The Huntresses

Remember when there were only bull elk and no cow elk?

Well that changed.

Late Wednesday night I was woken from a dead sleep by a phone call from my mother:

Mom: Did you see them?

Me: Huh, bleh, See…what?

Mom: The elk, they’re in the field…Let’s meet at 6:10 and go hunting!

Me: What time is it…bleh…ugh…err…ok.

I could not figure out why mom was looking at her text messages at three in the morning.  Then I realized it was only 11:20 PM and I had only been asleep for an hour, nothing like sleep disorientation. The elk had been photographed by our game camera and had sent picture via text message to my mom, dad & me. Remember we are High Tech Rednecks.

Here’s the catch, my dad was out-of-town. He’s the master hunter, seriously the man has successfully hunted on three different continents and in multiple states.  The first time I shot an elk it involved a lot of him whisper yelling about “eyesight” & “shoot that one”.  Needless to say, my dad is a experienced hunter and has a plan for every step.

Woman Power. My mom and I got this. We roll out of the driveway at 6:20…I know we said 6:10.

We get to our spot along the fence line. We might make more noise than what would’ve been tolerated by my dad. But he’s not there so we don’t have to listen to “Think you’re making enough noise?” – Dad in whisper yell.

We waited for about 45 minutes when I saw them jump the fence at the bottom of the field.

A minute or so later, which seemed like 20 minutes, a herd of 40 elk came up over the ridge. I told my mom to get ready.

The next 30 seconds was an adrenaline packed blur. I singled out the cow I wanted, when she turned sideways I shot. As quickly as it had begun it was over. We were successful in our efforts and had two dead cow elk.

It. Was. Awesome!

You want family farms & small business, but do you want to pay the tax?

A couple of weeks ago I read on a website about how Oregon’s Death Tax has obviously not affected my family because I was a 5th generation farmer.  (Since then they have taken then claim down.)

However this group, Tax Fairness for Oregon, knows nothing about my family.

Here’s the thing, my great-grandma, the 2nd generation of our farm, is still alive at 97.  The land we currently farm, that her father farmed before her, is her retirement.  What happens when she passes away?  The land is clearly worth more than state and federal exemption.  Who pays that tax? My grandparents, who happen to be retired as well, then it eventually will be my parents and then one day me.  I wonder what will be left?

Farmers and especially retired farmers don’t have piles of cash lying around.  They have it invested in the land, along with their blood, sweat and tears.  Yet they are still expected to pay hundreds of thousand of dollars whenever a farm is expected to be carried on.  As a result family farms become smaller and smaller as the ones hoping to continue are forced to sell land to pay for the previous generations’ passing.

We as Oregonians claim we want family farms and small business in this state.   If you truly do and don’t want to see parts of century farms sold off then I hope you have signed the petition to End Oregon’s Death Tax.  It is vital small business and families just like mine as well as Oregon’s economy.

End Oregon Death Tax Quick Facts:

• Create nearly 44,000 jobs
• 1 in 8 jobs in Oregon are tied to Agriculture
• Generate $94.1 million in tax revenue
• Jobs & tax revenue will offset “loss” to Oregon’s general fund

Related articles

• Ending Oregon’s Death Tax (5440fight.com)

“Green” vs “Green”

There was an article recently in the Oregonian, “Lawsuit against wind energy project near Steens Mountain pits green groups against green project“.   After reading the article it became clear that there is just no pleasing some people.

I am skeptical of “green” energy particularly wind farms, especially in Oregon where we have an abundance of hydroelectricity.  I am unsure of its cost vs. production, the necessity of them, subsidies they receive, particularly when they get paid not to produce, and overall efficiency.

However the groups opposing the Echanis project weren’t objecting because of the concerns I shared.   In fact, I was really unsure what or why they were upset.  My first thought is apparently they’ve never been to Harney County or Southeastern Oregon because, well, there’s nothing really there in terms of people or jobs.  Also they apparently failed to notice that the wind farm would be on PRIVATE land.

Harney County is Oregon’s lowest populated county with little over 7,400 residents and the unemployment  is 12.5 percent. According to the article, “…the Echanis project to provide 100 construction jobs and up to 12 full-time maintenance jobs…equal to about 1,500 jobs in Portland…” 

The United States government has approved the project and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has published an Environmental Impact Statement on the project.  If this project was not environmentally friendly our current administration would have shut it down.  The Oregonian reports that the project would be on a 10,000 acre private ranch and have 44 miles of transmission lines. In Harney county those numbers are miniscule, particularly when comparing it to the 170,000 acre Steens Mountain Wilderness area.

The real issue here is not about the potential effect to the environment.  It is about a group of people out of urban Oregon, Portland, Bend and Eugene, trying to dictate how to rural Oregonians how to live.  They have no idea what it takes to be sustainable in Southeastern Oregon, an area that is not mild in climate nor the type of work it takes to survive.  If the residents of Harney County thought it was not good for them nor the environment they would oppose it themselves, they don’t need a weekend warrior telling them so.  They’ve been there a lot longer than you have.

“Green” groups if you truly care about a “green” economy, jobs and others overall well-being, then move your Prius out-of-the-way and let rural Oregonians go to work.

Proposed Wind Project

Related articles

• Lawsuit against wind energy project near Steens Mountain pits green groups against green project (oregonlive.com)

Ending Oregon’s Death Tax

Imagine this, you work your whole entire life to leave your children a better life than you began with. You hope on leaving a legacy for multiple generations to come, for them to build upon and bring economic viability to the surrounding community. However, when you die in order for your estate to be inherited by your heirs they must first pay a tax.  A death tax.

As ridiculous as the above scenario sounds it is incredibly realistic. Every time the last member of a given generation passes away the heirs are forced to pay a TAX on the entire estate. In a sense this is a double tax because in the case of real property, like farmland, property taxes have been paid year after year on the land. If you have been making a living off the land then you’ve been subject to pay income taxes on it as well. This misguided tax affects property owners, small business owners, family farmers and anyone who has had a job or one day will hold a job.

For example, I am 5th generation farmer who is just beginning. The 2nd generation of farmer is still alive, my great-grandma, she still owns quite a bit of the land we farm today. When she passes away the land will be passed down to the next generation and when my grandparents die it’ll be passed down again. Each time the land, that is my family’s livelihood and legacy, is passed down the inheritor is forced to pay a tax.

There’s a saying that farmers are land rich and cash poor. The money we have “lying around” to pay this erroneous fee is tied up in other land, equipment and next year’s crop. To generate cash immediately we must either sell land or equipment or get out of the business of farming all together. Potentially one less family farmer to continue on for the next generation because the government taxed them out.

The way it is right now in Oregon any estate over a million dollars is subject to this estate tax. With value of farmland a million dollars is easily reached in land alone. However, when you start adding in the equipment and buildings used on the farm the amount you owe to the state & federal government starts increasing exponentially. Yes, I said state & federal, the state of Oregon has its own death tax separate from the federal death tax.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Right now, in Oregon, there are petitions circulating to put this issue on the November 2012 ballot and end Oregon’s Death Tax. Twenty-nine states have already repealed it and only 3 states west of the Mississippi still have this “double” tax Oregon, Washington & Hawaii.

Here’s what this measure will do if passed:

• It will phaseout the Oregon estate tax by reducing the existing tax by 25% in 2013, 50% in 2014, and 75% in 2015. As of January 1, 2016, the tax is zero.
• It phases out the capital gains tax on property sales within a family on the same schedule as the phase out of the death tax.

The revenue generated by the death tax is less than 1.5% of the general fund or roughly $90 million dollars a year. However, the good news is the “lost” revenue will be made up in five years! Professors Eric Fruits and Randall Pozdena issued a report in February of this year in which they predict that elimination of the death tax will lead to the creation of between 31,000 and 44,500 new jobs in Oregon over the next 5 years. This is because of increased in-migration of family owned business and reduced out-migration of such businesses. The tax revenues generated by these new jobs will gradually offset the loss of estate tax revenues.

Jobs & tax revenue? Sounds like a win-win to me.

I urge anyone registered to vote in the state of Oregon to go endoregondeathtax.com and print off an individual petition to sign and mail in. This is issue vital to the economic sustainability of our family owned & run businesses!

In full disclosure, I am one of the chief petitioner’s on the campaign because at 26 years old I am looking at my future as a farmer. I wonder if they’re will be anything left for me and my future generations if my family is continued to be subject to this death penalty.

The Bowers Family! Great-grandma Charity down to my 6 year old cousin Charity! 90 years apart!

A Legacy of AgVocacy

I wrote this post a little less than a year ago.  Today, Feb. 19th, 2013, my great grandma passed away.  What a great life she had. 

Forty-three years ago, in 1969, a group of unstoppable women formed Oregon Women for Agriculture (OWA), one of them being my Great-Grandma Charity. As she describes it, she received a phone call from Mary Holzapfel saying women were coming to her house to discuss what they could do to fight & educate the people who wished to end field burning. A practice that is vital to producing quality grass seed. The women realized they had to do it because the men were to busy in the fields that time of year to do much.

As they organized no one was stepping up to be president so my great-grandma did. My great-grandma Charity is one of the best women I know. She is 96 years old and still remembers, in detail, going over the Santiam Pass in a wagon in the early 1920′s at seven years old so her dad could farm the land we still farm. One of the original rocking rural women!

On Saturday, my grandparents drove my Great Grandma nearly two hours to come see me installed as president of Oregon Women for Agriculture. I was so excited to see her there, so were her friends and so was she! Women of all ages still actively participate in OWA.

During my installation my mom surprised me and caught me off guard. She presented me with my Great-grandma Charity’s past president pin. I shed some tears, not an easy thing for me to do.

Past & Present

Great-grandma Charity & me!

I believe I have the same passion that group of women shared back in 1969 when founding Oregon Women for Agriculture: we need communicate our story of today’s agriculture so that we can protect our livelihood!

Ultimate Minority: A Farmer

I am a minority, not because I am women or a proud card-carrying member of the Cherokee nation.

I am a farmer.  Less than 2% of the US population have my livelihood.

That’s less than the population of Native Americans, African-Americans, Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans

If I remember correctly from my history classes many laws were passed to give equal rights to at least 3 out of the 4 groups mentioned above.

What is so wrong with laws passing to protect people of a minority group who’s end product eventually feeds the world?

In 1993, the Oregon legislature understood that there was a rural & urban divide.  Oregon’s agriculturally rich Willamette Valley is in the midst of metropolitan Oregon. Tthey needed to do something to protect farmers, ranchers & foresters rights that are “a generally accepted, reasonable and prudent methods,” because more urban folks were moving into the countryside and they  wouldn’t necessarily understand the natural practices of the area.  This is why they passed Oregon’s Right to Farm and Forest Act.

This law protects me from radical groups who see my natural & generally accepted practices as a nuisance and wish to end it.   Many of these same groups claim to love farmers & farming, however they typically advocate for one way of farming only. Which usually  limits others’ choices.  What is fair about that? At least Oregon’s law protects them too. I believe that’s equality.

Our economy is struggling enough and our world population is growing. To limit any modern or progressive agriculture is a shame and should be frowned upon. Agriculture as a whole, not just limited to production ag, is vital to the United States economy, independent in food & fuel production. In Oregon, agriculture accounts for 15% of all economic activity, and in 2009 is credited with adding more than $22 billion to Oregon’s net state product.

My ultimate question in life is “Why can’t we farm & let farm?”  Why can’t some of us continue to ethically progress in agriculture as the environment and economics see fit, while others prefer to stay in 1915? There’s room for all of us.  As a whole we are already a minority.

All the world’s problems can be solved with one farmer grandpa and one plumber grandpa

My favorite holiday, Thanksgiving is tomorrow.  It is my favorite holiday because it doesn’t involve much materialism, if any.  Every year I have a lot to be thankful for but this year I feel extra thankful particularly towards my family.

As some of you may be aware I recently changed jobs.  I left my ag lending job and returned to the family farm. Relocating is not the easiest. However, my family has gone above and beyond help me out with my move & transition into my new trailer residence.

I am grateful to my parents who have a successful 4th generation farm that has allowed me to come back to join the family business. I am also VERY thankful for my mom’s kitchen. Grocery shopping has been extremely easy thanks to her aka I have not done any. :)  My dad has been wonderful by having the electrician install an RV outlet to plug into at the sheep barn and providing & installing foam insulation panels around the bottom of my 5th to protect from cold weather.

I am grateful for my sister as a roommate for the past 2 1/2 years.  Sitting in my trailer alone makes me appreciative for the company and conversation. I miss her.

My grandparents have been fantastic.  I have decided that with one farmer grandpa and one plumber grandpa all of the world’s problems can be solved. Seriously, what other skill sets do you need?  The farmer grandpa hauled my 5th over the mountain for me, helped dewinterize it and then stabilize it.  Then my plumber grandpa hooked up a new pump and holding tank for the well. However we had some issues getting water so Sunday my farmer grandpa and I dug a trench to locate the well.  The plumber grandpa came over and gave his expert opinion. Then all three of us dug another ditch to my trailer to bury pipe.  On monday the plumber grandpa came over and connected the well and installed a yard hydrant next to my trailer. I now have a water source thanks to my grandpas!!

I have much to be thankful for and have much more than I deserve I am sure of it.

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog and supports me in all my endeavours! I am truly blessed to be surrounded by wonderful people in my family and the industry I love, agriculture.

Call Me Crazy-Wordless Wednesday

I’ve recently changed jobs. I resigned from my 8 to 5 job with Northwest Farm Credit Services and returned to my family’s business, farming.

Here’s a few photos of the recent change:

That was my view driving home, now this is my view:

I traded a company car for this:

I was living here:

Now I live here:

Maybe I am crazy but I am doing what I am passionate about and that makes my trailer a mansion!

My inspiration for the week

This headline made my week and the article has inspired a few thoughts for future blog posts.  I had to share and participate in a Wordless Wednseday!

Economies of Common Interest: the key to Oregon’s redistricting

Every 10 years, after the US Census, legislative  and congressional districts are revisited and redrawn.  In Oregon there is a statute that outlines the criteria  that is to be considered when the districts are redrawn.  The law and the constitution outline the criteria as follows:

(1) Each district, as nearly as practicable, shall:

      (a) Be contiguous;

      (b) Be of equal population;

      (c) Utilize existing geographic or political boundaries;

      (d) Not divide communities of common interest; and

      (e) Be connected by transportation links.

      (2) No district shall be drawn for the purpose of favoring any political party, incumbent legislator or other person.

      (3) No district shall be drawn for the purpose of diluting the voting strength of any language or ethnic minority group.

      (4) Two state House of Representative districts shall be wholly included within a single state senatorial district.

Reading the above it would seem that redrawing legislative districts would be self-explanatory.  However in Oregon and many other states redistricting has been a quite tumultuous issue.  In fact for the last 5 decades the legislative districts have been drawn by Oregon’s Secretary of State because either an agreement wasn’t reached or it was challenged in court and overturned.  The issue of Gerrymandering  is at the root of the legislative districts controversy. Which I have no doubt happens and I honestly think that’s how a large part of rural Western Oregon ended up with urban South Eugene.

The urban/rural divide is something I want the legislators to be honest with themselves about. 

I attended a redistricting hearing two Saturdays ago. Now, I was unprepared and didn’t expect myself to testify thinking that this issue seemed like common sense particularly after I read the committee’s handout.  However, I found quite the opposite in the room.  There were people testifying that had no experience farming or making living on the land in Rural Oregon saying “It shouldn’t matter how the districts were drawn and they should have a say in how my farm was run.”

While I applaud the urban citizens for wanting to know what happens on the farm; we are not communities of common interest.  Like it or not there is an urban/rural divide.   Our paychecks don’t necessarily come every two weeks in rural areas and the paychecks can easily vary depending on weather, yield and price.  The majority of the rural population’s livelihood depends on the land and we do not have another job besides the land. To have a district that is split between urban and rural with a legislator who may or may not understand it, is a sure way for bad legislation to get passed that hinders rural economic efficiency.  

We need a legislator who is going to represent the best interest of our rural community’s economy.   An urban legislator is not going to fully understand the impacts of particular bills or laws on our jobs of managing the land, particularly when he or she has urban constituents to please also.   Just like rural constituents or a rural legislator may not fully understand an urban issue such as the value of public transit or a bike lane.

If the Oregon House & Senate Redistricting Committees really want to come up with a plan that works, look to keep economies of common interest together.  Economies create communities of common interest.