Legislators hear ag concerns at Farm Bureau forum

Representative Joe Schmick, Senator Mark Schoesler and newly sworn in Representative Susan Fagan field questions at the Farm Bureau Forum Friday night in Colfax.

Ninth District legislators told a dozen or so leaders in Whitman County’s Farm Bureau Forum Friday night they will try to use a multi-billion dollar state deficit to slash state bureaucracies, though they admitted their status in the minority party puts them at a disadvantage.

Most troubling to the ag leaders was the potential that budget cuts could hit state employees who benefit agriculture the most.

“The thing that’s kept me in bus...