Focused on Future, Disparate Group Works Toward Consensus

Mayhem or magic? I figured we were headed for one or the other when I saw who showed up for the first meeting of the Ag Futures Alliance, the latest effort to resolve disputes that have dogged Ventura County agriculture for decades.

There in the parlor of the graceful old Faulkner Farm house last January were two dozen people I knew to be passionate about farming, one way or another. They represented a breathtaking range of conflicting points of view: big agribusiness, family farmers, environmentalists, farm worker advocates, ag educators, anti-pesticide crusaders, civic activists.

I knew their differences were profound and that animosity had been known to get ugly. But there they all were, each tentatively agreeing to seek consensus via the all-too-rare technique of listening.

They seemed to agree that there must be a better way than continuing to squabble until the last lemon orchard and strawberry field are urbanized. Guided by consultant Michael Dimock of the Ag Innovations Network, underwritten by grants from the UC Hansen Trust, Ventura County Farm Bureau and Economic Development Collaborative Ventura County, they were willing to try.

As the only journalist present--quite uninvited--I was the group’s first dilemma. Each person had come because he or she agreed on one thing (and in some cases, on very little else): Farming could only continue to thrive in Ventura County if conflicts among factions could be resolved, if somehow they could come up with a set of goals that everyone could live with.

That was going to take some extremely candid talk and unnaturally open listening. Tough to do with a reporter in the room.

There were two reasons I strongly wanted to stay--and for once, getting the scoop on a news story wasn’t one of them.

First, in my 3 1/2 years as editor of the Times Ventura County Edition opinion pages I have written dozens of editorials about conflicts involving farms, pollution, land use, labor and related issues. I deeply respect the importance of farming to the economy and lifestyle of Ventura County. I also recognize that so long as farmers are perceived--rightly or wrongly--as abusers of the environment rather than stewards of the land, public support for keeping them in business will be lukewarm.

Second, the process the Ag Futures Alliance intended to use was one I have seen work wonders in other situations. Participants were asked to sit in a circle as equals, to speak one at a time in turn, to speak honestly and spontaneously and to listen with the intention of genuinely understanding the others’ points of view--not merely to reject and rebut. I volunteer seven hours each week to lead such council circles in schools, and I have watched kids become more open and confident discussing the things they deeply care about and more understanding of their peers who see things differently.

I asked permission to stay and was allowed to on the condition that I not write about the group until it had had time to take shape. Now, that time has come.

Mayhem or magic? Our monthly meetings have provided glimpses of both but mostly a sense that the seeds of something important have been planted. The sessions have produced laughter, a few tears, some raised voices and steadily deepening relationships--even friendships--among people who formerly imagined each other with horns and fangs.

The farmers remain primarily interested in making a fair living and getting along with their neighbors as best they can. The environmentalists remain dedicated to eliminating pesticide drift and encouraging a shift away from heavy chemical use. The farm worker advocates maintain their vigilance for safety and dignity on the job. But to the degree that each was able to shift away from adversarial shouting and toward a genuine search for common ground, signs of progress began to appear.

In April, after hostility flared at a hearing on the toxic fumigant methyl bromide, organized by the state Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Ag Futures Alliance talked about how that session might have been more productive. At subsequent meetings the alliance identified specific goals the agricultural and environmental communities could pursue as partners. As a start, frequent foes from the Farm Bureau, the Environmental Defense Center and California Rural Legal Assistance teamed up to lobby the county Board of Supervisors to improve staffing and service at the county agricultural commissioner’s office.

In October, each member of the Ag Futures Alliance invited five others from his or her respective organization to a forum at which the concept and constitution of the group was unveiled. Although some of the questions and comments appeared to be fired from traditional adversarial trenches, there were signs that the spirit of consensus-seeking was beginning to ripple out into the larger community.

The alliance’s biggest test came in early November clouds of pesticide drifted onto the campus of Mound Elementary School in Ventura, sickening students. The incident dramatized the urgency need for better policies to prevent and respond to such situations. Members from the Farm Bureau and Environmental Defense Center began working on it together. The group’s response showed the potential of the Ag Futures Alliance--and how far it has to go.

Will its seeds grow strong or wither to nothing? Either is possible.

Having exhausted its initial grants, the group is searching for funding to continue. Some of its members, trained in debate and employed as professional advocates for particular interest groups, have difficulty listening and responding in the cooperative spirit the circle demands. Others, fervent in their desire to stop incidents like the one at Mound School, are frustrated by the call to compromise and move slowly. Elise Wright of Community and Children’s Advocates Against Pesticide Poisoning resigned for this reason but hopes someone else from her group will take her place.

Perhaps the alliance’s most significant accomplishment so far has been to make the various factions a little slower to think the worst of each other, a little quicker to consider working together toward a future in which farming truly can remain profitable, healthy and sustainable forever.

Other members of the Ag Futures Alliance are: Jake Blehm, Buena Biosystems; Ron Bottorff, Sierra Club; Ellen Brokaw, farmer; Jim Churchill, Community Alliance of Family Farmers; Ralph De Leon, SamCo; Cesar Hernandez, California Rural Legal Assistance; Susan Johnson, Ventura County Ag Commissioner’s office; Sue Kelley, League of Women Voters; Sheri Klittich, UC Hansen Trust; Rex Laird, Ventura County Farm Bureau; Eileen McCarthy, California Rural Legal Assistance; Richard Pidduck, farmer; Rob Roy, Ventura County Agricultural Assn.; Lori Schiraga, Environmental Defense Center; Henry Vega, Coastal Harvesting; and Larry Yee, UC Cooperative Extension.