Your advocate through rising regulatory costs
By Jesse Collier
A recent Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo report, commissioned by the Monterey County Farm Bureau, studied a Salinas Valley lettuce grower and found that their regulatory costs increased by an astounding 1,366% since 2006. While this study is specific to one farm in Salinas Valley, it reflects a larger trend affecting growers across California, including Kings County. The study highlights three major areas in which regulatory costs have surged in Salinas Valley.
1) California and federal labor requirement amendments, such as minimum wage, overtime, and workers’ compensation have made labor costs one of the biggest regulatory expenses for farmers. In fact, workers’ compensation expenses have increased by 627% since 2006.
2) Water regulation compliance, such as Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), requires additional monitoring fees, and reporting. In this study, water regulation costs increased by 60% since 2017.
3) Food safety requirements, such as the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement, which forced growers to hire food safety staff, upgrade equipment, and conduct frequent audits, increasing compliance costs by 35% since 2017.
While these regulatory changes are not necessarily “bad” — fair pay, conservation, and safety are important, but unless households want to pay $45 for a head of lettuce, this isn’t a sustainable model. While this study focuses on a lettuce grower in Salinas Valley, Kings County farmers face similar labor, water, and food safety regulations, especially in dairy, nut, and seed production. Additionally, our community finds itself in the same boat as farmers in the Salinas Valley with water regulation compliance, particularly the SGMA. The hard working KCFB team is actively advocating for practical groundwater policies that balance sustainability with the realities of farming. We believe that compliance should not come at the cost of family farms, food security, and local economies. We are also suing the California Water Resources Control Board to protect local farmers from skyrocketing compliance costs. These burdensome regulations threaten the viability of family farmers and jeopardize the future of Kings County, and we’re committed to ensuring farmers and their families thrive while doing what they do best.
Farmers across California have been forced to take on additional costs — even debt — and our hard-working, rugged friends in Kings County are no exceptions. In 2023, the gross value of all crops and products in Kings County decreased by 16.9% (Kings County Department of Agriculture, 2024). If these trends persist, local agriculture is threatened; a concerning reality, given the fact that Kings County ranks 1st in California for cotton lint, cottonseed, and wheat production, 3rd for corn, nectarines, plums, and tomatoes and 4th for milk, pistachios, and peaches (County of Kings, 2022).
“It’s one thing to say that costs are rising — which we all knew — but when you see a nearly 15-fold increase, you realize how bad things have gotten,” said Dusty Ference, Executive Director of the Kings County Farm Bureau. “This study is exactly what we need right now, as there is hard, empirical data to show those in power that California agriculture is seriously threatened.” Hopefully, more studies are carried out on the subject so the agricultural advocates like KCFB have more concrete proof to keep agriculture sustainable, rather than just anecdotal evidence.
While the 1,366% increase in regulatory costs is staggering, it's important to recognize that some of this rise is due to inflation. The study does not indicate whether its calculations were adjusted for inflation, but for context, what cost $100 in 2006 now costs about $160 today (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025)— but we all know fuel, wages, and water fees have gone up much more than that. Even after accounting for inflation, it's clear that regulatory costs have far outpaced farm revenue, reinforcing the study’s credibility and highlighting the urgent need for reform.
Of course, the agricultural community isn’t against regulation; we want to nurture our planet and keep everyone nourished and healthy like we always have. Problems arise when social and economic pressures from disasters such as bacterial outbreaks, droughts, livestock disease pressure policymakers to react quickly and pass a bill to provide relief and change to the community. When policymakers create solutions without consulting with the growers — agriculture’s front line workers — they fail to understand their systems, farmgate pricing, burdens, or even ideas. Additional regulation may decrease use of pesticides or lower the risk of E. Coli outbreaks, but when farms can’t keep up with the added costs and close up shop, the ripple effect is palpable nationwide. Thousands of employees lose their jobs, leading to financial hardship and additional strain on local, state, and federal welfare resources. If the farm was a major producer of a product, that may lead to a shortage, and a competitor could drive their prices up, leading to some families not purchasing vegetables because they cannot afford them.
The solution isn’t zero regulations, but it is simple: keep open lines of communication and regular meetings between farmers, advocacy groups, and policymakers, as we understand the lives of farmers across Kings County. Since 1918, the Kings County Farm Bureau has been advocating on behalf of the farmers, ranchers, and dairymen to fight for better policies and legislation at the local, state, and federal levels.
“We understand it’s been a difficult time for the agricultural community, but Kings County farmers have a long history of resilience,” Dusty Ference continues. “Your ancestors, land, and community have persevered through countless droughts, floods, pests, diseases, economic downturns, changes in technology and farming practices, and we’re still one of the leading agricultural counties in California! We’re going to get through this and come out stronger.”
The good news is that we aren’t alone in these efforts. In addition to research from the Monterey County Farm Bureau and Cal Poly, other farmer-led coalitions, such as Sustainable Conservation and Farmer- and Rancher-Led Climate Change Solutions, represent the agricultural community while working with policymakers to write bills that benefit both parties. These alliances, along with the dedicated work of the KCFB, are crucial in the fight for sustainable agriculture, but our strength lies in our members. We encourage all local agricultural professionals to become members to help us build a stronger, more resilient community. Already a member? Please help us spread the word! The more members we have, the stronger our voice will be from Sacramento to Washington, DC. Let's work together to protect the future of Kings County agriculture. Join or share today: https://www.kcfb.org/membership.