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UDAF staff outline role tracking agriculture and food bills during legislative session
Summary
Two policy analysts from the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food described how the agency's Legislative Affairs team monitors bills, meets with legislators and partners, and testifies in committee to explain impacts on Utah agriculture and food.
Camille Knudson, a policy analyst with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, and Connor Peterson, a senior policy analyst with the department, described how UDAF's Legislative Affairs team tracks bills that affect agriculture and food across the state and provides information to legislators during the annual legislative session.
"We work on the Legislative Affairs team. We work with different people inside of UDAF, to track bills that impact agriculture and water throughout the state and food. We work with different organizations and associations. We meet with them regularly so that we can testify during committee meetings whether we support or oppose a bill," Knudson said, summarizing the team's monitoring and outreach work.
Peterson said the session is both "a wild time" and an opportunity to educate lawmakers, noting many legislators do not live in rural Utah. "It's wonderful to be up on Capitol Hill and be able to meet with legislators, with members of the public, industry partners, other state agencies, and to to help educate people on the importance of agriculture in the state of Utah and especially where their food comes from," he said.
Both analysts said the work is collaborative inside the department: they gather information from UDAF employees, meet with industry partners and other agencies, and attend committee hearings to testify. Peterson thanked UDAF staff for their support: "It's wonderful. We have a great a great staff and a great team here. So thank you so much to everyone for all that you do."
No formal motions, votes or other official actions were recorded in the provided transcript excerpt; the remarks described the department's ongoing advocacy and informational role during the legislative session.
