Category: Agvocacy

A Farmer’s Earth Day Story

  Today is Earth Day.  A day that since 1970 has been celebrated as a day to recognize efforts to reduce waste.  While it started as a movement against water waste and improved air quality, it has turned into a day when everyone can take the time to plant a tree, pick up some litter, and make more of an effort to recycle. So what does a farmer like me think about on Earth day…the phrase “Every day is Earth Day for Farmers & Ranchers” tends to come to mind.  So here is this farmer’s Earth Day story…

If you ask me to plant a tree, I would smile, because last year I planted 500.

If you asked me to just wait until they get bigger and think of all the oxygen they will produce.  I would smile again and point to the 10,000 trees that this farm has planted in the past 20 years.


If you asked me to help with soil erosion, I would smile and point to the crops we have growing on hillsides to keep the soil where it’s meant to be.

If you ask me what I’m doing to help our precious bees.  I would smile and mention the acres and acres of food that I create for bees every year.


If you asked me to help keep our water clean, I would smile and point to the grass that we grow, which filters not only soil but pesticides and fertilizer.

If you asked me to decrease emissions, I would smile and point to our GPS equipment that helps us do more with less. 

If you asked me how I know our farm is sustainable, I would smile and introduce you to the 4th generation on our farm.  A small boy who is already learning what it means to take care of the land.If you asked me to celebrate just one day where we took care of the earth, I would smile because quite frankly as farmers we have been doing that forever.

The legacy of helping the earth didn’t start for my family on this land in 1970 along with Earth Day.  It started the day that my grandpa took a handful of soil and decided to start growing food and fiber for people all over the world.  And it continues now, decades of knowledge of how to take care of what God has given us, along with technology to continue improving on that legacy for generations.  So yes today on Earth Day I’m smiling, because when I look around, it’s true that this land is our office and our home.  This land is where we sweat, cry, and rejoice.  We are here to protect this land on Earth day and every day!

To read another blog from another farmer check out this one! 

Earth Day Thoughts from a “Modern” Farmer. https://daughterofatrucker.com/2016/04/18/earth-day-thoughts-from-a-modern-farmer/

NO to Raising Oregon’s Minimum Wage

12695324_10153364784806146_364154184_o (2)This afternoon a bill to increase Oregon’s minimum wage will be heard in a committee in the House of Representatives.  While I won’t be there in person to testify, I have submitted testimony with my thoughts on why I don’t want the minimum wage to increase.  You can read my full testimony below.  If you agree with my thoughts on this issue, please don’t hesitate and contact your representatives today!  They need to hear from the business community, they need to hear from seniors, they need to hear from us in the middle class, that we don’t want what will inevitably be an increase to our cost of living.

My name is Brenda Frketich and I’m a third generation farmer from St. Paul. We raise grass seed, hazelnuts, wheat, clover, vegetables and vegetable seed on our 1000 acre sustainable farm. I employ anywhere from 4 to 10 employees throughout the year, depending on the time of year.

As a business owner and an employer I am against the raising of minimum wage in Oregon. I am against this for a number of reasons and not one of them is because I just don’t want to pay more for labor. I would love to pay my workers more, I would love to run a business where I didn’t worry about our bottom line at the end of every day. But that’s not the world that my business runs in, it’s a world where you have to watch your bottom line constantly and the call to the banker can be one rain storm away from a disaster. As farmers we run a risky business, but we do it the best we know how and with tools that we hope will work. We have run a good business in this state for three generations and I don’t plan to be the last. Which is why I am writing you testimony today in opposition of the raising of minimum wage. Below I have spelled out my three main reasons I believe it should stay where it is currently.

First of all we already have a high minimum wage; the third highest to be exact in the United States, which is currently $9.25.  The third highest minimum wage, while at the same time ranking 30th in unemployment.  I don’t think that a correlation can be made with better jobs, more jobs, and a better economy linked to just paying entry level workers a higher wage.  Minimum wage is just that, a minimum for starting out, not to be confused with a living wage. These are two separate issues that are being muddied together. People make choices every day for where they want to work, what type of industry they wish to be in, and as legislators you should be working to make sure that options are available for them. Not falsifying middle level income jobs that are really just entry level. Because there is a need for entry level positions, they serve a purpose and you would be doing dis service to those who do need those jobs. For instance, high school kids.

Our farm in particular has always tried to take an active role in the youth of our community.  Hiring many high school aged workers during the summer.  We do this more as a favor to them, to help them earn money for college, let them learn about the farm, how to keep a job, and the responsibilities that entails.  I know that we aren’t the only business in Oregon that takes pride in the attention that we pay to high schoolers that might not otherwise have any work experience.  But I am afraid that situations like this, will be hard to find if the cost of that worker is dramatically increasing in the years to come.  It is just too high for businesses to absorb.

So where will this increase in pay come from? Because businesses, or at least a vast majority of them aren’t running on profits that justify such an exorbitant increase in wages. There is no giant pot of money sitting around on our farm just waiting to be dipped into to pay for this pay increase.  For many businesses in fact I believe and fear that the increase pay for entry level employees will take away from current employees, even those in the middle level of employment.  The money will inevitably come from reduced hiring tactics, decreased benefits for current employees, and even cuts in bonus pay or yearly wage increases. This isn’t just putting businesses in Oregon in a bad situation, it’s putting all employees at all levels in a bad position.

In the end, this isn’t a good fit for Oregon.  What we need to do in this state is focus more on working with businesses, to make them more successful and that will in turn create more jobs and more importantly create more middle level jobs.  I don’t think that falsely “creating” jobs at the middle level will do anything but harm businesses here in this state.  Instead it will increase the cost of living, hurting those very people you are trying so hard to protect and lift up.  The economics have to add up, and in this case they don’t at all.

Thank you for your time and consideration on this very important issue to our state. And please do with is right for Oregonians by voting no to this hasty measure.

Respectfully,
Brenda Frketich

Seed Pre-emption at the Oregon Legislature

We are currently in the midst of a short session of the Oregon Legislature.  This year there are over 600 bills to get through, and only 35 days to do it.  Which means that many of us farmers are walking the halls of the capital more frequently than the rows of our fields.  Yesterday I headed down to Salem to testify on a bill that would remove important aspects from the Seed Pre-emption law.  A law that we got passed back in 2013, after a long hard battle.

The basic run down of this law is that it prohibits counties and cities from regulating seed production in Oregon.  This is important because as farmers we don’t want to have 36 different laws regulating how we can grow our seed, or 36 different policies on the growing of GMO’s.  It’s a common sense law, that protects farmers.

Here’s a good article that sums up nicely what is going on with this issue as of right now.
Oregon Seed Pre-emption Law Challenged in Legislature.

And here is what I looked like at the Capital yesterday…yes, baby in tow.

He was a trooper and didn’t complain too much about his early start to agvocacy.  Like I told many people yesterday, I’m here because I want to continue my legacy of farming here in Oregon.  I want my sons to have the opportunity to put their hands in the same soil that their great grandfather did.  And to do that, here in Oregon, we have to continually show up in Salem to let our voices be heard.  To hear testimony from many farmers you can click the link below.  The public hearing portion starts at about 1:09 into the meeting.

http://oregon.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=10569

As the article states it was mostly farmers who testified yesterday and they all did a great job.  Now if only the battle was even close to over.  Tuesday presents another opportunity for this law to be called into question.