The meeting included representatives from Visit Gilroy, the California Welcome Center, the South County Farm Association, the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau, Wineries of Santa Clara County, the Gilroy Beekeepers’ Association and the Gilroy Historical Society. She described a disconnect between county policies that officially support agriculture and the reality small farmers face when grappling with official processes. “The math is not mathing for small farmers who want to wash their produce and package it and cool it. “We get it, people want to keep South County ‘rural in character,’ but that’s like saying ‘I love apples but I hate apple trees,’” she said. The small farmers out there are the apple tree, and we are struggling.