SENATE RESOLUTION

                                                                  1993-8613

By Senators M. Rasmussen, Barr, Loveland and Spanel

            WHEREAS, Washington state farmers produce $4.4 billion worth of agricultural products; and

            WHEREAS, Food processing is a $6.2 billion industry and is the state's second largest manufacturing industry in value and number of employees; and

            WHEREAS, More than one hundred thousand Washington residents are employed in direct, agriculture-related jobs; and

            WHEREAS, Almost eighty-six percent of the value of agricultural products sold are produced by eighteen percent of the state's farms; and

            WHEREAS, About twenty-five percent of the state's agricultural commodities are sold in Washington, about fifty percent are sold in United States domestic markets, and about twenty-five percent in international markets; and

            WHEREAS, There are an estimated thirty-eight thousand farms in Washington covering sixteen million acres and producing up to one hundred different commodities; and

            WHEREAS, Washington state ranks first in the production of ten major commodities and seventeenth among all states in total agricultural output; and

            WHEREAS, Governor Mike Lowry has proclaimed February 17th as Agriculture Business Day;

            NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State Senate recognizes and honors the men and women who have made agriculture the number one industry in this state and we applaud the agri-business community for their efforts to ensure that agriculture maintains its leading role in our state and nation's economy.

I, Marty Brown, Secretary of the Senate,

do hereby certify that this is a true and

correct copy of Senate Resolution 1993-8613,

adopted by the Senate February 17, 1993.

MARTY BROWN

Secretary of the Senate