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CapitalPress.com
June 1, 2018
Radio work, side jobs keep small-farm operator on farm
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
It took a half-dozen years
and about as many side jobs,
but Matt Brechwald is now
able to stay on his small farm
most of the time.
“The whole reason I do
all the things I do is so I can
farm, and so I can manage the
farm as efficiently as possi-
ble,” he said.
Brechwald proves it can
be tough making a living on a
small farm or ranch, but that
there are also solutions.
He made the switch from
part-time farmer with full-
time job elsewhere — his was
as a Boise police officer — to
full-time farmer with a col-
lection of side jobs. Ag radio
broadcaster, adjunct profes-
sor, livestock courier, gopher
Brad Carlson/Capital Press
Matt Brechwald grew his podcast and radio broadcast presence to
a sizable scale in recent years as part of a multi-venture effort to
stay on his small farm most of the time.
exterminator and rental prop-
erty owner are among his re-
cent jobs off the farm.
“The farm is not capable
of providing all necessary
household income, so to be
able to stay here, I found ways
to work from home and have
a more flexible schedule,”
Brechwald said.
Speaker encourages women in
agriculture to find their strengths
“Off-farm income” is how
he labels revenue a farmer
can generate outside the ag-
ricultural operation, such as
a venture tapping a farmer’s
unique skills and collection of
in-demand equipment.
“Entrepreneurship is a
very, very good way to gener-
ate off-farm income,” Brech-
wald said.
Farmers, in addition to
possessing skills ranging
from mechanical and con-
struction work to handling
heavy equipment and chemi-
cals, “have a very strong work
ethic, which makes them very
good at providing agricultural
services for other people,” he
said.
But since mistakes and
missed opportunities can be
magnified on small farms or
ranches due to limitations on
spreading risk, the off-farm
venture must offer substantial
flexibility in addition to good
financial prospects.
“It’s all about farming,”
said Brechwald, 44.
He owned and operated
Idaho Gopher Control for
five years before selling the
business in 2017 and plow-
ing the proceeds back into
the Kuna, Idaho, farm he runs
with his wife, Autumn, and
their daughter. They raise cat-
tle, pigs, goats and hay on 25
acres they own in an area ex-
periencing suburban growth.
Brechwald lately is busy
doing podcast and broadcast
work — including for the na-
tional FFA organization and
a regional retail chain, both
stemming from independent
podcasting he started five
years ago. He said the rurally
focused RFD-TV noticed his
early work.
He coaches and consults
— clients include business-
es interested in doing their
own ag podcasts — teaches
courses, gives public presen-
tations, and develops content
for instructional or marketing
purposes.
Ag-driven
entrepre-
neurship is a key theme for
Brechwald, a Montana State
University animal and range
sciences graduate who also
holds a master’s degree in
criminal justice from Boise
State University.
He said he aims to grow
his own off-farm ventures and
“coach more people on doing
what I want to do, which is to
stay out in the country — al-
though the city is coming to
me.”
Bill would ease restrictions
on livestock, bee haulers
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Capital Press
TWIN FALLS, Idaho —
Networking and motivation
was the theme of the Women
in Ag lunch, hosted by Rabo
AgriFinance for clients on
Thursday.
Keynote speaker Sarah
Beth Aubrey — an executive
coach, author, entrepreneur
and cattle producer — en-
gaged women in discussions
on using their strengths and
rethinking priorities to im-
prove effectiveness on their
operations.
Agriculture is shifting,
with massive changes in
leadership as the next gener-
ation takes the helm. Women
need to be preparing them-
selves for their role in that
change and remember that
leadership doesn’t have to be
at the head of the room.
“I encourage you to make
a concentrated effort to iden-
tify your strengths,” she said.
Leading with those
strengths will result in high-
er confidence, better perfor-
mance and higher earnings
for their operations. It will
also lead to better deci-
sion-making and alleviate
women’s inherent tendency
to try to be all things to all
people, she said.
She suggested wom-
en start with the Gallup
StrengthFinder questionnaire
and embrace those strengths
in making decisions and
leading their team.
“When we harness our
strength, people follow us,”
she said. Women can do a
“phenomenal job” in agri-
culture with that leadership
piece.
Knowing their strengths,
they can also surround them-
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
Sarah Beth Aubrey, left, speaks with women at the Rabo AgriFi-
nance Women in Ag luncheon in Twin Falls, Idaho, on May 24.
selves with people who have
different strengths to make
the operation more efficient
and effective. And while they
sometimes inherit the team
they work with, there’s op-
portunity for more diversity
with new hires to fill in the
strength gaps, she said.
Identifying strengths and
being motivated to make
effective changes are not
enough, however. Practical
application is needed for suc-
cess, she said.
To facilitate that applica-
tion, Aubrey demonstrated
a priority matrix with four
boxes women can use to sort
priorities for their operations.
The first box contains the
low maintenance/high value
items, important things that
add value that are function-
ing efficiently. It’s the win/
win box, she said.
The second box contains
the low value/low mainte-
nance items, which can be a
real sand trap. Those are the
quick and easy things that
people might be filling their
time with instead of delegat-
ing those duties. And if they
have low value, those items
might not be needed any
more.
The third box contains the
high maintenance/high value
items. Those items can be
another sand trap for leaders
and a black hole for CEOs.
Those items are important
because there’s high value
there, but they probably also
need to be on the list to dele-
gate to someone else.
The final box contains
the no value/high mainte-
nance items, the dog house
box and a waste of resources.
Those things are not import
but take a lot of time. A lot
of times they tend to be ref-
erenced with the statement
“but we’ve always done it
that way,” she said.
Agriculture is a pro-
cess-oriented industry, and
the priority matrix gives
women a tool to dissect tasks
and set priorities to be able
to apply their strengths, she
said.
The take-away is that
women have value and can
use their strengths effec-
tively for their own organi-
zations, their farms and the
industry, she said.
A bill in the U.S. Senate
would ease strict trucking
regulations for haulers of live
animals and insects requiring
rest time for drivers that can
endanger livestock.
Introduced by Sen. Ben
Sasse, R-Neb., and 10 of
his colleagues, Transporting
Livestock Across America
Safely Act addresses a nation-
al mandate by the Department
of Transportation requiring
electronic logging devices
to track truckers’ time on the
road.
At issue for the livestock
industry are the hours of ser-
vice rules, which limit com-
mercial truckers to 11 hours
of driving time and 14 consec-
utive hours of on-duty time in
a 24-hour period.
Once they reach that limit,
they have to pull off the road
for 10 hours before driving
again.
The mandate went into ef-
fect on Dec. 18 with a compli-
ance exemption for livestock
haulers until March 18. DOT
again extended that exemp-
tion to mid-June, and a con-
gressional delay extended it
through Sept. 30.
The rule includes an ex-
emption for agriculture for the
first 150 air miles, after which
truckers must start tracking
their time.
The Senate bill would in-
crease that exemption to 300
air miles and allow drivers to
complete their trip regardless
of how long they’ve been on
the road if they are within
150 air miles of their delivery
point.
It also extends the maxi-
mum drive time to a minimum
Tim O’Byrne/Working Ranch magazine
A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would ease restrictions on
hours of service for truckers hauling livestock and honeybees.
of 15 hours and a maximum
of 18 hours and requires driv-
ers to then take a break that is
five hours less than their max-
imum time on duty.
In addition, it exempts
loading and unloading from
the drive time calculation and
allows drivers to take a break
without counting toward their
on-duty time.
Livestock organizations
were quick to applaud the bill
and the senators’ action.
The current hours of ser-
vice rule presents a challenge
for the cattle industry and can
often jeopardize the health
and wellbeing of livestock,
Kevin Kester, National Cat-
tlemen’s Beef Association
president, said.
“Hauling livestock is in-
herently different than haul-
ing products like paper towels
or bottles of water. Live cattle
can’t simply be left unattend-
ed in a trailer — especially
in very hot or cold weather
— for extended periods,” he
said.
“We feel like this bill takes
into account the flexibility
that livestock haulers need,”
Allison Rivera, NCBA exec-
utive director of government
affairs, said.
National Pork Producers
Council and the U.S. Cattle-
men’s Association agree.
NPPC has argued that be-
cause livestock are vulnera-
ble to health issues triggered
by extreme temperatures,
long-established
industry
standards preclude drivers
from stopping while hauling
animals.
“NPPC is pleased that
Congress recognizes that the
hours of service rules need to
be reformed to addresses the
unique challenges and needs
of livestock haulers,” Dave
Warner, NPPC spokesman,
said.
The bill finally affords
livestock and insect haulers
flexibility in the hours of ser-
vice rules, Steve Hiker, USCA
transportation
committee
chairman, said.
“We asked and Congress
answered,” he said.
Environmental groups challenge Oregon
timber sale over rodents that live in trees
Project located
on the Umpqua
National Forest
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
22-3/106
Three
environmental
groups are suing the U.S.
Forest Service to stop an 847-
acre logging project on the
Umpqua National Forest in
southern Oregon, about 22
miles southeast of Cottage
Grove.
Cascadia Wildlands, Ore-
gon Wild and the Benton For-
est Coalition filed the lawsuit
May 16 in U.S. District Court
in Eugene, Ore., arguing the
Quartz Integrated Project
threatens a small tree-dwell-
ing rodent called the red tree
vole, which is prey for the
northern spotted owl.
“It is incredibly disap-
pointing to again witness the
Forest Service targeting ma-
ture forests to solely benefit
private timber interests,” said
Nick Cady, legal director at
Cascadia Wildlands.
The lawsuit also names
Alice Carlton, Umpqua Na-
tional Forest supervisor, as a
defendant. Kimberly Briggs,
district ranger for the Cottage
Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team
Environmental groups are suing
the Forest Service to stop log-
ging on the Umpqua National
Forest to protect the red tree
vole, a small tree-dwelling
rodent that serves as prey for
the northern spotted owl.
Grove Ranger District, signed
off on the Quartz project in
2017, which was designed
to improve the health of tree
stands, increase fire resilien-
cy, maintain meadow and
aquatic habitats and provide
for a timber sale.
The project includes 847
acres of commercial tree thin-
ning, 374 acres of surface and
ladder fuels treatment and 48
acres of meadow restoration.
Most of the logging would
be done by cable systems
and helicopters.
In its environmental anal-
ysis and biological opinion,
the Forest Service found that
logging will likely impact the
northern spotted owl, down-
grading 349 acres of nesting,
roosting and foraging habitat
and removing 305 acres of
dispersal habitat.
However, the project “is
not likely to jeopardize the
continued existence of the
spotted owl and is not likely
to adversely modify spotted
owl critical habitat.”
Red tree vole surveys were
also conducted during the fall
of 2016. According to the
lawsuit, the Northwest Eco-
system Survey Team found 75
vole nests in the forests slat-
ed for logging, but the Forest
Service decided to proceed
with the project.
The red tree vole is already
in a tough position, Cady
said, due to past logging in
Oregon’s Coast and Cascade
mountain ranges.
The North Oregon Coast
population of voles is con-
sidered a candidate for listing
under the Endangered Species
Act by the U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service, from the Siuslaw
River north to the Columbia
River, due to habitat loss and
fragmentation.