Bingaman

PENDLETON — Working outside every day is Wade Bingman’s favorite part of farming.

“It’s more of a lifestyle than a job,” he told the Capital Press.

Bingaman will serve a one-year term as president of the Oregon Wheat Growers League.

He raises wheat, grass seed, peppermint, hay, barley and oats on about 2,500 acres near Imbler in Northeastern Oregon.

He and wife, Angela, have four kids — Nate, 20; Jake, 17; Josephine, 15; and Will, 11.

“That is one of my favorite parts, that we get to live in a rural area and making a living doing what we love to do,” he said.

He took over the family farm, where he grew up, in 1998.

Bingaman decided to join the league’s leadership to help inform people about how and why farmers choose to farm.

“The biggest need I see is just advocacy, from farmers,” he said. “If we don’t do a better job of telling our story, other people are going to fill in the blanks and tell it for us. It’s not always what’s going on.”

He used the Snake River dams as an example.

“The issue with the dams is something that we just need to do a better job of explaining to people the importance of some of these things to agriculture,” he said.

Bingaman wants to combat the idea that corporate agriculture is taking over the industry.

“The majority of farms in the United States and Oregon are family farms,” he said.

Protections such as crop insurance in the farm bill are another priority.

“I’m really concerned — it’s been extended and then this upcoming year is an election year,” Bingaman said.

His “gut feeling” is the bill will be extended beyond the election this fall.

“I’m concerned it’s going to be an issue that people just aren’t wanting to really touch,” he said.

The league needs to convey the bill’s importance, and ensure that it works for Oregon farmers, he said.

Bingaman praised the league for its advocacy on behalf of all the state’s farmers.

“My hope is just to continue that work,” he said.