Bates recommends involvement, says organization provides farmer assistance

WARDEN — Earlier this month, Grant County Farm Bureau president John Bates was re-elected for another year.

Bates has been president of the bureau twice, and this year will be his fourth as president for his second run.

When asked whether it's typical for the bureau to have the same president for such a period of time, Bates replies that the organization typically tries to rotate.

"Sometimes, the vice president isn't able to step up like we need him to, so then (the president) gets stuck doing it a little longer," he said with a laugh.

Being president for so long means Bates has a lot of connections and a good rapport with them, as well as with Farm Bureau members and staffers on the state level.

"I get a lot of phone calls," Bates said. "I'm not always able to help, but I can maybe point them in the right direction."

The downside of the position is that it takes away from Bates' time with his family. He and wife Janet have been married since 1981, and have six children.

"But I do enjoy the Farm Bureau family," Bates said, noting that he meets members from across the state and occasionally attends national meetings. "There's a unique group of people that do ag for a living, so that part of it, I really enjoy."

With regard to future years as president, Bates said that he hopes the bureau's vice president will assume the presidency within the next two years, and then he will return to simply being a board member. Bates joined the Bureau in the early 1980s, and became a board member in about 1994 or 1995.

"It takes a little while to get up to speed on the issues and get to know all the people," Bates said. "My goal is to make sure the county farm bureau continues to function like it needs to function. So once I'm comfortable with that, I don't mind stepping aside and letting somebody else take the lead."

Bates and his wife moved to the area in 1981, from Arizona, where, had they remained, they would have been fifth generation Arizona farmers. They had honeymooned in the Basin for a week prior to their arrival, and made the move permanent on Feb. 14.

"That was a Saturday, and we started working ground the following Monday," Bates said.

In Arizona, the wells were getting dryer and the water was getting scarcer, and many people were moving in from California, which was the reason for the move to the state.

Bates did not have to change his crop from dairy alfalfa hay when he made the move. The biggest change in the different locations, one he still hasn't adjusted to, is the longer days in the winter, he said.

But "it's been a good move for us," he said. "We couldn't have done in Arizona what we've done here, I don't think, farming-wise."

Bates said he views farming as a good environment in which he and his wife can raise a family.

"It gives me a chance to teach my kids to work," he said, noting that his children work around him and his wife a lot of the time.

In recent years, farming has been decent some years for Bates, and tougher in others. This year, he said, looks like it will be a good year, better than last year, when two hay cuttings were rained upon, and the year before, when hay prices were not very good.

"That's not necessarily true for everybody — if you're a little further south, that early rain got them," he said. "So it just depends. We just happen to live in the right spot."

As president, Bates said, one hears the horror stories, the good stories, and who's getting picked on by the government. Sometimes, Bates is able to connect callers with people who can provide assistance.

The bureau also sends its members to legislative days in Olympia. Every year, Bates says, he is able to take someone who has never been to Olympia to watch the legislative process, attending hearings and meeting legislative representatives.

"I've taken guys that are 55 years old, lived in the Basin and never been to Olympia," Bates said with a chuckle. "I find that amazing."

Bates thinks that the Grant County Farm Bureau — with about 640 voting members, the second largest county bureau in the state next to Yakima County — is growing, having added people every year that he has been a member. But it does lose people who get mad because their opinions are the opposite of the organization on an issue. Bates recommends that those people become involved if they want to change policy, which often takes place at the bureau's state meetings.

One issue facing farmers in the next year is whether a farmer's custom-hire income is subject to business and occupation (B&O) tax. The farm bureau reads the law as farmers are exempt, while the Department of Revenue reads it as farmers are exempt unless they receive more than $28,000 in income, which Bates said he doesn't see in the statute.

Another issue is the high sales tax on diesel fuel. Bates said there's a movement to see if it can be dropped completely or lessened.

Bates has also been to a number of different meetings to try and come up with solutions to the declining levels of the Odessa Sub-Area Aquifer.

"It's not an easy fix and still try to satisfy everybody's needs," he said.

Bates recalled days where farm bureaus used to showcase new equipment for farming practice, and provide information about new technology. The organization still does a little bit of that, he said, but is now more about helping farmers keep abreast of the government rules on spraying, record keeping or testing under Labor and Industry regulations.

The farm bureau is a vehicle to see all the paperwork lessened, Bates said, adding with a rueful chuckle that he doesn't know that that goal will be accomplished.

"To me, it's sad," he said of the change in the bureau's direction, "because the government's supposed to be here to protect life, liberty, property and help us succeed as farmers, and it seems like we're at war a lot of times with our own government, trying to jump through hoops."

It's issues like these that drive the bureau's membership, Bates thinks, as people come up against items.

"It's hard to fight by yourself," he said. "On the state level, we're experienced, we have employees that deal with these bureaucrats on a daily basis and so that helps. And we're proactive."