It is hereby declared that the marketing of commodities in this state in excess of reasonable and normal market demands therefor; disorderly marketing of such commodities; improper preparation for market and lack of uniform grading and classification of commodities; unfair methods of competition in the marketing of commodities; and the inability of individual producers to maintain present markets or to develop new or larger markets for California-grown commodities, results in an unreasonable and unnecessary economic waste of the agricultural wealth of this state.
Such conditions and the accompanying waste jeopardize the future continued production of adequate supplies of food, fiber, and other products of the farm and of the soil for the people of this and other states, and prevent producers from obtaining a fair return from their labor, their farms, and the commodities which they produce.
As a consequence, the purchasing power of such producers has been in the past, and may continue to be in the future, unless such conditions are remedied, low in relation to that of persons engaged in other gainful occupations within the state. Producers are thereby prevented from maintaining a proper standard of living and from contributing their fair share to the support of the necessary governmental and educational functions, thus tending to increase unfairly the tax burdens of other citizens of this state.
(Enacted by Stats. 1967, Ch. 15.)