“The pesticide regulatory program had essentially been toothless by choice. One of the reasons Hightower hired Rick Lowerre was because Rick understood the regulatory world and how to use regulations to fairly enforce the law. TDA didn’t do anything genius-level. We just started enforcing the rules and the laws that were already in place. If a pesticide applicator caused pesticides […]
Brigid Shea
“The (Clean Water Action) canvass had a unique ability to literally be this foot soldier army that could go out door-to-door and reach people who may not show up elsewhere, but who really agreed with the idea of better protections for the environment, and eliminating excessive use of pesticides that were poisoning people, and making opportunities for organic farmers to […]
Pete McRae (D)
“In 1985 is when the entire ag industry, business leaders decided to come after Hightower and attempt to defund the agency in various components. Those guys hated (John) Vlcek and hated the marketing program. They just thought we were nuts and that Hightower was nuts by focusing on small farmers, which of course was exactly what Farmers Union wanted. Vlcek […]
Juanita Cox
“(W)ith Hightower, we were very proud, we were able to get even stronger pesticide regulations than what California had at that time….It was the combination of having people in office that cared about the people that harvest the food for this world. It was the power that the union had built in farm workers that said we want you to […]
Heather Ball
“The only element of TDA’s Farm Policy Reform Act of 1984 that made it into the final legislation was the Conservation Reserve Program. This was the first time farmers were paid to put some of their acreage into longterm sustainable cover crops to improve wildlife habitat, water and air quality, and reduce soil erosion, as well as raise commodity prices […]