Demonizing farmers is wrong approach, says Tracy Press

Here’s an opinion article that appears in the Tracy Press this morning, that says that painting the farmers as polluters & resource abusers is the wrong approach. Citing several pending court cases with the potential to cutback water deliveries to Central Valley farmers, the article says:

How can farming manage if farmers lose half of their water? And if that is what will happen, how will it happen and for how long? In the meantime, the need to provide food at a reasonable price and the impact on a huge economic engine might be ignored in deference to a perceived environmental issue. …

This is not to suggest that when it comes to the environment, the agricultural industry should get a free pass. Some of its practices should be carefully examined, evaluated and changed. But a legitimate question needs to be asked as to whether the model for that examination — the creation and enforcement of environmental requirements used for manufacturing-based resolutions — fits agriculture.

Food, unlike manufactured goods, is a requirement for existence, one that needs to be available at a reasonable price. Yet agriculture is a risk-intensive business. Profit margins are often thin and subject to market and weather fluctuations, an impact other industries are not as sensitive to.

Agriculture is also a strong part of California’s economy — and, because growing plants aids in offsetting carbon emissions, it’s an increasingly “green” industry.

To read the full text of this opinion article from the Tracy Press, click here.

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