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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
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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-
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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
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