Farming in the Winter

I stopped by a local restaurant the other night to pickup dinner. While I was waiting the manager asked “Are you farming this winter?” I responded, “Yes of course.” Manager, “What is there to do this time of year?”

It may be a slower time of year but there is ALWAYS something to do, contrary to popular belief.

Maintenance & Projects

Each tractor, swather, combine, semi-truck, sprayer and fertilizer buggy is gone through in detail. Changing oil, replacing belts, repairing temporary fixes from harvest and any other thing that may arise. We do this each winter to make sure our equipment is taken care of. Things break on the farm but poor maintenance shouldn’t be the reason.

This year we have a big project in the shop. Our three-wheeled fertilizer spreader/buggy is getting tracks! Why? Because we get stuck. Working on wet ground during spring fertilizing makes getting stuck a likely possibility. Our oversized tires help to prevent this but the tracks will increase surface area and hopefully stop this…

This is not even that bad….

This will be the only three-wheeled machine of its kind in the Willamette Valley if all goes as planned.

Winter Field Work

There are a few sunny days or at least days that are not raining in the winter, so we must take advantage of them. On these precious few days we try to get a spot spraying crew in the fields. Spot spraying is a technique that selectively eliminates unwanted or rogue plant species that are detrimental to the crop. Without this practice seed purity could be compromised which affects its marketability.

We fight slugs. Typically we have mild winters which creates a prime environment for slugs to eat our crops. Some years are worse than others, but no matter the year we must be on the look out for them. Slugs know no boundaries, my friend Brenda has battles with them as well.

Fields are checked frequently for any other unpredicted issue and make sure nothing has been missed.

Office Work

The family farm is a business.  During harvest, you pay the bills but spend minimal time behind a desk.  The winter is time to catch up on book work and finances, a not always fun but a necessary part of the business.

In a typical winter we are shipping grass seed.  This requires tracking inventory, sending seed lab tests, invoicing companies and receiving payments.

This year we have a new software program to analyze our yield maps.   This requires some “classroom” time to learn, then upload and then interpret. data.

Meetings

It seems that every farm organization have their annual meetings in the winter.  So far I have attended American Agri-Women, Oregon Seed Growers League, Oregon Cattleman’s Association, Oregon Ryegrass Growers and plan on attending Oregon Women for Agriculture’s annual meeting in March. There are too many to list that I wish I could attend.  This is a time for farmers not only to learn and get updates on the crops they farm but also to socialize with other farmers.

FUN

I would be remiss if I said there was no fun.  Yes, there is lots of work to do in the winter on the farm but it is a time for us to relax a little bit.

We have our annual lamb BBQ towards the end of December.  We invite the folks we have done business with over the last year and the neighbor farmers.  It’s an event that my family has been doing for 20+ years.

And of course there’s the occasional snowmobiling trip and weekend getaways as well.

I am sure I have forgotten a few items that my dad will remind me of when he reads this post, but like I said there is no lack of work on the farm in the winter.

COEXIST

“I am all for a world of diversity, but that means one farming system cannot claim to have a monopoly of virtue and aim at excluding all other options. Why can’t we have peaceful co-existence? This is particularly the case when it shackles us to old technologies which have higher inherent risks than the new.”

Mark Lynas, a former anti-biotechnology activist, spoke these words last week at the Oxford Farming Conference.

Mr. Lynas spent many years demonizing and vilifying biotechnology, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the companies that researched, developed and produced them.  He accomplished this by spreading fear and

 ”…employed a lot of imagery about scientists in their labs cackling demonically as they tinkered with the very building blocks of life. Hence the Frankenstein food tag – this absolutely was about deep-seated fears of scientific powers being used secretly for unnatural ends.”

However, as he pursued accurate scientific information for his book on global warming he came upon a realization that possibly he was wrong about GMO food. In his words:

“I discovered science, and in the process I hope I became a better environmentalist.”

Diversity, Coexistence & Acceptance.  I thought this was the world we lived in.  However, it seems to be lacking in agriculture.

It is happening all across the country when it comes to food, fiber and fuel.  It is happening on two different fronts in Oregon.  In Southern Oregon one group seeks to ban the growing of all Genetically Modified Crops in the area.  In the Willamette Valley farmers seek to ban the growing of canola.

Both groups claim to be concerned about cross contamination but they must look at the bigger picture.  They are limiting everyone’s freedoms by establishing these bans.  They lose the option to participate in current or future markets, eliminating crop diversity and hindering consumer choice.

I am not one for holding hands and singing Kum-ba-yah to settle a disagreement, but there is no scientific absolute reason for both of these bans.  What ever happened to being neighborly? Being considerate of what your neighbor is growing and he likewise of you?

I don’t think Mark Lynas’ words could be any truer.

“I am all for a world of diversity, but that means one farming system cannot claim to have a monopoly of virtue and aim at excluding all other options. Why can’t we have peaceful co-existence? This is particularly the case when it shackles us to old technologies which have higher inherent risks than the new.”

Related articles

• Organic farmers in southern Oregon seek ban on genetically modified crops (oregonlive.com)
• Mark Tercek: Mark Lynas and the GMO Debate (huffingtonpost.com)

Buffer Zones Would Harm Local Food & Fiber

Last week my dad and I traveled to downtown Portland in the middle of rush hour to testify at an Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) hearing. The EQC oversees the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).  The hearing was to determine whether the EQC would consider a petition brought forth by the Northwest Environmental Advocates (NWEA) to put a rule for 1000 foot (aerial spray) & 500 foot (hand spray) pesticide buffer zones around salmon bearing waterways in Oregon.   The NWEA’s request is based on severely flawed models; models that aren’t realistic to today’s farming.

Below is my testimony and comments that I submitted to the EQC.

Commissioners

The petition to put buffer zones around salmon bearing waterways has me truly concerned for my future.

Nine months ago I quit my well-paying job in the agricultural lending field and moved into a travel trailer by a sheep barn so I could return to my family’s century farm.  My goal is to one day be as knowledgeable and successful as the 4 generations before me have been when it comes to caring for the land.

It is my understanding that salmon bearing waterways are ANY stream that holds water in the wintertime.  First of all the idea that you want to regulate these streams seems slightly overwhelming and absurd.  There are an innumerable amount of these so-called waterways in the Willamette Valley because it rains a lot here and water has to go somewhere.  In a state with budget issues paying for a few people to map, count and monitor these streams seems pointless and a never-ending resultless task.

These rules would impact our farm tremendously.  Every place we farm has multiple ditches surrounding it or flowing through it during the wintertime.  This rule has the potential to eliminate half the ground we farm if not all. Five hundred feet may not seem like a lot but it quickly adds up. Example if you have a “stream” in your field that’s a half a mile long and you need at least a 500 foot buffer on each side that wipes out 60 acres of potential land for growing food and fiber.

Our family farm is not the exception to these so-called buffer zones. I think you will find that the majority of farmers in the valley also have similar waterways at their farms.

Commissioners, I ask that you reject the proposed petition & rule in order to protect the future generations of Oregon’s family farms and continue to promote local food and fiber.

My dad also gave a testimony where he described the group petitioning as the “Anti’s”, meaning they are anti-agriculture, anti-business and anti-people.  He also explained the progressive technology we use on our farm that allows for microscopic accuracy.

The EQC will decide on the petition at their October meeting.

On a similar note, a 10 year study was recently completed on the McKenzie River, which runs through farms, forests and the city of Eugene.  The results were positive.  It found that the river was incredibly clean particularly around forestland and farmland. The highest concentration was actually in the urban areas.  “But the amounts were tiny — less than six parts per quadrillion…”

Related Articles

• Northwest Environmental Advocates demands tighter Oregon rules on pesticide water pollution (oregonlive.com)

Worth the Fight, Always

There is never any lack of challenges being a farmer and they never seem to take a break when farmers are busy in the field.

A few things have occurred in the last two months while I was on my harvest hiatus.

Death Tax

Some awesome news, the initiative to End Oregon’s Death Tax, that I wrote about here and here, made the November 2012 ballot!  Finally Oregon has a chance to join 31 other states that have already abolished the State Estate Tax.  This is huge news for family farms, forests, ranches & small business.  However we still have to deal with the federal death tax which is set to return to pre-2001 levels, a million dollar exemption. Stay tuned for more information on this between now and November!

Canola

In August the Oregon Department of Agriculture opened “hundred of thousands” of acres for canola production in the Willamette Valley.  Previously, many acres had been restricted until research was conducted by Oregon State University to determine the potential of interfering via cross-pollination/contamination with Oregon’s specialty seed industry, which include radish seed, cabbage seed, sugar beet seed plus more.   The specialty seed growers are very concerned about the possibility of hurting their current markets.

Interesting enough anti-GMO groups took interest in this issue as well.  The majority of canola produce in the United States is genetically modified to be able to resist certain herbicides and was deregulated by the federal government several years ago.  The “Center for Food Safety“, “Friend of Family Farmers” and a few specialty seed companies filed a lawsuit together to block the potential production.

Here’s the thing, GMO is not the issue.

The issue is the potential of canola to cross pollinate or contaminate with other Brassica crops, such as radish or cabbage.  There also is a concern for increased disease in the those crops.   This situation is very unique, as two of the groups in the lawsuit prefer that GMOs be eliminated from Oregon while the other group, the specialty seed growers, utilize GMOs when available.  They grow Round-up Ready Sugar Beet seeds.

The problem is that one group is anti-technology.   They do not want ANY genetically modified crops in Oregon. End of Story.  If they succeed in “banning” canola in Oregon they will see this as a win for getting biotechnology out of Oregon.  It is potentially a very slippery ugly slope.  I would hope that resolve can come between the Oregon Agriculture community that is divided on this issue. Farmers against farmers means no one wins.

Department of Labor

Our federal government in the past few years has abused their power.

Recently the United States Department of Labor came into Oregon blueberry patches and held their perishable crop hostage until farmers paid a fine.  Instead of allowing the farms due process and a chance to prove their innocence they assumed guilt.  The farms were forced to pay the fine, one being $170,000, so they could get their crops to market and get paid.   They didn’t bother to give a courtesy call to Oregon’s Labor Commissioner or the Oregon Department of Agriculture Director.  This is an example of government out of control.

Worth the Fight

I often question is being a farmer really worth the fight.    Farmers, ranchers and foresters have many obstacles in their paths from unfair taxes, groups who seek to end their business and governments that abuse their power.  However,  I come to the same conclusion every time: It is worth it.  It’s worth it because I know what we do is right and a life and legacy that I wouldn’t trade for many others.

I must thank my friend Dairy Carrie for helping this post to happen. She and I share similar taste in music and while I’ve been too tired to blog lately a group, Cody Canada and the Departed, who we both enjoy released a new single today, “Worth the Fight”.  She challenged a few of us to write if what we do is really worth it. As you can see I clearly think it is.

A few of our  friends do too:

• Agriculture Proud
• Heim Dairy
• JP Loves Cotton
• Dirt Road Charm
• NorthView Dairy 
• The Magic Farmhouse
• Wag’n Tales
• From Heels to Boots
• Slow Money Farm
• Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Country Life
• jldphotography
• The Farmer Feeds Us All
• Calves, kids and my crazy, beautiful life
• Farming America
• Farmer on a Mission

Wordless Wednesday or Whiteout Wednesday

It snowed today. Snow is not a regular occurrence in Western Oregon paricularly the 2nd day of spring! Supposedly there’s more on the way too!

Notice the sagging electric fence in the background.

A snow covered wheat field!

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.

Farming & Football: What Mike Leach & I Have in Common

I recently watched Washington State University’s new head football coach, Mike Leach, give his opening press conference. I was inspired for my Cougars and next fall when college football begins. It’s been a rough few years as a Cougar fan but rough years make the great years that much sweeter.

One line from Coach Leach really caught my attention. “When people ask, “Why Washington State?” I think in the back of my mind, “Well that’s a stupid question.” Then I immediately blurt out the obvious; the commitment of excellence, excitement in the community, and you can win here and win big.”

I’ve been getting the same stupid question lately…ok not exactly the same but close enough.  Ever since I started thinking about returning to the farm and now officially have returned people responses are very cynical, “Why would you want to return to the farm?”  I have had people tell me I have so much more potential than that or they really thought I was on a career path with Farm Credit or they simply ask if I got fired.  Friends and other farmers have been critical, which disappoints me because I know that farming is more than driving a tractor.

It’s hard to explain a passion or calling in words to people unless they share that passion. I often respond to skeptics with “I feel it’s where I need to be. Not many kids have the opportunity to return their family’s 4th generation farm as the 5th.”  However from now on I think I am going to use Coach Leach’s response because at Bashaw Land & Seed we have a committment of excellence with some of the highest purities of grass seed you can find in the Willamette Valley. There is excitement in this community, when you live in a niche region that produces the majority of the world’s cool season grasses there is bound to be excitement surrounding new opportunities & markets.  You are able to win here and win big, while it’s been a rough few years for grass seed farmers, hopefully the price will eventually come around and with the right marketing and soil combination the possibilities could be endless.

While Mike Leach had probably many opportunities to coach at larger more prestigious universities but he chose the Washington State Cougars.  I am guessing Coach Leach and I have a few things in common; we like challenges, hard work and the rewards that come with that when we succeed.

Go Cougs!

Related articles

• Mike Leach introduced as WSU head coach (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/cougars/2016920380_leach04.html

How to Avoid the Farming Blues

My sister and I just returned from a great weekend at the farm, which is something we all needed.

In a typical year we would have started swathing the grass about the last week of June and start thrashing the seed around July 4th.  This allows for sufficient drying time for the seed, approximately about 10 days.  This year we didn’t start swathing/cutting the grass until July 7th.  Not only was the grass seed ripening behind but the weather did not help the drying process.  The rain didn’t want to let up.

The week of the 18th had started out very rainy that even the local news was out to interview my dad about dismal harvest conditions.  The Willamette Valley grass seed farmers needed some sunshine, warmth & wind very badly.

As our dad started to slip into a depression, my sister and I reminisced about other times when things weren’t going right on the farm.   My sister and I ran crews, machinery, drove truck and had the most important job of all…keeping the boss in a good mood.  A job which we still retain today.

Here are a few tips, tricks and tactics we employ on our farm to keep the boss man or even a crew happy:

• “P.M.A.!!” (Positive Mental Attitude). This is a standard farm acronym and saying, while things may not be going the way they need to, it’s best to try and keep your chin up.
• Sing.  You don’t need to know the lyrics or even the tune…but busting out a song always brings a smile to anyone’s face.  Especially if you adjust the lyrics to match harvest.   There are times I think we should quit farming and start a band.
• Air Guitar. Tell the entire crew to turn it to “Oldies” station and then proceed to play air guitar to Susie Q while on top of your truck as they go around.
• Imagination. When something is destroyed, broke or unrepairable and no one witnessed it.  It’s best to make up a story of a freak tornado or possible gremlins.  For example,  port-a-potty is smashed to smithereens, the logical explanation for anyone would be a funnel cloud appeared and touched down right there, not that someone (dad) ran over it.
• Harvest CD.  Every harvest should have a theme and CD to go get you pumped up on the way to the field.  2011 Harvest Theme: “Long Ways to Go and a Short Time to Get There”

What are things you do on your farm to keep the morale up?  I would love hear them!

Oh and yes we finally started combining on July 22nd, only 3 weeks behind the norm, but hey what’s normal in farming?

Combining Fescue

Shutting down for the day

Related articles

• Too cool, too wet weather puts the brakes on Oregon grass and other crops (oregonlive.com)