Washington Farming Community Must Be United

These are difficult days for the Washington farmer, but despite the many challenges, from Olympia, D.C. and of course Mother Nature, Rosella Mosby, president of the Washington Farm Bureau said it’s important that agriculture sticks together.  She says there may be differences in the commodities grown between eastern and western Washington, but the farming community is one big family, a point she noted that is often forgotten.

“We kind of divide ourselves, and we have to remember there’s this bigger critic out there that would love to see agriculture fail, and so if we’re not doing our best to make sure we succeed we got to work together to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of our industry and of the farmers in Washington and that’s advocating for ourselves, that’s standing up for ourselves, that’s making sure that our needs in order to provide food for our communities, that that work gets done.”

Mosby says its important for the Washington farming community to stick together to ensure their quality of life into the future.  She said policy makers in California have made it clear that they want to end agriculture in the Golden state.  And she feels Washington has a growing number of lawmakers with a similar mindset and goals.

“When we’re looking at legislation like buffer bills, that kind of thing, those land grab opportunities are taking away farmers rights to farm their land, and it’s taking away the consumer’s right to locally grown produce or locally grown commodities, locally grown animal products, and that’s a scary thing for our food security.”

Mosby added Washington’s farming community is over regulated and under represented in Olympia, so it’s important every producer takes time to speak up and advocate.

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