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January 13, 2017 CapitalPress.com 7 Farm Bureau Convention Farm Bureau president acknowledges differences with Trump By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press PHOENIX — Zippy Du- vall, the slow-talking pres- ident of the American Farm Bureau Federation, acknowl- edged he’s frustrated by the Trump administration’s delay in appointing an agriculture secretary. “We think it should have been the first position he filled rather than the last one,” Du- vall said during a news confer- ence as the annual convention opened Jan. 8. But Duvall, a Georgia chicken and cattle producer, said President-elect Donald Trump has interviewed some “tremendous candidates” and said he has “full faith the new president will pick the right person.” One of the candidates men- Courtesy of American Farm Bureau Federation American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall ad- dresses the opening session of the organization’s annual national convention Feb. 8 in Phoenix. Duvall acknowledged that while many farmers and ranchers voted for Donald Trump, some of the president-elect’s positions run counter to agriculture’s interests. tioned lately is Sonny Perdue, a former Georgia governor and a friend of Duvall. Perdue would be a good choice, Du- vall said. The incoming president posed something of a quan- dary for producers. Rural res- idents generally voted for him, but some of Trump’s campaign rhetoric on trade and immi- gration ran counter to what farmers and ranchers believe. Many farmers employ work- ers who are in the country ille- gally, for example, and those who export products to Asia and elsewhere don’t want that trade disrupted. Duvall said he told the Trump team early on that agriculture disagreed with Trump’s opinions on trade agreements such as NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partner- ship, which Trump vowed to scrap. “We’re concerned about Mr. Trump’s opinion on trade,” Duvall said he told Trump’s representatives. “He seems to be negative on trade and ag is very dependent on it.” Duvall said illegal immi- grants in many cases have worked on farms for years and are highly skilled and in- grained in the community. The government should adjust their status and allow them to stay if they are law-abiding people, he said. “Morally we’ve got to do the right thing,” he said, adding they should be allowed to “pay a fine and get on with it.” Duvall also said he’s not worried if it turns out Trump doesn’t know corn from cattle. “If it does come up we will educate him,” Duvall said. “I’ve been in 33 states and across the country and I know where to take him.” Vice pres- ident-elect Mike Pence, from Indiana, is familiar with agri- culture, Duvall said, and that will help. On another topic, Du- vall said he’s excited about Trump’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. Many producers feel the EPA has become an over-reaching agency that is harming agri- culture, while Pruitt under- stands the limit of the laws and will carry out the intent of Congress. “I think he’s a real- ly good guy who will make a really good person in that po- sition,” Duvall said. Before meeting with re- porters, Duvall delivered the opening address. He said pro- ducers need to speak up and tell the public how they are producing more food with less water, less pesticides and less plowing. “We need to take back the concept of sustainability, because nobody works hard- er on sustainability than the American farmer and rancher, and that’s you,” he said. Arizona a land of contrasts for farming Capital Press Eric Mortenson/Capital Press Burr and Rosella Mosby farm row crops near Auburn, Wash. They wonder why the guestworker issue has to be so complicated. Ag labor shortages defy easy fixes Capital Press PHOENIX — Washington state vegetable farmers Burr and Rosella Mosby shifted in their seats and furrowed their brows as they listened to a panel discuss immigration issues during a session at the American Farm Bureau Fed- eration’s annual convention. USDA economist Tom Hertz was providing some troubling numbers for the Mosbys and other farmers who depend on workers to plant, prune, pick and pack their crops. “We hand-har- vest everything,” Burr Mosby said. Mexican immigration to the U.S. has been declining since 2007, Hertz said, and the number of Mexican-born people in the U.S., legally or illegally, has dropped from 13 million to an estimated 11.7 million in that time. The crop workers remaining are getting older: 14 percent were 55 or older in 2013-14, compared to 11 percent in 2007-09. That’s a concern because the ability to do manual la- bor declines with age, he said. Also, the percentage of workers who are settled in one spot, not migrating from job to job, has increased to 84 percent from 74 percent. Hertz said a USDA study compared two immigration reform options. Expanding H-2A ag worker visas would add 156,000 workers to the farm labor workforce, he said, while cranking up de- portations would remove an estimated 5.8 million unau- thorized workers, 40 percent of the ag workforce, over 15 years. He said removing workers would force producers to pay even higher wages to those left behind, at a time when labor costs as a percentage of farm expenses are leveling off. The Mosbys don’t believe expanding the H-2A program is a cure for agriculture’s la- bor shortage. “I just don’t know why it’s so complicated,” Burr Mosby said after the panel discussion. Mosby Farms grows row crops on 350 acres in the Green River Valley near Au- burn and sells to Safeway, Kroger and wholesalers. The farm employs about 100 peo- ple during the “heat of the battle,” a four- to six-month season. The Mosbys said they pay $11 to $12 an hour for ba- sic laborers, more for supervi- sors. Getting more workers through the H-2A program would cost more. The Mosbys said they would be required to pay $12.47 an hour, provide housing and pay for transpor- tation to and from Mexico. Mosby, a first-generation farmer, said his farm’s income went down this year by 15 cents to 25 cents per box of produce. “Our insurance nev- er goes down,” he said. Mosby said a simplified guest worker visa would be a better system. He said Mexi- can workers, assuming they pass criminal checks, should be allowed to come work on his farm, stay with relatives who are already here, and then return home after a set period of time. Eric Mortenson/Capital Press Cecil Pratt at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Phoenix, Ariz. The Yuma County, Ariz., farmer receives a water allocation of 4 acre-feet per year. Eric Mortenson/Capital Press A Frank Lloyd Wright home near the site of this year’s American Farm Bureau con- vention in Phoenix. human scale and fleets of sin- gle-occupant cars swerving aggressively across six-lane freeways that lead from one mall or gated community to the next. Neighborhood com- mercial development is spotty, forcing many people to drive everywhere. Chain restaurants predominate, long city blocks discourage walking and only fools with a death wish would venture out on a bicycle. Yet Phoenix and Arizona aren’t so easily pigeonholed. The Arizona Republic news- paper reported in June that ur- ban farming is “taking root” in Phoenix. The local food movement is taking hold as well. Taco Guild, a restaurant near down- town Phoenix, opened three 2-1/#4x By ERIC MORTENSON PHOENIX — Cecil Pratt, who farms in Yuma County, in the southwest corner of Arizo- na, recites the numbers from memory. His farm is 25 miles from the California border and 25 miles from Mexico. The coun- ty receives an average of 3.23 inches per year. In his lifetime, nearly 52 years, he has seen it snow once. The temperature dropped into the teens for five hours, once. Yet from roughly Thanks- giving to March, when the mean temperature is 73 de- grees, Yuma County becomes the salad bowl of America. Under irrigation, vast fields blossom with all kinds of let- tuce, baby spinach and brassi- cas that become the country’s winter greens. “It’s been that way for years,” says Kevin Rogers, president of the Arizona Farm Bureau. But the state’s image is parched desert and cactus. The average temperature in Phoe- nix, “Valley of the Sun” after all, cranks over 100 degrees in June, July, August and Sep- tember. “Salad bowl” doesn’t compute. “What we need is snow in the Rocky Mountains,” says Pratt, the Yuma County farm- er. Melting snow feeds the Colorado River system, and Arizona and other states sip it nearly dry. Native American tribes have the oldest water rights, but farmers like Pratt are next in line. His allocation is 4 acre-feet per year, and let- tuce takes 2, as does wheat. Growing something like al- falfa takes 6 to 8 acre-feet of water — but results in a dozen cuttings. “We all have rotation crops — wheat or cotton — but pro- duce dominates it,” Pratt said. Various researchers have warned for years that Arizona will run out of water, but it hasn’t happened yet. Meanwhile, the sprawling Phoenix metro area, which includes Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler and other cities, added nearly a million people from 2000 to 2010, when the Census counted 4.2 million residents. The city’s rapid growth is a land-use planner’s nightmare, with ponderous, dun-colored buildings looming beyond years ago in an old church and looks like it was dropped in from Portland — complete with hipster customers. Man- ager Sam Cavallaro said the restaurant makes a point of buying local products when- ever possible, and serves a collection of Arizona beer and liquor. The warm winter weath- er continues to draw retirees and famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright may have been the first snowbird. He spent winters in Arizona from 1937 until his death in 1959, and his Taliesin West home and architectural training camp in Scottsdale are open for tours. Wright’s spare, organ- ic architecture, with building lines that mimic the land- scape, is reflected in many of the homes in the area. And 95 miles north of Phoenix, near spectacular Se- dona, are reminders that Ari- zona’s first residents shared a bond with Pratt and his fellow Yuma County farmers to the south. A cliff dwelling, built by the Sinagua people about 1200 A.D. and now part of the Montezuma Castle National Monument, hugs the bend of Beaver Creek. The Sinagua used the creek to irrigate their crops, beans and corn. ROP-2-2-1/#14 By ERIC MORTENSON 2-1/#18
