Newsom Loses More CA Business and Wants to Take Away the Farm – HotAir

December 23, 2025

If it weren’t for independent, courageous souls like the indefatigable Katy Grimes of The California Globe, very few people would ever hear about the teeny, tiny, terrifying nuances of what’s going on under the Democrat blanket in Governor Randall Flagg-lite’s California.

The oleaginous Gavin Newson, the gel-schmeared coiff and instantly recognizable face of shiv-you-with-a-Pepsodent-smile progressive authoritarianism, is known for his big pronouncements and ensuing spectacular failures. It’s what he and his legislative cronies have ticking under the hood that should have everyone on notice.

I came across one of Katie’s stories this morning, after seeing her note about where three more big companies are shuffling their business models, with two of them moving out of California completely.

I had read about the mozzerella company leaving after being in the state since, like, 1910 or something. Diamond was a surprise, as was Anheuser-Busch.

…Blue Diamond Growers, which is closing its Sacramento manufacturing plant, resulting in approximately 600 job losses, is moving up its 2026 departure. The company will transfer manufacturing operations from the 53-acre Sacramento site to facilities in Turlock and Salida, California.

Leprino Foods, the world’s largest mozzarella cheese maker, is closing its Central Valley dairy processing plant in Lemore, and moving to Lubbock, Texas. The company supplies cheese to Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Papa John’s. The closure will result in the loss of more than 300 jobs.

Anheuser-Busch is closing its Budweiser brewery in Fairfield, California.

Three more California businesses are leaving, all citing the high cost of doing business, and frustrations with expensive capital improvements to structures.

The Leprino plant, in Lemore since 1910, processes more than 1 billion pounds of mozzarella a year, according to Forbes.

They said the high operating costs in California were a driving force behind the decision.

They have already built and opened a “massive” new processing plant in Lubbock, TX, “in which the company has pledged to invest $1 billion over the next few years. The 850-000 square foot mozzarella plant is currently staffed with 300 full-time workers, with total employment expected to double next year.”

Blue Diamond, after 110 years in midtown Sacramento, announced that the Sacramento almond plant had fallen behind the times, and would be shut down sometime between late 2026 and mid-2027, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Anheuser-Busch announced they will sell their Newark, NJ facility and close the facilities in Fairfield, CA and Merrimack, NH in early 2026. A total of 238 employees will be impacted.

What does it say about high construction costs in California that Blue Diamond, Anheuser-Busch and Leprimo chose to close rather than renovate and/or rebuild.

Well, I’ve certainly catalogued enough posts about what Newsom’s done to the oil industry, and their feelings of being rudely dealt with match these sentiments pretty closely.

I’ve also written plenty about the cost the environmental madness has taken on industries like farming, not to mention the absolute intransigence on water issues.

But until I read Katie’s post, I did not know that Newsom and his toadies in Sacramento were going after farms as a means of reparations. That is what they are contemplating legislating is so blatantly an unconstitutional land grab that the Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, is now involved.

Grimes flat-out called it Marxism.

For a peek into how California Governor Gavin Newsom would rule the country if elected President, look no further than his California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force. This ambiguous agency was buried within the state budget in 2022 during Newsom’s statewide Covid lockdown, when media was not allowed near the governor or Legislature.

“Established in the California Budget Act of 2022 (AB 179, Ting), the California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force is an independent 13-member body directed to ‘submit a report (by Jan. 1, 2026) to the Legislature and Governor…that includes a set of policy recommendations on how to address the agricultural land equity crisis.’”

You read that right. Gavin Newsom created a task force to address “the agricultural land equity crisis.”

What agricultural land equity crisis?

The report the Equity Task Force recently released recommending a land grab from white farmers reads like a “How To” Marxism 101 manual at UC Berkeley.

One of their primary grievances is that “demographic trends in landownership differ greatly from those of agricultural labor in California;” i.e. not enough farm workers own the land on which they work.

By that logic, not enough teachers own the schools where they teach, or not enough dockworkers own the ships they load and unload.

This is their definition of agricultural land equity:

“Agricultural land equity is when all people have secure and affordable access to viable land for the care, relationship with, and cultivation of food, fiber, medicine, and cultural resources without systemic barriers, disparities, or exploitation.”

HOLY CRAP

A Michigan Farm News article ran down some of the pretty harrowing options outlined in the task force’s recommendations, which were later approved by the California legislature to expand farmland ownership among various minorities and tribes.

Their commentary begins with a scathing assessment of some of the strictures CA places on farms to begin with.

The “Golden State” — known as the epicenter for far-reaching and ill-informed initiatives, including the infamous Prop. 12 that banned gestation stalls and required cage-free housing for egg-producing chickens — appears poised to solidify that reputation, yet again.

Laying out and reading the goals is something else.

…Approved by legislators in the California Budget Act of 2022, the 13-member task force is proposing several steps to redistribute agricultural land to “socially disadvantaged farmers,” claiming “diversity” will result in ecological benefits, environmental protection, and climate resiliency.

The proposal recommends several actions that would apply exclusively to certain minorities through the support and incentivization of:

The development of local ordinances that would restrict the purchase of land unless you are a certain minority.

The purchase of private land by the state and other non-profits under the guise of agricultural land preservation and only offer leases to certain minority farmers after the purchase.

Exclusive leasing of existing state lands to certain minorities.

Exclusive funding for acquisition of agricultural land by certain minorities.

Exclusive tax credits to certain minorities for not only agricultural land but also infrastructure and student loans.

Transferring public land exclusively to tribes.

Transferring private land specifically to tribes, specifically to African Americans living in California, and exclusively to certain other minorities.

Debt forgiveness for only certain minorities.

The development of zoning laws that require “equitable” land access and specific climate-related agricultural practices.

The prioritization of conservation programs for certain minority farmers over other farmers.

It’s so un-American in principle and concept, you can’t believe it’s real. But it is, and it’s worse than that – it could easily become official state policy.

Secretary Rollins fired off an ‘Oh, no you don’t, pal‘ to Newsom as her warning shot, and she was pretty blunt. Although I’m not sure a baseball bat would work with that group, they are so besotted with themselves.

She called Newsom out first on using the racial issue as a divisive wedge against other hardworking Americans.

…The right to own private property and our nation’s agricultural heritage are an inseparable cornerstone of the American dream and ingrained in the very fabric of our nation. The pursuit of a noble lifestyle in agriculture should transcend the pernicious identity-based politics that only serves to drive division. President Donald J. Trump has made it clear that the United States will not tolerate illegal and unfair discrimination. All people should be treated equally and what California has proposed directly targets those who work from sunrise to well past sunset, faithfully tending our nation’s land and livestock. Hardworking farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers all deserve a shot at the American dream and they should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race, sex, ethnicity, or national origin

And then Secretary Rollins pulled out the Constitutional guns, including California’s, for a lesson Newsom seems to have forgotten. She spent several detailed paragraphs educating the governor exactly where his reparations scheme violates each amendment.

Violations of the United States Constitution

Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause

The “core purpose” of the Equal Protection Clause is the “do[ing] away with all governmentally imposed discrimination based on race.” Palmore v. Sidoti, 466 U.S. 429, 432 (1984). Yet governmental discrimination on the basis of race is precisely what California’s Report proposes to do. The Report recommends diverting public resources and constraining the use of private lands to aid “Preferred Producers and Land Stewards” which explicitly includes only certain non-white racial groups. The Report’s recommendations envision using the coercive power of the state, as well as providing state benefits, in a manner that gives preferential treatment based on race or ethnicity. If implemented, such a set of policies would be subject to strict scrutiny- the highest judicial review standard- under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. To survive a legal challenge, California must prove that its actions serve a compelling governmental interest and is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.

Race-based classifications are inherently suspect and have been consistently invalidated by courts. E.g. Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Han,ard, 600 U.S. 181 (2023); Adarand Constructors, Inc. 1s Pena, 515 U.S. 200 (1995); Strickland v. United States Dep i ofAgric., 736 F.Supp.3d 469 (N.D. Tex. 2024) … Further, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that a government entity cannot implement race-conscious policies to remedy general societal discrimination. See e.g., Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., supra; City ofRichmond v. J.A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469 ( 1989)….

…Fifth Amendment Takings Clause T

he Report recommends the redistribution of agricultural land in ways that violate the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause. The Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause requires ‘)ust compensation” for private property taken for “public use.” The Report recommends that California adopt laws or regulations prohibiting “parties”- presumably agricultural landowners- from using their land for non-agricultural purposes unless they restrict the use of their land to agricultural over non-agricultural uses in a 2: 1 ratio. This limitation on private land use constitutes an unconstitutional taking without just compensation for California’s “Equity” purposes. Similarly, California’s contemplated restrictions on land lease tenns and rents unconstitutionally take private property interests to benefit only certain others for racially discriminatory “Equity.”

V…iolation of the California Constitution

Proposition 209

Approved by California’s voters in 1996, Proposition 209 amended the California Constitution to prohibit the state from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. The Report’s recommendation that California directly or through intermediaries execute agreements transferring land, restricting land use, and providing financial assistance on behalf of only certain individuals or groups based on race, ethnicity or national origin directly violates California’s Constitution, as amended by its voter-backed Proposition 209.

In her closing, after reading Newsom chapter and verse on the constitutional infringements one more time for good measure, the secretary doesn’t request; she demands that Newsom and the legislature abandon any attempt to implement the recommendations in the report.

The ‘OR ELSE‘ is pretty plain.

I love the cut of her jib.

Katie Grimes sees all sorts of ghastly outcomes if the state goes forward with this. Obviously, the first is that more precious, dwindling farmland is lost. She points out that for all the progressive pablum about the ‘traditional stewards of the land, ‘ California’s tribes aren’t farmers – they own casinos.

…Here is another sample of “agricultural land equity:”

“Advancing agricultural land equity requires changing policies, practices, systems, and structures to address concentrated market forces and ownership of natural resources to achieve meaningful improvements in the lives of producers and land stewards who have been historically and systematically excluded from secure land tenure.”

The report is riddled with complaints of “Historical injustices” and “contemporary disparities,” “atrocities,” “extreme disparities,” “inequities,” and exploitation of “Indigenous communities,” “displacement” and “unequal distribution of land.”

You see where this is going… it’s the DEI of California’s agriculture industry, which Democrats haven’t been entirely successful in destroying…yet. This comprehensive business plan requires more illegal reparations in the form of hostile land “takings” seizures, this time for “indigenous” tribes and farm workers.

Gov. Newsom also created the California Truth & Healing Council, by Executive Order N-15-19, which is under the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs, to assist with this scheme.

Imagine 500 more Indian casinos on former food-producing agricultural land… because that is where the Tribe’s leaders make the most money – not on tilling the soil. Adding to the tribal leaders bottom line, Tribal land no longer pays property taxes, so California taxpayers will be on the hook to make up for the tax losses.

This horrifying sort of progressive, Marxist language, if it is codified, is absolutely dystopian.

…As for accountability of this California land takeover? None. It’s the fox guarding the henhouse.

“Effective progress toward agricultural land equity requires a nuanced and community-centered understanding of how various forms of prejudice intersect to produce specific barriers to land access, while also shaping the relative impact of potential solutions across socioeconomic, geographic, and historical contexts.

Rather than a singular checklist of required components, progress toward agricultural land equity must be designed and led by individuals and communities that land equity is intended to serve.”

The clock is ticking on their little scheme. Everything has to be back to the legislature by 1 January.

…Currently, the Task Force is reviewing a draft report that is due back to the legislature by January 1, 2026. For a link back to Secretary Rollins’ letter as well as the draft report as made available by the USDA, visit https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/12/11/secretary-rollins-sends-letter-challenging-californias-proposed-redistribution-ag-land

Grimes wants everyone to share the word who can because Newsom still has Oval Office stars in his eyes.

…We Californians may have a soulless monster for a governor, but the Trump administration is running interference for the 40 million people who live here, as well as for the rest of the 302,034,432 Americans.

Share this article with as many people as you can to expose the deep, dangerous corruption of Governor Newsom.

If he can dream up this scheme to harm California, imagine what he would do to the rest of the country.

The fact that this is in farm newsletters across the country shows that the agricultural community is taking the threat seriously, as well.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ – DEI and Reparations Agriculture Land Seizure Scheme | Katy Grimes, California Globe

For a peek into how California Governor Gavin Newsom would rule the country if elected President, look no further than his California Agricultural Land… pic.twitter.com/lWIQQCTx0S

— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) December 23, 2025