photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
Representative Mike Thompson (top) and Yes on J supporters (bottom)
spoke at and outside, respectively, the No on Measure J campaign
kickoff event at SOMO Village in Rohnert Park on August 15,.

Elected officials, farmers, agricultural community leaders, and several other local opponents of Measure J gathered at SOMO Village in Rohnert Park on August 15 to kick off the campaign against the local ballot initiative.

Starting the cascade of opposed politicians at the No on J campaign kickoff: Representative Mike Thompson.

"This initiative is bad," Thompson said. "We need to make sure that we not only defeat it, but we need to put a proverbial stake in its heart so it doesn't come back again."

"This is critically important," Thompson said.

The 4th Congressional District representative is just one of many elected leaders, from the local to the state and national level, who stand in firm opposition to Measure J.

The Sonoma County-wide ballot initiative, if passed in November, would outlaw large CAFO’s - concentrated animal feeding operations, frequently dubbed “factory farms," in Sonoma County.

The range of political and community organizations opposing Measure J spans from Sonoma County Conservation Action, to the Local Teamsters union, to the Sonoma County GOP.

The Yes on J campaign has its own set of dedicated activists and campaigners, like Santa Rosa’s Kristina Garfinkel.

"So there are many small farms in our county...and Measure J would impact the 21 most destructive, largest farms," Garfinkel said. "So the impact as far as the number of farms is pretty small."

But major opponents to Measure J, like Sonoma County's Farm Bureau chief Dayna Ghirardelli, said the measure puts animal farm and dairy operations that are at the heart of local food supplies in jeopardy.

"Measure J will drive multi-generational family farms out of the business," Ghirardelli said. "Nearly 50% of California's organic milk is produced right here in Sonoma County."

Sonoma County's Board of Supervisors declared official opposition to Measure J in May.