Pam Lewison
Agriculture
May is National Mental Health Month
Mental health should take center stage in rural communities
Recent data highlighting the loss of farms and ranches throughout the United States in the Census of Agriculture from the United States Department of Agriculture should bring particular attention to the stressors in rural communities. To put the national losses in perspective, the U.S. lost an average of 545 farms ...
Agriculture
Read latest about war on agriculture
Solution to CA’s farm loss is through proactively working with ag community
The U.S. Census of Agriculture shows a distinct acceleration of farm losses between 2007 and 2022. Yet, farms are not altogether disappearing in California. According to census data released earlier this spring, there was a peak in the number of farms reported in California in 2007 with 81,033 recorded. In ...
Agriculture
Proposed H-2A rule changes will make the program more difficult for everyone
In 2022, California’s agricultural employers hired 44,400 farmworkers through the H-2A visa program. The number of people hired through the program equates to about 12 percent of the total number of farmworkers hired through the visa program for the entire United States that year. Farmworkers with H-2A visas are temporary ...
Agriculture
Read about latest unworkable green mandate
New paper highlights the troubles with one-size-fits-all ag solutions
The Green New Deal, or the Inflation Reduction Act as it’s been rebranded, call for the installation of green or buffer zones on farms to act as wildland spaces for wild plants and animals. Legacy farms and ranches often already have those things in place. For example, our family farm ...
Agriculture
Learn about latest California green mandate
‘Build it and they will come’ is not the answer for climate change legislation
The trouble with severely limiting packaging to what can be recycled or composted is, according to the Covered Materials Category List that was developed under the requirements SB 343, most packaging materials cannot be recycled or composted. Phasing out single-use food packaging, which is harmful to the environment, is a ...
Agriculture
California’s Farmers Give Great Gifts to Us All – During the Holidays and All Year Long
A great many farmers and ranchers identify with Paul Harvey’s iconic poem, “So God Made a Farmer,” but this time of year, I prefer the editorial from Francis B. Church, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” Whether you read Paul Harvey’s poignant poem or Francis Church’s editorial to set ...
Agriculture
Read new study from Washington Policy Center and PRI
Policy Brief: The impact of California’s Proposition 12 in increasing national production costs and food prices
In 2018, voters in California passed Proposition 12, called the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative, by a wide margin. The state law established regulations for housing laying hens, veal calves, and hogs whose food products – eggs, veal, and pork – would be sold in California. Additionally, the regulation prohibited the ...
Agriculture
Holiday meals always begin on the farm, even when we can’t see them
With the holidays fast approaching, food becomes the centerpiece of tables, gifts, and thoughts for people and families. Maybe a family has a traditional recipe eaten every holiday season, lovingly handed down generation-to-generation with unwritten touches that can only be replicated when the item is made with another family member. ...
Agriculture
Read about latest activist lawsuit
Cooperation, not lawsuits, is the answer to nitrogen on the Central Coast
Nitrogen is the plant equivalent of parents telling their children to eat their vegetables. In kids, vegetables provide micronutrients needed for proper growth, fiber, and energy. In plants, nitrogen provides similar benefits, ensuring plants have the needed energy to grow to the best maturity and provide the most crop at ...
Agriculture
Read about latest federal overreach
Are checkoffs really taking taxpayer dollars and giving them to agriculture?
The OFF Act suggests federal checkoff programs are simply a means for further consolidation of “industrial agriculture” and federal agricultural lobbying organizations. However, the structure of each checkoff belies that notion. Checkoff programs are federal marketing and research programs funded entirely by the producers of 22 commodities in the United ...
May is National Mental Health Month
Mental health should take center stage in rural communities
Recent data highlighting the loss of farms and ranches throughout the United States in the Census of Agriculture from the United States Department of Agriculture should bring particular attention to the stressors in rural communities. To put the national losses in perspective, the U.S. lost an average of 545 farms ...
Read latest about war on agriculture
Solution to CA’s farm loss is through proactively working with ag community
The U.S. Census of Agriculture shows a distinct acceleration of farm losses between 2007 and 2022. Yet, farms are not altogether disappearing in California. According to census data released earlier this spring, there was a peak in the number of farms reported in California in 2007 with 81,033 recorded. In ...
Proposed H-2A rule changes will make the program more difficult for everyone
In 2022, California’s agricultural employers hired 44,400 farmworkers through the H-2A visa program. The number of people hired through the program equates to about 12 percent of the total number of farmworkers hired through the visa program for the entire United States that year. Farmworkers with H-2A visas are temporary ...
Read about latest unworkable green mandate
New paper highlights the troubles with one-size-fits-all ag solutions
The Green New Deal, or the Inflation Reduction Act as it’s been rebranded, call for the installation of green or buffer zones on farms to act as wildland spaces for wild plants and animals. Legacy farms and ranches often already have those things in place. For example, our family farm ...
Learn about latest California green mandate
‘Build it and they will come’ is not the answer for climate change legislation
The trouble with severely limiting packaging to what can be recycled or composted is, according to the Covered Materials Category List that was developed under the requirements SB 343, most packaging materials cannot be recycled or composted. Phasing out single-use food packaging, which is harmful to the environment, is a ...
California’s Farmers Give Great Gifts to Us All – During the Holidays and All Year Long
A great many farmers and ranchers identify with Paul Harvey’s iconic poem, “So God Made a Farmer,” but this time of year, I prefer the editorial from Francis B. Church, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” Whether you read Paul Harvey’s poignant poem or Francis Church’s editorial to set ...
Read new study from Washington Policy Center and PRI
Policy Brief: The impact of California’s Proposition 12 in increasing national production costs and food prices
In 2018, voters in California passed Proposition 12, called the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative, by a wide margin. The state law established regulations for housing laying hens, veal calves, and hogs whose food products – eggs, veal, and pork – would be sold in California. Additionally, the regulation prohibited the ...
Holiday meals always begin on the farm, even when we can’t see them
With the holidays fast approaching, food becomes the centerpiece of tables, gifts, and thoughts for people and families. Maybe a family has a traditional recipe eaten every holiday season, lovingly handed down generation-to-generation with unwritten touches that can only be replicated when the item is made with another family member. ...
Read about latest activist lawsuit
Cooperation, not lawsuits, is the answer to nitrogen on the Central Coast
Nitrogen is the plant equivalent of parents telling their children to eat their vegetables. In kids, vegetables provide micronutrients needed for proper growth, fiber, and energy. In plants, nitrogen provides similar benefits, ensuring plants have the needed energy to grow to the best maturity and provide the most crop at ...
Read about latest federal overreach
Are checkoffs really taking taxpayer dollars and giving them to agriculture?
The OFF Act suggests federal checkoff programs are simply a means for further consolidation of “industrial agriculture” and federal agricultural lobbying organizations. However, the structure of each checkoff belies that notion. Checkoff programs are federal marketing and research programs funded entirely by the producers of 22 commodities in the United ...
