Farm Bureau | ‘Secret Sauce’ of California Agriculture

FARM BUREAU

The ‘Secret Sauce’ of California Agriculture

BY BRENT BURCHETT • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY FARM BUREAU

Labor, water and sunshine. Take away any of those three resources, and California agriculture dies.

If the prospect of a declining agriculture industry in our state doesn’t scare the heck out of you, let’s take a peek in your pantry to see how much of that food is grown by California farmers.

Of all the different types of fruits and nuts grown in the United States, over 75 percent are only grown in California, and by total volume, California produces over half. More than a third of U.S. vegetables are only grown in California. Without California farmers, we would have to import or go without almonds, artichokes, celery, figs, garlic, raisins, kiwifruit, honeydew melons, nectarines, olives, clingstone peaches, pistachios, plums, sweet (sticky) rice, and walnuts.

Farmers and ranchers in the Golden State produce more than 400 commodities. The vast majority — like 75 to 90 percent — of U.S. broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes, apricots, avocados, strawberries, raspberries, lemons, tangerines, and mandarin oranges are grown in California.

Living in such a bountiful local agriculture community, it’s easy to take our food system for granted. In San Luis Obispo County, I worry we suffer at times from an insular perspective about food production. Certainly, SLO County grows enough food to feed our local population many times over, and perhaps nowhere else in the country has such an abundance of fresh, safe, affordable food available year-round as the Central Coast.

Having no local food is a foreign concept to us in SLO County. With a vibrant network of farms, farmers markets and local farm stands across the county, consumers cannot help but perceive “all is well” in agriculture. What happens in California agriculture reverberates across America, and I can tell you that the “secret sauce” that makes California our nation’s top food producer is at risk.

The sun is still shining, sure, but our water and labor resources are in bad shape. We are in a new era where drought will be the norm. If we want agriculture to be a part of California’s future, we’re going to have to change the way we do things. That goes for the way we produce food on the farm, but it also means changing our public policy decisions.

As the largest user of developed water, agriculture will have to be part of the solution. I can tell you though, improvements in irrigation efficiency and growing less water-intensive crops aren’t going to be enough. Investing in new water infrastructure must be a major part, but dams and canals won’t be the cure if there’s no rainfall. I am thankful that in the last year or so, our local government leaders are talking more about an “all of the above” approach to water, but at the state level especially, we have created a regulatory system that makes any type of new project nearly impossible.

California farms are more dependent on agricultural workers than any other state. Without these essential farmworkers we cannot produce fruit and vegetables for the country. Year after year, our SLO County Farm Bureau and California Farm Bureau lobbies for comprehensive immigration reform like the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, and it might surprise you that we often face opposition from Farm Bureaus in other states. There is no simple solution to our complex immigration problems, but I get frustrated with my farmer friends in other states who just don’t seem to get it. With large machinery for planting and harvesting, their farms don’t rely on a large workforce to raise grain crops like corn, wheat and soybeans.

SLO County farmers are increasingly dependent on the federal H-2A guestworker visa program because local labor is in short supply. Couple that with our workforce housing shortage, the ever-growing list of labor regulations and overtime rules coming out of Sacramento, and we’ve got the perfect storm for an existential threat to California’s worldclass $50 billion agricultural economy.

With less than 2 percent of our population working in agriculture today, our future depends on you. As you gather around the dinner table with your family this holiday season, remember the California farm and ranch families who made it possible.

Brent Burchett serves as the Executive Director of San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau. He can be reached atbburchett@slofarmbureau. org or (805) 543-3654. 