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Santa Maria Valley is undoubtedly a beautiful place that deserves to be enjoyed and explored by the entire community and beyond. The Santa Maria River Levee Trail expansion would offer stunning views and provide a recreational connection between the cities of Santa Maria and Guadalupe; however, the unintended consequences of this expansion will come at a cost to our farmers, farmworkers, and local community. If we step back and take a more holistic approach to analyzing this trail development, then it becomes clear that we must oppose the levee trail expansion.

It is important to first recognize that agricultural land is located both to the north and the south of the levee trail. This means that farmers and farmworkers must consider any impact their operations may have on pedestrians, cyclists, pets, and other users of the trail when complying with local, state, and federal pesticide, safety, and food safety regulations.

To prioritize public health and safety, farmers voluntarily enter into agreements with organizations, such as the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement and must comply with laws and regulations required by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Food and Drug Administration. These food safety laws and guidelines are put into place to protect the public’s health, which must be adhered to by farmers.

The levee trail expansion will inherently result in trail usage by pedestrians, pets, and other members of the general public, which increases the likelihood and risk that neighboring farmland would be negatively impacted with potential trespassing, theft, and fecal contaminants. In the case of feces left from pets, under current food safety guidelines, all employees and inspectors are required to report fecal matter found on or near agricultural crops. This triggers safety protocols that involve removing the fecal matter, destroying any potentially affected produce or crops, and buffering the area so people do not enter. This buffer zone and destruction of crops can exponentially grow by something as simple as a tractor running over fecal matter in the road or a person tracking it in the field from their shoes. Even a rain event can prompt additional safety measures, extensive testing of a flooded area, and potential abandonment of the crop due to fecal matter washing into agricultural lands.

In the case of trespassing, the expanded levee trail would be open and exposed for the public to walk onto a farm at any time, inadvertently putting themselves at risk for injury or exposure to agricultural materials. Current spray application laws require up to a 500-foot buffer during application to avoid drift or unintended health impacts to the public. If the prime agricultural land located alongside the proposed trail is to stay in use, the trail would need to be shut down periodically to ensure this buffer zone is established. There is currently no plan in place, or funding on the part of the county, to enforce these periodic closures of the expanded levee trail and safeguard the public’s health. Even with the proper precautions in place, many farmers would choose to avoid spray applications along the levee trail due to the inherent risk and liability to themselves and their businesses. This would come at a direct loss to the farmer and the farmworkers.

If the expansion of the levee trail moves forward, alongside agricultural farmland, farm operations will be in direct conflict with existing laws and regulations. These conflicts, risks, and interruptions to their operations can foreseeably force farmers to abandon this prime farmland along the levee trail due to the high, and some say inevitable, risk of being unable to ensure the health of the crop and the safety of the product to consumers. If just 100 acres of this farmland is abandoned alongside the proposed 6.7-mile expansion, it would lead to a loss of $3 million in wages to agricultural farmworkers annually, in addition to lost tax revenue to the county and the economic impact to local businesses in the community.

There is more to consider, however, than just the impact to our farmers and farmworkers. As we look at the existing Bob Jones Trail between San Luis Obispo and Avila Beach, it has been closed due to homeless encampments throughout the recreational pathway. The proposed levee trail is also located adjacent to current homeless encampments, and its further development will likely draw increased homeless activity along the route. Before we invest money into the levee trail expansion, we should ensure that it will be safe and usable for our community.

In addition, the expansion of the levee trail is set to be part of the county’s active transportation plan, to reduce the number of cars on the road by promoting walking and biking to work or school. However, the 6.7-mile corridor of expansion of the levee trail does not afford our community commuter transportation as much as it offers recreational transportation. Improving Main Street and offering a multi-use trail along this major corridor would provide greater access to both Santa Maria and Guadalupe, for the intended purposes of transportation access to work and school.

While we oppose the expansion of the levee trail, we do not oppose the need for our community to have access to recreational space. The Santa Maria Valley has many beautiful trail locations that could be developed to accommodate the recreational needs of our burgeoning city. The Point Sal trail network has the potential to be extended to the Guadalupe Dunes, and with the county creating a regional recreation master plan, wineries and other venues that rely on tourists can expand trails that would be open to the public. These are options worth further exploration as we evaluate recreational space for our community.

Trails and development must be fully contemplated in a holistic manner, along with their impact to our community before approval and implementation. The impact to farmers and farmworkers, loss of agricultural jobs, the contamination of crops, the increase in crime, and the potential for homeless encampments are all things that must be weighed before supporting the expansion of the Santa Maria River Levee Trail. Please join us in signing the following petition to oppose the levee trail expansion and protect our farmworkers and our farmland.

2021 wasn't what anyone anticipated, wouldn't you say? I think most of us thought the pandemic would be behind us, and life would have resumed to normal. While an improvement from 2020, there was still plenty of change and restriction to keep things uncertain.

We anticipated something different for us too. When I started Facts from Farmers, I had no idea what sort of shape it would take. It was a personal passion project. Last year, we established a Board of Directors and began steps to file as a 501(c)6 non-profit association. With that, we had to evaluate where we exerted our energy under limited resources, so we stepped away from our media outlets for awhile. But that doesn't mean we haven't been active! 

You have to set a strong foundation before you can build a house, and that's what we've been doing.

  1. We started creating our media library
  2. We helped facilitate partnerships in the Santa Maria Valley among farmers and the California Farmworker Foundation
  3. We began nurturing relationships with other associations, organizations, and influentials such as Grower-Shipper of San Luis and Santa Barbara CountiesCalifornia Farm BureauSanta Barbara County Farm BureauSan Luis Obispo Farm Bureau, and SEEAG - the fantastic group behind Santa Barbara County Farm Day
  4. We also began working with the City of Santa Maria and Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on urban encroachments concerns

As a new association, we are still finding our identity and figuring out how we can best serve our agricultural community. We appreciate your patience and continued support as we navigate establishment.

The California Farmworker Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 2016 by Joe Garcia. The organization formed to offer and create opportunities that would enable farmworkers to develop personal and professional skills.

To date, CFF has served more than 35,000 farmworkers and was named 2020 California Non-Profit of the Year.

For more information, visit https://californiafarmworkers.org.

Where there is the ability to go above-and-beyond, farmers are doing just that.  

At Desert Premium Farms in Yuma, Arizona, we put a 10-foot distance policy in areas where it’s possible to do so, but not all farm jobs can be recalibrated for COVID-19.  In these areas of close proximity, masks are mandatory.  We’ve also given high-quality, three-ply, washable masks to employees to take home, encouraging employees to wear them to and from work, at the grocery, and during other essential errands.  

Rather than early morning meetings, we’ve transitioned to telephone check-ins at the start of each day.  We miss that in-person camaraderie, but we’re going to do everything possible to keep everyone safe.

At Main Street Produce, we believe the first step to keeping our workers healthy starts with education and providing our employees with the best information available. But our efforts don't stop there...

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