The Blog

Governor Chris Gregoire

07/07/10

The best way to create agriculture policy that ensures success is to meet with the farmers on the ground and experience what they do every day. That’s why I just hosted a “Feeding Washington” tour throughout Eastern Washington – 10 stops in six counties over two days. I met with leaders in the agriculture industry to ensure growers, producers and distributors have the necessary tools and resources necessary to feed those here and abroad while driving Washington’s recovery and growing jobs.

I am confident that increasing our exports will help our state recover from the national recession. Washington state has set an ambitious goal – as part of my Washington Export Initiative, we aim to increase agriculture exports by 80 percent over the next five years. We can do it. But we need water to achieve that goal. So I visited some of the most successful water projects in the state to see what we’re doing right and develop new strategies to ensure water in the future.

I stopped at Irving Newhouse and Sons farm in Sunnyside, owned by our state’s Department of Agriculture Director Dan Newhouse. He put me to work! While I’ve always known a stable, qualified labor force is necessary for a farmer’s success – getting my hands dirty stressed the need for the state to work closely with our ag community so it has the workers it needs to harvest produce quickly.

I was able to see some of the newest technologies helping our farmers – from a new processing plant at Gebbers Farm in Brewster that significantly reduces electricity needs, to a stop at Inland Empire Oilseeds in Odessa – where they have the capacity to produce 8 million gallons of biodiesel.

We need the agriculture industry to stay strong in the 21st Century – that means producing more great apples, potatoes and wheat. And it means managing our water resources, creating world-class products like Washington wines, and moving forward in bioenergy.

To learn about my “Feeding Washington” tour and see pictures from my trip, visit my facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/govgregoire