California Agricultural Leadership Program

“When people think about politics, they think of conflict… that makes good television, but it doesn’t make good policy.”

Dennis Nuxoll, Western Growers Association

We heard from four spectacular speakers the morning of our second full day in Washington DC – Dennis Nuxoll (Western Growers), Scott Faber (Environmental Working Group), Sara Neagu-Reed (AmericanHort; class 49), and Randy Russell (The Russell Group). They were ostensibly meant to speak to their experiences working on Federal Policy and we certainly learned a lot about policy development, advocacy, and the dynamics that influence the Farm Bill. However, their true message was so much more profound.

The undertone of each session was that emotional intelligence, active listening, authenticity, and finding true common ground are the keys to successful advocacy and policy development. It is humbling to think that the very personal work we are doing and skills we are learning in our Ag Leadership journeys are so foundational to the success of many very successful leaders in agricultural policy.

This set the tone for our first successful visits with Federal agencies later in the day but it also helped us get back into the right mindset for the days to come. After our experiences in Minneapolis, it has been easy to dismiss the issues in our communities as intractable or to slip into overwhelm. This morning was a perfectly timed reminder that sometimes you don’t necessarily need decades of experience to take the next step forward. Instead, you need solid foundations of empathy.

Mr. Russell also noted that there are moments in our lives that launch our growth into a new trajectory (quantum leaps). To unlock this potential, we must be able to recognize the opportunities, have the skills to ‘open the door’, and possess the courage to walk across the threshold. For many of the fellows, myself included, it feels like we are on the precipice of a quantum leap. Ag Leadership has given us many of the skills necessary to open the door. May we all have the courage to take the next step.

After lunch, we launched into our first real experience meeting with Federal Agencies at the US Department of State. It was also our first experience with Federal Agency security! After two separate checks, we were escorted to a panel discussion with members of three teams working on Food Security – the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, and Office of Global Food Security – where we learned about global food scarcity as a matter of national security.

The panel emphasized the Department’s science-based approach to find common ground across partisan lines, between Agencies, and between countries. This philosophy provides a stable base for US food security policy even in times of Administration transition. To implement this strategy, the Department of State relies on internal collaboration between rotating foreign service staff and scientists/subject matter experts. The lead for our panel – Mr. Paul Harrison – stressed that the key to this strategy was to find subject matter experts with strong Emotional Intelligence and relationship management skills.

Next, the class split into two groups. One group traveled to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where we met with a diverse panel of public servants. Their expertise covered a variety of topics including pesticide regulations, the Clean Water Act, worker protection standards, and Endangered Species Act enforcement. They were candid about their goals, priorities, and the various challenges of creating good policy. Afterwards, they shared their personal stories and I was struck by their passion for creating good policy and ensuring healthy agriculture. They also asked us for feedback on things that they could learn from us. We shared concerns and feelings in the ag community about not having enough conversations about policy and discussed better methods for giving one another feedback.

The other group took a quick taxi down to the Department of Labor where we met Lorena Davalos (a UC Davis grad!) and Pilar Velasquez – both of whom participated in past DC Exchange programs. Our gracious hosts led us through a hall hung with portraits of previous Secretaries of Labor and then up to the rooftop where we were met with a truly magnificent vista – a real DC insider view of Capitol Hill.

Once we were seated in the conference room, our hosts described their advocacy on behalf of the US regarding international labor standards. We asked what it took to accomplish true compliance with these standards, and they both agreed it required understanding the needs of their international colleagues and using that perspective to find common ground. Pilar also commented that the DC Exchange program really gave her insight on how private businesses operate and that she uses that when trying to work with international stakeholders.

We will admit that once we found out that Pilar had a connection to Colombia (the destination of our international trip) the last few minutes of the session evolved into a question and answer session regarding the issues we may explore there. She advised us to pay attention to the Venezuelan migration to Colombia and how that related to labor issues and racial tension in the country.

The class was, understandably, disappointed yesterday that it was necessary to cancel the dinner on day 6. But nothing keeps class 52 down for long! Within 15 minutes of the announcement, the class decided to throw together an impromptu Purim celebration – a Jewish holiday that began the evening of March 6. We trekked to the Capitol Mall which provided the perfect outdoor venue for an evening of silliness.

The Purim shpiel (story), which we reenacted as a class, tells the tale of Queen Esther. She hides her Jewish identity to marry King Achashverosh. As their relationship develops, an evil advisor – Haman – plots to kill her people. His plan is thwarted when Esther reveals her true identity. It was the perfect union of the experiences we had yesterday at the Holocaust Museum and the themes we heard today about the power of true connection. Plus, we had a lot of fun booing and shaking groggers (noisemakers) every time the name Haman was mentioned!

Finally, we rounded out the evening with a bus tour of the monuments! If there was any doubt how excited we are to be together in our nation’s capital, I think the pictures speak for themselves…