Justin Fareed will be a voice for small business in Washington

I’m a small-business owner in the local agriculture community, and these past few years have been some of the hardest faced by farmers and ranchers on the Central Coast.

Not only are we being hit hard by the drought and environmental issues, we are being hit hard by our own government. There isn’t a day that goes by that a new tax or penalty on the agriculture community isn’t being considered or passed.

People who know nothing about what it takes to maintain crops are dictating our fate, and the only thing they’ve accomplished is greater inefficiency and excess regulations. This hurts small, local farmers the most because they do not have the resources to keep up with these bureaucratic burdens.

I’m supporting Justin Fareed for Congress because, as a rancher and small businessman, he understands what it’s like to try to survive in a hostile market driven by federal overreach. After meeting and talking with him at my farm, I am confident in his abilities to reign in regulations.

And unlike his opponent, he fully understands the complex issues facing our agriculture community. Justin Fareed will be something we desperately need: a voice for us in Washington.

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Justin Fareed will be a voice for small business in Washington."