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September 15, 2017 Western Washington county looks to farmers for advice Pierce County resurrects agriculture commission CapitalPress.com 5 Oregon ag attorney John Albert dies at 66 Lawyer was known for specializing in agricultural liens, bankruptcy law By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press By DON JENKINS Capital Press Pierce County, Washing- ton’s second-most populous county, has appropriated $25,000 to re-establish an agriculture commission to ad- vise county policymakers. Reviving the commission, axed during the recession several years ago, will help county leaders understand the challenges faced by the small percentage of the population in commercial agriculture, vegetable farmer Rosella Mosby said. “The disconnect is real,” she said. “Anything that has some influence on agriculture should be run though an agri- culture commission.” The Farm Bureau, at the county and state levels, advo- cated restoring the advisory board partly in response to a debate in Pierce County over how much land should be des- ignated “agricultural resource lands.” Environmental groups said increasing the number of acres with that label would protect farmland from urban sprawl. Some farmers said that zoning — a mixed bag of benefits and restrictions — may preserve farmland, but it wasn’t enough to preserve the business of farming and complained about not being consulted. After spending $230,000 on a planning consultant’s re- port last year to help it sort out the issues, the county council recently kept the number of acres designated for agricul- ture the same. The episode was confus- Courtesy of Mosby Farms Workers harvest rhubarb at Mosby Farms, which produces vegetables in Pierce and King counties in Western Washington. The Pierce County Council has approved funding to re-establish an agriculture commission to advise policymakers. ing, unproductive and may have been avoided if the county council had an adviso- ry board made up of farmers, said agricultural consultant Daniel Muir, a Pierce-King Farm Bureau board member and also manager of his fami- ly’s wheat farm in Kansas. “Without farmers, the pub- lic was missing information,” he said. “To me, nothing was ever accomplished.” Other Western Washing- ton counties — including King, Snohomish, Thurston, Skagit and Whatcom counties — have agriculture commis- sions. “An advisory board, made up of farmers and pro- ducers representing a wide variety of agricultural prod- ucts, ag-related businesses and agricultural profession- als from associated agencies, would serve the county and its farmers well,” Washing- ton Farm Bureau CEO John Stuhlmiller wrote in a May letter to Pierce County Exec- utive Bruce Dammeier said. The council adopted a pro- posal by Councilwoman Pam Roach in June to put the ag- riculture commission back in the county budget. “We need to have an ag commission up and running to be a voice for farmers,” Roach said. “It’s an opportu- nity to shore up farmers in our area.” The county code calls for the county executive to ap- point seven voting members to the agriculture commis- sion. Five must be producers. Muir said that the commis- sion should include large and small producers, and organic and conventional growers. “Our hope would be to submit a diversified list of farmers, but the point is they would be farmers,” he said. “Not having an ag com- mission in this county leaves farmer at a distinct disadvan- tage,” Muir said. “They (county leaders) don’t hear about the organic farmer who loves fish, but, by the way, that fish project, is going to crush his livelihood,” he said. “That story is not be- ing told.” An Oregon attorney known for advocating on be- half of farmers, John Albert, passed away last month at the age of 66. Albert died suddenly in Salem, Ore., on Aug. 27 from what’s believed to be a massive heart attack. A memorial service was held Sept. 8. After graduating from law school in 1976, Albert initially took a job with the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office and then held positions in Klamath Falls and The Dalles. He became acquainted with the financial challenges faced by farmers upon join- ing the Churchill Leonard law firm in 1981, where he specialized in agricultural liens and bankruptcy law. “Ag law was not his only area of expertise, but it was a primary area of expertise,” said Stephen Tweet, Albert’s friend and longtime law partner. Among his most notable cases was the bankruptcy of the seed company AgriBio- Tech in 2000, which threat- ened to leave many grass seed farmers unpaid for their crops. While his farmer clients initially feared huge losses, Albert was able to recover a “fair hunk” of what they were owed, Tweet said. “There were still losses but I believe a fair percentage of the growers’ claims were paid.” Agricultural liens are a crucial tool for farmers who deliver crops to companies that go bankrupt, since they Courtesy of Sherman, Sherman Johnnie & Hoyt John D. Albert secure collateral in the buy- er’s assets that can be used to compensate growers. In such cases, Albert would often battle with banks that claimed to have the top priority for repay- ment, said Tweet. “The bank is competing with the farmer over who gets paid first, so that was a huge fight.” After a decade at Chur- chill Leonard, Albert struck out on his own, forming two law firms with Tweet in the 1990s. He joined the firm of Sherman, Sherman, Johnnie & Hoyt after Tweet retired in 2014. Aside from courtroom disputes, Albert also fought for farmers in the Oregon Legislature, where he was instrumental in the passage of a law strengthening their contract protections in 2011. Among other provisions, House Bill 2159 established a mandatory payment date for delivered grass seed and a mechanism for resolving disagreements over price. When he wasn’t delving into legal issues, Albert led an active lifestyle in his free time as a soccer referee, gar- dener and marathon runner. “I couldn’t have been more shocked,” Tweet said of his friend’s death. 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