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Column Taints Farmers Image by Paul Underhill Capital Press, December 1, 2005

Most of the time, Don Curlee's column is a facile, gee-wizz puff piece about the miracles of agricultural technology that is noteworthy only for its lack of critical analysis.

In the Nov. 3 Capital Press, however, Curlee has taken on the role of God or Greenspan, telling us categorically that "Salmon are not worth $800 million," in fact, they're not even worth $250 million. He goes on to criticize anyone who considers themselves an environmentalist.

As a farmer, it offends me that Curlee's column appears to represent me. The modern technology he so adores has reduced farmers to a tiny minority in this state and country, leaving people who consider themselves environmentalists as the majority.

As the majority, they have, by law, earned the right to control what happens in our society.

Voices like Curlee's, full of ignorance and spite, only serve to allow urbanites to think of farmers as backward folks who can't be trusted to manage natural resources.

Who is Curlee to decide how much it is worth to society to restore a river that existed for thousands of years before this valley was farmed?