Category: Challenges

Reaching across the aisle in Farming

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. 

Filbert Trees; Out with the Old, In with the New…Again

The first filbert (aka hazelnut) trees planted on our farm were in 1990 by my parents. They were the Barcelona variety that is common in our area. We have slowly been taking out blocks of these trees and replacing them with newer varieties. Mainly this is due to Eastern Filbert Blight that has become a losing battle and we felt like our trees, no matter how much money we poured into them in the form of labor and preventative sprays, were still going backwards.

While not wanting to take acres out of production all at once; a filbert tree takes about 4 years to start producing a crop and then another 6 until they would be considered more close to maturity, we didn’t want to take that hit all in one solid block.

So a number of years ago we started with 25% of the trees and have been slowing chipping away. This winter we decided that it was time for our final block to be removed. Now once the ground gets a little drier we will prepare to get new trees planted this spring.

This isn’t an easy decision to make. A neighbor farmer once told me “We don’t want to take the trees out when the price is low because we need as many nuts as we can get for our yields to make up for the low price. And then when the price is high, we need as many nuts as we can get to make back the money from the poor years.” So when then does someone make the call to remove the tress?

It wasn’t an easy decision. However with the new varieties coming online they are producing faster and getting us back to getting some return on the land faster than before. This past year the first block of trees that we planted 4 years ago to replace our removed Barcelona trees actually produced about half compared to the 34 year old trees. Which has a lot to do with better yielding varieties, different spacing with more trees per acre (we didn’t double density plant but changed our spacing to a tighter pattern), and less inputs in the form of less sprays and less pruning labor.

Last tree standing.

So as the other acres come online with newer varieties so will this one in the near future. I’m hopeful that we can keep these trees in for a long time. You never know what lies ahead, new blight or pests or climate that can change our growing seasons around here, but I hope that we can treat these trees like the permanent crop they are meant to be.

The Weight of a Farm Legacy

I have spent countless nights since I decided to farm thinking about this one phrase, “It takes 2 generations to build a farm and one generation to lose it.” I’m not sure if the weight of those words resonate with you, but from the moment I heard them I felt my shoulders carry a burden.

In some ways it has created motivation for me and continued drive to keep moving forward, keep innovating, keep learning and striving to continue on. In another way it has created this fragile framework of a legacy that rests here with me deep in my soul. Some days I can bear that, some days it scares the heck out of me.

My sister and me with generation 1, my grandparents Carl and Clara.
My dad and I at the start of our farm transition as the 2nd to 3rd generation.

I’m the third generation here; on this land, with this soil, and while the equipment changes, the workers (while rarely) come and go; I feel the weight of “will it be me?” Will I be the one to have to shut the doors after generations have laid the ground work for success?

When Matt and I were first starting out we hit some difficult obstacles. My parents while no longer the owners of the farm reminded us many times, “We want you to succeed. We are here to support you and be behind you no matter what changes you make to make it work for your family. You guys can do this.” That unwavering support got us here today to year 2025 starting our 7th year as owners. And it is where I always want to start when Matt and I talk about what it will look like when our kids possibly chose this life. What is the first step? It’s helping them be successful in an ever more difficult world that is farming and it’s giving them the freedom to create their own version of this legacy knowing that we are there supporting them.

4th generation of farmers (Hoot, Auggie & Millie) at Kirsch Family Farms.

This creates a two fold scenario in my life as a third generation farmer. On the one hand it fuels me to stand up for our farm and our land, fuels my passion for being an advocate. And it also creates room for me to accept that there may come a day when we have to pivot so drastically that our legacy and our farm will look very different than it has for generations.

A good friend and a farmer that I respect very much Anne Krahmer-Steinkamp posted this on New Year’s Eve…

Goodbye 2024!!!

Anne with her husband Andy and daughter Sage on New Years Eve.

So happy to be saying goodbye to 2024!!! It been a year of heartbreaks, tears and anger. It’s also been a year to show me what the true important things are in life!

For those that don’t know we sold Berries Northwest. The last 5 years, we have been a punching bag to weather, bad marketing, inflation, politics and broken promises. Sad to say we have not been the only ones in this boat. I know a lot of farms hurting.

In all this I have learned an important thing! I thought we were losing our family legacy and felt like a failure. But I was wrong! The legacy is the heart and love to being doing what we do of getting to feed America!! It’s not the bush’s and land, that’s just stuff. And stuff will come and go. The true legacy I believe is the one my family has been doing for 6 generations, working hard to feed the world with the heart and passion of love!!

In all this we keep 23 acres of blueberries. I am excited for this next adventure and will keep fighting to do what we love even if just part time. We are off tonight to go enjoy our friends in celebrating the end of this year and ring in the new one!!!

We wish everyone a happy new year!!🎉

She’s not wrong. Her legacy is fragile but her legacy like many of ours in agriculture can be maliable. It can change and transform and that’s ok. We don’t have to hold the burden of doing the same things because our grandparents did. Even though the rest of the world outside of ag will assume that’s all you’re doing.

And all of this lifted a little bit of that burden that I feel is on my shoulders. It took courage for Anne to say what she said, I can appreciate the emotion of just typing out those words to share. Especially the “…that’s just stuff and stuff will come and go.” This spoke to me because she’s not talking about little things, she’s talking about generational tangible “stuff” that hits more deeply for many of us in generational family businesses.

I hope I can always have her courage; to work hard, to see when change is needed, and to be proud no matter what piece of our legacy moves forward. And do that alongside supporting the 4th generation of this farm and this story, however that may look and with whatever “stuff” comes along with it.