The California Mediterranean Consortium was established by four universities in California (Stanford University, University of California Agricultural Issues Center, California Polytechnic State, University San Luis Obispo, and California State University at Fresno), two universities in the EU (Università della Calabria, and Universidad Politécnica de Valencia), and the Centre International des Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM-IAM Montpellier).

The activities of the Consortium will center around semi-annual workshops, one to be held in the US and one to be held in the EU each year. Invitations to the meetings will be extended by the members of the Steering Committee, and include guest speakers and participants who have pertinent backgrounds - academic and/or professional - in the topic of the workshops. The goal is to have an active group of 25-40 leading researchers, industry actors and policy makers participate in the workshops.

In addition, the Consortium will sponsor three types of publications:

   1) Backgrounders will be circulated to meeting participants before each meeting. These will summarize pertinent issues and act as thought-pieces to stimulate discussion.

   2) Issue briefs will be produced by the Consortium and circulated to policymakers. These papers will typically be 5-10 pages in length and will be directed to a wide audience.

   3) Working papers will also be produced which are more academic in nature and will report in detail on current research.