Toward a Western 

 Agricultural Policy 



John Ehrenreich 



Dean of the College of Forestry, Wildlife and 

 Range Science 

 University of Idaho, Moscow 



T. 



he United States is entering a period of more 

 profound change than has been experienced in the 

 past 40 years. Nowhere is this change more evident 

 than in the development of our agricultural industry 

 and the management of our land based natural 

 resources. Agricultural technology must continue to 

 remain in the forefront if the United States is to pro- 

 duce sufficient food to sustain its people and world 

 demands by the year 2000. Yet this need presents 

 itself at a time when the ability of the economy to 

 maintain a viable agricultural industry is becoming 

 increasingly marginal Population growth, diminishing 

 energy reserves, world tension, and economic and 

 social change all mean that at the same time our 

 technological capacity adjusts to meet our needs, our 

 socio-political institutions and responses must be dif- 

 ferent and in a new context from the past 



Aghculture in the western United States presents a 

 unique challenge to these conditions. Western agricul- 

 ture IS faced with the same general problems as agri- 

 culture in the nation: water; transportation; availability 

 of land; development of domestic and foreign mar- 

 kets; and adequate prices to offset the increasing 

 costs of production. These problems are presented, 

 however, in a context different from other regions of 

 the nation Agriculture in the West is tied inextricably 

 to national natural resources While not formally rec- 

 ognized as such, agriculture must be seen as a com- 

 ponent of the multiple use management of the vast 

 public lands of the West Any decisions made for the 



development of agricultural lands or increased produc- 

 tion are limited not just to the authority of local citi- 

 zens or officials or state governments, but also to 

 decisions made by Congress concerning the manage- 

 ment of western forests and rangelands. Yet the 

 Mountain West in particular, because of its sparse 

 population, is not represented by large congressional 

 delegations; these conditions existing in states where 

 agriculture remains a dominant portion of individual 

 economies 



The West, and western agriculture in particular, has 

 always perceived itself as being exploited by larger 

 national forces, either private or public or combina- 

 tions of both Most of our national laws and policies 

 to stimulate agricultural growth and development were 

 enacted to satisfy different farming conditions from 

 those in the West. Government regulation of the pub- 

 lic lands has been seen as an attempt by power blocs 

 in other regions to manage property they neither 

 understand nor directly use. Current proposals to sell 

 vast amounts of public land still leave the West in the 

 same position, only the perceived exploiters this time 

 are large multi-national corporate interests. This 

 development, if it occurs, will be at the expense of 

 western aghculture, again, all at a time when the need 

 for efficient food production is critical. 



Over the years, the West has come to perceive 

 itself as a victim rather than a partner in the develop- 

 ment of national policy To survive, the agricultural 

 community has developed a deep sense of indepen- 

 dence which, while building a strong cultural identity. 



43 



