Candidates for two open positions on the Oregon Board of Agriculture should be realistic but confident about the extent of their authority, according to the outgoing board members.

Farmers are being encouraged to apply by July 17 to the office of Gov. Kate Brown for two seats that are being vacated this year by nurseryman Pete Brentano and rancher Sharon Livingston.

While the board serves an advisory role — offering guidance to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, rather than enacting regulations — Brentano and Livingston say members have the capacity to affect important policies.

“Recognize that your influence comes from time and persistence,” said Brentano, who manages a nursery in St. Paul and has served on the board for eight years.

By deepening their knowledge and speaking up for the farming industry, board members offer a valuable perspective on critical issues, said Livingston, who runs a cow-calf operation in Grant County and has also been a board member for eight years.

“They can’t make decisions but they do have a voice,” she said.

The 10-member board provides recommendations and insight that help ODA run its programs and brings developments to the agency’s attention, such as recent meat processing disruptions caused by the coronavirus epidemic, said Alexis Taylor, ODA’s director.

“That advice is really key,” Taylor said.

Brentano said he’s aimed to be a “voice of reason” during his tenure and hopes the new members will look beyond their individual sectors to understand the full scope of challenges facing farmers.

“They need to come in with a very broad perspective of Oregon agriculture in all its shapes and forms,” he said. “We need to represent the agricultural industry as a whole.”

In the past eight years, the board has spent a great deal of time advising ODA on its agricultural water quality program, which has shifted from being largely complaint-driven to focusing on improving management practices in “strategic implementation areas,” Brentano said.

“I think it’s starting to show some good success on the ground,” he said.

Water will likely continue to be a foremost priority for the board, though the implementation of carbon emissions policy will also be a major point of concern, Brentano said.

“I don’t think it’s going to go away, even during the pandemic,” he said, adding that Oregon must be careful to avoid implementing emission regulations that make farmers here less competitive.

“We don’t want to just price our people out of business and bring our food in from someplace else,” Brentano said.

Livingston likewise cited water and carbon emissions as vital subjects facing board members, who will need to be “strong advocates for agriculture” because the industry is being treated as a scapegoat.

“We are not the big polluters,” she said.

Ensuring that ODA maintains control over the regulation of agricultural water quality has been crucial in recent years, said Livingston, who worried that Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality would assert jurisdiction over that area.

“I said we need to be careful because the DEQ is trying to take over this program,” she said. “I wanted the Department of Agriculture to stay in charge.”

Though Livingston is departing the board, she doesn’t plan to disengage from the controversies in agriculture and vows to “constantly be watching,” testifying before lawmakers and participating in farm organizations.

“I’m never going to rest,” she said. “I will keep working for ag for the rest of my life.”

In recommending replacements for Brentano and Livingston, ODA Director Alexis Taylor plans to keep an eye out for a candidate who will ensure the diversity of agriculture in the Willamette Valley will continue to be represented.

Taylor will also want to recommend a farmer with experience in the agricultural water quality program, which has greatly matured over the past 20 years and will continue to evolve. It’s possible that one candidate will satisfy both the geographic and water background criteria.

“That can be the same person, or it can be two different people,” she said.