Support a truly endangered species: Our farmers

American farmers never seem to get a fair shake, no matter who is in office.

It’s a crisis. Over-regulation, tariffs, and the inability to export have cut into their salaries. The average farm income has fallen to near 15-year lows and we are already seeing bankruptcies. John Newton, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau says, “The farm economy is in pretty tough shape.”

The American farmer is an endangered species. They top America’s oldest workers at 59.2 years and have the highest rates of suicide of any profession by more than 30 percent. And in Thurston, their property taxes have gone up as high as 150 percent.

Even worse, one of the few places farmers can get help is the Thurston Conservation District, which was originally intended to aid farmers in cost-share programs, etc., but has steadily been drifting away from their core mission in the agricultural sphere to one of plant sales and rain barrel workshops.

The only two Supervisors of the TCD who are farmers are being railroaded off the board, denied their due process, and even though one was elected by the citizens, the State intends to remove them for the sin of holding the TCD accountable and in representing farmers, most of whom have no relationship with the TCD.

Please show your support at their hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 8:30 am at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel Olympia.