In this episode of the California Underground podcast, the hosts discuss the critical issue surrounding the Potter Valley Dam and its impending removal by PG&E, which threatens the water supply for farmers and ranchers in the region. Special guests Tate Bennett and Keeley Covello provide insights into the historical significance of the dam, the environmental policies driving its removal, and the broader implications for California's agricultural landscape. The conversation highlights the struggles of local farmers, the role of government and NGOs, and the importance of social media in raising awareness about these pressing issues.
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Original air date 8.26.25
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Crisis in Potter Valley as they plan to remove the dam that
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brings water to ranchers and farmers much in need of it.
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And all that with two special guests tonight.
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We look forward to that on tonight's episode of the
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California Underground Podcast, starting right now.
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What's going on, everybody? Thanks for tuning into another
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episode of the California Underground podcast, the most
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trusted podcast for all things California politics.
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We have a great show for you tonight.
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We have two special guests including Tate Bennett and Kelly
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Covello, who's been on before. We're going to be talking about
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the Potter Valley Dam regarding water to farmers and ranchers.
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That's much needed. But first, if you haven't
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already, make sure you subscribe, like share, review,
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all that stuff helps with the algorithm.
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And let's welcome in our guest Keely and Tate.
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And of course, as always, my trusty Co host Camille is with
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us here tonight as well. Keely and Tate, welcome to the
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program. How are you?
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Doing great. Thank you guys so much for
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having. Awesome.
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So let's let's introduce Tate. You go 1st until you're new to
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the show. Why don't you introduce yourself
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1st and then we'll go Kaylee. Hello, thank you guys so much
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for having me out here on East Coast time.
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But I'm always awake, as Keely knows.
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Had some coffee around 10:00 PM our time so rocking and rolling.
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So Tate Bennett, I am the director of Rural policy at the
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America First Policy Institute. We have a very strong chapter
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out in the state of California, but I, for better or worse, I'm
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at headquarters here in Washington, DC, DMV area.
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And we were founded originally by Brooke Rollins, who's now the
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current Secretary of Agriculture.
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We've had 80 from our bench go on to serve in the current
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administration. And the one thing I'll leave you
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with there is rural policy. Preserving farmland, the next
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generation of farmers and ranchers is of the utmost
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importance to not just AFPI, but my work.
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And it seems like the current administration, my background,
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we were just sharing before. I'm from a rural town.
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I grew up on a farm and Shelbyville, KY, found my way to
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DC after college, met my husband, who's a New Englander.
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I won't even go there. And so now I'm working on rural
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policies close to my heart, but in Washington, DC.
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So thank you so much for having me.
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Awesome. Keely, welcome back to the show.
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How are you? Why don't you introduce yourself
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to everybody? Good to be back, Phil and
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Camille. Thank you for having me.
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I'm Keely Cabello. I'm from Northern California,
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living down here in Southern California, close to Camille, I
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think. But yeah, rural roots, and I'm
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an independent journalist focused on AG issues, and
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there's been a lot of AG issues in California lately.
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So happy to be here to talk about this one.
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Great. So I mean, let's let's dive
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right into it. I have been following a little
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bit of the Potter Valley. Damian.
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I think Kelly, you actually brought this up on our last show
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when we had you on about Potter Valley, but we were talking
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about the Point Reyes ranchers, which is a whole nother issue.
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I think our listeners would love to hear maybe a rundown.
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I don't know either Keely or Tate, whoever or both of you can
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go in turn and tell us what what's going on in Potter
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Valley. Like where it First off, where
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is Potter Valley because California is a big state.
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Some some people on our team didn't even know where Potter
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Valley was when they asked what county it was in.
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So, you know, embarrassment to them, but who?
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Tell us what's going on in Potter Valley?
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Well, they're missing out. Tate probably knows this issue
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about as well as I do. Now she's got to come visit us
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in Potter Valley soon, hopefully.
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But Potter Valley is about 3 hours north of San Francisco in
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Mendocino County, kind of inland Mendocino County.
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Really beautiful, Very, very Aggie.
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The part of California people don't know exists.
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I think most Californians down here in South think you're in
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Oregon by the time you get 3 hours north.
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Of SF. But lots of cattle, lots of
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sheep, pear trees, some wine grapes.
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That Sonoma Napa become more of a tourist destination.
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The wine grape industry has grown out there too.
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Lots of hay. We used to be big Center for
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logging, but that's changed over the last 100 years or so.
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Still got some redwoods. It's a really beautiful part of
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the state, kind of famous for cannabis to black market
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cannabis, part of that emerald triangle up there.
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But my background is really in cattle ranching.
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That's how I grew up. My dad is a ranch vet and the
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community I grew up in Potter Valley really relies on this
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project. This 100 year old hydroelectric
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dam project now owned by PG&E, which I'm sure your listeners
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are familiar with. PG&E for many of nefarious
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reasons, but of course PG&E is the monopoly.
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Up there that provides. Our power and they have owned
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and operated Potter Valley Project since I believe in 1920
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they took it over from this Snow mountain power company and you
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know, it's basically designed to provide clean energy, but it has
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overtime become very invaluable to the area for water storage as
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well. The project involves 2 dams
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connected by a tunnel in Potter Valley.
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You know these reservoirs have helped us fight some of the
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state's largest fires. The water supplies about 600
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people from Potter Valley down to Marin County, Bodega Bay.
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So it's a very important infrastructure that is slated
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for removal by PG ES goal is 2028 and we started to feel the
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effects of that just within the last few weeks.
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So, but trying to get the word out about that even some people
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in the area don't really know what's coming down the Pike for
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them in terms of. Losing their water.
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Tape. Anything to add to this summary?
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No, you know something, I and Keely, you've experienced it
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your whole life and career and ranching folks often forget
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that, at least out in the rest of the country, that California
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is such a important supply of what is it, our Nisha and salad
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bowl between the fresh leafy greens and produce.
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You mentioned parish, you know, I'm from Kentucky.
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I wish we could produce what California does on that scale.
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And to hear that your state is not being helpful, it's just
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really disheartening, especially in an era where we're trying to
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bring back a rural revival. So I guess I would just under
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score this part of the country is so significant to our
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national food security and it should be treated as such.
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The question I guess everyone's going to be asking is so why?
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Why, what is the, what is California's plan and why are
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they taking down this dam? Like what is I'm sure if you
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said like it's because of some endangered fish that can't
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figure out how to swim, I'd be like, yeah, that makes sense for
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California. But what is the?
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What is the rationale for the state to even screw screw this
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up? Yeah, well, it's kind of depends
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who you ask. PG E will say this is aging
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infrastructure that is not financially viable for them to
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maintain anymore. But as I've researched this, I
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think you really can basically attribute it to what you just
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said, Phil, which is the Endangered Species Act, which is
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wreaked havoc on a lot of our industries in Northern
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California and agricultural California.
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There are some very powerful NGO's like Cal Trout, Friends of
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the Eel, some of these, you know, river restoration, quote
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UN quote, NGOs who've been pushing for dam removals, for
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salmon restoration, for trout restoration.
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So I think that would be the real reason.
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And I think our governor, if I, you know, this is my opinion,
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but I think our governor is obviously very ambitious and he
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has some aspirations for 2028. And there's an article I can
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send you, a fellow from the APA couple years ago where he's
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quoted taking credit for dam removals, including the Klamath
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Dam removal, which some of your listeners may be familiar with,
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that was recently completed in far Northern California.
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He's on a mission to remove these dams and restore free
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flowing rivers for the salmon, for trout.
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I would argue that they don't really benefit fish populations,
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but that is at least. The stated purpose.
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The the goal of these NGOs, what they want to you know.
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I think increase. His green bodifieds and
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basically improve his profile as the most environmentally
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conscious governor in America ahead of his 2028 attempts.
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That would be my opinion. That's what's really going on.
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Tate may have more to add. She knows the inner workings,
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the last things. Well, I can't I can't begin to
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explain California politics. However, we did look up the PG&E
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project description prior to hopping on with y'all and sure
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enough, it says that the deconstruction would benefit
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salmon and steel toe or steel. Steel had fish recovery, yes.
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So you, you nailed it. I guess these are some water
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reverse fish. I don't know.
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I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but classic example
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of California priorities. Unfortunately, I have a question
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and I'm going to sound probably really ignorant on this because
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I sincerely know nothing about the fish, etcetera.
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I understand, or at least according to them, that they're
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trying to bring back this particular type of salmon and
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that allegedly with the removal of the last dam, they like salt
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flourish because, you know, the salmon got to swim upriver and
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lay all their eggs. Why?
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And while I'm all for natural resources, why can't we have
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commercial salmon farms in California to bring back the
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so-called endangered salmon? Yeah.
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I mean, I think that they're really looking to restore the
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original fish migration patterns that we had before these dams
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were constructed. My argument is just, you know,
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100 years later, these dams are part of the ecosystem.
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This is part of the wildlife. This is part of the National
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Forest and the natural land up there.
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The reason that we've lost, I would argue, so many of our fish
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in Northern California has more to do with global overfishing.
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You go not too far off the coast of California here there's
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massive Chinese trawlers overfishing our oceans.
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There's a lot of pollution. I was reading an article the
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other day about how much sewage is in the San Francisco Bay.
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Of course, salmon have to swim through that to get to our
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rivers. So I'm not, I'm just not
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convinced that these dams are what has caused such a downturn
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or fish populations. It's just like anything else in
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California. I think it's often easier to
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blame rural people or people who don't vote the right way or
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people who are kind of out of the sight and mind of our big
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cities for these natural problems when really they're
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kind of the last stewards of these areas.
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And so, yeah, I mean, commercial fishermen have definitely have
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an opinion on this field. And they'll talk about how
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Klamath, which was, you know, these Klamath dam removals were
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touted as this huge benefit for fish populations.
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That's just not the case. Instead, they released tons of
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sediment and silt into the water and killed off salmon and
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spawning eggs and damage their, you know, migration patterns for
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generations to come. So I think you're completely
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right. There's other solutions that we
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should be looking into. And of course, we all want more
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fish, especially people who live out there.
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We, we value our salmon more than anyone.
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Of course we want better wildlife.
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We're all hunters and fishers, and this is something that's
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important to us. But killing off our water and
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way of life, we just don't believe that that's the way to
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restore salmon populations. And Keely, you might be
00:12:23
positioned better to speak to this, but this specific water
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system, so farmers and ranchers have been reliant on it
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specifically here for over 100 years.
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Would it be helpful maybe for the listeners to hear just how
00:12:40
dependent they are on this specific system and if it's
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ripped out from underneath this, like what's at stake?
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Tate stole my next question, so I'm just going to sign off
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everyone. I think Tate's got this all
00:12:52
right. You girls have fun.
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I'm out of here. That's a great question, Phil.
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And to Tate. Yeah, I know.
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I mean, it can't overstate how important this water is,
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especially to Mendocino and Lake counties.
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Did I lose you guys if my screen just changed here?
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Nope, you're still here. OK, good.
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We were just giving you the spotlight.
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You're giving you the spotlight. Oh, sorry to interrupt that.
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No, but I mean it's very important to the ranchers and
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farmers in Mendocino and Lake County.
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I know Sonoma Marine will be fine.
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They will find other water options.
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They're already talking about building a dam in Marin County
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to make up for the water that they're going to lose when they
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tear out the dam in Mendocino County.
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It's called the Sula Julie Dam. And they're looking at flooding
00:13:41
out ranchers in Marin County to build a dam to ensure that Gavin
00:13:46
Newsom and his neighbors have a water supply once they dry up
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the water that they're using in Mendocino County.
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So, yeah, they're going to be fine.
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But the farmers and ranchers, the real working class AG folks
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of California who are in Lake, in Mendocino counties, they
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won't be. This is their only source of
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water. This was a dry valley before the
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dam was built. And I think it's important to
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note because this comes up a lot, the the dam system isn't
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stealing water from Humboldt County.
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You guys know you're Californians, Phil and Camille.
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We only really get rain in the winter here.
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We're Mediterranean climate, so most of that water that comes
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through in our wet and rainy season would go straight out
00:14:29
into the ocean. Less than 1% of 1% is captured
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by Lake Pillsbury, the Potter Valley project, and it's stored
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there for summer. So we have plenty of rain in the
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fall, We have plenty of rain in the early spring.
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We have plenty of rain in the winter.
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But during the summer and late spring and early fall, we have
00:14:49
none. And we need to our ancestors
00:14:52
planned ahead to have water for those times.
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And that's what farmers and ranchers rely on.
00:14:57
Some of the folks I was interviewing and been sharing on
00:15:00
my channels who were hit by this water curtailment a couple weeks
00:15:04
ago, they were right in the middle of harvest right before
00:15:07
fire season. Water is super critical to them
00:15:09
right now. And PG&E cut their water.
00:15:13
That's really just kind of foreshadowing what's going to
00:15:15
come permanently when they RIP these dams out.
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So. Yeah, not to go.
00:15:19
Too long winded here, but this is just.
00:15:22
There's no upside to this. Nothing about it makes sense
00:15:25
unless you're trying to support political points, in my opinion,
00:15:28
to appeal to urban residents who want that kind of virtue
00:15:32
signaling. I would have put all my tinfoil
00:15:35
hat for this next question, but do you think that a possible
00:15:42
reason behind this is a land grab?
00:15:45
Like they hope to remove the water and farmers and ranchers
00:15:48
are forced out like we're seeing with Point Reyes?
00:15:50
You know, they're trying to force them out there.
00:15:52
And of course, we, you know, climate change, cattle are bad
00:15:56
for the environment, all that. Do you think that they're hoping
00:15:58
to remove the water, thus pushing out the farmers and
00:16:01
ranchers and then getting a quick, cheap land grab?
00:16:07
I mean, I would put anything past them, frankly, I really
00:16:11
wouldn't. I don't, I haven't seen specific
00:16:14
evidence of that. But I mean, can you really
00:16:19
question is anything beyond California politicians at this
00:16:22
point? I don't know Tate, maybe you
00:16:23
have an opinion on this after after diving into a while now.
00:16:28
Pretty in depth but OK. I wouldn't necessarily call it
00:16:34
with the current administration a land grab by the current
00:16:38
federal government per SE. Like when I hear a land grab,
00:16:42
that's what I usually gravitate towards just because I'm so
00:16:44
familiar on the DC federal policy side.
00:16:48
We've actually seen in this instance, just last week, the
00:16:52
Department of Interior, Interior filed a motion to intervene on
00:16:58
the water variance changes that have been sought of FERC by
00:17:02
PG&E. So I think that's a good sign
00:17:06
that gives non federal land grab.
00:17:09
That being said, is it a land grab when the state just sort of
00:17:13
abdicates their responsibilities to protect resources for farmers
00:17:18
and ranchers and just let it fall by the wayside?
00:17:21
So maybe not necessarily a land grab, but sort of an abdication
00:17:26
of responsibility on the state level is how I see this one.
00:17:29
But totally in the same sort of vein of government not acting as
00:17:35
a hand up to protect like one of our top six rural employers,
00:17:42
which is agriculture, which you would think they'd be motivated
00:17:44
to to do that. You brought up a good point,
00:17:48
which is I was reading Keeley's blog today and everybody should
00:17:53
go check it out americaonone.com.
00:17:58
I, as much as a policy wonk I am, the Department of Interior
00:18:01
got involved and you just brought it up and I don't
00:18:04
understand. I mean, I guess it's good the
00:18:06
feds are getting involved because they know this is a
00:18:09
problem. So maybe kind of walk it through
00:18:12
like a 5 year old, like what, what are they doing?
00:18:14
What is the Fed doing or the feds doing that could be helpful
00:18:19
to us? Is it helpful?
00:18:20
I don't, I don't know. I was trying to figure that out.
00:18:22
I'm like, I don't really understand.
00:18:23
This is like different language to me.
00:18:28
Keely, do you want me to take a stab and you can totally correct
00:18:31
me on any of the the process point this?
00:18:34
Is. Yeah, you're real house.
00:18:37
It's no, No 9 times out of 10 I would say, you know, government
00:18:42
is absolutely never the answer, however.
00:18:46
It's a good answer. Farm farming and ranching as
00:18:51
it's preservation is of the utmost importance to our founder
00:18:57
and former leader who's now the Secretary of Agriculture, who is
00:19:00
there on a mission to preserve family farms.
00:19:03
I don't think Secretary Burgum, that is he is any Shire of that
00:19:11
priority. He's from a rural state.
00:19:13
I'm sure he's experienced a lot of issues when he was governor
00:19:18
of North Dakota, needing to protect the variety of farms and
00:19:22
ranches they have up there. And so I would, when you see a
00:19:27
federal entity move to intervene in FERC, so Federal Energy
00:19:32
Regulatory Commission, which has immediate jurisdiction over this
00:19:36
issue right now because they're in charge of approving the
00:19:40
deconstruction of the dam. So they're an independent agency
00:19:46
now. Their Commission is appointed
00:19:49
technically by the president in consultation with the Senate.
00:19:53
They're sort of in this independent lane where yes,
00:19:59
they're serving who they were appointed by, but it's a little
00:20:05
bit more free flowing as far as decision making.
00:20:09
And so when you see. A department like the Department
00:20:13
of Interior moved to be like, hey, we actually think you need
00:20:16
to take a look at some of the impacts these water flows being
00:20:19
cut off could have to the public.
00:20:23
I think interest, best interest of the public, you, we want to
00:20:27
be involved in this. I actually think that's a good
00:20:30
sign, especially based on the current direction, on other
00:20:35
decisions that the Department of Interior has been making to
00:20:38
preserve local family farms. Taking a look at, you know,
00:20:42
Point Point Reyes, with this being a priority for the
00:20:46
administration, I think it's a really good sign that they move
00:20:49
to intervene on some agency that doesn't necessarily have to be
00:20:53
beholden to the administration. That being said, with the
00:20:56
caveat, I don't think President Trump has any issue of sort of
00:21:01
reminding who the independent agencies are appointed by.
00:21:05
So with that one caveat. If I could just.
00:21:10
Add Phil, I think. You know, I, I totally agree.
00:21:13
Government is not the answer. I think we all probably feel
00:21:16
similarly, but the problem with this specific issue is it's not
00:21:20
just a private business running these dams.
00:21:22
As you guys know, PG and the estate regulated and the history
00:21:26
of corruption with the California Public Utilities
00:21:28
Commission is just, I mean, it's pretty sorted.
00:21:30
So in my opinion, and again, this is just my opinion, but I
00:21:35
have dug into this as much as I can.
00:21:38
I'll keep digging into it, but I think there was some type of
00:21:41
quid pro quo with PG&E and Newsom and some of those CPUC
00:21:45
appointees to try to get this dam removal push through for
00:21:48
Newsome's political profile. That's again my opinion.
00:21:52
But for us in Potter Valley, for those of us in Mendo and Lake
00:21:55
County is trying to get some kind of help on this issue, our
00:21:59
only hope has been the feds because we do not expect any
00:22:03
help from the state. So this isn't just a private
00:22:06
business with, you know, facing some kind of government
00:22:10
intervention, which I think would be problematic for a lot
00:22:14
of reasons. This is a business that makes
00:22:16
massive donations to all of our politicians that is regulated by
00:22:21
the state, their state-run monopoly.
00:22:25
They were allowed I think like 7 rate hikes last year by CPUC.
00:22:30
As you guys know, there are still fire victims who are
00:22:33
unpaid, even though PG&E was found liable for manslaughter in
00:22:38
Paradise and other fires in California.
00:22:41
Two of the fires we had in Potter Valley, I believe, were
00:22:44
attributed to PG and E's failure to maintain their equipment.
00:22:48
But even while they were not paying fire victims, they were
00:22:52
paying their executives massive bonuses.
00:22:54
They were maxing out donations to Gavin Newsom, Jared Huffman,
00:22:59
all of these politicians in the state.
00:23:01
They were giving huge donations to Gavin Newsom's wife's
00:23:04
personal charity, which is like a gender identity charity.
00:23:08
They're listed as a producer on two of her films for her
00:23:11
nonprofit. So the whole thing stinks.
00:23:14
So I think the feds intervening is just kind of the last hope
00:23:18
for these rural folks in my community where I come from, who
00:23:21
just have been consistently ignored by the state government
00:23:26
and especially by, you know, PG and EPG.
00:23:29
And E has not been held accountable for the damage that
00:23:33
they've caused to this area, especially with fires and
00:23:35
failure to maintain their equipment.
00:23:37
So there's a little caveat there in terms of government
00:23:41
involvement on this one. Just for because you brought up
00:23:48
the relationship between PG&E and Gavin Newsom, I have to ask.
00:23:51
Rock PG&E and its affiliate entities have donated
00:23:56
approximately 2.5 million to Gavin Newsom's campaigns, ballot
00:23:59
measures, inauguration events and related political activities
00:24:03
since 1998. That does not include the money
00:24:07
they gave to Jennifer Siebel Newsom, which received $358
00:24:13
from PG and ES Foundation. So, yeah, to your point,
00:24:17
they've, they've have a cozy relationship, PG&E and Gavin
00:24:21
Newsom. And it's, you know, they, they
00:24:23
obviously work together and it looks like Newsom let's PG&E off
00:24:26
the hook whenever there's some sort of wildfire or any calamity
00:24:30
that they should be held liable for.
00:24:32
One of the things that, that I found most heartbreaking, I, I
00:24:36
believe you posted this was the video of the farmer talking
00:24:40
about his trees that were like 100 / 100 years old or 110 years
00:24:45
old and how we just lost water. Like they just said we're
00:24:51
shutting off water, you don't have any more water.
00:24:53
And now he has no idea how he's going to save these 110 year old
00:24:57
trees. Have you talked to people in
00:25:01
Potter Valley and gotten like, what's the first hand account of
00:25:05
those ranchers and farmers who basically have no water and what
00:25:08
are they going to do? Yeah, I was just checking in
00:25:12
with some of them before we got on here.
00:25:14
That farmer's name is Dan Thornton.
00:25:16
I've known him my whole life. He's a fourth generation pear
00:25:18
farmer. His great, great grandfather
00:25:22
planted those trees. He's looking to pass that
00:25:26
orchard on to his son, and he's still in a kind of holding
00:25:30
pattern. The water cuts that started in
00:25:32
August are still in place. He is not sure if he's going to
00:25:37
be able to get a post harvest irrigation in which the trees
00:25:41
need to kind of put the trees to bed for the fall.
00:25:43
They need that post harvest irrigation to make it through to
00:25:45
the next season. So if he doesn't get that water,
00:25:48
it's going to really hurt his trees.
00:25:49
He said, I think in one of those videos, if he loses water for a
00:25:53
year, the trees are are dead. And this is just so unnecessary
00:25:57
because we had a great winter. California had a great rainy
00:26:00
season this year. So we shouldn't be having water
00:26:02
shortage right now. We're not in a drought.
00:26:04
This part of California is not in a drought.
00:26:06
This is a man made drought. So yeah, it's really
00:26:08
heartbreaking. And a lot of folks, you know,
00:26:11
their wells run dry because they were they rely on irrigation
00:26:14
just to replenish their domestic wells.
00:26:17
So, yeah, these trees will die. If the dams come out.
00:26:21
A lot of branches will have to move.
00:26:23
Hey, you know, operations, domestic aid operations that I
00:26:28
used to work on when I was in high school, those are all going
00:26:30
to leave. It will just decimate the area.
00:26:35
And since this area is so central right to California's
00:26:41
footprint and agriculture exemplary of it, we had pulled,
00:26:46
so USDA does a census of agriculture every five years and
00:26:51
we pulled some stats on the latest one.
00:26:53
The average age of a family farmer in California is 59, and
00:27:01
that's actually a stretch from the previous census of AG.
00:27:05
And why that matters is, you know, the farmer you saw in that
00:27:08
video, he's also thinking about who's how is he going to pass
00:27:12
along his legacy? 70% of California farms are
00:27:16
family farms. That's not an accident.
00:27:19
They want to continue this great tradition that has been in their
00:27:22
families for hundreds of years. How are they going to do that
00:27:25
and be able to pass their family farms along if they don't have
00:27:29
water, like if they don't have critical inputs that they need?
00:27:33
And how are they in good faith going to turn around and tell
00:27:35
their sons and daughters this is a great way to earn a living and
00:27:38
a livelihood when they're states working against them?
00:27:41
So to me, like it's that one farmer is just exemplifies the
00:27:47
problem of like this isn't just parochial, but like we have to
00:27:52
be working on a national level to have a a fair playing field
00:27:56
to just continue our farming and food security.
00:27:58
It's not just unique to California.
00:28:00
So anyway, that video spoke to me too y'all?
00:28:04
It, it, I mean, not to get too broad picture, but I, I mean, in
00:28:09
the larger scheme of this, it, it baffles my mind that
00:28:13
California loves to pretend, oh, we have number one in
00:28:17
agriculture #1 in this. And Newsome loves to tow all the
00:28:21
farmers in San Joaquin and, and in these different areas.
00:28:25
And, you know, the happy cows come from California and stuff
00:28:28
like that. Yet behind the scenes, it's like
00:28:31
our state government is quite literally just destroying farm
00:28:35
after farm and ranch after ranch.
00:28:37
And they just, they're just bulldozing these generational
00:28:41
farms and ranches. Like we talked about it with the
00:28:44
Point Reyes ranchers, how long they have been there.
00:28:47
Now you have farmers who have been in Potter Valley for over a
00:28:51
century and they're just bulldozing these ranchers and
00:28:54
farmers out of the way and there is no coverage at all.
00:28:59
No one's talking about this except for Keely and her and her
00:29:02
blog and us tonight talking about it.
00:29:05
Why do you think that this just doesn't get brought up?
00:29:08
Do you think they need to maybe, I don't know, organize the is
00:29:12
there a way to get this message out that California is just
00:29:16
absolutely killing its agriculture and it seems like
00:29:18
it's on purpose? What what are your thoughts of
00:29:21
why? Why can't we get a message out?
00:29:25
Yeah, I wish I knew the answer to that.
00:29:27
I I've always been so confused by that because to me, this is
00:29:30
the California dream. This is the California identity.
00:29:33
My great grandparents came to the Central Valley from the Azur
00:29:37
Islands. That was their American dream,
00:29:38
was working on dairies and, and you know, my dad was the 1st to
00:29:42
go to college. He's a ranch veterinarian.
00:29:43
He's been serving the AG community for 40 years.
00:29:46
My mom's a veterinarian. Both.
00:29:48
Went to UC Davis and and this is just their livelihood and what
00:29:51
they love and these are the people that I think of when I
00:29:53
think of California, I don't think of Hollywood.
00:29:56
I think of these hard working farmers and ranchers who are
00:29:58
just totally silenced and I think anyone who drives between
00:30:02
San Francisco and LA, you see those signs about the man made
00:30:05
drought and Gavin Newsom sending their water to the ocean.
00:30:07
I mean, farmers and ranchers in this state are really hurting
00:30:11
and they're really screaming for help in any way they can, from
00:30:15
billboards off I5 to, you know, in this case, I've just been
00:30:19
taking videos of my neighbors and trying to just share their
00:30:24
story because the media won't cover it.
00:30:26
I mean, we had some slight regional coverage, but for the
00:30:29
large part, this story has been totally ignored.
00:30:32
And it affects 600 people. It affects tribes, it affects
00:30:36
rural communities. It does affect Sonoma Napa,
00:30:39
which are important tourist destinations for the state.
00:30:41
So it is shocking that this is so ignored.
00:30:45
It's very close to Point Reyes, which we've talked about before,
00:30:49
another area where we're losing generational farms and ranches.
00:30:53
So I don't know if Tate has perspective as someone maybe on
00:30:56
the outside looking in as to how bleak it gets here in
00:30:59
California. But it's just such an important
00:31:02
reminder that we still rely on these men and women to feed us.
00:31:05
Less than 2% of Americans work in production agriculture.
00:31:09
Your food doesn't just come from the grocery store.
00:31:11
These men and women, especially these, these farms that Tate's
00:31:15
talking about, these family farms, this is knowledge that
00:31:18
you really cannot regain. I mean, it should be thought of
00:31:21
as a natural resource. The way we think of our water
00:31:24
and the way we think of our soil.
00:31:26
That kind of farming knowledge to people who have been working
00:31:30
this land for generations, who know it, who know the soil, who
00:31:33
know the water patterns, who know how to farm, who know how
00:31:36
to grow food. They're a natural resource.
00:31:39
And I think we're losing them. And it's, it's scary, truly.
00:31:44
Yeah, California seems to have missed the memo that farmers and
00:31:47
ranchers are among the original conservationists.
00:31:51
I know even the federal government holds that policy to
00:31:54
be true. Look, I as the non resident
00:31:59
Californian, I can only imagine that it can be a challenge to
00:32:04
get stories like these out, which is one of the reasons
00:32:07
we're here this evening. So I'm not going to pretend to
00:32:10
even know your media market. I can only imagine.
00:32:13
But one of the ways America First Policy Institute got
00:32:16
connected on this issue was actually not through mainstream
00:32:19
media, but was through social media channels.
00:32:22
And I think it's something policy makers are paying
00:32:25
attention to more. For us in the rural policy
00:32:29
space, we recognize that farmers and ranchers are busy working.
00:32:34
They don't take vacation. God forbid they even tell their
00:32:36
story or pitch it to Fox News or whoever.
00:32:40
And so more platforms like what Keely has developed have become
00:32:44
increasingly popular. I don't know if it's like a post
00:32:47
COVID kind of infatuation with a wanting to move to a more rural
00:32:50
area, be more connected with where your food comes from, a
00:32:54
more simple way of life. But whatever it is, there's been
00:32:58
a rise to platforms that share agriculture story.
00:33:03
And I do think think tanks, policymakers in DC are paying
00:33:07
more attention to those just to hear what the word is on the
00:33:11
ground. And so when Keely is able and
00:33:14
this platform too able to spotlight those issues, they are
00:33:17
getting noticed. So all the more importance and
00:33:19
kudos to her. And I do think that there has
00:33:23
been an uptick. I think we saw Secretary Rollins
00:33:27
actually got involved not in this.
00:33:31
Well, she's probably taking a look, but in California.
00:33:34
But there's another issue in New Jersey with a gentleman named
00:33:37
Andy Henry, who's fighting his local affordable housing
00:33:43
mandate, which is trying to take his farm in a town called
00:33:47
Cranberry, New Jersey. And he's going to be subject to
00:33:50
an unworkable affordable housing mandate had someone not stepped
00:33:55
in while the federal government did step in.
00:33:57
And they're exhausting every Ave. to try to preserve that
00:34:01
sort of family farm that went viral like that took national
00:34:05
news by storm just by the willingness to dig in.
00:34:09
And I'm pretty sure Andy Hidary originally used social media to
00:34:13
get federal policy makers attention.
00:34:16
So I do think that there is a moment and this is the moment in
00:34:21
time to be telling these these stories to try to get attention
00:34:25
outside, if if not in California, outside of it.
00:34:28
And it is working slowly. Yeah, I, I mean, for me
00:34:34
personally, we've, this is a kind of a personal anecdote, but
00:34:38
my wife and I started eating a lot healthier and I've gotten to
00:34:41
the point where I now care about where my milk comes from in
00:34:44
California. And I learned what VAT
00:34:46
pasteurized is versus raw milk. So there I think there is
00:34:50
definitely a trend. And I never 1015 years ago, you
00:34:55
always thought it was the other way around.
00:34:57
Like the people who were into like, well, where did my produce
00:35:00
come from? Where did my dairy come from?
00:35:02
That seemed like a very left-leaning hippie kind of
00:35:07
thing. And like they always said, like
00:35:08
conservatives just ate McDonald's.
00:35:12
Now it's almost like flipped in a weird way.
00:35:13
Like conservatives care about farms in rural areas and they
00:35:18
want to protect them. They're like, where's my farm?
00:35:20
Where's my food come from? Is it does that pesticides?
00:35:23
I think RFK is a big part of like that kind of Maha movement.
00:35:26
So it is interesting to see the cultural shift.
00:35:30
Someone did have a question in the chat if you if you guys
00:35:33
don't mind me asking. Someone said don't the Pomo
00:35:36
Indians have a certain amount of land around Lake Pillsbury?
00:35:40
Have they expressed any concerns about this?
00:35:45
Yeah, actually great. Question Power Valley Tribe just
00:35:48
filed a motion to intervene in this, which is kind of another
00:35:51
interesting part of this whole saga is, I mean, I would use the
00:35:56
term tokenization. I think that politicians in
00:35:59
California like to tokenize tribes when it benefits them.
00:36:02
So they've tried out one tribe that they say, well, there's
00:36:06
tribal buy in for this dam removal because the Round Valley
00:36:10
Indian Tribe is in support. But there are many tribes in
00:36:13
this part of California. Potter Valley is one of them.
00:36:16
I interviewed EJ Crandall, who is a supervisor in Lake County,
00:36:20
but he's also a leader of the Robinson Rancheria Band of Pomo
00:36:23
Indians, and he's been very vocal against dam removal, not
00:36:27
speaking for his tribe because he is not the chief elder there,
00:36:30
but he is a supervisor for Lake County, and he's cares very
00:36:34
deeply about his constituents. And he's been very, very vocal
00:36:37
about the importance of the dams to salmon and to these tribal
00:36:42
lands. So it's a total
00:36:46
mischaracterization to say that all the tribes are in support.
00:36:50
Some of the tribes haven't spoken out yet, but Potter
00:36:54
Valley did just file a motion to intervene because this question
00:36:58
person who asked questions exactly right.
00:36:59
They do own land near Lake Pillsbury.
00:37:01
This is some of their ancestral land.
00:37:02
So they definitely have an interest in what happens to it
00:37:06
and I'm glad to see them getting involved.
00:37:07
I think honestly even the little media attention from social
00:37:11
media folks kind of speaking out about this finally is giving a
00:37:15
lot of the community help. I think that, you know, there's
00:37:19
really a sense in a lot of California that nobody will
00:37:23
listen to them, nobody cares, they won't be heard, and what's
00:37:28
the point of trying? And I mean, it's just kind of a
00:37:31
depressed area economically. This is not a wealthy area.
00:37:34
Sonoma, Marin, Napa, they have a little bit more, you know,
00:37:39
they've got some financial backing and they've got some
00:37:41
wealthy residents and tourism. Mendo and Lake County's
00:37:43
Humboldt, these aren't, these are areas that are struggling
00:37:46
and anyone who's been there knows these are both some of
00:37:49
those beautiful areas in our state, but they're also really
00:37:52
struggling and economically depressed.
00:37:54
I think a lot of these people just feel that there's no hope.
00:37:56
And our representative, Jared Huffman has been just kind of
00:38:00
trying to portray this as a done deal.
00:38:01
Why bother? The dams are coming out, like it
00:38:04
or not. So yeah, I think there has been
00:38:07
some action lately, which is really encouraging.
00:38:09
People are starting to feel like maybe there's a chance of
00:38:11
protecting their water. Sorry.
00:38:15
Go ahead, Tate. You looked like you had
00:38:17
something to say. Well, to Keely's point about
00:38:21
social media giving them hope, we did.
00:38:23
We did just see just north of you in Oregon, there was a
00:38:29
rulemaking that a local natural resource department was going to
00:38:33
undertake to redefine farm stand agritourism, something that I
00:38:38
know is important to California, just as important north of you
00:38:41
in Oregon. And there was an uproar on
00:38:44
social media so much that the governor directed, Democratic
00:38:48
governor, a pause, directed that agency to pause that rulemaking.
00:38:52
And it wasn't necessarily something covered on national
00:38:55
news. It was the outcry from social
00:38:57
media. So I think we're trying to take
00:38:59
a play from that playbook and apply it to the Potter Valley,
00:39:03
certainly. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:39:07
Like you said, Phil, I mean a lot of my neighbors in Mendo,
00:39:10
it's like half hippies, half Cowboys.
00:39:12
My connection with organic food, farmers markets, you know, not
00:39:17
using single use plastics is always the hippies is always
00:39:19
like the leftist guys. So I hope they embrace that.
00:39:22
Again, I think that was a they were out of the game on that and
00:39:26
Oregon coming out to defend their, you know, farm stands.
00:39:30
That's definitely positive. We can have a little.
00:39:33
Yeah, sorry, I was just going to add, I just, I thought you guys
00:39:39
are saying exactly what I was thinking.
00:39:40
And I think it's very interesting that one of the
00:39:42
number one issues in California that our politicians are always
00:39:45
pushing on us is climate change. And you know, we can't go an
00:39:49
hour without hearing climate change from one of our
00:39:51
politicians. And one part of climate change
00:39:55
is they're always pushing on us by local, shop local.
00:39:58
But how can we possibly buy and shop local if they're going to
00:40:02
continue to push all of our food sources out?
00:40:05
I mean, do they really want us to have to go to another
00:40:08
country, another state to get any sort of produce or meat,
00:40:13
apparently? I mean I know they would like to
00:40:15
push out meat for the most part and push a vegan diet on us, but
00:40:18
we still there are our produce. You know, we grow some amazing
00:40:23
produce all over California and and so I do think it's very
00:40:27
interesting that their climate change shop local, but we're not
00:40:32
going to let you grow local. That's kind of crazy and doesn't
00:40:34
make sense to me. And I also just want to point
00:40:36
out something that I had found out from a different totally
00:40:39
different topic. But the state of Wyoming has a
00:40:42
population of just under 600 people and this dam is providing
00:40:48
water to 600 people. But when you account for the
00:40:52
food that it's also providing for, it grows, you know, bigger.
00:40:55
But 600 people. So like, that's the entire
00:40:58
population of a state. Can you imagine shutting off
00:41:01
water to an entire state and just being like, figure it out,
00:41:05
sorry, hope it rains next year. Put out a bucket.
00:41:08
Like, that's essentially what they're doing here. 100%, yeah.
00:41:13
Yeah, it is wild. The scope is especially when you
00:41:16
consider we've had these massive million acre fires.
00:41:18
I mean since 2017, we've had two of the three biggest fires in
00:41:22
California State history and Lake Pillsbury was used to
00:41:25
extinguish both of them. So after the LA fires, you would
00:41:28
think that that would have been a wake up call, but no, I mean,
00:41:32
they are truly going to leave us in one of the most fire prone
00:41:35
areas in the United States and certainly in California without
00:41:39
our main water source that we rely on.
00:41:41
It's, I mean, it's, it's a disaster waiting to happen.
00:41:44
I had neighbors die in the 2017 fires.
00:41:46
You know, that was started by PG and ES power lines.
00:41:49
It's just it truly is existential for the area and for
00:41:53
these people. And your point though, I mean we
00:41:59
have some of the cleanest air, cleanest water.
00:42:02
The stats are there in the country, not just North America.
00:42:06
And I think over 50% of our fruits and about 35% of our
00:42:11
vegetables are already imported, probably from other countries
00:42:15
who don't have as strict air and water standards.
00:42:19
So to your point, Camille, if we're trying to be thinking
00:42:24
consciously about how we eat, about the environment, this just
00:42:28
flies in the face of it because then we would have to import
00:42:32
even more. Yeah, it's it's sort of with,
00:42:35
we've talked about it before with like oil, like here in
00:42:38
California, we have oil, we choose not to drill for oil even
00:42:43
though there's a ton of it under our feet.
00:42:45
So instead we go ahead and bring it in from foreign countries or
00:42:50
third world countries that have to come over on tankers.
00:42:53
And who knows what the conditions are like for those
00:42:55
working in oil fields or drilling over in those third
00:42:59
world countries. They're definitely not like
00:43:00
protected by workers protections.
00:43:04
So I this might be a little off base, but so working to stop
00:43:11
what's going on, save the farmers and ranchers that are
00:43:13
here. Now you brought up that what is
00:43:17
it 2% of people are in America are involved in production
00:43:21
agriculture. And I think we talked about this
00:43:24
on the last show that we're, we're just not getting enough
00:43:29
people into agriculture. And that's that's frightening
00:43:32
because if we're not producing food, that is an issue of
00:43:35
national security overall. Like if we're we have to rely on
00:43:39
other people for food to both you take maybe on the more
00:43:45
national and Ankilia in the state level.
00:43:48
Is there any movement to try and get people into agriculture?
00:43:52
Is there is what's the future for those who want to work in
00:43:56
agriculture? Do we have a future?
00:43:58
Are there people who are going to take over these farms?
00:44:05
Yeah, I I would love to hear. Tate, maybe you have AII think
00:44:08
it's tough in California because we're just constantly
00:44:10
discouraging young people from going down this road.
00:44:13
So I think there's some good news nationally maybe.
00:44:16
I know that AFPI recently opened the Rural Policy Center.
00:44:20
You guys have been really focused on this, I'm sure.
00:44:25
I mean, to be completely candid, like the name of our policy
00:44:28
center is Farmers First. Like I go to work every day
00:44:30
thinking about how are we going to keep people farming in my
00:44:33
hometown just like Keely does. I think it's a good sign that
00:44:36
you have AI. Don't know how familiar you are
00:44:39
with the organization. It's quite impressive, but
00:44:41
Future Farmers of America, FFA, now we have a Secretary of
00:44:45
Agriculture who I think is the first state chapter leader, if
00:44:49
not any leadership rank leader from FFA upbringings.
00:44:56
So I think in DC at least when the current administration goes
00:45:00
to work every day, it's my impression they're thinking what
00:45:03
we are trying to preserve that next generation.
00:45:05
I think you're going to see a lot more to come on that subject
00:45:08
prospectively. There's already been several
00:45:11
policy proposals put out to preserve the next generation of
00:45:16
small farms and ranches. I think they put out a policy
00:45:18
plan in May. So therefore, it's no surprise
00:45:21
when DOI quickly intervenes to try to preserve an areas
00:45:26
farmland. And so whether or not it's
00:45:31
training and incentivizing rural educators to want to remain,
00:45:36
recruit and remain in rural America, improving quality of
00:45:39
life in rural America, like what does it take to get people to
00:45:42
want to stay and take over their farm, family farm, whether it's
00:45:47
the rural economic development, improving quality of life
00:45:49
indicators. I, I think that's a big piece of
00:45:52
it you're going to see out of this administration.
00:45:53
It's something we think about. I will say in the one big
00:45:56
beautiful bill, Congress just permanently extended the death
00:45:59
tax that is actually like huge for passing along the family
00:46:03
farm. So I think you're seeing a lot
00:46:04
of policy pieces come together and take sort of a all of the
00:46:10
above approach to help revitalize and generate rural
00:46:14
prosperity so that we do see a continuation of farming and
00:46:18
ranching. I will say farming and ranching,
00:46:20
well, it might be 2%. The stats Keely threw out, it is
00:46:24
still in rural places a top 6 employer.
00:46:27
And as you've seen manufacturers a lot rural America does not
00:46:31
look like it did 250 years ago when our nation was founded.
00:46:35
So trying to keep it as a top six, if not higher than that
00:46:39
employer in rural America. Yeah.
00:46:42
And I mean, it's like, honestly, California as much as it's
00:46:47
there's a lot of bad news. I think culturally what you guys
00:46:49
are talking about with just kind of the return to people paying
00:46:52
attention to where their food comes from, that's a positive.
00:46:55
I think that's a huge positive development.
00:46:58
People are starting to care about that stuff again.
00:47:00
I think Camilla, we were talking last time about just, you know,
00:47:02
city home setting and more people getting chickens in the
00:47:04
backyard and kind of just getting interested in where
00:47:08
their food comes from. Again, I think that will only
00:47:10
get more kids interested in agriculture as a career path and
00:47:14
open up more doors. So I'm, I'm optimistic about
00:47:17
that. I just worry for California
00:47:20
because it does seem like we don't have a lot of folks
00:47:22
advocating for us in Sacramento or in DC when they represent us.
00:47:27
I remember watching Brooke Rawlins confirmation hearing and
00:47:31
our senators, I think it was, was it Padilla or Schiff?
00:47:34
I think it was Schiff and his main question for her was
00:47:37
something about illegal migrants in California, which sure,
00:47:41
that's a question to ask, but what about the family farms and
00:47:43
ranchers you represent as one of our two senators?
00:47:46
Not a single question about about them in their future so.
00:47:52
Not a question about. Go ahead.
00:47:56
No, sorry, she inspired me not to go to macro on you all.
00:48:00
I do think when you hear news about trade deals, it comes up a
00:48:04
lot. You know, we're kind of
00:48:07
constantly shifting gears to a new country just because so many
00:48:11
seem to be coming to the table trying to renegotiate with the
00:48:14
United States. That actually trickles down to
00:48:17
recruiting, I think next generation farmers and ranchers
00:48:22
because they have to have somewhere for their crops to go.
00:48:24
We can't just sell in the United States.
00:48:26
California's a big exporter too. So if they see market signals
00:48:30
that their crops are going to have benefits of new trade
00:48:33
deals, new market access, to me that's a carrot, no pun.
00:48:37
So want to stay in the family business as well.
00:48:39
So just some key policies to think about when you're thinking
00:48:43
about recruiting next generation, yeah.
00:48:47
And just for everyone, FFA is Future Farmers of America,
00:48:51
right? Yep.
00:48:55
Just so our listener because I don't know if I I grew up in a
00:48:58
rural area that that did have FFA so.
00:49:01
Corduroy, corduroy jackets. They turn out some of the most
00:49:05
impressive leaders. I I wish I had participated.
00:49:10
I will admit I was too busy on the horse show circuit, but
00:49:13
gosh, everyone that comes out of that program is so impressive.
00:49:16
I. Remember, it was a big thing at
00:49:19
our County Fair, Future Farmers of America and our tiny little,
00:49:22
tiny little sparsely populated county in New Jersey of all
00:49:26
places. Real quick, is there any update
00:49:31
on what's going on in Point Reyes for us since you're you
00:49:35
were last year Keely? You know, I, I know that the,
00:49:41
the folks in DC are getting more involved.
00:49:44
It's a pretty complicated situation.
00:49:48
The more I investigated it. There's just a real pattern of
00:49:51
the Park Service doing this to different park robberies in
00:49:57
California, different ranchers in California.
00:49:59
I mean, that is truly a land grab.
00:50:01
Camille, to your question earlier there, there's just this
00:50:03
history of the National Park Service coming in, muscling out
00:50:07
ranchers happened on the Channel Islands.
00:50:09
There's some pretty shocking stuff that happened on Santa
00:50:13
Rosa Island, on Santa Cruz Island.
00:50:16
I reported on that few months ago.
00:50:18
You know, I think it was back in the 90s.
00:50:21
They landed in a Black Hawk helicopter to raid this family
00:50:24
on Santa Cruz Island, allegedly because they were, you know,
00:50:30
taking native artifacts or something.
00:50:32
But really, it seemed to be more connected to the fact that the
00:50:35
Park Service wanted their land and wanted these these folks
00:50:39
out. So.
00:50:40
That is kind of the long macro view of, I think what happened
00:50:44
on Point Reyes. And I think until we have more
00:50:47
transparency at the Park Service, I think ranchers should
00:50:51
be very worried about partnering with them.
00:50:54
You know, the Perk Service isn't just Yosemite or Yellowstone.
00:50:58
I understand maybe we don't want farms in the middle of
00:51:01
Yellowstone, but there's a lot of properties owned by the
00:51:05
National Park Service. And I think as we look to
00:51:08
domestic supply chain, as we look to the next generation in
00:51:11
agriculture, understanding that these federal agencies manage
00:51:15
our land for Americans and we, man, they manage our natural
00:51:20
resources for all of us is an important part of how we should
00:51:23
view these park lands. So the partnership that ranchers
00:51:27
had at Point Reyes was really beautiful.
00:51:29
They had this beautiful regenerative agriculture that
00:51:32
was there before the Park Service took over.
00:51:35
The fact that they were muscled out really makes no sense.
00:51:39
I mean, they used the Thule elk as a reason why the Point Reyes
00:51:43
ranchers should go Elk and cattle like each other.
00:51:47
They, they live very well together.
00:51:50
You know, elk will often follow the cattle around in a pasture
00:51:53
because cattle are better grazers.
00:51:55
And, you know, elk can't graze all of those big grasses that
00:51:59
are there on Point Reyes, places like that.
00:52:02
Which is very ironic because just a little bit north in Lake
00:52:05
Pillsbury, another part of the story I haven't really reported
00:52:07
on yet, but I'm looking into it. The Park Service or the, the
00:52:11
California Department of Fish and Wildlife is talking about
00:52:14
calling 90% of the Thule elk that, you know, graze and live
00:52:19
near Lake Pillsbury, knowing that they won't have water and
00:52:22
they're going to die when the dam goes out.
00:52:24
So it's, it's a lot of convenience.
00:52:26
I do think that independent producers just have a target on
00:52:29
their back. And I think that's what the
00:52:30
point raised ranchers experienced ultimately.
00:52:34
So that's still in flux. I think some of the ranchers
00:52:38
have left, they've moved cattle off.
00:52:40
I know that there's still some efforts to help them.
00:52:44
I know Tate and and AFPI have have spoken to some of the
00:52:48
ranchers and done what they can to advocate for them.
00:52:51
But I do think it's going to require kind of a top down
00:52:55
change in how the Park Service handles ranchers and tenants who
00:53:00
are in agriculture. I think since we spoke, there
00:53:03
were some emails a journalist named Chris Bray revealed
00:53:08
through a FOIA request showing the Park Service celebrating the
00:53:11
ranchers leaving. So just showing that this was
00:53:13
never an unbiased, you know, process.
00:53:16
These NGOs weren't just searching for the best outcome
00:53:21
for the elk and for the the land out.
00:53:23
There they were. Always motivated and in my
00:53:27
opinion they were always working with the Park Service to get
00:53:30
what they wanted here. It's a long winded answer to say
00:53:34
the problem is still very much there and I think their fate is
00:53:38
still in flux. I don't think they're totally
00:53:39
out of hope, but it's a pretty dire situation.
00:53:43
Well, yeah, I asked because I think people also need to know
00:53:47
what's going on there and not just, hey, we did an episode on
00:53:50
it and OK, that's the end of it. I want to get your your update
00:53:54
on it. We have a couple minutes left
00:53:57
before we hit one hour. Any final thoughts on Potter
00:54:01
Valley on the state of agriculture?
00:54:06
I don't know anything that you feel like you want to comment on
00:54:09
that might be a little bit too broad, but any final comments or
00:54:13
thoughts for this evening? Keely or Tate?
00:54:16
Thank you so much for coming on and joining us, especially Tate
00:54:20
out there. What's it almost like Wednesday
00:54:22
morning where you're at? But I guess in, you know, your
00:54:26
line of work, your line of work, work never stops.
00:54:29
So thank you so much. Tell us where we can people can
00:54:33
find you or follow you or what you're up to and give us your
00:54:37
final thoughts. And don't all talk at once I
00:54:43
feel. Like I've been talking to you.
00:54:47
I was going to let talk to you this one.
00:54:50
Speaking of my ever growing X handle, no and what it's called.
00:54:56
So no. Thank you so much for having us.
00:54:59
I just want to say, you know, I've been following the chat
00:55:02
with your sort of loyal listeners.
00:55:04
Couldn't agree more. Farm security is national
00:55:06
security. We have a whole effort we've
00:55:08
been working on a long time to crack down on Chinese and
00:55:12
adversarial ownership of farmland.
00:55:15
So to that end, I would encourage your listeners to go
00:55:18
to America First policy dot com to check out some of our prior
00:55:24
work there. You can find me on XI am T
00:55:28
Bennett DC sounds a little swampy, but I was told not to
00:55:32
get rid of the DC because it's identifiable.
00:55:34
So here we are and would just really want to say thank you
00:55:38
again for letting us spotlight an issue that we have just been
00:55:43
working. It's like so hard to try to find
00:55:47
some clarity for these farmers who are desperate.
00:55:50
They just want to keep their livelihoods.
00:55:51
It's who we go to work for every day.
00:55:55
You know, farmers never stop working, so we don't either,
00:55:57
which is why we're here at midnight my time, so.
00:56:02
Yeah, exactly. Couldn't agree more.
00:56:04
I really appreciate you guys having me on to talk about this.
00:56:08
I know it's a niche issue, but you guys are always just so
00:56:11
great about covering real California stories and
00:56:13
California corruption. So I just, I hope you're, you
00:56:17
know, listeners keep following you for these rural issues
00:56:21
because truly I think this is our heritage in California that
00:56:24
we sometimes forget because our media doesn't highlight it.
00:56:27
But it's so important to who we are.
00:56:28
It's so important to our security and our identity and
00:56:30
our culture here. So I'm just really grateful to
00:56:34
you guys for making time. It's such a rural part of the
00:56:37
state, but it just is really encouraging.
00:56:39
And I know the farmers and ranchers out there, it means a
00:56:41
lot to them. I they're all kind of shocks
00:56:43
that people care. You know, I tell them, I tell
00:56:45
these little old ranchers like your video got a million views.
00:56:48
They're like what they wanted to hear from me.
00:56:51
So it really is meaningful to folks who feel like there's no
00:56:54
hope on these big existential issues to know that there are
00:56:57
Californians who care about them and are fighting for them.
00:56:59
This is really pretty bipartisan common sense in my opinion.
00:57:03
So thank you guys for for highlighting it.
00:57:05
And you can find me at America on one UNWON everywhere X
00:57:10
TikTok, YouTube, America on one.com, all places.
00:57:14
So thank you, Camille and Phil appreciate you.
00:57:17
Oh, thank you for coming on and updating us.
00:57:20
Yeah, this is a really important issue.
00:57:22
And to everyone who's listening and tuning in, you can read more
00:57:26
about this at America on one.com.
00:57:28
You go to americafirstpolicy.orgor.com.
00:57:34
Dot com. Dot com Sorry, I wanted to
00:57:37
makesureididntsay.orgor.com, americanfirstpalsy.com.
00:57:41
You can go check out there as well and see what they're up to
00:57:44
in support of rural policy. And yeah, this is important.
00:57:47
And California has a lot of rural lands, a lot of farmers
00:57:50
and ranchers that for some reason we have seemed to have
00:57:53
just completely abandoned. From the state government's
00:57:55
perspective, they just seem to not care anymore.
00:57:59
So with that, make sure you go check out Keely and Tate and go
00:58:02
follow them for all the rural updates.
00:58:04
And As for us, make sure you like, share, subscribe, review,
00:58:07
all that stuff helps with the algorithm.
00:58:09
And the best thing you can do to support the show that is 100%
00:58:12
free is you can share this with someone who will find it
00:58:15
interesting. So with that, we'll see you on
00:58:17
the next one later.