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NW Ag Show: Oregon Farm Bureau leader says state’s ag industry in crisis
January 16, 2026
By Kyle Odegard
Austin McClister, Oregon Farm Bureau communications director, said farming was in crisis in Oregon. “Sixty-nine percent of farmers are operating at a net cash loss in Oregon,” McClister said. McClister gave a presentation on the state of agriculture in Oregon during the Northwest Ag Show on Jan. 15, saying high input and labor costs and poorly thought-out policy were combining to crush farmers.
“We in Oregon are losing about a farm a day,” McClister said. One of the most fertile places on Earth has a horrible business environment for farmers, he added. Specialty crop growers are dealing with additional regulations every year, including new worker housing requirements, that put more pressure on their bottom lines.
Ag overtime rules designed to benefit workers instead have resulted in them seeking second jobs or fleeing to other states in search of more hours, exacerbating a shortage of local laborers. However, McClister viewed the 2025 Oregon Legislative session as successful in many ways thanks to testimony from farmers, which he called a “game-changer.” He thought political perception regarding agriculture was perhaps slowly shifting for the better.
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Irrigators seek to simplify Oregon’s ‘color of water’ oversight
January 15, 2026
By Mateusz Perkowski
Oregon irrigators want to lower the bureaucratic hurdles for distributing water from the Columbia River, arguing that increasing regulatory flexibility will boost aquifer recharge efforts. In the upcoming legislative session, irrigation districts within the Mid-Columbia Water Commission will seek to simplify the role of state regulators in overseeing the “color of water” drawn from the river. The “color of water” refers to the various hues assigned to 36 individual water rights within the three districts, which currently must be tracked separately by the Oregon Water Resources Department.
“The problem with that is that all of those water rights are commingled in one pipe, and the state’s trying to track those molecules individually and that pipe to individual fields,” said J.R. Cook, director of the Northeast Oregon Water Association, which represents irrigators and other in the region.
Over the past decade, about $300 million has been invested in building three pipelines and associated infrastructure to pump water from the river to irrigators. Irrigators within the Mid-Columbia Water Commission can withdraw the water from the river in exchange for reducing their water use “bucket-for-bucket” in upstream tributaries. Separate colors representing those preserved upstream water rights continue to be tracked by OWRD as the equivalent amount of water is collectively drawn from the river into the irrigation pipelines.
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Chemeketa’s all-electric farm, other innovations highlighted on NW Ag Show stage
January 15, 2026
By Kyle Odegard
Tim Ray, Chemeketa Community College’s agricultural sciences and technology dean, said it was “freaky” to drive an electric tractor for the first time. “It doesn’t make any noise. It just pulls,” Ray said. During the Northwest Ag Show on Jan. 14, Ray highlighted Chemeketa Community College’s Agricultural Hub in Salem, which can operate all-electric.
“We didn’t set out to do it. The pieces just fell into place,” he said. The facility includes an electric tractor, side-by-side, pickup and precision agriculture robot, as well as solar arrays. Chemeketa’s ag program isn’t run by environmentalists, but by farmers, Ray stressed. But electric farm machinery can pencil out for smaller agricultural operations, including nurseries, dairies and wineries, Ray said.
Staff at the Chemeketa ag hub don’t have to worry about gas cans lying around, or as much maintenance. The college dipped into electric equipment by using grants to purchase two tractors in 2022 — one is at its vineyard in West Salem. While the college still has a diesel tractor, that isn’t the preferred piece of equipment for many jobs.
In 2023, Chemeketa added a fully-electric side-by-side to replace an aging and unreliable model. “For us on the farm, it’s become the go-to vehicle,” he added. An electric Chevrolet Silverado with a range of 400 miles was added in 2024 with a federal grant. Ray said Chemeketa is trying to test technologies for farmers — who can borrow a tractor or the robot to try out in their fields. He added that the new technology projects the image of stewardship in agriculture to consumers.
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Rain-heavy precip mix concerns Idaho water supply forecasters
January 15, 2026
By Capital Press staff
A significant lag in snowpack persists in Idaho halfway into the state’s accumulation season, threatening water supply available for irrigation and other uses later, according to USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service hydrologists. “The Western U.S. and most of Idaho is in a snow drought thanks to warmer than normal temperatures in November, December and the beginning of January,” NRCS Idaho water supply specialist Erin Whorton said in a news release. “Even though Idaho received above-normal precipitation this winter thus far, with high-temperature records being set everywhere, only the highest mountain ranges have gotten more snow than rain.”
Snow drought conditions reflect temperatures too high for precipitation to fall as snow rather than a lack of precipitation, according to a January water supply outlook report by NRCS-Idaho. “This brings us to the unusual situation where total water year precipitation is near or above normal in all Idaho basins, but the snowpack is abysmally low across large swaths of the state.”
Although several atmospheric river storms reduced drought severity in multiple counties, warm snow-drought conditions have remained, according to the report. “If the snowpack continues to lag behind, the long-term accumulated precipitation deficits could have substantial negative impacts on water supply in Idaho.” The Oct. 1 water year started warm and wet, and the warm temperatures prevented precipitation from falling as snow except at the highest elevations. Until middle and late December storms, most Idaho river basins were at or near record lows in snowpack.
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Free new online tool can help Western growers select cover crops
January 14, 2026
By Kyle Odegard
Pacific Northwest farmers can feel paralyzed choosing cover crops, since there are dozens of viable options in some regions and significant costs for seed. “It can be overwhelming,” said Nick Andrews, OSU Extension Service organic vegetable specialist. “We wanted to pull together a species selector for folks getting started with cover crops,” he added.
A free new online tool helps Western growers choose cover crops species based on their unique situations and goals. The cover crop decision tool was spearheaded by the Western Cover Crops Council and can be found at http://westerncovercrops.org/decision-tools.
Why farmers use cover crops: Cover crops can provide a wide range of benefits for growers and the environment, such as improving soil health, nitrogen fixation, suppressing weeds, reducing erosion and sheltering pollinators. For some growers, the practice can save money and time, said Andrews, secretary of the Western Cover Crops Council. Cover cropping has been increasingly used across the country and seed — often produced in Oregon — can be in short supply, Andrews said. He thinks the cover crop selector will help more farmers adopt the practice.
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Low snowpack around Oregon leads to concern about dry conditions this summer
January 14, 2026
By Zac Ziegler
Nearly all of Oregon has less than 50% of its normal snowpack, with western and central Oregon having percentages largely in the 30s. That’s according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The lack of snow comes as the area sees a year that is typical for total precipitation, with precipitation across the state falling above 80% of average this water year.
The reason may be another weather phenomenon: unusually warm temperatures.
“When we’re really wanting to receive and retain that snowpack, above-normal temperatures are not only going to allow precipitation to fall as rain rather than snow, but any snow that does fall is likely going to melt out relatively soon,” said Oregon Water Resources Department Hydrologist Cameron Greenwood.
Average temperatures across most of Oregon were above normal by five degrees or more in December, according to a recent drought report from OWRD.
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Oregon, Washington, California set December heat records
January 14, 2025
By Don Jenkins
December was the warmest on record in Oregon, Washington and California, while Idaho had its second-warmest December, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.
The warm month capped a warm year. Washington had its second-warmest year since record-keeping began in 1895. Oregon and Idaho had their third-warmest years and California its fifth warmest. The unseasonably mild December defied seasonal forecasts. A La Nina formed in the fall and that normally leads to below-average temperatures in the Northwest. This year, however, ocean temperatures were just barely cool enough to form a weak La Nina.
“That weak La Nina is behaving more like a weak or moderate strength El Nino,” Oregon State Climatologist Larry O’Neill said. “This is what we expect from climate change.” Warm seas in the North Pacific and off the West Coast likely counteracted whatever force La Nina had, former Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond said. “I don’t think we can blame it or thank it for very much,” he said.
Weather patterns ushered in warm and moist air and combined with climate change to push up temperatures, Bond said. Average temperatures in Washington were nearly 7 degrees above normal.
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Proposed nitrate pollution rules for NE Oregon don’t seem to make anyone happy
January 14, 2026
By Alex Baumhardt
After decades of farm and food-processing pollution contaminating groundwater in northeast Oregon, state regulators are proposing new monitoring and testing rules for large farms in the area. But some of the groups invited to help draft the rules are at odds over what’s been proposed. In comments shared with the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Board of Agriculture shortly before the new year, farm groups opposed to the rules told regulators they go too far, while others contended they don’t go far enough.
The proposed rules, if adopted later this year, would require farmers in the Lower Umatilla Groundwater Basin spanning parts of Morrow and Umatilla Counties to create a plan to manage nitrate levels in their soil and to test annually at least 10% of fields, keeping records of those plans and subsequent soil testing for at least five years in case the agriculture department chooses to audit.
Farmers would not be required to submit plans but could be investigated if the state agriculture agency receives a complaint regarding practices that may violate the rules, according to agency spokesperson Andrea Cantu-Schomus. She added that agency officials are still evaluating public comments and determining any needed changes.
Farm fertilizers and animal manure are the single largest source of nitrate contamination in the basin, according to analysis from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, which declared the basin a critical management area in 1990. Since then, a local committee adopted voluntary measures to curb pollution, but the state has taken little regulatory action.
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Trump cabinet member with Oregon ties accused of workplace drinking, improper relationship, travel fraud, reports say
January 13, 2025
By Tatum Todd
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer — who represented Oregon’s 5th Congressional District from 2023 to 2025 — is under investigation by the agency’s inspector general on allegations the married cabinet member has had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, spent taxpayer money on personal travel and kept champagne, bourbon and Kahlua in her office, where she drank during the workday.
The New York Post first reported the allegations, saying it had reviewed unspecified documents, and on Monday Politico reported that two of Chavez-DeRemer’s aides were placed on leave as part of the probe. The New York Times, citing the Post, Politico and an anonymous source, also published a story about the employment status of the aides — chief of staff Jihun Han and his deputy, Rebecca Wright, both of whom worked for Chavez-DeRemer in Congress.
A spokesperson for the White House denied the allegations against the Trump administration official, calling them baseless. The inspector general’s office has refused to confirm or deny the investigation, saying that is its policy.
The office “remains committed to rooting out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption through objective, independent oversight of the U.S. Department of Labor,” it said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The labor secretary, a longtime Republican who vocally supported President Donald Trump’s attempted troop deployment in Portland, was mayor of Happy Valley from 2011 to 2019. Trump appointed her to his cabinet in 2025 after she lost her first reelection campaign for her U.S. House seat.
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Trump’s farm bailout probably won’t cover Pacific Northwest wheat growers’ losses
January 13, 2025
By Alejandro Figueroa
Oregon wheat growers now know what the Trump administration’s $12 billion bailout for farmers will do for them. They are saying that the $39 per acre they will receive will cover only a fraction of the cost of producing their crop.
Over the last year, growers have dealt with low crop prices and high costs of production.
Uncertain U.S. trade policies have created challenges for commodity farmers dependent on overseas buyers.
Oregon wheat is among the largest commodity crops grown in the state.
Over 90% of that crop is exported, mostly to Asian countries – much of it is turned into noodles, dumplings and other soft pastries.
In 2025, Oregon wheat growers planted 750,000 acres of wheat, yielding 52 million bushels — valued at roughly $270 million – according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But prices have remained low for the better part of two years now, at roughly $5.90 a bushel for the variety of wheat the majority of Pacific Northwest farmers grow. Many growers are barely breaking even.
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Washington rancher: Ecology’s ‘wetlands’ weren’t wet until I dug
January 13, 2026
By Don Jenkins
Central Washington rancher Wade King has moved to more aggressively respond to allegations by the Department of Ecology that he excavated and damaged rare inland wetlands.
No longer hindered by fear of criminal prosecution, King responded to Ecology’s allegations in a statement Jan. 9 to the Pollution Control Hearings Board. King said it was “shocking and humiliating” to wake up one day and find himself accused of being a criminal for digging into dried-out watering holes for his cattle. “How can something be considered a wetland if it is not wet and there is no water present unless I dig it up?” King asked.
Ecology alleges King muddied 23 alkali wetlands in arid Grant and Douglas counties. Ecology fined King and his wife, Teresa, $267,540 and ordered them to restore the wetlands. An environmental consultant estimates restoration will cost $3.7 million. Bulldozers, irrigation equipment and water would have to be airlifted to the remote watering holes.
The Kings’ case is a cause celebre in the West. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has threatened Washington with the loss of USDA funds if state regulators don’t back off.
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Lawmakers tell Farm Bureau it’s time to reform immigration law
January 13, 2026
By Mateusz Perkowski
While immigration remains as polarizing an issue as ever, several national lawmakers say it may the right moment to reform laws affecting foreign agricultural workers. Speaking to the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation, several leaders from Congressional agriculture committees said labor shortages are making the status quo intolerable. “The time has come to get this done,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. “Sometimes, when things are the worst, you find an opening, and we’ve got to find that opening now.”
Klobuchar said she was recently able to find “common ground” on the issue during a meeting with several “very conservative House members,” as there are strong economic incentives to change immigration law. “That is the case to make, about how we want to feed the world. We want to have strong businesses, and to do that, we need a smart immigration system that allows for workers. We cannot equate all the time border policy — which must be secure — with the economic needs of our farmers and ranchers.” To that end, Republican lawmakers speaking on the Jan.11 panel in Anaheim, Calf., said the Trump administration is successfully halting the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S., making a conversation about reform possible.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, border crossings were down 93% during the first year of the Trump administration’s return to office. The border had long been controlled by “the cartels,” but “today, it’s under control of the United States of America, and so that excuse is gone,” said Sen. GT Thompson, R-Penn. Thompson said that he recently heard from a farmer who credited the H-2A foreign guest worker program with saving his operation a decade ago — but now, it’s threatening to put him out of business.
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How AI is enabling agricultural intelligence and revolutionizing farming
January 12, 2026
By Jeff Rowe
With the world's population projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, the global agricultural sector faces a defining challenge that mirrors one of the central themes of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 – building prosperity within planetary boundaries.
For agriculture, this means feeding more people without cultivating more acres. The answer lies not in expanding farmland, but in revolutionizing how we farm the land we already have by fusing decades of agronomic expertise with the transformative power of data and artificial intelligence (AI).
This challenge is compounded by shifting markets and geopolitical uncertainty. Farmers worldwide – from the wheat fields of Australia to the US corn belt, to the smallholder farms of India – are grappling with rising expenses, volatile markets, extreme weather and labour shortages.
Such challenges are forcing more and more farmers to sell up. In the US alone 160,000 farms have disappeared since 2017, an 8% fall. Simply put, farmers must do more with less to stay competitive in the global market.
Yet farming has always been synonymous with resilience and innovation. Both of which are needed, now more than ever. Luckily, they’re also in abundance.
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Upper Snake reservoir system volume improves
January 10, 2025
By Brad Carlson
Increased snowpack and total precipitation in eastern Idaho in the past month helped to boost Upper Snake River reservoir system volume. The seven U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs can hold about 4 million acre-feet combined.
Volume remains below the 30-year median for this time of year but increased recently, said Brian Stevens, water operations supervisory civil engineer with the bureau’s Upper Snake Field Office in Heyburn, Idaho. “We have really good snowpack right now, particularly in the headwaters up in the mountains, and water-year-to-date precipitation is really high,” he said.
The reservoir farthest upstream is Jackson Lake, Wyo. Next downstream is the large Palisades Reservoir in Idaho. Snowpack rises Total precipitation has been above normal and snowpack below normal in much of the state since the water year started Oct. 1, largely due to unusually high temperatures. Upper Snake snowpack increased from 78% of the median Dec. 7 to 131% Jan. 7, Stevens said. Total precipitation increased from 109% to 151%. Soils moisture stays strong Soil moisture increased from 116% of the median Dec. 7 to 125% Jan. 7 at eight inches deep, and from 142% to 149% at 20 inches, he said. Wet soils retain less runoff on its way to streams and reservoirs. “The well-above-normal soil moisture will help improve runoff efficiency,” Stevens said.
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‘Lagerstedt’ hazelnut cultivar relies on new disease-resistant gene
January 10, 2026
By Mateusz Perkowski
Oregon farmers will soon be able to plant hazelnut trees with a new genetic source of Eastern Filbert Blight resistance than they’ve traditionally relied on. Oregon State University recently obtained a plant patent for “Lagerstedt,” a new cultivar that can withstand the fungal pathogen based on a gene inherited from “Ratoli,” a Spanish hazelnut variety. “It’s an option for the growers that we didn’t have,” said Gaurab Bhattarai, OSU’s new hazelnut breeder.
Up until now, more than 20 hazelnut cultivars released by OSU have relied on a gene from another variety, “Gasaway,” but several years ago, it was discovered the disease had mutated to overcome that source of resistance. The new “Lagerstedt” trees will likely hold up better against the mutant form of EFB than existing varieties, as other cultivars with the “Ratoli” gene have proven more resistant to different strains of the disease during studies in New Jersey, where the pathogen is endemic, he said. The new OSU hazelnut variety will be available to growers from two propagators in Oregon: North American Plants near McMinnville, which plans to sell trees for spring planting, and Microplant Nurseries near Gervais, which can grow the trees for farmers on contract.
The cultivar is named after Harry Lagerstedt, a retired OSU horticulture professor and USDA researcher, who died in 2023 at the age of 97. As the “Lagerstedt” cultivar has a common ancestor with “Jefferson,” a popular variety released by OSU in 2009, it shares a similar upright growth structure, meaning it doesn’t require as much pruning as some other trees, Bhattarai said. Like Jefferson, the new variety’s nuts are suitable for both the kernel or in-shell markets, he said. Though the per-acre yield efficiency is slightly lower, its kernels fill a larger percentage of the shell and they’re less prone to problems such as mold, brown stain and black tips.
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Yakima reservoirs look good, but snowpack doesn’t
January 9, 2026
By Dan Jenkins
Irrigation district manager says he’s optimistic Yakima River basin reservoirs have risen dramatically because of rain, but irrigators need more snow in the mountains to avoid another water-short season.
The Bureau of Reclamation’s five reservoirs held more than 680,000 acre-feet of water on Jan. 9. On average, the reservoirs hold about 500,000 acre feet of water on the date. Last year, they held a pitiful 176,000 acre feet.
The reservoirs, with a total capacity of 1 million acre-feet, are likely to fill, according to the bureau. Last year, the reservoirs peaked at less than three-quarters full. The water in the reservoirs, however, will go quickly without melting snow. For example, on Jan. 1, 2015, the reservoirs held more than 700,000 acre-feet, even more water than this year. The region, however, suffered a “snowpack drought,” and there was a severe summer water shortage. The snowpack is better than in 2015, but still lagging. The snowpack was 65% of average in the Naches basin and 54% of normal in the Upper Yakima basin on Jan. 7.
Let it snow, let it snow Roza Irrigation District manager Scott Revell said that at this point he’s more elated by the high reservoirs than concerned about the low snowpacks. “Two storms can change it pretty dramatically,” he said. “I have a sense of optimism I have not had in three years,” Revell said. “At least it’s not going to be worse than last year.”
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Requirements enforced for employer-provided housing, some farmers concerned
January 9, 2026
By Maximus Osburn
New requirements for employers in Oregon providing housing for farmworkers are in effect this year. Some farm worker advocacy groups said they’re glad to see these changes go into effect, while some employers are concerned about the costs, they’ll be faced with to comply. “Workers have a right to safe and healthy working conditions and employers are obligated to provide those conditions,” Oregon OSHA representative Aaron Corvin said.
Multiple amendments to Oregon OSHA’s agricultural labor housing and related facilities rules began January 1st. This includes one laundry machine for every 30 workers, mattresses a minimum of four inches thick, storage space requirements, water testings and more.
“Having a good rest and having a good bed allows them to relax, ready to be willing to work better the next day,” said Dagoberto Morales. He’s the director of farm worker advocacy group, Unete and added these are essential and increases quality of life for the workers, “We see it’s very, very rare when the employer actually does something for their workers if they don’t get enforced by the state or by the new law.”
These amendments were adopted last year, but Oregon OSHA said they were intended to give employers time to prepare. Austin McClister with the Oregon Farm Bureau said, “We had standards that farmers and producers had to follow beforehand now these rules up the ante quite a bit because now they exceed federal standards.”
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Appeals court ruling on Wallowa Lake Dam is moot
January 9, 2026
By Bill Bradshaw
An Oregon Court of Appeals from December 2025 turns out to be moot after the Wallowa Lake Irrigation District, which owns the dam, agreed to pursue a fish ladder rather than the trap-and-haul plan to move fish around the century-old dam which is slated for refurbishing.
The cost to refurbish the Wallowa Lake Dam keeps rising, but stakeholders are resolving differences on elements of the works. In early December, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in favor of two Indian tribes and other stakeholders who opposed a trap-and-haul type of fish passage. The court overturned a December 2022 rule the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife approved to allow dam operators to trap fish and haul them around dams.
The Nez Perce Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, along with seven nonprofit organizations, sued to overturn ODFW’s rule. The court’s decision reinstated Oregon’s long-standing requirement that artificial barriers to fish migration, such as dams, must include ways to allow fish to swim freely past.
The trap-and-haul provision was an alternative to adding a fish ladder to the Wallowa Lake Dam, which a Boise engineering firm decided was not practical and was too expensive. The three major stakeholders in the dam, which the Wallowa Lake Irrigation District owns, are the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Nez Perce Tribe’s Department of Fisheries Resources Management and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Minor stakeholders also are involved, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has jurisdiction over bull trout; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and others.
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Klamath and Lake County FFA officials advocate for organization as potential cuts loom
January 9, 2026
By Zak Keeney
Oregon’s FFA program could lose most of its state funding under proposed budget cuts, raising concerns among agricultural educators and students in Klamath and Lake counties.
Facing a projected $63 million shortfall in the biennial budget cycle ending in June 2027, Gov. Tina Kotek has asked state agencies to identify potential reductions of 2.5% and 5% to their current budgets. In response, the Oregon Department of Education, which administers funding for Oregon FFA, proposed cutting about $1.1 million — roughly 70% of the organization’s operating budget. Lawmakers are expected to review the proposal during the legislative session beginning next month.
State funding currently supports a range of agricultural education efforts, including grant-in-aid funding for the Oregon FFA Association, summer agricultural education grants, Career and Technical Education secondary pathway grants, and financial assistance to offset student dues and provide scholarships.
In Klamath County, FFA chapters operate at all six county high schools. Henley FFA, one of the county’s largest chapters, sees hundreds of students participate in fairs, community outreach and competitive events. Lost River FFA is known for innovative student projects, including producing jams and jellies from local crops, and for strong performances in district contests. Bonanza FFA regularly sends students to state conventions and supports members pursuing state and national FFA degrees.
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