For years farmers have argued, whimpered, whined and complained about the dog piling of regulations. We just want to farm, but we keep getting new rules and regs every year and every time we turn around. And, now we have new friends just in the last month.

There was an article in the Fresno Bee about local governments complaining about new regs from Sacramento. (I know, kind of ironic, isn’t it?) The electric vehicle mandate will be difficult for local governments due to the specialty equipment they employ, such as snow plows.

A pastor friend wrote recently how the tide of regulations is making it difficult for immigrants to start their own businesses.

The gubernatorial candidates — let me restate this — the Democratic candidates for governor decried the amount of regulations that have come out of Sacramento in recent years when they were at Fresno State in April

A recent speaker for the Fresno State criminology department said that there are over 44,000 laws that restrict former inmates in their reentry to society. That is not a typo — 44,000 laws!

And, I have written in the past of our poor pot growing neighbors. These guys are growing a crop in high demand and they are having a hard time making ends meet because of the regulatory burden.

If you look beyond the fireworks of the daily headlines you can see that President Trump has been accomplishing some important things. In 2024, the last year of the Biden Administration, the Federal Register of rules and regulations stood at 106,109 pages. Yes, you read that right. As of 2025, the first year of Trump’s second term, the Federal Register is down to 60,917 pages. That is the lowest since 1992. It is a start.

And maybe now, since we have friends in local government, ministry, gubernatorial candidates and criminology, we can drive those numbers even lower.

No one is suggesting we eliminate regulations. Since the administration of Andrew Jackson in the 1830s, we have accepted the role of the federal government in regulation. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. eloquently expressed the need in his book “The Age of Jackson” when he wrote, “government, had to step in to prevent the business community from tearing society apart in its pursuit of profit.”

Ouch.

As farmers, we are business people and it hurts to hear that. But, then again, I have met business people with that attitude.

On the other hand, Phillip Howard in his book “The Death of Common Sense” chronicled some of the dumb things government has done, including running Mother Teresa out of New York City because she would not pay to service elevators that would never be used.

That being said, the recent level of regulation is ridiculous. Our candidates for government can see it. President Trump has got the ball rolling in the right direction. And now I am encouraged. After decades of crying in the regulatory wilderness, we have new friends. Now maybe we can get some help on this foolishness.

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Farmer, writer and educator, Paul Betancourt is a lecturer at Fresno State and written books on Swiss political history and environmental policy.