California Farm Bureau: Advocacy in Action

White House meeting

California Farm Bureau President Shannon Douglass joined state Farm Bureau presidents from across the U.S. and American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall at the White House last week to discuss issues and hear from cabinet members, administration officials and senior White House staff. 

Douglass and others participated in discussions with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Lee Zeldin, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They talked about priority issues that included the farm economy, preserving family farms, disaster assistance, trade, labor, Make America Healthy Again policies and regulatory reform.

During the meeting, Rollins said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has started a new round of disaster payments. Producers who suffered eligible crop losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 may now apply for $16 billion in assistance through the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program.

Williamson Act

Speaking before the California Senate Local Government Committee last week, Peter Ansel, senior policy director for the California Farm Bureau, said Assembly Bill 1156, which would allow industrial scale and battery projects on prime agricultural land, raises serious concerns for the long-term protection of the state’s farmland. 

Unless the bill—authored by Assembly Member Buffy Wicks, D-Berkeley—is amended, Ansel said, it would repeal the requirement of a payment to cancel Williamson Act contracts for solar use easements, expediting the speculation of farmland conversion to solar energy. The bill passed out of the committee and will be heard today in the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality.

Agricultural waste

Senate Bill 279 by state Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, passed out of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee last week. The bill, which Farm Bureau supports, would increase the amount of agricultural material that can be sent to composting. As burning is no longer allowed in the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, farmers need alternative methods for managing their organic waste. The bill will next be heard in Assembly Appropriations.

Immigration

In recent weeks, the White House has offered mixed signals regarding how it intends to protect agriculture and other industries from its immigration enforcement efforts. President Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of allowing farmers and ranchers to vouch for long-term immigrant workers residing in the U.S., even suggesting amnesty could be a viable option.

However, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins contradicted that stance last week, saying amnesty is “completely off the table” for those currently at risk of deportation. She also suggested that about 34 million able-bodied Medicaid recipients could be used to help fill labor shortages in the agricultural sector. 

It remains unclear whether Congress will act on a comprehensive solution, said Matthew Viohl, a policy advocacy director for the California Farm Bureau, which continues to work with partners to advocate for legislative reforms.