By Oregonians for Food and Shelter As we summarized in last week’s newsletter, EPA has released a draft plan to protect vulnerable species listed under ESA. One of these species, the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly, has habitat areas in Oregon. EPA’s plan would impose a complete restriction on conventional, outdoor-use pesticides […]

By American Forest Resource Council President  American Forest Resource Council President (AFRC) Travis Joseph had the following to say regarding the D.C. Circuit’s opinion on the Obama-era expansion of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument (CSNM) and the 2016 Resource Management Plans for Western Oregon O&C Lands managed by the Bureau […]

By Oregon Family Farm Association, More than 63 percent of Oregon’s 37,000 farms earned less than $10,000 in 2020, forcing operators of small farms to work other jobs and seek creative ideas for adding products to sell and tapping into markets for them, according to an article on Axios. New […]

By Oregon Family Farm Association The Bureau of Land Management is looking for a caretaker willing to spend three weeks in August at Riddle Ranch in the Southeast Oregon mountains.  The caretaker will live from August 7 to 31 in a rustic cabin for two near the Little Blitzen River […]

By US Attorney, Oregon District Press Release, MEDFORD, Ore.—On July 17, 2023, a family-owned dairy located near Grants Pass, Oregon, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in federal court for violating the Clean Water Act by negligently discharging cow manure into a nearby creek and river. Noble Marital Trust dba Noble […]

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, In rural Southern Oregon, Josephine County commissioners voted 2-1 to cut funding to Oregon State University’s Extension Program after more than a century of providing financial support, threatening the future of 4-H, gardening, and other programs. Commissioners pulled the funding because of what they […]

By Oregon Family Farm Association Move over, Maine: Oregon is competing for the maple syrup market. The state’s forestry community, which has traditionally relied on growing, logging, and selling Douglas fir trees, is using new technology—reverse osmosis pumps—to remove water from the sap produced in bigleaf maples to make and […]

Tax Relief for Farmers: HB 2073 and SB 498 By Oregon State Representative Tracy Cramer, Another set of bills that passed in the last hours of the 2023 session were two bills to help family farms. HB 2073 will put certain agricultural processors on the same playing field as others […]

By Oregon Small Business Foundation An arsonist set fire to hay bales outside the Wilco Farm Store on Molalla Avenue in Oregon City in the early morning hours of June 27, and police are searching for the suspect, according to KATU. A sprinkler system controlled the blaze in the straw […]

By Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry Press Release, As of January 1, 2023, employers are required to pay overtime to agricultural workers after they work 55 hours in one workweek. There are some situations where an employer may be exempt from paying overtime and minimum wage. Frequently asked questions How does […]