By Oregon Farm Bureau Next Thursday, July 23, the Board of Forestry will make a final decision on western Oregon stream buffers in response to small temp. changes observed following timber harvest (0.7 degrees Celsius). Although these temperature changes are insignificant, short-lived, and lack scientific proof that they harm fish, […]

By American Farm Bureau Federation With the House Agriculture Committee’s passage of the bipartisan Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act (H.R. 1599), lawmakers are taking an important step toward greater clarity on food labeling, according to American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman. The measure will clarify the FDA as […]

Oregon Department of Agriculture The Oregon Department of Agriculture has approved $81,300 in funding distributed to nine counties east of the Cascade Mountains as part of the Oregon Wolf Depredation Compensation and Financial Assistance County Block Grant Program. Funds for 2015 have been distributed for actual livestock losses or injuries […]

By Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife Summer conditions have come early to Oregon, and in many places fish like trout, salmon, steelhead and sturgeon are struggling with low water levels and high water temperatures. “Normally we see these kinds of conditions later in the summer, not in late June […]

National Corn Growers Association When you look at the facts, conventional agriculture scores higher than organic on sustainability. What system generates these results? The new Responsibly Grown labeling system developed by Whole Foods. According to a multitude of media reports, the system will rank produce on a variety of criteria […]

Miller Nash LLP, Oregon and Washington Law Firm Earlier this year we wrote about the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case of Horne v. Department of Agriculture (here). In that case, the court of appeals ruled that a Department of Agriculture marketing order that required raisin farmers to divert a […]

By Rick Sohn, PhD Umqua Coquille LLC The wood products industry is churning along, even helped by lower log prices. A fall in housing starts should be temporary. A 3-4 year positive trend in housing recovery is predicted. Trends of lumber, home construction, and housing markets, are compared to 2006. […]

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Public Lands Council, along with other producer and land use groups, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas against the EPA and Army Corps over their “waters of the United States” final rule. “The […]

By Oregon Family Farm Association, Session is drawing to a close, and two bills stand out that concerns farmers. 1. The first is House Bill 3125 which exempts property taxes from certain agriculture equipment. This would apply to processing equipment that handles wheat, dairy and egg products. Receiving tax relief […]

Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s largest business advocate Why is Oregon updating their water quality standards for copper? The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) recently announced the initiation of a rulemaking to revise its freshwater aquatic life criteria for copper. This rule (http://www.deq.state.or.us/wq/standards/copper.htm) is significant because aquatic life criteria: – […]