11/30/05 Grass roots coalition

Several coalitions have formed within ag circles in recent years with a purpose of giving a greater voice to ag in both the political and social realm. And while many of these groups have formed with a focus on a national basis, there are others that are successful and content promoting the needs of the farming and ranching industries on a grass roots level. One example of a local level pro-ag coalition is the Elmore County Agribusiness Coalition based out of South Central Idaho. Dave Bergh is an Elmore County producer, and he says what started it was a recent decision affecting the county's growing dairy and livestock industries. BERGH: What prompted this was a C.A.F.O. moratorium that was enacted within our county by our county commissioners and all of us in agriculture kind of looked at each other and said "Boy, we'd better wake up and start paying attention to the political side of things, and the county government side of agriculture. What makes the E.C.A.C. coalition unique is that its base of support does not come solely from the livestock and dairy industries. In fact, Bergh says the Coalition has gone out of its way to be inclusive. BERGH: We felt that in order to have any kind of a voice at all when we wanted to make a statement on issues we needed to pull together as an entire industry with the farmers, and the ranchers, and the dairymen, as well as agribusinesses and unrelated businesses. So we're sort of trying to gather up support from all different segments of the county that are directly and indirectly affected. But the E.C.A.C. is not confined in scope in terms of opposing its country's C.A.F.O. moratorium. Bergh says instead, the primary focus of the group is not only to lobby. He also sees the E.C.A.C. as an education tool & to share the story of ag with Elmore County residents but also for E.C.A.C. members to be educated about urban matters as well. BERGH: We've tried to educate the community as a whole that even though we're sort of out of sight and out of mind at least in our county from an agricultural standpoint, we do have a fairly substantial economic impact to the county on an annual basis, and that impact affects everyone within the county and not just businesses directly related to agriculture. So far, the good and involved neighbor approach has worked, with the E.C.A.C. increasing both in prominence and involvement. Recently, the E.C.A.C. has been mandated by the state of Idaho to participate in a program to find solutions to stop overdraft of a local aquifer and eventually decrease overall draw on the aquifer.