Cantwell Visits Pasco Potato Processing Plant to Show Support for Senate Farm Bill
Source: KNDO
KNDO TV - Jane Sander
PASCO, Wash.-- Senator Maria Cantwell made a couple stops on our side of the state Wednesday to support the farm bill and its impact on the local agriculture industry.
Senator Cantwell visited a Pasco potato processing plant Wednesday morning to show her commitment to getting the Senate Farm Bill passed.
The current farm bill expires in September and she wants a long-term bill to make it through Congress that would give farmers and researchers the support they need to increase exports and food studies.
Potatoes are Washington state's third largest export and provide 23,000 jobs, including hundreds at the Allied Potato Northwest plant in Pasco.
Cantwell says the potato market is just one example of how Washington's agriculture industry is one of the most important priorities in our state's economy.
"As much as people talk about airplanes and software, it is the key industry of our state. To have a farm bill that helps predictability and certainty is going to be very important to our economy in the central part of our state," said Sen. Cantwell.
The long-term Farm Bill includes support for a market access program that helped the Pasco potato plant expand its exports to the growing potato market in Asia.
Cantwell also visited an ag research lab in Wapato Wednesday afternoon.
She will return to Washington D.C. next week to urge the Senate to pass the Farm Bill.
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