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F3 Local Launches Equipment Lending Library for Small Farmers - Learn More
NEWS & UPDATES
Welcome to the F3 Initiative News page, your source for the latest updates and stories about our work transforming agriculture in California's Central Valley. Explore articles across our three gears—F3 Innovate, F3 Local, and AgTEC Workforce—to learn how we’re driving innovation, empowering local farmers, and upskilling workers for a sustainable future. Whether you’re interested in groundbreaking ag-tech research, community-based food systems, or workforce development, there’s something here for everyone.
F3-Funded Innovation Comes to Life at UC Merced
From bringing together growers and researchers to testing new technology in the field, several F3-supported efforts recently came together at UC Merced. Get updates on the latest AgBag event, and learn about the university's installation of a new soil-moisture sensors from AcreLink, recipient of an F3i innovation grant.
3 hours ago
Fresno State Advances Innovation in Agriculture, Biotechnology, & Engineering (Video)
Watch and learn how Fresno State's F3-funded research teams are advancing innovation in agricultural technology, biotechnology, and engineering. From autonomous farm equipment to sustainable uses for agricultural waste, researchers are developing practical solutions to real-world challenges.
5 hours ago
Fresno Pacific University Celebrates First Cohort of its Ag Leadership Certificate Program
With support from the F3 Initiative, Fresno Pacific University (FPU) recently celebrated the successful completion of its inaugural Ag Leadership Certificate Program, bringing together 38 participants from diverse educational and professional backgrounds. A highlight of the program was an all-expenses-paid trip to Sacramento, where 17 students toured the State Capitol and connected with legislative representatives and agricultural policy leaders.
16 hours ago
Cocina La Salud (Video): Building a Community Kitchen for Fresno's Food Vendors
Cultiva La Salud has broken ground on Cocina La Salud, a community kitchen built to give Fresno's mobile food vendors a permitted, industrial space to prepare and store their food safely and legally. Watch and learn how the kitchen will create a pathway for entrepreneurs to grow from a street cart to a thriving small business, without fear.
1 day ago
Small Farm and Food Business Needs Assessment Report
F3 Local has conducted a needs assessment among small farmers and food entrepreneurs to better understand the technical assistance, infrastructure, regulatory, market-access, and business-development needs across Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced, and Tulare counties. The goal is to inform programming and to support an economically viable local food system in the Central San Joaquin Valley.
1 day ago
TerraTech27 Applications Now Open for Hosts and Undergraduate Students
Applications are now available for TerraTech27, F3 Innovate’s summer internship program connecting college students with hands-on opportunities across agriculture, food, technology and innovation in the Central Valley. Apply to be a student or a host!
3 days ago
Spotlight: Offer Kindness (Video)
Meet Offer Kindness Inc., a local nonprofit turning surplus produce into an opportunity to help our entire community. Hear from co-founders Aleeza & Simon Berman about how their gleaning events support local growers, prevent food waste, create volunteer opportunities for families, and feed fresh produce to the people in our valley who need it most.
5 days ago
F3i Innovation Grantee Spotlight: Senseen
Senseen, one of F3i’s 2025 innovation grantee awardees, addresses one of the bottlenecks between the stated goals of regenerative agriculture and a grower’s ability to measure what is being managed to that end. A grower can change a management practice, but they need to know what that change is doing to the crop, and traditional tissue analysis can require sending samples to a laboratory and waiting one to two weeks for results.
7 days ago
Taste Local: Your Opinion is Needed at the Big Fresno Fair
Join F3 Local and local food entrepreneurs at the Big Fresno Fair on October 9 & 10 for a special consumer tasting experience featuring new products from Central Valley food businesses. Taste flavored almonds, homemade breads, and more - for free - and give us your opinion.
Sep 28
F3 Local Opens Farming Equipment Lending Library at Kearney REC
F3 Local has officially launched its Equipment Lending Library at the Kearney Research and Extension Center in Parlier. Rentable equipment items include tractors, spreaders, mowers, transplanters, weeders and seeders, and more, all available at highly subsidized rates – between $10 and $50 per day, depending on size.
Sep 16
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