Jim McLaughlin retires from long FSA career

By Cindy Snyder, Ag Weekly correspondent
Friday, December 21, 2007 5:39 PM CST

The Twin Falls Farm Service Agency office (1441 Fillmore St., Twin Falls) will hold an open house for Jim McLaughlin from 1 to 4 p.m on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008. CINDY SNYDER/Ag Weekly

TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Farmers in Twin Falls County are losing an ally when it comes to negotiating government programs.

After more than 30 years with the agency known today as the USDA-Farm Service Agency, Jim McLaughlin is stepping down as the county executive director for Twin Falls County.

While he had to comply with U.S. Department of Agriculture rules, McLaughlin had the interest of farmers at heart, said Walt Freestone, a farmer from Hansen who served on the FSA County Committee for 18 years.

“He would weigh the pros and cons of both sides,” Freestone said. “He stuck up for us (producers). He was not afraid to tell the state office when he didn’t agree with them.”

Keeping producers satisfied has been one of the greatest satisfactions of the job, McLaughlin said. The number of complaints originating in Twin Falls County have been minimal over the years.

“Producers may not like all of the programs, but they have gotten along with the staff. The staff, along with the county committee, have made decisions that are fair and equitable,” he said. “That’s what makes the farm program work; when you have rapport back and forth, not just one way.”

McLaughlin joined what was then called the ASCS (Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service) in June 1977. He spent 7 years as the county executive director in Bonners County where he was also the agency’s sole employee.

“It was a good learning experience,” McLaughlin said. “I had to do it all.”

Bonners County, at that time, had one of the smallest workloads in the state because most of the producers raised just a little grain but were mostly livestock. Back then, as now, most USDA programs are geared toward wheat and feed grains. Conservation programs were primarily wildlife habitat, tree thinning, hay and pasture reseeding.

When the position in Twin Falls County opened up, McLaughlin took it and moved in 1984 — the year Salmon Dam filled and floods washed out Lily Grade. He went from working with about two dozen producers to having 400 grain loans to service.

“I measured grain bins from sun up to sun down,” he recalled.

As farming has gotten more technologically driven over the last three decades, McLaughlin has seen his job description change from spending time in the field working with producers, checking Conservation Reserve Program lands or measuring grain bins to spending more time in the office doing paperwork.

“The decisions are driven more by rules and regulations rather than making decisions,” he said. “It used to be that you could make decisions, along with the county committee, and have a lot of input.”

He misses that time in the field. After graduating from the University of Arizona with a degree in business administration — and basketball, he added — McLaughlin and his wife moved to Carey, Idaho, where his father-in-law had just bought a ranch, and ran that ranch for three years.

When his father-in-law, who owned a small dairy in Arizona, decided to sell the ranch, the McLaughlins couldn’t afford to buy it. A friend told him about an opening for a trainee at the ASCS.

That country living has stuck with him. He owns a 60-acre farm and still runs a small herd of cattle in Twin Falls County. That provided him with a relief valve from his day job, but also kept him actively involved with agriculture.

Freestone said that being a producer himself helped McLaughlin work with producers who were participating in farm programs.

“He went out and met people on their turf,” Freestone said. “That was his biggest strength. He knew a lot of people and was out amongst them.”

“Part of the joy of this job was going to do field work,” McLaughlin said.

He said he’s looking forward to spending some more time outdoors — whether that’s in a field, the golf course or beside a fishing hole.

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