by Paul LaFollette
As a board member of the Contra Costa County Farm Bureau, I’ve witnessed California agriculture evolve through decades of challenges. Our state feeds the nation, producing over a third of America’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts. But today, California’s agricultural heritage faces an existential threat—not just from drought or competition, but from Sacramento’s fundamentally misplaced priorities.
While farmers struggle with water shortages, labor scarcity, and skyrocketing costs, our state lawmakers seem determined to burden us with regulations that solve imaginary problems while ignoring the real crises unfolding before their eyes.
Talk to any farmer and you’ll hear the same concerns—water infrastructure that hasn’t kept pace with demand, labor shortages that slow harvests, and natural disaster response systems that leave rural communities vulnerable.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, these kitchen-table issues consistently rank as top concerns for Californians, with cost of living, inflation, and environmental threats topping the list of priorities for the governor and legislature to address in 2025.
Yet instead of tackling these urgent challenges, Sacramento has embarked on a regulatory crusade against technology and innovation—tools that have driven our state’s economy and could help solve our most pressing problems. New bills targeting artificial intelligence and digital platforms are consuming legislative bandwidth while practical solutions to critical issues go overlooked.
The disconnect is staggering. While lawmakers debate the theoretical risks of emerging technologies they barely understand, families are making tough decisions to make ends meet. While special interests champion regulations that will create more paperwork than progress, agricultural communities are wondering how they’ll survive another year of drought or wildfire.
Every hour lawmakers spend on burdensome tech regulation is an hour not spent on water storage or wildfire prevention. Every dollar businesses must spend on compliance is a dollar not invested in drought-resistant crops or clean energy equipment for farms.
This isn’t a partisan issue. Our state legislators need to refocus their attention on the foundations of California’s prosperity: reliable water, strong rural infrastructure, and resilient communities. We need them to cut the red tape that’s strangling small farms, and we need them to recognize that technology—including AI and automation—can be part of the solution rather than a target for restriction.
California agriculture has overcome tremendous challenges throughout our history. We’ve adapted to changing markets, weather patterns, and consumer preferences. But we can’t farm without water. We can’t harvest without workers. And we can’t innovate with regulators looking over our shoulders at every turn.
It’s time for Sacramento to get back to basics. Solve the water crisis, strengthen rural disaster preparedness, and embrace innovation. These are the priorities that will determine whether California remains both an agricultural powerhouse and a leader of the future.