Growth's impact on local farmers

Thank you for the opportunity to submit this letter. My name is Laurin Scarcello, and I reside at our family ranch in the Twin Lakes area, which has been in continuous agricultural production since 1910. We raise cattle, hay and some small grains but we are primarily a cow/calf operation, and we also have timber land that we manage and graze. It is very much a family operation with what is owned and leased, hay put up on shares, etc. We manage just over 1,500 acres.

Something to remember is that farms aren’t just farms but families as well. Farms and ranches don’t just happen, as it takes generations to acquire, build, grow, not to mention learn. I truly believe the farmers and ranchers we have left are the best of the best. They haven’t survived by being sloppy but rather by hard work and perseverance.

I sit on a number of boards and feel I have a unique perspective of our area and how agriculture is an important aspect of everyone’s quality of life. If you eat you too are involved in Ag!

I’m not sure where to begin about American agriculture. I have never felt better about the products we produce, yet I’ve never been more concerned about our industry. Two percent of us feed the other 98% of our country, and a large part of the world.

We are stewards of the land, manage and build our soils, store and manage carbon, help keep our planet cool, protect our aquifer, lakes and streams. All the while producing food, fiber, proteins, jobs and it’s part of our national security.

There are those who believe that America’s ability to produce these things will keep us a superpower well into the future. There is no doubt that the domestication of livestock is the basis for civilization as we know it. That said, we need land, water and air to do it.

Farmers, ranchers and forestry continually work toward good stewardship and sustainability. We recently completed a sizable timber sale on our land, and we chose our forester, logging contractors, etc. All through this process, soil health, soil microbes, timber regeneration, and again, sustainability was all part of the dialogue and goal.

As I drive across our prairie, and see what we have lost, I see that growth is unsustainable. If for no other reason, its appetite for raw land. Topsoil is stripped, carbon released, gravel exposed, ground laid bare with no filter for the aquifer, and permanent heat islands are built.

It’s hugely important that we have dialogue on this pressing issue but I have sat through meetings and workshops like this at least two times before. All well intended and well attended but with no results. However, I have learned this: Growth boundaries and borderlines are controversial and won’t work. Private property rights in Idaho are alive and well. To tell someone what they can or can’t do with their land is a hard sale.

I believe what is needed is a voluntary program that farms and ranches can sign up for to help preserve open space, perhaps on five- or 10-year intervals with incentives to carry on. Property tax breaks, and/or cash leases, are not too much to ask when one considers all that agriculture does for the community, the land and resources we all depend on.

These leases would not lock up lands, but rather help families maintain their operations while giving them a degree of flexibility to change and adapt as needed. Conservation easements and trusts do have a place but forever is a long time. Managing a business from the grave would be difficult for future generations to deal with.

Keep in mind that farms are businesses too and at some point, it has to pencil out. We face ever-increasing input costs, markets are volatile with world unrest, climate swings are brutal.

In Ag we read on a regular basis the benefits of what we do for the environment, yet the media is seldom kind. We have all seen tax breaks and other incentives offered to large companies to come here in the hopes of jobs and industry. I see no reason we can’t offer this to agriculture.

We employ people, buy expensive machinery, purchase tires at Les Schwab, support the local NAPA store, volunteer and contribute to our communities, yet we require few services and promote open space for all to enjoy.

I believe we should work toward keeping farmers on the land and the families we have on their farms as they have the tribal knowledge and experience already. I’ve heard it said that lands could be bought and leased back to farmers and that may have some merit, however that would take time, be costly, need oversight and raise question for bias.

Growth has problems and fallout. A lot has been said about wakes on our area waters. Growth leaves a huge wake that erodes what is dear to us. Agriculture promotes what we love and need, ecosystems and wildlife depend on it, and so will our grandchildren. We have an opportunity to manage and control carbon, mitigate climate swings, and have a level of local food production that COVID-19 has shown was hugely important — or did we already forget that lesson?

In closing, I think time is short to do something proactive, not reactive. The Huetter bypass will happen and that will forever define the prairie. The boundaries of Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden and Rathdrum will be limited by this, and the prairie will be smaller yet again.

We have an opportunity to do something about carbon, climate, air shed, view shed, water shed, not to mention the quality of life and the reasons we all live here and want our kids to stay here. We should start with preserving lands over and adjacent to the aquifer, then branch out to protect open space. The amount of water we send over the state line to Washington, Liberty Lake, Green Acres, Spokane Valley, Spokane and Airway Heights should help pay for some of these incentives.

Agriculture, like Rodney Dangerfield, does not get the respect it deserves, and like lakefront property, they aren’t making it anymore.

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Laurin Scarcello, pictured with his grandson, is a resident of the Twin Lakes area.