USDA Under Secretary Bonnie Tours Blue Diamond Growers Farm, Facility

On May 21, USDA Under Secretary Robert Bonnie visited California to meet with the Blue Diamond Growers company, and to meet with one of their top growers, to better promote Climate-Smart Agriculture and their USDA Climate-Smart Grant.

Farmer Ben King hosted Bonnie at his orchard in Arbuckle, Calif., to discuss the partnership that USDA and Blue Diamond Growers have formed to advance climate resilient agriculture through the USDA’s Climate-Smart Agriculture efforts.

“My responsibility is to put the land in its highest and best use, which is right now multi-benefit land repurposing,” said King.

Bonnie asked a lot of his own questions and took back to D.C. a lot of useful insight.

After the orchard visit, Bonnie then received a tour of Blue Diamond Almond Innovation Center in Sacramento. Bonnie toured the flavor creation laboratory and sat down for a bit of taste testing how almond byproducts are used to create incredible items for the world market, including crackers and almond milk.