I attended the Focus on Farming Conference at the Lynnwood Convention Center on November 20th to get a different perspective on the efforts being made to keep farming a viable enterprise.
As expected the front people were upbeat and pitched an optimistic outlook. There were two key-note speakers that addressed the attendees.
The morning speaker was Bob Gore, the acting director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture. He gave a “state of agriculture in Washington State” report that reported some positive trends, but also some consistent themes from farmers across the state that reflect real concerns about regulatory encroachment that is slowly closing in on farmers; government regulations that range from environmental issues to availability of labor.
The lunch speaker was Professor David Montgomery who spoke about how farming practices have impacted the rise and fall of different civilizations and what we can learn from them. He was talking to farmers about farming practices. That guy could talk a hundred miles an hour without taking a breath. I am not sure the majority of the crowd cared too much for his presentation. His message should not be ignored. I was interested when he referenced upland farming but couldn’t think of too many places in our county where the government has been sensitive to preserving any.
I sat through an hour session that described the process that led to the installation of the crushing and drying operation for crops that can yield biodiesel grade oil. The session raised a lot more questions than it answered. The system is not self-sustaining as far as I could tell from the presentation. If the county is committed to converting the county fleet over to biodiesel and intends to produce their own fuel supply from this process, they are not looking at competitive pricing for the end product. My concern for the farmers is long term. If they gear up to produce biofuel crops and the county pulls the plug, where does that leave them?
I listened to two presentations about how small scale farmers can either supplement their income or make a living growing high value consumer crops they sell direct. In the scheme of things, neither of them related to commercial farming.
The end of the day for me came with a discussion from a gentleman from the Department of Ecology about Water Rights as they relate to farmers. That guy was friendly and probably helpful to some, but his message was not encouraging. The government views water as currency and want to control every bit of it. The DOE will be the death of farmers.
In our county, we have long talked about “property rights” issues and how the government is taking them. This Water Rights issue demonstrates the point.
At the end of the day, I think the survival of farmers will depend on their ability to adapt to the changing regulations rather than realistically expecting the regulators to back off. I don’t have a sense of how much energy the industry has left in their tank. I can think of individual farmers that are growing weary from having to deal with Mother Nature and Big Brother. For them, the fight might be near over.
Posted on November 21, 2008 at 1:13 pm in Environmental, Political commentary, Snohomish County Political Commentary | RSS feed
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No Loss for Words
Focus on Farming
by Steve DanaI attended the Focus on Farming Conference at the Lynnwood Convention Center on November 20th to get a different perspective on the efforts being made to keep farming a viable enterprise.
As expected the front people were upbeat and pitched an optimistic outlook. There were two key-note speakers that addressed the attendees.
The morning speaker was Bob Gore, the acting director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture. He gave a “state of agriculture in Washington State” report that reported some positive trends, but also some consistent themes from farmers across the state that reflect real concerns about regulatory encroachment that is slowly closing in on farmers; government regulations that range from environmental issues to availability of labor.
The lunch speaker was Professor David Montgomery who spoke about how farming practices have impacted the rise and fall of different civilizations and what we can learn from them. He was talking to farmers about farming practices. That guy could talk a hundred miles an hour without taking a breath. I am not sure the majority of the crowd cared too much for his presentation. His message should not be ignored. I was interested when he referenced upland farming but couldn’t think of too many places in our county where the government has been sensitive to preserving any.
I sat through an hour session that described the process that led to the installation of the crushing and drying operation for crops that can yield biodiesel grade oil. The session raised a lot more questions than it answered. The system is not self-sustaining as far as I could tell from the presentation. If the county is committed to converting the county fleet over to biodiesel and intends to produce their own fuel supply from this process, they are not looking at competitive pricing for the end product. My concern for the farmers is long term. If they gear up to produce biofuel crops and the county pulls the plug, where does that leave them?
I listened to two presentations about how small scale farmers can either supplement their income or make a living growing high value consumer crops they sell direct. In the scheme of things, neither of them related to commercial farming.
The end of the day for me came with a discussion from a gentleman from the Department of Ecology about Water Rights as they relate to farmers. That guy was friendly and probably helpful to some, but his message was not encouraging. The government views water as currency and want to control every bit of it. The DOE will be the death of farmers.
In our county, we have long talked about “property rights” issues and how the government is taking them. This Water Rights issue demonstrates the point.
At the end of the day, I think the survival of farmers will depend on their ability to adapt to the changing regulations rather than realistically expecting the regulators to back off. I don’t have a sense of how much energy the industry has left in their tank. I can think of individual farmers that are growing weary from having to deal with Mother Nature and Big Brother. For them, the fight might be near over.
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Posted on November 21, 2008 at 1:13 pm in Environmental, Political commentary, Snohomish County Political Commentary | RSS feed | Reply | Trackback URL