Mosebar stresses agriculture's public policy role

Issue Date: December 6, 2006

By Ching Lee
Assistant Editor

CFBF President Doug Mosebar, holding up a new "Faces of Farm Bureau" book at the group's annual meeting in Anaheim, encouraged members to continue sharing their personal stories with legislators, political leaders and other stakeholders. "We build our momentum through your involvement," he said.

Recapping some of the year's major events and news headlines for agriculture, California Farm Bureau Federation President Doug Mosebar urged members of the state's largest farming organization to embrace the changes that are ahead and continue to engage in political outreach to shape policies that will protect the family farm.

Mosebar made his remarks Dec. 4 during the 88th CFBF Annual Meeting in Anaheim. In his first address as the 14th CFBF president, Mosebar focused on some key issues farmers and ranchers will need to tackle in the coming year, including food safety, immigration reform and estate tax reform.

"After the recent elections, and with a whole host of new faces coming to the state's Legislature and Congress, our work is going to get a little more difficult," he said. "Relationships are important, and we will need to make sure that the new folks represent the best interests of you, our family farmers and ranchers."

With the recent E. coli outbreak in spinach still fresh in mind, Mosebar said it is important for all growers to remember that they serve the consumer first and to continue to collaborate with health and regulatory officials as they determine the cause of the outbreak.

"We learned that we must refresh and re-check our farming practices so that we can continue to assure consumers that our food is safe," he said. "We must support with our voices and our dollars further research into reducing potential risks in all stages from the farm to the fork. We must face the fact that it will take everyone to make our food safety reputation whole again."

He noted that the Farm Bureau has been working with growers, processors and scientists to define best management practices that would apply to all leafy greens grown in the state. The CFBF board of directors reviewed the draft plan during the annual meeting to decide on the best approach to take.

Another major challenge California farmers will face in the coming year is finding and maintaining labor for their harvests, Mosebar said. He added that many of the state's farmers experienced labor shortages during the 2006 crop year even though most crop yields were below normal. Others experienced crop losses and harvest delays due to a shortage of workers.

Many growers who tried to work through the current H-2A temporary agricultural worker program did not fare better. The complexity of the program has left many of them frustrated with no workable alternatives, Mosebar added, and the need for comprehensive reform is all the more important.

"We know that the current system is broken," Mosebar said. "We all agree that our borders must be secure, but we need to differentiate between people who cross the border to take advantage of our system and those who come to perform needed work. A workable guest worker program would contribute to a secure and well-managed border. We need Congress to deal with this challenge before the next harvest."

With a Democratic-controlled Congress, California farmers and ranchers may have to reconsider their position on the death tax, which is generally viewed by Democratic legislators as an inheritance tax on America's richest families, Mosebar said. Inflated land values and development pressures put many of the state's farms and ranches in that category, saddling those families with hefty estate taxes that threaten the viability of their farms.

The American Farm Bureau Federation changed its position last year to endorse a $5 million per person exemption level, while CFBF still seeks full repeal of the death tax. But given the current political climate, Mosebar said, "we have to consider for ourselves any and all options that remain on the table."

"Do we continue to fight for full repeal?" he asked the delegate body. "Can we successfully negotiate a package that might provide some relief for California's farmers and ranchers? Are we willing to consider any legislation that could provide relief from death taxes? Can we draft policy language that would allow us to have a place at the negotiating table?"

The Farm Bureau recently developed a working group to study the death tax issue and also has solicited help from industry experts for guidance. Farm Bureau delegates took on the issue during the policy development process at the annual meeting.

"We are willing to commit the time and the resources necessary to develop workable solutions," Mosebar said. "We can all work together to have our state representatives take into account agriculture's unique situation."

Mosebar encouraged Farm Bureau members to continue sharing their real-life stories with legislators, political leaders and other stakeholders. He recognized some of those who in the past year stood before the media, Congress and other venues to tell their personal stories.

"We build our momentum through your involvement," he said.

Mosebar, from Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara County, was unanimously elected president of the California Farm Bureau Federation in December 2005, succeeding Bill Pauli of Potter Valley, Mendocino County. He has served since 1997 as CFBF's first vice president and has been a statewide Farm Bureau officer since 1989, when he was elected second vice president. A former president of the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau, Mosebar farms hay, squash, flowers and pumpkins and raises cattle.

(Ching Lee is a reporter for Ag Alert. She may be contacted at clee@cfbf.com.)

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. Top