The president of the California Farm Bureau Federation welcomed members of the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) to his state this week for their annual meeting.
Wenger talked about the importance of the agricultural industry in the United States and his home state. “As we see that today (farmers) are less than two percent of the population and in California farmers are less than a half a percent, what we do is nothing short of miraculous,” he said. “We have to utilize the independence and the stubbornness that we have that allows us to keep farming, we have to work together to make sure we advocate in Washington DC and our individual state and local community to make sure that we can continue to farm profitably.”
The drought in California continues to impact agriculture, but Wenger does not blame climate change. “It’s really ridiculous for people who want to say climate change is something we should fear,” he said. “We in agriculture will adapt as we have for the millennium. Ever since man has been growing food, we’ve had to adapt to those challenges.”
Listen to an interview with Wenger here: Interview with California FB president Paul Wenger at ARA meeting