Farming in Oregon: An Endangered Industry

This 3-part video explores the impacts of overregulation on the farming industry in Oregon. Farmers have to contend with all sorts of federal, state, and local agencies whose conflicting goals and reguations are squeezing them to the point where farming becomes less and less viable every year.

In Part 1, we learn about different government agencies enforcing conflicting regulations. A sheep rancher talks about environmental agencies targeting farmers and ranchers because of perceived threats to the environment from standard farming practices. A farmer who has gone to great lengths to implement environmentally friendly farming practices tells how the local irrigation district has taken him to court to make him revert to flood irrigation, which is more harmful to the environment, and the state Supreme Court upheld their right to do so.

In Part 2, a rancher whose land has been in his family since 1859 (before Oregon was a state) tells how current law prevents him from being able to pass it on to his heirs. He has four children, but SB 100 prohibits dividing up the land into lots smaller than 80 acres, and won’t allow more than one house on the property. A natural gardener who wants to start a U-Pick farm tells how she can’t do that in Oregon, because she can’t afford to buy 80 acres of land and wait until she makes $80,000 a year before building a house on it.

In Part 3, a cattle rancher explains the financial impact of having to fence off all the creeks and ditches on his land to keep the cows away from the water, and discusses a plethora of new laws that target farmers, from regulating dust to taxing cow farts.