An Oregon cherry grower lamenting new H-2A visa rules that will make the program more burdensome and expensive wondered aloud to us the other day about the people responsible for these and other federal and state regulations that so often stymie farmers and ranchers.

“Who are these people who make up these regulations? Where are they? They are nameless and faceless. There’s no one to talk to, no one responsible.”

He’s right. You can’t pin any regulation to anyone in particular. While the authors of the thousands of pages of regulations written each year are invisible, the results of their handiwork can be seen everywhere.

Take the Environmental Protection Agency’s vulnerable species pilot project, which included new pesticide restrictions that would initially cover more than 100 million acres, and more after the agency applies the program to other species.

While EPA has decided to modify the plan, its original draft would have hobbled farmers of all sizes. Who is the author of that bit of mischief, and can they be depended upon to write a reasonable fix?

Down the hall at the EPA, the bureaucrats working on the “Waters of the U.S.” rules for compliance with the Clean Water Act are trying their best to extend their power even in the face of a Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the definition of wetlands subject to regulation.

Don’t forget about EPA’s efforts to cut the use of fossil fuels and promote alternative forms of energy such as solar and wind. The agency’s rules are so often contradictory in their approach that the Wall Street Journal recently asked in an editorial whether the EPA’s left hand knows what its other left hand is doing.

Across town, someone at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed a rule that would allow “third-party employee representatives” — union representatives — to accompany OSHA compliance officers during “walkaround inspections” at workplaces.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is contemplating requirements for publicly traded corporations to disclose the carbon emissions produced by their supply chains, raising fears that farmers will be saddled with grueling record-keeping requirements.

The anonymous rulemaking isn’t limited to the federal government.

The unelected California Air Resources Board has been working for years to force the rest of the country to ban internal combustion engines in cars and trucks and now railroad locomotives. Many states, including Washington and Oregon, have enacted laws allowing regulators to follow California’s mandates, meaning the rules you have to follow are being written by anonymous bureaucrats who don’t even live in your state.

So, the question still stands: Who can farmers and ranchers hold responsible for the work of nameless, faceless regulators?

We would start with elected state and federal legislators. The people who write the laws have the ability, and the responsibility, to make sure the rules issued by the regulators match the intent of the legislation.

For far too long, legislators have painted with broad strokes and moved on, allowing unelected mandarins to fill in the details. We need to hold legislators responsible for their work.