Ag Education Pt 2
I’m Bob Larson. With the potential for a lot of new lawmakers in Olympia by the time the next session begins, many in agriculture are thinking it’s time to try and educate them about where their food comes from.
Washington Association of Wheat Growers Executive Director, Michelle Hennings says COVID has been challenging with Zoom meetings being the standard with legislators …
HENNINGS … “That was rough because I think it’s important to get the farmer through the door, have the face-to-face interaction and be able to sit down and actually talk with them on these different issues. You know, we work to impact them so that they can see the value of farming, but we just need to keep at it and keep pushing and pushing.”
In person meetings, Hennings says are the answer …
HENNINGS … “We put together ag tours and, you know, sometimes we get a lot of attendance, sometimes we don’t. So, we’re developing strategies to get in those people’s doors and be able to educate them on farming and, you know, how important it is to our economy and other countries as well.”
The more they know, Hennings says the better …
HENNINGS … “We just really need legislators that understand farming and are farm-friendly. It’s vital to the farmers.”
Hennings says the top education issues include salmon recovery and dam removal, and the ag labor overtime bill and a seasonality component that didn’t make it out of committee.
