California Farm Bureau Federation - California Agriculture--The Breadbasket of the World

California Agriculture--The Breadbasket of the World

September 6, 2006

California Farm Bureau Federation

By Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

California's agriculture industry is number one in the nation, and number one in the world. Over the past three years, California's farmers and ranchers have been my partners in moving this great state forward, and I am honored so many groups, like the California Farm Bureau Federation, joined me in Bakersfield and Clovis recently to announce our Farmers and Ranchers Coalition and their support for my re-election. What a great team!

California farmers and ranchers pump more than $30 billion a year into our economy, employ more than a million people and are exporting billions of dollars in goods each year to markets across the globe. In the next decade, we will see a huge population surge not only in California, but around the world. And who is going to feed all these new mouths? California's farmers and ranchers!

To keep our family farms and ranches thriving, we must do everything possible to keep the economy on the right track. Working together, we have reformed workers' compensation, saving California businesses at least $8 billion, and repealed the car tax, saving Californians more than $4 billion. Combined, these actions put more than $12 billion back into our economy so that farmers, ranchers and all Californians can save, invest and build for the future.

California has the best products in the world. These past three years we have worked hard to make sure our agriculture industry continues to grow and expand the sale of agriculture products worldwide. I have always said that you can have the best product in the world, but if the world doesn't know about it, you have nothing.

This is why we went on trade missions to Japan and China to promote products like wines, fruits and textiles. It was fabulous to see our vegetables, fruits, wines and many other California products on the shelves in Japanese and Chinese grocery stores. In the next four years, we will continue these trade missions to Mexico, Europe, India and all over the world to sell our products. By reminding the world of our wonderful products, we will continue to create a strong business environment for California's farmers and ranchers.

Not everyone wants to work with California's farmers and ranchers. The other side of this campaign has very different plans. They see agriculture not as an industry to support, but as an industry to tax. My opponent has made campaign promises that amount to more than $18 billion in tax increases, including taxes on farmers. The other side wants to raise taxes on farmers by more than $100 million a year by increasing taxes on farm equipment, on diesel fuel and on propane. This is important tax relief that farmers need, but the other side calls it a "corporate tax loophole."

As long as I am governor, I will not raise taxes on our farmers and ranchers. Period. I believe farmers and ranchers should not be punished, I believe they should be helped. Farm and ranch owners and the people who work for them produce the best agricultural products in the world. They deserve good policy, not cheap politics.

I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with our farmers and ranchers, and I am grateful for your support of my re-election. I look forward to continuing our work together ensuring government is a partner in prosperity, rather than an obstacle to success.

Let's continue working together for the next four years to make sure California remains the breadbasket of the world!

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