Agriculture in Sonoma County by Tawny Tesconi
Our speaker for September 16, 2021, was Tawny Tesconi, Executive Director of Sonoma County Farm Bureau. Tawny joined the Farm Bureau in 2017. Prior to working with the Farm Bureau, Tawny worked for 30 years in fair management and public service, including serving as Director of General Services of Sonoma County. Tawny is the owner and operator of Tesconi Event and Management Solutions. She is a Sonoma County native, was raised on a West County family farm, and has had a life-long interest in agriculture. She is also a member and past president of the Petaluma Rotary Club.
Tawny’s program was “Agriculture in Sonoma County.” The Sonoma County Farm Bureau is 104 years old and one of the oldest non-profits in Sonoma County. The Farm Bureau includes the America Farm Bureau with 50 members, the California Farm Bureau whose members are each of the counties in California, and the various local bureaus. The Farm Bureaus’ main focus is advocating for agriculture, including lobbying, protecting landowner rights, and coming out against taxes and regulations or ordinances that harm agriculture. The Farm Bureau also actively promotes agriculture, including educating children with, for example, Farm Days at the Sonoma County Fair.
Agriculture is one of the leading industries in Sonoma County, with a total production of $958.5 million (2019). In California, agriculture is a $54 billion dollar year industry annually. California ranks number one in the country in agricultural production. If Sonoma County were a state, it would be ranked the 12th largest agricultural producing state in the United States!! Sonoma County produces 40 different crops recognized in our crop report (compare with Napa, that has only 1).Agriculture has a number of significant problems. Overall, farmers receive only 8 cents of every dollar spent on food. Farmers are an aging group with an average age of 61. The world needs to increase agricultural production by 70% to feed the expected population of 2050 but land is at a premium and available farmland is steadily decreasing. Agriculture needs an influx of technology including increased access to broadband. Agriculture also faces significant labor problems, including the need to revise our immigration laws to increase access to foreign workers. In Sonoma County, the availability of water and the prevalence of wildfire are also significant threats to agriculture.
Sonoma County is ground zero for organic farming, especially in the dairy farm industry. However, the enforcement of organic regulations is often lax. For example, the requirement for organic dairies is that a cow has to be able to go into pasture and eat grass for 120 days per year. Dairies with 10,000 cows are unlikely to be able to find enough pasture for those cows, but they nevertheless label their milk as organic. This represents a significant threat to Sonoma County dairies.
Thank you, Tawny for your marvelous and informative presentation. And thank you for advocation for agriculture in Sonoma County!
View Tawny's presentation HERE. It will be available for the next week.
