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CapitalPress.com
October 16, 2015
People & Places
Agricultural voice speaks ‘farmer talk’
Benjamin Kelly
comes from suburbs
to represent ag in
halls of state Capitol
Western Innovator
Benjamin Kelly
Occupation: Private ag industry
Age: 34
Born: Meridian, Idaho
Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science, Boise State
University
Capital Press
Family: Single
MERIDIAN, Idaho — In
eight years, Benjamin Kelly
has gone from a former sub-
urban kid with no farming
background to the leader of
several farm organizations
and a major voice for Idaho
agriculture.
Kelly, 34, is the executive
director of four farm asso-
ciations and lobbies at the
Idaho Legislature for eight
more.
He’s a private consultant
and president of his own firm,
Kelly Associates, and serves
as the executive assistant for
Rick Waitley, executive di-
rector of Food Producers of
Idaho and president of Asso-
ciation Management Group,
which represents a several
Idaho ag groups.
Despite his non-farm
background, “(Kelly) has
been adopted by farmers as
a good spokesman for agri-
culture,” said Meridian farm-
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Benjamin Kelly, a consultant and lobbyist for farm groups, stands
in front of the Association Management Group building in Meridian,
Idaho, on Oct. 7. Though he grew up in the suburbs he has played
an ever-growing role representing farmers in the Capitol.
er Drew Eggers. “He’s very
engaged and involved and he
does a great job representing
his clients in agriculture as a
whole.”
Born and raised in Me-
ridian in Southwestern Ida-
ho, Kelly graduated with a
bachelor’s degree in politi-
cal science from Boise State
University and interned with
a lobbying firm at the Idaho
Legislature in 2007.
He was noticed by Wait-
ley, who offered to help him
with his resume but was
secretly taking note of his
abilities.
Waitley offered him a
job and Kelly’s first several
years were spent shadowing
Waitley during his work with
Idaho Ag in the Classroom
and organizing the annual
Idaho Ag Summit and other
farm-related meetings, tours
and events.
“Eventually I observed
that he was good at one thing
vital to our business — ‘farm-
er talk,’” Waitley said. “If you
can’t talk ‘farmer talk’ to a
producer, you won’t survive.
Any farmer or rancher can
sniff out a fake.”
Waitley slowly handed
some of his clients over to
Kelly, who represents farm
groups during the legislative
session on bills they’re inter-
ested in and tries to bring in
farmers and ranchers to testify
when possible.
Dennis Tanikuni, assistant
director of governmental af-
fairs for Idaho Farm Bureau
Federation, said Kelly “does
a lot of positive work for the
industry ... and I think he’ll be
round for a long time.”
Kelly said his biggest sur-
prises in this career have been
the high quality of the people
involved in agriculture, and
that he couldn’t see himself
Established 1928
Board of directors
Mike Forrester ..........................President
Steve Forrester
Kathryn Brown
Sid Freeman .................. Outside director
Mike Omeg .................... Outside director
Corporate officer
John Perry
Chief operating officer
consultant, lobbyist
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
working with any other indus-
try.
“In other types of busi-
nesses, there’s a cut-throat at-
mosphere; I don’t find that in
agriculture,” he said. “A lot of
(farmers) do a lot of stuff they
don’t get paid for and they’re
doing it to help out agricul-
ture, Idaho and their commu-
nity.”
Kelly said his involvement
in agriculture happened by
accident “but it really was a
fortunate accident.”
He believes the biggest
challenge facing agriculture
now is the industry’s need
to go on the offensive about
what farmers do.
“I think we need to find a
way to get past just being on
the defensive about our prac-
tices and what we do and real-
ly ... get on the offensive and
be able to get our message out
there,” he said.
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FFA, Les Schwab, Capital Press team up to fight hunger
E Idaho
John O’Connell ................. 208-421-4347
By EMILY KRAXBERGER
Boise
Sean Ellis .......................... 208-914-8264
Oregon FFA
Oregon FFA and Les
Schwab stores of Oregon have
teamed up in October to drive
away hunger.
The 103 high school FFA
chapters and 112 Les Schwab
stores are working togeth-
er to collect 250,000 pounds
of food for the Oregon Food
Bank and local food pantries
around the state. Collection
bags will be distributed in
the Oct. 23 edition of Capital
Press.
Community members are
encouraged to drop off food
donations at any Les Schwab
store or FFA chapter in Ore-
gon. In addition to food do-
nations, monetary donations
may be made to the local FFA
chapters or the Oregon Food
Bank. For every dollar donat-
ed the Oregon Food Bank is
able to purchase four pounds
of food.
Food collected will be do-
nated back to local commu-
nities through the help of the
Oregon Food Bank network.
The Oregon Food Bank has
several regional distribution
centers throughout Oregon
to make sure the food gets to
those who need it.
The Oregon Food Bank
distributed more than 1 mil-
lion food boxes in 2014. The
food boxes consist of enough
food to feed a family of four
for approximately three to
four days.
“That is the equivalent of
more than 12 million meals,”
said Amy Gillette, food re-
source developer for the Or-
egon Food Bank. To feed a
family of four one meal it
would take just over 5 pounds
of food, or just over $1. If
you donate $10, it equals 40
pounds of food that would
make 30 meals, which would
feed a family of four for more
than a week.
FFA chapters are stepping
up and thinking outside the
box in order to find donations.
Gleaning efforts by Adrian
FFA members and the Adri-
an student body have proven
to be successful so far. To
date, 1,900 pounds of onions
have been collected from lo-
cal fields belonging to WBH
Central Washington
Dan Wheat ........................ 509-699-9099
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To get information published
Courtesy of Anna Marie Chamberlain, FFA advisor
Members of the Adrian FFA chapter help with donated potatoes. The food collected by FFA chapters around Oregon will go to the Oregon
Food Bank to be distributed to the state’s needy families.
More online
To follow the food drive efforts visit the Oregon FFA Facebook page
and the #TIREdofhunger hashtag. To learn more about FFA visit
www.oregonffa.com or www.ffa.org for more information.
local FFA Chapter.
The FFA’s official motto
is Learning to Do, Doing to
Learn, Earning to Live and
Living to Serve. This Drive
to End Hunger is engaging
students in a Living to Serve
initiative.
“Having Les Schwab as a
partner in this initiative is fit-
ting as they are a company that
has been setting the example
of serving their communities
since their inception,” said
Kevin White, executive direc-
tor of the Oregon FFA Foun-
dation.
“Capital Press is the leader
in Pacific Northwest agricul-
ture reporting. Our partnership
allows us to reach out to some
of FFA’s primary supporters,
Capital Press readers.”
White also shared, “This
kind of initiative provides
students the opportunity to
showcase the leadership skills
gained in the FFA by being
able to organize the varying
food drive activities that ulti-
mately serve their communi-
ties, and set an example that
is often counter to how people
may view our youth today.”
The Oregon FFA is part of
the National FFA Organiza-
tion, formerly known as the
Future Farmers of America,
and is a national youth orga-
nization of 610,245 student
members — all preparing
for leadership and careers
in the science, business and
technology of agriculture.
There are 7,358 local FFA
chapters in all 50 states,
Puerto Rico and the Virgin
Islands.
Oregon FFA has nearly
6,000 members in 103 chap-
ters throughout the state. The
FFA mission is to make a pos-
itive difference in the lives of
students by developing their
potential for premier lead-
ership, personal growth and
career success through agri-
cultural education.
cal-food-safety-and-haccp/
Farms and Petersen Farms.
Some 38,790 pounds of po-
tatoes have been gathered
and redistributed thanks to
the generosity of WBH farms
and Giant Produce, a proces-
sor in Parma, Idaho. Giant
Produce also donated a semi-
truck load (36,688 pounds)
of red and yellow potatoes to
the chapter to give to the Or-
egon Food Bank. This puts
the 2015 Adrian FFA totals at
over 77,378 pounds.
So far, this year’s produce
has gone to the school districts
and communities in North
Powder, Wallowa, Baker City,
Prairie City, John Day, Burns,
Vale, Ontario, Crane, Jordan
Valley and Harper.
Other FFA chapters are
also being creative in their
efforts. In addition to raising
food at school events, and
having a chapter collection
contest among members, the
Yamhill Carlton FFA Chapter
has a student, Liberty Green-
lund, who raised fryer chick-
ens. The first batch of fryers
was recently processed and
donated to the Yamhill Share
and Care as well as Joseph
Store House (Carlton).
In Southern Oregon, the
Phoenix FFA Chapter is plan-
ning a dinner where people
attending are doing more than
just buying their meal, they
are also helping fund families
in need, with all the proceeds
from the event being donated
to the local food bank.
To find out what is happen-
ing in your area, contact your
Thursday, Oct. 22
Kenneth Tate will address ranchers
during a livestock grazing water
quality seminar. Fairfield Com-
munity Center, 218 E. Main St.,
Fairfield, Wash.
tion, Mansfield Convention Center,
Great Falls
Marion County Soil and Water
Conservation District Annual
Meeting, guest speaker will be
Rufus LaLone of the Weather Cafe,
5: 30-9 p.m. Creekside Golf Club,
Northwest Farmers Union Con-
vention, Northern Quest Casino,
Airway Heights, Wash.
Calendar
To submit an event go to the
Community Events calendar on
the home page of our website at
www.capitalpress.com and click
on “Submit an Event.” Calendar
items can also be mailed to Capital
Press, 1400 Broadway St. NE,
Salem, OR 97301.
Saturday-Sunday
Oct. 17-18
The All About Fruit Show, 10
a.m.-4 p.m., Clackamas County
Fairplex, Canby, Ore., http: //www.
homeorchardsociety.org/events/
Idaho
Carol Ryan Dumas .......... 208-860-3898
Columbia County, Ore., Farm Bu-
reau Annual Meeting, 6: 30-9 p.m.,
Fultano’s Pizza, 770 E. Columbia
River Highway, Clatskania, Ore.
Livestock grazing water quality
seminar, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Wash-
ington State University Extension
rangeland and livestock manage-
ment specialist Tip Hudson, retired
Oregon State University rangeland
ecology and management exten-
sion specialist John Buckhouse
and University of California-Davis
rangeland watershed specialist
Salem, Ore.
Friday-Saturday
Oct. 23-24
Montana Farmers Union Conven-
Friday-Saturday
Oct. 30-31
Tuesday-Wednesday
Nov. 3-4
Practical Food Safety & HAC-
CP, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Idaho Water
Center, Boise, Idaho, http: //www.
techhelp.org/events/197/practi-
Wednesday-Friday,
Nov. 4-6
2015 Weed Conference, Wash-
ington State Weed Association,
Wenatchee Convention Center,
Wenatchee, Wash., www.weedcon-
ference.org
Wednesday-Saturday
Nov. 11-14
Tri-State Grain Growers Conven-
tion, Davenport Grand Hotel, Spo-
kane, https: //grainconvention.com
Mailing address:
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Index
California ................................ 9
Dairy .................................... 14
Idaho ...................................... 8
Livestock ............................. 14
Markets ............................... 13
Opinion .................................. 6
Oregon ................................ 10
Washington ..........................11
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