It might be appealing to imagine all food going straight from \’Old McDonald\’s Farm\” to our tables, but it\’s not realistic.  Because of seasons, climates, soils, water (quality and availabilty) research and grower education, most harvested crops need to be cleaned, cooked, canned, frozen or dried to move on up the food chain to tables around the world. In California alone, the companies that do these essential tasks employ over 750,000 workers with  several million family members and thousands of dependent local businesses–directly adding $25.2 billion to the economy.  This link in the chain is represented by the California Food Producers.  As CEO and President of the association, Rob Neenan with staff and committees is engaged in promoting and defending policy and public opinion that effects processing food distribution and sales.  Those policies today extend from new issues like the pandemic to long term issues related to water–where new groundwater regulations may result in millions of acres being fallowed and less food produced. www.clfp.com