Country Life Special Section • Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Dairy • CL2 Gardening • CL3 4-H • CL3
Fruit Conference
Language, food options add to diversity of berry conference About 420 attend fourth annual event of talks, displays, credits By Calvin Bratt editor@lyndentribune.com
Fruit Conference
DelBene asks agriculture to stay involved on Congress issues On her docket: immigration reform, ‘hot goods’ and U.S. waters definition By Calvin Bratt editor@lyndentribune.com
to sprayers, harvesters to cane shredders — to and from the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds site, he said. R e g i s t r a t i o n was at about 420, said Henry Bierlink of co-sponsor Farm Friends. The number of exhibitors also seems to keep increasing each year, he said. Water was again a strong theme of sessions: adjusting water rights with the state Department of Ecology, the latest in organizing irrigation districts in Whatcom County, reducing sediment and pesticide runoff from fields. Sue Blake, Extension water resources manager, said the potential of water banking will Whatcom berry growing acquaintances socialize in the Washington Tractors exhibit area be explored at an
LYNDEN — Maqbool Chaudhry and Marny Barrau were two busy people in the information-loaded sessions of last week’s two-day Washington Small Fruit Conference. They were interpreting it all into Punjabi and Spanish, respectively. As many as 45 attendees signed up to learn about pollination or weed control in their preferred language, an added dimension of the conference this year. Both Chaudhry and Barrau, who live locally, are certified through Language Exchange for the interpreting, also used in courts and for medical and social services, and they both said they often learn a great deal themselves in the process. The pair brought high qualifications to the task. Chaudhry, raised in the Punjab India and Pakistan region, has a master’s degree in English. Barrau has a PhD in cell biology and has lived in many countries of the world. Such is the nature of berry growing locally — especially when needed pesticides credits are at stake — that it must be very culturally inclusive. This was the first year of offering language interpreting at this high a level at the conference, said Chris Benedict, an organizer with Whatcom
LYNDEN — First District U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene said at last week’s Small Fruit Conference she wants to hear from Whatcom County’s specialty crop growers to help shape policy in the new Congress of 2015. DelBene recapped what was achieved in the 2014 farm bill and in other efforts
“Too often specialty crops have been overlooked,” she said. Agriculture can be an example for working across party lines, DelBene said. Her own areas of concern for the Northwest include the “hot goods” provision used by the U.S. Department of Labor to crack down on a Whatcom County blueberry grower in 2013 and also the Environmental Protection Agency’s
A helicopter of local agricultural sprayer Essential Flight Operations was parked right at the entrance to the berry conference on the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds last week Thursday and Friday. Below: Maqbool Chaundhry and Marny Barrau do the English interpreting into Punjabi and Spanish. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune) County-Washington State University Extension. Even the lunch options both days offered ethnic choice, between a Mexican taco wagon and Punjabi cuisine. This was the fourth year of the conference, with its many topical presentations, combined with a Lynden Ag Show of equipment displays and business and organizational booths. It is an effort of the state raspberry and blueberry commissions, Whatcom Farm Friends and WhatcomWSU Extension. The beauty of the event is that it is very berry-focused for making contacts with farmer prospects, said Mark Visser, of exhibitor Farmers Equipment
Co., of Lynden. It is also nice to be able to conveniently drive all 15 display pieces — from tractors
Congresswoman Suzan DelBene talks after her Friday presentation to Lynden berry grower Rolf Haugen. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune)
of the ag show. From left are: Mo Sangha, Ken Sidhu, Jasbir Dhaliwal, Sam Ghuman and Shamsher Brar. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune)
See Fruit on CL2
of this her first term. But she also turned attention to what will now be different in a fully Republican-controlled House and Senate. Much legislation did not advance and “we can do better,” the Medina Democrat told a Friday morning session in Washington Tractor Arena on the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds. In all, about 420 attended the full two-day conference focused on regional berry growing. DelBene was the only Washington representative on the House agriculture committee and a conference committee with the Senate that finalized a five-year agriculture and food policy blueprint. She said she was happy to help win better treatment for fruit and vegetable crops, especially in terms of research money, market access and trade promotion.
definition of U.S. waters that can lead to intervention action on almost any farmer’s land. The “hot goods” clampdown on a perishable product essentially forces a grower to admit guilt to save the rest of his crop. DelBene said she wants a “common-sense approach” to such conflicts. She supports HR 5071, the Agricultural Conservation Flexibility Act, which has had no action in Congress since being introduced last July. It pulls back on agencies’ aggressive interpretation of the Clean Water Act, and requires soil and water conservation practices to be treated as normal farming practice and not subject to new rulemaking. On the topic of immigration reform, which affects farm labor also, DelBene reitSee DelBene on CL2
Warm wishes for a Holiday Season! wonderful
Photo by Just
in Snell
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