Friday, July 15, 2022
CapitalPress.com 11
Water: ‘The Bureau continues to target our small district for their failure’
Continued from Page 1
“Fundamentally, KDD’s
refusal to follow Reclama-
tion’s plans impedes Rec-
lamation’s ability to oper-
ate the Project,” the lawsuit
states.
Scott White, KDD exec-
utive director, said the dis-
trict is doing nothing wrong.
In addition to its federal
Project water right, White
said KDD has a supplemen-
tal water right with the state
of Oregon dating back to
1977 that it exercises when
Project water is in short
supply.
“The Bureau has literally
acknowledged and affirmed
KDD’s water rights in the
past and encouraged us to
exercise them when there is
no Project supply available,”
White said. “It’s incredi-
ble that they claim we are in
breach of contract for doing
the very thing they asked of
us for years.”
KDD serves approxi-
mately 27,000 acres, with
22,000 acres of private land
and 5,000 acres of public
ground that includes part of
the Lower Klamath National
Wildlife Refuge.
Water for KDD is deliv-
ered from the Klamath
River below Upper Klamath
Lake via the Ady and North
canals. Unlike other districts
in the Project, White said
KDD owns all of its own
infrastructure, apart from the
headgates of the Ady Canal.
“From our perspective,
this isn’t a contract issue. It’s
a water rights issue,” White
said.
White said Reclamation
has also denied KDD land-
owners from receiving fed-
eral funding through the
Klamath Project Drought
Response Agency that
would partially compensate
farmers for not irrigating.
The agency had allocated
$20 million for the program
in 2022.
“The Bureau continues
to target our small district
for their failure at managing
the Project,” he said. “We
do so much good for the ref-
uge, the fish, recirculation
of our water and preserva-
tion of our lands and wild-
life, but none of that matters,
I guess.”
Mary Lee Knecht, a
spokeswoman for Reclama-
tion, declined to comment,
citing pending litigation.
“We will reach out when we
have an update to share,”
Knecht said.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Nicole Berg, president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, inspects a field of irrigated wheat near Paterson, Wash.
Berg: Safety net doesn’t necessarily cover high input costs
Continued from Page 1
protecting crop insurance to ensure
wheat growers have a strong and
reliable safety net, supporting the
financial and technical assistance
provided through voluntary con-
servation programs and enhancing
USDA’s market access programs.
Berg has long aspired to be a
part of shaping a new farm bill.
This year she will be shuttling to
Washington, D.C., as Congress
pieces together the legislation that
will serve as a roadmap for U.S.
agriculture and the USDA.
She spoke with the Capital
Press the morning of May 13 in her
office on the farm in Paterson. The
interview has been edited for clar-
ity and length.
Capital Press: You’ve men-
tioned that, with Rhonda Lar-
son of East Grand Forks, Minn.,
taking over as president of U.S.
Wheat Associates, it will be one
of the first times women lead
both national wheat organiza-
tions. What opportunities does
that present for the industry?
Berg: This administration and
Congress are very minority-ori-
ented with their approach. So I
think that’s created an opportunity
for us.
For the industry itself, I think
it might mean we take a little bit
different approach to matters. You
know, women like to communicate
(laughs).
I don’t know. I’ve never really
thought of myself as a woman in
ag, I’m just a person in ag.
What made you decide to get
involved in the national leader-
ship of NAWG?
Berg: I’ve always wanted to be
a part of a farm bill, knowing that
it is so important to U.S. agricul-
ture and how it keeps family farms
in business.
I wanted to be part of that, to
make sure it is keeping family
farms in business and it is working
for the farmer across the U.S., and
if it’s going to work in the Pacific
Northwest, the Midwest and East
Coast.
What are you most hoping to
see in the next farm bill?
Berg: I want to see that the
safety net that the U.S. creates
doesn’t have gaping holes in it ...
so it can catch us farmers.
When we’re price-takers in the
wheat industry, we can’t pass on
those input costs.
The safety net doesn’t necessar-
ily cover high input costs. It cov-
ers yield, weather and adverse con-
ditions. It does that pretty good. It
also covers price, in some aspects.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Berg is known for her quick wit.
But it doesn’t necessarily come
down to the nuts and bolts of the
cost of actually farming.
So in a situation like this year
— thank God for the rain, we are
just like “Thank you, thank you,
thank you” — we will grow a crop,
probably with these high prices.
The first thing I’ve always told
everybody: You’ve got to grow the
crop first. Last year, (because of
the drought) we didn’t harvest two-
thirds of the farm.
It’ll be fun this year. We’re defi-
nitely growing wheat, and that
also means we might make some
money this year.
What role does crop insurance
play for you and your family?
Berg: Crop insurance is our
biggest risk management tool that
we have, especially in the driest
area in the world that grows cereal
grains and the unpredictability of
the weather in our area. It’s kept
our family farm in business.
I definitely knew I needed to
jump into that risk management
tool and have a full understanding
of it, as well as make sure the rules
and regulations fit inside the box to
make sure farmers are covered in
those times of need. It’s never fun
when you can’t harvest your crop.
Farmers are eternal optimists
and we always think, “Well, there’s
always next year.” And there is.
There’s always next year.
You emphasize the impor-
tance of farmers telling their sto-
ries. Is there a bottleneck? If so,
where is it?
Berg: Historically, we’re farmers
and we don’t necessarily want to get
off the farm. It’s so important that us
farmers go to Congress, go to Olym-
pia, go to your state capitol and tell
your story. Otherwise, there’s a say-
ing: If you don’t come to the table,
you’ll be on the menu.
I definitely, truly believe you’ve
got to get off the farm and tell your
story. But it’s comfortable to be at
home and on the farm. That’s the fun
part of the job, is the farming part.
The political part, I don’t necessarily
have too much of a problem with it.
But not all farmers are like that.
Do the lawmakers listen?
Berg: I definitely think the law-
makers listen to farmers. Every-
body has to eat. Since everybody
has to eat, they’re like, “OK, how
do we make safe, healthy nutri-
tious food for the world?” That’s
the part I like the most, telling that
part of the story. The moment my
food is not safe or healthy, I’ll have
to turn in my keys, because we do
everything we can to make sure our
food is safe and healthy.
What is the biggest need in the
industry right now?
Berg: To open more markets,
make markets the No. 1 priority
across the world. With the Rus-
sia-Ukraine situation, food aid is
an opportunity as well, for us farm-
ers to help out countries in need.
I remember when I went on a trip
to the refugee camp in Africa (in
2019). It was pretty crazy to see
those big bags of U.S. wheat there.
It made you proud. That’s some-
thing that’s part of the story that we
probably don’t tell enough, that the
wheat industry does participate in
and supports food aid.
What are you most hoping for
from the Biden administration?
What are you most likely to actu-
ally get?
Berg: That they continue to lis-
ten to us farmers, and help us in
these times of need. With these high
input costs, whether it’s fuel that
you feel at the pump — we feel it
too, with a tractor — whether it’s
the fertilizer prices doubling and tri-
pling; crop protection products dou-
bling and tripling. ... For instance,
Round-Up, RT 3, (we) used to pay
$15 per gallon. I just got a bill yes-
terday for $46.30 per gallon. ... I
almost fell off my chair. ...
What has you most excited?
Berg: I’m most excited about
fulfilling a dream of doing the farm
bill. It gets me emotional because
I worked so hard to get there, and
now you’re there, and so now
you’re kind of like, “Wow, I finally
did it.”
I went through the 2018 Farm
Bill, that process, and I was very
involved in that from a state level,
because of state president stuff (as
president of the Washington Asso-
ciation of Wheat Growers). And
now being (NAWG) president, with
the hearings coming up, the strat-
egy and being part of that executive
team, and the great staff we have in
D.C., it really is exciting to see, just
the strategy of trying to work Con-
gress and tell your story. It’s fun, it’s
very fun.
When we talked after your
first House agriculture subcom-
mittee hearing, you said you
would be willing to help future
leaders, and anyone could reach
out to you. Have you heard from
anyone?
Berg: Oh yeah, everyone’s
been reaching out. It’s been great.
... Everybody wants to work pol-
icy. We know the importance of the
farm bill.
Any advice for a farm kid
who’s reading this and wants to
be an ag leader?
Berg: My advice to kids coming
up if they want to ever step into this
role is to do 4-H and FFA. Those
are important aspects of things that
I did. I was on the Parliamentary
Procedure team for FFA, and you
will utilize that skill the rest of your
life, if you want to go into politics
or board member work. Your Rob-
ert’s Rules of Order comes in very
handy.
Also, just work hard. I have a
really big work ethic. You might
get an email from me at 10 p.m. or
6 a.m. Work hard, work the policy.
You’ll hear a lot of noise when you
work in an association or on a board,
and you have to try to filter through
some of the noise and figure out,
“What’s really noise? What’s really
going on here?” That’s important,
to keep your head down and work
hard.
Anything else?
Berg: A mission this year is the
idea of, what can wheat be used
for? ... Are there other value-added
things we could do for the wheat
industry?
This administration and USDA
Secretary (Tom) Vilsack ... would
like to create these avenues, like
durum wheat, for instance, and the
specialty of pasta and where it’s
grown. Why are we sending wheat
overseas? Instead of sending the
wheat or the flour, why don’t we
send the pasta? Why can’t we create
these areas of industry around farm-
ing areas, so we can be U.S. made?
Which I think is a great initiative
for the secretary to go for. It cre-
ates jobs, it keeps everything in the
United States and you know exactly
where your products are sourced
from. It’s a great vision he has.
I would also like to see the wheat
industry pursue the domestic mar-
ket a little bit more. We do a lot
with U.S. Wheat and overseas, but I
sometimes feel the domestic market
could use a little bit more attention:
How are we distributing our wheat
domestically, how can we (bring)
more value-added to it?
What does farming mean to
you?
Berg: It’s a way of life. ... It gets
in your blood and through your
soul. It’s just kind of there, and you
try to do the best you can each year
to keep the family farm afloat.
What’s your favorite part?
Berg: I really like the pol-
icy side of it, I like the farm bill
side, I like trying to tell the story.
I don’t know, maybe because I talk
too much. But I like to go out and
tell the story to people, whether
it’s sitting on the airplane next to
somebody who says, “Oh, you’re
a farmer,” and you start getting
these questions, and being able to
answer.
Some of the questions from
some of these folks from the city,
they just don’t understand, and
we’ve got to get out there and tell
that story to the urban people ...
because it’s so important.
People need to understand
where their food comes from, and
I have no problem with that. They
need to come out on the farm, kick
some dirt. They can drive com-
bine, even, if they want.