A Letter to the Mayor of Tulare California

If you live in the Central Valley and your job depends on Ag, it’s likely that you’ve heard about the statements made by Tulare mayor Carlton Jones.

In a FaceBook statement, Mr. Jones said, “Ag strips the natural resources and contaminates our groundwater and air.  Ag causes asthma and valley fever,cancer, and kills bees.”

Blanket statements such as those are very disappointing to hear from a city leader, particularly in a city like Tulare which is arguably the pumping heart of California agriculture.  From my perspective, it shows quite a disconnect with not only agriculture, but the community as well.

Most of the farming operations in the area are family owned.  These are not people who are looking to do harm to their fellow community members or the environment, but rather people whose families have farmed in the area for generations who have two long term goals.  Those goals are to leave the land and community in better shape when they leave this earth, and to pass their farms to their children.  That truth is often lost on politicians, and agriculture needs to do a much better job of conveying that message to keep things like this from happening in the future.

We aren’t “Big Ag”.  We are people who care deeply about our families, our employees, our communities and our land.  We support our communities by buying locally and we support our community’s efforts to make things better both financially and with our time.  California agriculture faces many challenges, and to be fair, some of those challenges involve segments of the mayor’s assertions; however, the way he said it implies that those challenges aren’t being addressed and that we don’t seem to care.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.  Mr. Jones, we live here and we care.  Mr. Jones, as misguided as your statements are, I can tell you care about our community as well and have a vested interest in making things better.  My advice to you is to use your position to reach out and attempt to do so.  Talk to the Ag Commissioner, talk to the local Farm Bureau, talk to residents, talk to farmers and dairymen, talk to state leaders, talk to our County Supervisors, talk to neighboring mayors, talk to environmentalists.

Talk to these people and listen to their concerns.  Then try to bring them together in a spirit of engaging community stakeholders to make things better.  Tulare and Tulare County are vibrant communities, but we can make them better.

It all starts with listening to each other.

If you live in the Central Valley and your job depends on Ag, it’s likely that you’ve heard about the statements made by Tulare mayor Carlton Jones.

In a FaceBook statement, Mr. Jones said, “Ag strips the natural resources and contaminates our groundwater and air.  Ag causes asthma and valley fever,cancer, and kills bees.”

Blanket statements such as those are very disappointing to hear from a city leader, particularly in a city like Tulare which is arguably the pumping heart of California agriculture.  From my perspective, it shows quite a disconnect with not only agriculture, but the community as well.

Most of the farming operations in the area are family owned.  These are not people who are looking to do harm to their fellow community members or the environment, but rather people whose families have farmed in the area for generations who have two long term goals.  Those goals are to leave the land and community in better shape when they leave this earth, and to pass their farms to their children.  That truth is often lost on politicians, and agriculture needs to do a much better job of conveying that message to keep things like this from happening in the future.

We aren’t “Big Ag”.  We are people who care deeply about our families, our employees, our communities and our land.  We support our communities by buying locally and we support our community’s efforts to make things better both financially and with our time.  California agriculture faces many challenges, and to be fair, some of those challenges involve segments of the mayor’s assertions; however, the way he said it implies that those challenges aren’t being addressed and that we don’t seem to care.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.  Mr. Jones, we live here and we care.  Mr. Jones, as misguided as your statements are, I can tell you care about our community as well and have a vested interest in making things better.  My advice to you is to use your position to reach out and attempt to do so.  Talk to the Ag Commissioner, talk to the local Farm Bureau, talk to residents, talk to farmers and dairymen, talk to state leaders, talk to our County Supervisors, talk to neighboring mayors, talk to environmentalists.

Talk to these people and listen to their concerns.  Then try to bring them together in a spirit of engaging community stakeholders to make things better.  Tulare and Tulare County are vibrant communities, but we can make them better.

It all starts with listening to each other.

By Eric Bream

Contributor and Administrator to My Job Depends on Ag & Ag Expo Magazine.

Farmer, Father, Friend to Ag.