Blaine-Camas Farm Bureau organized, up and running

Picabo—Out back of Nick Purdy’s store in Picabo there was an informal meeting of the newly formed Blaine-Camas County Farm Bureau.

Instead of a boardroom, the meeting was held on Purdy’s airstrip, attending were 150 head of Purdy cattle who paid little attention, because they were grazing on lush pastureland.

President Sidnee Hill and husband are ranchers and lease 150 head of cattle, with 50 of their own. They lease land outside of Carey. They started four years ago and they’re slowly building their operation. 

Farm Bureau: You’re Idaho Farm Bureau’s newest county president, how does it feel?

It’s a lot of weight on my shoulders. I worry a lot about leading effectively, especially such a small and new group. I want to make sure we get a good foundation started so we can continue through the generations. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that, but I got a great group behind me. Having a good board and the people behind me that we can trust makes my job easier.

Farm Bureau: What are the needs in Blaine-Camas Counties?

One of our biggest needs is to create relationships, relationships with citizens, especially with Politicians and media on the County and State level. Its very important that we start to promote agriculturists that are here because we are a smaller, silent minority here in the County and we need to create those good relationships so we can have a voice to promote ourselves.

Farm Bureau: You still don’t have a building, what are your hopes and dreams in those regards?

We’re just getting started and right now my hopes and dreams lay mostly in the quality and the people I'm here to serve and have around me. Right now we are just barely toddling around and if we continue to progress forward I’d be thrilled. If a building comes along that would be great. For us right now we meet at Board member homes and that's fine because we’re just getting started and it gives us an opportunity to bond more. We will just have to see what the future brings.

Farm Bureau: How do you pitch the Farm Bureau to fellow farmers and ranchers?

Most of the time those pitches are just conversations. A lot of farmers and ranchers here in Blaine County are starting to become really curious and interested in what Farm Bureau is all about. A lot of people here have a good understanding of Farm Bureau, what it can do and what it is and they get even more interested. They hear my name, and the Board members names connected with Farm Bureau and that sparks their interest, but really they’re one-on-one conversations. Focusing on what they want, what they fear and the problems they have. From that premise, I am able to tell them what Farm Bureau can do. We have a lot of young people that want to get into agriculture and I talk to them about Young Farmers and Ranchers. We have a lot of established ranchers that are leasing from absentee Ranchers. I talk to them about protections Farm Bureau can provide via our policy book and an organized group backing them. Its all very personal and they come out with a very positive outlook and from there its word of mouth. Its all about one on one relationships and we’ve started the ball rolling and we are getting people interested in Farm Bureau and slowly getting them involved.

Farm Bureau: This county has a proud ranching tradition, but Ag is often forgotten in the northern part of Blaine County. Your thoughts?

Yes, we’re often overlooked. But I don’t think they forget, I think there’s just a lack of education of what production agriculture actually is. We have many who think they are agriculturists, they are promoting agriculture through farmer’s markets and producing locally. Those things are very good, but people don't understand that production agriculture is much larger than what they have in the community. They stay in Hailey, Ketchum, and Bellevue and those communities are wonderful but we hope to encourage them to drive outside the city limits and look around a bit. See the cattle on the hills, farmers in the field and realize that agriculture is vast and its beautiful in many ways than just locally produced food. We hope that we will have the opportunity to teach more with tools like Ag in the classroom with the trailer. We want to create a base of support through fairs, local media, and newspapers sources to teach people what agriculture really is out in the County, because of its large scale.

Also attending the impromptu meeting was Blaine-Camas County Vice President Clayton Mecham. The Mechams run 150 head of cattle on a ranch in Carey. He’s working on spreading the word about Farm Bureau in the ranching community.

Farm Bureau: What kind of job was it getting Farm Bureau up and running in these two counties?

It was a little bit of a challenge. We have worked on this project for more than 3 years. It just took a lot of the old-timers to pitch in and get them together, meeting with new members and forming a board, it was a lot of work but we got it done.

Farm Bureau: What’s attractive about the Farm Bureau?

I think the biggest thing is the area we live we live in a very politically diverse area. I think a lot of ranchers agree that we need to have a bigger voice so we can get things done on the County level and the support to complete those projects. Farm Bureau can help us fight the political battles that we need to be fought in the valley. With Farm Bureau, we can have a level playing field once again.

Farm Bureau: You still have logistical problems, no place to work, how is it working out?

We either get together at the Carey City Center or we’ll meet at Board Members homes, just depending on our agenda and how many board members are attending. So its a matter of organization and follow through because of our challenges and so far we're meeting them.

Farm Bureau: Blaine County is known for amazing skiing and one of the best resorts in the nation, not its world-class ranching and agriculture. What’s the blessing and frustration with that?

The biggest frustration is having a voice, fair representation for our part of the county. At times we’re forgotten by the Commissioners. We’re also predominately red in the south and blue in the north, so we've always been underrepresented. I think Farm Bureau will give us a bigger voice in the county. There will always be problems but I think getting a county farm bureau up and running will be good for all of Camas and Blaine County.

Blaine-Camas County Farm Bureau like other County Farm Bureaus, is busy with policy development, recruiting members and preparing for the upcoming annual meeting in December. Idaho Farm Bureau field man Zack Lanier says there’s excitement about the new grassroots organization, even though they don’t have a building to hold meetings.

“Its fun to go in and reorganize a county. There are dedicated people and they want their voices heard, agriculture, running cows, farming, this is what they enjoy, this is their life and passion,” said Lanier