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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn Yolo County, a small citrus farm is quietly reshaping how local food reaches students.<\/p>\n
At Sparks Ranch, Karina Sparks is using support from the California Department of Food and Agriculture Farm to School Incubator Grant Program to grow more than oranges. Grant funding helped her build a larger sorting and storage shed, making it easier to move and pack fruit, improve efficiency, and bring on additional crew members.<\/p>\n
As the work has expanded, so has her reach. Sparks has increased sales of her oranges to local school districts, where students enjoy the fruit and often come back for seconds. For her, hearing that feedback is the most meaningful part of the job.<\/p>\n
Her path reflects a broader shift across the state. Women now make up 38 percent of producers in California, and Sparks has grown into her role over 15 years with the support of her community.<\/p>\n
With 2026 being celebrated as the International Year of the Woman Farmer, Sparks describes her work as breaking barriers in a field long shaped by men, while more women continue to make their mark across California agriculture.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local Citrus, Lasting Impact In Yolo County, a small citrus farm is quietly reshaping how local food reaches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[116603,7,116602,116591,9,8,116592,116599,116607,116605,116601,116606,116597,116594,116600,44393,116595,116598,116604,116596,116593],"class_list":{"0":"post-266933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-agriculture-grants-california","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-citrus-growers","11":"tag-california-farm-to-school","12":"tag-california-headlines","13":"tag-california-news","14":"tag-cdfa-farm-to-school-program","15":"tag-citrus-farming-yolo-county","16":"tag-community-agriculture-california","17":"tag-farm-to-cafeteria","18":"tag-farm-to-school-success-story","19":"tag-fresh-fruit-in-schools","20":"tag-international-year-of-the-woman-farmer-2026","21":"tag-local-citrus-for-schools","22":"tag-local-food-systems-california","23":"tag-s","24":"tag-school-meal-programs-california","25":"tag-small-farm-support-california","26":"tag-supporting-women-farmers","27":"tag-women-in-agriculture-california","28":"tag-yolo-county-agriculture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}