Farms, dairies and food processors humming in Stanislaus County despite coronavirus

You ever wonder why we here at Farm Bureau fight everyday to advocate for farmers and ranchers in an effort to help them stay in business? Do you see the empty shelves of food? Does that scare you a little? Does that make you feel anxious and nervous about our future?

Well, it should.

We have been telling the public forever how important agriculture is and how it plays a role in your everyday life. Not only farming, but all the industries that contribute to getting food to the shelves.

Farmers tell me every day that they feel that legislators and regulators “don’t want us to farm anymore,” because of the onerous and ridiculous and sometimes completely senseless regulations they face. The family farm is faced with these road blocks every minute of every day. These hurdles have caused farms and dairies to go out of business, which leads to consolidation and larger farms.

In the last week, here at Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, we have been fielding calls from desperate folks who are looking for places to buy local, fresh farm products because they just can’t find the items (milk, eggs, bread, and meat) on the store shelves. Sure, we have never witnessed a major pandemic like we have today, but I hope this wakes you up and gets you thinking about our farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, food processors and truck drivers.

The farmer doesn’t get credit for all the wonderful things they contribute to our environment, like growing oxygen-producing plants and trees. And, being great stewards of the land that you have to be, to grow good food. All while creating and maintaining open space for all of us to enjoy.

For so many years producers of agricultural commodities have found ways to enhance our environment through innovation and technology. Back in 2008, Stanislaus County adopted a slogan: “Agriculture Priority One!” Have we been following that slogan?

The one thing we have witnessed in the past couple of weeks is when you relax regulation and allow free enterprise to go to work, we can accomplish so much more. As politicians in Washington fight with each other, farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, transportation and food processors are hard at work making sure our families still have safe, affordable and abundant food.

It’s time for the state of California to listen to the very people who put the food on the shelves.

My sister is a critical care nurse in Sacramento and she is putting her health at risk, along with all the people in the health care industry, and first responders. We have so many people to thank along the way as we head down the long road of recovery.

Our leaders tell us every day about how we all will get through this crisis. There is no doubt we will. All of our lives have changed. We need to step back and hit the “reset button,” and start appreciating our biggest economic engine and the best thing we have going, or rather growing — producing the most important resource we have: food.

Here at the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, we work every day for the good of your food.

This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 5:00 AM.