{"id":242972,"date":"2026-03-30T05:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T05:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/242972\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T05:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T05:00:08","slug":"californias-affordability-crisis-takes-a-seat-at-the-dinner-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/242972\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s affordability crisis takes a seat at the dinner table"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Kristin Olsen-Cate and Buddy Mendes<\/p>\n

As California\u2019s gubernatorial candidates prepare to take the stage at a forum in Fresno on April 1<\/a>, they will be asked to address the issue voters consistently rank as their top concern: affordability.<\/p>\n

That conversation will include housing, energy, and transportation. But it must also focus on something far more immediate and personal: the cost of putting food on the table.<\/p>\n

The cost of living in California has become a constant strain. From young parents stretching their grocery budgets to seniors on fixed incomes, Californians are feeling the squeeze \u2013 one that starts on the farm and ends at the dinner table.<\/p>\n

With decades of experience in public service in California\u2019s Central Valley, we\u2019ve seen how well-intentioned policies can ripple through our communities in unintended ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

California is the most productive agricultural state<\/a> in the nation, generating hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity and supporting more than a million jobs. With more than 400 crops and livestock products grown across its diverse regions, the state \u2013 particularly the Central Valley \u2013 plays a critical role in feeding the country and the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet despite this abundance, Californians pay some of the highest food and grocery prices<\/a> in the nation, while Central Valley residents face some of the state\u2019s greatest economic challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Farmers face mounting pressures: rising input costs, unreliable water supplies, labor challenges, and an increasingly complex and costly web of regulations. Since 2006, the cumulative cost of regulatory mandates<\/a> has increased by more than 1,300 percent, fundamentally reshaping the economics of farming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For family-owned farms, which make up nearly 98 percent of California farms, these pressures are existential. Margins are tightening, forcing difficult decisions about what to plant, how much to produce, or whether to continue farming at all. The result is clear: the number of farms in California has declined by nearly 30 percent<\/a> since 1997.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These pressures don\u2019t stop at the farm gate. They ripple across the supply chain, affecting processors, distributors, retailers, and ultimately, consumers. When it becomes more expensive to grow food in California, it becomes more expensive to buy it.<\/p>\n

The impact extends beyond agriculture. Across the Central Valley, many residents face some of the highest poverty rates in the state, along with limited economic diversification and persistent underinvestment. When the agricultural economy weakens, those effects show up in lost jobs, reduced local investment, and fewer opportunities for families working to build a better future.<\/p>\n

California has long set standards that protect workers, consumers and the environment. These protections matter. But there is a difference between thoughtful policy and a system that layers on costs without delivering real-world results. When policies fail to consider economic realities, they can unintentionally drive up prices and place additional burdens on the very communities they are meant to support \u2013 particularly in regions like the Central Valley, where the current approach is falling short of building the diversified, resilient economy needed for long-term growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is why the upcoming candidate forum we are moderating is so important. Voters deserve more than broad commitments on affordability. They deserve clear, actionable ideas for how candidates will support California agriculture and the communities that depend on it to keep food accessible and affordable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recent polling shows that 77 percent of Californians support pausing or scaling back certain regulations to ease cost pressures. Scaling back requirements may be easier said than done. A more practical question is whether policymakers are willing to pause, reassess and ensure that existing policies are delivering the outcomes promised.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If candidates are serious about tackling affordability, it will require leadership that pairs pragmatism with political will, taking a clear-eyed look at how decisions affect the cost of living and the strength of rural communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The future of the Central Valley depends on getting this right. So does access to affordable, locally grown food for millions of Californians.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kristin Olsen-Cate is a partner at California Strategies and board member at The Maddy Institute and formerly served as a state Assemblymember and supervisor for Stanislaus County. <\/p>\n

Buddy Mendes is the District 4 Supervisor for Fresno County and a lifelong family farmer.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Kristin Olsen-Cate and Buddy Mendes As California\u2019s gubernatorial candidates prepare to take the stage at a forum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-242972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}