Leadership skills prove valuable beyond WAWG board tenure Dan Blankenship, WAWG Past President 1991-92

Raised on a farm homesteaded by his grandfather, Dan Blankenship had a typical wheat farm upbringing. His parents, Dwayne and Beulah Blankenship, had a large family with one daughter and five sons. The fifth of six children, Blankenship worked on the farm as a youth and was also “loaned out” to neighbors in the Washtucna area.

Following graduation from Washtucna High School in 1974, Blankenship attended Washington State University (WSU) and earned his degree in agronomy in 1979. He enjoyed farm work, but serious allergy problems stifled his enthusiasm for a career in wheat farming.

“When I began my studies at WSU, I took classes that pertained to the science and research side of agriculture,” said Blankenship. “Those classes really hit home with me, and I developed a much greater appreciation for the smell of freshly worked soil. I felt great satisfaction watching the progress of newly seeded fields. I discovered a whole new set of aesthetics regarding what we do as dryland wheat farmers.”

Blankenship was directly involved with operation of the family farm until 2017, when he retired from the day-to-day farming management. Part of their family farm is now being operated by his brother, Brett, and the remainder of the acreage is being leased to a neighbor. 

It was perhaps inevitable that Blankenship would be heavily involved with the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG). He recalls attending the WAWG convention each year with his father in the 1980s.

“My father believed it was important to learn from your neighbors and to be involved and engaged with your industry associations,” noted Blankenship. “I served as committee chairs and as Adams County president before going through the leadership chairs at the state level with WAWG. 

“I actually didn’t feel completely qualified when I was asked to go through the WAWG chairs. I had not been on the WAWG board for very long at the time. It was a surprise to me when the call to serve came. The decision to serve was aided by the support of my colleagues, who were themselves surprised that I had not noticed that I had been groomed and trained for the leadership positions.”

Blankenship had several excellent mentors in preparing for WAWG leadership. David Harlow, Jim Walesby, Gayle Gering, and Chris Laney were all past presidents that helped him to develop leadership skills and qualities. Other WAWG leaders who supported Blankenship or served on his executive committee were Andy Rustemeyer, Judy Olson, Phil Isaac, Mark Schoesler, Chris Herron, and Tom Harding.

One of the major issues WAWG was fighting then has unfortunately returned — the campaign to remove the Snake River dams. 

“The Snake River dams issue has obviously been around for decades,” said Blankenship. “This is a critical issue because those dams have become such an integral component of the economic and social fabric of our region. This most recent attempt to remove the dams has been the most blatantly secretive process I’ve ever seen in government.

“I watched a Zoom committee hearing that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers held on the process that was being used to cut a backroom deal with the tribes and the environmental community, aided by Washington Governor Jay Inslee. It was interesting to listen to the federal government folks talk about how they were forced to keep the negotiations secret because of the arbitration/mediation process rules. Of course, they themselves had written those rules,” explained Blankenship. “Even if money could be provided to ‘mitigate’ the removal of the dams, there would be huge problems ahead, especially the energy replacement situation. The proposed solutions are inadequate and will be regretted from the moment the dams disappear, if that indeed ever happens.”

Other important issues during his WAWG tenure were fighting the inheritance tax and trying to determine the proper balance of support for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and exactly how to advocate for fair treatment for WAWG members who were, in essence, becoming nonwheat growers.

One of the biggest accomplishments for Blankenship as WAWG president might have been helping to build leadership skills for WAWG members and leaders during a special, two-day retreat. 

“We tried to give everyone leadership tools they could use in their personal lives and in their businesses,” said Blankenship. “We were striving to make our members and their spouses not just better WAWG board members and committee members, but more skillful cooperative board members, church trustees, and business owners. I still occasionally hear from people who attended that retreat about how they adopted skills learned at that time into their business and personal lives. I am proud of what we did for those folks who were willing to take valuable time away from their farms and families to better serve their neighbors and communities.”

Blankenship believes two strengths of WAWG are that is has always been a member-driven organization and that the leadership regularly changes, bringing in fresh ideas and attitudes. 

Blankenship recalls that the wheat growers had a good working relationship with the congressional delegation during his term, including Sid Morrison and Tom Foley, who were both knowledgeable and favorable to their ag constituents. Federal agencies sometimes presented more of a problem for growers.

“Ignorance of the scale of modern agriculture was and continues to be a problem for the ag industry,” said Blankenship. “A large group of growers was meeting with the person at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who was responsible for the rulemaking related to ‘leaking underground petroleum storage tanks.’ As we began to explain how this rule would have horrible impacts on farmers and all privately owned small-town gas stations, she interrupted us to gleefully explain how she had fixed our problem by exempting all tanks under 600 gallons. I asked our group for a show of hands for all the growers that had any tanks under 5,000 gallons. Not one raised their hand.”

The decision to run for county commissioner was not something Blankenship had planned after retiring from the farm. He was approached by people who pointed out some decisions made by the Adams County commissioners that were not particularly friendly to agriculture and other property owners. After some reflection and encouragement from his wife, they decided that the skillset he had developed with WAWG could transfer well to the county commissioner position.

“My 2020 campaign was interesting, as it was during the COVID pandemic,” said Blankenship. “I am currently running again and plan to continue to do my very best for Adams County if I am re-elected. However it turns out, I do not plan to run for a third term.”

One of the things Blankenship heard about a lot when he was first elected was poor communication between the various departments in the county government. The commissioners have established a quarterly forum where all elected Adams County officials meet with the commissioners to talk about challenges and successes. They also now have monthly reporting sessions where all county department heads meet in person with the commissioners. Blankenship believes this has helped with governmental efficiency at the county level.

“There are difficult challenges facing all counties, one being that the inflation rate on all the services that counties are expected or legally obligated to provide continue to be around 8% or higher. At the same time, our ability to raise property taxes is capped at a 1% increase above the total amount collected in the previous year. The arithmetic of that is becoming inescapable,” he explained. “Many counties are facing the issue that their county jails are 50-75 years old, and today’s residents of those facilities are getting more challenging to deal with. We have gotten several projects funded to improve our jail, including an evidence storage facility and other infrastructure improvements.

“Another issue facing Adams County has been the need to replace the six bridges that span the East Low Irrigation Canal. They are not long enough to traverse the expanded canal, which is needed to replace deep well irrigation in the region.”

Following many meetings with both state and federal officials and agencies, funding for two of the six canal bridges has been obtained, and engineering and design costs for the remaining four bridges have been funded. 

“After over 40 years in the private sector, where you identify a problem, define a solution, and then take care of it, working within the government has been a little frustrating,” said Blankenship. “In government, reaching a consensus on problems takes time, finding solutions takes additional time. Then there are hoops to jump through for compliance, funding, and procurement. That all takes time and can make for a very slow process.”

In addition to serving WAWG and Adams County, Blankenship has been involved with the Lions Club, the Eagles, and helped form the Adams County Noxious Weed Control Board. Blankenship sees a positive future for the Pacific Northwest wheat industry. Farmers are problem solvers by nature and have always found ways to survive through both good and bad times, and he believes they will continue to do so.