Farm Bureau: Paradise on Earth

from Morro Bay Life • March 2023

Flooded Morro Bay 4-H Farm Needs Help

lies have marketed their crops through POVE for generations, and one of my favorite stories Tom tells is how, in the old days, railcars packed with ice would stop at POVE to be loaded with the latest harvest. As the train headed out, shippers were under pressure to find buyers for that produce as they went along or be responsible for the cost of unsold produce once it reached the end of the line. Today, semitrailers drive POVE’s Napa cabbage, broccoli, Bok choy and other vegetables to markets in the Eastern U.S.

By BRENT BURCHETT

“Lord, thank you for letting us live in a place as close to Paradise that exists on this Earth ... ”

That’s a prayer that stuck with me. I heard it about four years ago, just a few weeks on the job at SLO County Farm Bureau, when one of our board members led an invocation before dinner. It wouldn’t take long to understand what he meant.

Born and raised in Kentucky, never before had I been surrounded year-round by fields of strawberries, lettuce, broccoli, avocados and wine grapes stretching out as far as the eye can see. Few places on the planet produce crops like our Central Coast region. We have a dozen certified farmers markets and countless roadside stands in SLO County. We grow enough fresh produce here to feed every county resident with 7.5 pounds of vegetables a day. But I’ve come to see that living amongst such a bounty blinds us to appreciate just how special SLO County agriculture is.

We forget our local farms feed communities across the nation. If you ever drive by Pismo Oceano Vegetable Exchange (POVE) in Oceano, notice how the facility backs up to a railroad track. Tom Ikeda and other local Japanese farm fami-

As much as we love our smaller farms, having farms able to grow food at scale is important. Domestic food production is essential to our national security. Much of the U.S. has a limited window for growing produce. In Kentucky, for example, we count on California farms to keep our grocery shelves stocked outside the few months of the year we have local produce.

SLO County is fortunate to have a diversity of farms — from small-scale production by a single farmer selling through a field stand, to larger farms that employ 100 people. Perhaps it’s the same as any industry, but I get frustrated when I hear a farmer denigrate a farm that produces food differently than they do. Occasionally, that’s a farming operation dismissing a smaller one trying out some new crop or technique, but by and large, I hear consumers and smaller farms talking about “big ag” or “corporate farms.” No doubt, consolidation in any industry is bad, but it is largely a product of the regulatory burden the California government places on farmers and ranchers. When a new, often well-intended but ill-informed, law or regulation is passed, it’s our larger farms that are better able to comply.

The decline of the small family farm both here in SLO County and across the nation is tragic, and it’s what motivates us at Farm Bureau to fight to make things better. These days, most Farm Bureau members cannot afford to rely solely on their farming income. About 25 percent of California Farm Bureau members gross under $10,000 from farm income each year, 45 percent are under $50,000, and about 55 percent are under $100,0002. After expenses, most of our farmers and ranchers are lucky to break even. Many years, depending on market prices and weather volatility, the same can be said for larger farms.

Farmers and ranchers aren’t the only ones feeling the pain; it’s a tough time for a lot of businesses. Writing this monthly column is time well spent because most folks are removed from the realities of producing food. Most may not appreciate the “clear and present danger” we face in agriculture. Farmland is being lost to urban development. Over 750,000 acres of California farmland was fallowed last year due to the drought3. High land prices, input costs, labor shortages, and the ever-growing complexity of environmental regulations are a barrier to beginning farmers and fuel the decline of small family farms.

A SLO County without a vibrant agricultural economy is no Paradise at all.

Sources:

1. “Paradox of Plenty: A Community Roadmap for Overcoming Hunger in San Luis Obispo County.” Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County and SLO County Food System Coalition, 2012.