Farm Safety Amid Coronavirus Pt 3
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Let’s make one thing perfectly clear, without safety practices on the farm, there is no food on our tables.That’s according to the Washington Farm Bureau’s Director of Safety and Claims, Richard Clyne who says farmers who don’t protect their workers should be called out …
CLYNE … “There’s the occasional bad-apple everywhere, but frankly, no one thinks those people should continue in business if they’re taking advantage of people less than themselves.”
Without farmworker safety, Clyne says who’ll feed us …
CLYNE … “No, we don’t want to import foods from places that may have lower health standards, may have lower safety standards, may have lots of other things.”
Clyne says we are the best because we know what to do …
CLYNE … “American grows more food than the rest of the world. We feed not only ourselves, but the rest of the world and we want to continue to do that. Not only are American farmers the safest and the most efficient, Washington farmers are among the safest in the United States. Currently there is no one safer in tree fruit, there’s no one safer in most row crops across the country.
So, we are here to take care of our people because it helps and because we care.”
Clyne says we’ve always supported safe practices …
CLYNE … “We certainly are supporting everybody who’s out there on the front and whether it’s in the hospitals and such or if it’s out in the fields or on the produce lines, we are really trying to make sure that everybody who is helping everyone else get through this and has all the support they need. Hopefully, we’re doing our part.”
Clyne says here in the Pacific Northwest, we know what we’re doing and what we do is safety and making sure that happens.