03/19/07 Promoting the Field of Dreams

Promoting the Field of Dreams. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Getting a college education may be as easy as getting a job. New legislation being introduced in Washington State by Representative Chandler from Zillah is being called the Field of Dreams. Farm Bureau's Dan Fazio. FAZIO: What it does is it gives college tuition credits or actually tuition assistance programs credits for workers aged 16 to 21 who work in agriculture for farmers and ranchers. Fazio says the program credits can then be used towards college education. FAZIO: They would receive benefits in the form of Guaranteed Education Tuition units or called the GET program which they can use for education throughout Washington State and in many other states as well. So when the student works 350 hours for an agricultural employer, they qualify for 10 of these GET units. According to Fazio, there are no financial restrictions on the students. FAZIO: Some people wanted to limit the benefits to only low income kids and we felt very strongly that this is not a needs based program, it's a merit program. This program's about quality and diversity and bringing us all together. Besides the chance to earn credits towards your education it's also a great program because it brings more workers into the field. According to Fazio: FAZIO: It's a win, win, win situation. Win for the farmers, win for the kids and win for the state. Tomorrow, more on the Field of Dreams legislation. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.