Farmers who find their leases with the state Department of Natural Resources suddenly terminated would receive protections under a new piece of legislation.

Under HB 2498, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources would be required to give farmers and ranchers six months’ notice and compensation if the department terminates their lease early.

Currently there is nothing to dissuade DNR from pulling the lease out from under a farmer or rancher cultivating or grazing DNR land.

Rep. Chris Corry, lead sponsor of the bill, said he had worked with DNR to come to a solution that was agreeable to the department and lawmakers. 

Along with requiring DNR to give farmers and ranchers six months’ notice when land has been designated for, “higher and better use, land exchange, or sale,” the bill also lays out a compensation schedule for the affected lessees.

The bill proposes compensation for grazing leases be paid at six times the rate of the annual lease for the remaining number of years on the lease. Farmers leasing agricultural land would be compensated through a calculation of the “annual net revenue per acre for the class of crop produced … less the rental rate per acre for the land leased, multiplied by the number of acres” with the net revenue for the crop being established by the county assessor’s office for the remainder of the lease. In addition to compensating lessees for the remainder of the lease, DNR would also be held responsible for reimbursing lessees for any improvements they may have made to the land they were stewarding under the lease. All lease compensation would come from taxpayers.

The Washington State DNR manages more than 3 million acres of land and offers leasing opportunities through a public auction website. There are 22 results listed from its most recent auction offering with seven of the available leases remaining unspoken for. Most leases listed are for 10-year terms and include grazing, irrigated and non-irrigated farmland, conservation reserve program lands, and wildlife habitat all located in Eastern Washington. 

The protections offered to farmers and ranchers in the legislation provides them incentive to continue to be good stewards of DNR trust lands by giving them assurances they are less likely to be scrambling to find a new home for their livestock or having to pull crops out of the ground.

The bill is a good bridge to build trust between the state and Washington food producers by providing protection for both groups.