Jodi Johnson-Maynard leads to new Landscapes in Transition research project aimed at helping farmers thrive as the climate changes.

In the Feb. 11 edition of the Capital Press, reporter Matthew Weaver offered up a wide-ranging interview with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee covering climate change, the Snake River dams, farmworker overtime, riparian buffers and Covid 19 regulations.

Inslee’s views on these issues have been well reported. While we offer a bit more detail, I have to admit that the story didn’t break any news.

The one bit of new ground that was turned concerns how Inslee perceives his relationship with farmers and ranchers, and how he would like to go about improving it.

“Well, I wish that I had a one-on-one relationship with every single farmer and rancher. It would be great. Unfortunately, there’s quite a number of folks.” He said.

“I would like to have a sit-down conversation over tea, or even a cold one at some point, with hundreds of thousands of people. That could improve it, but time doesn’t permit that, unfortunately.”

Governors are busy people. Most of their interactions with the public come in the form of carefully scripted events that promote specific policy initiatives to a supportive audience.

Theodore Roosevelt called the unique position of elected officials to speak out and be heard the “bully pulpit.” We have not found a similar term that describes the unique responsibility elected officials have to listen to people who they serve.

Let us know if you spot the governor sharing a brew in the local coffee shop or watering hole. That would be news worth reporting.

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In this Friday’s edition, Carol Dumas explores the federal government’s commitment to expand processing capacity by investing $1 billion to expand small- and medium-scale meat processing plants.

Cattlemen hope more capacity and additional venues will give them more leverage in negotiating cattle prices, hopefully boosting revenue. But economists say the investment will lead to overcapacity and processor failures — including those receiving federal funds.