Regulatory Environment Affecting California
Specialty Crop Producers
Panel Discussion
CA State Board of Food and Agriculture
Mechel S. Paggi
Director, Center for Agricultural Business
California State University, Fresno
&
Jay E. Noel
Director, California Institute for the Study of Specialty Crops
Professor
California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo
May 27, 2009
Sacramento, California
Regulatory Mandates
• Water Quality Related Restrictions on incorporation of
Processing waste as soil amendments
• Air Quality Regulatory Mandates banning burning of
Orchard Pruning’s
• Air Quality Regulatory Mandates requiring replacement
of diesel engines, cotton gin pm2 emissions.
• Air Quality Regulatory Mandates on pesticide emissions
of VOC
• Health Care for Farm Workers
Good Agricultural Practices
The Heart of Producer Based Food Safety
Programs
Many Programs !
Which Direction to Pursue?
Public GAPs USA = Food Safety Guidelines with
emphasis on decreasing risk of microbial contamination
Private GlobalGAP = International Standards, can be
more robust
Private Industry, NGO, etc, etc, etc = Standards
Proliferation
California State and County Government Agencies
With Regulatory Initiatives Affecting Agricultural Producers
Hurley, et. al., 2005
Structural Diagram
California Environmental Protection Agency
Hurley, et. al., 2005
Federal Government Agencies
With Regulatory Initiatives Affecting Agricultural Producers
Hurley, et. al., 2005
Hurley, et. al., 2005
Cross State Comparison
Hamilton, 2006
Visalia Grower – 1,400 acres mixed Citrus
EX Reg Cultural Costs $1,762 (+12.8%)
Hamilton, 2006
Texas Valley Grower – 5,400 acres Orange/Grapefruit
EX Reg Cultural Costs $963 (+3.3%)
Hamilton, 2006
Grower Panel Data
UC-Extension Budget
Process
Representative Farm Model
Analysis
2009 -20011
Multi-State Regulatory Study
Compare and contrast the regulatory rules that affect California
agricultural businesses with other states that have similar specialty
crop production.
Develop case study comparisons of regulatory compliance costs for
producers of California specialty crops (5) against similar specialty
crops in the other selected states to determine if significant costs
difference exists.
Utilize representative farm modeling approached, producer panel data
to amend UC-Cost and Returns studies and tabulate cumulative
additional costs associated with activities identified as necessary to
comply with regulatory rules and procedures. Partnering with
colleagues in other states to develop equivalent producer input.
Funding source: ARI System, Board Initiative (CSUF & Cal Poly, SLO)
-No Analysis beyond producer level
-No Livestock, Dairy, Poultry
-No Analysis of benefits Side
At the end of the day, how are these firms going to
make significant investments in food safety,
traceability, sustainability and other important
industry initiatives if the regulatory burden on the
business squeezes the profitability to the breaking
point? How are they going to survive at all?
But what is the cumulative
weight of that burden?