By OAT Executive Director Nellie McAdams
When I spent my first session lobbying in Salem, I felt very small, insignificant, and awkward in my business suit. Legislators were usually kind but extremely busy, and I had no clue how important my one issue was compared to the thousands of bills they were considering. I helped coordinate grassroots outreach by encouraging people to ask their state senator and representative to support the bill, but it still seemed like just a handful of voices in a sea of noise.
Then one day, one legislator transformed my understanding of how policy is made.
He was a champion (a leader in support of the bill) and I was reporting that we hadn’t reached as many people in our grassroots engagement as I’d hoped. He turned to me and said “When I get more than six personal emails from constituents about the same thing, I know it’s a hot topic.”
It was a simple statement, but it contained three important lessons:
Just six people. Half a dozen. A little more than a handful. That’s sometimes all it takes to get a legislator’s attention and pave a way for change.
Make it personal. We all get emails asking us to take 1 minute from our day to press a button and send a form email to our legislator. Legislators get scores of these, and they can make a difference. But while a personal email articulating how the policy affects you might take 10 more minutes to write, it can be more than 10 times as impactful.
The messenger matters. The most important person to many legislators is not a professional lobbyist, but their constituents to whom they are ultimately responsible.
Why We Advocate
You might wonder why a land trust has any interest in walking the halls of the capitol building. Oregon Agricultural Trust (OAT) has two primary programs: Protection of agricultural land and Education of farmers, ranchers and professionals about easements and the root causes that lead to the development of ag land, like poor succession planning.
But critical to the success of both of these programs is our third program: Advocacy.
When landowners work with us they can receive charitable tax deductions and/or grant funding in exchange for their easements. That charitable tax deductions for easements can be spread out over 16 years is the direct result of decades of lobbying from the land trust community. And the grants we apply for are only available thanks to federal and state legislatures and local governments that make this funding available. Moreover, the end results of succession planning are shaped by the laws governing state and federal estate or inheritance tax.
OAT’s ability to fulfill our mission depends directly and indirectly on scores of policies from the local to the federal level. We also recognize that government funding for this work is limited and that other organizations in the state need access to these funds to do their good work as well. As a new land trust competing for limited funds, we hope to grow the size of the grantmaking “pie” that the entire land trust community enjoys, rather than taking from the slices of our peers.
Who We Advocate With
Advocacy is central to our success, and we don’t do it alone. We rely on our partners at a statewide, regional and national level to organize the campaigns that we engage in. These partners include:
Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts (COLT): the nonprofit that serves and strengthens the land trust community in Oregon.
Land Trust Alliance (LTA): the national leader in policy, standards, education, and training for land trusts.
American Farmland Trust (AFT): the national nonprofit that protects farmland, promotes sound farming practices, and keeps farmers on the land.
Partnership of Rangeland Trusts (PORT): the partner organization representing 11 states that advocates for the conservation of working lands and western heritage for the benefit and wellbeing of future generations.
What We Advocate For
We currently focus our efforts on expanding funding programs for easements. This includes:
State: The Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program (OAHP) was developed by conservation and agricultural organizations to provide farmers and ranchers with funding for voluntary programs that support both agriculture and natural resources on agricultural lands. OAHP’s programs include grants for working land easements that protect agricultural lands by limiting non-agricultural uses. Currently unfunded.
Federal: Agricultural Land Easement Program - Agricultural Land Easements is a program of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that funds working land easements.
Join Us!
As we build our advocacy program, we will have opportunities for you to reach out to your legislators as a constituent to advocate in support of farms, ranches, and agricultural land. Sign up to our newsletter to be ready for opportunities to raise your voice. For the month of June, all new subscribers are entered to win a swag bag with a sturdy tote bag, trucker cap, bandana, and stickers to celebrate your support for OAT and for Oregon’s ag land!
And since government and foundation grants cannot fund advocacy work, your donations are essential to supporting our advocacy efforts - consider donating to OAT today!
For Ag. Forever.
Nellie McAdams
OAT Executive Director