A.G. Kawamura

Former Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture

Arthur Gen “A.G.” Kawamura is the former California Secretary of Agriculture where he served from 2003 to 2010. He is a third generation fruit and vegetable grower and shipper from Orange County. He is the co-chair of Solutions from the Land, a project supported by UN Foundation, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and the Farm Foundation that is developing a sustainable roadmap for 21st century agricultural systems. He is a national steering committee member of “25x25” a renewable energy coalition of farm, forest, conservation and environmental leaders focused on the multiple benefits and contributions that can be delivered from the agricultural and rural sectors of America. He participates as a member of the Native Pollinators Advisory Committee.  

As a progressive urban farmer, A.G. has a lifetime of experience working within the shrinking rural and urban boundaries of Southern California. He has stayed actively involved in policy areas of education, hunger and nutrition, and recently was elected to serve as a member of the Board of Governors to the California State University Foundation and as a new board member of the Delta Vision Foundation. Through his company, Orange County Produce, LLC, he is currently engaged in building an exciting, interactive urban agricultural exhibit at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California.  

Recordings

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Podcast

American Wasteland

March 8, 2011
The ubiquity of food in the United States blinds the mind to a tragic fact: much of it is wasted. Exact numbers are elusive, but estimates suggest...