ABIRC’s Executive Director Blong Xiong (second left) along with other supporters of the Farmer Equity and Innovative Center bill.
4.10.19. AB 838 – Farmer Equity and Innovation Center, sponsored by the Assembly Chair Susan Talamantes Eggman at the House Committee Agriculture, went onto the floor for discussion at the California State Capital. The bill seeks equity towards the small farms and ranchers run by the socially disadvantaged farmers/ ranchers in order to promote greater diversity and equity across California’s Agricultural Sector. The goal is to create a statewide program based in the ANR branch of the University of California system will that prioritize support for limited resource farmers/ranchers and socially disadvantaged farmers/ranchers.
ABIRC’s ED spoke in support of AB 838. In the Central Valley of California, there are nearly 2000 small Southeast Asian Farmers. Most of these farmers lease their land and were not able to access any of the state or federal programs in the past due to numerous barriers. For example, Language barrier, knowledge barrier, and technical barriers.
The bill passed unanimously.