By Oregon Family Farm Association, The 2015 Oregon Legislature will consider a bill to end farm property tax exemptions in 2018. Currently, farmland is taxed at a reduced value through a special assessment program, and crops, livestock, and farm machinery are exempt, as are many other on-farm items. If the […]

By American Farm Bureau Federation The New Year is upon us, and with it comes a new Congress. The challenges we face, on the other hand, are rather old. It’s time to resolve longstanding policy battles so the business of agriculture can grow in 2015 and beyond. The world’s population […]

Columbia County ranchers fined $100,000 for cattle neglect Two Columbia County ranchers, William Holdner and Jane Baum, were convicted of first –degree animal neglect and fined more than $100,000. In addition, they were banned from owning livestock in the future. They could have spent a year in jail but instead […]

By Oregon Farm Bureau Oregon Farm Bureau announces award recipients from 82nd OFB Annual Meeting Award recipients honored during the 82nd OFB Annual Meeting in Gleneden Beach, Dec. 10-11, 2014 here: · Klamath County’s Tracey Liskey inducted into Oregon Farm Bureau Hall of Fame · Jackson County’s Ron Bjork inducted […]

Congressman Greg Walden, Legislation written by Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative Greg Walden to improve water management and grow jobs in Central Oregon has become law now that the President has signed the Crooked River Collaborative Water Security and Jobs Act. The legislation was unanimously approved by the Senate and […]

By Oregon State University Exetension Office (Agrobacterium tumefaciens creates cancer-like galls on the roots of plants such as Gaillardia. Photo by OSU Plant Clinic) Oregon State University plans to use a $3 million grant to study two groups of bacteria that result in millions of dollars in losses annually to […]

By American Farm Bureau Federation “The American Farm Bureau Federation strongly supports President Obama’s move toward normalized relations with Cuba. Farm Bureau has long called for a removal of trade restrictions with Cuba, and we believe expanded trade with the U.S. can serve as a cornerstone for additional reforms. “The […]

by Bill J. Kluting, concerned Oregonian So-called conservation groups like Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity and other groups are following an agenda. You have to give them “credit” for what they have accomplished in the past and what they look to do in the future. They have […]

Federal forest payments not renewed By Oregon Tax News, For the first time since the program began, Congress did not extend the Secure Rural Schools Act, which expired this year. Under the program, the government paid compensation to heavily forested rural counties that were hurt financially by federal regulations that […]

By Oregon Farm Bureau Farm Bureau urging resolution in West Coast port dispute Despite a surprising lack of coverage in the media, the West Coast port labor dispute still rages on, and is in fact, worsening and in need of federal intervention. Since May, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union […]