Minimum Wage Woes & Water Quality Advisory Committee

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

A higher minimum wage is being pushed at state and federal levels. Washington state already has the highest state minimum wage in the country at $9.32 an hour. Governor Inslee has proposed a $12 plus minimum wage. Washington State Potato Commission's Chris Voigt says potato growers are concerned about the possibility.

VOIGT: The Washington Department of Employment Security actually issued a report recently talking about the average wages that are paid in agriculture and potatoes was up there. Our average employee is making about $16.12 an hour, which is well above the minimum wage. But I tell you what, anytime you raise the minimum wage there's an expectation that you really have to raise everybody's wages. So if the Governor's proposal of increasing minimum wage by 25% goes through, we would have to add 25% to that already $16 that we're paying - some of the best ag wages in the state, and that will put a tremendous amount of pressure on us. I think it will force a lot of farmers and packing sheds to go towards automation, because all of a sudden it makes more sense to have a machine do that work rather than hiring people, because it will be cheaper.

A vast array of agricultural interests in the state have received invitations from the Washington Department of Ecology to participate on a new agriculture water quality advisory committee in an effort to expand and improve Ecology's working relationships with agricultural landowners and livestock producers. Vic Stokes, president of the Washington Cattlemen's Association will co-chair the committee. The first public meeting is scheduled for March 19 at Ecology's offices in Lacey. Meeting locations will alternate between eastern and western Washington. For more information visit Ecology's website at ecy.wa.gov.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.