The California Department of Food and Agriculture protects and promotes California's $37 billion agriculture industry. California's farmers and ranchers produce a safe, secure supply of food, fiber, and shelter. These commodities are marketed fairly for all Californians and produced with responsible environmental stewardship.

The goals of the California Department of Food and Agriculture are to:

• Ensure that only safe and quality food reaches the consumer.
• Protect against invasion of exotic pests and diseases.
• Promote California agriculture and food products both at home and abroad.
• Ensure an equitable and orderly marketplace for California's agricultural products.
• Build coalitions supporting the state's agricultural infrastructure to meet evolving industry needs.

Since Department programs drive the need for infrastructure investment, each department has a related capital outlay program to support this need. For the specifics on the Department of Food and Agriculture's Capital Outlay Program see "Infrastructure Overview."