BOARDMAN, Ore. (AP) — The state wants to shut down Oregon’s newest mega-dairy over allegations it has repeatedly endangered nearby drinking water.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture sued Lost Valley Farm near Boardman last week citing a history of environmental violations by the facility, The Statesman Journal reported Wednesday. The lawsuit asks for a permanent injunction prohibiting the farm from producing more wastewater — a move that would effectively shut down operations.
Dairy owner Greg te Velde said in court documents that an injunction would destroy his business, force him to euthanize his cows and leave 70 workers unemployed.
“The department’s order would have significant ramifications to the local community where the dairy is located,” said te Velde, who is based in California. “Many of our employees are Latino and rely on the dairy to support their family.”
The 7,000-acre dairy’s wastewater permit allows up to 30,000 animals and 187 million gallons of manure per year.
It opened in April 2017 and provides milk to the Tillamook County Creamery Association, which makes Tillamook cheese.
The association said in a statement it is in the process of canceling its contract with Lost Valley.
Regulators approved the dairy despite objections from about 4,000 people and a dozen state and national health and environment organizations raising concerns about air and water pollution, water use and health impacts on nearby communities.
Since then the dairy has failed numerous inspections, has been cited four times and has been fined $10,640.
Each citation included steps the dairy was required to take to remain in operation. Each time, the dairy failed to comply with most of those requirements, the Oregon Department of Agriculture said in court documents. As a result, manure and wastewater has repeatedly overflowed storage lagoons and seeped into soil.
In court papers, te Velde and dairy manager Travis Love said state inspectors were being harder on Lost Valley Farm than on other dairies and were not giving the new farm enough time to get up to speed.
On Monday, Rabobank, a multinational agricultural lender, filed a separate lawsuit in Morrow County seeking to foreclose the dairy in connection with the foreclosure of two dairies te Velde owns in California. As of Jan. 2, te Velde owed $37.4 million on those two loans.
Building relationships is key to running an efficient, effective federal agency, says John Huffman, the new director of USDA Rural Development for the state of Oregon.
That is why Huffman, a former Republican state representative from The Dalles, Ore., said he wants his staff to work more like consultants, rather than become isolated in one specific program area.
Huffman laid out his position and goals for rural development at the 5th annual SEDCOR Ag Breakfast in Mt. Angel, Ore., where he delivered the keynote presentation to an estimated 181 people.
“I’m just excited to be working for USDA and plugging people in where I can,” Huffman said. “I’ve got the best job in the world. I get paid to go out and make friends.”
USDA Rural Development does more than just on-farm grants and programs, Huffman said. It focuses on the very building blocks for rural communities, such as housing, expanding broadband internet access and combating the opioid epidemic.
“We’re finding out it really is hard to separate out the opioid crisis from who we are, and what we’re doing,” Huffman said. “It is having such a phenomenal impact on the rural areas we serve.”
Huffman was appointed by the Trump administration in October 2017. When he arrived, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said his goal was to make the USDA the most efficient and customer-focused agency in government — or, as Huffman translated, “You have to do more, better, with fewer resources.”
Drawing on his 10 years of experience in the Oregon Legislature, Huffman talked about how he was able to leverage his network of contacts into legislation and resources for projects from solar developments to converting an old lumber mill into a wood pellet facility in John Day, Ore.
By working more like consultants and increasing accessibility, Huffman said USDA Rural Development can achieve similar results.
“I just want to be an access resource point,” he said. “I want to be part of helping (people) find solutions.”
SEDCOR, or the Strategic Economic Development Corporation, is a nonprofit that strives to enhance and diversify jobs in the Mid-Willamette Valley. According to group’s the last annual report, SEDCOR stimulated more than $96 million of new investment through projects that added or retained 575 jobs in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties.
Agriculture is an important part of the region’s economy, said SEDCOR President Chad Freeman. The purpose of the annual breakfast meetings is for farmers to meet and hear from other companies and officials who can make them more successful in the field.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand the value of what agriculture does,” Freeman said. He added there is a great opportunity to make those connections as agriculture and technology become increasingly intertwined.
Mark Hoyt, a Salem, Ore. attorney and 2018 SEDCOR chair, said the Willamette Valley is a “uniquely and remarkably” productive area, growing more than 225 different crops. The latest 2012 Farm Census shows Marion County is the top agricultural county in the state, with more than $592 million in total value.
“Agriculture is a significant commodity,” Hoyt said.
A controversial dairy has again landed in trouble with Oregon’s water regulators, who have sought a temporary restraining order against the facility for continued wastewater violations.
In January, the Oregon Department of Agriculture levied a civil penalty of more than $10,000 against Lost Valley Farm of Boardman, Ore., for unauthorized wastewater discharges and failing to maintain adequate manure lagoon capacity.
Subsequent inspections in February found that the dairy continued to violate the terms of its “confined animal feeding operation” permit by allowing lagoons to overflow, according to ODA.
The agency has filed a lawsuit against Greg Te Velde, the facility’s owner, seeking to stop the dairy from generating wastewater until it complies with permit conditions and proves its wastewater systems are fully functional.
Due to the risks posed by pathogens and nitrate pollution, ODA claims that a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against wastewater production are necessary to protect the environment and human health.
Lost Valley Farm opposed the agency’s request, arguing that such a temporary restraining order would effectively “shut down its dairy operation” since it’s not possible to sanitize equipment, clean barns and maintain cows without generating wastewater.
“As a result of the above consequences, Lost Valley Farm will suffer enormous damages, which it estimates to be $30 million,” according to a court document. “And it will be required to lay off virtually all of its 70 employees, which will have a significant impact on the small agricultural community of Boardman.”
In a written declaration, Travis Love, the dairy’s manager, said he disagreed with ODA that the facility has violated its CAFO permit.
The dairy has reduced wastewater production “significantly” since late 2017, has installed an effluent pump and pipeline to move wastewater directly to farm fields and is maintaining proper lagoon capacity, among other measures, Love said.
Love alleged that ODA’s approach to inspections and penalties for Lost Valley Farm “is much more stringent than at other dairies in Oregon.”
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Bushong partially granted the ODA’s motion for a temporary restraining order on Feb. 23.
The judge has ordered the facility to comply with all the requirements of its CAFO permit but did not prohibit the dairy from generating wastewater.
However, Te Velde must appear in court on March 16 to “show cause” why further wastewater production should not be shut down.
Elizabeth Howard, an attorney for the defendant, said the dairy is working with ODA to resolve the agency’s outstanding concerns.
Wym Matthews, manager of ODA’s CAFO program, said the agency will be monitoring Lost Valley Farm to ensure the dairy is complying with the judge’s order.
It’s not common for the agency to seek injunctive relief against a dairy, he said.
The litigation was initiated after ODA notified the dairy of non-compliance problems and took administrative action over violations, said Bruce Pokarney, the agency’s communication director.
“This is our next step in our progressive compliance approach,” he said.
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — Klamath County hay growers are anticipating another water crisis.
As of Feb. 14, accumulated snow and water levels were at 28 percent of average for the area. There have been a couple winter storms since then, but it would take constant precipitation through March and into April to bring those levels up significantly.
No matter what Mother Nature brings over the next couple of months, hay growers are concerned.
“What I’m hearing is there is a chance the headgates to the irrigation systems might not be opened this year,” said Jason Flowers, who grows a variety of hay crops in the lower Klamath Lake area. “That would be the worst case scenario. We’ll just hope for the best.”
Lynn Long, another lower Klamath Lake farmer, said the report out of a Feb. 27 briefing by the Bureau of Reclamation was not good. The bureau provides water to agriculture in the Klamath Basin Project.
“The word was that there would be a late start to water deliveries, or more than likely, no deliveries at all, at least to the district (Klamath Drainage District) I farm in,” Long said. “We’ve been shut off (from water) since last September.”
Tom Mallams, a hay grower in the Beatty, Ore., area, said even if there was sufficient water, he would expect the Bureau of Reclamation or the Klamath tribes who have priority water rights to call for a shutoff of water for farm and ranch irrigation.
He explained that last year, when there was well above an average amount of snow in the Cascade Mountains and rivers and creeks were overflowing, there was a call for a shutoff of irrigation water.
“It matters zero how much snow we have because they still have the ability to make a call and shut us off,” Mallams said. “The tribe is in the driver’s seat and I expect a tribal call this year. How much production we get will depend on when they make a call.”
Mallams said if a call is made, farmers can file a judicial review and if it is accepted, irrigation can continue. But he explained the review is only a temporary option because then the grower must follow through in court and time and money are needed to explain the case.
David King, a hay grower in the Malin, Ore., area, described the situation as “a political drought.”
“If we didn’t have to worry about the Endangered Species Act we wouldn’t have a problem,” he said. That act prioritizes water for the sucker fish and salmon in the area.
Nick Moxley, who farms in the Bonanza, Ore., area, said the water level “is not even close to normal,” but a decent carryover in Clear Lake and Gerber reservoirs from last year’s above average precipitation should be enough to get farmers in that area through the year. He added it will then be up to Mother Nature to replenish the system for 2019.
Some of the farmers are already comparing this year to the devastating drought year of 2001. But those farmers are saying it is better to be forewarned about the water situation, as is the case this year, rather than being blindsided by it, as happened in 2001.
Ty Kliewer, who farms near Midland, Ore., and who is president of the Klamath Irrigation District board, said he plans to make some changes, planting fescue and brome, whose roots will go deeper to find subsurface water.
“You have to change to increase your production with less water,” he said.
Kliewer said the combination of a water shortage and the commodity markets being relatively poor the last couple of years will make it tough on producers.
“People can be competent operators, but throw the water problem and the loss of production on top of a weakened economic state that is no fault of their own and it can be very gloomy looking,” he said.
King, who is president of the Klamath Basin Hay Growers Association, said he believes most farmers will survive the year if there is a water shortage, “but it is not going to be easy. “
He added there’ll be a domino negative impact down to the area’s agri-businesses and to the communities and their businesses.
Long expects there’ll be some bankruptcies if there is a water shortage. He said lenders will be nervous about making agricultural loans if limited or no water deliveries are expected.
“I believe the circumstances that were described to the growers today (Feb. 27) are very bad,” Long said. “The implications of the Endangered Species Act and Native American tribal lawsuits don’t leave any water available for other purposes. American farmers and ranchers are creative, tough people, but the deck is stacked against us this year. It’s going to be exceedingly difficult without some financial aid from the government. If the laws of the land require water be taken from us, then there should be compensation. It’s very simple.
“I’m fearful of some failures, not just farms, but agri-businesses and businesses in town,” he added. “They’re all going to feel it.”
Mallams said it is frustrating that it has been 17 years since the major water crisis in 2001 and yet nothing has been solved.
“What has been worked out so far hasn’t worked,” he said. “It is sad we haven’t come up with a solution that is viable for all.
“For me, I continue to advocate for a balanced water settlement, but at the same time, the Klamath Adjudication has to be challenged,” he said. “As it stands now, it will destroy agriculture in the entire Klamath Basin.”
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — With winter storms proving elusive and the prospect of water shortages likely, Klamath County commissioners have declared a drought emergency.
The declaration was unanimously approved by commissioners at their Feb. 13 meeting. The declaration allows state and federal officials to consider a similar declaration, which would then allow water users access to drought mitigation resources. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is expected to take action later this month. The federal government will not consider declaring a drought until this summer, if and when conditions remain severe.
“It’s going to be a very challenging year,” said Commissioner Donnie Boyd, noting precipitation in December was only 27 percent of average and despite recent storms, the snowpack and water levels were at 28 percent of average in late February. “We have worked closely (with various agencies) to ensure as much water as we can for agriculture.”
Based on data collected in 2012 by the USDA that was presented at the meeting, a summer drought in the broad Klamath Basin could result in an estimated $557 million loss to agriculture countywide and the loss of almost 4,500 jobs, the Herald & News newspaper reported.
Commissioners began discussions about issuing a drought declaration in January but delayed taking action because of concerns that if they took action too early, access to resources might expire before the end of the summer. In approving the declaration, commissioners said a drought is likely because of this winter’s exceptionally dry conditions.
“We’ve passed it up to the governor,” Boyd said of awaiting word from Brown on the emergency drought declaration.”It’s in her hands now. I think we have her commitment to help us every way they can.”
Boyd said officials from the Oregon Water Resources Department and federal agencies are aware of concerns and are “very involved.” He likewise believes lessons learned from 2001, when water was withheld from irrigators for most of the summer because of concerns about endangered fish, have helped farmers and ranchers become better water managers.
“The challenges are going to be how to manage your water,” he said, noting that includes, for example, making decisions on which areas of land to irrigate or to idle. “Farmers have learned how to better use their water. There’s not near the loss there used to be. Farmers are very, very conscious on how they use their water and where the put it.”
During the meeting, Willie Riggs, director of Oregon State University Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center, said a drought could impact food supplies, according to the Herald & News. According to Riggs, an acre of wheat feeds 44 people per year while an acre of potatoes feeds 1,355 people, an acre of beef feeds about eight people, and an acre of dairy cows provides enough milk for about 40,000 half-pint servings. He estimated Klamath County has nearly 440,000 acres of agricultural land and, based on estimates, the drought could reduce production by 50 percent.
If the drought is declared at the state and federal level, water users could have access to administrative solutions normally not available. During the meeting, Klamath County Emergency Manager Morgan Lindsay said water users could split water rights between properties, substitute surface water use for ground water, issue temporary emergency permits and other measures. Preference would be given to water used by humans and livestock.
If state and federal emergencies are declared, Lindsay said the Oregon Water Resource Department will work with Klamath County Watermaster Dani Watson and that federal aid would be provided by the Farm Services Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Morrow County Grain Growers, a farm supply and marketing cooperative based in northeast Oregon, broke ground Wednesday morning a major expansion of its grain elevator and shipping terminal along the Columbia River in Boardman, Ore.
With support from a $2.5 million state grant, the co-op plans to build a new rail unloading facility at the 35-year-old terminal, transferring grain from trains onto river barges en route to Portland for export.
Kevin Gray, MCGG general manager, said the project will help relieve rail congestion in the Columbia River Gorge. Trains hauling wheat and corn from the Midwest can instead offload at the Boardman elevator and take advantage of faster, more efficient river transport.
The added bushels also mean more business for the co-op. Gray said they will boost capacity at the elevator by 600,000 bushels, and hire up to five new employees after construction is finished in February 2019.
“This is really a strategic upgrade that’s going to add new life to the elevator,” Gray said. “From a logistics standpoint, we really think this is going to improve the amount of grain that works its way down the Columbia River system.”
Morrow County Grain Growers purchased an interest in the Boardman Grain Elevator in 2013, and co-owns the facility with the Port of Morrow. It is in the port’s East Beach Industrial Park, near the Pacific Ethanol plant.
A Union Pacific main line runs through the port, and the elevator will eventually share a rail loop with the ethanol plant. The port plans to build a 2,200-foot rail spur to the elevator using funding it received from last year’s $5.3 billion state transportation package.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to accommodate unit train offloading,” said Gary Neal, the port’s general manager. “Rail continues to be a very strong need for our region. Investing in that piece of infrastructure is very important to the viability of our industries.”
Plans to upgrade the Boardman elevator have been in the works for years, according to Gray, but it wasn’t until the co-op landed a $2.5 million grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation’s ConnectOregon program that they could finally put it all together.
“It is going to be state-of-the-art,” Gray said. “If we continue to see congestion on the rails through the Gorge, I think the adoption is going to be huge.”
Gray said he expects the facility will handle a “significant number” of trains in its first year. The economic impact will be driven by volume, which he said varies year-to-year based on market conditions.
Even when trains aren’t at the elevator, Gray said the offloading site can also be used by local wheat growers trucking in their harvest from the field.
“This is a really big deal for a company like Morrow County,” he said.
Cameron Krebs, a Morrow County farmer and chairman of the co-op board, said the project is a major step forward in maintaining relevance for their members.
“As a co-op, our goal as the board of directors is to return profitability to our members,” Krebs said. “This is one opportunity to add another competitive component.”
SALEM, Ore. — With milk prices falling below the cost of production, dairymen need to brace themselves to withstand financial turbulence, experts say.
Losses could extend into next year, so farmers must plan for survival until consumption unexpectedly rises or — as is more likely — production is forced to decline, said Gary Sipiorski, an economist and former banker who spoke Feb. 26 at the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association’s convention in Salem, Ore.
“Something’s got to give,” he said.
Dairy producers should “stress test” their operations to find ways of controlling production costs while planning with lenders now for potential cash flow shortages, Sipiorski said.
There are dairymen who can “crank out” milk at a lower cost, he said. For example, reducing crowding can cut down on costly metabolic problems, though producers don’t want to significantly dent their production.
“There’s a fine balance there,” Sipiorski said.
Gary Genske, a dairy farmer and certified public accountant, took a tack other than focusing on expenses.
“I’m not going to tell you how to feed your cows better, I’m not going to tell you how to breed your cows better,” he said Feb. 27 at the convention.
Dairy producers who’ve managed to stay in the business must know what they’re doing, even as financial downturns have “eaten through a lot of equity over the years,” he said.
“There are a lot of people feeling they can be the last man standing,” Genske said. “Everybody feels that way.”
While dairymen have focused on becoming more efficient, they haven’t spent enough time trying to increase the price they’re paid for milk, he said.
“That’s our fault. That’s on us,” Genske said. “It comes down to us not managing our co-ops.”
Cooperatives have “dropped the ball” in terms of making profits for their farmer members, even though that’s the theoretical purpose of such organizations, he said.
Board members who approve cooperative decisions are often too passive, allowing corporate executives to “hide behind” them, Genske said.
Genske advised against allowing cooperatives to accept more milk or make capital improvements unless the actions are shown to improve milk prices for members.
Everything on the agenda at a cooperative’s board meeting should be explained in terms of milk price impacts, he said.
“We’ve got to change the way our co-ops do business,” Genske said.
Cooperatives are often geared toward earning profits that result in executive bonuses but do little to help dairy producers, he said. “That profit does not make up for the milk price.”
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A central figure in the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon has been sentenced to three years and a month in prison, the longest term for anyone convicted in the case.
At the federal courthouse in Portland, Ryan Payne of Anaconda, Montana, apologized Tuesday to those disrupted by his actions and to the American people.
Payne helped seize the bird sanctuary on Jan. 2, 2016, in a protest against federal control of Western lands and the imprisonment of two ranchers convicted of setting fires.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy in July 2016, but his sentencing was delayed until the outcome of his trial on charges stemming from a standoff with federal agents at a Nevada ranch owned by Cliven Bundy.
The judge in the Nevada case dismissed charges against Payne last month, citing federal prosecutors’ misconduct with evidence.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Federal fisheries officials said Tuesday they will consider putting the Pacific Northwest’s once-flourishing wild spring-run Chinook salmon on the list of threatened or endangered species.
The National Marine Fisheries Services plans a 12-month review on whether to give protected status to the salmon in and around the Klamath River.
Spring Chinook, historically the first Chinook salmon to return from the ocean each winter, were once one of the most abundant salmon of the Pacific Northwest, important to tribes, fishermen and wildlife.
California’s Kuruk tribe, which joined the Salmon River Restoration Council environmental group in petitioning for more protections for the fish, say the species is nearly extinct throughout much of its range in Oregon and Northern California.
The tribe blames Klamath River dams for blocking the fish from their spawning grounds.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is expected to decide in 2019 whether to approve a deal among tribes, dam-owner PacifiCorp utilities company, and others to remove the dams and reopen hundreds of miles of river to the migrating salmon.
The federal fisheries’ move comes after a University of California, Davis study showed the spring Chinook are more of an evolutionary rarity than realized when compared to Chinook salmon that return later in the year.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Most Americans receiving food assistance benefits can’t afford the cost of an average low-income meal, a new national study reported on the heels of the federal government’s proposal to limit the program.
The study from the Urban Institute reported that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fell short of affording an average meal in 99 percent of US continental counties and the District of Columbia. The Urban Institute is a liberal-leaning think tank and research organization based in Washington D.C.
More than 44 million Americans received SNAP benefits every month in 2016, according to the most recently available government data.
The study, published Thursday, follows the federal government’s proposal to reduce SNAP funding by about $213 billion, or 30 percent, over 10 years. President Donald Trump also proposed replacing food stamps with a home delivery box similar to a “Blue Apron-style” meal kit.
The study calculated the maximum SNAP benefit per meal and compared it to the average low-income meal cost per person based on census data. The maximum SNAP benefit was $1.86. The average meal cost was 27 percent higher.
The 20 counties with the largest gap included high-cost urban areas like New York and San Francisco and smaller rural counties in Oregon and Michigan. California had the most counties in the top 10 percent.
SNAP is intended to supplement a family’s food budget. But the study reported that for 37 percent of SNAP households with no income, benefits are the only way to buy food.
The study also said the current SNAP benefit per meal meets the meal costs of less than 1 percent of all counties in the country: 18 of those counties are in Texas; three are in Indiana; and one is in Ohio, the report said.
Barry Spear, public information manager for Alabama’s Department of Human Resources, which administers SNAP, told The Associated Press that SNAP is meant to supplement but not meet all food needs, like the name suggests.
“It’s not the only source that they have to find food,” Spear said. “A lot of people think it’s supposed to take care of all their needs, and it’s not designed to do that.” He said individuals can join other federal programs like WIC, which gives aid to women and children, or go to food banks run by nonprofit organizations or churches.
The study acknowledged that SNAP isn’t designed to meet all food needs but added that people in low- or no-income households will be “at high risk of experiencing hunger and food insecurity.”
“This analysis further confirms that food price affects a wide variety of communities - small and large, urban and rural, and in all geographic regions of the continental US,” the study said.
More than 850,000 Alabamians received SNAP benefits every month in 2016. The study reported those benefits don’t cover an affordable meal in all 67 Alabama counties. In Baldwin County, the worst affected, the average meal cost 43 percent more.
Elaine Lee, a planner and special projects director at the Community Action Agency of South Alabama in Baldwin County, said most clients she serves depend on multiple federal programs because SNAP runs short each month.
“SNAP benefits are really a problem for the elderly who have other limited fix-income issues,” Lee said. “It seems that the award amount and the benefit amount is not enough to get over the hump of the month.”
Lee refers clients to Prodisee Pantry, the largest food bank in Baldwin County. Executive Director Deann Servos said the food bank serves between 1,000 to 1,200 families a month with a week’s worth of groceries. Almost all the clients are on SNAP.
Servos said the federal government’s cuts would have a devastating impact on families stuck in the cycle of poverty.
“Without that benefit, it’s detrimental to those families,” Servos said. “For families with unexpected emergencies and job losses, that program is there and they only use it for a short period of time and then move forward. Without that, we will find more folks falling deeper and deeper into poverty.”
CORVALLIS, Ore. — It often begins with a few acres and a dream of living the good life, tied to the earth and in harmony with nature.
But, as Rachel Suits told a room of would-be farmers Saturday, starting a small farm is not easy. The hours are long, the labor strenuous, and it could take years before they see any return on investment.
Suits, who works for Oregon State University Extension Service in the Columbia River Gorge, led a presentation titled “Exploring the Small Farm Dream” as part of the 2018 Oregon Small Farms Conference at the OSU campus in Corvallis.
Roughly 1,000 people maxed out attendance at the daylong conference, with seminars held at the LaSells Stewart Center and CH2M Alumni Center. Suits’ talk was tailored specifically to new or beginning farmers, offering tips and resources on how to get started.
Running a successful farm boils down to three questions, Suits said — What do you want to do? What can you do? and What can you sell?
“That sweet spot is right in the middle,” she said.
First, Suits recommended making a detailed map of the property showing where fields, buildings, fences, roads and water sources are. That, she said, will help determine what is logistically possible on the new farm or ranch.
Water is especially important, since access to irrigation dramatically increases the number of options available to farmers.
“There are still options (for dry farming), but the more high-value crops require irrigation,” Suits said.
Every county has a local watermaster who can tell whether the land has existing water rights. However, Suits said getting new water rights through the Oregon Water Resources Department is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible.
Soil and climate make up the other pieces of the environmental puzzle, Suits said. She praised the Northwest as having some of the best soils in the nation, though beginning farmers should collect soil samples to test for nutrient levels.
Climate, on the other hand, varies widely in Oregon, from the dry and frosty east side to the rainy, more temperate Willamette Valley. Micro-climates also form around slopes and valleys, which can trap cold air and moisture in pockets.
In addition to understanding the environment, Suits emphasized having a concrete vision and goals for success.
“There is nothing worse than going to work every day and hating it because your skills don’t match up,” she said.
Depending on the individual, a farm may grow crops or livestock. It may be organic or conventional. It may emphasize tradition, or pursue innovation. Those decisions are informed by the farmer’s values.
“Your values really play a role in your vision,” Suits said.
Of course, the economics of farming are also inescapable, Suits added. Beginning farmers must know how long they can afford to wait before turning a profit, while understanding and adapting to changing markets.
“My best advice for you is to start small and learn,” Suits said.
Heyona Cho, 28, said she is interested in eventually starting a farm but is still in the process of developing her own goals.
Cho, who was born in South Korea and raised in California, is an apprentice at Unity Farm in Northeast Portland, part of the Oregon Food Bank, which seeks to train farmers and break down racial barriers. She attended the Small Farms Conference to learn more about resources available to her.
“I think the most important message I’m taking is there are a lot of resources out there,” Cho said. “I just need to reach out.”
The conference began Saturday morning with a rousing pep talk from Javier Zamora, of JSM Organic Farms in Aromas, Calif., who was on hand to discuss the role of Latino farmers in the growing Northwest organic movement.
During his introductory remarks, Zamora said he is not against big farming — the country needs to grow a lot of food to feed the world. But he said they also need a lot more small farmers who can make a difference in their communities.
“It’s really difficult. It’s not easy,” Zamora said. “If you have the passion, and you’re willing to put in the hours, you will make it happen.”
Oregon’s forestland owners are overwhelmingly following regulations aimed at managing and harvesting timber, though they’ve fallen short on some counts, state regulators found.
Landowners had a compliance rate of 97 percent with 57 key rules related to logging, road building and water protection under the Oregon Forest Practices Act, according to a study by the Oregon Department of Forestry.
For example, the timber industry strictly avoids removing vegetation along streams during harvests.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time, we get it right,” said Paul Clements, ODFA’s training and compliance coordinator, during the Oregon Logging Conference Feb. 23 in Eugene, Ore.
Most of the impacts from non-compliance were minor, but there were certain rules where the timber industry had room for improvement, he said.
Minimizing the amount of waste slash in waters of the state had a compliance rate of 76 percent, Clements said.
Other areas of low compliance included leaving vegetation around small wetlands, which may not be readily apparent during the dry season, he said.
A rule requiring landowners to use properly sized culverts on roads crossing streams was only properly followed about half the time, Clements said.
A rule requiring removal of petroleum product containers from landings only achieved 58 percent compliance, prompting Clements to tell the audience to “take your oil jugs home.”
While most erosion impacts from non-compliance were small — involving less than a cubic yard of dirt in a stream — those that were larger usually involved “legacy conditions,” he said.
Many roads were built before forestry regulations were enacted, so soil piled up a half-century ago may be prone to “blowout” into a waterway, he said.
Forestland owners should also try to prevent sediment from roads from washing into waterways through culverts, Clements said.
This problem was the subject of a 2013 Supreme Court decision that was favorable to the timber industry — as runoff from culverts wasn’t found to be industrial pollution — but only after years of litigation.
Oregon’s rules for forestry and logging are intended to minimize the effects of disturbances, Clements said. “You can’t go get logs without disturbing something.”
SALEM — Early organization has paid off for supporters of a bill establishing minimum contract protections for all Oregon seed growers, which has passed both chambers of the Legislature.
House Bill 4068 was unanimously approved by the Senate on Feb. 22 and the House on Feb. 13.
The bill requires dealers to pay farmers market prices for seed by certain deadlines enforced by the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
Grass seed crops have received similar protections since 2011 under a statute aimed at preventing “slow pay, no pay” problems, but other types of seed were excluded from the legislation.
Before the idea of expanding the contract protections was brought to the Oregon lawmakers, the specifics were hashed out by farmers, seed dealers and trade groups.
By the time HB 4068 was introduced, all the details had been hammered out and the bill sailed through the House Agriculture Committee and Senate Business and Transportation Committee without any opposing testimony or even an amendment.
The lack of complication has served the bill well in 2018, when several other proposals have been killed off for being too grandiose or intricate to properly examine in a little more than a month.
The bill’s smooth course through the Legislature was referred to as a “love fest” by Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield, who chairs the Senate Business and Transportation Committee.
Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, praised the bill for adhering to the “spirit of the short session” — it’s “narrow in scope” and has been “thoroughly vetted” by the affected parties, he said.
Anna Scharf, whose family farms near Amity, Ore., was instrumental in advocating the bill, Post said.
The concept for expanding contract protections to clover, meadowfoam, radish, turnip, mustard and other seeds was initiated by Scharf in 2017.
Initially, she sought to simply add other seed types to the class of crops protected under the 2011 statute. However, the proposal “unraveled” because the payment terms for grass seed didn’t align with those of other seeds, Scharf said.
For a year, the Oregon Farm Bureau and farmers “worked out the kinks” with seed industry stakeholders and arrived at a proposal that lawmakers could embrace as “bipartisan” and “not political,” she said.
“It shows they’re willing to acknowledge that farmers growing proprietary crops have a necessity and a right to be paid in a timely manner,” Scharf said. “We aired out our differences and figured out a law we could live within.”
Because most specialty seeds are proprietary, they can’t be sold on the open market if the contracting seed dealer fails to pay, she said.
The bill will level the playing field between growers and dealers, Scharf said. “It’s a game changer. I can’t tell you how excited I am about it.”
The proposal was inspired partly by a dispute over proprietary radish seed grown by Oregon farmers for a defunct seed company, she said.
When the seed company went broke, its bank tried to seize the radish seed from the farmers as collateral for a loan to the company, Scharf said. Though Oregon growers won the case in federal court, the ruling is now being challenged before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The problem drew the attention of the Polk County Farm Bureau, which then got the Oregon Farm Bureau involved in the issue, said Jenny Dresler, OFB’s state public policy director.
“We’re really proud of the process this bill went through and the compromise at the end of the day,” she said.
