BUNKHOUSE HERE TO HELP

by Noah Lopez for the Ranchers Technical Assistance Program

As the calendar page flips to a new year, like many of you, I have taken the opportunity to look back and reflec on wins of the past year and focus on how to make the most of 2023. For us at the Rancher Technical Assistance Program (RTAP), we spent some time reflecting on the variety of issues we’ve assisted ranchers all over the state with. Provided by the California Cattlemen’s Foundation and funded by the California Cattle Council, RTAP helps ranchers navigate complex regulatory, environmental and business issues at no direct cost. Ranchers can reach out to the RTAP team and let us go to work on their behalf, functioning as something like a “back office” for producers.

When the program was launched in May of 2021, the team sat down and created a list of expected issues that ranchers might reach out with. We gathered resources that would prove helpful for the questions we anticipated ranchers would call with, such as water rights, stockponds, transportation regulation, and federal assistance programs. Questions about the issues listed above are common, and RTAP has had the opportunity to help many ranchers sort through them, but we have often been surprised by the wide variety of questions. In the last year and a half, ranchers have called with all kinds of interesting and unexpected inquiries. I want to take a moment to highlight a few of the unexpected issues that RTAP has been able to help producers with.

One of my favorite unanticipated questions, which has come up multiple times, was about agritourism. Ranchers have reached out to learn about the regulatory compliance process for incorporating agritourism into their operation. This has looked like everything from farm stays and short-term vacation rentals to ranch tours and full on ranching educational experiences. Questions have arisen regarding things like county permitting, Williamson Act requirements, liability insurance, tax law, and a whole host of other concerns. RTAP has had the pleasure of helping ranchers explore the possibilities and understand applicable regulation. I especially like researching this topic as it promises to help connect the non-ranching public to ranches and to let people see the work done every day to steward the land and produce a healthy product. In a time where many of us think that food comes from the grocery store, it’s encouraging to see ranchers taking the initiative to help people understand how food is truly produced.

Aside from agritourism, we've helped ranchers grapple with all kinds of unanticipated questions about things like the liability of volunteers riding on the ranch, how the US drought monitor makes it’s determinations, what to do when insurance carriers drop the ranch policy because of fire risk, how to comply with slaughter and sale regulations for direct to consumer marketing, how to deal with county land use permitting for host of issues, and even what to do when the neighbors bull keeps jumping the fence.

Every time we receive a new inquiry from a rancher, I’m amazed at the variety of issues that cattle producers in California face. However, I'm even more amazed by the persistence with which ranchers tackle these issues, demonstrating resilience and perseverance to get the job done. Rest assured, whatever the issue, RTAP is here to help you sort through it. RTAP can be reached by phone at (916) 406-6902, by email at rtap@wrstrat.com, or found online at calcattlemenfoundation.org/rtap.