Last week, Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced that 28 renewable energy projects targeting rural parts of the state will receive $2.3 million of grant funding.

Funding for the projects — mostly solar panel installations at rural farms and businesses — comes from  the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $369 billion in federal funding over 10 years to support renewable energy projects, according to a press release issued jointly by Wyden and Merkley last week.

Nearly half of the procurement — $1 million — will go toward the installation of a ground-mounted solar energy system for Verde Light Community Solar LLC in Ontario. The system is estimated to generate over 8,000,000 kilowatt-hours per year, the equivalent needed to power 750 single family homes annually, and will provide $121,170 per year in energy cost savings to local subscribers.

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Smaller projects included $11,824 to help Lexington-based Tin Willow Sheep Dairy farm purchase and install a solar panel system capable of replacing over half of the business’s energy use with solar power, reducing its utility bill by $782 per year in the process.

Of the 28 projects to receive funding, 26 projects involved the installation of solar panel systems.

The Deschutes Soil and Water Conservation District, Spark Northwest, North Fork John Day River Watershed Council, and the Yamhill Soil and Water Conservation District received a combined total of $100,000 to increase implementation of renewable energy generation by rural small businesses, farms and agricultural producers throughout the state. The University of Oregon’s Resource Assistance for Rural Environments AmeriCorps Program also received $100,000 to work with area partners to increase implementation of renewable energy generation by rural small businesses and farms.

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“We can address high energy prices due to the volatility in the price of oil and natural gas by bolstering our clean, domestic energy supplies in every nook and cranny of our state and across the nation,” said Wyden in the press release. “I was proud to have fought for and secured some of the most consequential pieces of the Inflation Reduction Act to tackle the climate crisis and create new jobs, but one of my main goals was to ensure that rural farmers, ranchers, businesses and organizations could benefit from the cost savings. I’m gratified to see so many Oregonians getting much-deserved benefits.”

“Oregon’s communities—both big and small, urban and rural—make our state successful and vibrant,”  Merkley said in the release. “Investing in Oregon’s small businesses, farmers, and ranchers supports strong local economies, especially in the more rural parts of the state. The benefits of these investments stretch to every corner of Oregon, and I’ll continue to champion critical support like this for Oregon’s rural economic opportunities.”

A full list of the funded projects is available on Wyden’s website.

Correction: A previous version of this article said the Verde Light Community Solar Project would generate 8.066 gigawatt hours per year. Oregon Business regrets these errors.

A controversial plan to open a 28,000-cow mega-dairy in Boardman has been abandoned, according to records filed in Morrow County. Easterday Dairy sold the proposed mega-dairy site back to its original owners for $15.2 million last week, according to reporting by the Tri-City Herald.

The news follows Gov. Tina Kotek’s signing of SB 85, which places new regulations on confined animal feeding operations, into law.  

The proposed mega-dairy has been mired in controversy since it was first proposed. The Easterday family – a Washington-based ranching dynasty – purchased the site of the Lost Valley mega dairy in Boardman for $16 million, after the company filed for bankruptcy in 2019. Lost Valley racked up more than 200 violations in its year of operations before being sold to California-based Canyon Farms, which sold the site to Easterday Dairy the same year. 

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In April the Oregon Department of Agriculture handed down 60 infractions to Easterday Dairy in a notice of noncompliance for land use, water quality and environmental violations at the Boardman site.

The mega-dairy proposal also came under scrutiny from multiple animal rights and environmental advocacy groups, who lobbied for the legislature to put a moratorium on large-scale industrial agriculture operations in the state, in part to stop the Boardman mega dairy operation.

Lauren Goldberg, Executive Director of Columbia Riverkeeper, says that it’s not certain that SB 85 was the “I think there was a lot of weight on this project to fail, so it’s hard to say SB 85 was the project’s death knell.” Goldberg tells Oregon Business, and adds that this project’s demies doesn’t end the threat the Lost Valley site poses to the environment. “This factory should stand as a warning sign. There’s a lot of scrutiny about the Environmental impacts of projects here. But to every legislator who decided against the moratorium, I would say that factory is still there, and someone else could still use it.” 

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Easterday Dairy is currently run by Cole, Clay and Cutter Easterday, the sons of Easterday Ranches president Cody Easterday.

The elder Easterday is serving an 11-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in a “ghost herd” scheme, which prosecutors called a ““a massive, brazen and long-term fraud.” Easterday Ranches had an agreement with Tyson Foods to buy cattle and raise them to the proper weight for slaughter, and invoiced Tyson and other investors $244 million for raising 265,000 cattle. But those cattle only existed on paper.

“The final termination of this foolish proposal is a major win for Oregon’s communities, water and climate. But this eventuality should have come far sooner,” Tarah Heinzen legal director of Washington D.C.-based Food & Water Watch said in a statement following the news. “Oregon agencies should have denied the permit outright. This years-long fiasco shows that Oregon’s environmental regulations are far too lax; we will fight harder to enact a moratorium on these polluting operations.” 

Nitrate water contamination at the Boardman site prompted Food & Water Watch and its allies to petition the Environmental Protection Agency to take emergency action to address the drinking water crisis in 2020. The petition is still pending.

Gov. Tina Kotek has signed SB 85, which regulates industrial agriculture in Oregon. SB 85 requires a multistep process for water-quality permitting, including a water-supply plan for any new large-scale feeding operations, and temporarily closes an exemption allowing use of drinking water for livestock without a permit or water right. The bill also increases agency oversight of spreading factory-farm waste on land where the groundwater is already contaminated with nitrates, and gives authority to — while not requiring — local governments to require setbacks when siting factory farms.

A previous version of the bill would have instituted a moratorium on all state permitting of new and expanding factory farms, and it drew broad support from farmers, activists, rural residents and more than 50 organizations. The moratorium language was removed from the bill in May. The bill passed the Oregon Senate in June with a 17-8 majority and passed the House narrowly the next day.

Christina Eastman, a fifth-generation farmer from Scio and president of Farmers Against Foster Farms, said in a press release that the bill still accomplishes its task of sufficiently regulating factory farms in the state.

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“Today is a good day for rural Oregon,” Eastman said in a press release celebrating the bill’s passage. “The Oregon Legislature stood by our rural communities in our fight to protect our water and farms from predatory multinational corporations attempting to take our natural resources, pollute our water and air, and ruin our quality of life.”

Her organization, a grassroots organization of farmers in and around Scio, championed the bill as a way to limit Foster Farms’ ability to build a large-scale chicken operation in Scio in early 2021. The organization praised SB 85’s pause of the controversial livestock water exemption, which allows industrial farms to withdraw unlimited groundwater for livestock. 

Other activist groups were more muted about the bill. Lilli DiPaola, an organizer for Stand Up to Factory Farms (SUFF) — a broad coalition that includes Columbia Riverkeeper, Friends of the Columbia Gorge, Mercy for Animals and the Humane Society — called the bill a small step forward in a statement after the governor’s signing. DiPaola writes that without a moratorium, ecologically harmful feed operations can still be approved by the Department of Agriculture.

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“Stand Up to Factory Farms is grateful to the legislators who understand the factory-farm influx facing Oregon and its contribution to the climate crisis, freshwater shortages and public health crisis in the Lower Umatilla Basin,” the coalition wrote. “Oregon’s latest factory-farm law is a small step forward in addressing these issues — it must be the first of many.”

Bill Mattos, president of poultry industry advocacy group Northwest Chicken Council, told Oregon Business over email that the Legislature eliminating the moratorium from the bill kept current family chicken-farm projects in place. “The final legislation was good for the chicken industry, something we can grow with and still maintain the production consumers want and need,” he wrote.

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Oregonians love small farms, but have a less favorable view of industrial farming, according to new data from the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center, a nonprofit that conducts opinion research.

When it came to large-scale industrial farming, 29% of the survey’s 2,333 respondents held a negative perception of the sector, while 25% held a positive view, and 46% stated they feel neither negatively nor positively about big agriculture. By contrast, only 1% of respondents had a negative view of smaller farms, while 83% held a positive opinion and 16% were ambivalent. 

Respondents with a college degree and respondents living in urban areas were more likely to view large-scale agriculture negatively than people with a high school education or lower, or who lived in more rural areas. Respondents with school-aged children were also more favorable towards industrial farming than those without.

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“Oregonians view small-scale farms positively due to their local community involvement, commitment to sustainability, and a perception that smaller farms produce higher-quality food.” Amaury Vogel, associate executive director of OVBC, said in a press release about the study. “Large-scale commercial or industrial farming receive mixed reviews from Oregonians. Some recognize commercial farming’s economic benefits and contributions to mass food production. Others express distrust towards large farming corporations, dissatisfaction with their monoculture practices, and are displeased with commercial agriculture’s disregard for the environment.”  

The survey, which was conducted between May 26 and June 5 of this year, asked about Oregonians’ general attitudes and behaviors related to farming and agriculture as well as inquiring about differences in feelings between small-scale and large-scale farms. 

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Some respondents reported pride in Oregon’s agriculture industry and recalled the history and tradition of farming in the state, while others emphasized the importance of Oregon crops, including berries, wheat, grass seed and marine agriculture.

The top 10 crops respondents associated with Oregon farming were apples, hazelnuts, wheat, strawberries, corn, grapes, hay, grass seed, trees, and berries. 

Other respondents expressed concern over farming’s impact on the environment, attributing farm tilling to loss of flora and fauna, the exacerbation wildfires, and loss of valuable water resources. Others voiced concern the industry was too white-dominated.

The survey was conducted online by Oregon residents ages 18 and over, and took approximately 15 minutes to complete. To ensure accuracy, a variety of quality control measures were employed, including questionnaire pre-testing, validation, and real-time monitoring of responses. To ensure a representative sample, demographic quotas were set, and data weighted by area of the state, gender, age, and education. 

The survey’s margin of error is ±2.03%.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney – District of Oregon, Noble Marital Trust, doing business as Noble Family Dairy, pleaded guilty to one count of negligently discharging a pollutant on Monday in federal court.

Noble Family Dairy is situated about 13 miles east of Grants Pass and is certified as organic, according to Oregon Department of Agriculture records. According to a 2021 profile of the dairy that ran on a blog for the Coastal Farm & Ranch retail chain, operators farm just over 1,000 organic acres and graze an additional 500. The article says it produces 8,750 gallons of organic milk per day, and says 100% of the milk Umpqua Dairy ships to stores after processing is from the Noble Dairy farm.

In April of this year, the business was charged with one count of discharging a pollutant in violation of a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit, a misdemeanor under the Clean Water Act.

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The case, which was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division with assistance from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and ODA, stems from a series of events in 2019.

Prosecutors say that at that time, the dairy had 1,760 cows but was only allowed 1,630 under its waste-management permit. That created a level of waste operators couldn’t contain. The dairy’s manure lagoons began to overflow; in response, operators dug a trench to capture runoff. But in February 2019 the trench failed, causing manure to flow into Caris Creek and into the Applegate River.

An inspector from the Oregon Department of Agriculture visited the dairy in March 2019 and found that while the trench had been fixed, manure was still collecting, sometimes in piles as high as 18 inches. The inspector also saw “what appeared to be islands of solid manure in Caris Creek and manure visibly discharging from the creek into the Applegate River,” according to the release.

“By disregarding the maximum number of cattle allowed by its waste-management permit, the Noble Family Dairy caused significant environmental harm to two waterways shared and enjoyed by countless Rogue Valley residents and visitors,” Nathan J. Lichvarcik, chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eugene and Medford branch offices, said in the release. “Our nation’s environmental laws exist to protect human health and the environment, and we will continue working closely with our partners at EPA to hold accountable anyone who violates them.”

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“This defendant’s actions caused the discharge of manure into the Applegate River and Caris Creek, causing significantly elevated levels of E. coli in the water,” Benjamin Carr, acting special agent in charge of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in Oregon, said in the release. “EPA and its partners will continue to protect the waters of the United States from illegal pollution discharges that contribute to serious health problems and put our communities at risk.”

In June 2020, ODA issued Noble Dairy a civil penalty of $38,584 and entered a consent order requiring payment of $25,465 and installation of significant manure system infrastructure as well as additional sampling and inspections, according to an ODA spokesperson, who adds that the dairy is currently on schedule with compliance requirements with its confined animal-feeding operations permits, as well as the additional requirements.

Noble Dairy did not respond to a request for comment from Oregon Business, but the Oregon Capital Chronicle quoted attorney Kristen Tranetzki as saying the dairy has been in compliance with its permits since its 2019 violations and “is fully committed to compliance with state and federal regulations.”

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Last year, there were  there were 267 reported incidents of toxic or harmful algae blooms globally, including two in Oregon.

In 2015, unseasonably warm water on the West Coast cost the Dungeness crab fisheries $48.3 million in lost revenue in the Pacific Northwest.

Harmful algal and bacterial blooms (HABBs) are toxic to humans and animals, and can lead to sickness in pets and humans. Last summer saw a harmful algae bloom in the Willamette River between Cathedral Park and Willamette Cove, leading the Oregon Health Authority to issue a recreational use health advisory. This summer, hundreds of dead or sick dolphins and sea lions washed up on the California coast as a result of a harmful algae bloom.

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The global economy pays a high price during such events — HABBs in rivers, lakes and estuaries are estimated to cost more than $82 million in lost revenue each year in the United States, according to data from the National Ocean Service — and the problem may be worsening with rising temperatures. A 2021 research paper by the University of Delaware also linked rising global temperatures to increasing severity of HABBs. Other research has suggested damage from harmful algae blooms are more closely attributed to increased monitoring and human presence around the toxic blooms’ areas.

But there’s good news: researchers from the University of Portland, Willamette University and Walla Walla University have found a way to detect these blooms faster and easier.

Last week, the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust announced a $235,000 grant to a Pacific Northwest research collation improving techniques for the early detection and identification of HABBs. U of P’s team received $131,630, Walla Walla University received $48,745 and Willamette University  got $54,625 from the foundation to who are trying to develop a new technique for quicker identification of the blooms.

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Dr. Ryan Kenton, who leads UP’s effort to improve early detection methods, says traditional HABB detection involves collecting and observing water samples by microscope, a technique Kenton says can take hours, sometimes days, to produce accurate results.

Kenton’s team is developing a molecular approach to identify HABBs more quickly, and the plant species more accurately by comparing DNA.

“What you see in the microscope doesn’t always correspond to what the species actually is. It’s very hard to tell actual species apart they look so similar. The hope is will not only be able to get it faster but there’ll be a much more accurate system to determine exactly what is present in the water,” Kenton says.

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While developing a method to stop these algae blooms isn’t within the scope of the research, Ryan says the coalition has already made significant strides since its formation, and is on track to complete the project by next summer.   

“The three schools or the four professors all have slightly varying skills and abilities and our specialties are slightly different, but together, we felt as though we could really improve this research and try something new,” Ryan says.

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McCollum, who played for the Portland Trail Blazers from 2013 until last year, when he was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, first partnered with Adelsheim in 2017 to launch a 2018 pinot noir under his McCollum Heritage 91 label.

Saturday’s event — held in two sessions of 75 guests each — will include a meet and greet with McCollum, as well as tastings of a new 2022 rosé, a 2020 chardonnay and an Adelsheim pinot noir. The team will also distribute copies of of Oregon Wine + Food: The Cookbook, a newly released cookbook in which McCollum’s personal chef has a recipe, which he thinks pairs really well with the McCollum Heritage rosé.

Tickets for the event are free, but attendees must commit to purchasing at least three bottles of wine for curbside pickup at the winery.

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“My wife introduced me to wine back in college,” McCollum tells Oregon Business. “As I continued to learn and grow, I just I began to explore why more the process of it, how it’s made, the taste of it — all those things  — and how location, how the which the rows are planted, how those things are done shifts the taste.”

Part of the idea behind the partnership is to make wine more accessible, McCollum says.

“I wish I would have known that it’s OK to not know anything about wine and it’s okay to explore. It’s OK to be curious. It’s OK to not like things. Everybody’s taste buds are different,” McCollum says.

“You don’t have to be celebrating to enjoy wine,” he adds. “You can just enjoy wine in the comfort of your home or with friends and family and not be celebrating anything going on. I think that’s a cool part about wine that I think more people should follow and enjoy.”

Currently, the average farmworker family in Oregon is making between $20,000 and $25,000 per year, which is 25% to 37% of the median family income for the general population, the study found. Thirty percent of farmworkers in Oregon and Washington experience poverty, compared to 14% of all U.S. households. Estimates show a 3% to 5% decrease in the number of farmworkers in the surveyed counties, while the number of H2-A visa workers, primarily from Mexico, has increased. A lack of affordable housing means farmworker families are often living in poor and overcrowded spaces, the condition of which perpetuates health issues and ongoing poverty. 

The goal of the OHCS Agricultural Worker Housing Study was to better understand the challenges facing Oregon farmworkers and their families, and to identify possible solutions. It took four years to complete, as researchers interviewed farmworkers in Hood River, Marion, Morrow and Yamhill counties, with a focus on prioritizing the perspectives of those who are closest to these issues. 

The report identified right main issues and made recommendations for increasing wages and available housing for those whose work is critical to Oregon’s food supply. 

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The most pressing issues facing farmworkers include low wages, an “extreme shortage of good quality housing at prices farmworkers can afford,” poor housing conditions, prohibitive rental application requirements, barriers to home ownership, a lack of resources for finding housing, barriers for employer-provided housing, and a “lack of reliable data about farmworkers and their housing.” 

The study notes that not enough data is available on housing options for farmworkers, but they conclude that nearly all farmworker households are cost burdened. Most have unmet housing needs and can not afford housing that is in good condition and not overcrowded 

The issue of housing quality is illustrated through farmworker interviews; 96% of respondents report living in overcrowded conditions and 65% in severely overcrowded conditions. Two of the people interviewed said they share a cabin with 20 other people. 

Subsidized housing is available through certain organizations, like the Oregon Human Development Corporation, but there isn’t nearly enough. In Hood River, Marion, Morrow, and Yamhill counties there are only 395 subsidized rental units, while 83,731 farmworker families live in those counties. In Marion and Yamhill counties, 455 applicants are on waitlists. The report also found that the cost of some subsidized housing is still out of reach for farmworkers. On top of housing being too expensive, inconsistent income makes it difficult to qualify for housing on many rental applications, and lack of transportation is an issue for living far from work. 

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COVID-19, wildfires, and a changing climate have all made the housing crisis even worse for farmworkers. One in four reported their housing situation was impacted by the pandemic, whether due to work closures or because they had to take time for illness or quarantine. Wildfires and heat waves impacted housing for one in four farmworkers as well. From lost wages due to poor crop yields or missed harvests to respiratory issues and heat stroke suffered from working during times of dangerous air quality and temperatures, farmworkers and their families are on the front lines of extreme weather. 

These housing issues are having negative impacts on the emotional well-being of many farmworkers. Half of the 80 people interviewed reported stress, frustration, anxiety, fear, and “feeling rejected by society,” due to difficulty finding housing. 

Employers of farmworkers were also interviewed for the study. Those who provide housing for their employees said it is “a great benefit to their workers,” and it’s often the only housing available. But they also reported major challenges in providing that housing, including cost and OSHA regulations. Most employers mentioned the new OSHA rules on heat and air quality “make it harder for them to provide housing for farmworkers.” These new regulations were adopted in 2022, requiring employers to provide shade and drinking water, increased paid breaks, and training on heat illness prevention plans. 

The study concluded with recommendations that could increase available housing, along with ways to fund said housing. Ultimately, more public funding and subsidies are needed for employers and developers to build and maintain housing that is affordable and used seasonally. Other recommendations included portable affordable housing, shared housing between farms, and making low-interest loans available to farmers looking to provide farmworker housing. 

When farmworkers were asked what recommendations they would make to those working on solutions, many said government assistance was necessary, but doubted the government would step in to help them. 

“To the state and federal [government],” wrote one respondent, “please support in a reform. We are souls in the dark.” 

According to the Oregon Organic Market Assessment — one of five state-funded reports on emerging industries — only 10-16% of organic food products reaching Oregonians comes from organic Oregon farms. But the report illustrates significant potential for growth in production, manufacturing, and sales, along with multiple benefits that come with organic agriculture, from economic development for rural communities to increased food security and resilience in the face of ongoing climate change. 

Organic food sales topped $60 billion nationwide for the first time last year. Though inflation has led some shoppers to avoid the extra cost of organic items, the sector continues to grow. 

Oregon has always been a leader in that growth. In 1973, it was the first state to pass legislation regulating organic food. Over the last 15 years, the state’s certified organic acreage has doubled. Today, Oregon is sixth in the nation for certified organic cropland with 228,100 acres. 

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Oregon’s infrastructure can support continued growth. Currently organic food manufacturing is growing faster than conventional food manufacturing, and there’s enough organic raw material available for near-term expansion. 

As farmers grapple with the worsening challenges of climate change, the potential to shift more land and production from conventional to organic food products seems not just smart but necessary. One of the key points of the report is that “public and environmental health costs from agriculture are greatly reduced by organic practices.” 

The labeling of organic products depends on practices “that support the cycling of on-farm resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity in accordance with the USDA organic regulations,” according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, all of which align with initiatives for mitigating the impacts of climate change. While the pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and sewage sludge that often accompany conventional agriculture can all negatively impact the environment, organic agriculture must maintain or improve air and water quality, while conserving surrounding ecosystems. 

Organic agricultural practices also release lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing organic agriculture would contribute positively to the state’s current goal to reduce GHG emissions to 80% of 1990 levels by 2050. Organic farmland can even become a carbon sink. 

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The report also found that agriculture communities with higher percentages of organic operations had lower poverty rates and higher median household incomes.

One of the key findings of the report is the potential for organics to serve as a social justice initiative. Farmworkers are routinely exposed to much higher levels of pesticides compared to the consumer, and reducing their use protects those workers from dangerous health impacts, which include acute pesticide poisoning, headaches, nausea, and seizures. And increasing availability of healthy fruits and vegetables can increase food security for Oregon’s most vulnerable communities. 

“I often hear that organics are only for rich white people,” says Amy Wong, board chair at the Oregon Organic Coalition. “But we’re seeing that’s not the case.”

A recent study from the Organic Trade Association, which the report draws from, found that “​​14% of dedicated organic consumers identify as Black, 25% as Hispanic, and 10% as Asian;  each group exceeded its representation in the overall US population.” 

Alongside the myriad benefits outlined in the report, there are significant barriers to consider as well. 

Organic agriculture is more labor-intensive, and the expenses of farm labor have increased by 42% in Oregon since 1997 (according to the 2023 US Census Bureau). Profit margins were already slim for most farmers, and the recent adoption of House Bill 4002, which enforces new overtime pay for agricultural workers, made that margin slimmer.

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The many steps to transition to organic production is prohibitive to many farmers facing slim profit margins and the increasing challenges of a changing climate. 

“The process is extremely rigorous,” says Wong. Soil fertility and pest management are more challenging when you’re meeting the standards required of organic labeling, and many farmers don’t have the time or capital to invest in those new systems. 

Wong says education will be key in promoting the continuing growth of organic agriculture in Oregon and in supporting farmers who choose to do so. 

Several OOC initiatives to educate and promote organics in Oregon were put on hold during the pandemic, like the Organic Grows a Better Oregon Advocacy Day at the State Capitol and the OOC Excellence Awards, both of which the OOC plans to bring back soon.

“There is a lot more we can do to educate,” says Wong. “This assessment will be a launching point. We knew all of this was true, and now we have the validation.” 

State lawmakers have dropped the more controversial regulatory components of a soil health bill that failed during last year’s legislative short session. Farmers’ groups say they’re happy — both with the resulting bill and with the engagement that led to it.

HB 2998 passed unanimously out of the Agriculture and Land Use Committee on March 14, and is currently before the Ways and Means Committee.

Sponsored by Rep. Ken Helm (D-Beaverton), Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Crane) and 16 other legislators, HB 2998 would create a voluntary soil health initiative administered by a collaboration of Oregon State University Extension Service, the OSU College of Agriculture Science, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and the Department of Agriculture. The bill would appropriate $2 million from the state’s general fund to finance staffing and grants for participating farms and soil and water conservation districts to share soil health methods and practices, and to borrow and purchase new equipment to reduces soil erosion.

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Helm says the bill is based on SB 1534 that was introduced during the 2022 legislative short session and is modeled on California’s soil health initiative. But it has dropped some regulatory components from the 2022 version, including the creation of a “soil score” assessing lands’ soil health. At the time, detractors said the soil score could be used as a regulatory instrument, which caused the bill to stall in committee until the session adjourned.

“A lot of my work this session is to rehabilitate Democrats’ relationship with the agricultural community,” says Helm. “Why don’t we stop arguing about how to manage this idea of soil, carbon sequestration in soils and just get right down to it? Let’s go out there and see if we can get people interested in implementing some of these practices that help sequester carbon and have co-benefits of reducing erosion and holding more water in the soil for them to fight drought,” says Helm.

“That’s why this is voluntary, its incentive based, and we really wanted to get it to hit the ground running. I’m not pretending to know everything about how agriculture is conducted across the state, just trusting that farmers want to do right by their land. This is a helping hand instead of a regulatory directive, and I think that’s appreciated. That’s why you saw the type of response to the bill.”

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Katie Murray, executive director of Oregonians for Food & Shelter, (OFS) a coalition which includes representatives from the Oregon Farm Bureau, the Weyerhaeuser company, and the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, tells Oregon Business over email that although her organization originally submitted testimony opposing HB 2998, her organization is now on board. She writes that OFS worked on the bill with its proponents and was able to receive amendments that addressed her organization’s concerns, which were related to claims, definitions and practices it considered to be limiting or lacking in broad application.

“The base bill’s definitions would have limited what counted as a ‘soil health practice’ to just a short list of potential practices,” Murray wrote. “The definition also lacked consideration for soil functionality and crop production as a primary goal, which producers know is the overall goal of soil health in crop production,” she writes. “We were able to get that definition broadened out to include any practices that are scientifically supported to improve soil health over time, which will provide the flexibility needed for a wide variety of producers to be able to benefit from the incentives.”

Megan Kemple, co-director of the Oregon Climate & Agricultural Network, which supported the bill, says it encourages famers and growers who want to maintain their soil by lowering the cost and barriers to entry of adopting healthy soil practices.

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“One example would be if someone wanted to use a no-till drill, which is a farm implement that attached to a tractor which creates these little slits in the soil and drops the seeds in without tilling,” Kemple says. “If a group of farmers were interested that equipment but didn’t want to purchase it, maybe because they only use it once a year, a soil and water conservation district could purchase it with a little grant.”

All contacted parties agreed soil health was something to remain vigilant about going forward. A 2014 report the United Nations found that if soil erosion continues at its current pace, the world’s remaining topsoil will be gone by 2075.

According to American Farmland Trust’s 2019 soil health case studies, 80% of row crop farmers attributed yield increases to soil health practices, with all participants experiencing positive returns on investment of between 7% and 343%.

Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, who originally submitted neutral testimony on HB 2998 says he didn’t want the bill to be only for crops which could use no-till practices, and that he wanted the bill to reward other methods of sustainable soil remediation, like cover crops – plants which are planted on agricultural land to slow soil erosion.

Related Story: Ag Overtime Bill Passes, But Farmers’ Groups Say They’ll Keep Fighting

“We wanted to make sure this didn’t become the ‘no-till’ act. No-till has its place because tilling land does release sequestered carbon, but not tilling is not a solution for every type of agriculture,” says Stone. Stone says his concerns have since been addressed and praised Helm’s engagement strategy with growers – one he hopes will be recreated with other farm bills in the future.

“Instead of writing something and then asking, ‘Oh hey, are you guys are you guys okay with this?’, Rep. Helm actually asked us. You wouldn’t think it would be such a defining thing, but we’ve seen plenty of those types of bills before. He got us from being very suspicious to on board with it,” says Stone. “We love to support this bill now because we want to reward good interaction with the actual working lands folks.”