Farming, Is It Worth It? Pt 2
I'm Bob Larson. Too many conversations about agriculture dance around the topic of regulations and the question, "Is it all worth it."The Washington Policy Center's Madi Clark says farmers find themselves on the receiving end of common misconceptions about the level of regulation they work under and how they abuse the very land that is their livelihood ...
MADI CLARK ... "When you think of a farmer, you have a need to provide a livelihood for their family, to pay their costs every year and make a little bit of money. But, then what is a farm if it doesn't have any land, or if the water is gone, or if you've ruined the air around it and it's too smoggy to grow a good crop?"
Clark says farmers are already consumed with environmental concerns ...
MADI CLARK ... "There are so many questions around the environment in farming that have to be addressed. And when you look at regulations, a lot of times they don't understand that a farmer already cares for the environment and they treat them like an enemy the environment which is completely untrue. They truly care and so our regulations are just adding more paperwork. And usually, when I talk to farmers, that's the biggest frustration is that it's just more paperwork that does no improvement and it just increases the costs for them because they either have to hire someone to do it or spend more time doing paperwork than farming. Which, they went into farming to farm, not do paperwork."
Clark hopes, in the end, policy makers will ensure the farmers find their work well "worth it."