February 10th, 2004

CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE TO BACK 57 AND 58 AT EVENT WITH GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER

SACRAMENTO – A who’s who of California agricultural leaders and organizations will pledge their support tomorrow for Propositions 57 and 58 at an endorsement event held to coincide with the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California. Joining Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the event will be representatives from Western Growers, the California Farm Bureau Federation and California Women for Agriculture.

Proposition 57 provides for a one-time $15 billion Economic Recovery Bond to refinance past budget deficits while interest rates are low. This allows California to start over with a balanced budget and gets the fiscal mismanagement of the past behind us. Proposition 58 makes sure we never get in a deficit crisis again by requiring California politicians to balance the budget every year in the future and prohibiting bond financing of any future deficits. It also creates a “rainy day savings account” to be used for paying the bonds off early and helping the state through any future economic downturns.

Western Growers is an agricultural trade association whose 3,000 members grow, pack and ship 90 percent of the fresh vegetables and nearly 70 percent of the fresh fruit and nuts grown in Arizona and California, about one-half of the nation’s fresh produce. California Women for Agriculture has more than 3,500 members in 27 chapters throughout the state. It is the largest and most active all volunteer agriculture support organization in California. The California Farm Bureau is California's largest farm organization with more than 89,000 member families in 53 county Farm Bureaus.

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