Farmers big worry is about regulations

Overregulation is the greatest challenge to the future success of agriculture, according to a survey.

The survey of 900 farmers, consumers and agriculture support industries will be part of a report to the Legislature on ways to keep the state's largest industry profitable.

Following regulations, other challenges identified in the survey are labor, land costs, production costs, research needs and water.

Jennifer Harte, an agricultural economist with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, provided a snapshot Friday of the draft report to county officials from across the state meeting in Yakima.

A final report is expected out in late December or early January.

Lawmakers authorized the report in 2007 to help them gauge the impacts of new laws on the industry.

A steering committee helped to organize the report. One of the members, Keith Mathews, executive director of the Yakima Valley Growers-Shippers Association, said he hopes the outcome will be taken seriously in the halls of Olympia.

Mathews, who did not attend the presentation, said later that orchardists often encounter conflicting regulations from different agencies that keep farmers up late at night filling out paperwork.

At the same time, growers are competing against foreign producers who can deliver their products to the United States at the same cost.

"We have to be awfully thoughtful about the burden on producers to keep them in business," Mathews said.

Also, Harte added, farming as a profession isn't receiving the emphasis it once did in schools.

"Kids don't see agriculture as a profession," she told a small crowd of county officials at the Yakima Convention Center. "People don't see agriculture as an option for a career."

Mathews said another problem is the difficulty young people encounter in trying to purchase expensive property and obtain production financing.

"The barriers to get in are severe," he said.

Harte said the report, a strategic plan for agriculture in the state, is the first to be conducted since 1989.

* David Lester can be reached at 577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.

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