OPINION NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
A5
Farmland loss a national crisis, felt mightily in West
nyone who has taken a recent drive
in America’s western states can
see fi rst-hand what we at American
Farmland Trust have been saying for years:
our farmland is disappearing at an alarm-
ing rate.
Between 1992 and 2012, 31 million
acres of farmland and ranchland disap-
peared according to research from our
recently released “Farms Under Threat”
analysis — the most comprehensive study
ever on agricultural land loss in the U.S.
While 31 million acres may not sound
like a lot, at AFT, it set off alarm bells. It
represents as much agricultural land as is
in the state of Iowa. And, perhaps more
importantly, 11 million of those acres were
our best and most productive agricultural
land — land most suitable for intensive
food production with the fewest environ-
mental impacts.
In a region so important to the nation’s
food supply, AFT’s mantra and famous
bumper sticker, “No Farms No Food,”
is more poignant than ever. This region
grows over 300 commodity crops, from
apples and cherries, to potatoes, to sweet
corn seed, to hops. It also has one of the
fastest growing populations in the nation,
and with that comes the demand for hous-
ing, shopping malls, schools, and high-
ways — all resources that eat up farmland.
If we want to continue to enjoy the ben-
efi ts of local farmland and ranchland —
A
OTHER
VOICES
Hannah Clark
not just for delicious food and as a pil-
lar of our economy, but also for the many
important environmental benefi ts it pro-
vides — we must come together as West-
erners to take action now.
This was made abundantly clear in the
recent article, “Western farmland continues
to disappear,” by Brad Carlson in the Cap-
ital Press.
Let me reiterate and even illuminate
important points made in Mr. Carlson’s
article.
The numbers coming out of Idaho, as
noted in the article, and the numbers com-
ing out of the West in terms of farmland
loss are downright scary. We need local
and state offi cials to pay attention to this
and to invest in funding and tools for farm-
land protection.
It is also important to consider how one
allows development to happen. Planning
is important. Urban sprawl and low-den-
sity development are both very damaging
to farmland. It is easy to recognize urban
sprawl and perhaps simplest to address,
compact growth strategies have worked
SALEM, Ore. — Many farmers con-
sider their work rewarding, but agricul-
ture ranks among the most dangerous
professions in the U.S., according to the
USDA.
Safety experts share a few tips on
how farmers can stay safe in 2019.
Deadliest roads
“Country roads, take me home.” But
drivers, be careful. The roads least trav-
eled are the nation’s deadliest, accord-
ing to federal highway data.
The National Highway Traffi c Safety
Administration’s most recent report
reveals drivers on rural roads die at a
rate 2.1 times higher per mile traveled
than in urban areas.
According to NHTSA, rural high-
ways, which receive less federal money,
are more likely to have outdated designs
and potholes. Wild animals dart into
traffi c more often. Rural drivers tend
to drive faster. They are more likely
to drive drunk. And in a crash, they’re
more likely to die before getting medi-
cal help since hospitals are further away.
According to National Occupant
Protection Use Surveys, people in rural
areas also drive at higher rates without
seat belts. Sixty percent of those who
die in pickup trucks aren’t using a seat
belt, according to NHTSA.
Safety offi cials encourage rural driv-
ers to wear seat belts, watch out for
wildlife, be careful on old highways
and recognize that the “it won’t be me”
mentality won’t work when it is you.
Crushing truth
According to researchers at Pur-
due University, more than 900 cases of
grain engulfment have been reported in
the U.S. in the past 50 years — with a
62% fatality rate.
Entrapment happens when a person
gets sucked into grain and can’t get out
without help. This typically happens in
silos or grain elevators but can also hap-
pen in freestanding piles.
Jose Perez, corporate senior manager
at the Wonderful Company and mem-
ber of the American Society of Safety
Professionals, said communication is
crucial.
“Tell someone when you’re going
Overheated workers
One of the most serious dangers for
nursery workers is heat illness, said
Perez.
“Pay attention to the tempera-
ture inside greenhouses and how that
impacts people,” said Perez. “Create a
good heat illness prevention program.
Hydrate, hydrate.”
Each year, the Northwest Farwest
Show provides practical training ses-
sions on nursery safety, said Zen Landis,
the show’s events and education man-
ager. This year’s show will be held Aug.
21-23 at the Oregon Convention Center
in Portland, Ore.
“It’s so important for industry lead-
ers to keep learning about safety,” said
Landis.
Safety culture
Perez said agricultural safety is about
mindset.
Perez said it’s important to consider
the culture and background of agricul-
tural workers. He immigrated to the
U.S. from Mexico, where he said he did
not feel comfortable talking with man-
agers. If an agricultural laborer comes
from a hierarchical background, Perez
explained, they may believe they should
not bother the “boss” and should use
whatever tool they’ve got.
“But ‘get-the-job-done’ culture can
work against you if you’ve learned to
think you shouldn’t ask for help,” said
Perez. “Farm managers need to rec-
ognize workers’ backgrounds and tell
them, ‘It’s OK to ask for help. Please
tell me when something is hard or dan-
gerous.’ And workers need to talk with
each other, too.”
Keep learning
The North American Agricultural
Safety Summit, hosted by the Agri-
cultural Safety and Health Council of
America, will take place March 19-20
at Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in
Nevada.
grew up in Southern Oregon where
logging and pears defi ned our val-
ley’s economy. Even then old growth
was growing scarce, and mills were clos-
ing. As a kid I smudged and picked in the
orchards, now at risk from warming tem-
peratures. I saw my fi rst Shakespeare
play in Ashland at age 11; that hundred-
year-old community enterprise now loses
money each summer from smoke-can-
celed performances.
The hard fact is, climate change is
coming — is here — and however much
we may dislike the solutions, we can’t
wish it away. Rural Oregonians are see-
ing these fi rst effects already, from front-
row seats.
HB 2020, the Oregon climate legisla-
tion choked off last month by 11 state sen-
ators, would have set a slowly declining
cap on greenhouse gas emission sources,
set Oregon on a path to a lower-carbon,
lower cost future, and cushioned most
Oregonians from the transition costs.
It would have enabled a near future in
which low-carbon options would become
more rapidly available: renewable wind
and solar electric energy; electric vehicles
(including farm and forest equipment);
high effi ciency heat pumps to heat and
cool our homes and businesses.
It would have avoided one-size-fi ts-
all carbon pollution regulation, instead
applying a market-based trading tool (fi rst
proposed by Republicans) to allow indus-
trial polluters to fi nd among themselves
the most cost-effective emissions control
strategies.
The bill would have accelerated devel-
opment of clean energy in Oregon, with
much of the investment and jobs going
to rural Oregon. These would be fami-
ly-wage jobs erecting wind turbines and
installing solar panels — the new hydro-
power — that will require local labor for
many years to come.
No one should pretend the transition
from a carbon-intensive economy to a
low-carbon one will be easy. Neither is
it avoidable. Responsible legislators will
help manage the transition, not deny its
reality.
A small minority of Oregon legisla-
tors — 11 out of 90 — frustrated the will
of Oregon voters with an unconstitutional,
anti-democratic tactic: hiding out in Idaho
to deny the Senate a quorum and thwart a
vote on climate legislation 15 years in the
making.
In doing so, they put their constitu-
ents and all Oregonians — especially
your children, and mine ... and theirs —
at risk in a climate-altered future of fi re,
fl ood, drought and disease. These impacts
will fall especially harshly on rural Ore-
gon communities and their resource-reli-
This month we are featuring an Early
Head Start volunteer, Tasha Shaver from
Enterprise. Tasha has been volunteering for
a year and a half. She helps out with the
kids when they wake up from naps, loves
playing with the kids, and just having fun
with them. The kids and the staff at Building
Healthy Families and
Early Head Start say,
THANK YOU Tasha,
we appreciate you!
OTHER
VOICES
Angus Duncan
ant local economies, the very people these
Senators purport to be defending.
They ignored the economic upsides
and rapidly declining costs of new tech-
nologies, industries and jobs already
arriving in Oregon. They ignored the
economic and environmental dam-
age already being felt; the tropical dis-
eases arriving to threaten our families;
the struggles of asthmatic kids to breathe
smoke-fi lled air.
They ignored the benefi ts of joining the
many other states and nations committing
to a low-carbon future, and seeing these
benefi ts fl ow sooner, to more of us, bring-
ing lower energy and transportation costs.
Many of these new low-carbon technolo-
gies are already in the market, in our util-
ities and our homes where they will espe-
cially benefi t the low-income households
most at risk from climate change.
Therein lies the common-sense answer
to the other nonsense proposition these
legislators kept repeating: “Oregon’s car-
bon footprint is too small to matter. “
Wrong! Failure to move climate action
forward in partnership with other cities,
states and nations — that’s the failure that
brings pain and forecloses gain.
And acting together works. Oregon is
one of 14 states joining with California in
requiring stronger vehicle fuel economy
standards in the face of Trump administra-
tion efforts to water these down. Collec-
tively, our states make up 37% of the pop-
ulation and 30% of the new car market in
the U.S. Collectively we are too important
a market to ignore. So much so that the
car companies are actually in Washington
arguing our case for more fuel-effi cient
cars to the administration.
That’s the kind of clout Oregon would
have had with HB 2020, and will with its
successor. We’ll shrug off this legislative
low blow and fi nd the next pathway for-
ward. We’ll look to all responsible Ore-
gonians, irrespective of party affi liation
and concerned only with problem solving
in the Oregon way — and in the interests
of our children — to contribute their best
ideas; to bring their buckets to the fi re.
Angus Duncan is the chair of the Ore-
gon Global Warming Commission in Port-
land and president of the Bonneville Envi-
ronmental Foundation.
Owen Rooper
er.
the week is Owen Roop oos
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ok the Little Buckar
The young cowboy to nesday, July 24. Rooper
rodeo by storm on Wed ick horse, bull riding and
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mastered the roping, his masterful performance,
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the stagecoach du tire rodeo court to insist on
causing the en
a photo with him.
Tasha
Shaver
udly
Pro onsore d b y
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Building Healthy Families
541-426-9411
oregonbhf.org
201 E. Hwy 82, Enterprise • 541-426-0320
www.edstaub.com
WEEK
Adult Foster Home
Licensors
Hannah Clark is American Farmland
Trust’s Pacifi c Northwest region direc-
tor. She previously served as the execu-
tive director of the Washington Associa-
tion of Land Trusts, a statewide coalition
of 28 land conservation organizations ded-
icated to private voluntary land protection.
Get in touch with Hannah at hclark@farm-
land.org.
OF
THE
Lisa Barlow,
541-889-7553 Ext 655
or Tony Boyd
541-963-7276 Ext 342
BUILDING
HEALTHY
FAMILIES
VOLUNTEER
OF THE
MONTH
ATHLETE
people with disabilities?
Care for adults
in your home or
as a separate
business.
I
into the grain area,” he said.
Perez said you should also have a
lifeline. “Always have a harness and
lanyard when you go into a silo,” said
Perez. “If you get engulfed like quick
sand, having a line attached will save
your life. This isn’t new. It’s just not uti-
lized anywhere near enough.”
Do you have a passion to
care
for have
older a adults
Do you
passion and
to
care for with
older disabilities?
adults and
people
We need to double down on protecting
agricultural land in the West.
In Washington state, we’re calling on
the legislature to continue investing in the
Washington Wildlife and Recreation Pro-
gram, the only state source of funding for
farmland protection.
In Oregon, the legislature has an oppor-
tunity to fund the Oregon Agricultural Her-
itage Program, which would be the fi rst
state funding source for agricultural land
protection and supporting a new genera-
tion of farmers.
And in Idaho, we are calling on elected
leaders, especially in the Treasure Valley,
to ensure good planning to protect our land
base — and invest in supporting farmers
and ranchers.
Perhaps it’s even time to consider a
funding source for agricultural conserva-
tion easements in Idaho. After all — No
Farms No Food and perhaps even, No
Future!
Senate Republicans do their constituents
no favors by denying climate change
STAYIN’ ALIVE: A few
safety tips for agriculture
Sierra Dawn McClain
Capital Press
well in communities. Low density devel-
opment poses an equal threat to farm-
land, but is insidious, often not recognized
before it is too late. This is development
that pops up in rural areas creating pockets
of houses surrounded by farmland.
Not only does this kind of development
chew up prime land, it makes it more diffi -
cult for farmers to farm and often leads to
the disappearance of key farming services
and infrastructure like equipment and seed
dealers.
Investing in tools like agricultural con-
servation easements is also critical. Agri-
cultural conservation easements are a way
to keep working farmland and ranchland
working, forever — by extinguishing the
development rights on a property and com-
pensating the landowner for the value of
those development rights. The land stays
in production and in private ownership and
can be sold or handed down to heirs — but
with the promise that it will not be taken
out of agriculture.
These issues get more and more critical
with a massive generational transfer of land
on the horizon. In Oregon alone, two-thirds
of the agricultural land will change hands
in the next decade or so — and the major-
ity of those landowners don’t have an iden-
tifi ed heir or succession plan. Across the
West, including in Idaho, AFT is advancing
programming to help a new generation of
new and beginning farmers access land.