New program aims to preserve Oregon farms, ranches

(Update: Comments from land trust official, Post rancher)

The Oregon Legislature has approved the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program, designed to help more farmers and ranchers keep their land amid development pressure.

With the new program, farmers and ranchers will have the option to sell their land to a land trust, such as the Deschutes Land Trust, in order to avoid selling to developers.

Brad Chalfant, executive director of the Deschutes Land Trust, said Wednesday the population growth in Central Oregon, it is becoming increasingly important to conserve wildlife and farmland.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth here in Central Oregon, as anyone who lives here knows, and we are beginning to see farm land and ranches subdivided and broken up for development,” Chalfant said. “We’re losing large migration corridors, and we’re losing the food that sustains us.”

More than ever, farmers are feeling the financial pressure, and in some cases are forced to sell their land to developers.

This new program will offer an alternative.

Now, with an option for farms and ranches to stay in their current state, experts believe it will help agriculture thrive.

That’s encouraging to those like Jim Wood, the owner and operator of Aspen Valley Ranch in Post.

Wood depends on the land to make his living, giving them hope that the sustainability of farming and ranching will be protected for years to come.

“If you’re not economically sustainable, then you’re not ecologically sustainable,” Wood said. “That’s very important because you know if your place gets chopped up for various reasons, you sill have got to make a living.”

Though no funding has yet been established, the program now has the official go-ahead and will begin setting up rules for how they distribute funds in the future.

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July 7 news release from the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts:

Salem, Oregon: Today, the Oregon House and Senate passed a landmark bill launching a new farm and ranch land protection program for the state. HB 3249 will create the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program, Oregon’s first voluntary program to help farmers and ranchers protect working lands and the fish and wildlife habitat they support.

The Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program bill (OAHP) was developed during a two-year effort by the following six statewide organizations that represent agriculture and natural resource conservation: Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts, Oregon Association of Conservation Districts, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Oregon Farm Bureau, Sustainable Northwest, and The Nature Conservancy.

The diverse groups and bi-partisan support that rallied behind HB 3249 really speaks to the importance of Oregon’s agricultural heritage for all Oregonians,” said Representative Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie). “We have to decide whether we want to preserve those lands and their ecological benefits, or to allow them to be fragmented and sold off in a way that harms the agricultural and conservation purposes of these lands.”

The program addresses key issues farmers and ranchers face in Oregon: the conversion and fragmentation of farmland and the challenge of planning for the next generation of farmers and ranchers.

“The family farms and ranches in Oregon are something we have to preserve,” said Representative Knute Buehler (R-Bend) one of the chief cosponsors of the bill. “And they are under assault by two big factors: first, the ever-growing crush of urbanism, and the second is a lack of succession planning. The Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program helps to address both of these issues by providing voluntary tools for landowners.”

In passing the OAHP, the legislature provided $190,000 over the next biennium to set up rules for the program and establish the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Commission to administer future program funds. In conjunction with the Commission, the program will be managed by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board to provide grants to landowners to protect their working lands, enhance natural resource values, and assist with succession planning.

“Oregon’s working lands are not only a critical economic driver for the state, but those who work the land also steward important fish and wildlife habitat,” said Representative Brian Clem (D-Salem), another chief cosponsor of the bill. “I am pleased that the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program recognizes the vital contribution of both to our state.”