Keeping the roots alive 

From his Meridian office, Food Producers of Idaho Executive Director Rick Waitley can watch Ada and Canyon counties each lose about 1,000 acres of prime farmland annually to development.
Despite that trend in the Treasure Valley over the past five years, agriculture production remains a big industry in Idaho, he said.
“People will always have to eat, and my job is to help people understand the importance of the process of how they get food, based on science, research and production,” Waitley said.
Food Producers of Idaho supports preserving state lands through farmland trusts, developing sources of renewable energy, simplifying federal regulations dealing with farm programs, developing a University of Idaho dairy livestock teaching facility in Jerome, and expanding community college offerings, he said. The group is following proposals to reform the U.S. immigration system.
“We monitor just about every agriculture, water and natural resource piece of legislation,” Waitley said.
The group started in 1970 when commodity producers united to promote farm-labor legislation in the wake of labor uprisings led by Cesar Chavez, according to Food Producers literature.
More than 40 associations and other organizations belong to the group. Waitley said membership continues to grow, even though not everyone who applies is picked for membership.
“We are selective,” he said. “We pull together farmers and ranchers to give them a voice on issues.”
A member list shows organizations representing people who grow or raise agricultural commodities in Idaho, or who are involved with production inputs such as weed control and labor.
Idaho produces 144 agricultural commodities including crops, animals and farmed fish, Waitley said. Idaho trails only California and Oregon, and leads the nation in seed crops, he said.
Efforts in recent years to boost Idaho exports have been a boon to Idaho’s agriculture industry, he said.
Ag producers see generally strong commodity prices at the same time rising costs take a bite out of profits, Waitley said. Fuel, fertilizer and labor are among those high costs.
On Thursdays during the Idaho Legislature session, Food Producers of Idaho releases minutes from weekly meetings wherein members decide issue positions. The group also compiles each legislator’s voting record on key issues.
About 70 of the 105 legislators will receive commemorative Idaho “Ag All-Star” license plates for the 2006 session, Waitley said. Awards recognize a perfect or perfect-minus-one voting record.
State lawmakers often ask why Food Producers of Idaho holds a particular position, he said.
“We are a rural state,” Waitley said. “Eight of our 44 counties are urban. Rural issues are very, very important. Legislators have tended to listen to those rural voters.”
At the same time, Waitley, at the Food Producers helm since 1990, sees more urban legislators focusing on agricultural interests. High turnout at farmers markets in Boise is one indication, he said.
“Our real conflict is not urban versus rural,” he said. “Much of the conflict we deal with is rural and ag,” he said.
Many people move to rural areas for the quiet lifestyle, only to find out that they’re not ready to deal with farm vehicles on roads, with odors or with other realities of agriculture production, he said.
Waitley grew up in Meridian and earned an agricultural education degree from the University of Idaho in Moscow. He taught agriculture at Kuna High School and worked for the Future Farmers of America national organization.

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To contact the author, send email to: brad.carlson@idahobusiness.net.

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