Inside Farm Bureau: Legal successes deliver results for California farmers

By Shannon Douglass
President
California Farm Bureau

At the California Farm Bureau, we know our members would rather focus on growing food than deal with red tape. That’s why we invest in strong legal advocacy—to stand up for agriculture when laws and regulations create unnecessary hurdles.

Our legal advocacy efforts span a wide range of legal and regulatory issues that affect how agriculture operates in California. From utility rates and water policy to land-use regulations, pesticide rules and species protections, we advocate with one goal in mind: securing better outcomes for our members and county Farm Bureaus across the state.

With decades of combined legal experience and a deep commitment to agriculture, our in-house legal staff—including attorneys and support professionals, each with deep, personal commitments to agriculture and the mission of Farm Bureau—drafts legal briefs, testifies before regulatory bodies, provides legal analysis, attends hearings, and monitors legislative and agency actions. Through this work, we help shape practical, long-term solutions to the challenges farmers face every day.

Energy is one area where this work makes a clear impact. With power costs ranking among the highest operating expenses for farms and ranches, we engage in regulatory proceedings that affect electricity rates, generation and delivery. Farm Bureau’s team has built productive relationships with investor-owned utilities to help resolve issues and advocate for agriculture. By closely monitoring rate changes, we can step in to mitigate rising costs that directly impact the viability of farming operations.

In June, for example, Farm Bureau was the only agricultural advocate that took part in negotiations with Southern California Edison during a recent rate case. This work led to a favorable settlement for agricultural ratepayers, and the agreement—pending approval by the California Public Utilities Commission—resulted in an overall 0.58% decrease for the agricultural rate class. 

Of most significance, large agricultural customers originally faced an increase of almost 10%. Farm Bureau’s sustained efforts on this case resulted in those customers instead seeing a substantially lower 1.13% increase. This outcome changed what would have otherwise been a significant rate hike, delivering a meaningful win for members who rely on affordable, reliable energy.

Water remains the foundation of California agriculture, and we’re engaged on all fronts—availability, supply, rights and quality. Our issue experts work closely together and often join coalitions to defend agricultural water rights and promote sound, workable policy. Our recent legal efforts include litigation tied to the federal “Waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, rule as well as the ongoing implementation of the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

To strengthen our support in this area, we recently increased staff capacity focused specifically on water law, ensuring we remain responsive as state and federal regulations grow increasingly complex.

Our efforts center around providing sustainable business solutions for farmers and ranchers, and we’re doing just that. Farm Bureau’s sustained efforts have helped farmers save money under California’s Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program, which governs nitrate levels in groundwater. By advocating for a coalition-based compliance model, we were successful in gaining a framework that significantly reduces costs for growers. Through participation in a local water coalition, a farmer’s administrative fee is now just $1.50 per acre—compared to $37.40 per acre for the first 300 acres and $18.71 per acre thereafter under individual compliance.

Following litigation involving state regulations aimed at improving water quality and managing nitrates, we played a key role in the litigation and the convening of the original agricultural expert panel. A second panel has been reconvened to help ensure that practical solutions reflect on-the-ground realities for farmers.

Because agricultural lands are often subject to state and federal environmental protections, we weigh in on issues that could affect a farmer’s ability to operate. Our team regularly submits comments and legal input on our members’ behalf to ensure agricultural activity is taken into account. Recent examples include our responses to the proposed listings of the monarch butterfly as threatened and the Suckley’s cuckoo bumble bee as endangered under the Endangered Species Act—cases where we ensured agricultural activity would be considered in the final decisions.

We also provide direct legal support to county Farm Bureaus. Farm Bureau staff assists with governance and operational matters, including bylaw interpretation, lease agreements, employment issues, contracts, intellectual property concerns, and compliance with campaign finance, tax and lobbying rules.

Our work focuses on these cases that impact large segments of California agriculture—addressing issues that affect entire commodities, counties and regions, instead of individual legal representation.

Through skilled advocacy, trusted relationships and a long-term commitment to agriculture, California Farm Bureau continues to deliver results for farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses across the state. I’m proud to highlight the work we do together to support our members.