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CapitalPress.com
Friday, August 21, 2020
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
Editor & Publisher
Managing Editor
Joe Beach
Carl Sampson
opinions@capitalpress.com | CapitalPress.com/opinion
Our View
Got milk? An oldie but goodie is back
W
e were happy to hear that
the dairy industry has
revived the iconic “Got
Milk?” advertising campaign.
The original campaign was started
by the California Milk Processor
Board. The national campaign was
operated by the Milk Processor Edu-
cation Program. After a six-year hia-
tus, MilkPEP is bringing the campaign
back in light of increased sales during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Not to return to the past,” Milk-
PEP said, “but to bring forward
this iconic tagline and product in
a refreshed world where milk is
undoubtedly essential and top of mind
among consumers....”
Color us nostalgic for what now
seems like a simpler time.
In 1993, according to the California
Milk Processor Board, a television ad
depicted a history buff who couldn’t
enunciate the answer to a trivia ques-
tion because he had just eaten a pea-
nut butter sand-
wich and had no
milk to wash it
down. It was the
first “Got Milk?”
advertisement.
In 1994, print
ads started:
glossy images of
celebrities sporting milk mustaches.
Through the original campaign’s end
in 2014 there were 350 print ads and
70 television commercials. They fea-
tured a who’s who of celebrities from
Hollywood, music, sports and popular
culture, including Jennifer Anniston,
Harrison Ford, Brett Favre, Kermit
the Frog, Serena and Venus Williams,
Kristi Yamaguchi, Rihanna and Mar-
tha Stewart.
The ads and
slogan were so
popular they
were widely cop-
ied and parodied
throughout the
popular culture.
Why did it
work?
“There was something so perfectly
hip about it,” Edward Wasserman,
the dean of UC-Berkeley’s Graduate
School of Journalism, told Fast Com-
pany on the campaign’s 25th anni-
versary in 2018. “They start with a
Our View
We can’t afford to
shortchange students
A
s legislators across the nation grapple with
preneurs, business owners, farmers, ranchers ... the list
revenue shortfalls caused by the shutdown and
goes on.
curtailment of businesses in their states, we
And it produces good citizens, who know more
would like to issue a plea.
than the bare minimums about physics, chem-
Please, do not balance state budgets on
istry, biology, history, language and the
the back of education. Other programs
many facets of our great civilization.
can be trimmed or cut entirely and
If we relegate the current gen-
wouldn’t be missed, but education
eration to online classes and rob
is the key to our future.
them of the richness of a full
A strong state economy is
slate of in-person classes, our
the product of a strong K-12,
economy will suffer. Some
community college, technical
students may well thrive with
school and university system.
some online classes, but oth-
While legislators may
ers will tune out and eventu-
shrug and say they can’t
ally drop out.
afford to fully fund education,
Some classes may lend
we will argue that they can’t
them selves to an online for-
afford not to.
mat.Others, not so much. Try
During this pandemic, gov-
learning to weld, raise live-
ernors and other political lead-
stock or repair a tractor online.
ers have urged people to stay
Try to discuss the mysteries of
home and to shut down the busi-
ancient
worlds or the inner work-
nesses that pay local, state and fed-
ings of DNA on Zoom.
eral taxes. What they apparently for-
Good luck.
got or ignored was the damage their
We appreciate that online classes
actions would inflict on their states.
have offered a last-minute substitute
Nationwide, 33 million people were
University of Idaho for real school and college work.
thrown out of work — more than half of A student performs research.
But now that many parts of the
the adult population. That is temporary.
nation
have curbed the spread of
The number of unemployed will shrink
COVID, the time has come to consider allowing stu-
as COVID-19 continues to subside.
dents
to return — and to make sure the high schools,
Congress has also promised to help the states get back
community colleges and universities are adequately
on more solid fiscal footing.
funded to carry out the classwork and research that are
In the meantime, we urge all of our elected represen-
essential to a 21st century economy.
tatives not to do permanent damage by shortchanging
All students in all schools deserve the best possible
education to solve a temporary problem.
education, not just for their sake but for the sake of the
Whether kindergarten or graduate level research, edu-
cation is an economic driver. Education produces entre-
economy. And it will require more than Zoom.
The Columbia-Snake River EIS meets Judgment Day
olumbia-Snake River
Irrigators Associa-
tion representatives
are quick to affirm the central
point of your Aug. 14 edito-
rial, “Breaching Snake Dams
Still Not a Good Option:” the
court-ordered, Columbia River
System Operations (CRSO)
Environmental Impact State-
ment (EIS) will not cease lit-
igation on the dam breaching
question.
Across the page from your
editorial, our media release ad
stated the same, but CSRIA
representatives acknowledged
that key legal/technical issues
imbibed by the EIS will spring-
board the dam breaching ques-
tion back before U.S. District
(OR) Judge Michael Simon.
We give the EIS high marks
in dealing with the hydro
power impacts and fish anal-
yses, as the Bonneville Power
Administration staff and the
NOAA Fisheries’ Ph.D.s do
this type of technical evalu-
ations practically on a daily
basis. The same cannot be said
for how the irrigation and nav-
C
GUEST
VIEW
Darryll
Olsen
igation sectors were prepared,
and how the overall EIS study
structure led to both techni-
cal and legal problems, soon
to be flogged in Judge Simon’s
Court.
Your OpEd unintention-
ally carried forward inaccu-
rate irrigation impact num-
bers from the EIS, where the
USBR Denver Technical Cen-
ter refused to account for the
total irrigated acres affected
by dam breaching — most
notably ignoring the changed
river shoreline and silt/debris
impacts below the Ice Harbor
Dam tailrace, along the shal-
low-water Upper McNary Pool
area (the total impact would
affect about 91,000 acres, not
47,000 acres). They also used
the wrong economic metric
for market value — tax assess-
ments are not market value
transactions. The navigation
analysis retains a fundamen-
tal flaw, purposefully excluding
the main rail route alternative
between Lewiston-Lyons Ferry
and the Columbia River (grain)
ports. This analysis will have
to be redone by others.
Even as an ESA litigation
defendant-intervenor, CSRIA
had to prod the EIS technical
managers to make some much
needed pre-draft changes; but
this effort did not override the
EIS managers’ zealousness for
a “Joe Biden, hide-in-the-base-
ment” approach to presenting
the EIS alternatives and avoid-
ing technical review commit-
tees (that had been successfully
employed in the past).
Technical issues aside, the
CRSO agencies did the EIS
process no favors by limiting
the Lower Snake River hydro
system alternatives or by mak-
ing no effort to include within
the EIS a “regional alter-
native,” now nonchalantly
referred to as being a task for
“the next step.”
The above EIS omissions
and idiosyncrasies mean that
scrutiny before Judge Simon’s
Court is rapidly approach-
ing — and the region is emo-
tionally and rationally ill-pre-
pared for Judgment Day. Alas,
if only the agency staff, scien-
tists, planners, fish advocates,
and elected representatives
had more time to go through
another regional process, we
could find redemption.
Right?
It will take a more deliber-
ate action plan to avoid being
cast into the legal infernal. A
small, but thoughtful, stake-
holder coalition could address
the EIS frailties and com-
pose a plan adopting a near-
term implementation protocol.
There has been enough time,
enough technical informa-
tion, enough legal review, and
enough debate dancing. Purga-
tory need not be followed by
Hell.
Darryll Olsen, Ph.D., is
a board representative of the
Columbia-Snake River Irriga-
tors Association.
product with no personality, which, if
anything, was forced upon generations
of children, which very few adults
drank or would admit to drinking,
whose health benefits are questionable,
whose environmental impact is dubi-
ous, and they turned it into something
that had a kind of panache. They had a
concession of unlikely subjects and had
them pose in a way that most people
would have deemed a self-parody or
ludicrous. And yet, it worked.”
It still works. When ag talks directly
to consumers with a clever, compelling
message, consumers listen. That work
never ends.
We can only hope that we’ll again
see dancing raisins.
OSU deserves
support to produce
next generation
of farmers
A
s an Oregon dairy farmer, I’ve seen
struggles from the pandemic and stress
on food supply firsthand. When the
pandemic hit, consumers and farmers were
anxious about food security, especially when
supply chains were interrupted, but people also
became more aware of where their food was
coming from and how vital local farms are. As
we all know, you cannot remove food from the
household budget.
It is more evi-
dent than ever
GUEST
that agricul-
ture in Oregon is
VIEW
essential. How-
Sara
ever, policy-
Coleman
makers face dire
pressure to rec-
tify a state bud-
get in the wake of COVID-19. Some proposals
suggest reducing Oregon Department of Agri-
culture funding by as much as 8.5% and a loss
in funding for Oregon State University (OSU)
efforts that support agriculture research, exten-
sion and education.
Like dozens of Organic Valley dairy farm-
ers in our state, I continue doing what I always
do during the pandemic. I spend a lot of time
on the farm managing pasture and caring for
calves that will be milk cows in a couple of
years. There is a science to organic dairy farm-
ing and efficient pasturing of livestock to get
optimal production.
Our state produces a diverse bounty of
crops and livestock products. Much of it is pro-
cessed and purchased right here in Oregon,
and some is destined for other markets, gener-
ating income for families and rural communi-
ties. Oregon agriculture is an economic engine,
and as we look to what strategic investments
our state will make, agriculture must be part of
that answer.
According to the Organic Trade Associa-
tion, organic agriculture provided $350 million
to farmers last year, and 92% of Oregon house-
holds purchased organic products. The state is
home to nearly 900 businesses that contribute
to the organic sector.
It was encouraging the Oregon Legislature
and governor dedicated dollars to establish two
faculty positions at OSU to accelerate organic
research and education in 2019. These posi-
tions will arm farmers with knowledge so they
can be more productive and better at managing
farms. It is an investment that will help lever-
age federal research funding and set Oregon
on a path to further our national leadership in
organic farming.
As a young farmer, just two years out of
college, I want to see our dairy industry grow,
create jobs, offer consumers choices, and help
feed the nation. Investments in public research
in agriculture can make for more productive
farms and are essential to our state’s future. It
ensures food security and lays the foundation
for economic vitality.
State leaders should avoid pausing or step-
ping back on agricultural research and educa-
tion. This would not be the case of one step
forward and two steps back but more like a
fumble that might cost the game.
Our land-grant university taught me so
much, and I brought that knowledge home to
become a fifth-generation family farmer. To
recruit and teach the next generation of Oregon
farmers, we must continue investing in agricul-
tural research and education.
Sara Coleman farms with her family in
St. Paul, Ore. Their farm, Sar-Ben Farms,
belongs to the Organic Valley cooperative,
which includes over 1,800 farmers nationwide.
In 2016, she was the Oregon Dairy Princess
Ambassador, and in 2018 graduated from Ore-
gon State University with a degree in agricul-
ture business management.