In The News

The silver lining of the roiling immigration debate is that it’s finally being discussed, says Live Earth Farm’s Broz. “Maybe it takes an administration like the one we have right now to [make people] realize what’s at stake,” he says. “[Maybe] enough people will put pressure on elected officials to implement comprehensive immigration reform. Things might come to a head where things have to get done.” The trick in getting the new administration’s ear, says Panetta, will be to drive home the economic argument—that the Central Coast’s $9 billion ag and nearly $3 billion hospitality industries, for instance, are inextricably linked to immigrant labor. “We know on the Central Coast how important immigration is to this area—without immigrants the economy would be devastated and the Central Coast would almost shut down,” Panetta says. “First thing is you’ve got to get Donald Trump out to the district, out to the fields,” Panetta continues. “This is a guy who grew up in Queens, who lived in a golden tower. The last person he picked in his cabinet was the secretary of agriculture. In the budget he put forward, he wants to cut 21% from the USDA. We need to speak to him on economic terms and let him know that the food he eats doesn’t just come from the store, but it comes from the fields. And in order to get from the field into your mouth, it takes people—especially with our specialty crops on the Central Coast.”

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