{"id":2020460,"date":"2023-09-02T17:34:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T21:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-farmers-weigh-in-on-hardships-ahead-of-farm-bill-reauthorization\/"},"modified":"2023-09-02T17:43:43","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T21:43:43","slug":"california-farmers-weigh-in-on-hardships-ahead-of-farm-bill-reauthorization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-farmers-weigh-in-on-hardships-ahead-of-farm-bill-reauthorization\/","title":{"rendered":"California farmers express concerns about upcoming Farm Bill reauthorization."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcalifornia-farmers-weigh-in-on-hardships-ahead-of-farm-bill-reauthorization%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2020460&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Local Farmers in California Struggle to Stay Afloat Amidst\u200b Regulatory\u2062 Challenges<\/h2>\n<p>As lawmakers gear up to vote on the \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-farmers-weigh-in-on-hardships-ahead-of-farm-bill-reauthorization\/\" title=\"California farmers express concerns about upcoming Farm Bill reauthorization.\">latest federal farm bill reauthorization<\/a> \u2062in\u2063 December\u2014which delegates funding for farmers \u200dand\u200d agricultural and food-based programs across the country\u2014local farmers in California are reflecting on their hardships of staying in business.<\/p>\n<p>The bill, in part, helps support \u2064small\u2062 farmers with increased funding for \u200cwastewater infrastructure, labor reform for farm workers\u2014often immigrants\u2014by helping such workers gain legal \u2063status and increasing access to financing for start-up, small, and mid-sized farms through various\u2063 programs.<\/p>\n<p>Dan\u200d and Anne \u200cManassero, the husband and wife co-owners\u200c of Manassero Farms in Irvine, Brea, and Tustin, say such help is \u200cneeded as state and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tsa-can-now-fine-you-for-not-masking-up-following-biden-executive-order\/\" title=\"TSA Can Now Fine You For Not Masking Up Following Biden Executive Order\">federal regulations<\/a> surrounding farming practices have made\u2062 it \u201cincredibly difficult\u201d \u2063for smaller businesses such\u200d as \u200ctheirs to stay\u2062 afloat.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related \u200cStories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/health\/accountant-quits-day-job-and-starts-a-chicken-farm-5480664\">Accountant Quits Day Job and Starts\u2062 a \u2063Chicken Farm<\/a> (8\/31\/2023)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/family-farm-celebrates-100th-anniversary-4669260\">Family Farm Celebrates 100th Anniversary<\/a> (8\/16\/2022)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Such \u2062regulations\u2064 affect farmers like the Manasseros\u2063 in part by shaping costs surrounding their business\u2063 operations such as water \u200bprices, and farming supply costs like \u2062fertilizer, transportation,\u200d and other agricultural practices \u200dand goods.<\/p>\n<p>The duo say such \u2064regulations are squeezing their already \u201cvery narrow\u201d profit margin,\u2063 and are doing the same to \u2063many \u200dother California farmers.<\/p>\n<p>As California\u200d continues to lead the country \u2063as its top agricultural producer, such regulations are increasing \u200cthe cost \u2062to produce\u200b crops, which the Manasseros said contributes to the rising cost of food.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Manassero Farms in Irvine, Calif., on Oct. 7, 2021. (John Fredricks\/The Epoch Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe government is just putting a squeeze on [local farmers],\u201d Mr. Manassero told The \u2063Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Manasseros, state and federal regulations have made \u2062farming more \u200band more costly, resulting in the family cutting back\u200b their acreage and focusing more\u200d on retail\u2064 such as hosting bridal\u200d showers, business retreats, baby showers, and other \u200bevents\u200d in their barn \u200dat their Irvine location to stay in business.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank God we came up with \u200cthat model, if\u2064 we hadn\u2019t we might not \u200dhave been\u2062 able\u2063 to stay open\u200b with how expensive [government] \u200b regulations have gotten,\u201d Ms. Manassero said.<\/p>\n<p>Such regulations, they said, include \u200bpaying \u200bresidential \u2063rates for water usage, instead of agricultural\u200c rates \u200bthey were \u200bonce charged. \u2063Such a change, instituted five <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-votes-to-renew-violence-against-women-act\/\" title=\"House votes to renew \u2018Violence Against Women Act\u2019\">years ago due<\/a> to drought measures, doubled their water bill,\u200c Mr. Manassero said.<\/p>\n<p>Another financial \u2062strain on their \u2064bottom line came after the Affordable\u200d Care \u200bAct, sometimes known as \u200cObamacare, was implemented in 2010,\u2063 they\u200b said.<\/p>\n<p>The Manasseros said they \u2064had to lay off workers in order to stay under the\u2063 50-employee threshold as they could not afford to pay for \u2062employee\u2063 health insurance on top of\u2064 other fees such as business\u2064 taxes, organic certification \u200dfees, and more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese [lawmakers] \u2063just don\u2019t understand how small our \u200cprofit \u200bmargin already is, and every time they pass one of these policies it eats \u2064up whatever tiny profit we have left,\u201d Ms. Manassero said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Manassero\u2062 Farms in Irvine, Calif., on Oct. 7, 2021. (John Fredricks\/The Epoch Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Additionally, the Manasseros said their financial\u200b burden is \u200bbolstered by increasing competition\u2064 from Mexican farms, which are able to grow similar crops at a fraction of the cost since they don\u2019t have the regulatory costs associated with farming in California and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>According \u200dto \u200bMr. Manassero, California farms\u2062 pay their workers per hour what Mexican farms pay per\u2063 day. Such costs, he said, make\u2062 it \u201cnearly\u200b impossible\u201d for California\u200d farmers to\u2064 compete.<\/p>\n<p>The Manasseros said many Southern California farmers will instead \u200crelocate to Mexico\u200d to\u200b be competitive.<\/p>\n<p>However, they say such\u2063 economic pressures on U.S. \u200bproducers may\u2062 have\u2064 deadly consequences \u2062by \u200bplacing countries \u200dlike Mexico as the \u2062top food producer for the United States.<\/p>\n<p>According \u200bto \u2064Mr. Manassero, as American \u2062farmers continue to be out-competed and \u200cMexico dominates \u2064the food market, food insecurity may become a bigger concern due\u2063 to\u200d corruption interwoven with farming across the border.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe \u200d [drug] \u200d cartels run\u200c everything down \u2062there [including] the farmers. They\u2019re\u200d very big into the\u2062 farming industry for money laundering \u2026 they\u2063 would just jack up the prices \u2064 [of food] to whatever they want once [American] farmers are out of business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Another economic pressure facing farmers like the Manasseros is the\u200c cost of oil, which \u200bthey say\u200d in turn is \u200bincreasing their operational costs like purchasing fruit \u200bboxes and other farming supplies.<\/p>\n<p>Making matters worse, Mr. Manassero \u200csaid, \u200bis California\u2019s gas-powered vehicle\u2063 ban instituted by Gov. Gavin Newsom, which would ban the sale of all\u200b such vehicles by 2035.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>A \u200bfarmer uses a tractor outside of\u2064 Sacramento, Calif., on April \u206218, 2022. (John Fredricks\/The Epoch Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to the\u200d Manasseros, \u2062this policy will skyrocket produce prices\u200c since\u200d as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/carrie-sheffield-biden-is-waging-a-war-on-truckers-and-everyone-will-pay-the-price\/\" title=\"Carrie Sheffield: Biden Is Waging a War on Truckers and Everyone Will Pay the Price\">gas-powered trucks<\/a>\u2063 will no\u2063 longer be allowed \u2063to transport \u200bproduce and supplies at competitive rates. And with California gas being taxed higher than\u200d the national average,\u2062 the\u200c Manasseros \u200bsaid their production costs have crept \u200beven higher, making them even\u2064 less competitive with larger producers \u2064and growers in Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Lawmakers] did not think that one\u2062 through at all. \u200cWe can\u2019t possibly have the infrastructure or money to\u2062 [enact] something\u2064 like\u2062 that so soon,\u201d Mr. Manassero said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge way they\u2019re hurting local farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A.G. Kawamura, who was\u2063 then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger\u2019s Secretary of Food and Agriculture\u2063 from 2003 to 2010 and currently the\u2064 owner \u2063of Irvine-based Orange County\u2064 Produce farm, \u200drepeated many of the\u200d same worries as \u2063the Manasseros.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kawamura said such concerns include labor\u2064 costs being \u201ctoo high,\u201d farming moving to\u200b and\u2062 being taken over by Mexico, \u200cand regulations increasing operational costs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not \u2063anti-regulation. I\u2019m anti-over-regulation,\u201d Mr. Kawamura told\u2064 The \u2062Epoch Times. \u201cFarmers have gone from a state\u200b of living to\u200b a state of survival with\u2064 how expensive it\u2019s gotten.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Such regulations, according to Mr.\u200b Kawamura, include California\u2019s recent\u2064 labor \u200dlaws\u200b which require paying farm \u200cworkers for daily overtime, have forced farms to cut back laborer\u2019s hours due \u2064to lack of affordability.<\/p>\n<p>The reason, he said, \u2064is because working hours on farms \u2062are\u200d irregular depending \u2064on weather conditions, which require laborers to work overtime on some days to make up for lack of hours during seasonal shifts.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>A.G.\u2064 Kawamura, Secretary of California&#8217;s\u200c Department of\u200d Food and Agriculture, testifies at \u2064a\u200b hearing\u200c on Capitol \u2062Hill in\u200b Washington on July 31, 2008. (Brendan Hoffman\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Orange County Produce, which has been run\u2063 by Mr. Kawamura\u2019s family since 1946, \u2064has also had to \u200dadjust to meet the financial \u2063burden of\u2063 remaining operational in California\u2064 amid pricey regulations by not growing certain crops and reducing acreage.<\/p>\n<p>While his farm\u200b remains \u200bsuccessful, Mr. Kawamura \u200csaid he has seen many of his farming peers in Southern California\u2019s Coachella Valley move to Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>According to Mr. Kawamura, the valley went from having \u2062over 27,000 acres of\u2063 grape growers and vineyards in the \u2063last\u200d 50 \u2062years down to only 2,000 acres as of this year. He said the migration of farmers will \u2064continue to worsen if something does\u2062 not change.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kawamura says less than \u20632 percent of\u2063 people\u2063 in the United States work\u200c in agriculture anymore, with most in\u2063 the country not even being \u201cengaged\u201d in the process at\u2063 all.<\/p>\n<p>Such\u2062 lack of \u200binvolvement, he said, \u2062is dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat ignorance\u2064 of where our food comes from and how vulnerable it is, is one of \u200cthe greatest threats to the nation\u200d and the world really,\u201d Mr. Kawamura said. \u201cThis is not just the United States. It&#8217;s all over \u2062the world where there&#8217;s so few people in a position anymore\u2063 to understand what \u2062happens to our food \u200dor how it\u2019s produced.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. \u2062Lou Correa (D-Calif.), whose \u2064district spans Santa Ana and Anaheim, is currently in talks with local farmers\u2063 and nonprofits to \u2064gain their\u2063 input on the\u2064 Farming \u200cBill Reauthorization in hopes of securing adequate funding for those in\u2064 the state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The Farm Bill] really touches each of us in our daily lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>farmworkers, and conservation programs. California farmers, facing challenges such as drought and labor shortages, are hopeful that the bill will provide them with the necessary resources to sustain their businesses. Their success is crucial not only for their livelihoods but also for ensuring a stable food supply for the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2249,"featured_media":2020461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2020460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2020460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}