Over the years in my column I’ve stressed a number of important themes regarding California agriculture.
Three of those themes – perhaps the most important three – I’ve stressed are: the need to elevate agriculture’s importance in California among government leaders and the public; that farmers aren’t the problem but rather the solution when it comes to the environment and climate; and that California state government needs to pay more attention to agriculture from a public policy standpoint, including being more adaptable and flexible with farmers and agriculture.
Karen Ross, California’s Secretary of Food and Agriculture, seems to agree with my themes and their importance to agriculture in the Golden State, based on her keynote address at the recent What’s the Future of Agriculture in California? Summit, which was held at the end of March at Fresno State University.
“California agriculture is the envy of the world and despite myriad challenges, including drought and pandemic, farmers and ranchers are innovators who can be part of the climate solution,” Ross said in her talk at the March 30 summit.
Additionally, she said of equal importance, including for local producers in California’s Central Valley, is the need for increased flexibility and adaptability on the part of state government.
Ross praised California farmers for their flexibility and adaptability in drought and other hard times, which is a sentiment I agree with 100 percent. The state’s farmers have shown amazing adaptability in the face of pandemic and drought. Right now they’re doing the same in dealing with all the excessive water from the winter storms, which in many cases, like in the Tulare Lake basin region, has destroyed crops and is delaying planting.
“Our most recent numbers are for 2021, which was in the heart of the drought. And just like in 2014, when I had to explain to Gov. Brown how we broke our gross revenue picture, in the midst of the worst drought we broke a new record with $51.1 billion in revenues in 2021,” said Ross, who pointed out that 70 percent of all farms in California are less than 100 acres. “That seems remarkable because we’re (also) in the midst of a pandemic. We know how disrupted our markets were at that time, we know how disrupted getting exports out was at that time, we know all the additional things that we were doing. It shows the power of what we do in California, which is increasingly more with less.”
Ross elaborated further on the success of farmers and California agriculture, pointing to the Central Valley where the summit was held and where farmers produce more food and fiber than anywhere else in the country.
“The fact that we sit here in the Central Valley, where all eight counties (Stanislaus, Merced, San Joaquin, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, Kern) are in the Top 10 producing counties of the country. And almost all of them produce more than the ag revenues of many, many countries in the world. They do that because people don’t give up.”
As regular readers know, I give California farmers and California agriculture an A+ grade for flexibility and adaptability.
On the other hand, the state of California gets a D, although Governor Newsom has been coming around big time lately, including his pushing for greater water allocations for farmers, moving his personal grade up to a solid gentleman’s C. If he keeps on his recent track, it will be a B+ in no time flat.
The state as a whole though needs to do better. And Ross needs to do a better job of getting the key players in state government to do better when it comes to flexibility and adaptability and California agriculture. It was great to hear her say it’s needed in her talk. Now it’s time to walk that talk.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture also needs to do a much better job of telling the story of California agriculture, including its importance to the state’s economy, the nation and the world, to residents of the Golden State, particularly urban and suburban Californians.
For example, the average Californian isn’t aware of the many positive things farmers are doing in the areas of sustainability, habitat and climate. I’d like to see the department of food and agriculture allocate more money to tell these stories. We need to elevate farmers and farming in the minds of Californians as well as overall. Growing food is as essential as it gets, which is something we should have learned from the two years of pandemic shortages and the last two years of high food inflation. Farmers are actually heroes.
My themes were echoed by others at the summit.
For example, in a panel on agricultural policy, Fresno State University President Saul Jiménez-Sandoval called on the state to value agriculture as highly as the movie industry in LA and Silicon Valley tech.
Bill Smittcamp, president and CEO of Wawona Frozen Foods, emphasized the need for flexibility and adaptability at the state level.
“In agriculture, we can plan, we can forecast, but it’s never the same year to year,” he said. “When things change, we have immediate needs, and we need to have to be able to change on a dime.”
Joe Del Bosque, owner of Del Bosque Farms in Firebaugh, agreed with the need for government to become more nimble, flexible and adaptable.
“Government is failing to react nimbly,” said Del Bosque. “We need new measures and new protocols.”
These leaders are defining what I mean – and have been saying in this space for years – about the need for government to better understand the needs of agriculture and to focus on being more flexible and adaptable when it comes to farming, farmers and food and farming in California as a whole. Being nimble is the prerequisite of increased flexibility and adaptability.
A good consensus is a terrible thing to waste, particularly when one of the people that agrees with the consensus is in charge of food and agriculture policy in California.
Secretary Ross needs to be more vocal on these needs in the state, both in political Sacramento and out in our communities spreading the word to Californians, particularly in cities and suburbs.
Nature has blessed California with more rain and snow so far in 2023 than even the most devout farmers prayed for in 2022. This is resulting in 100% irrigation water allocations for farmers for the first time in recent memory. It’s something to celebrate.
To continue that celebration in a real and meaningful way, my suggestion is we all make a commitment, led by Secretary Ross and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, to a renewed era of agriculture in California.
Silicon Valley is great and Hollywood is fine but how cool is it that California not only feeds the world but it’s home to most of the innovations in food and agriculture that have mattered the most over the last 100 years.
Spread the word.
My Job Depends on Ag Magazine columnist and contributing editor Victor Martino is an agrifood industry consultant, entrepreneur and writer. One of his passions and current projects is working with farmers who want to develop their own branded food products. You can contact him at: victormartino415@gmail.com.
