How far does that glass of milk or that bowl of
grapes travel before it get to your table in your
house good question hi everybody welcome to
the county seat, I'm your host Chad Booth.
That is going to be part of our discussion today
as we look at the connection between the
agricultural community in Utah how big and
how important and everybody else that lives
here so we are going to start our discussion by
taking you out to the farm via the school kids as
we take a look at how early we start the process
of making that connection between farm and
food.
The Wheadon Family was one of the founding
families of South Jordan, in 1915 my great
grandpa Alma Wheadon purchased this 40 acre
farm, and then my grandpa bought it off his dad
and he paid 200 dollars and acre for it.
So these are our Belgians, this is our Belgian
team we have always had a team of work
horses my grandpa firmly believed in doing stuff
with a horse even when a machine could have
done it,
My grandparents built this house in 1965 when
you see the aerial photos it is so compelling to
see, you just have these huge masses of land
with one farm house in the middle. And its like
that all along the Salt Lake Valley and now its
completely changed, and that was only from
1965 to now.
A few years a go we had an interesting
experience a whistle blower showed up on my
mom's doorstep at 10:30 at night , and said
there is something going on at the city that you
need to be aware of, and we looked on the city
website and come to find out the city had
sloted to take half of our farm by eminent
domain for soccer fields . We had to fight tooth
and nail and say hey, we are not going to go
down without a fight. But eminent domain is a
huge battle we are constantly battling
Number one farms are important because it's
important to have open space but farmers are
important because its important to have
someone who knows what to do with the open
space. If we develop all of our open land what's
going to happen when the day comes when the
other states that we rely on so heavily for
agriculture like California for example, when the
day comes that they can't ship us the food that
we count on then how are we going to feed
ourselves.
And its critical that we teach our youth that
there are fields in agriculture there are careers
in agriculture to be had we not only need to
encourage that we need to reward it,
So in 2nd grade they do its called farm field days
they do it out at Butterfield farms in Harromon
and then they do 7th grade ag days which we
just hosted here for the first time this last year
had a great experience had thousands of 7th
graders here at the farm and are looking
forward to doing that in the future. And its
important to show these kids that there are
still, agriculture is not a think of the past it cant
be a thing of the past.
Farm build Field days is the Farm bureau's way
of teaching elementary kids about agriculture.
As a way to introduce kids to cows and field
crops and things and those things they don't get
a chance to experience anymore because they
live in homes in sub divisions and stuff like that.
What is this, an apple, an apple is a what? A
fruit!
Instead of hearing well we experienced this at
grandpas farm, now it's our family used to have
a farm or our great grandpa used to have a
farm. Especially in the north end of Utah County
more and more of the farms in this area are
gone.
Utah County is at a tipping point where if we
continue to build over our agricultural ground,
we will in I think its in 5 more years we will no
longer be able to raise enough food and fiber in
this area to sustain the population,
As I have become more involved with the farm
Bureau and I go to state conventions and things
and meet farm kids from other parts of the Salt
Lake Valley, it's interesting to hear their stories
to and to not feel so alone, here where we are
completely surrounded and feel like we are
fighting a loosing battle and I go and meet other
farmers in Salt Lake County and they are
fighting the exact same battle we are fighting
here in South Jordan and there are so few of us
clinging hanging on for dear life.
We will continue our discussion and I cannot
really say what all the guys say on network TV
about we are going to get into the weeds
because the guys we are talking to don't want
anything to do with weeds when we come back
we will talk to our experts on the county seat.
Welcome back to the county seat we are talking
about the linkage between home and farm and
how many people are missing the mark joining
us for our continuing discussion of the
importance of understanding how agriculture
plays a role in our daily lives our Millard farm
bureau Jared Bueller and the state farm bureau
president Ron Gibson. Guys thanks for joining
us.
Thanks for having us.
So before we started the show Jared you
related a conversation about a kid who said
what chickens make tell us that story that sums
up the problem we have.
When you we get to farm field days they ask
they see the chicken they see the feathers some
of these kids do not know that eggs come from
chickens. So it's a pretty crazy question when
you are born into agriculture and not
understanding that somebody would not know
what a chicken does.
I remember my grandfather raising chickens at
his house and he would go out there on a
stump and go get a headless chicken and by
dinner time we had chicken dinner so I
remember that but I guess how do you think we
lost that connection.
Well there is no way to bring that point home
then to actually live on a farm or a ranch just
like the story you just talked about. I think the
biggest challenge that we have in society today
is that people are so removed from agriculture
everybody less than 2% of the population of the
US work in production agriculture. That means
that 98% of the people don't so when we are
not close to the agriculture and we do not see
how animals are raised and taken care of and
how that process works people lose track of
how important it is and how it works.
I am thinking back on this Utah has lost 65% of
its Animal Monthly Units a mama and a calf in
what they eat in month in the last 50 years how
big is that population shift then, do either of
you have any ideas we are down to 2% of the
population involved in ag production was if 15
or 20 percent 50 years ago how big has that
shift been.
I do not know I do know that in 1916 when the
Utah Farm Bureau was established we have
been in business 100 years advocating for
farmers and ranchers when that was
established we had to have about 30% of the
people involved in production agriculture so in
100 years' time we have gone from 30% to 2%
Holy smokes, that is quite a bit. So what kind of
problems does this create for you when people
in the Wasatch Front have no idea what it is
that you do in Millard County?
Me personally I manage an Intermountain
Farmers store in Delta Utah so I make a living
with the farmers so I see it wide if the farmers
go out because they cannot make it anymore it
is huge and not our personal farm my wife's
family runs a big cattle operation I take care of
them but every time somebody goes out of
business it hurts me personally you see it from
small farms it goes to a bigger farm but it don't
take as many people to run a bigger farm then a
whole bunch of little one.
Rob you operation is a dairy operation and you
live across the magic bridge because you get off
you are in Ogden it's a very urban then you
head out towards your farm and you cross the
bridge and then all of the sudden you are like in
an entirely different world its actually very
stunning to see the difference how quickly it
changes, what do the people in Ogden need to
know what is going on in your side of the
county to protect that without your dairy
products the grocery store in Ogden could end
up being dicey.
We live in a unique situation a lot of people
want to live out there it is starting to be the
trend. My wife can get 3 Walmart's in five
minutes from my house yet we have a 1500
cow dairy on 500 acres of land that our family
owns and so it is really kind of a unique
situation out there one thing that is important
to us on our farm and also in the farm bureau
we have to make sure that with only 1% of the
population agricultural producers we have to
make sure that the people in town understand
the importance of agriculture in our
communities if they do not understand the
importance of production of agriculture in our
communities then we are going to lose support
with the laws that are created that will make it
more and more difficult to stay in business.
That leads me to a couple question we will take
a quick break and be right back with our
conversation about the importance to you in
the city about the farm across the way we will
be right back on The County Seat.
Welcome back to The County Seat we are
talking farm and city today I do want to ask a
question though and people go to the grocery
store in Ogden they pull milk and a pound of
hamburger out there they may not realize that
Stones meats a local company provided the
beef they got from ranchers across rural Utah
and that milk came from your place if all of the
sudden those operations were gone how long
would it take or how much milk in Ogden is
coming from your dairy?
Well that is a great point a lot of times people
get this mentality if they just go to the grocery
store they are not buying local products that is
not true you can go to Walmart today and the
milk that is in Walmart is Utah milk all of it the
milk that is in Kent's market is Utah milk and
that is really an important thing to have do you
want your milk brought in from clear across the
country or even worse somewhere out of the
country I don't. and to me that is important a
lot of the fresh produce that is grown especially
during the summer months comes from local
family farms and ranches it is important that we
have local agriculture I cannot even imagine
living in a world where we do not have the
ability to feed ourselves as a state I want to eat
local tomatoes I want to eat that local produce I
of course want to drink that local milk.
Also on that same subject there are so many
people that are moving into Utah and in our
area they are trying to get a hog farms to come
to Millard County as a farm bureau organization
we have met and we want to be behind it if
they fit we would like to bring those hog farms
into Millard county and Smithfield operation
and get behind them and I know they are
working on getting one in the Fillmore area
right now they tried to bring one into the Delta
area but it did not go through. But if we have
that many people moving there is going to be
75,000 people I heard in Wasatch county when I
grew up there was probably 30 or 40 dairies in
Wasatch County ran a dairy and my father in
law ran one there are only 2 dairies left in
Wasatch County probably 50 at one time. Who
is going to feed these people if we don't keep
bringing some of these expansions to our
communities that can fill the farms?
It seems to me there are 2 issues are play one is
a population issue and education issue as far as
having people understand how close
connection between their food supply and the
grocery store actually is and the other one has
to do with legislative policy and what
legislatures do when they are under urban
pressure of being elected and how those urban
guys who control the house and the senate
right now need to pay attention what the rural
guy is saying we need to do to protect
agriculture across the state. How does farm
bureau approach that?
One thing we are doing is we are making a lot of
effort to try and get legislatures onto our farms
so they can see it and we have had 3 events this
year where we have reached out to them to try
and get them to come out and we have had
really good turnouts from that I think legislators
really enjoy it deep inside of everyone's heart is
a tie to agriculture. We have a corn maze and
pumpkin patch on our farm and we had almost
35,000 visitors this year part of the trip is a farm
tour when you pay to come to the corn maze
you get a farm tour and you get to see the baby
calves you get see the cows being milked the
cows live and you get to witness the harvest we
are harvesting the crops all at the same time.
Every time people get off that wagon and after I
have given the tour they walk up to me and
they say my Grandpa or my Uncle was a farmer
I used to go to Idaho in the summers and work
with my cousins everybody wants a tie back to
the agricultural root I think is something that is
very natural inside of us and now as people are
moving farther way from the farm they are
looking for an opportunity to see that so what
farm bureau is trying to do is tie to that
emotional connection that they have so they
can really see and understand how agricultural
producers live their lives and the importance
that agriculture brings to our communities both
economically and culturally.
What kind of things are you doing down in
Millard County?
We as a board year ago was have somebody
from our board attend all the county
commissioner meetings so we already know
what is going on before it actually they have a
hearing or something. Brett Bunker for instance
he was attending some of our meetings and we
threw him out there and 3 or 4 months later he
is on the city council just being involved with
what we are doing as we are going into this we
are trying to have this dinner this year and it's
called feed Millard County by Millard County
with Millard County. What we did is make sure
it corresponds with our fair in August and we
have the local beef producers from farmers
donating lamb and pork the vegetables and
pumpkin pies people do not even know that
pumpkin pies are raised in Millard county now
so we had milk. Local folks selling wheat in 5
gallon buckets and had wheat rolls made and
honey you came through with about 10
different items for 5 bucks that was all local and
signs make that talked about the producer so
everything you got we charged 5 dollars and
250 tickets sold out and every year it will be
sold out even back to my wife made quiche
from the local egg farmers as you came through
you got to see every bit of what was just in
Millard county.
A local feast. Going to take a break when we
come back we talk about how people can be
engaged in helping advance this knowledge of
still the connection between farm and food. Be
right back with the County Seat.
Welcome back to The County Seat we have
been having a discussion about farm bureau
and their role in trying to connect people in the
city to understand that not too far away from
them is local food. I want to ask one question
because Farm Bureau is kind of an enigma just
like the farm is for a lot of city folks. What is
that you guys do on behalf of Utah's agriculture
community?
We always are advocating for local agriculture
and there is sometimes a misconception of
what that means we work at the legislature that
we can help try to pass laws that will be
beneficial to local agricultural producers but
when we do that we are not just working for
farmers and ranchers across the state what we
are doing we are working for every Utah and
the reason that we are is that it is so important
that we have that local agricultures here in our
community that is why it is so important that
we are working for everyone.
We don't want all of our spinach in the produce
department to be wilted as it got shipped from
Wisconsin. What can people do to help farm
bureau along. I live in the city what is the value
of saying I want to be a farm bureau member.
The value is first of all membership for Utah
Farm Bureau is 72 dollars a year so for 6 dollars
a month you can support local Utah agricultures
and first of all be a member of farm bureau and
by doing that it gives us the funds to be able to
do the things we need to do to advocate the
local agricultures and that open space that we
all enjoy and it is such a value to have that local
ag in our community and for you to be involved
in that really helps those that are involved in
production and agriculture be successful.
How do you join?
You go to our website at utahfarmbureau.org
and right on the first page it says join now and
you click that button and we have made it real
easy to do that.
I got to tell you I'm a member and it's painless
and very informative so I invite you all to go out
and check their website at the
utahfarmbureau.org and just find out all the
stuff they have on there. We are out of time for
this episode remember local government is
where your life happens be involved be part of
the discussion join us on social media and we
will see you next week on The County Seat.
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