Mediaboss Marketing

New partnership focuses on helping farmers transition to climate-smart crops.

Agriculture is not everyones favorite industry. Local governments have problems with its tax revenue vs. its needs for government resources (roads, utilities, public safety, and education). Non-farm neighbors object to organic odors. There is also the unkind and incorrect social stigma applied to rural residents.

However, agriculture is essential to human survival.

The Soviet Union took over the agricultural industries as its priority. The centuries-old notions of property rights and serfdom were overturned, but the government met the need for an effective system to supply food to its citizens, in theory.

Democracies went toward co-ops, granges, and university extension agents as ways to stabilize the agriculture industry. At the very least, our answers allowed more creative problem-solving while retaining the pride of individual ownership. Todays agricultural sector must keep personal flexibility in the broadest range of possible actions.

People are also reading

Government must justly regulate an industry to allow fair access to the resources it needs. The 3/27 Times-News article about the Oregon Legislatures bill to open agricultural land to the chip industry began my thought process. Later, the Idaho Legislature debated a joint resolution urging our national representatives to work toward immigration reform guaranteeing enough farm workers to meet the demand in Idaho.

Idaho shares a border with Canada. But its another border, and one that doesnt physically touch Idaho, that has brought grief for the states Republican congressional delegation and the Legislature.

The bills governing water and other agricultural needs were lost in the babble of social legislation pushed forward in the Legislature this year. These subjects are critical to Idahos economic well-being. They are also essential to preserving a way of life no one should be forced to abandon. Connection with the land, nature, and creation has become a progressive agenda for urban areas that rural residents have little need for.

In the 1960s, a drive down Highway 99 through the San Joaquin Valley in California featured signs saying, Industry Welcome Here. Soon, the nations most significant swath of fertile soil became covered in concrete for industrial jobs and homes for industrial workers. An innovative strategy could have mitigated the harmful effects. Its an example of thinking about short over long-term gain.

We have discovered that quality soil captures carbon. We can all do our part in our garden and lawn. All we need is skill and information. We created the structure in the nineteen thirties: University extension services and community organization. Landowners in rural areas have the same opportunity and responsibilities.

In semi-arid regions like our Intermountain West, it is wise to consider the available land with the eye toward the best reasonable use. Can it be claimed or reclaimed to support farming or grazing? Is it a wildlife habitat? If we build industries or homes, is it possibly a good use of land less well suited for living things?

Everything depends on available water. Anything living needs it, and Idaho is leading the country in attention to water management. Our basalt aquifers (thank you, volcanoes) are renewable. Sand aquifers are harder to recharge, and the well-known Ogallala aquifer, which supports mid-American agriculture, is running dry. We may now be the Gem State, but there is a future where we are the Water State.

GUEST EDITORIAL: Immigration reform should not be used as a divisive political tool, writes Rep. Jack Nelsen, R-Jerome.

This leaves us with the people who enjoy growing things. Machines will always be expensive, and they can lead us away from the soul satisfaction of life on the land. Animal husbandry is labor intensive. Domestic animals dont thrive without the care of the human they agreed to depend on eons ago. Even if we could convince urban dwellers to work on the land, there are not enough workers to fill the jobs.

Crime or illegal status is not a logical reason to ignore willing farmworkers. There are criminals in the United States, but not all of them were ever farm workers. People with Hispanic roots are on track to be a majority in the United States, but only a few are criminals or undocumented. A temporary status will sometimes work, and removing birth to any temporary resident as automatic citizenship is the answer to another objection. Amnesty will not add to our unemployment figures.

Government is paying attention to agricultures need for soil and water. Now it needs to solve the employee challenge.

Linda Brugger of Twin Falls is retired from the Air Force Reserve and a leaning Democrat. She can be reached at IdahoAuthor@outlook.com.

Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!

Excerpt from:
BRUGGER: Agriculture needs soil, water and people - Times-News