(a) Grapes produced in California for fresh human consumption comprise one of the major agricultural crops of California, and the production and marketing of such grapes affects the economy, welfare, standard of living and health of a large number of citizens residing in this state.
(b) Increased plantings of vineyards and improved cultural practices for the production of California grapes for fresh human consumption have increased and will continue to increase the production thereof and unless the fresh human comsumption of California grapes is increased by the expansion of existing markets and the development of new markets, the interests of the fresh grape industry of California, and the public interest of the people of this state, will be adversely affected.
(c) The inability of individual producers to maintain or expand present markets or to develop new or larger markets for such grapes results in an unreasonable and unnecessary economic waste of the agricultural wealth of this state.
(d) Such conditions and the accompanying waste jeopardize the future continued production of adequate supplies of fresh grapes for human consumption for the people of this and other states, and prevent producers from obtaining a fair return for their labor, their farms and their production. 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 other people engaged in other gainful occupations within the state, and they are thereby prevented from maintaining a proper standard of living and from contributing their fair share to the support of the necessary governmental and education functions, thus tending to increase unfairly the tax burden of other citizens of the state.
(e) These conditions vitally concern the health, peace, safety and general welfare of the people of this state. It is therefore necessary and expedient in the public interest to protect and enhance the reputation of California fresh grapes for human consumption in intrastate, interstate and foreign markets, and to otherwise act so to eliminate unreasonable and unnecessary economic waste of the agricultural wealth of this state.
(f) The promotion of the sale of fresh grapes for human consumption by means of advertising, dissemination of information on the manner and means of production, and the care and effort required in the production of such grapes, the methods and care required in preparing and transporting such grapes to market, and the handling of the same in consuming markets, reseach respecting the health, food and dietetic value of California fresh grapes and the production, handling, transportation and marketing thereof, the dissemination of information respecting the results of such research, instruction of the wholesale and retail trade with respect to handling thereof, and the education and instruction of the general public with reference to the various varieties of California fresh grapes for human consumption, the time to use and consume each variety and the uses to which each variety should be put, the dietetic and health value thereof, all serve to increase the consumption thereof and to expand existing markets and create new markets for fresh grapes, and prevent agricultural waste, and is therefore in the interests of the welfare, public economy and health of the people of this state.
(g) It is hereby declared to be the policy of this state to aid producers of California fresh grapes in preventing economic waste in the marketing of their commodity, to develop more efficient and equitable methods in such marketing, and to aid such producers in restoring and maintaining their purchasing power at a more adequate, equitable and reasonable level.
(h) The production and marketing of grapes produced in California for fresh human consumption is declared to be affected with a public interest; the provisions of this chapter are enacted in the exercise of the police power of this state for the purpose of protecting the health, peace, safety and general welfare of the people of this state.
(Added by Stats. 1967, Ch. 1467.)