Agriculture Round Table

Agriculture Round Table

Agriculture Round Table

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

The Opportunities Industrialization Center of Washington is a non-profit organization that provides community services through local, state, and federal agencies. Jeff Robison, A.C.T.S. Trainer with OIC.

ROBISON: OIC of Washington is the national grantee for the National Farm Workers Jobs Program, which is to help seasonal and migrant farm workers transition into more stable employment whether it be in agriculture or outside of agriculture.

One of the main concerns for OIC then is to make sure farm workers are safe on their job, understand the dangers, and perform their jobs in a safe fashion. Robison says that several years ago OIC had a safety training program funded in part through the USDA and the WSDA but with budget cuts that funding went away.

ROBISON: But we continuously received phone calls of different employers asking for training that we weren’t able to do anymore because we didn’t have it in our budget. This information was brought up to our administrative team about the need and that it still needs to happen.

Robinson says OIC was able to write in a training position through the NFWJP employment training grant in order to provide the same types of training to the farm working community that were done in the past. So today from 4 - 6 pm OIC will be conducting a round table discussion at the Pasco Red Lion.

ROBISON: Every farmer out there, every grower out there that would like to come and participate in this discussion we welcome you with open arms. What we’re wanting is feedback from growers, farmers, associations, commissions as far as are we on the right track, are we offering the trainings that farmers want to see offered.

During the round table discussion OIC will unveil what they will be doing - trainings they offer and trainings that are on their radar.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network. 

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