A Call to Stand with America’s Farmers and Ranchers

The story of the King family is about much more than one ranch in eastern Washington. It illustrates a growing concern shared by many farmers and ranchers across the United States who believe they are increasingly burdened not only by economic pressures, but also by regulatory policies that can make it difficult to responsibly steward the land, water, and livestock God has entrusted to their care.

For more than seventy years, the King family has maintained stock ponds used to provide clean water for cattle and wildlife in one of the driest regions of Washington. According to the family, these ponds have been routinely cleaned and maintained for generations as part of ordinary ranch management. Today, those same practices have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, the loss of a long-held state grazing lease, years of litigation, and the possibility of millions of dollars in restoration costs. Regardless of the final legal outcome, the case demonstrates how profoundly regulatory decisions can affect the lives, livelihoods, and legacy of agricultural families.

Unfortunately, the King family’s experience is not an isolated concern. Across the country, farmers and ranchers regularly face increasing regulatory complexity related to water, wetlands, endangered species, land use, permitting, and other environmental matters. Many producers believe these regulations often extend beyond protecting the environment and instead impose burdens that make productive agriculture increasingly difficult. While these challenges are found nationwide, they are often viewed as especially significant in states such as Washington and Oregon, where environmental regulation has become particularly extensive.

FCFI has always stood with farmers during times of hardship. Historically, those hardships were primarily economic—commodity prices, droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, disease, and other disasters beyond a producer’s control. Increasingly, however, many agricultural families are facing another type of burden: regulatory and legal pressures that threaten their ability to continue farming and ranching. While legitimate environmental protection has an important place, FCFI believes Christians should also recognize when regulations become so burdensome that they undermine responsible stewardship, productive agriculture, private property rights, and the ability of families to faithfully exercise their God-given calling.

From its beginning, Fellowship of Christian Farmers International has sought to stand alongside farmers facing burdens they cannot bear alone. As these challenges continue to grow, FCFI believes Christians should thoughtfully engage questions of stewardship, property rights, religious conviction, and public policy through the lens of Scripture. The issues raised by the King family’s case are not simply legal or political—they are fundamentally questions of worldview.

This is one reason we are honored to welcome Calvin Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance as a featured speaker at this year’s FCFI Conference. Dr. Beisner has devoted decades to helping Christians think biblically about environmental stewardship. He carefully distinguishes between faithfully caring for God’s creation—a clear biblical responsibility—and environmental philosophies that, in his view, elevate preservation in ways that unnecessarily restrict productive human use of creation or diminish the unique role God has given mankind as faithful stewards.

His presentation fits directly with this year’s conference theme by inviting believers to understand not only what is happening in agriculture today, but why these issues matter. Christians must be able to recognize the difference between a biblical worldview of stewardship and competing philosophies such as deep ecology and other forms of extreme environmentalism that place nature above mankind’s God-given responsibility to cultivate, manage, and wisely use creation. These competing worldviews increasingly influence public policy, regulatory agencies, education, and the courts, making it essential for believers to understand how Scripture speaks to these important issues.

Genesis teaches that God entrusted humanity with both the responsibility to care for creation and the mandate to cultivate it for the benefit of people. Agriculture is not contrary to stewardship; it is one of its highest expressions. Farmers and ranchers nourish families, care for livestock, improve the productivity of the land, and provide the food, fiber, and other resources upon which civilization depends. Environmental policies should recognize and encourage that calling rather than unnecessarily hinder it.

Responsible development of God’s resources, carried out with excellence and biblical integrity, has consistently blessed societies by increasing productivity, reducing poverty, improving environmental quality through innovation, and creating the economic strength necessary to support compassion ministries, disaster relief, missions, evangelism, and discipleship around the world. Conversely, when extreme environmental ideologies unnecessarily restrict responsible stewardship and productive agriculture, society risks losing both the resources and the freedom needed to meet human needs and fulfill the Great Commission.

As Christians, our first response should be prayer—for the King family, for government officials, for judges, and for wisdom and justice throughout this process. But prayer should also lead us to informed engagement. We encourage our readers to educate themselves about these issues, understand the competing worldviews that increasingly shape public policy, and learn to testify graciously but confidently to the truth of Scripture. Christians should not only pray for those affected but also be prepared to defend a biblical worldview that affirms both faithful stewardship of creation and the freedom to cultivate it responsibly for the benefit of our neighbors.

The King family’s situation also reminds us that many faithful agricultural families are carrying burdens that few people ever see. Their challenges extend far beyond market prices and weather conditions. In some cases, they are facing years of litigation, overwhelming financial pressure, and regulatory actions that threaten generations of family stewardship. They need our prayers, our encouragement, and, where possible, our practical support.

If the King family’s experience concerns you, or if you would like to explore practical ways FCFI can help farmers and ranchers facing similar challenges, we encourage you to contact us. We also invite you to attend this year’s FCFI Conference, where Calvin Beisner will help us examine these issues through the lens of Scripture and equip us to respond with both conviction and grace.

If you have a particular interest in helping farmers and ranchers facing what many believe is an increasingly oppressive environmental regulatory agenda—especially in Washington State—we encourage you to reach out to Dan Janzen. FCFI is exploring ways to build a network of believers who are willing to pray, become informed, encourage affected families, and help develop practical responses rooted in biblical truth. Christians should not retreat from these conversations but instead engage them with wisdom, humility, and a firm commitment to God’s design for faithful stewardship.

Please join us in praying for Wade and Teresa King and their family—for wisdom, endurance, justice, and God’s sustaining grace during this difficult season. We also encourage you to become informed about these issues and to engage them from a distinctly biblical worldview.

If this article resonates with you, please contact Dan Janzen directly by email dan@fcfi.org or phone 616-676-6684. We are exploring ways to expand our ministry of encouragement, education, prayer, and practical support for farm and ranch families facing not only economic hardship but also increasing legal and regulatory challenges.

Together, we can stand for faithful stewardship, constitutional liberties, and the freedom of farmers and ranchers to cultivate God’s creation for the blessing of their neighbors and the glory of God.