FARM PROTECTIONS

Problem

Oregon urgently produces food for the state, nation, and world — yet those who farm, harvest, and steward the land face mounting, relentless challenges.

Reality on the ground

• 37,200 farms and 16 million farmed acres in Oregon

• 96% family-owned, not corporate

• Small farms are rapidly losing ground due to consolidation, speculation, and skyrocketing costs.

• Land, livestock, seed, feed, and equipment costs have soared while farm profits have shrunk.

• The farm workforce is aging, and there are significant barriers for new or first-generation farmers.

Climate threats

• 1+ million acres burned in 2020

• Heat waves wiped out livestock and specialty crops (berries, cherries, grapes)

• Smoke ruined harvests and created health crises.

• Climate volatility is now a yearly economic threat.

Farmworker injustice

• Farmworkers remain among the lowest-paid workers in America.

• Fatality risk is 5 times higher than that of the average U.S. worker.

• Exposure to heat, pesticides, wildfire smoke, and unsafe housing is widespread.

• Many immigrant workers lack legal status or pathways to citizenship.

Food waste + broken systems

• Tens of millions of tons of food are discarded each year.

• Farmers sometimes plow crops under due to a lack of storage, processing, or markets.

Tribal communities

• Tribes are reviving first foods and cultural stewardship.

• They lack direct federal investment and land authority after dispossession.

Oregon agriculture faces a climate crisis, economic pressure, and social inequity.

Solutions

1. Keep land in the hands of local and new farmers

• Enforce anti-monopoly rules against seed, meatpacking, and processing conglomerates.

• Low- and zero-interest loans and grants for:

  • Beginning farmers

  • Tribal and BIPOC-led farms

  • Immigrant and first-generation growers

  • Cooperatives and worker-owned farm models

• Restrict hedge funds and foreign corporations from purchasing farmland.

• Expand community land trusts and succession funds to prevent subdivision and consolidation.

Outcome: Farmland remains local, diversified, and accessible to future generations.

2. Protect and respect farmworkers

• Set national heat and smoke rules. Require shade, water, breaks, and safe work stoppage when conditions are unsafe.

• End agricultural loopholes → full overtime and fair wages

• Hazard pay during climate-emergency conditions

• Strong pesticide enforcement and penalties

• Permanent funding for safe and sanitary seasonal housing

• Change immigration policies to allow farm and food workers to obtain legal status and pursue citizenship.

Outcome: Workers have stronger protection, fair pay, job safety, and long-term stability.

3. Make agriculture climate-resilient

• Fast, accessible disaster relief — not months of paperwork

• Make crop insurance work for specialty crops like berries, grapes, and tree fruit. Do not just cover corn and soy.

• Water system upgrades:

  • Efficient irrigation and sensors

  • Aquifer recharge

  • Community water-sharing systems

• Regenerative agriculture incentives:

  • Cover crops, no-till, rotational grazing

  • Soil carbon storage and integrated pest management

• Wildfire buffer and rangeland restoration funding for:

  • Eastern Oregon

  • Gorge orchards

  • Willamette Valley and rangelands

Outcome: Farmers secure higher yields, reduced costs, and long-term improvements in soil and water health, even amid climate threats.

4. Build strong statewide food systems

• Invest in rural + tribal processing, canning, and cold storage.

• Transportation and distribution hubs that keep food local

• Farm-to-school, farm-to-hospital, and institutional procurement at fair prices

• Double SNAP/WIC at farmers’ markets and CSAs

• Tax credits for the donation of edible surplus instead of waste

• Support food co-ops, community fridges, and mutual aid networks.

Outcome: More Oregon-grown food reaches local families. Food waste shrinks, and rural communities prosper.

5. Tribal food sovereignty + land return

• Send direct federal money to support Tribal agriculture, first foods, and food independence.

• Support land rematriation where requested by Tribes.

• Restore salmon and river health through:

  • Dam removal

  • Cool-water refuges

  • Habitat rehabilitation

• Protect treaty foods, treaty access, and cultural harvest.

• Fund Tribal youth and elder food programs

Outcome: Tribes regain cultural leadership, restore ecosystems, and secure Tribal food access and rights.

Bottom Line

Oregon’s farmers, farmworkers, and Tribes are essential to food security, climate resilience, and rural prosperity, but face consolidation, disasters, low wages, and land loss.

Federal policy must:

• Protect family farms

• Raise farmworker standards

• Invest in Tribal sovereignty.

• Grow local food economies.

• Build climate resilience from soil to watershed.

Oregon agriculture’s future depends on keeping land and wealth rooted in communities now — not lost to distant corporations.