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CapitalPress.com
October 13, 2017
Editorials are written by or
approved by members of the
Capital Press Editorial Board.
All other commentary pieces are
the opinions of the authors but
not necessarily this newspaper.
Opinion
Editorial Board
Editor & Publisher
Managing Editor
Joe Beach
Carl Sampson
opinions@capitalpress.com Online: www.capitalpress.com/opinion
O UR V IEW
Klamath Falls creates ag opportunities at home
K
lamath Falls, Ore., is in
the same position as many
rural communities in the
West — too few opportunities to
keep young people from running
off to the city.
Also like most communities,
farmers and agribusiness owners
in the Klamath Basin hope
to pass on local agriculture
to future generations. But in
Klamath Falls, they’re doing
something about it and their
example is worth other towns
with similar resources emulating.
Klamath Community College
has an agricultural sciences
program that offers classes that
can go toward a bachelor’s
degree from Oregon State
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Keith Duren, center, who leads the agriculture program at Klamath Community
College in Klamath Falls, Ore., discusses the advanced equipment in the cam-
pus’ chemistry lab during a tour. A program at KCC enables students to obtain a
four-year degree without leaving the campus.
University.
The program boasts
equipment that would
make many four-year
universities jealous. Its
chemistry and biology labs
have such equipment as a
gas chromatography-mass
spectrometry device for
identifying different substances
within a test sample. There’s an
atomic absorption monitor and a
DNA synthesizer.
The 21-year-old campus also
offers support for students who
are fi nishing their degrees at
OSU online.
“Studies have shown there’s
a probability of kids staying
in the community if they
graduate (from college) in that
community,” said Keith Duren,
who leads KCC’s ag program.
“We’re going to die if we don’t
have that next generation.”
Despite decades of disputes
over water in the basin, there
are still ample opportunities
for young people to get into
the area’s $300 million ag
industry. Efforts by the college
and growers to introduce both
the community and high school
students to the opportunities
that exist at home appear to be
paying off.
“There’s been a concern for
years about kids who go off to
college not coming home,” said
Scott White, executive director
of the Klamath Water Users
Association. “But there’s been
a change. Some of the kids are
wanting to stay. ... It’s a pretty
exciting thing.”
Indeed.
O UR V IEW
Wood construction becomes sexy again
T
hese are exciting times for the timber
industry.
Government forest managers and their
political bosses fi nally appear to recognize that
more effective management of public forests
is needed to help prevent future wildfi res and
reduce their severity.
Beyond timber management, however, are
innovations that promise new uses for timber in
construction. Among them is “mass timber” that
is used in “tallwood design.” As an example,
a credit union in Hillsboro, Ore., is using
glulam beams to construct its new fi ve-story,
150,000-square-foot headquarters building.
Another building planned for Portland will be
12 stories tall and constructed of cross-laminated
timber, called CLT. It will dwarf the seven-story
building in Minneapolis, Minn., that is currently
the tallest mass timber structure in the nation.
To explore the uses and design possibilities
of mass timber, the University of Oregon
architecture program is combining efforts
with Oregon State University’s forestry and
engineering programs to create the Tallwood
Design Institute.
In other words, wood construction is sexy
again. Once relegated to home construction and
one- or two-story projects, lumber was seen as an
excellent material for relatively small structures.
Then came cutting-edge projects such as the
Metropol Parasol in Seville, Spain. It is among
the largest wooden structures in the world. Made
of laminated lumber coated in polyurethane to
protect it from the weather, the ethereal design
of six interconnected “mushrooms” soars 85 feet
tall and covers an area that is 490 feet by 230
feet.
Built in 2011, it shades the entire city square
and houses a restaurant, museum, farmers’
market and a walkway that allows visitors a
bird’s-eye view of the historic city.
The future of mass timber is nearly unlimited.
Larger mass timbers such as CLTs made by DR
Johnson Lumber Co. in Riddle, Ore., and mass
plywood panels made by Freres Lumber Co.
in Lyons, Ore., offer architects and engineers
possibilities that didn’t even exist a few years ago.
Better-managed forests, combined with
innovative products, designs and structures
demonstrate that the timber industry’s future is
brighter than it’s been in a long time.
ABOVE: The
Metropol Parasol
in Seville, Spain,
is one of the
largest wooden
structures in the
world.
Wikimedia Commons
‘No’ crowd opposes strong U.S. farm policy
By PHILLIP HAYES
For the Capital Press
F
or decades, agriculture’s
adversaries have said
“no” to almost any poli-
cy that helped farmers.
When farm policy was re-
formed to be more free-mar-
ket-oriented, critics said it
wasn’t enough. When the ag-
ricultural sector stood alone
and volunteered funding
cuts to help close America’s
budget defi cit, critics said it
wasn’t enough. When farm-
ers began contributing to
their own safety net through
crop insurance to offset risk
to taxpayers, critics said it
wasn’t enough.
And now that the 2014
Farm Bill has come in tens of
billions under budget, critics
still say it isn’t enough.
“No” appears to be the
only message the Environ-
mental Working Group, Her-
Guest
comment
Phillip Hayes
itage Foundation, U.S. Pub-
lic Interest Research Group,
Club for Growth and other
perennial farm policy oppo-
nents are capable of deliver-
ing.
And they set a “nation-
al summit” in Washington,
D.C., on Oct. 4 to discuss
new ways to say no.
Could farmers or the pub-
lic attend this summit?
No. But if it were an open
meeting, some tough ques-
tions would likely follow. For
example:
Do EWG, Heritage and
others think it’s awkward to
advocate the elimination of
tools like crop insurance that
farmers will need to rebuild
following the hurricanes?
No. The crowd was to
hear opening remarks from a
senator who introduced legis-
lation to effectively disman-
tle crop insurance just after
Hurricane Harvey decimated
the Gulf Coast and Irma was
bearing down on Florida.
Will Heritage rethink its
“Blueprint for Agricultural
Policy” now that a former
USDA offi cial called out
the group for cherry-picking
USDA data and including
non-farm income to distort
agriculture’s fi nancial pic-
ture?
No. In fact, Heritage just
doubled down on its analy-
sis and accused the former
USDA offi cial of opposing
“freedom in agriculture,”
whatever that means.
Will groups like the
American Enterprise Insti-
tute stop paying professors
with confl icts of interest to
prepare its advocacy materi-
als … especially after Politi-
co exposed AEI’s “American
Boondoggle” series, which
was released during the last
farm bill?
No. These papers are a big
source of fundraising, and the
American Enterprise Institute
is planning to release a fol-
low-up series later this month.
Do free-trade advocates
like Club for Growth recog-
nize the hypocrisy of lobby-
ing to dismantle U.S. farm
policy while saying nothing
of increased ag subsidies and
trade roadblocks in other
countries?
No. Not even after a top
trade attorney in D.C. took
critics to task for ignoring
foreign subsidies and weak-
ening America’s ability to
advance free trade in agri-
culture on a global scale. As
the attorney noted, unilateral
disarmament is not a sound
farm policy; it’s a recipe for
foreign dependence.
Do extreme libertarian
members of the anti-farm
crowd mind working with
EWG, which recently pro-
posed a slew of costly en-
vironmental regulations for
rural America? Conversely,
do extreme environmental-
ists like U.S. PIRG mind that
their libertarian counterparts
support cutting Farm Bill
projects that promote con-
servation, education and nu-
trition?
No. Apparently, ideolo-
gy can be malleable when it
is expedient, which explains
the meeting. With that, here’s
one fi nal question to consid-
er:
Does anyone actually
agree with the “no” crowd
that America is better off
without strong policies that
defend our country’s food se-
curity?
No. Thankfully, most
Americans are far more sen-
sible. According to a 2016
poll, 8 in 10 Americans be-
lieve agriculture is critical to
the country’s security, and 92
percent said it was important
to provide farmers with fed-
eral funding.
Yes, that makes a lot more
sense.
Phillip Hayes manag-
es Farm Policy Facts, a
national coalition dedi-
cated to educating law-
makers about the benefits
of a strong farm policy.
Members include the As-
sociation of Equipment
Manufacturers, American
Sugar Alliance, Minnesota
Corn Growers Association,
National Association of
Wheat Growers, National
Cotton Council, National
Crop Insurance Services,
Southwest Council of Agri-
business, and USA Rice
Federation.