Oregon’s farmers are under siege — not from drought or wildfire, but from the state’s own government and out-of-state activists.
In Episode 34 of Oregon D.O.G.E., host Senator Mike McLane and co-host Representative Shelly Boshart Davis welcome Greg Addington, Executive Director of the Oregon Farm Bureau, to unpack the mounting pressures facing agriculture across the state.
The State of Oregon Farming
Addington starts with a sobering statistic: 69% of Oregon farms operated at a net cash loss last year.
Commodity prices are down. Input costs — fuel, fertilizer, labor — are higher than ever. Cherries that earn a grower just six cents a pound in The Dalles sell for $10 a pound at retail.
Oregon’s small family farms are being squeezed out, forced to consolidate just to survive. “People love small family farms,” Addington says, “but the policies we pass make them impossible.”
The Labor Crisis: Ag Overtime
In 2022, Oregon passed an “ag overtime” law requiring farmers to pay time-and-a-half after 40 hours.
Lawmakers and Farm Bureau warned what would happen — and now it has.
Workers are earning less because farms can’t afford overtime. Many have to take second jobs. Farmers are mechanizing faster and cutting hours to stay afloat.
“It’s a loser for the workers and a loser for the farmers,” Addington says. “The partnership between them is being destroyed by bad policy.”
The law’s supposed safety benefits have backfired — less experienced, short-term workers are now operating complex machinery, creating new risks.
IP 28: The “Animal Rights” Initiative That Would Destroy Oregon Agriculture
Perhaps the most alarming topic is Initiative Petition 28, which would ban killing any animal “before the end of its natural life.”
The measure’s consequences are staggering:
- Outlaws hunting and fishing statewide.
- Criminalizes animal husbandry, artificial insemination, and meat processing.
- Would shut down dairies, ranches, and butcher shops.
- Even pest control and veterinary care could become crimes.
As McLane notes, “It sounds like satire — but it’s real.”
IP 28’s signature gatherers are pitching it as “ending animal cruelty,” but the campaign is bankrolled largely by out-of-state money from California and Colorado. As of this episode’s recording, 88,000 Oregonians had signed under false pretenses — believing they were helping animals, not banning agriculture.
A Pattern of Extremism
McLane and Boshart Davis connect IP 28 to a disturbing pattern in Oregon’s policy history:
- Measure 110 (drug decriminalization) — funded by out-of-state activists, catastrophic for Oregon.
- Measure 114 (gun restrictions) — sold as “safety,” but tied up in the courts. Now, IP 28 targets food production, hunting culture, and even tribal traditions protected under federal treaties. As McLane puts it: “Oregon keeps becoming the testing ground for the extreme left — and we keep paying the price.”
The Watershed Bill of Rights: Local Chaos in Lane County
As if IP 28 weren’t enough, Addington warns of a new local initiative on Lane County’s May ballot: the Watershed Bill of Rights (Measure 23-20-373).
It would give “watersheds” legal personhood, allowing lawsuits against anyone who “harms” rainwater or soil. Farmers, homeowners, and even gardeners could face civil penalties of 1% per day until “restoration” is complete.
“It’s a lawyer’s dream,” Addington says. “And a nightmare for everyone else.”
Mental Health and Farmer Fatigue
Between rising costs, endless regulation, and political hostility, farmer suicide rates are two to three times higher than the national average.
Addington notes, “We talk about saving farmland, but if we don’t save farmers, it doesn’t matter.”
Farmers can’t relocate like other businesses; their roots are literal. Yet Oregon’s leadership treats them as expendable.
As McLane concludes: “Oregon’s wound is self-inflicted — but it’s not irreversible.”
How to Fight Back
Oregonians can:
- Refuse to sign IP 28 petitions.
- Support groups like the Oregon Farm Bureau and Feed Oregon PAC.
- Oppose local radical measures like Lane County’s “Watershed Bill of Rights.”
- Vote for leaders who value food, freedom, and family over ideology.
“If we don’t save farmers,” Addington says, “we won’t have farmland left to save.”