Archives

February 28, 2014 - 600+ Ag & biz groups push immigration reform

By American Farm Bureau Federation The American Farm Bureau Federation, as part of a multi-industry coalition of 636 business organizations – 154 of them agriculture-related – today urged Congress to move forward with immigration reform this year. In a letter sent to House Republican leadership, the coalition noted that all […]


February 27, 2014 - Good-bad Ag bills of 2014 Legislature

Oregon Farm Bureau OFB Legislative Bill Update The list below represents the bills still alive that Oregon Farm Bureau is monitoring. Support HB 4093: Creates public record exemption for written agreements relating to conservation of wild birds entered into voluntarily by owners or occupiers of land with soil and water […]


February 27, 2014 - House bill to help farmers

By State Representative Mike McLane OREGON HOUSE PASSES BILL GIVING AGRICULTURE GREATER CERTAINTY IN SEED AND CROP LAWS The Oregon House of Representatives passed SB 863, the Certainty for Family Farmers of Oregon Act, in an effort to provide Oregon’s farm economy greater certainty regarding seed and crop regulations. The […]


February 26, 2014 - HB 4101: Oregon’s Timber tax

HB 4101: Oregon’s Timber tax  By Oregon Tax News The current Legislative Session features a bill (Hb 4101) that seeks to punish victims of previous environmental policies problems with additional taxes.  HB 4101 creates a severance tax on timber production that would go to fund county government as well as […]


February 24, 2014 - Oregon Ag bills update

OFS Legislative Report Oregonians for Food and Shelter Legislature Hits First “Cutoff” of Session While it may seem like we just started the 2014 Legislative Session, the first legislative cutoff came on Thursday. February 13 was the deadline for bills to be moved from their house of origin committee. For […]


February 19, 2014 - Senate moves crop donation tax credit

Senate approves crop donation credit By Senator Chuck Thomsen A bill allowing food banks and farmers to put more food on kitchen tables was unanimously approved on Friday. Senate Bill 1541, containing a crop donation tax credit, is part of the Senate Republican Legislative Agenda, and now heads to the […]


February 17, 2014 - Our forests & communties are dying from neglect

By State Representative Sal Esquivel When I returned to Oregon in 1970 after serving in the Vietnam War, I would spend my evenings pulling green chain at a lumber mill and earning $3.74 per hour in the process. That might not sound like much, but if you adjust it for […]


February 14, 2014 - Congress pressed for farming privacy

  By American Farm Bureau Federation One of the most important issues related to “big data” goes directly to property rights and who owns and controls farm-level data that may be collected, the American Farm Bureau Federation told Congress today. Risks to privacy that farmers face are of great concern, […]


February 12, 2014 - Data shows Oregon losing its farmland

By Oregon Department of Agriculture, New statistics indicate land use laws have helped, but prime ag land still at risk The loss of farmland in Oregon to development and other uses continues, but at a much reduced rate, according to the latest numbers from an inventory of land uses conducted […]


February 10, 2014 - Hundreds of small farmers to gather at OSU event

Oregon State Extension Service (Photo by Stephen Ward) Hundreds of farmers from throughout Oregon will gather in Corvallis this winter to improve their skills and get inspired for the next growing season. The 14th annual Oregon Small Farms Conference will take place Feb. 22 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. […]