So Washington lost a farmer

WPC's Center for Agriculture Director Pam Lewison's recent special to The Seattle Times, "WA is losing farms and food-producing land. Does anyone care?", touched a nerve in many parts of Washington. For some it tapped into frustrations they have with state policy and policymakers who seem divorced from the realities to agricultural work and keeping a farm alive during difficult times (and times are almost always difficult in one way or another in farming). For others, it was confirmation of broader disconnect between what those in power and the experiences people have every day. And finally, Lewison tapped into the American appreciation of farming as a rugged, noble, difficult way of life-- and the fear that it might be lost to future generations.

Washington lost 14 farms a week during the past five years and from 2017 to 2022, we lost 3,717 farms and ranches and more than 102,000 food-producing acres. For context, in the previous decade Washington lost a total of 3,456 farms.

This loss is obviously personal for Pam. She is a farmer. She comes from a family of farmers, she is raising her daughters on her farm. When she writes of the loss of farmland and farms, she's writing of the struggles of friends and family -- of people connected not just by a profession but a way of life.

Washington Policy Research, at its core, is not data for the sake of a report, but it is data and analysis driven by the desire to improve the lives of the people of this state. It's to change policies for the better so that people are freer, we achieve greater outcomes, more people get the help they need, the education that fits them, and the chance to succeed at their dreams.

One of Pam's objectives as WPC's agriculture director has been to get people in urban and suburban areas to think more about a farmer's perspective -- to approach agricultural issues with a bit more humility in that those on the outside rarely know the challenges and realities of the inside.

Reading Pam's op-ed reminded me of the wildly popular and memorable Superbowl commercial from several years back featuring the late, great broacaster Paul Harvey's speech, "So God Made a Farmer." I thought Pam's op-ed fit would make a nice homage to Harvey's speech and might aid in publicizing her work to aid Washington's farmers.

–– David Boze is the Communications Director, Washington Policy Center. He can be reached at dboze@washingtonpolicy.org.