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WSDA outlines overtime-reimbursement grant for local farms; 24 operations awarded nearly $214,000

Washington State Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee · February 23, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Katie Raines of the Washington State Department of Agriculture told the Senate Ag & Natural Resources Committee that a 2024 grant proviso reimbursed qualifying overtime wages (up to $20,000) to 24 eligible farms, awarding nearly $214,000 total and producing lessons on outreach and eligibility for future programs.

Katie Raines, director of food systems initiatives at the Washington State Department of Agriculture, briefed the committee on a 2024 legislative proviso that funded a one-time grant program to reimburse qualifying overtime wages paid by eligible farms.

"This grant responded to that reality by providing a measure of relief for a very specific segment of farms by reimbursing up to $20,000 in overtime payments to workers during peak harvest," Raines said. She told the committee that eligibility required farms to grow handpicked specialty vegetables sold to local markets and schools, to…

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