re: Government is Targeting Small Farms in Oregon with satellites and shutting them down

Under Oregon law, all water belongs to the public. With some exceptions, cities, irrigators, businesses, and other water users must obtain a permit or license from the Water Resources Department to use water from any source - whether it is underground, or from lakes or streams.

Oregon water rights are determined by the principle of prior appropriation, rather than riparian rights. This means that a senior water rights holder has priority access to water resources, based on the date that the permit was first applied for. In the case of a water shortage, senior users aren’t required to conserve resources for junior users, but any surplus water beyond what’s used or allocated will go to the junior user, and so on down the line.

Senior users don’t have carte blanche to use the water for any purpose, though. Their application for a surface or groundwater permit must specify a “beneficial use.”

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Not hard to figure out why this is happenin

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Yeah, big dairy wanted to crush smaller competitors. And FWIW it appears the state has already reversed its decision to enforce this rule.

Famine On [Off]

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Small dairy farms across Oregon will no longer be subject to a state policy change some farmers say would’ve been too burdensome. The Oregon Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that it’s withdrawing its decision to require small dairy operations to apply for a permit usually intended for larger commercial farms.

Last year, the department reinterpreted its definition of a confined animal feeding operation, or CAFO, to include small dairy farms. A CAFO permit is an enforceable plan farms must follow to protect surface and groundwaters from pollution, such as manure produced by cows.

The change came after dairy industry lobbyists complained some small dairy farms had an “unfair” competitive advantage over bigger dairy farms that had to follow state regulations and pay annual fees.

In its 2023 decision, the state department of agriculture determined small dairy farms met its definition of a CAFO since farmers usually have to confine or tie up cows while they’re being milked. Even if it was a cow or two, and they were on a pasture for most of the day and only brought indoors to a barn for about 15 minutes, according to Christine Anderson, who milks three cows and owns Cast Iron Farm in Yamhill County.

“Regardless of where else the cows are during the day, if they cross that concrete floor at some point in their day, they’re meeting the definition of confinement,” Anderson said.

The rule would’ve required small dairy farms to install expensive drainage systems, put in wastewater holdings tanks, keep daily records and pay annual fees starting at $125, on top of a $100 application fee — or face fines up to $10,000 if they didn’t comply.

Anderson said it just doesn’t make sense to regulate small dairy farms or homesteaders with a handful of cows, sheep or goats the same way as larger farms.

Wastewater plans and CAFO regulations are necessary for larger farms that produce tons of manure, but smaller dairy farms don’t impact the environment as bigger farms do, according to Sarah King, who runs Godspeed Hollow Farm in Newberg.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture declined OPB’s request for an interview. In a statement, the agency said it’s withdrawing its decision effective immediately.

“In particular, ODA withdraws its policy that the act of milking an animal in a barn, or the washing of equipment used in milking an animal, triggers a CAFO permit coverage requirement,” the statement read. “Many small farm operators involved in livestock production could have been required to obtain a CAFO permit under the withdrawn policy, but it is no longer necessary in most cases.”

The state agency’s decision follows a lawsuit filed by Anderson, King and two other dairy farmers. The case seeks to stop the agency from enforcing the regulation, which would’ve kicked in April 1.

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LINK

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Small farms that can’t get a commercial permit as an exemption that uses less than 5000 gallons are being sent cease and desist letters (exemption doesn’t include irrigation of land). State of Oregon is putting water flow measurement devices on farmers’ wells to confirm the amount.

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LA rice and crawfish farmers say, "Welcome to the party."

Changing the definition of CAFO to be that broad is bullshite. (Glad it's already been reversed.)

These appear to be two different issues. Groundwater is a public resource in Oregon and I'm not opposed to requiring the use of said public resource to be permitted. Tragedy of the Commons and such. It appears that the water use issue isn't a case of new laws or regulations, but rather enforcement of existing laws that have been overlooked/ignored.

They should have acquired water use rights a long time ago. Especially since water rights are first come first served in Oregon.

It wasn't "that" long ago that the EPA started using planes to spot open-air garbage pits and whatnot on farms and started issuing citations and forcing expensive remediation of the soil. A farm in the area got hit for $50k, and this was in the 90s or early 2000s.

We had no garbage service where we lived, you'd have to haul trash 20+ miles to a dump, so we did what most rural folks did. We had a trash "gully" where we dumped stuff, and burned a lot of stuff too.

We cleaned up the gully, buried it, put in erosion control measures, and planted grass. We hauled trash 20 miles to the dump until they finally put a trash trailer in the little unincorporated town nearby.

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personal farms are being made illegal and only government approved commercial farms are being allowed to exist.

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Hmmmm...now where else did that happen and what became of the farmers?

I have to give it to you, you are at least self aware judging by your moniker.

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Government is Targeting Small Farms in Oregon with satellites and shutting them down

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This is nothing new. You have many stories about farmers losing their land because they put in a pond, then the gov changed regs to protect the double-spotted leaping salamander. The farmer fights it in court and racks up penalties, then the land gets seized. There was one where this happened because the land had a slight depression that would gather water only after a heavy rain. The feds determined that it was a "wetland" and ended up taking the property.

Farmers should shoot anyone entering their property and feed them to the pigs.