Group wants to raise $30 million a year to spend on action

By TIM HEARDEN

Capital Press

RED BLUFF, Calif. -- The Golden State's largest farm organization wants to boost political fundraising this year to increase agriculture's clout in Sacramento.

California Farm Bureau Federation president Paul Wenger sent a letter to the group's 30,000 members urging more donations.

The organization now spends between $300,000 and $500,000 a year on political activity, Wenger said. He'd like to see it gather as much as $30 million annually to keep pace with teachers' unions, prison guards, environmental groups and other powerful interests.

"We tend to go out and complain, but we don't change things," Wenger told members at a dinner meeting Jan. 19 here. "The only way to get their attention is we have to get mad enough to write some checks.

"We've got to assess ourselves some money, and it's voluntary," he said.

Wenger cited the state's prison guards' union, whose members complained of a lack of clout before they started paying an assessment for political action.

With as much as $30 million in its coffers, the Farm Bureau would be a player even in urban legislative districts, and their candidates would have to care about ag, he reasoned.

"We're a $37- or $38-billion industry," Wenger said in an interview. "We ought to be raising $30 million a year at a minimum for agriculture.

"I think people are starting to come around" to the idea of contributing more, he said. "People know we're such a minority with such a huge impact on California. You have to give (legislators) time to educate them about your issues. You're not trying to buy a vote, you're just trying to educate them."

Farm Bureau dues vary for each county. In Tehama County, for instance, they're $100 a year for farmers and $72 for non-farmers, manager Kari Dodd said.

The local office tries to encourage its members to stay involved by signing up for legislative alerts and provides a template for writing letters to lawmakers, she said.

"I think it's very important," Dodd said. "The more regulations and struggles that farmers have, they're going to need that assistance."

Online

California Farm Bureau Federation: http://www.cfbf.com/