Johansson Continued from Page 1 projects, including surface and ground- water storage.Noconstructionhasbegun. “Wehaven’t followed throughonanything so far in terms of bringing more (water) supply in,” Johansson said. Henoted that the federal infrastructure bill, signed into law last fall with Farm Bureau backing, provides funding for western water projects. He also applaud- ed state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, for her continuing efforts to secure state funding needed to repairCaliforniawater conveyance systems. “Wehavetodecideasastatehowserious we are about this water, andwe as agricul- ture need to remind (lawmakers) how im- portant we are to this state—not only this state, but to this country,” Johansson said. He urged agricultural leaders to hold their legislators accountable for laws they pass andhow those laws arebeing carried out. He said farmers have been willing to participate, be at the negotiating table and do the right thing, “but at the end of theday, if you’regoing topassa regulation, you have to tell us howwe comply.” “When you can’t obey the law because no one’s telling you how to, no one can interpret that law, that’s when you start getting into some really, really draconian politics,” Johansson added. He pointed to implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act andthegrowingnumberof groundwa- ter sustainability plans, or GSPs, that have been rejectedby the state, some for seem- inglyunclear reasons.Heurged farmers to not let legislators off the hook by allowing them to pin the blame on the administra- tion or a state agency. “You need to bring them up to speed,” Johansson said. “That’s what today’s all about on awhole host of issues.” Regarding conservation and efforts to combat climate change, Johansson de- scribedFarmBureau’sdisappointmentwith a state plan known as Pathways to 30x30, which identifies California’s strategies to conserve30%of itslandsandwatersby2030. The draft plan does not recognize the WilliamsonAct, created in1965 toprotect agricultural land and open space fromur- bandevelopment. It provides lower prop- erty tax rates to farmers and ranchers. Johansson advised farm leaders to tell their legislators to restore the program. He said the program should be recog- nized as land in conservation. But he also warned farmers that some lawmakers will “talk out of both sides of their mouths,” saying they support con- servation and “multi-use working lands,” but thensupportpolicies that takeworking landsout of productionor that don’t count those lands as conservation. He pointed to livestock grazing restrictions in nation- al forests and how conservation efforts have become more about preservation, in which “a plot of land…is blocked off to everybody else,” turning public working lands into “a totally static resource.” “Ifwedon’tmanageour resources, they become liabilities, and that’s what we’re seeing inournational forests and thewild- fires that we’ve had,” Johansson said.
Lawmakers remain “in a quandary” about ongoing port congestion and sup- ply-chain issues, he said, because they want “one simple solution” to a very com- plex problem. Johansson said they don’t know how to solve the problem because someof thesolutionsmayrunafoulof state air-quality standards or conflict with land use and other environmental goals. Tostart, he said, farmers should tell law- makers to increase thegrossvehicleweight of trucks, now set at nomore than 80,000
pounds in California. Johansson noted that inOregon andWashington, the gross vehicle weight is up to 105,500 pounds. Michiganallows truckswithagrossvehicle weight of up to 164,000 pounds. Johansson also encouraged farmers to tell their stories about howthe state’sover- time rules are hurting their employees. With district lines being redrawn and with midterm elections later this year, Johansson noted there will be new sena-
tors, Assemblymembers and congressio- nal districts. He encouraged farm leaders to “get in front of” lawmakers and “really reach out.” “This is a start of a very long, important yearwhen it comes to the elections ofwho represents us and the voices that repre- sent us andwho allows us tohave a voice,” Johansson said. (ChingLeeisanassistanteditorofAgAlert. Shemaybe contactedat clee@cfbf.com.)
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March 23, 2022 Ag Alert 13
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