part of a two-phased approach to distribute a total of $125 million to accelerate key sectors including aerospace and defense, manufacturing, technology and water, as outlined in the California Jobs First Economic Blueprint. The funding was awarded to regional industry clusters.

The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) is the coalition lead for $28.6 million going toward four projects focusing on agriculture.

• $15.1 million for UC ANR to develop the CA AgTech Alliance, which will serve as a statewide network to convene regional stakeholders, promote workforce development, launch an accelerator fund and support business attraction.
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• $9.2 million for the Community Foundation of Merced County to develop and expand three so-called “smart” farms that promote the use of tech in agriculture. UC Merced will focus on research and development and Merced College will promote workforce development and support early-stage startups.
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• $3 million is going to the Foundation for California Community Colleges to expand the AgTEC certificate program to three additional community colleges in California. The program utilizes credit for prior learning and competency-based education and is led by F3, the Farms-Food-Future Initiative. Local institutions currently offering the 12-unit, non-credit certificate include Fresno City College, Clovis Community College, Madera Community College, Coalinga College and Lemoore College.

“We’re not just talking about creating jobs and growing our economy – we’re putting real dollars to work right now in communities across California,” Newsom said in a statement. “These investments will build momentum and deliver measurable progress in the months and years ahead, providing regions in every corner of the state with new tools to create good-paying jobs and strengthen local industries from the ground up.”

The largest award goes to Los Angeles County — $23.92 million in the life sciences sector to support business accelerators, loans for small startups and marketing to attract life science employers.

REACH Central Coast received $16.9 million to support the space, defense and satellites industry through “Space Vandenberg” initiative and to develop an advanced air mobility corridor between four public airports in the Monterey Bay Area.

Modesto-based BEAM Circular is an effort to unite North Valley industries in adopting solutions to reduce and repurpose waste. The organization received $10.36 million to develop the California Bioeconomy Innovation Campus to open this year.