Are your state representatives farmers or ranchers? Does your state senator come from a career in ag? Does anyone from your legislative district even have ties to production agriculture? According to Doug Jones, state representative from 1985-2005, for the 2025 session, he counts around 20 members of both houses as agriculturalists. Braden Jensen, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation director of governmental affairs, puts that number at 18, adding that a few of the freshmen legislators have family who farm. Still, they are not directly tied to the operation.
That means roughly 20% of Idaho’s current legislature hails from production agriculture. To put it in perspective, farmers and ranchers represent less than 2% of the U.S. population, so having almost a quarter of our state’s legislative branch and the governor and lieutenant governor considered active in agriculture is quite remarkable.
However, the number of House and Senate seats filled by an elected farmer or rancher is on a shocking decline in a state that prides itself on having agriculture as its backbone and allied ag industries making up many of its appendages.
Unwilling or unable?
Has agriculture turned its back on politics? Heavens no, says Jones. “Every time you have a reapportionment, you get more urban seats, particularly in the Treasure Valley. There are districts completely within city limits,” he outlines. Adding, “Farmers, in general, are very public-spirited. They will be on the school board, the fire district board, the cemetery district or whatever because that's part of what they believe in – being a part of their community.”
While farmers and ranchers are generally very giving of their increasingly limited time, Jones does see more problems with getting agriculturalists elected due to:
- The time required
- The money required
- The viciousness of political campaigns
- The out-of-state money coming in
“It's a bigger challenge than it used to be by far,” he claims.
When Jones was first elected to the House in 1985, he says, 50% of the legislature represented agriculture. During the past 40 years, agriculture has lost 30% of its representation. Jones says this isn’t unique to Idaho, noting that every state in the nation faces similar issues but on an even larger scale.
Chanel Tewalt, Idaho's state director of agriculture, grew up in eastern Oregon. She says she never dreamed of working in government because, growing up, she felt that policymakers in Salem didn’t care about her, her family’s farming operation or even her side of the state.
You know, if you know
Rep. Jerald Raymond, District 31 House Seat A, serves as vice chair of the House Agriculture Affairs Committee and is a member of the Revenue and Taxation and Resource Conservation committees – three areas directly impacting agriculture. Raymond, a rancher from Rigby, says that 25% to 30% of the Revenue and Taxation and Resource Conservation members have agricultural backgrounds. Of the agriculture committee, only half are tied to ag.
Jones, who today works as a lobbyist for Idaho Water Engineering and interacts with legislators in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii, says legislators who don’t understand agriculture are often willing to learn, but they can have ideologies that slow progress or even stop progress altogether.
For example, Raymond cites a recent Idaho State Brand Board request to raise livestock inspection fees. The board needed the fee increase to function, support its employees, buy four-wheel-drive vehicles, etc.
According to Jones, brand inspections are legally mandatory in Idaho for selling livestock. Fees are paid by the livestock owner and go into a dedicated fund for this purpose. Livestock inspection protects both the buyer and the seller of the animals.
“We had a member of the [ag] committee that said, ‘A fee is a tax, and a tax raise is not going to fly, so I'm not voting for it,’” details Raymond. “His rationale was [the increased rate will be] passed onto the consumer. It was a 30-minute discussion on how that's not realistic … just because we paid 300 dollars to have our animals inspected does not mean we'll get 300 dollars more when they go on the truck. He was adamant he was not going to vote for it.”
The livestock industry and the Food Producers of Idaho supported the inspection rate request legislation.
The brand bill ended up passing the House 44-22.
Cultivating legislative connections
While the Idaho State Brand Board is one thing, there’s another elephant in the room regarding whether agriculture is understood: water. Water issues in the state of Idaho aren’t going away.
You don’t explain Idaho water law and issues and options in the future to someone in one day, says Jones. “It takes a lot of time.”
But you do have to start somewhere. Jones says that start could look like finding out who your legislators are. Next, invite them to lunch or for a ride in the tractor with you during harvest, take them on a farm tour, etc.
“Sit down and get acquainted with them because that does two things. You learn more about them. They learn about you, and if there's a particular issue that comes up, if you call them and they've already met you, they're much more apt to return your call or respond to your email,” he advises.
Raymond says the legislature goes on organized tours throughout the state. They visit northern Idaho once a year and go on a water tour every other year, but he cannot recall ever going on an ag tour as a legislative body. He says an ag tour is greatly needed.
“Some people have never been to a livestock auction. Some people have never been to a vet clinic outside of small animals. They’ve never been on a ranch when you're shipping cattle and need a brand inspector to be there, and he needs to be driving a four-wheel-drive pickup because he's not going to make it there in a two-wheel-drive,” Raymond smiles.
This problem isn’t going away, says Jones. But we can always get better in our approach with legislators, and we must get better because our livelihoods depend on it.
Visit online to meet your representatives and grow your relationships with them.
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