SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) released the following statement after her bill, Senate Bill 1084—The Food and Farm Security Act passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee:

“People should be concerned about the growing global food crisis we are in. A crisis marked by increased famine, increasing food shortages and increasing food costs, due to extreme weather and drought,” said Senator Hurtado. “Drought profiteering is exacerbating this crisis in California putting a disturbing number of family farmers out of business--leaving Californian’s with more food insecurity and contributing to global famine. Californians take pride in feeding the nation and world, and the Food and Farm Security Act will protect and preserve our agricultural land and help prevent further devastation to food markets. Last year, the Assembly Appropriations held Senate Bill 108—The Human Right to Food Act, a bill that planned for how climate change would impact our food supply. Now is the time for action. And, I am thankful that this year the Legislature recognizes that.”

Foreign investors held an estimated interest in nearly 37.6 million acres of U.S. agricultural land as of December 31, 2020—an increase of over 2.4 million acres from December 2019—this represents 2.9% of all privately held agricultural land in the United States. Since 2015, foreign holdings of agricultural land have increased an average of nearly 2.2 million acres annually.

California has just over 40 million acres of privately held agricultural land, with 2.7% of that land held by international owners. California plays a monumental role in both the American and global food supply chains, making it imperative that we gain a strong understanding of exactly how ownership of our agricultural lands are positioned.

SB 1084—the California Food and Farm Security Act— puts California in control of its food supply chain by preventing foreign governments from purchasing or leasing agricultural land.

The following bills also passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and are headed to the Assembly Floor:

• Senate Bill 892: Cybersecurity Preparedness Act
• Senate Bill 1029: One Health Framework Development Act
• Senate Bill 1066 : California Farmworkers Drought Resilience Pilot Project
• Senate Bill 1090: FURS Foster Youth

About Senator Melissa Hurtado

Senator Melissa Hurtado represents a new generation of Latina leaders, as the youngest woman ever elected to the California State Senate and as a product of immigrant parents. Senator Hurtado represents the 14th Senate District and focuses on rural community issues that often go unheard — access to clean air and water, food insecurity and poverty, inequities in environmental policies, agriculture and access to health care. In July 2020, she was appointed to the national Biden Latino Leadership Committee alongside former Labor Secretary and current Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis – the only two California Latinas on the Committee.

For more information, visit Senator Hurtado’s Website here or find her on Twitter at @Senator_Hurtado

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