MESSAGE TO ELECTED OFFICIALS: PUT ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES ABOVE ALL ELSE By Dave Puglia, President and CEO
The elections are behind us, thankfully. No more campaign ads on our computers, phones and television screens, no more cardstock attack pieces clogging up our mailboxes. At least for a while. Those elected, or reelected, to serve in state and national offices are hopefully turning to the task of governing. Many know Western Growers and our members well, and many don’t. In either case, I think it’s a good time to refresh for them, and for ourselves, the state of our industry and the ways they can process complex and competing policy demands. We tend to take on policy issues in buckets, which can be helpful in focusing attention on those more critical or urgent. But with so many farmers struggling with an unprecedented deluge of challenges, it seems wise to construct a filter through which political leaders should pass every policy issue presented to them. To my mind, the relevant question to ask—the filter through which every policy issue should be tested—is this: Does this policy build up or degrade the economic viability of American farmers? No other question really matters when you think about it. A noble-sounding piece of legislation that would “help workers” or “protect the environment” will have entirely failed if it contributes to the further degradation of economic viability that is driving American farmers— and especially those operating in California—toward consolidation, bankruptcy or relocation of operations to foreign lands. Look no farther than California’s union-backed overtime wage law for farmworkers. Everyone— farmworkers and farmers alike—are being harmed due to that law’s predicted conflict with the laws of economics. Another example: The tangle of state and federal regulations championed by environmental interest groups, premised on restoring listed fish species to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, has entirely failed to achieve any of the stated environmental objectives. But the economic consequences have been robust: The picture of the future San Joaquin Valley features sweeping areas of abandoned dusty land and solar “farms.” The rationale for passing proposed policies through an economic viability lens should be apparent, but sadly it is not so obvious in Congress and many state capitals. Farm bankruptcies, consolidation and dependence on foreign food production have all been increasing. • National farm bankruptcies increased 46 percent in 2025; California had the most of any state in 2024. • The U.S. lost 141,733 farms from 2017 to 2022; California lost about 10 percent of its farms in the same period.
• Large operations with 2,000-plus crop acres went from controlling 15 percent of U.S. cropland in 1987 to 41 percent in 2017. • Imports now account for about 59 percent of U.S. fresh-fruit availability and 35 percent of fresh-vegetable availability. So, with that troubling data in mind, and that lens properly affixed to their gazes, here are just some of the priorities Congress and the California legislature should tackle, if they really do believe that American farming and food production is worth saving. Federal labor policy : Congress and President Trump need to finally do the right thing and pass ag labor reform legislation. The bill introduced by G.T. Thompson (R-PA) has bipartisan co-sponsors and the strong support of virtually every segment of American agriculture. It is desperately needed in securing American farm stability. California labor policy : So much to unpack here, but let’s start with the most obvious, which is the aforementioned overtime law. It has demonstrably caused farmworkers to earn less, while contributing mightily to farm bankruptcy, consolidation and flight to other states and countries. The next Governor and Legislature cannot be taken seriously as promoters of California’s sustained agricultural vibrancy without confronting this disaster and stepping up to course correct. Water supply : California needs to stop trying to satisfy the demands of environmental “non-government organizations” (NGOs). They will never be satisfied. Their business models are grounded on perpetuation of conflict with water users (especially their shameful demonization of family farm entities as “corporate ag”). Were they to ever declare satisfaction with a major water policy, they would have one less conflict to use to motivate donors. Executives working in non-profit NGOs don’t want to dampen the enthusiasm of the donors who pay their salaries. Elected leaders need to come to terms with this reality and get about the business of building infrastructure and using it to restore economic viability to California’s farms. Crop protection : Get back to science and analysis based on risk management. Activists are counting on state and federal legislators and agencies to bend under the pressure of fact-challenged and emotionally powerful claims that all pesticides are dangerous to human health in all circumstances. Science doesn’t agree, and the economic consequences of banning well-understood and safely used tools are sure to increase food costs and force more American farm production abroad. This list could go much longer, of course. But the central idea here is what matters: Economic consequences trump all else in public policy. Lose sight of that, and soon you won’t have anyone left to regulate.
4 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com October – December 2026
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