This farmer is taking the long view on Trump

Politico

08-03-2025

Presented by
With help from Alex Nieves, David Ferris, Annie Snider and Ben Lefebvre
POUR ONE OUT: Stuart Woolf likes the extra water President Donald Trump is promising Central Valley farmers — but he doesn't think it'll be enough to change their fate.
Woolf, the president and CEO of Woolf Farming and Processing and the current chair of the board for the trade group Western Growers Association, grows almonds and tomatoes in one of the most arid regions of the Central Valley. He's also been an early champion of agave, the drought-tolerant crop used in tequila and mezcal, which he sees as key to sustaining the region's agriculture in an era of limited water supplies, and the development of solar panels on fallowed farmland.
A self-described independent, Woolf isn't backing away from his vision. POLITICO caught up with him after a panel at the Kern County Water Summit in Bakersfield on Thursday, where he talked about alternatives to thirsty crops and the long-term sustainability of agriculture on some of California's most productive acres (and got away with applause, not boos).
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Has your vision for the Valley changed at all with the federal administration's promises on water?
The issues of water in California, these are long-term issues, right? Right now, Trump, at least, has talked about trying to improve water supply, in particular to farmers. Maybe he has a positive impact during his administration, but I would suspect, ultimately, long term, a lot of it will be driven by California policies and issues.
Are you talking about the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act?
Yeah. Things like SGMA aren't going away.
Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth was here talking about the Delta conveyance project and leaning into changes to environmental limits to pumping in the Delta. Do you not see a change of course?
I think we're a long, long way from getting the tunnel moving or approved. We're a long, long way from getting Shasta.
It's great to hear she's optimistic about some of these things, but one of the things I was going to ask her was like, Well, how do you define long-term success? Is it the reduction of 500,000 acres? We're figuring out how to exchange, market, do all these other things, but at the end of the day, we're still going backwards, by my metric, which is total acres under production.
Have you seen anything from the state or the federal government right now that would help transition farmland, or are they just talking about water?
I don't think this federal administration is going to set aside money for anything relative to environmental mitigation and climate change and what have you.
We recently in our small, fledgling agave industry got a couple grants. It's all about climate change, and we want bilingual education. We realize now with the Trump administration, they're looking at these grants and whether or not they fulfill them. All the words and all the things that we were advocating for are all the words that I think they don't necessarily like.
So I'm wondering, if you got a grant for climate-friendly cropping, do you go spend that money believing you're going to receive it, or do you not, because you don't have confidence that they'll actually give it to you, even though it was awarded to you earlier? I would rather try to figure out what I can have control over.
On tariffs: Pretty unpredictable so far. What's the impact on you?
For the business community, the worst thing is to create a lot of uncertainty and risk. And I think he's creating a lot of uncertainty and risk.
I've got loads of agave coming from Mexico that I'm going to be planting, and I'm bringing over loads for other growers to do this. For me, I'm really thrilled about this whole agave thing, because I think it's part of a solution in California to address water demand. I really think it's part of a story of adaptation. And now I'm going to be paying like 25 percent more for this product coming over.
It's a really challenging period. The almond industry, for example, is just beginning to come out of four or five years of really tough times. If we have countervailing duties on the stuff that we're exporting, it is going to be really damaging to California.
Do you have any big meetings coming up in D.C. or in Sacramento? What are you trying to advocate for these days?
Industry groups are trying to figure out who they align with in the Trump bubble or world.
Some of our key issues are going to be, we want fair and free trade. We don't want any of our members being harmed by tariffs that are best of intentions, but they come back to really harm our industries.
Clearly, immigration is going to be front and center for us. And I think we will be advocates for funding of ag research and the farm bill.
Those are three big things, and water isn't even on the list.
Water's on that list. I just didn't mention it, but it's on that list.
I'm fearful for California agriculture during this administration. We may be able to get more water, but if we lose our markets and prices go in the toilet, that's not a very good trade-off. And if we continue to lose our workforce, and we lose funding for research programs, I think there are more negatives in the process.
That's why agave is the only solution.
Because people can just drink their worries away?
Well, people drink in the best of times and the worst of times. — CvK
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POORER PORTS: The Trump administration's freeze on clean-energy programs has put more than $1 billion to electrify the Port of Los Angeles — and Southern California's clean air ambitions — at risk.
In question are three grants totaling more than $1.1 billion that Biden's EPA awarded the port to kick-start a migration to electric heavy-duty trucks, David Ferris reports for POLITICO's E&E News. Nationwide, dozens of ports are experiencing the same uncertainty with their own grant money.
Experts say losing that funding would set back Los Angeles' and California's move to EV trucks by five years — an interval in which more Angelenos will get cancer and asthma, and in which China's industry lead will grow.
'People have projects and jobs counting on these funds, and they don't know what they should be doing right now,' said Jason Mathers, who heads zero-emission truck program at the Environmental Defense Fund. 'It's massively disruptive and it's confusing.'
Trump railed against vehicle electrification on the campaign trail, saying at an October rally in New Mexico that trucks fifty years ago were better than electric models today.
The EPA and its Los Angeles grant recipients are offering conflicting accounts of the current state of play. EPA in a statement said it 'worked expeditiously to enable payment accounts for ... grant recipients, so funding is now accessible to all recipients.'
The recipients say they are having different experiences. The Port of LA says it's received no communications from EPA and that online portals through which it would receive funds are shut. Another, the South Coast Air Quality Management district, says it has communicated with EPA and that its access goes online and offline without notice. — DF, AN
AND ANOTHER ONE: Democrats are getting antsy in another state that follows California car and truck emissions standards.
Maryland Delegate Dana Stein introduced a bill last week that would delay enforcement of Advanced Clean Cars II and Advanced Clean Trucks, electrification rules congressional Republicans are threatening to revoke. The bill, HB 1556, will have its first hearing in the House Environment and Transportation Committee on Wednesday.
Two Democrats in upstate New York also introduced a bill this week to pause enforcement of ACT, which requires manufacturers to sell an increasing number of zero-emission trucks. And New Jersey Democrats introduced a similar proposal to delay clean truck regulations last year, though that effort has stalled.
Car and truck manufacturers are increasingly pushing states to slow down their emissions rules ahead of implementation, warning that consumer demand and charging infrastructure are lagging behind expectations. A dozen states follow ACCII, while 11 have adopted ACT.
The California Air Resources Board — which developed the standards — has defended the rules, arguing they include flexibility and credit markets that can keep companies in compliance. — AN
DOGE TO INTERIOR: The Department of Government Efficiency staffer who visited the Bureau of Reclamation's Northern California pumping plant in January is taking over as the Interior Department's main budget official, POLITICO's Ben Lefebvre and Annie Snider report.
Tyler Hassen, the head of oilfield services company Basin Energy, who has been one of DOGE's representatives embedded at Interior, will be delegated that authority as the acting assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, according to people who were granted anonymity to discuss a politically sensitive subject. Hassen will take over for Charlie Dankert, who had been doing that job, the people added.
RECLAIMING THEIR JOBS: Five previously fired Reclamation employees are coming back to the agency's California office and more planned terminations are on hold, Annie reports.
The office has lost about 100 employees — 10 percent of its workforce — due to buyouts and orders by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to fire employees who have been in their positions for less than a year or two.
Some of the reinstated staffers were associated with a power plant undergoing upgrades near Shasta Dam, while some of the others who were given a reprieve worked at a fish collection facility that is essential to Reclamation's ability to pump water out of the state's main water hub, according to sources POLITICO granted anonymity due to fear of reprisals.
— The Army Corps of Engineers knew Trump's dam-opening plans would waste water, an internal memo shows.
— U.S. EPA told its staff that spending on items over $50,000 will now need approval from DOGE.
— AI bots at UC San Diego have already detected more than 1,200 fires.