Markus Rollinger, Sunnyside-area family dairy farmer and President of Save Family Farming, issued a statement regarding a new letter to Washington state leaders, pleading for help with collapsing food and farming infrastructure on the heels of news that revenue for farms in Washington state has plunged to nearly $400M in the red.
“To say the current situation for farming in Washington state is unprecedented is an understatement. For many farms, it’s a doomsday scenario, and they continue to go out of business at an alarming rate–two a day, every day, on average.
“The new data showing farm revenue in Washington plummeting to the worst in the nation painfully underscores the fight for survival farmers across the state have been living.
“It’s not just farms disappearing at an unprecedented rate–it’s the food and agricultural processing facilities that are quietly vanishing as well.
“When critical farming infrastructure like packing houses, canneries, slaughterhouses and other processing facilities go away, family farms are left with fewer and fewer opportunities to grow and sell food.
“The loss of food and farming infrastructure feeds a vicious cycle that continues the decline not only of family farming in Washington, but our entire region’s food security and resilience.
“The disappearance of vital agricultural and food processing facilities across Washington state points back to the crippling costs of growing food and doing business here.
“Energy bills, labor costs, and many other regulatory compliance burdens are choking out both our state’s legacy family farming community and the critical infrastructure and businesses that support it.
“It is time for Washington’s leaders to wake up, face the devastating consequences of their inaction, and take bold steps now or be remembered as the ones who let Washington agriculture continue to disappear on their watch.”