Locally Grown Food Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. As the number of farms and farmers across the state and the country shrinks, and locally produced food becomes harder and harder to find, action is needed to change direction.
Pam Lewison, Ag Director at the Washington Policy Center, says we need to recognize that we have an environment in our state that is not good for agriculture …
LEWISON … “If you didn’t think so before, if you weren’t convinced before, we do in fact have an environment that is extremely hostile towards agriculture. And it is such that it is literally driving our food producers away.”
And Lewison says when you don’t have food produced locally, you take away food equity …
LEWISON … “And to me, what “food equity” means is, no matter what your walk of life is, no matter where you live, you have access to food that came from someone close to you, someone local, someone within 100 miles of where you live.”
So that, Lewison says needs to change …
LEWISON … “If the regulatory and policy environment that you live in is such that people are being driven away, so too is food equity.”
So, Lewison says we need to figure out ways to bring that back to Washington and the people who live here.
Tune in tomorrow for more on the disconnect between Olympia and agriculture.
