ML woman named Honorary Farmer of the Year

MOSES LAKE - When Judy Nelson was a little girl growing up on a cattle ranch south of Blue Lake in Grant County, she'd sit on the spring ground and feel the soil with her hands.

Feeling the texture and the warmth of the earth while "thinking how amazing it was what came from that dirt," Nelson, of Moses Lake, said.

Now Nelson, editor of the Basin Business Journal Farm News, has been named Honorary Farmer of the Year for the Quincy Farmer Consumer Awareness Days this year. "I feel like I don't deserve that," she says with her trademark frank manner of speaking. "It's a huge honor to receive this title, and to realize the trust people have for you."

Nelson adds that she "loves the whole concept of the Farmer Consumer Awareness Days," because it's an eye-opener to the public to realize what the farmer gets paid, is different from what the consumer pays at the store.

Nelson's roots in the Columbia Basin and agriculture go deep. She grew up on a 9,000-acre cattle ranch that was a cow-calf operation and the family also grew 65 acres of hay to help sustain the livestock.

Nelson says, "65 acres seemed like a lot in the 60s. I remember many, many cold days kicking bales off the back of a flatbed and hearing the cows crying as they came to feed." Everyone in the family worked hard, Nelson relates: "There were work days, not play days." And everyone had to wear cowboy boots because of the rattlesnakes. "Even if you were wearing shorts, you wore cowboy boots knowing that if bitten, the boot would keep the snake from penetrating skin." There was a rattlesnake-bite kit over the refrigerator and all family members knew how to use it.

Nelson's father also owned Bach Well Drilling originating in Quincy, located where Chet's Honda is now. Nelson says he drilled a lot of the early wells in the basin. "Quincy's special to me because that's where I lived as a little, little girl."

When the Hagadone Corporation called in 1997 asking Nelson to take over the Basin Business Journal, she decided to change its format and focus to agriculture. According to Nelson, it hadn't published for a few years before, but the change of focus turned the publication around. "I realize agriculture is in my blood and I love it," she says with a smile.

"I enjoy sharing people's stories," Nelson says. "It's their paper. And I love meeting new people and hearing their stories." Through Basin Business Journal Farm News, Nelson says, "We can get their stories out to each other. Our job is to protect growers and keep them informed of any threats to their livelihood."

Nelson is concerned about government regulations being imposed on growers. "It's hard to make a profit when they need to create a new full time position just to fill out the paperwork the government requires," she says with frustration obvious in her voice. She is also concerned that not enough young people will "go off to college and come back and work in agriculture."

Nelson says the various agricultural commissions, such as the Washington State Potato Commission or the Washington State Apple Commission, are "doing a great job" helping growers, going to Washington D.C. to address regulations or overseas to open up new markets for agricultural products. "Without them I don't know where we'd be," she adds.

Nelson "challenges" anyone who sees apples displayed in a store unrefrigerated to ask the produce manager about it. After everything the grower, packer, and shipper do to keep them fresh they need to be stored refrigerated, Nelson explains. "If those apples aren't at their best, who's going to get the blame?" she asks.

The biggest change Nelson has seen is the size of farms and the size of the machines getting "huge" along with automation with GPS and computers. "Just in the last 20 years we've seen a huge change."

In her free time Nelson loves to boat on Moses Lake and take her grandchildren out tubing. She also loves photography. She's been married to her husband, Jim, for 15 years and together they have seven children: five of hers and two of his.

"It's amazing how nice everyone in the agricultural community has been," Nelson says. "I want to thank my clients. Each one has taken time to teach me a little of what they know, and have mentored me. They are constantly educating me and for that I'm grateful. I'm grateful to growers for sharing their stories. Without those stories we couldn't do what we do."

Editor's note: This article originally appeared in the Aug. 30 Basin Business Journal.