The water seesaw was particularly evident in 2017, with tragic examples of boom and bust. In February, a Pacific storm rolled through the region flooding fields and delaying plantings, but the rainfall filled the Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio reservoirs. Nevertheless, Roach confirms water is always top of mind. “Winter was unseasonably dry,” he notes, “we’re not saying the drought is over here.”
Rules and Regulations
Further complicating water management is 2014’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, affecting local agencies at the county level. Monterey County “is working to manage water quality with this new regulation being imposed on agriculture to protect groundwater on top of everything else,” explains Roach.
“The costs of compliance, recordkeeping, monitoring, and sampling continue to increase each year,” comments Groot. In many cases, he notes, “resources are directed into monitoring and reporting rather than on-farm solutions to improve water quality.”
Worse yet, he says, “no credit is given to those farms that do make improvements.” Ultimately, Groot fears the “regulatory process will eventually force small farmers out of financial sustainability due to the overwhelming requirements of compliance.”
Although it may be too soon to measure the impact of this recent legislation, there are certainly challenges ahead in finding a balance between current water needs and long-term conservation.
In addition to the aforementioned groundwater and pesticide rules, there are plenty of other regulations reverberating throughout the industry—all adding to the burdens of growers each year. In the long run, Groot believes this regulatory atmosphere “puts the small farmer at a distinct disadvantage, not only against his larger neighbor, but producers in other states.”
Food safety
One such example, for many, is the Produce Safety Rule which went into effect January 26, 2018. April Ward, communications director for the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA), explains, “one of the newer requirements from the Produce Safety Rule is that each farm has to employ an individual who has completed a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-recognized Produce Safety Rule Grower Training Course.”
As part of the new process, “In the past year, over 500 people have participated in LGMA tech training and over 200 of those took the Produce Safety Rule grower course,” notes Ward, who says the regulatory changes are related to the California and Arizona LGMA programs’ efforts to be aligned with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and its rules.
