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November 25, 2016
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What’s Upstream-style
attacks require new kind
of response from farmers
O UR V IEW
By GERALD BARON
For the Capital Press
A
letter to
President-elect Trump
Paul Sancya/Associated Press
D
ear Mr. President-elect:
Congratulations on your
victory. Those of us involved
in Western agriculture look forward
to working with you and your
administration in the coming years.
Before you take offi ce, though,
we thought it would be a good idea
to discuss some of the many issues
facing you that impact agriculture.
We know we can’t expect you to
solve all of them immediately —
most are holdovers from previous
administrations — but we hope that
in due time you will be able to work
with Congress to make progress on
them.
Here they are:
Environmental
Protection Agency
abomination. We urge you to work
with Congress to avert a repeat of that
crisis.
Immigration
Immigration reform has long been
a concern for agriculture, especially
those farmers, orchardists and nursery
operators who depend on foreign-
born workers for harvests and fi eld
work.
During the campaign you scared
the heck out of both farmers and
immigrants when you said you’d
round up all 11 million illegal
immigrants and deport them.
Since the election you have
tempered your remarks to say that
illegal immigrants who have been
convicted of felonies will be a priority
for deportation.
The H-2A visa guestworker
program is also in dire need of
He, or she, must also be familiar
with large-scale agriculture and
niche farming such as organics to set
priorities that benefi t all producers.
The fact that the U.S. Forest Service
is part of the USDA also must be
remembered. National forests were
set aside to supply lumber and raw
materials to a growing nation, not as
parks.
The secretary of the Department of
the Interior is an important position
for agriculture, too. Because the
department and the Forest Service
oversee most of the West, how that
land is managed impacts ranchers and
others who depend on public lands for
grazing. The new secretary needs to
understand the term “multiple use.”
We would like to see national
parks fully funded and operating well
before the federal government even
considers taking any
more land as national
monuments or parks.
Such land grabs are a
slap in the face of rural
Americans who live
and work on the land.
If there’s a runaway freight train in
the federal government, the EPA is it.
The Waters of the U.S.
regulations, which EPA
and the Army Corps of
Engineers co-wrote, is
an example of rule-
making gone wild.
A simple concept —
Food Safety
don’t pollute water that
goes directly into lakes,
Modernization
rivers and streams —
Act
has been transformed
This law is turning
into a nightmarish
into another example
regulation that has
of federal overreach.
farmers, ranchers and
Evan Vucci/Associated Press The regulations
others wondering
Donald Trump has said he will move to resolve many problems impacting agri-
promulgated by
whether even mud
culture during his term in offi ce.
the Food and Drug
puddles are now under
Administration made
simplifi cation and revision.
the purview of the EPA.
any grower of a crop that can be eaten
We suggest those be the fi rst steps
Added to the EPA-funded attack
raw treat the irrigation water. This is
of
an
overhaul of the immigration
on Washington state farmers called
in spite of decades of experience that
system that would take a close
What’s Upstream, in which federal
shows such “problems” don’t exist.
look at the impact immigrants have
tax money went toward smearing
Endangered Species Act
farmers and pushing a bill in the state on agriculture and the rest of the
When
Richard Nixon signed the
economy.
legislature, the EPA has clearly lost
ESA into law, the idea was to pull
We continue to believe that those
sight of its mission, which is to keep
emblematic species such as bald eagles
illegal immigrants who have not
air and water clean.
back from the edge of extinction.
violated any other laws should be
Trade issues
That idea has long since given
allowed to pay a fi ne, learn English
Trade is the bread and butter
way to the use of the ESA by the
and receive some type of permanent
of agriculture, particularly in the
environmental industry as a blunt
legal residence status.
West. While you correctly identifi ed
instrument to stop or curb farming,
Securing the border is part of
weaknesses in the North American
ranching, oil development and mining
developing a policy that works,
Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-
across the West. Instead of bald eagles,
but making sure farmers — and
Pacifi c Partnership, that doesn’t
the ESA is used for more than a
the nation’s food supply — aren’t
diminish the importance of trade.
thousand endangered and threatened
sacrifi ced in the process is more
Upwards of 90 percent of the wheat
plants, birds, frogs and fi sh that are
important.
grown in the region, one-third of
plentiful in some areas but not in others.
Department of Labor
the apples, most of the almonds
The ESA is now used to manage
The department’s use of the “hot
and hazelnuts and much of the
ranchers and farmers instead of the
goods” order has been especially
dairy products, beef, pork, chicken,
critters and plants.
shocking. When DOL inspectors slap
cherries, grass seed and many other
The result has been an industry
a “hot goods” order on blueberries
crops are sold overseas. Whatever
consisting of environmental lawyers
and demand a confession to wage-
fl aws that exist in treaties have to be
who sue the government over missed
and-hour law violations and payment
weighed against those benefi ts.
deadlines and impact studies with the
of hundreds of thousands of dollars,
At the same time, we understand
intent of getting a pay day courtesy
they are taking away farmers’ rights to
the objections of those who say
of taxpayers and stopping economic
due process. “Hot goods” orders were
jobs have been exported, but our
activity.
formulated with manufactured goods
hope is that they can be addressed
The ESA is long overdue for an
without damaging the export trade so in mind. Using them for fresh crops
overhaul that takes into account
should be illegal.
important to the region’s producers.
today’s situation, not what was going
Another concern for agricultural
Appointments
on a half-century ago.
exporters is the West Coast container
Your new agriculture secretary will
Those are a few of our concerns
port slowdown last year that crippled signal what the next four years will
and suggestions. Again, Mr. Trump,
trade for nearly six months and cost
be like for U.S. farmers and ranchers.
we wish you the best during your
the U.S. economy billions of dollars.
Whoever it is must be familiar with
tenure in offi ce.
That a single union was allowed to
the USDA and what its 105,000
And if you need any more
trash importers and exporters is an
employees do, and why.
information, just ask a farmer.
hen the EPA-funded
What’s Upstream
campaign came to
public attention in early 2016,
a group of farmers and farm
leaders had already been pre-
paring to meet this new threat
head-on. That effort became
Save Family Farming, a new
nonprofi t organization aimed
at countering the What’s Up-
stream attack, holding indi-
viduals involved accountable,
and setting a path for a new
kind of pro-farm public strat-
egy.
Farmers and their farm
associations have long been
strong advocates for farming.
The success of farm support
legislation and the strong sup-
port of the public in general
demonstrate that.
But in the past few years,
something new has emerged
which calls for a new ap-
proach to farm advocacy. En-
vironmental nonprofi ts need
new targets to energize their
followers and raise funds. “In-
dustrial agriculture” seems to
them to fi t the bill. The rapidly
growing band of environmen-
tal lawyers need to cast about
for new targets to stay ahead
of the competition.
A few tribes, with strong
federal support, push treaty
rights claims at the expense
of farming. Today’s media,
rocked by continuing audi-
ence losses, need the harsh ac-
cusations of activists to stoke
the outrage they depend on
for ratings. Elected represen-
tatives, knowing the strong
support of younger voters for
anything labeled “environ-
mental” are quick to assume
accusations in the media are
accurate and refl ect voter
opinion.
Food safety, anti-GMO,
farm labor and climate change
activists similarly see a juicy
target in industrial agriculture.
The result is growing public
doubt about farmers, conven-
tional farming methods and
environmental stewardship.
In this new environment,
what has worked in the past is
less effective. Backroom re-
lationship building with reg-
ulators and elected leaders is
necessary, but not suffi cient.
“Just tell a positive story”
doesn’t work when opponents
effectively place the black
hat on farmers. Social media
plays powerfully into the mix
enabling lies, distortions and
accusations to quickly gain
momentum.
As President Obama said
recently, “People, if they just
repeat attacks enough, and
outright lies over and over
again, as long as it’s on Face-
book and people can see it, as
long as it’s on social media,
people start believing it. And
it creates this dust cloud of
nonsense.”
In responding to What’s
Upstream, Save Family Farm-
ing has set a new path based
on these convictions:
• Be pro-active: The best
defense is a good offense.
• Be aggressive: The black
hat has to be on somebody —
if not farmers, someone else.
• Protect the truth: Lies
have to be strongly countered
because if repeated often
enough they become the truth.
• Secure clout: Politicians
operate on “pain avoidance”
and therefore must see you
W
Guest
comment
Gerald Baron
can cause them pain.
• Be the broadcaster: So-
cial media and digital com-
munications used correctly
provide unprecedented oppor-
tunities to reach audiences
directly.
• Reach out: The most im-
portant audience is the young-
er urban voter who under-
stands the least about farming
but ultimately has the most to
say.
• Unify: Without farm-
ers putting aside differences
and working together toward
a common goal of preserv-
ing farming, our effective-
ness will be severely limited.
Farmers who don’t see them-
selves threatened and don’t
help protect other farmers
may fi nd themselves alone
when the attacks come their
way.
The foundation of this
strategy is environmental
stewardship by farmers. If we
do not care for the environ-
ment and meet the broader
community’s expectations,
our future is in doubt.
Fortunately, most accu-
sations against farmers on
environmental topics are
massive exaggerations, inten-
tional distortions or outright
lies. That’s fortunate because
the overreach of What’s Up-
stream sponsors such as the
Western Environmental Law
Center will ultimately harm
their credibility with the en-
vironmental crowd once their
dishonesty is understood.
The vast majority of
farmers do care and our big-
gest challenge is informing
a poorly informed electorate
and urban voter about the re-
markable progress farmers
are making in caring for wa-
ter, habitat, wildlife, land, air
and all things environmental.
Telling this story effectively is
the key to our future survival.
Early on in the process
of putting together groups
of farmers to lead this kind
of effort one farmer said,
“We don’t know how to do
this kind of thing.” I replied,
“Yes, we do. We just need to
do what the activists do.” We
need to become pro-farm ac-
tivists. We need a whole army
of pro-agtivists if the future of
our farms is to be secured.
For this to happen, farm-
ers, farm supporters and farm
association leaders need to
clearly understand that we are
in a new era and new strate-
gies are required. The support
of Save Family Farmers by
farm leaders in Washington
demonstrates that many are
understanding.
Strong, pro-active, unifi ed
public outreach is the key to
the future of farming. Without
meaning to do so, the spon-
sors of What’s Upstream have
made that lesson very clear.
Gerald Baron is the
founder and executive direc-
tor of Save Family Farming,
a Washington farm advocacy
group focused on responding
to attacks on farming such as
What’s Upstream. Baron is a
crisis communication expert
with global experience in
the energy industry and the
author of “Now Is Too Late:
Survival in the Era of Instant
News.”
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