(Draft of prepared remarks to be presented to California Secretary of Agriculture, A.G. Kawamura, July 7th, in Oxnard, California. )
Mr. Secretary, thank you for coming to Ventura County. We appreciate the state’s attention to the continuing challenges of an evolving agricultural landscape.
(Personal intro skipped in blog)
Lighten Regulatory Load
As you evaluate possible policy directions, I urge you above all else to keep a light hand. Nationwide, those areas of the agricultural industry that have been most tightly tied to government farm policies have been the areas that have suffered economic trial and have delivered environmental and nutritional disasters. The stated goal of a new California agricultural system by 2030 is an ambitious goal. The goal will be realized by the development of new policies and the accompanying regulations to implement them. Please do lay the foundation of a new structure upon the old. Strip away some of the fat in the current system, before we add new ones. The change that you seek in the system can be brought about solely by the creativity and innovation of the farm economy. It is not yet clear how many of the visions for 2030 can be realized. Allow room for people to experiment, even allow room for people to make some mistakes, and for some to fail and we will find the answers. If we are not prepared to do this, if we are not prepared to let innovation be our guide, then we will fail. I fear that we may be about to introduce a whole new series of policies and regulations that will simply overlay the old. No good can come from an environment of heightened compliance issues, contradictory policy goals, and artificially constrained options for both growers and consumers. If we are not prepared to trust in innovation and creativity, even at the cost of some failures, we are not ready for a 2030 vision. Please proceed no further.
Diversity of Farm Types
Policy has tended to favor centralization on large producers and a small range of crops for global distribution. You will hear advocates tell you that the proper role for policy is to favor the opposite end of the spectrum: very small, highly diversified farms serving local markets. I call on you to recognize that replacing one extreme with the other has seldom worked in politics, economics or any other field of human activity.
My organic colleagues will no doubt refer to biodiversity in the ecosystem. I would like to discuss diversity in the econosystem. Just as we now recognize that a range of species can (and indeed must) inhabit a given habitat for a healthy environment, a variety of farm types make for a healthy farm economy. Some of my produce goes to local restaurants, but much of it travels around the country and around the world. A variety of distribution channels and markets is good. With Ventura County’s diversity of crops, there is not a day in the year that something isn’t being harvested and sent to market. This is a strength. Large operations are essential to maintain a healthy population of equipment dealers and service providers. Mid-size family farmers often provide much of the leadership in local co-ops and associations. Smaller farms utilize and help sustain the agricultural service economy, and often pioneer specialty crops while feeding local markets. There is room for them all. We need them all.
I am proud to be a 5th generation farmer in Ventura County. I can take no credit for my notion of a diverse and dynamic agricultural economy. It is what has existed all around my family for 130 years and shaped my views, but I believe it can be a model for other parts of the state as well.
Much will be said today about the need for supporting small farms. In no area is a small farm at a greater disadvantage to a larger competitor than in regulatory compliance. When a single set of shoulders must bear the weight of being Human Resources Manager, General Counsel, Safety Inspector as well as CEO and harvester, the burden gets heavy. If it is the goal of your policies not to have small farmers choose to lay that burden down, we must examine the load. I do not expect a libertarian revolution in the field of agricultural regulation. But surely there must be some areas we can streamline.
Regional Food Systems
I happily support efforts to create strong regional food systems, which offer more of the economic diversity that I have mentioned. But I do not think we should blind ourselves to the larger picture our food needs. With a nutritional crisis all over our country, California agriculture has the opportunity to deliver healthy, fresh produce throughout the year. Does a child in Detroit in January need a ripe orange? For a grower like me, is it a market opportunity or a moral obligation to try to get him one?
We were all horrified to see the carnage in New Orleans after Katrina. But how much worse could it have been, if it had occurred in a utopian, local food system future. What would have been left from local farms also wiped out by the giant storm? If all other parts of the nation, were tied to their own local foodsheds, where would relief have come from? How would it get there, after national distribution systems had atrophied? Would Louisianaagriculture have been put under the emergency direction of FEMA? How do we suppose that might have turned out?
I raise the issue not to discredit regional food networks. I believe they will have an important role in building local economies, minimizing the energy consumed in the transport of food, and preserving local cultures. But it would be a grave mistake indeed to view them as the desired outcome of Food Policy. Again, the antidote to extreme global distribution is not extreme local distribution.
Labor and Immigration
This state was built with the energy and labor of those seeking a better life through hard work. And for all of our faults and sins along the way, our state and our country have been the greatest generators of wealth, freedom and human happiness this world has ever seen. Today the energy to continue this growth comes not from the East, but from the South. California must lead the way to practical, workable immigration reform. The people who travel here seek work and economic opportunity, and that is what we have to offer. A well managed border is in the national interest of both the United States and Mexico. California stands to gain if we enact meaningful reform, but no state stands to suffer more if we fail.
Invasive Pests
While we need a border that can accommodate a two-way flow of goods and labor, we can not accommodate the introduction of foreign pests. Phytosanitary measures at the border must be increased. Without these measures, there will be no alternative to costly control measures taken after the fact. As we see currently with the Light Brown Apple Moth, such measures are costly both to government and growers, and must necessarily rely on measures that will anger certain segments of our community. Tight controls at the border are not only good policy, they are also a good investment.
Conclusion : The Need for Uncommon Vision
I would like to close with a thought on our purpose here today. I’m never sure whether to consider myself a part of the movement or not, but I spend a lot of time with people in the local food / sustainable agriculture field. A frequent theme is the need for a “common vision” for a new food system. I enjoy my work with the Ag Futures Alliance and the Roots of Change Fund, and admire the dedication and passion shown by many that I have met in these arenas. I often hear it said that we must have a common vision of the future, and that creativity and innovation will be necessary for success.
But if innovation and creativity are the solution to the problems of our food system, then is a common vision a meaningful goal? Has genuine innovation ever emerged from within a broadly held common vision? Or has it been the fringe view (the Uncommon Vision) that has been the origin of innovation?
Galileo, DaVinci, Edison, and Einstein. These were not men of common vision. Mozart, Coltrane, and Davis were not mere spokesmen for the mainstream. Picasso did not paint what was apparent to everyone.
A vision, once defined and ossified into policy begets bureaucracy. Will bureaucracy yield the results we seek? I am pleased that CDFA is recognizing these issues, but fear state involvement will hamper efforts for change. I return to my initial plea for a light hand.
In our pursuit of “common vision”, let us not preclude the Uncommon Visions that will be the catalysts for true success.
Thank you.
Tags: 2030, A.G. Kawamura, afa, ag, california agriculture, farming, food systems, local food, ROC, sustainability, ventura, vision
