FRESNO DESK - The dilemma of modern California agriculture is that while farm revenue and production are at record levels, farmers are convinced that they are trapped in a losing battle for survival against taxation and governmental regulation.
California leads the nation in agricultural production and income. Political action committees representing California agribusiness are
stepping up their political contributions and for the first time, lobbying out-of-state congressional representatives.
Farmers are out to win friends and influence federal policies on issues including pesticides, the Endangered Species Act, water allocation, guest workers from Mexico and food-quality regulations now being written.
The California Farm Bureau, for example, is beefing up its Washington lobbying and this week by sending two dozen farmers to Washington to visit every congressional representative from California, both U.S. senators and
officials in the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Fresno County's West Side entrepreneur Chad Robinson recently published his high-tech Web Site from Firebaugh. Robinson takes urban development to task for infringing on valuable farm land and the precious water needed to support farming operations.
The annual economic value of California agriculture is approaching $25 billion. Fresno is the top agricultural county in the state, with Tulare, Kern, Monterey and Merced following.
Tom Pecht, who grows lemons and avocados in Ventura County, told reporters recently 'Today's farmer is not the farmer of 50 or 60 years ago, sitting around in blue overalls, with a straw hat and some straw in his mouth...Farming is a business, and you've got to lobby on its behalf, just like other businesses are doing.'
The state's farms have become a new battlegrounds in the U.S. Senate race for Darrell Issa(R)who spoke at a fig-packing plant in Fresno on Friday. Issa's free market capitalism would eliminate government red tape and other governmental restraints on farmers.
If Issa is going to lead the GOP, he will have to work very hard to
overcome the agricultural support and money that incumbent, Democratic
senator Barbara Boxer(D)has. Boxer has penetrated agricultural PACs with her work on federal support for export and marketing plans, crop insurance and
finding new markets for dates, almonds and sugar beets by persuading
foreign governments to drop trade barriers.
During her candidacy announcement tour in February, one of the most
enthusiastic gatherings was in Selma at the home of raisin grower, Girard Kasparian.
In an emotional appeal, Boxer told the crowd of supporters, 'My fights are your fights.I will be there every single day fighting for you.'
But the California Farm Bureau is not buying the Boxer rhetoric, just yet. It endorsed her opponent in 1992, and the group's leader showed a preference for Rep. Frank Riggs(R).
The sticking point for most farmers is that Boxer refuses to amend the Endangered Species Act. If that weren't enough, she also opposes a guest-worker program. To cap it off, Boxer has waivers on water issues in deference to liberal political allies in Northern California.
The final wake-up call to California farmers was the passage last year of a bill phasing out the nation's half-century-old system of price supports for certain crops. Passage of that bill stunned many growers who quickly moved to regain their political footholds in Sacramento and Washington.
Estimates for political campaign contributions from California farmers and people with links to agriculture are in excess of $2 million already this year.
Valley farmers believe they have the high moral ground. In recent elections, Republicans have received the lion's share of agricultural money and support, with some notable exceptions. For example,U.S. senator, Dianne Feinstein(D) was endorsed by the state Farm Bureau for reelection in 1994.
Jack King, the California Farm Bureau's manager of national affairs, told reporters many farmers believe that paperwork and regulations imposed on farmers are increasing at such a rate that farmers may soon be required to get a governmental permit before a crop can be put into the ground.
'That's a climate many farmers find very fearful,' King said.
The issues that really grab farmers' attention center on a handful of
problems with statewide significance. Farmers want Congress to establish a guest-worker program to provide temporary visas to 25,000 farm workers, probably from Mexico, during harvest time.
Farmers contend that crackdowns on illegal immigration have led to labor
shortages and grapes rotting in the fields.
Making matters worse, California and federal officials have now proposed the construction of a government canal to link the Sacramento River and the State Water Project that will bypass the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California's major wetland.
In a related matter, farmers are trying to influence the regulations being drafted by the EPA to implement the Food Quality and Protection Act passed by Congress. The rules may actually create more paperwork and more
restrictions on pesticides.
The Endangered Species Act, now up for renewal, should be limited,West Side farmers say, so that fewer animals and plants are put off limits and farmers cannot be fined for trampling them during the routine farming operations.
