Agriculture Crisis
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. Whether it’s the cost of farming, the overtime laws, the CCA fuel tax, or the unionization of agricultural workers, growing food in Washington state is not easy.
David DuCharme, lobbyist for the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, says the situation agriculture finds itself in today is undeniable …
DuCHARME … “Derrik Sandison, the Director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture, appointed by Governor Bob Ferguson, he’s been before a number of Legislative Committees this session, giving kind of a snapshot of where we are in this period of time with regard to the health of the agricultural economy. And you know, he was asked the question, where are they today, how bad are things? And he says it’s an existential crisis.”
As for the question of why, DuCharme says he backed it up …
DuCHARME … “He provided all of the hard, objective data points as to why this is the case, and essentially he was telling a legislative committee that it’s the policies that have been enacted by the legislature over the past five to ten years, with no relief in sight, with other forces.”
So, moving forward, DuCharme says we need to keep reminding them …
DuCHARME … “Farming’s not easy in the first place and then you start hamstringing folks and, you know, this is the result that you’re going to get, and that’s not rocket science. And so, we just need to continue to hammer that message and hopefully some things sink in.”
DuCharme believes there are members of the majority party that understand the situation, but don’t have the numbers to push helpful legislature through.
