Once again, the Board of Agriculture’s last meeting has given us some food for thought, or shall we say for ranting.
Although we try to understand that this group is coming from a couple of decades of industrialized agriculture, export-oriented production and a "cheap food for all mentality", we have trouble with the fact that they are not seeing the failed agricultural policy in front of them is in need of major change.
The Board claims that agriculture is the economic engine of our state, yet they also talk about how farmers have to buy retail and sell wholesale. We have actually even heard an Oregon Department of Agriculture employee question why anyone is their right mind would want to go into farming.
Earth to the Department of Agriculture: Maybe people would go into farming if you and your Board would stop spending the majority of your time discussing food safety inspections and opening markets in China rather than addressing the incredible potential that we have as Oregonians to be feeding ourselves and supporting our farmers at the same time!
The Board of Agriculture talks about wanting to preserve farmland but we have never seen them put any programs in place that might actually assist new and young farmers get on the land. They continue to dismiss the local food movement as being "too urban", and "just a fad -" not understanding that people in Portland, Salem and Eugene are buying their food from the very farmers that live just outside their cities. These are urban consumers supporting rural farmers. Sounds like a bridging of the infamous (and often hyped and described by divisive unnecessary rhetoric)rural-urban divide is taking place to us.
The Board claims that they are embracing the “environmentalists” and have invited “them” to address the Board with their concerns. Some of the Board members have even gone so far as to call farmers “eco-citizens,” but then they reassure readers of the ‘Agriculture Quarterly’ that this does not mean that they are “giving in” to conservationists and that agriculture in our state is "sustainable" just the way it is.
This is followed by pleas from the Board members to keep the climate in Oregon friendly to processors so that our value-added exports remain viable, but never is it mentioned that we might want to suppor small-scale processors so that they can service our regional markets, seeing as how these are all but extinct which has resulted in a major hole in our “sustainable” food system.
They just don’t get it!
Board member Ken Bailey thinks that small farmers only survive because the big guys provide the infrastructure for them while keeping the costs of inputs and equipment low enough for the small farmer to be able to afford it. However, it seems to us that with a few exceptions, these two types of agriculture do not operate with the same infrastructure or needs and the Department could certainly put some time and energy into assisting ALL farmers in Oregon - not just basing their decisions on a "what is good for the goose must be good for the gander" approach.
This does not have to be small farmers vs. large farmers, environmentalists vs. agriculturalists, urbanites vs. rural residents. It is time that we stop encouraging divisiveness and start working together to build and sustain a food system that focuses on feeding Oregonians and supporting Oregon's family farmers.
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