Finding Common Ground

Contributor: Sarah Severn

​Last Friday and Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend the annual convention of the Northwest Farmers Union (NWFU) and Cattle Producers of Washington in Spokane, WA. Washington Business for Climate Action (WBCA) sponsored the event and attendees were an interesting blend of family agricultural producers, ranchers and advocates for the sustainable production of food, fuel and fiber.
Over a century old, the NWFU, led by Kent Wright, is the regional chapter of the National Farmers Union (NFU). Its mission is to protect and enhance the economic wellbeing and quality of life for family farmers, ranchers, fisherman and rural communities.

For me, I wanted to learn about this community’s thoughts on climate change and how it affected them – if they felt it did. I met with people from across the spectrum. One participant told me (without hesitation) that she did not believe in global warming science. “It’s all part of natural cycles,” she explained. And I suspected she was not the only person in the room who felt this way. NFU president, Roger Johnson, however, is on the other end. During his speech, he outlined how climate change was at the top of their national legislative priorities. 

Also notable, were farmers’ collected concerns about the future. Anytime a speaker mentioned forest fires and water shortages, they had follow-up questions and were clearly passionate about finding solutions. For them, they are at the front lines, grappling with forest management plans and water rights while trying their best to produce and deliver the food we all depend on.
Additional convention highlights included:

• Sarah Laird of Beegirl.org urged us to “love our bees.” In addition to all the other stressors bees face today, climate change is a big concern, changing flowering times, threatening bee pollination and potentially devastating our food production.
• Joy Beckerman Maher, an industrial hemp expert, demonstrated in-depth knowledge about the U.S’s history of a much misunderstood species: Cannabis Sativa (a non-psychoactive variety). Industrial hemp has multiple uses and ecological benefits. Yet, strangely enough, it is still outlawed for production in the U.S. including states like Washington, who have legalized medical and recreational marijuana – a lost economic opportunity in my opinion. 
• Maurice Robinette, who has a thousand acre farm in Cheney, Washington, promoted the Pacific Northwest Center for Holistic Management, a hub of the network formed by Allan Savory, the grassland ecosystem pioneer. For over forty years, Allan’s ideas have been developed, but he now has an ambitious plan to create one hundred hubs around the world and put one billion hectares of grasslands into holistic management, combating desertification and reversing climate change. His Ted talk is a must watch. 
• “Up in Smoke,” presented by Veritas Research, included data on the economic significance of the outdoor industry on WA state and what is at risk from forest fires. It’s familiar data I had seen before from WBCA members: REI, K2 and Outdoor Research. And I was pleasantly surprised to see it used in this context because it indicated potential cross-business allies – farmers and the outdoor industries. 

Overall, I came away from these presentations with a renewed excitement about engaging the agricultural community to WBCA’s work, while at the same time reviving my childhood dream of living on a farm or at least, beekeeping.

Author’s note: While I now live in rural San Juan County, my previous two decades in the U.S. were spent in Portland, where I indulged my passion for the great outdoors and followed where my food came from. That said, my only agricultural credentials are a horse, a mixed breed cattle dog and a backyard straw bale garden. 

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