Honcoop: Ag Must Continue To Speak Up

As lawmakers in Olympia continue to debate ag labor, ag overtime and potential fixes for both issues, Save Family Farming says it’s vital ag country continues to speak up.  Dillon Honcoop with SFF said it’s an old adage but it’s true, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  And he said, especially with legislation such as Senate Bill 5722 being proposed in Olympia, it is very important that farmers, producers, farm workers everyone associated with agriculture let law makers know how these proposals will impact the boots on the ground.

“This is a fire that needs to be put out and Olympia can't ignore it," Honcoop stressed.  "So, if we go quiet, if we give up, if we as a farming community say ‘well, we didn't get what we wanted this time so, I guess we'll just call it quits’, and for a lot of farms that means literally calling it quits, I'd say no.  That's the wrong response.  We have to be aware of the long game here.  We can't give up.  We have to stay focused on this.”

Honcoop added it’s important that the agriculture community advocate for itself, whether or not an immediate response or solution is given.

“Because of the future of farming, the future of farmworker families and that community all hang in the balance on whether we can change the direction of the decisions being made in Olympia to be in line with what is helpful for the future of our food system, our family farming community and the farm worker community.”

Honcoop stressed that Senate Bill 5722, introduced by state Senator Rebecca Saldana, claims to help farm workers, but ag workers, he stressed, would see little if any of those additional funds raised by the state.

Click Here to learn more about Senate Bill 5722.

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