I recently was invited to come and speak alongside other farmers with a group of college kids. The college itself is one that initially I probably would have said no way. The reputation of beliefs at the school don’t at face value align with my own. However, after working with the professor on a few different projects, I got the sense and gained trust that his goal truly is to share different perspectives in a way that is not judgmental, but with the goal of reaching common ground and understanding. So I said yes.
I have to say it was great. I had to leave early, but as I left, I felt myself feeling like there was more to say more conversations to be had. We talked a lot about how can groups of people get so polarized and what the cost of that is, specifically in agriculture. I told them about some of the bills that we have fought in the legislature (some have passed and some haven’t), that some of those bills would close our doors the day they were signed into law. I wish that was just a dramatic story, but unfortunately it’s true. The positive side of that story is that the legislation didn’t pass, but my overall message was that misunderstanding or not having everyone at the table to discuss their side of the story (because let’s be honest you don’t know what you don’t know) can create unintended and serious repercussions.
This legislative session I went and testified on house bill 2548. It was a bill that at face value claimed it wanted to simply increase safety for our farm workers. But when you took a closer look, it actually was incredibly redundant, dangerously open ended and was going to cost our industry, not to mention do nothing to actually increase safety on farms. During the public testimony, there was a comment made by a legislator that she heard that while BOLI and OSHA have the regulations in place, they have no way to enforce these regulations. (Insert my look of shock here!) OSHA and BOLI have become some of the most powerful agencies in our state in regards to agriculture. We have found that that not only do they not know the law in many respects because they quickly hired many inspectors without extensive proper training, they also feel that they have the ability to use unchecked power to regulate our businesses with a heavy handedness that is unwarranted and unfair. The amount of time over the past four or five years that I have spent educating myself on rules and regulations in order to be able to essentially educate them when they show up on our farm has been exhausting. OSHA‘s fines alone in the past year have gone from an average of $1.9 million to almost $10 million. The heavy hand of enforcement is alive and well in the state of Oregon, believe me! However, the sad part is at some point a legislator heard that and never failed to go beyond to find the truth until we got to the point of a legislative hearing for this insane bill.
But as I sat there, I realized that that is why I’m glad that I said yes to going to speaking to those college kids. Because maybe someday one of them will be a legislator, a lawyer, an environmentalist, and one of them will reach out to me or have another farmer that they could discuss agricultural issues with or maybe they’ll just think back on our conversation and realize that there can be true repercussions so maybe they need to look a little further and ask a few more questions to find out what they don’t know or what they could be missing.
I think as farmers our lifestyle and our jobs generally lend us to be more secluded, less likely to interact or reach out to folks who maybe don’t have an experience with farming. We work hard. We take a lot of pride in what our hard work produces. I have to say that I didn’t want to go and speak to those college kids that day. It was on a day when I usually just lay low with my family before the very busy spring work begins. But as I was driving away, and then later as I was sitting at the Capital, I realized or maybe got a renewed realization that reaching across to the other side of the aisle is just ever so more important.
So this is my encouragement to say yes if you can to those opportunities. Have conversations human to human about each of your realities. You never know what it might produce, and at the very least a little understanding goes a long way.
NuttyGrass 