As a longtime farmer, I worry extra farmers in our state will probably be compelled to go away this conventional and vital lifestyle behind.
Washington has seen a gradual lower within the variety of farms. As a latest Seattle Instances story famous (“3,700 WA farms shut down in 5 years. Why?,”) almost 4,000 farms disappeared in our state from 2017 to 2022, in response to the Census of Agriculture.
The Washington Farm Bureau studies there at the moment are simply over 32,000 farms in our state, with 94% of Washington farms operated by households who’re a part of their communities’ material but usually battle to make ends meet.
The dramatic lack of farms is heartbreaking and startling. It ought to concern everybody, as our farmers present meals not just for Washingtonians however for individuals across the globe.
Washington’s agricultural business has been a nationwide and worldwide pressure for a few years. The continued lack of farms may weaken that.
As The Instances article famous, farmers face many challenges. Unhealthy climate, similar to drought, can destroy crops. We’re on the mercy of markets, as the worth of crops grown in different elements of the world can both assist or harm farmers right here. And sure, the challenges additionally embrace a strenuous way of life and usually a scarcity of advantages similar to medical insurance, paid depart and retirement plans.
Additionally, farmers are compelled to deal with a number of elements that improve their price of doing enterprise, together with rising costs for gas, fertilizer, seed and chemical compounds. As a result of farmers are “worth takers,” not “worth makers,” we don’t have the posh of passing increased manufacturing prices alongside to customers however should swallow them as an alternative.
One main perpetrator in disappearing farms: state authorities, which is complicit in making it tougher to outlive in our sector of the financial system.
Taxes, charges and laws are an enormous motive for rising farming prices. As an illustration, Washington is considered one of solely two states (Hawaii is the opposite) that fees gross sales tax on farm equipment. That tax will be extraordinarily costly for those who should spend tens and even a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} on a wheat mix or tractor.
Sadly, Washington ranks at or close to the highest in a number of classes that harm not solely farmers however many different companies, according to the Association of Washington Businesses. Our state’s unemployment insurance coverage and employees’ compensation applications are the costliest in America, and now we have one of many nation’s costliest paid household and medical depart applications.
The Local weather Dedication Act handed by the Democrat-led Legislature in 2021 created a cap-and-trade program that has hit agriculture particularly exhausting. The CCA has elevated lots of a farm’s price inputs, by inflating the costs of fuel and diesel gas in Washington, for instance.
It’s irritating that the CCA was speculated to exempt farmers from paying these increased prices, however the Division of Ecology by no means carried out the exemption within the regulation. New legislation was handed this yr to make it simpler for farmers to make the most of the exemption by establishing a public listing to seek out sellers who supply exempt gas. However this regulation will expire in 2030, so any aid for farmers will probably be short-lived.
The Instances story additionally identified that labor bills in 2023 additionally have been 462% increased in Washington than the nationwide common, in response to American Farm Bureau Federation information. These increased prices are attributable to legal guidelines imposed by the Legislature or state companies. As well as, latest modifications within the state’s agriculture-overtime legal guidelines have created issues not only for farmers however even for farmworkers.
As well as, Washington farmers are compelled to navigate tens of hundreds of well being and security legal guidelines and laws, in response to the Farm Bureau. Farmers usually should spend extra time coping with these laws than they do working within the area.
The state actually can’t do something in regards to the climate or world markets, however there’s a lot it will possibly do in regards to the taxes, legal guidelines and laws which have already led hundreds to surrender farming in Washington. Widespread sense must prevail earlier than it’s too late and we lose much more farms.
