Wednesday evening I was one of seven Commissioner candidates (and the only Democrat) who visited with the Jackson County Farm Bureau over an informal dinner. What became clearer is the goal of bringing different-thinking people together, even if they do share dedication to the valley and concern for the future, is a lot easier to say than do. I don't blame those who wonder if it's possible. I knew a few of these farmers from the old days, both the early 70s when I lived in Sams Valley and as a Commissioner in the 80s. The ones I know are good people, reliable, straightforward, generous to the community, hardworking as they come, largely separate from the multinational agribusiness matrix you saw in "Food, Inc." These folks want to feed us, and make a living and live a certain way as they do it. We're lucky to have them.
And....their anger at any environmental limitation gets close to rage. Wednesday night their heads nodded up and down enthusiastically as candidates got up and promised to fight to end statewide land-use planning, federal regulation of the forest, reduction of any irrigation allotments (against the extremists who "think fish are way more important than people!"). When I shared my experience of hearing from farmers with different views on whether or not use of ag lands should be restricted by the state, another candidate got up and said "Well, maybe there's some grower of something-or-other out there in Birkenstocks and a ponytail who says different, but real farmers feel the same [that the state should get out of the way of their right to develop their land just as they choose]."
From an Ashland perspective it's not hard to dismiss all this as extreme, overly self-interested, whatever. But think for a minute what it would feel like to work as hard as farmers do their whole lives (my experience with bucking hay in the 1970s cured me for a lifetime), have so much trouble making a living or even holding on to their farms, and watch three decades of more and more and more regulation. I happen to believe that their troubles stem a lot more from globalization policies and the perverse economic impacts of the big U.S. Farm Bills than from environmental rules, but in their shoes I might not feel much differently than they do; a new proposal to create a Siskiyou Crest National Monument (which they hate) is a much more conspicuous target for them than Cargill's pricing policies or Monsanto's monopoly seed strategy.
As a candidate, I'm going to listen hard, and be willing to have my own beliefs tested. Some aren't going to change -- sorry, I don't believe that reducing the huge federal subsidy of water for Klamath Basin potato farmers so that salmon can survive is "putting fish before people," and I'm not going to repeal land use laws so that farmers can sell off or build on prime ag lands, no matter how much heat there is about trampled individual property rights. But neither am I going to write local farmers off as dense people who care nothing about their kids' future. They're not.
What I'd like from anyone paying attention are the best ideas on narrowing the gap between these folks and the ag people & policies that are figuring out how to farm, and farm in economically realistic ways, in the world as it is -- particularly those dedicated to making us more self-reliant in the face of a global food system that is not doing us any big favors. I'd really value concise statements of good ideas....
referring to a 1989 recall attempt mounted by elements of the timber industry, when the listing of the Spotted Owl flattened the timber economy. What enflamed Jack and some others was my position that it was time to switch gears, to offer timber workers training in other skills, to re-tool mills so that they could process smaller logs, to strengthen other economic sectors. I then worked with others in the region on economic strategies that weren't dependent on high-level timber harvests. Today, twenty years later, and after 16 years with Commissioner Walker at the helm, we haven't made nearly as much progress building a healthy modern economy as we all expected. 
