Helping Farmers and Farms

We don't believe in red state verses blue state partisan politics. We believe in the red, white and blue that unites us all. And we believe leadership is better than partisanship.
Dawn Morrell, speech to the Washington state Grange

Dawn led the coalition that saved Puyallup farmland by supporting WSU's Agricultural Research and Extention Center. In return, WSU agreed to keep 22 acres of farmland for research instead of selling it to developers.

The Puyallup Valley's Mother Earth Farm had a problem: since it donates all its produce to food banks, it couldn't meet the farm income test to qualify for farmland property-tax rates. Punishing farms that help food banks doesn't make sense! So Dawn wrote the 2005 law (HB 1554) that counts the value of donated food for the purpose of the tax break. It passed unanimously. Problem solved.

Dawn's a leading supporter of the Women and Infant Children's Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which helps low income families to get healthy fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets. Local farmers benefit, too!

Dawn addressed the 2006 convention of the Washington State Grange at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. She urged the Grange to work with the Veterans' InnovationsProgram she enacted this year to help veterans returning from the Middle East, and spoke of her communities' values: