Six factors will ensure California agriculture’s future
ByRobert Rivas I amproud to be a part of California ag- riculture. Our state has the impressive re- sponsibility of feeding our country—and
five years to spur the economy and in- vest in food and farming systems. It would earmark investments in four key areas: regional and local food process- ing and distribution; safety for farm and food system workers; combating hun- ger and improving healthy food access; and promoting sustainable agriculture and climate resilience. It would make significant investments to protect and enhance agricultural lands; invest in the Healthy Soils Program and State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program; develop family housing for farmworkers; and enhance local pro- cessing, cooling and food storage in- frastructure, to name just a few of the bond’s specific components. The agricultural industry generates $50 billion a year for our state economy, provides numerous jobs and supplies a critical proportion of our food supply. California cannot thrive unless its farms and ranches are thriving. Travel ing across our state, I was struck by the astonishing magnitude and diversity of our agricultural sec- tor. There is much work to be done to ensure that farmers and ranchers can recover from last year’s crises and pre- pare for the next ones, which will surely come. Yet despite these challenges, I am highly optimistic about the future of California’s farms. I encourage farmers and ranchers throughout the state to stay engaged with my committee. I plan to make ad- ditional visits throughout the state soon, and I hope we can work together to en- sure California always remains an agri- cultural powerhouse. (Assemblymember Rober t Rivas, D-Ho l l i s t e r, cha i r s t he As s emb l y Agriculture Committee.)
even theworld.We have led the na- tion in agricultur- al production for the past 60 years due to our richly productive land and climate. Ye t , our agr i - culture industry now faces serious
Robert Rivas
and urgent challenges, from recover- ing from last year’s multiple crises to the ever-increasing competition in the global market. As newly appointed chai r of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, I re- cently took a two-month tour to survey our state’s agricultural sector. I met with an array of farmers and ranchers, work- ers, industry and union leaders, scien- tists and academics, and elected officials. We visited more than 50 sites, from the Central Coast to the Central Valley, from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, San Diego andmore. After the tour, my office and I pro- duced a report that summarized our findings frommeetings with more than 70 stakeholders. The full report is avail- able frommy website at a30.asmdc.org; you’ll find a link in our March 30 news release about it. The tour reaffirmed for me the ex- traordinary resilience of California ag- riculture in the face of COVID-19 and last year’s devastating wildfires. And it provided key insights into how the agri- culture industry can retain its compet- itive advantage and, importantly, how
Sonoma County dairy farmer Doug Beretta, right, talks with Assemblymembers Robert Rivas and Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, center, as part of Rivas’ tour of California agricultural facilities.
those of us in the Legislature can help. Stakeholders told us that for California agriculture to remain a national leader, policymakers must promote and in- centivize the following six hallmarks of the industry: • Competitiveness: mitigating reg- ulatory burdens, business costs and trade pressures. • Re s i l i enc y : r e c ov e r i ng f r om COVID-19 and wildfires. • Diversity: supporting a diverse work- force, topography and crops. •Worker protections: keeping laborers healthy, housed and fairly compensated. • Food security: investing in food pro- cessing and distribution infrastructure; fighting hunger. • Sustainabilityandinnovation: promot- ing climate-smart andhigh-tech farming.
The tour helped guide my agen- da for the 2021-22 legislative session. Two of my priority bills for this year in- clude Assembly Bill 73, the Farmworker Wildfire Smoke Protections Act, and AB 125, the Equitable Economic Recovery, Healthy Food Access, Climate Resilient Farms andWorker Protection Bond Act. AB 73 would require Cal/OSHA to establish a stockpile of N95 masks for farms, immediately deploy specialized strike teams during wildfires, and to distribute wildfire safety information in Spanish and English during a wildfire in the region. It would help ensure that the workers who harvest our food are protected from the harmful effects of wildfire smoke, and it would help farm- ers obtain this equipment quickly and without cost. AB 125 would invest $3.12 billion over
VOL. 48, NO. 18
May 12, 2021
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