02/17/2010: "Farm Internship Bill Passes Senate 46-0"

ig_SF_Farm_Girl-001 (58k image) ("Slow Food" photo )

The San Juan County Agricultural Resources Committee (ARC) has worked for a farm internship bill that would allow the training and teaching of future farmers, without running into trouble with state regulations with the Department of Labor and Industries.

Once again, having a district senator from the local area has been helpful. Sen. Kevin Ranker sponsored Senate Bill 6349, which will “allow farms with gross sales of less than $250,000 annually to establish internship programs for future farmers who are not enrolled in classes to work on farms throughout the state.”

“After farmers in my district came to me, we saw that red tape was getting in the way of farmers teaching their skills to younger individuals,” Ranker said. “This bill ensures Washington farms can continue teaching future farmers for generations to come.”

“The average age of a farmer in Washington is 57-years-old,” Ranker said. “If we’re serious about promoting agriculture in Washington we’re going to have to encourage younger people to get into the farms and get their hands dirty.”

The ”Slow Food” Land & Sea folks were delighted with the passage of the senate bill, stating in their food blog “this will be HUGELY helpful for farmers, and the local economies they're a part of. It looked at one point like it might not happen.; Kevin (with cosponsors Haugen, Holmquist, Hobbs, Becker, Shin, and Roach) got it passed unanimously,” and are hoping for a repeat performance as the bill move to the House for consideration.

Farmers interested in employing interns would submit a written application for certification to be reviewed by the Department of Labor and Industries. The farm would be required to specify the nature of the work interns would perform and how the experience would provide them with vocational knowledge and skills.