California Assembly Bill AB947

California 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/20/25
• Refer: 3/10/25
• Report Pass: 3/27/25
• Refer: 3/27/25
• Refer: 4/9/25
• Report Pass: 5/23/25
• Engrossed: 6/2/25
• Refer: 6/3/25
• Refer: 6/11/25
• Report Pass: 7/1/25
• Refer: 7/1/25
• Refer: 7/14/25
• Report Pass: 8/29/25
• Enrolled: 9/3/25
• Chaptered: 10/3/25
• Passed: 10/3/25

Caption

An act to amend Sections 564, 566, 568, 569, and 570 of the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to agriculture, and making an appropriation therefor.

Summary

AB 947 revises California’s Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995 by replacing the existing “environmental farming” framework with a broader “sustainable agriculture” program. Under the bill, the Department of Food and Agriculture must establish and oversee a program that provides research, technical assistance, and incentive grants to promote agricultural practices that improve climate resilience for farms and ranches while supporting ecosystems, air quality, and biodiversity. The bill also directs the department to compile and serve as a repository for scientific evidence on agriculture’s environmental impacts and sustainability opportunities. The measure renames and expands the Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming to the Scientific Advisory Panel on Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture. The panel grows from 9 to 11 members, adds representation tied to state agencies and sustainable agriculture expertise, and limits members to two terms. Its role is broadened to advise on research, incentive, and technical assistance grant programs, as well as on climate, air, water, and biodiversity impacts of agricultural practices. AB 947 also substantially revises the technical assistance structure for the Healthy Soils Program, the Alternative Manure Management Program, and the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program. It expands the definition of technical assistance to include training, conservation, agricultural planning, grant writing, compliance support, and related services, and it requires the department to direct between 5% and 20% of program funds to technical assistance through grants or block grants. The bill authorizes funding for helping farmers apply for grants and implement projects, for training and capacity-building within technical assistance organizations, for information sharing among providers and the department, and for equipment-sharing programs that can be housed centrally and used regionally. The bill’s impact on state law is to redirect existing continuously appropriated climate-smart agriculture resources toward a more explicitly climate-resilience and sustainable-agriculture-oriented structure, while also expanding the uses of those funds. It changes statutory definitions, renames the advisory panel, broadens eligible technical assistance activities and providers, and requires the department to support socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers through a minimum share of technical assistance funding. Because it expands the purposes for which continuously appropriated moneys may be used, the bill is treated as an appropriation. The overall sentiment reflected in the voting history is strongly favorable and noncontroversial. The bill advanced with unanimous or near-unanimous votes at multiple stages, including committee and floor votes, and it ultimately became chaptered. No committee transcript objections are provided, and the available history suggests broad support for the bill’s climate-smart agriculture, technical assistance, and farmer-support provisions. The main policy tension inherent in the bill is not reflected as active opposition in the record, but it lies in the expanded use of agricultural climate funds, the administrative role of the department, and the allocation of resources between direct program support, technical assistance, and equipment-sharing infrastructure.

Impact

AB 947 amends Food and Agricultural Code sections 564, 566, 568, 569, and 570 to replace the Cannella Environmental Farming Act’s environmental farming program with a sustainable agriculture program focused on climate resilience, biodiversity, and ecosystem health. It expands the Scientific Advisory Panel, broadens technical assistance definitions and eligible providers, and requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to dedicate 5% to 20% of program funds to technical assistance and related support activities. The bill also expands the permissible uses of continuously appropriated Climate Smart Agriculture Account funds, which is why it is an appropriation measure.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have enjoyed strong bipartisan or at least broad legislative support, with unanimous votes at the committee and floor stages shown in the record and no recorded dissent in the provided materials. It was ultimately chaptered by the Governor, indicating enactment without notable publicized resistance in the available context. The tone of the measure is policy-forward and supportive of climate-smart agriculture, farmer assistance, and program expansion.

Contention

No specific opposition is documented in the provided transcripts or vote summaries, so there is no clear recorded controversy. The most likely areas of policy debate would have been the expansion of continuously appropriated funds, the department’s discretion over grant and block-grant administration, and the allocation of technical assistance dollars among competing uses such as direct farmer support, training, equipment sharing, and administrative costs. The bill also places a priority on socially disadvantaged farmers and smaller farms, which could be a point of interest for stakeholders concerned about distributional equity and program access.