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2 CapitalPress.com March 3, 2017 People & Places Telling ag’s story on social media Michele Payn encourages farmers to communicate on a personal level Western Innovator By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press Michele Payn describes herself as a farm girl, author, mom, science enthusiast, mo- tivator and innovator. She combines all those talents to be a “food transla- tor,” someone who encourag- es farmers and non-farmers to meet to- gether at the center of the food plate and share their com- monalities. As the keynote s p e a k e r Michele Payn during the annual Idaho Ag Summit on Feb. 21, Payn encouraged farmers and other industry leaders to engage people on social media about food and farming issues. Environmental activist groups are reaching millions of people through Facebook, Twitter and other social me- dia outlets — and they are not telling people things about agriculture that are friendly toward the industry, she said. “Do you think PETA is putting any (positive) images out about farmers and ranch- ers?” she asked. “If I want the Michele Payn Title: “Food translator,” farm girl, mother, author Home: Central Indiana Professional: Bachelor’s degrees in animal science and agricultural communi- cations from Michigan State University Submitted Photo Website: www.causemat- ters.com Author, self-described farm girl and “food translator” Michele Payn with her cows on her central Indi- ana farm. right story to be told about how I’m taking care of my animals the right way, I have to be participating in the con- versation.” Here to stay Social media conversa- tions about food and farming are happening with or without farmers, Payn said. “Maybe we all wish it would go away,” she said. “But it’s here to stay and it’s having a substantial influence over your future.” As an example of how much misinformation there is about farming and food, Payn pointed to peppers with a non- GMO label on them. “Have there ever been GMO peppers? No,” she said. “Does Suzie Q. Consumer know that? No. How is she ever going to know that? There’s no question social media has a lot of nonsense on it. So where is the sense going to come from if it’s not from you?” Giving a voice Payn, whose second book, “Food Truths from Farm to Table” comes out March 20, grew up on a dairy farm in Michigan and now resides on a small farm in central In- diana with her daughter. She founded a company, Cause Matters Corp., as a way to “give a voice to the farmers who feed the world.” By JAN JACKSON Payn encourages farmers to connect with people on a personal level and not “bash them over the head” with facts and science. “What I always try to encourage them to do is not data dump or puke science on people’s shoes but to connect on a human level,” she said. “Food is a deep- ly personal choice (and) cramming facts and science down people’s throats clos- es ears.” Personal level Connecting on a personal level will enable farmers to reach more people, Payn said. “It’s time to change the conversation, folks,” she said. Online For the Capital Press Calendar For more information, visit smallfarmconference.org. Jan Jackson/For the Capital Press As new farmers and first-time conference attendees, Sue and Joerg Delventhal with their son, Tim, focused on organic weed management and dryland farming techniques Feb. 18 at the 2017 Small Farm Conference in Corvallis, Ore. on Chehalem Mountain near Newberg. The property is heavily wooded, which almost makes us more like home- steaders than farmers.” She heard about the confer- ence after a visit to the OSU Yamhill Extension office in McMinnville. “After attending, I saw that it wouldn’t matter who you were or what you were doing, you could find something there Sponsored by: To submit an event go to the Community Events calendar on the home page of our website at www. capitalpress.com and click on “Sub- mit an Event.” Calendar items can also be mailed to Capital Press, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 or emailed to newsroom@ capitalpress.com. Monday, March 6 Exploring the Small Farm Dream. 5:30-8:30 p.m. OSU Exten- sion Auditorium, 569 Haley Road, Central Point, Ore. This is the first of a three-session course that pro- vides an excellent framework to help new farmers assess their skills and interests, learn the realities of farm business ownership and be- come connected to local resources. The aim is to help those thinking about small-scale commercial farm- ing learn what it will take to start and manage a farm business, and decide whether that is something they really want to pursue. Cost: $75 per person; $100 per couple. Website: http://bit.ly/JacksonSmall- FarmDream Wednesday, March 8 Taxes and Succession Plan- ning. Noon-1 p.m. Join us for a free online webinar and an introduction to how planning ahead for estate and gift taxes can help address family and business needs and meet retirement goals for the cur- Established 1928 Board of directors Mike Forrester Steve Forrester Kathryn Brown Susan Rana Mike Omeg Capital Press Managers John Perry ................................Publisher Joe Beach ..................................... Editor Elizabeth Yutzie Sell .... Advertising Director Carl Sampson ................Managing Editor Barbara Nipp ......... Production Manager Samantha McLaren .... Circulation Manager Entire contents copyright © 2017 EO Media Group dba Capital Press Age: 47 “We have to look at this a lit- tle bit differently.” Idaho State Department of Agriculture Director Ce- lia Gould said Payn’s mes- sage “really resonated with me.” “I think it’s critical to our industry to explain what we do and why we do it,” she said. “We have to be better advocates of our industry.” Idaho Barley Commission Administrator Kelly Olson said what she took away from Payn’s presentation is that “not only do we need to have a fuller engagement on the social media platform but we probably need to retool our message. That was enlighten- ing to me.” Small farm conference helps attendees thrive CORVALLIS, Ore. — New and experienced small farm enthusiasts made up the near-capacity crowd at the 17th Annual Oregon Small Farm Conference Feb. 18 on the Oregon State University campus. The sessions were geared toward farmers, agricultural professionals, food policy ad- vocates, students and farmers’ market managers. Attendees could go to some of the 27 sessions offered throughout the day and had ac- cess to 45 industry vendors, an industry-rich resource book- store, a breakfast and lunch of local foods and “Think and Drink” information-sharing sessions throughout the day. First-time attendee Sue Delventhal came with her hus- band, Joerg, and their 13-year- old son, Tim. “This not only is our first conference, but we are new to farming,” Delventhal said. “Two-and-one-half years ago, Joerg and I followed our dream and bought five acres on a 1,400-foot elevation ridge Capital Press rent generation. Presented by: Car- ol Wachter and Heather Tomsick, Deloitte Tax LLP, and the Austin Family Business Program, Oregon State University. 800-859-7609, http://bit.ly/2gW7Kjq Thursday, March 9 OFRF’s 20th Annual Organic Benefit Luncheon. 10:45 a.m.-2 p.m. City National Grove of Ana- heim, 2200 East Katella Ave., Ana- heim, Calif. The Organic Farming Research Foundation celebrates its 20th anniversary. Keynote speaker will be Kathleen Merrigan, executive director of sustainability at George Washington University and former deputy secretary of the USDA. She helped write the law establishing national standards for organic food. Cost: $100. http://bit. ly/2lsre2h Small Farms and Community Food Systems Workshop Series. 6-8:30 p.m. University of Idaho Extension, 2200 Michigan Ave., Orofino, Idaho. This is the first of three Thursday evening workshops. Topic is growing and marketing tree fruits, berries and table grapes featuring Mike and Joan Mount, Green Things Nursery. Please mail registrations with payment to UI Extension Workshop Fund, 2200 Michigan Ave., Orofino, ID 83544 prior to the workshop. Sign-in will begin at 5:30 each evening. Seating is limited to 25 people. Cost: $5 per of value,” she said. “My prior- ity was the session on organic weed management and I was really impressed with what I was able to learn. I know now that I have basically two types of weeds, that I need to do more mulching and I need to do a lot more studying on the subject.” Joerg was most interested in the dryland farming session. “We have a great loam soil but living on top of a moun- tain gives us water issues,” she said. “Because I’m the one home in the daytime, I am able to do a lot of the farm work but Joerg and Tim get called in on all of the big muscle jobs.” The conference started in Eugene in 2000 and moved to Corvallis two years later. “There were 50 at the first one, then 180, 240, 800 and today there were 925,” Chris- sy Lucas, one of the event coordinators, said. “Some people come every year, and some come if there are specific sessions they need. First-timers made up 40 percent of the attendees this year.” Featured among the pre- senters this year were farm- er-authors Ben Hartman of Clay Bottom Farm in Goshen Ind., and Josh Volk of Slow Hand Farm near Portland, Ore. The books “The Lean Farm: How to Minimize Waste, Increase Efficien- cy and Maximize Value and Profits with Less Work” by Hartman and “Compact Farms: 15 Proven Plans for Market Farms on 5 Acres or Less: Includes Detailed Farm Layouts for Productivity and Efficiency” by Volk are avail- able at Amazon.com. “Our goal is to bring peo- ple together to help solve problems of small-scale farming,” Garry Stephenson, OSU Extension small farms specialist and small farms program coordinator, said. “Both of our featured pre- senters drew 200 to 250 peo- ple each in their sessions.” He said the target market for the conference is “both young people who are inter- ested in and already doing it and an older group of people who are doing it as a second career.” “We are trying to help them with profit, viability and, most of all, show them ways to stay nimble,” Ste- phenson said. “As soon as we get this conference eval- uated, we’ll start on the next one set for Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018.” GASES / WELDING / SAFETY / FIRE www.oxarc.com workshop or $10 for all three. Thursday-Sunday March 9-12 Natural Products Expo West, Anaheim Convention Center, Marri- ott and Hilton hotels, 800 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim, Calif. www.expow- est.com Saturday, March 11 Northwest Bison Association annual meeting. 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Forest Grove Senior Center, 2037 Douglas St., Forest Grove, Ore. The NWBA annual meeting will focus on small-scale bison ranching and facility setup and lots of stories from ranchers that have seen ev- erything from tires as a fence to our setups and everything in between. Dr. Richard Veeman with Veterinary Services of Oregon will speak on his experience with bison along with Pat Fitzgerald with Fitzgerald Corrals. A ranch tour of the L Bar T Bison Ranch is included. Pre-regis- tration is preferred but not required. www.nwbisonassociation.com Monday, March 13 Exploring the Small Farm Dream. 5:30-8:30 p.m. OSU Exten- sion Auditorium, 569 Haley Road, Central Point, Ore. This is the sec- ond of a three-session course that provides an excellent framework to help new farmers assess their skills and interests, learn the realities of 20 Northwest Locations farm business ownership and be- come connected to local resources. The aim is to help those thinking about small-scale commercial farm- ing learn what it will take to start and manage a farm business, and decide whether that is something they really want to pursue. Cost: $75 per person; $100 per couple. Website: http://bit.ly/JacksonSmall- FarmDream Wednesday, March 15 Pudding River Meeting. 6:30- 8 p.m. Seven Brides Brewing Co., 990 N. First St., Silverton, Ore. Meet the Pudding River Watershed Council Board and hear a presenta- tion by Susan Barnes, Oregon De- partment of Fish and Wildlife region wildlife biologist. Sponsored by the watershed council, ODFW, and the Clackamas Soil and Water Conser- vation District. Agricultural Biodiversity on Farms: Conservation Practices Working for Western Farmers. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. McMenamins Edge- field, 2126 SW Halsey St. Trout- dale, Ore. A first-of-its-kind confer- ence on the benefits of agricultural biodiversity in Western farming systems and the practices that support it. Sponsored by the Oregon State University Inte- grated Plant Protection Center, the Xerces Society and Oregon Tilth. http://bit.ly/2kpWRsK 1-800-765-9055 Thursday, March 16 Small Farms and Community Food Systems Workshop Series. 6-8:30 p.m. University of Idaho Extension, 2200 Michigan Ave., Orofino, Idaho. This is the sec- ond of three Thursday evening workshops. Topic is beekeeping, honey production, pollination and bee biology featuring Pat Ball of Ball Honey Co. Please mail registrations with payment to UI Extension Workshop Fund, 2200 Michigan Ave., Orofino, ID 83544 prior to the workshop. Sign-in will begin at 5:30 each evening. Seating is limited to 25 people. Cost: $5 per workshop or $10 for all three. Building Family Business Val- ue from the Inside Out. 7:30 to 9 a.m. BridgePort BrewPub, 1313 NW Marshall St., Portland. Much can be done to build the value of the business from inside the en- terprise, and the earlier the pro- cess begins, the more sustainable the results will be. In addition to building value, most businesses become more efficient and profit- able along the way. Presented by Francis Brown, Key Private Bank and the Austin Family Business Program, Oregon State Univer- sity. 800-859-7609, http://bit. ly/2gR3KC0 An independent newspaper published every Friday. Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is published weekly by EO Media Group, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem OR 97301. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Capital Press, P.O. Box 2048 Salem, OR 97308-2048. To Reach Us Circulation ......................... 800-882-6789 Email ........ 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