Farmers Question Lawmakers On Ag Issues

WASHINGTON, D.C. 2007-01-03 Among the many concerns before the next Congress will be those of American farmers. Capitol Correspondent Jill Morrison caught up with a number of Oregon farmers ahead of the next farm bill debate -- and let them ask their own questions of members of Congress. She filed this special interactive report.

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Camille Hukari owns a 45-acre pear and apple orchard in Hood River, Oregon. And when given the opportunity to question her lawmakers she jumped at the chance. At the top of her list: a shortage in immigrant labor.

Camille Hukari: "This year the workers were just not available. They were not here. And I assume part of that is the tightening of the borders. It's more difficult to get across because I know from talking to growers in other parts of the country that we're not the only ones who had problems."

And her question?

Camille Hukari: "Will you give us a guest worker program for agriculture in this next session that we can use for the 2007 harvest? It's a matter of life and death for us."

I sat down with Oregon Republican Senator Gordon Smith in his Washington, DC office to pose Camille Hukari's question.

Gordon Smith: "I understand very much how important this is to orchardists, nurserymen, others in agriculture and many other industries. And whatever else we do in addition to security on the border. At a minimum we need a guest worker program and I hope we will have one by 2007."

Jill Morrison: "Do you think that that will be part of the Democratic agenda coming back?"

Gordon Smith: "Well, clearly many Republicans and most Democrats did support some kind of comprehensive approach to the immigration problem and it will only get worse the longer we wait."

Smith may hope for a guest worker program, but it's the Democrats who will set the agenda. I tracked down Oregon's Democratic Senator Ron Wyden to ask him Camille Hukari's question as he walked from the Senate chamber to his office.

Jill Morrison: "She's had such a hard time getting guest workers on her orchard this year. Wondering if there's any plan for that to come up early in the next session with Democrats in control?"

Ron Wyden: "I think there will be three key issues in an immigration bill. First, is making sure we get better control of our borders. Second is better enforcement of the laws. What's right is right and what's wrong is wrong and it's just that simple. And third, a program that addresses the unique circumstances in areas of our economy like agriculture where they simply cannot get workers at any price to stay in business. For example, many Oregon small farmers say, look, if we were to pay $100 an hour of course we could get people to pick our crops. But if we did, we would not be able to stay in business. So I think it will also be important as part of an immigration reform effort, to have a program that addresses those areas of the economy like agriculture where they simply have not been able to get workers."

Jill Morrison: "Do you think that's going to be near the top of the agenda?"

Ron Wyden: "I'm hopeful. I think those three steps I've outlined all are very doable and I think would constitute a mainstream approach to immigration reform."

Jill Morrison: "Have you seen throughout your state a similar story to what Camille was talking about?"

Ron Wyden: "Absolutely! I hear about it in every town hall meeting and every community forum that I hold."

I also caught up with a third generation rancher in Southern Oregon. Tracy Liskey runs a cattle ranch outside Klamath Falls. Liskey says it gets more challenging each year. Sometimes he just wants to give up.

Tracy Liskey: "The profitability keeps going down and down as costs go up and the lack of ability to pass your cost on as an agriculture industry, so you've got to get more diverse and tighter and tighter with everything so it gets rougher."

Liskey says one of his greatest worries is that Congress will increase environmental regulations so much that he'll be unable to do business.

Tracy Liskey: "How are we going to be protected against environmental attitudes in the water and all that? How are we going to be protected from those circumstances?"

Republican Congressman Greg Walden represents Eastern Oregon and says he understands Liskey's concerns.

Greg Walden: "That's probably the biggest threat that I see in the next Congress whether you are in the Klamath Basin or in Central Oregon or Eastern Oregon is the fight that will occur over water and its uses. My view has been that we should create partnerships and incentives so that farmers continue to get their water, but we do some conservation efforts that help improve instream flows for fish and we solve both of those problems. There are others there who are pretty punitive in their outlook who say no we're just going to buy farmers out, shut down farming, we're going to stop this stop that as opposed to fostering local solutions."

But Walden says there's a good example of how to balance competing interests between environmentalists and farmers.

Greg Walden: "In Deschutes basin you've had the river conservancy operating that brings everybody to the table- environmentalists, government officials and farmers to say how can we increase stream flows and still make sure we have water for agriculture. It's been a very successful process. Not easy, but very successful."

I also asked Senator Smith about Tracey Liskey's concerns about environmental regulations.

Gordon Smith: "We have to focus very carefully so that anything coming out of Congress doesn't add to the burden, but helps lighten the burden to people like Tracey. We want him to succeed. We want this essential industry to Oregon to have a place not just in our path, but a central place in our future."

Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer agrees. He says he'll look for ways to both help Oregon's farmers and protect the environment. And that's exactly what Tracey Liskey and Camille Hukari are looking for -- a sense that lawmakers are thinking about them when voting, that lawmakers understand the reality they face in agriculture.

Whether it's the need for immigrant labor or finding a balance between protecting the environment and keeping their business alive.