For the past twenty-five years, since our founding in 1989, the SPF Board of Directors has a policy of engaging in specific land use or agricultural issues when there are larger public policy issues at play.
With recent protests by Families United for Justice, Farm Worker Justice and WWU students on behalf of local farm workers, a national spotlight has been focused on farm operations and farm labor in the Skagit Valley and more specifically, on a Burlington farm. Steve Sakuma, CEO of Sakuma Brothers Inc., has been a board member of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland since 1999 and has served as President of the Board from 2002 through 2003 and again in 2013.The SPF Board of Directors is taking special care and time to better understand and explore both sides of this issue.
The SPF Board of Directors understands there are no easy solutions to what is happening in the Skagit Valley and across our nation, as these issues are impacted by our nation’s immigration and food policies. The basic fundamental issues for both sides are:
1. Farmers need a stable, legal and cost effective workforce and sustainable market rates for products.
2. Agricultural workers need fair wages, income stability, affordable housing, childcare and healthcare.
The SPF Board of Directors encourage advocates on both sides of this issue to think about the facts and to come together to find mutually agreeable solutions. SPF is committed to working with our local community, as well as with our federal, state and local officials to facilitate and foster a positive dialogue that leads to understanding and mutually beneficial solutions. To that end we will continue to research and study the core issues in order to better understand how to advocate for mutually beneficial solutions. As we find credible information we will update this statement with links to specific credibly sourced information that can help to better inform our organization, our membership and our community.
Some of the sources of information used that may be useful to explain issues facing farmers and farm laborers:
• Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition, Agricultural Workers. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor.
• 2010-2015 Skagit County Farmworker Housing Action Plan. Washington Farmworker Housing Trust and Skagit Valley Farmworker Housing Trust Advisory Council. March 2011
• 2012 Agricultural Workforce. Labor Market and Performance Analysis. Washington State Employment Department. December 2013.
• Out of Reach 2014. Twenty-Five Years Later the Housing Crises Continues. National Low Income Housing Coalition.
• Price Spreads from Farm to Consumer. USDA Economic Research Services.
• Building a Skagit Count Housing Affordability Strategy. Interim Report. Skagit County. November 2012.
• A Sustainable Bounty: Investing in Our Agricultural Future. The Washington State Farmworker Survey. Washington State Farmworker Housing Trust. July 2008.
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