Rethinking Commodities and California agriculture in a changing world with Claudia Carter

Our future will be defined by those who understand deeply ingrained systems but have the ability to harness that knowledge, think outside of the box, and free the system to move toward a better model.  Few are doing this as well as Claudia Carter. 

Claudia will take us on a journey from her hometown of Manta, Ecuador to her current role as Executive Director of the California Wheat Commission. In this episode, you will hear how the passion for great food, wheat, and healthy children is changing the way we interface with one of the oldest and most significant crops on the planet. 

This recording takes us through the complex world of commodity wheat, protein levels, quantitative lab evaluation and beyond. You will learn how the conformity in nutrient composition dictates market pull and price. This helps us to see how the industry has problems using wheats grown outside of conventional systems (both organic and regenerative) and why the market has had a hard time adapting to it despite proof that these crops can often perform beautifully in bakery applications. 

We discuss the pressures in California from prolonged drought, irrigation access, and the recently passed legislation that is forcing farmers to make some very serious decisions. SGMA (Sustainable Groundwater Management Act) is changing the future of California’s agricultural sector and we hear about what farmers, advocates, and academics are doing to help prevent the land from becoming fallow.  

Claudia is so passionate about children and we will hear about the Grain to School program she has worked to develop that helps kids connect with grains and grain-based foods from the soil up. 

Claudia’s zeal for life is infectious and on top of all the incredible things she is doing, she is also pursuing her Ph.D. in Nutrition. It is thrilling to see this union of nutrition, cereal sciences, and industry coming together. Claudia embodies the visionary insight that is needed to build a healthier, more resilient food system. 

Learn more below: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudiacarter/ 

http://californiawheat.org/ 

https://www.instagram.com/californiawheat/ 

https://twitter.com/CAWheatComm 

https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/sgma-groundwater-management 

https://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/people/mark-lundy 

https://civileats.com/2021/09/10/the-next-chapter-for-farm-to-school-milling-whole-grains-in-the-cafeteria/