— from Aaron Wasser, Sen. Ranker’s Office —
The legacy of small Washington farms will be passed on to future generations with help from legislation adopted by the House, 88-9, on Friday.
Senate Bill 5123, bipartisan legislation sponsored by Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, which cleared the Senate unanimously last month, would extend a pilot program that allows farms with gross sales of less than $250,000 annually to create internship programs for future farmers.
The bill now awaits the Governor’s signature.
“The average farmer is 57 years old and young people are not exactly lining up to enter the agriculture industry,” Ranker said. “This bill makes sure opportunities for internships exist for those young people who want to pursue this opportunity to build on our state’s farming heritage.”
The program allows farms in certain counties around the state to employ up to three interns who are not enrolled in classes to work on farms throughout the state. Farms will be required to submit an application to the state’s Department of Labor and Industries and complete an agreement with the intern that includes a description of the work and any wages to be paid.
Oh boy, this comment will not be popular. First, I would like to establish through voluntary assertion that I am pro-farming. Better time would be spent going back to the legislative drawing board to remove whatever conditions would prevent farmers, or any legal operation, from developing internships without special attention from Friday Harbor, or Olympia, or DC. What, we’re supposed to appreciate another layer of complexity to arcane prohibition efforts? What farmers need is for perverse government subsidies to stop competing with healthy, fairly-priced food.