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For episode three of the Stoel Rives | Deeply Rooted Podcast, host Kirk Maag sat down with Elin Miller, Founder of UmpquaNut Farm and Umpqua Vineyards. In the episode, Elin talked about breaking barriers as one of the first women to be elected for the Future Farmers of America and the progress made for women in agriculture. Elin also shared challenges facing Oregon vineyards, her service on the Oregon Board of Agriculture, and helping small farmers worldwide with her nonprofit work.
Returning to the Family Farm
After a successful career in the agribusiness industry, Elin and her husband felt the pull of owning land to farm. “I always wanted to farm,” Elin said, adding her husband, “had farmed we bought back the family farm that had fallen out of the family.” After planting hazelnuts on the farm in the Umpqua valley, they also planted wine grapes on adjacent land that had been in the family since the mid-1800s.
Growing hazelnuts and wine grapes are part of the richness and diversity of agriculture commodities here in Oregon. There is a diversity of products that Oregon agriculture produces, from hazelnuts, wine grapes, and in Eastern Oregon- corn, wheat, alfalfa, and cattle.
Breaking Ground and Diversity in Agriculture
As a high school freshman, Elin looked back at an event that would become a turning point that pointed her towards a career in agriculture. Fred McClure, the first African American national officer for Future Farmers of America (FFA), visited her class and spoke about the opportunities in agriculture. Elin said, “it was so inspiring. I said, ‘wow,’ if only I could be like him. And that began my journey of working towards getting my American Degree and being able to run for national office (in the FFA).” In 1979, Elin became the third woman to be elected to national office for the FFA.
Since Elin’s election to national office, Elin noted that now about half of the leaders for the FFA are women. But, there is still much more work to be done. “Every company continues to struggle in diversifying and to attract and retain diverse talent. We in agriculture need to always continue to look at diversity and make sure we are reflective of the various opportunities and individuals we work with on a global and local basis,” Elin said. Host Kirk Maag added that agriculture needs to continue to ask, “how do we as an industry make sure every person that has a passion for agriculture feels welcome, and feel like there is a place for them in the industry. The more we can promote that message, we will expand the diversity of folks involved in our industry.”
Representing the Wine Industry in Oregon and Challenges Ahead
As the Oregon Wine Council chair, the association represents about 60% of the Oregon wine grapes grown, produced, and sold in the state. The council was formed in 2019 to bring a broader focus and voice for the industry to Oregon lawmakers. “We came off the economic impact of COVD, the economic impact of the smoke (from the forest fires), and then into this very difficult legislative session, potentially raising taxes on wine. I think we have been relatively successful in the challenges that have faced us in this legislative session,” Elin said.
Elin further discussed the impact of ‘smoke taint’ from the devastating Oregon forest fires in 2020. “There’s a lot more information that is available on how you can mitigate the potential negative effects with wine. As the science progresses, people are learning a lot more on how to utilize those grapes, but at the same time the worst thing that can happen is if those grapes are not going to end up producing a high-quality bottle of wine. It’s important that at the end of the day for Oregon, and brands, we have the highest quality wine output,” Elin said.
In addition to representing the wine industry in the Oregon Wine Council, Elin is also a member of the Oregon Board of Agriculture and serves on the board for nonprofit Cultivating New Frontier in Agriculture (CFNA). Through all of Elin’s board service, she values the opportunity to help shape the future of agriculture with her leadership experience. “One of the things I think that is important for any position in leadership is being able to gather people together and really look at what strategic direction we should be thinking about.”
Episode Transcript
Kirk Maag
Welcome to the inaugural season of the Stoel Rives Deeply Rooted podcast. I'm your host, Kirk Maag, Co-lead of Stoel Rives Agribusiness, Food, Beverage and Timber Industry Group. This season we’re interviewing respected industry leaders and discussing how they and their companies are embracing innovation and capitalizing on new opportunities to move their industries forward in an ever-changing world. Subscribe at stoel.com. That’s s-t-o-e-l.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Welcome back to the Stoel Rives Deeply Rooted podcast. I'm Kirk Maag, one of the co-leads of Agribusiness, Food, Beverage and Timber Industry Group.at Stoel Rives. This morning I'm joined by Elin Miller, founder and owner of Oregon's UmpquaNut Farm and Umpqua Vineyards. Good morning, Elin.
Elin Miller
Good morning, Kirk.
Kirk Maag
Elin is a veteran agribusiness and management executive with more than 30 years of senior leadership in corporate, government and nonprofit sectors, and her work has spanned local, national and international issues. We'll explore some of Elin’s varied experience during our discussion today. But let's dig in. So, Elin, you and your husband are directly involved in Oregon's agriculture industry. Tell us about your farming operation.
Elin Miller
Well, it's kind of a dream come true for at least me. Sometimes my husband, I think, questions our wisdom here. But I’d always wanted to farm. And his family had farmed and owned some land in Oregon when we were living in different parts of the United States. And so we bought back the family farm that had fallen out of the family. And it's now been about 20 years ago we planted hazelnuts on it and we tried to commute and come back and try to farm it remotely, which was pretty darn difficult. So we were really pleased and we moved back full time in 2009. And so it's a hazelnut orchard, and this is the variety of hazelnuts we grow, which have been challenged at least in the Willamette Valley because of filbert blight. But luckily, knock on wood, so far, we're doing quite well down here with the orchard. And then about five or six years ago, we decided to look at planting some wine grapes and those wine grapes are on a family farm that we inherited that has been in the family since the mid 1800’s. And so we now have 60 acres of grapes growing on that ranch. And they're still just in their infancy of production. So we've been really happy to get involved in the wine industry too. So looking at hazelnuts and wine, two of Oregon’s industries.
Kirk Maag
It always fascinates me, and I'm always excited talking about Oregon's agriculture industry because of the diversity of products that Oregon's agriculture industry produces. You know, you've talked about hazelnuts and wine grapes. But in far Eastern Oregon, where I grew up, corn, wheat, alfalfa, onions and cattle were some of the main ag commodities. And we're so fortunate to live in a state with the richness of diversity in agricultural commodities.
Elin Miller
Absolutely. And it's interesting because a lot of people don’t even realize … I was on call earlier this morning with an individual said, “Oh, they grow wine grapes in Oregon?” He’s from Boston. So I definitely had to talk to him about pinot noir in particular.
Kirk Maag
Well, I know I visited some law school friends in in New York City a few years ago and Oregon pinot noir was the rage in in New York City restaurants at the time. It's really making a prominent debut across not only the US, but elsewhere as well. It's pretty exciting to have that happening here in Oregon.
Elin Miller
Yeah, absolutely. And we've, you know, as far as the industry we've, you know, it's very, very noteworthy. I was really surprised that he had not recognized that he actually said, “I didn't know you grew grapes there, I knew you made wine.” He wasn’t necessarily someone from agriculture, so.
Kirk Maag
So talking about folks who are not necessarily from agriculture. Unlike many who followed their parents footsteps into the ag industry, you didn't grow up in agriculture. So how did you find your way into the agriculture industry?
Elin Miller
Well, I was actually going to parochial school through 8th grade and started public high school in 9th grade and there was this class called Vocational Agriculture, where you could learn to grow flowers better. And I thought, “Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun.” So I signed up for my first, it was called Vo Ag. It’s now called Career Tech Education. But back then it was Vo Ag. And so it was an opportunity to all of a sudden open my horizons to agriculture. Fell absolutely in love with agriculture from technical standpoint as well as just through the Future Farmers of America at the time, now called FFA. Just going through that leadership process with FFA, it changed my life. And so that's really how I started to get involved because of that first class I was in in vocational agriculture. And then in Future Farmers of America.
Kirk Maag
What's one story you remember from your early days Vo Ag classes?
Elin Miller
Well, I think probably a real turning point for me was in my freshman year and individual by the name of Fred McClure, who was the first black National FFA officer came to our classroom to speak. And he was so inspiring it. It was a pretty amazing. You know, he spent the whole class time with us talking to us about opportunities in FFA. And I said, “Wow, if I could only be like him.” And so that actually began my journey of working toward getting my, what's now called the American Degree and being able to run for national office, which I was lucky enough to be elected as a national officer, the third woman, back in 1979. And again, it was a life changing experience. But I think and I still recall and I got to get to know Fred later on in life. He an attorney in Texas. Just a tremendous human being, tremendous individual. But he really sparked my interest in involvement in FFA.
Kirk Maag
So you mentioned that you were the third woman elected to a national FFA office. Tell us about how the demographics of FFA have changed since those days.
Elin Miller
I'll say dramatically. I think now nearly half the leaders in agriculture are women. Back then there were very few of us that were involved. And it was kind of funny too. As part of being a national officer, we went to Japan for an international visit. Mitsui, as a company, sponsored our travel there. My fellow male national officers reminded me, “Now remember, the custom is you need to walk behind us while you're here in Japan.” So, you know. Well then, lo and behold, it ended up that the chairman of the board of Mitsui had time for us in their big boardroom, and I actually gave the presentation in Japanese. A three minute presentation in Japanese to the group. And so even though I might have had to walk behind folks, I was giving the presentation on behalf of my fellow national officers to the chairman of Mitsui.
Kirk Maag
So in your early days of FFA, women certainly were in the minority in the organization and I imagine the same was true when you left college and entered the agribusiness industry. Tell me, what was it like as a woman entering the ag industry out of college?
Elin Miller
I was the first woman to a sales rep of any company in crop protection on the coast of California. So it was, you know, it was a brand new world. And yeah, there were there were issues from, you know, what you might call today, sexual harassment and other things that you needed to deal with and manage well. But I actually saw it as a real opportunity because I was unique and as long as I continue to work as hard as I possibly could. So I had more technical background through internships in high school, were in cotton and college, and so I really didn’t know about vegetables and here I am in the midst of the Salinas Valley, which is the vegetable capital of the world. And then covering from Mendocino to Santa Barbara, which is, you know, we talked about diversity of crops, all kinds of crops. So I spent a lot of time in the field with pest control advisors that I was calling on to learn. And I think that actually allowed me as a woman because, I was a novelty, I think I wasn't what they expected. And then when all of a sudden I was able to find solutions for them from a technical standpoint, I think it actually gave me a huge advantage. I ended up my second year as a sales rep. It was for Shell at the time when they had an ag division. Second year, I got what was called the Silver Ploughshare Award. It was kind of the number 2 award nationally as a sales rep. So again, there were barriers. But as long as you faced those barriers and I learned a lot from going into something new and digging in really hard to be able to understand and be able to really make a difference … again, maybe back to that FFA training that I had … it was really rewarding.
Kirk Maag
How would you say the ag industry has changed since you entered it?
Elin Miller
There definitely are I think more women in leadership roles. But I think every company continues to struggle with looking at diversifying in a more traditional setting for the folks to be able to attract and retain individuals. Through my career, I had had an opportunity to serve in large companies where we would have different diversity networks where we would … in fact I was Asia Pacific, when I was running Asia Pacific for Dow’s ag business. We had a network from a Asian standpoint to understand cultural differences and focus and be able to look at how can we recruit folks in Japan or China and have them move to the United States for career development opportunities. I think we in agriculture need to always continue to look at diversity and making sure that we are reflective of the various opportunities and individuals that we deal with on a global basis, if we're a global company, or even locally as a local farmer.
Kirk Maag
Yeah, I like to think about it in terms of we need more young people pursuing careers in agriculture, not fewer. And how do we as an industry make sure that every young person who has a passion for agriculture feels welcome and feels like there's a place for them within the industry. And the more we can promote that message, I think we will expand the diversity of folks involved in our industry.
Elin Miller
Yeah. I agree with you wholeheartedly. And I think, too, especially when we look at farmers and the average age of the farmer and how we can look at attracting from a business and industry standpoint as well as a production, agriculture, farming standpoint, I think we're all going to be better off. And what I think is really interesting is again, I'm, you know, a huge champion – no surprise to you – of looking at ag education and FFA and for me, clueless city kid, too scared to raise her hand in the classroom, to what that organization gave me and opened my horizons to agriculture. I think even if students go through a program and are not necessarily destined to go into agriculture, that awareness level of agriculture is, I think, very, very critical and very important.
Kirk Maag
So let's switch gears for a second and swap stories. Tell me about your favorite job experience.
Elin Miller
I've been really blessed in my career. I've had a lot of fun. A lot of fun jobs. Probably when I actually was running Asia Pacific for Dow. It was really interesting because there was some interesting cultural challenges, particularly as a woman in Japan. That was one that was a big deal and we ended up doing a joint venture with Mitsubishi there and negotiating that JV deal and all that as a woman sitting at the table because there certainly were no women on the Mitsubishi side sitting at the table. That to the diversity of India and dealing with agricultural in India. Through, and then China and Southeast Asia. So that was really fun. And again, going into a situation where you don't necessarily have a lot of experience, but learning through that and that constant learning opportunity. But that was that was really fun. What about you, Kirk?
Kirk Maag
So I spent three summers living and working in Washington DC for FFA's Washington Leadership conference. We would have 500 high school students from across the country, a different group, show up every week in DC for seven or eight weeks over the course of the summer. Most of these students had never been in a building taller than maybe a couple of stories. They'd certainly never been to the US Capitol, at least most of them. Many of them had never been on a plane. And to be part of a team of 14 or 15 college age conference facilitators, being able to experience our nation's capital with these ag students from all across the country – what an incredible experience for somebody that that grew up 17 miles from a town of 1500 people, for someone who had nine students in his 8th grade class, to be working in our nation's capital was just an incredible, incredible experience. I think the other job experience, and I'll focus on a narrow aspect of it, but I grew up working on my family's farm in Eastern Oregon. But I think the favorite experience there was the summer after I graduated from 8th grade, I became a full time summer employee on the farm. And that was so cool to finally be a full time employee on the family farm. And I was making $3 an hour. I was excited about that. I had the incredible experience of growing up working alongside my parents and particularly my grandparents. Everything that I learned to do on the farm, I learned to do from my grandfather, which was a remarkable experience and I'll always cherish that that memory.
Elin Miller
That’s beautiful. Neat.
Kirk Maag
So you mentioned that you and your husband grow wine grapes. You are also the chair of the Oregon Wine Council. Tell us a bit about that organization.
Elin Miller
Well, it's a fairly new organization. We represent, I think, now about 60% of the Oregon wine grapes grown, produced and sold in the state. And we formed basically … there were some issues, inter industry issues, I'll call them, in the 2019 legislative session. And there were a lot of folks who are pretty concerned about what was going on. And so we as the Oregon Wine Council formed in August of 2019. And now we're working hand in hand with the Oregon Winegrowers Association which is the long time standing association representing wine. Within the Oregon Wine Council, we had a more extensive breadth and depth of the industry. And because our membership is different than the Oregon Wine Growers Association, we were able to I think bring a broader focus to what was happening in Salem. Tough year in Salem this year. After we had come off of COVID with wine tasting rooms closures as well as then we had the huge fires at the end of the year last year. Oregon had not experienced fires like that, you know, obviously from all industries that were impacted. But the wine industry, just understanding what effects would have and dealing with those kinds of issues. So we came off of the economic impact of the COVID, economic impact of the smoke, and then into this legislative session which has been very difficult, potentially raising taxes on wine and lots of other things. But I think we've been relatively successful. And being able to deal with some of those challenges that faced us through this legislative session and look forward to … let's say we look forward to the interim and looking at opportunities for the industry going forward.
Kirk Maag
For those of our listeners that might not be familiar with the effects or the potential effects of smoke on wine grapes, tell us a little bit about smoke taint. What does that mean?
Elin Miller
Well, you know, it's interesting because the word taint sounds pretty bad, right? There was more and more science going into this. There's an organization, let's say we've been working with California and Washington, and let's say UC Davis, Washington State, Oregon State on the science of it. Okay, trying to answer some questions on the science of it. There were people, there were wineries who did outright reject grapes this last year. But at the same time, there's a lot more information that's available on how you could mitigate from having some of the potentially negative effects of smoke with wine. And so this as the science progresses, people are learning a lot more about being able to still utilize some of those grapes. But at the same time if you've got a brand and you have, you’re a well-known brand in the marketplace, even though I'm a grower, of course I want them to buy my grapes, but the worst thing that could happen is if those grapes were not going to end up producing a high quality bottle of wine. So it's important that at the end of the day for Oregon as a whole, for different companies and their brands to make sure that we have the highest quality wine output. And so with, you know, again, and there's a lot of science to it if you're at a higher elevation versus a lower elevation, new smoke, old smoke, I mean, there's all kinds of things. And there has to be tests that are done. And in fact, crop insurance requires you to have some tests, and the labs were overrun last fall. So we were able to get some additional funding for OSU to be able to supplement some of the testing at their facility because the private labs weren't able to run things through quickly. So anyway, we've learned a lot and will continue to learn more because at this stage I'm not sure we're going to see some of the fire issues going away.
Kirk Maag
So it sounds like the industry is doing a lot of work to understand the relationship between smoke and grapes and ultimately the wine that's produced. And maybe one of the takeaways here is not to just assume that those effects are necessarily negative or can't be mitigated, but to think about how smoke, just like any other factor, moisture, soil, temperature, affects the ultimate bottle of wine that comes off of a vineyard.
Elin Miller
Absolutely. Well put.
Kirk Maag
So outside of issues related to smoke and COVID closures of tasting rooms, what are other issues that are keeping folks in the wine industry up at night?
Elin Miller
Well, I think labor is #1, availability of labor. Obviously during COVID we actually wrote our own guidelines to keep our workers safe and submitted those to Oregon Health Authority and OSHA on how we would go about doing that. But availability of labor is huge. And so how to deal with that going forward? There was an overtime bill in the legislature that would get, basically, force agriculture to have overtime pay and we were very concerned about that piece of legislation and ultimately, we don't know what's going to be happening before Sine Die in a week or two. But it’s going to be an interim discussion, I'm sure. Water is a big issue. We on our farm, in our vineyard are trying to look at growing at dry land. But you still have to get those little grapes started, so those first few years you've got to be able to get some water to them. But the water issue is also, I think, a big issue. Some of our Members in Southern Oregon are certainly in encountering some water shutoff dates that are going to be very problematic for production this year. So I think water is another high priority. Then I'd say just a third big bucket is, you know, when you when you are dealing with, whether you're dealing with Congress or you're dealing with the leadership in Salem, not too many people understand agriculture. And so it's, I think, a constant need for those of us in agriculture to continue to make people aware of the issues that we're facing. We shouldn't be the only voice at the table. Others should be part of that discussion. But at the same time, sometimes our voice is not as well heard, maybe because we're not articulating it well enough. So I think that will continue to be an issue for agriculture going forward.
Kirk Maag
On the topic of water, I noticed that there was a report that came out of OSU recently, Oregon State University, studying the potential ability to reduce water to grapes or the fact that it may be possible to grow high quality grapes or comparable quality grapes with less water. And so I guess I just look at studies coming out of places like OSU and I'm reminded by the importance of the investments that the state makes in research so that we can continue to have robust agricultural industries that contribute to our economies, particularly our local rural economies, and make sure that those investments in research continue.
Elin Miller
I couldn't agree more. On our hazelnut orchard we made the decision and it was probably one of the best decisions we made when we put the orchard in to go ahead and use micro sprinklers and nobody had put in micro sprinklers in a hazelnut orchard when we did. But it reduced the volume of water needed dramatically and it's still … and it allows for very productive, very, very productive orchard as far as total volume as well as quality too and nut fill and other things. But again, the new technologies, when we take a look at what's going to be happening in the future, I serve on a company board that's in the blueberry industry and where either from university standpoint or even through private research mechanization to allow for mechanization of blueberry picking for fresh, for the fresh market. And that would be, you know, how to deal with the genetics to make that happen and other things. But again, to deal with a labor issue as part of it. Right now on wine grapes, it's pretty darn expensive to be looking at a mechanization from a harvest standpoint. But as time goes on, more information can be provided and again relying on Oregon State and other universities for those kinds of assistance.
Kirk Maag
Trade associations are abundant in the agriculture industry. I think, you know, historically like the Oregon Farm Bureau or even American Farm Bureau as being one of those long time prolific grassroots trade associations. Why are trade associations so abundant in the agriculture industry?
Elin Miller
I think because of the uniqueness of our various crops, honestly, certainly where we can all gather together. I learned a lot this year about working in Salem and the need for coalition building with all the various entities. And so from an agricultural standpoint, Oregon Farm Bureau would gather everyone together for, “Okay, where can we find some common ground on some decisions.” But each industry is pretty darn unique from a technical standpoint. So that advocacy needs to include, okay, advocacy for research, advocacy for some other things. And so I think that's why there are so many different industry associations. I grew up in my career in agriculture in Arizona, but then moved to California after college and yeah, and learn the plethora of various ag organizations down there. But Oregon, because if its variety of agriculture, also has a lot of different organizations.
Kirk Maag
Board service is one of the consistent themes that we see over the course of your career throughout your resume. You're one of the newer members of the Oregon Board of Agriculture. What's something that surprised you about that board?
Elin Miller
Well, unfortunately I have only been able to meet with them virtually, so I have not yet met any of my fellow board members. So that’s been unique, serving, you know, advising the director on issues without having really had a chance to meet any of my fellow board members. But I think that again, the breadth of what the Department of Agriculture does, from regulatory to assistance to promotion and encouragement of agriculture in the state is very broad and it’s very important. And again, do all of us as farmers, I certainly didn't have the understanding of how important a role the Department of Ag plays for agriculture as well as for the consumer, making sure things are safe, making sure things are going well, and making sure that we in agriculture are doing the right thing. So, so I will say stretch my horizons on some technical aspects of learning about cougar deprivation, which I never really thought too much about before and probably should have before I got into the Board of Ag. But dealing with varying policies across the board, let alone where we've talked about with water and labor and other high priority issues.
Kirk Maag
You know, you've spent most of your career in the private sector, Dow Chemical, Dow AgroSciences, and now owning and operating a family farm. But you also did a stint in government, serving as EPA Regional Administrator for Region 10, covering Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. What was that experience like?
Elin Miller
It was great. It’s interesting because a lot of people think, wow, how can you be in the private sector and then how can you actually be in government and is there a conflict there or is there anything? And I've actually never seen a conflict. And instead, let’s just say I really grew as an individual. My first government experience was actually in California when I was Director of the Department of Conservation as well as I helped form Cal EPA and was part of the Department of Pesticide Regulation as its chief deputy. And so I had experience in government. It was a state government situation, certainly. So when I was asked to step into the regional administrator position, at least I had some knowledge of how that, how it works. One of the things I think that is important in any kind of position of leadership is being able to gather people together and really look at what strategic direction we should be thinking about. Now EPA has all its statutory mandates and there's that construct that you have to be in alignment with, but there's a lot of gray area. What emphasis you have, how you should be looking at spending the money, how you should be resourcing different things in different ways. And so for the first time at Region 10, we went through actually a strategic planning effort. And with that I had asked a team of the group to put together a survey and it was the first time all employees of Region 10, which I think we had about 600 of them, were asked what could be improved, what can be different, what could we do better, what, you know, the typical SWOT analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. We had an 80% return rate on that survey. 80%. And I read every, every single comment. And from that we formed a strategy that everybody was able to get behind and kind of get united behind. And so looking at government, folks in government are hardworking individuals and very well-intentioned individuals and at least what I found were very interested in looking at how things could be improved at going forward versus I think some of these stereotypes that you might have of people in government that might be just exactly the opposite.
Kirk Maag
What was one of your proudest accomplishments as EPA Regional Administrator?
Elin Miller
Well, I think probably the most rewarding that time I had, when I stepped in as Regional Administrator, there were some real challenges with the region. At the time, the administrator, you know, wanted me to kind of look into it and deal with it. Well, I was actually greeted by protesters. There was an activist group that was meeting in Seattle. And they were, folks were dressed up as crustaceans down in the lobby and you know because I came from industry and that must be evil that I was greeted with that. Well, maybe because of the strategic planning efforts, maybe because of the decisions we made on enforcement, which hey, if you've got to live by the rules and so from an enforcement standpoint that we needed to do what we needed to do. When I left EPA, they threw a kind of farewell for me and a couple hundred employees showed up. And they gave me this book and I have it up here on the shelf. And it's the most heartwarming piece because I think, even though I think many of my team felt, “Oh my gosh, what are we getting ourselves into? She was with Dow and Shell a long time ago, and this is going to be awful.” Come to find out, we worked very well together and we really, we really moved the peg on a variety of different issues, whether it be some of the Superfund issues we got closure on, to behind us on some of the litigation working with the Department of Justice in the negotiations. But anyway, long story short, it was very rewarding and to be able to see that at the end I think was probably my, still is a little emotional from my standpoint, so.
Kirk Maag
You're a bit of a unicorn in that you were appointed a regional administrator by a Republican President, George W Bush. You were recently appointed to the Oregon Board of Ag by Oregon's Democratic Governor, Kate Brown. What about your experience and history do you think allows you to be someone who's appointed by a Republican president and a Democratic governor?
Elin Miller
I was always kind of a “un” because of being in and public policy issues. When I was running the business for Dow, certainly the public policy thing was not the big deal. But if you are a lobbyist, which I have been through my career. I ran a trade association through my career. I headed up public affairs globally for Dow as a career. I always let you say was nonpartisan. I was very business oriented. I had very strong views as far as, as you know, what I thought made sense. But from a partisan standpoint, I wasn’t. It was interesting when I was selected to become the regional administrator for EPA, two of the bluest of the blue states, Oregon and Washington, and two of the reddest of red states, Idaho and Alaska. And so it just required an ability to be able to work with both sides of the aisle, which I just wish there was more of these days and we could kind of get back to what it was when I started into the kind of the public policy arena. There was a lot of statesmanship and a lot of ability to work together. I just hope, maybe I'm being naive, but I feel an opportunity is there for all of us to make that happen again.
Kirk Maag
You know your work on the nonprofit side has extended beyond the US borders. Tell us about your work with cultivating new frontiers in agriculture.
Elin Miller
Great. We’re called CFA, Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture. And I was recruited to the board, oh, about eight or nine years ago. It's an entity that does agricultural development work, helping smallholder farmers throughout the world. But most of our work is in Central Asia and Africa. We've got about a $50 million budget, annual budget, to do that work, funding coming from various foundations as well as USAID and various governments, like the German government that does work in different parts of Africa. A couple of my fellow board members, former Secretary of Ag Espy from the Carter Administration or the Clinton administration and then former Secretary Jack Block from the Reagan administration. So again, we try to be bipartisan, former congressmen on it. I was lucky enough to be elected a few years ago as its chair. And again, it's my husband and I have traveled to seven African countries where we go out into villages and it's really teaching basics of agriculture, whether it be helping with some irrigation issues, fertilization issues, pest management issues, even looking at marketing and promotion of goods into the city areas. But it's been really rewarding. I had always wanted to do some of that work throughout my career. And come to find out after I stop full time work, I have some time to be able to get that accomplished.
Kirk Maag
Thanks so much for joining us today. It's always great talking with you. I always leave our conversations more optimistic about the future of agriculture in Oregon and beyond.
Elin Miller
Well, thank you, Kirk. Also, I’ll throw it back to you. Leaders like you have been, even though you're a lot younger than I am, you've been a mentor to me since I've been in Oregon. And I very, very much appreciate having a chance to work with you as well as others since I'm still a newbie in the state of Oregon.
Kirk Maag
Well, thanks, Elin.
/END/
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