Lynn Hamilton, Ph.D. and Michael McCollough, Ph.D. of CalPoly San Luis Obispo found in a study released on January 23 that producers’ regulatory compliance costs have risen 63.7% since 2017, and a whopping 1366% since 2006.  And while regulatory costs now constitute $1600 per acre or 12.6% of production costs for the Monterey County lettuce producer whose production costs the professors have been following for nearly 20 years, farmgate value for their lettuce increased a paltry 0.37% from 2017 to 2024.   

In “Two Decades of Change: Evolving Costs of Regulatory Compliance in the Produce Industry,” Hamilton and McCollough found increased compliance costs since 2017 from Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), Irrigated Lands Program, equipment emissions regulations, and minimum wage and other workplace mandates increasing employment costs.  Costs of regulatory compliance for food safety, inspection audits, air quality, crop protection reporting, employee health and safety and wages were included in the study.  Leading drivers of regulatory cost increases were employee health insurance and water quality compliance. 

California agricultural producers are justifiably proud to grow a third of the nation’s produce with the highest wages, labor standards, workplace safety and health and environmental protections in the world.  But increasing compliance costs continue to squeeze California producers, constraining their ability to compete with lower-cost producers around the world.