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FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016
VOLUME 89, NUMBER 3
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
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Georgia farmer elected new AFBF president
Complete coverage
of the AFBF on Page 12
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Courtesy of Georgia Farm Bureau
Zippy Duvall of Georgia is the American Farm Bureau Feder-
ation’s new president.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Geor-
gia farmer Zippy Duvall is tak-
ing the helm of the American
Farm Bureau Federation after
beating three other contenders
for the presidency of the na-
tion’s largest agriculture orga-
nization.
Delegates from across the
U.S. elected Duvall to the top
job at the group’s 2016 conven-
tion in Orland, Fla., on Jan. 12,
making him the 12th president
in the Farm Bureau’s nearly
100-year history and only the
fourth Southerner to win the
position.
“We’re going to talk about
how to make this organization,
which is already strong, even
stronger,” Duvall said in his ac-
ceptance speech.
Duvall, who raises cattle and
poultry and previously served
as president of the Georgia
Farm Bureau, replaces longtime
AFBF president Bob Stallman,
who is retiring after 16 years as
the organization’s chief.
The campaign for AFBF’s
presidency began in the sum-
mer of 2015, when Stallman an-
nounced he would be stepping
down from the position, which
pays roughly $800,000 a year
and involves representing U.S.
agriculture in policy debates
and trade discussions, among
other functions.
Since then, Duvall and three
other state Farm Bureau candi-
dates — Barry Bushue of Ore-
gon, Kevin Rogers of Arizona
and Don Villwock of Indiana —
have been traveling the country,
trying to persuade state Farm
Bureau presidents and other
delegates of their qualifi ca-
tions to lead the group.
Turn to AFB, Page 12
WHAT’S NEXT?
With attention focused on problems of rural
West, some see opportunity for solutions
By ERIC MORTENSON
and MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
.S. Rep. Greg
Walden
didn’t
have much of an
audience Jan. 5
when he stood on
the fl oor of the House of Rep-
resentatives to talk about the
militia takeover of the Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge head-
quarters in southeast Oregon.
That’s how it works; Members
of Congress give even their
most impassioned fl oor speech-
es to empty chairs and a single
camera.
But in the days since, at-
tention has turned to Walden’s
24-minute description of the
area he represents and the “de-
cades of frustration, arrogance
and betrayal that has contribut-
ed to the mistrust of the federal
government.”
Judging from more than
Turn to NEXT, Page 11
U
Submitted photo
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., represents Harney County. Although he doesn’t
support the occupation of the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge by protesters, he
understands “the underlying frustration and anger at federal land management
and loss of economic opportunity.”
Rick Bowmer/Associated Press
A Dont Tread On Me flag flies at the entrance of the Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge on Jan. 10 near Burns, Ore. A small, armed group has been occupy-
ing the remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon to protest federal land use
policies.
While the rest of Oregon grew, Harney County fl at-lined
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Southeast Oregon’s Har-
ney County, the scene of the
militia takeover that brought
the area national media atten-
tion, has been economically
stagnant for nearly 40 years.
Residents and elected of-
fi cials who represent the area
say that’s the reality at the
root of the area’s muted sup-
port for the takeover, even
as they disavow the militia’s
tactics.
While the rest of the state
increased jobs 74 percent
since the late 1970s, the num-
ber of jobs in Harney Coun-
ty dropped by 10 percent,
according to a study by the
Oregon Offi ce of Economic
Analysis.
The county has lost 99
percent of its wood products
jobs since 1978, dropping
from 768 then to six in 2014,
analyst Josh Lehner said in a
new report.
“Relative to the late 1970s
— just before the state went
into the severe early ’80s re-
cession and timber industry
restructuring — the num-
ber of jobs today in Harney
County is 10 percent below
back then,” Lehner said.
“Clearly, that is a really
long time with essentially no
growth.”
Harney County residents
know that fi rst-hand.
County Judge Steven
Grasty said there is a “feel-
ing of despair” in the coun-
ty due to job losses. Federal
and state agencies, primarily
the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment, manage about 75 per-
cent of the land in the county.
Those agencies are so locked
into process and so fearful of
lawsuits from environmen-
tal groups that they become
paralyzed and do no manage-
ment at all, Grasty said.
As a result, many residents
are no longer able to depend
on logging, mill or ranching
work to sustain themselves.
“We believe the wealth
of a nation is based on its
natural resources,” he said.
“We’ve lost access to natural
resources, in particular, tim-
ber.
“Our community wants
to be good stewards of the
land,” Grasty said. “When we
managed the land it looked
better than when the BLM
does it. Because of rules and
pressure from special interest
groups, it forces them to fo-
cus on single (wildlife) spe-
cies and spend their dollars
on planning rather than on the
ground.”
Turn to HARNEY, Page 11
Employment growth since 1979:
Oregon versus Harney County
80 percent
Oregon
Harney Co.
60
40
1979 average annual
employment —
Oregon: 1.02 million;
Harney Co.: 2,579
Up 74%:
1.77 million
20
Down 10%: 2,325
0
Jan.
1976
Jan.
1980
Jan.
1990
Jan.
2000
Jan.
2010
June
2015
For more information, go to the full report: bit.ly/1Rm4y0C
Source: Oregon Office of Economic Analysis
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
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