Permanent Daylight Saving Time Preferred by Many Ag. Producers

Department of Agriculture and Food LUANN ADAMS Commissioner

State of Utah

GARY R. HERBERT Governor

SPENCER J. COX Lieutenant Governor July 8, 2014

Michael G. Sullivan Director of Communications Governor's Office of Economic Development 60 East South Temple, 3rd Floor Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Permanent Daylight Saving Time Preferred by Many Ag. Producers

In response to a request from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development to provide a position statement about whether daylight saving time should be changed by the legislature, The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food conducted a small, informal sampling of several individual farmers and ranchers, and producer groups. While some are neutral on the issue, the consensus among those who have an opinion is that daylight saving time should be adopted all year.

Additional daylight at the end of the day is important to farmers and ranchers for many reasons. More agricultural producers than ever before have daytime jobs away from the farm. Daylight saving time provides more time after work to take care of farm work. Dairy farmers support the idea of permanent daylight saving time because during winter they would be able to complete one of the daily milking sessions during daylight.

None of the agricultural organizations to whom we spoke have formal policies or positions related to daylight saving time. However, the Utah Farm Bureau will address this issue this month in their mid-year statewide meetings, and adopt a formal position at their annual meetings in November 2014. Among those who do not have strong opinions, the Utah Cattlemen’s Association ‘s Executive Director, Brent Tanner, summed up the common mindset. “I’m not sure it really impacts our industry. We work by sunlight, not the clock.” Vegetable farmer Jeremy East, Davis County, agreed. “For me it doesn’t matter, because we work from dawn to dark anyway.”

350 North Redwood Road, PO Box 146500, Salt Lake City, UT 84116-6500 Telephone 801-538-7100  Facsimile 801-538-7126  http://ag.utah.gov 350 North Redwood Road, PO Box 146500, Salt Lake City, UT 84116-6500 Telephone 801-538-7100  Facsimile 801-538-7126  http://ag.utah.gov