Olympia

The Washington farming community is being asked to participate in a survey in an effort to help lawmakers better understand the challenges of the Ag industry.  The survey, hosted by the Washington state Department of Agriculture, is open tree fruit, dairy, wheat, potatoes, grapes or hops producers.  The goa...

Ag organizations across the Northwest held events in each of the state capitals celebrating National Ag Day Tuesday.  Megan Anderson the Washington Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Chair was celebrating in Olympia.   “All our legislators and offices have been invited out to shop our commodity market," Anderson said.  "Our Members have donate...

Thursday, March 6th, was the halfway point of the Washington legislative session.  How has the farming community fared this go around in Olympia?   “We've not seen a lot of the bad stuff that we had expected," noted Colfax Representative Joe Schmick.  "But so far so goo...

Regardless of your commodity, farming in Washington is very challenging right now.  Rosella Mosby, President of the Washington Farm Bureau said unfortunately, farmers across the Evergreen state are very discouraged.   “You know, markets haven't been great for a lot of folks and we have overtime in Washington state, so we're all dealing with that adjustment. Feeling pretty, you know...

Despite claims of providing economic relief for farmworkers, Save Family Farming says a proposal put forward by Washington state Senator Rebecca Saldaña fails to put money back in the pockets of workers.  Saldaña, Chair of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, has put forward Senate Bill 5722, creating a new state grant to pay for ag overtime costs.  However, Dillon Honcoop with Sa...

It’s a common story every legislative session in Washington; Olympia just doesn’t understand what farmers go through these days.  And that’s an easy narrative to believe, especially with fewer and fewer Americans having a connection to rural life, let alone agriculture.  But that means the Washin...

Washington state Representative Tom Dent said he’s disappointed that the chair of the House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee will not hold a public hearing on House Bill 1597.  The Moses Lake Republican said his proposal would have allowed Ag employers to select 12 weeks a year to employ workers for up to 50-hours per week before overtime applies.  Dent said des...

Currently, Washington is one of two states charging sales tax on farm equipment.  But several lawmakers in Olympia are trying to change that.  Senate Bill 5092 would provide a sales and use tax exemption for farm machinery and equipment with a price tag of over $10,000.   “It's not ...

Two cats from different households in Oregon's Multnomah County have died as a result of bird flu.  Oregon’s Department of Agriculture says both cats got the virus from eating raw pet food made by Wild Coast Raw based in Olympia, WA.   The ow...

Every legislative session, there are bills and proposals in Olympia that don't appear at the onset to impact the farming community.  However, these pieces of legislation can have unintended consequences that have a big impact on ag operations, regardless of the size.  One of ...