The 2019 legislative session in Olympia saw its fair share of legislation addressing carbon in the Evergreen state.  And while most were opposed by the Ag industry, there was one that has received the praise of NE Washington’s Joel Kretz.  The Farms & Fields proposal, Senate Bill 5947, was an innovative approach to addressing the carbon issue, and was not so punitive against the Ag industry.

 

“It actually tried to provide a frame work where agriculture could maybe get some credit for all of the carbon they sequester, on a farm or ranch, you know, tree farm, that sort of thing.  There were some things about it, though, kind of like ‘how not to do a bill”.”

 

The proposal would have required certain activates to be eligible for grants, including on-farm fossil fuel input efficiency measure, agroforestry and carbon farming.  And would require WSDA to report twice a year to the performance of the program.  Kretz said unfortunately, the legislation was just not ready for prime time.

 

“You know, I do appreciate the attempts to do something that’s not punitive like most of the carbon approaches which is what we’re seeing right now.  This is the kind of thing that you set down now, and say, lets look at this during the interim and let’s see if we can craft something that works.”

 

Kretz said to enjoy success in the future, supporters of Farms & Fields need to sit down with the Ag community for in depth conversations before bringing the idea up in the 2020 session.

 

 

 

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