
In his first campaign, President-elect Donald Trump famously promised Americans they’d win so much they’d get tired of winning. In reality, political victories are fleeting in a country as evenly divided as the U.S. And for farmers in an urban-centric state like California, victories are all the rarer and sweeter.
Nonetheless, agriculture industry leaders in the Golden State kicked off 2025 by savoring their recent wins. Among them was California Farm Bureau president Shannon Douglass, who heralded last year’s resounding defeat of Measure J, a Sonoma County ballot measure that would have phased out large dairy and poultry farms in the county within three years.
“We recognized that something like this in Sonoma County could easily be replicated” in other counties and states, Douglass told members during the CFB’s 106th Annual Meeting in Monterey in December. Farm Bureau offices at the local and state levels worked for more than a year to defeat the measure.
“Not only were they successful, they were extremely successful,” Douglass said, noting that voters rejected the measure by roughly 85% to 15%.
A frequent CFB ally, the California Cattlemen’s Association, is boasting on its website of a string of 2024 victories. Among them:
Securing renewed funding for the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program in the current fiscal year’s budget despite a deficit.
Killing legislation to subsidize “alternative protein” research and development.
Advancing a bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that streamlines the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s contracting ability to speed up large-scale prescribed fires.
Defeating legislation that would have imposed significant costs on ranchers by requiring routine inspections of what could be considered standard-size gates.
Enshrining the environmental benefits of livestock grazing in state climate-smart policies advanced by agencies such as the California Natural Resources Agency and Air Resources Board.
“You’re never tired of winning, and of course there’s always defense that could be played in the industry,” CCA vice president of government affairs Kirk Wilbur told Farm Press. “There are always challenges that our members face … We try to chip away at some of those challenges every year.”
There’s much more work to be done to make California more of a farm-friendly state. As Douglass noted recently, the state has lost more than 7,000 farms and fallowed nearly 1.5 million acres in the past five years, while costs increased more than $150,000 per farm in the same period.
The victories in 2024 demonstrate what can happen when farmers get together and speak with one voice. Ag may not have the political clout that it used to, but it still has enough to gain the attention of policymakers and other Californians. It’s important for food producers to use these groups as a platform to voice your opinions. And you’ll never get tired of winning.
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