Recommendation to request City Manager to explore the feasibility of implementing the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones Program, and report back to City Council in 60 days.
Communication from Councilmember Richardson, Councilwoman Gonzalez, Vice Mayor Lowenthal and Council Member Oranga recommendation to request the City Manager to explore the feasibility of implementing the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones Program and report back to the City Council in 60 days. Councilmember Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm happy tonight to be requesting this feasibility report in partnership with residents, community organizations in Long Beach Fresh. And I know there's a number of people who have remained and hung out with us tonight for this agenda item. So thank you so much for your patience. In 2013, California passed the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones Act. This bill allows cities and counties to give tax breaks to property owners that allow their vacant properties of less than three acres to be used as community gardens or urban farms with a five year commitment. And just last month, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to implement the program countywide, which allows cities to opt in as well. Urban agriculture provides many benefits to not only those growing food, but those, but also to those cities in which it happens. These include education about fresh, healthy foods and the effort that it takes to produce it more vibrant green spaces. There's an ecological benefit for our city. Green gardens and farms help build community. There's also a potential source of modest economic development here in Long Beach. We've adopted a number of policies and legislation that support urban agriculture, agriculture and healthy eating. In October of 2014, we adopted the Healthy, Healthy, Healthy Communities policy, and one of its objectives under the Healthy Food Access goal is to encourage the use of temporary, vacant and open space for urban agriculture. In addition, last year, the City Council voted to improve and ease in the rules governing chickens, goats and bees at residents homes. We are a city that values health, sustainability, community and a strong urban agriculture incentive zone program would help support those values as well. This program would allow us to lessen blight and some of our vacant lots in our neighborhoods. And it would also give small scale farms and community gardens a better chance to thrive and would in turn benefit our communities. So I know that we've we have the existence of willing community partners to help implement this policy successfully. And I feel that it would be a benefit to our residents. So I look forward to the finding of this report, which essentially asks for exploring, exploring the feasibility and what all needs to go into implementing a policy and encourage. I encourage support from my colleagues. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Gonzalez. Yes. I want to thank Councilmember Richardson and also primarily Vice Mayor Lowenthal. I know she's stuck with this for a long time in urban agriculture. And we finally got something passed last year. And so I want to thank her for all her leadership in this and especially the community members here. Long Beach, Organic and the lots on seventh and chestnut and eighth and Chestnut. I think I've eaten out of both lots over the few years. It's been incredible to watch these areas flourish in places that people would normally not think of putting a lot and especially putting something that you can grow organic, locally grown food from local residents here. So it's I thank you very much for sticking with this. And I think it's a great step in the right direction for the city of Long Beach as we've this is the trajectory that we've we've been on. And just to look at a report would be great. I'm looking forward to that. And I have a couple questions for city staff. Right, Larry. We'll have Larry Rich, the manager of our Sustainability Bureau. Answer any of those questions. Thank you. Just a couple of questions. Do we know how many empty private lots exist currently in our city? Council Member. Mayor and members of the City Council. We don't have a recent count in anticipation of this item. We've started working on that. So within the 60 day time period, we'll be able to report back on that. Okay. Because I also see with this, I mean, that, of course, sustainability and urban agriculture, but also just the maintenance of the lots, because I know a lot of the lots that we have are just not maintained by property owners. And it'd be great to be able to to look into that, which is kind of a larger discussion, but. Okay. And and if we I know we I've worked with Long Beach Organic, I think, in the past and connecting them with property owners. But that's just been, you know, kind of sidebar situations. But what do we do when there's. Locations that might be foreclosed or when we have to take a little bit more time in finding who the owner is to be able to even let them know that there's this incentive program. We certainly have a mechanism in place through at least code enforcement to contact property owners. And certainly when there are maintenance issues on properties, code enforcement takes the lead there so we can tap into those avenues to identify and contact property owners. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate this. And I also ask our council colleagues to support. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Ringa. Thank you. I, too, am looking forward to work, especially when it deals with my area in the West Long Beach. I always describe West Palm Beach as an island where there's only four access points into it and it's virtually a food desert when it comes to the West Palm Beach area. So I hope that we're able to at least address some of those alternatives for West Palm Beach as well as, of course, other areas, obviously. I mean, that's my my district there. I would have a self in in hoping that we are able to address some issues in the West Palm Beach area. So I do look forward to seeing the report and also ask for my colleagues endorsement in support of this item. Thanks, Marie Lowenthal. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to thank the authors for bringing this forward and also for allowing us to keep progressing in this area. And as Councilmember Gonzales said, it's something that I've been working with the community for quite some time, and I want to thank them for their patience. Nothing that unfortunately it did take quite a while, but I'm very happy with where we are right now. I'm glad to have this item come forward. I know there's a desire in our community for community gardens and EB 511 would help with that, as it suggests. And we all know the community gardens offer many things. Councilman Gonzalez shared that better access to fresh foods. I like the terminology food, desert. I don't like having that terminology, but I think it's it's quite descriptive of what some of our areas can feel like. And so access to fresh foods and plants and beautification and positive environmental impacts and a sense of connection and contribution. I think a lot of times we don't highlight the social connectivity that ends up happening when someone even when someone converts their personal front yard into a edible garden and invites people to at least gather and have a conversation, and if, if and at times gather and collect things from the garden. So I'm a resident. We're all residents here. I think we enjoy, enjoy. Items like this when we're able to help our community and our residents not only beautify our landscape, but to contribute in some way to wellbeing and health and community well-being and health. And farm to table is something that. We had a very long time ago as a way of life before it became kind of posh from a local restaurant standpoint. And so I appreciate going back to that and look forward to seeing where a possible urban agricultural incentive zones program can take us. And I want to thank Mr. Rich, Larry Rich, for his commitment to the issue. I know he's been very patient and diligent as well. Thank you. Controversy or not. Thank you. I, too, would like to commend the residents for their patience and stamina and to the vice mayor. She's very modest in saying while she's worked on this, I think Larry Rich is very good with numbers. I've only been on council for a year, but I served for seven years on the Sustainable City Commission. Mr. Rich, did that come up our first year of existence, maybe 2008, that this first came to our commission, something like that. Yes. In respect to the chickens, goats and bees aspect of urban agriculture. But of course, the urban agriculture incentive zones was more recent at the sea level. Right. Same topic, just a little different nuance. So thank you, Mr. Rich. Two for your stamina. Thank you. And can I get any public comment on this right now? Please. Please come forward. Good evening, mayors, city council members community. My name is Karen Reside and I live at seventh and Pacific at the Park Pacific Tower Senior Building. And I am one of the recipients and gardeners in the community garden on Pacific Avenue in sixth. And I commend you all for advancing the mission of urban gardening for the seniors. I can tell you we have a number of people that have plots in that garden, and those plots are heavily in demand and they're accessible because they're very close to our building for those that have limited, limited mobility. I think our oldest gardener is 85 years old and she's the one that has the amazing papaya tree. And I can tell you, I haven't had to purchase lettuce in two years. And I share my produce with a number of residents in the building that don't have mobility. It makes a big difference when you're a low income senior. We heard some testimony and people in our building are living on $300 a month. So any little incentive can make a great difference in their health and well-being. And one thing that nobody mentioned was the produce this organic. And Joe Corso does a wonderful job in managing the gardens for Long Beach Garden, which makes a difference for some people with their health, health issues and the food that comes from an organic garden and natural eggs. There is no comparison to the taste in the produce which encourages more eating of healthier food. So thank you all for your commitment to this and know that it is making a great impact on the community. And Larry Rich and Suja Lowenthal, thank you for your efforts to make this happen in our community. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, and esteemed members of the City Council. My name is Sasha Cano, and I am a homeowner in the sixth District and operate farm 59 in the seventh District. I'm here in support of the proposal to conduct a report showing the feasibility impact of AB 551, the urban ag incentive. I started a front yard produce exchange in 2008 shortly after purchasing our home. It quickly outgrew my porch and landed at the Wrigley Association meetings. The Wrigley Garden was hatched from this and eventually led me to start farm Lot 59. We need urban agriculture. For me, it's essential. We are in our fifth growing season at the farm and in that time we've produced over £50,000 of organic produce. Unhappy N.A. on what was an illegal dump. We have taught over 150 students in our outdoor classroom in 2015 alone. We have paid staff that are making a livable wage in the city and are able to farm for a living. We are hardworking and we connect people to where their food comes from. We've built the trend for Long Beach restaurants to be able to purchase truly local produce and use the ingredients in their kitchens. And I believe our culinary scene is thankful for our efforts. The demand is growing and we need more farms to keep up. And I support the next group of farms and farmers and will assist in their success. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. An honorable mayor and city council. I'm Joe Corso. I also live in the sixth District. I'm the garden director for Long Beach Organic, Inc. We're a nonprofit group, and we managed nine community gardens in the city. But of those nine, four of them are on private property. And so tonight, I just wanted to share our successes, the positive experiences we've had developing agricultural products, projects on empty, privately owned lots. For instance, in the Wrigley area, we have a private lot on Pacific Avenue, which was once a haven for drug dealers. Has been a garden now for 20 to 20 families for seven years. In North Long Beach, we turned an idle industrial quarter acre on South Street into a garden with room for 30 households to participate. Also, chickens, bees. It's a wonderful spot. Also in North Long Beach, the owners of a large property with horse stables have turned over what was once their front lawn for a garden that is used by adult educational groups, a church sponsored kids group and volunteers who grow food for charity. And we also get free horse manure. Finally just up the street on Chestnut at Chestnut Avenue, we have it's a tiny corner lot. It's become a charming neighborhood garden with 22 smaller plots. And so this is it. These gardens are a win, win win situation. First, it's a win for our members who have a place in the neighborhood to grow healthy food for their tables. And it's also a win for the community. When an empty lot is transformed from a local eyesore into a verdant garden, it becomes a neighborhood focal point. And whether neighbors are directly involved or not, they enjoy seeing things grow. Where once there was an empty lot. And finally, it's a win for the property owner because many folks have vacant properties that for one reason or another, they're not ready to sell or they're not ready to build on. And owning such property can be a real headache. So trash, sofas, vagrancy, drugs, these are all the things that empty lots of tract. When we turn such a property into a community garden, that headache is relieved. Even though we lease these properties for only $1 a year, the owner no longer has the worry and expense of maintaining the property. Still, it's a rare property owner who's willing to turn their land over to gardeners and farmers. We've contacted dozens over the years and gotten only after a tax incentive could be the deciding factor for someone considering such a use for their land. And that could lead to more winning projects in the city. Thank you. Thank you. Counsel I'm sorry. Speaker I saw you cued up. I'm sorry about that, please. Thank you. Good evening, honorable mayor, esteemed council. My name is Demetrius Zeigler. I'm a resident of the eighth District and I am with my partner, Kelly Johnson, the co-owner of a local small farm in town called Long Beach Farms. And we're a little bit newer in town. We've been in operation about a year and a half, and we owe a ton of debt of gratitude to the folks that will speak after me and some of the folks that have come before me. But I will say that I feel like I represent with Kelly Johnson the kind of the new face of urban agriculture. We are both passionately committed. To the principles. Of sustainability, of feeding our community and addressing a lot of the health, environmental and, let's say, social concerns that urban agriculture can can benefit. I thought I might just share a couple of quick anecdotes about my business and what I see with this movement. Long Beach has been slowly progressing along this tract of promoting urban ag in our city, and I think that this city really could become a progressive leader in the entire region as we continue down this path. So I urge you to keep keep discussing and keep pushing this forward quickly. We've been in business about a year and a half. I have a decentralized approach to farming, which means we don't have a big plot of land on which we can have the typical road crops and farm animals as such. So I have in effect in North Long Beach, about six or seven smaller parcels that we've aggregated to grow food for the people that invest with us and help us grow. The biggest hurdle to our growth has been the availability of land so far. That will continue to be a hurdle for us and other urban farmers that come into this city. But 8551 in other measures that you're considering will help promote or help promote a connection between the farmer and the land. And I think this is something that should be carefully studied. The other quick anecdote that I would anecdote I'd like to share is I have a single dad. I have a six year old who couldn't quite make it through the earlier consent items. But she's taken to field trips so far this year as a kindergarten kindergartner at Kettering Elementary. The first was to Tanaka Farms down in Orange County, where they spent a farm day. The second was to the other strawberry farm down in Orange County, where they spent a day harvesting strawberries. That should happen in Long Beach. Our children and our students should be able to drive down the street or be bused down the street here in our community to learn these great things and and provide a farm based learning opportunity for those kids. So among other things, these are these are positive benefits that may be five, five, one, and this discussion can promote. So thank you and I. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Thank you, honorable. Mayor and esteemed Council. My name is Michelle Engleman Burns. I am a happy resident of the. Ninth district and. Really appreciate so much. I follow recs and participatory budgeting and all of our good stuff that's happening up there. We moved here three years ago. We bought a house in North Long Beach. Moved from Houston, Texas. And I can tell you that I love the city. I love the city in mayor. I'm just amazed at the things that, you know, the engine that's happening. I'm really proud of the city. We love that you love the city. I really am. I'm kind of a cheerleader. So we moved here to be grandparents. Our children started having children. And that's you know, we were fortunate. Enough to be able to do that. So the thing that I need to say to you is I just appreciate the fact that this is something that has taken a. While because this is something that was natural for me in Houston and this is what we did in the community. I can't tell you how much it pulls together the community and from the social. Aspect, but also from the, you know, the elder residents. And there's just so much that it does for the city. And I really just want. To tell you from my. Heart how much. I appreciate all of you and. What you do for our city, but specifically for this particular. Ordinance. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Please. Hello? Yeah, my name is Ryan Serrano. I live in the first District 81 Chestnut Avenue. I was the founder of an organization called Food Scape Long Beach. And I own a business called Earth Steward Ecology. I work as an ecological consultant and landscape developer. I specialize in California native habitat and food production systems. I wanted to kind of come from the place of not maybe rationalizing the economic reasons for for supporting this kind of development, even though I think it's really clear when you look at that part of it. I want to maybe just come from the place of being a person that looks at an empty space. And I don't speculate how large of a structure can be built there or how much money, how much financial energy can be mined from that space, but rather what living finance capital, what living capital, what spiritual capital and social capital can be yielded from that space for future generations and what can be regenerated over time to be something more meaningful and more more real than than all of this infrastructure, which is, you know, decaying as we speak and has to be rebuilt and and is expensive and, you know, all those things. I think that anything that supports urban agriculture is also supporting future generations. I feel like it's it's. Especially clear that it's needed as we transition both economically and in terms of fossil resources that are left in the world, that we need to be producing more of our food rather than importing it from the Central Valley or where have you, where it lacks, among other things, nutrition, nutritional density. It lacks integrity as far as being unadulterated by chemicals that are not foods. And and it also separates people from understanding and having a sense of literacy about what they're eating. Young people grow up in the world eating animals and plants that they couldn't identify if they saw them in real life. And that's a reality in the city. And it's it's a shame that people here are inept to that. And I think it's important that people have access to opportunities to grow food. I think it's an inalienable human right. I think access to food on its own should be considered an inalienable human right along with water, along with shelter, along with all those good things. And I think that. Beyond all of that, people should have access to meaningful vocations that feed their identity more than deplete it like a lot of city life entails. I think that the work that and and the economic and food energy that can come out of supporting this kind of development. On a policy level is important for the future. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening, Mayor Garcia, Vice Mayor Lowenthal and members of City Council. My name is Tony D'Amico. I'm a resident of the third district. I am the co-director of Long Beach Fresh. We're the local Food Policy Council. I'm also an executive committee member of the Long Beach Alliance for Food and Fitness and a participant in the Building Healthy Communities Initiative and the Kaiser Heal Zone in District nine. So I owe a lot of thanks to Councilmember Richardson for being eager to pounce on this opportunity to move urban agriculture forward and huge thanks to council members around Gonzales and Lowenthal for signing on. So with the projects I work with, I think together those four projects have convened many residents, institutional stakeholders and dozens of local food systems leaders to identify policy priorities toward public health. And 8551 is one of them. So tonight, I support tonight's proposal for a study. I got involved in urban agriculture, growing some vegetables in a shared space as a renter in 2010, while learning about permaculture and food justice from local advocates like Ryan, who you just heard from. And it was amazing to me to learn how much the urban environment, again, as Ryan was saying, has separated us from real food, from nature and from one another. Even more interesting to me was the discovery that our city's diverse communities have a rich history of growing their own food for themselves, for their communities, and as a way to make ends meet. I've since come to believe that in order to be food secure and sustainable as a city, we need to protect the right to grow and also create more opportunities both for community gardens and urban farms. While we do have a community garden policy as a city to establish community gardens in parks over five acres, that policy has been slow to actually be utilized. And I think it's because there are a lot of barriers to growing on public land. So I think that this proposal actually opens up more possibilities for private spaces as well, and that both policies together could really help us quite a bit. And in my experience, like right now, I live near there's a very a junction community garden which is one of our largest and of course has a long waiting list. And other community gardens that are near me also are full. So while we have at least 14 community gardens in Long Beach, there's still very high demand and there's also only four small urban farms. We could certainly benefit from more opportunities to buy local produce for those who don't necessarily have the interest or the time and resources to garden themselves. So as our city continues to focus on development through high tech innovation, density and mobility, let's be sure to create space and incentives for healthy food production, create opportunities to restore our soil, and in turn, empower residents to take control of their health. Thank you very much. Thank you. Excellent. Next speaker, please. Good evening, everyone. My name is Rodney. Laura Sam. I was very excited when I saw the item agenda today and I'm very proud of my city. I started in this community as a homeless ten year old kid in the sixth District. I had PTSD trauma. I had nightmares of my mother was being too near death and suffering from the PTSD, from the genocide of the Khmer Rouge. I was too young, too poor to uneducated to ask the right questions to get the right help. So I never had any traditional help for my psychology things that I needed. But I did discover urban gardening as a form of healing. So living in crowded apartments, even though my neighbors would grow vegetables in containers, it helped me in so many ways. And I use urban gardening as a form of healing that I graduate from poly high school with a 4.0 GPA. I went to UC Riverside and graduate with a bachelor's degrees in biochemistry. And this is the first time I'm speaking at my voice. So I'm speaking from a standpoint of voice of a property owner in the fourth district and sixth district. A business owner in a fourth district. A resident in the third District and the sixth District and a founder and a director of a nonprofit called the May Center. May is an acronym. It uses meditation, urban agriculture, yoga and education to help people with trauma promote their own self healing and live a fulfilling life. And I want to congratulate my city because it has done an amazing job. I want to thank Congress or Council member Allen Austin for electing the ME Center as the champion winner, using gardening as a form of healing. We did a documentary, over 50,000 views on Facebook viewed in France, Canada, Cambodia and the states. The main center has been a site studied by Harvard Program in refugee trauma. UCI. UCLA. Cal State. Long Beach. Cal State. Dominguez Hills. And currently. We are working with survivors. For them to use gardening to heal themselves. And not only that, but earn an income. The Long Beach Community Foundation and the City of Long Beach is currently working on a $10 million grant, put the first farmers market in central Long Beach, and the survivors were able to sell their produce at the first farmers market. I see that the vacant lot is a community health issue. Thank you. Good to wrap it up. Good time's up. But please continue. Please wrap it up. Thank you. Thank you. It is a neglect of this community, of the city and by the community and by the city by supporting. Thank you, sir. I'm so sorry time that I have to keep 3 minutes to every speaker, so. Thank you for supporting this. You were giving your community a chance to transform blighted lots into healing lots. Thank you. Thank you so much. Wonderful story. I have a couple more council speakers. I just want a couple comments. Well, first, I want to thank all the the farmers and the advocates that came out. I think you guys have been so active in this movement, been leading the movement. It's amazing to see how we've grown in the urban farming movement and just the farming movement and the healthy food community that's that's developed in Long Beach. It's always been here, but it's it's I feel it's more vocal and more visible than it's ever been, which is which is really great. And you see it from a lot of the organizations, a lot of the represented here tonight. I just want to make sure, Mr. West, as we move forward, I know it's pretty clear, looking at the agenda item tonight, looking at the urban agriculture ordinance that was passed that Vice Mayor Lowenthal and others brought forward in the past , that the council as a as a body is very committed to urban farming and urban ag. I mean, there's no question. And so I think as we move forward and we look for other opportunities and we talk and we look at at Park Development and the L.A. River Restoration and the Drake Chavez connection and all these other open space Terminal Island Freeway possible decommissioning. When we look at all of those possibilities, let's make sure that we're always considering and advocating for the urban agriculture community. And they were advocating for this. It's really developing in a lot of progressive cities, and I'm really hopeful that we kind of take that to heart, because I think you've heard loud and clear from the council that everyone is supportive and interested in this. And so I think it's important for us with our new Parks and Recreation director on board, that this be a part of our park planning in the future as well as as we move forward. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Councilman Mongeau. I am very fortunate to have had a increase in allergies that brought me to the farming community. I learned a lot about local honey and then now I'm a community gardener. And as a young person whose grandparents are from the Midwest, I was raised on meat and potatoes and really the only vegetables I knew were corn and peas. And so as an adult and had the great opportunity to try new vegetables and now grow vegetables and learn about the different strains and the recessive tomatoes. And I'm looking forward to an exciting season. And I really hope that people who are watching at home consider looking into a community garden nearby, because while there are a shortage of community gardens, I know that many of them continue to pop up as our population gets older and they start consolidating farmers onto single plots because one garden can harvest for multiple families. It's been remarkable. So thank you for all you do. Thank you for continuing to share the good news of bee rescue, because we are we do have a bee shortage. And every time people post online, I see many of you posting back, no, don't call an exterminator, please call the beekeepers. So thank you for all that you do in keeping it possible to have urban AG. Thank you. Councilmember Austin Thank you very much. I just want to applaud the the advocates for being here and I want to thank Councilmember Richardson for bringing us this very this feel good item to the council this evening. It makes us feel good to to be progressive and to to move in advance and to be creative with with policy . And, you know, it's no secret it took me a little while to get there. I mean, I wasn't there all along, but I have had the great privilege of having the growing experience in my district and spending a lot of time volunteering there and supporting the efforts of that seven acre urban farm. I want to challenge each and every one of my colleagues to come out there and volunteer a couple of hours of the growing experience as well, because it's a great, great opportunity and it will really, really be an enriching process for for each and every one of you. I want to thank Demetrius and Kelly Johnson specifically for her constant advocacy. I mean, she's been a leader in the farming community, the urban farming community for for many years and is a dear friend of mine. We can't lose sight of the fact that Long Beach is an urban city. And with that. We need to balance our opportunities, opportunities with economic development, opportunities with housing and building sustainability. And so I am going to be happily supporting this item because I think this is this is forward thinking and I want to offer my support to the farming community to encourage private property owners. As a partner of yours moving forward, particularly if with any properties in my district that you identify. You can count on my support. So thank you very much. Thank you, Vice Mayor Lowenthal. Thank you. At the risk of admitting how much I think of urban agriculture, I want to share, at least with my council colleagues, that there is a 2007 film, British film called Grow Your Own, and it's incredible. It talks about the social connectivity and well-being that's created when communities come together. And if you haven't seen it, I do recommend it, although we're not here to give movie reviews, but it's it highlights things that we don't think about. We as I said earlier, we talk about the food, we talk about affordability. And and that is all very, very, very good in terms of our objectives. We talk about teaching our children, and I'm glad we got that one to bed, teaching our children about the origin of their food. But the things that we don't often talk about are hard to place. And our young speaker that came to us and shared that she was homeless at age ten and had been able to heal. You just reminded me that there is that healing power of tending to a piece of the earth that you can call your own. And then there's a book called The Earth Knows Your Name. So all these good things. But I do want to share with you that that that is a fascinating film. And if we really want to be proud of what we're doing, I think what we can do is see our community down the road really heal in ways that we wouldn't have been able to have been a part of otherwise. They're quiet, but magical ways. Thank you. Thank you. And Councilman Andrew. Yes, thank you very much. I just want to, you know, apply to Councilman Richardson and the other council individuals who brought this to the diocese, because the fact that I know that, you know, we talk about the salt of the earth, what he does for an individual. And I think the young lady who gave us, you know, I mean, just a such a saddening story, but what came out of it was just such a, you know, enjoyment of healing. And I just I'm sure that you'll notice that we are going to do the night market. And I sure hope that you'll really spirit a lot of that, because this is going to happen off a lot of people. And I want to thank you again for being so instrumental in a lot of things we were talking about and over agriculture. Thank you again very much. Thank you. Okay. With that, we have a motion in a second. Members, please go ahead and cast your vote. Motion carries. Great. Thank you. And moving on to item number five, make a brief.