I read with interest the comments made in the Guest View by Mike McCarthy; California is right up there with Oregon as an extremely costly state for farming.
My fellow Idahoans, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as your governor I have worked hard to protect lives and critical health care capacity for the entire state while keeping families safe an…
Fulfilling a campaign promise, Joe Biden wants to boost the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The Yamhill County Commission has again been sent back to the drawing board over its ill-conceived plan to convert about three miles of an abandoned rail line into a recreational trail.
Last week Oregon Gov. Kate Brown decided to push teachers and school staff to the front of the COVID vaccine line, shoving farmworkers, food processors and others in the food supply chain fart…
With the United States bringing in a new administration, one of a different political party, some changes in trade policy and strategy could be expected. As the Biden administration takes shap…
What if there was a simple and powerful solution to climate change that would benefit the economy, avoid government growth, and preserve personal freedom? What if that solution would also gran…
I feel compelled to communicate with Gov. Kate Brown about the present situation in Oregon and a major decision she has recently made.
COVID-19 has brought difficult challenges for food producers. It has also brought a heightened realization by the public of how essential food production is and how important farmers and farmw…
With the concerns we all have about bringing COVID-19 under control, it is not surprising that outbreaks on several U.S. mink farms have become news, a story fanned by those who already oppose…
We have become all too occupied with the divisions, arranging ourselves neatly in one camp or another. We have listened only to those things that bolstered our world view. We allowed agitators…
Where are the farmers in the Biden transition?
Every new iteration of the USDA Dietary Guidelines spawns the same debate over sugar, alcohol and other foods that, when ingested in excess, can be bad for you.
A change in presidential administrations leaves hundreds of environmental lawsuits filed against the Trump administration in flux.
In its decision to phase out the pesticide chlorpyrifos, the folks at the Oregon Department of Agriculture appear to have forgotten someone: the farmers.
Last week Oregon Gov. Kate Brown extended her COVID emergency order through March. She joins other governors in the region, Democrats and Republicans, in extending one-person rule.
In the Civil War novel “Cold Mountain,” one of the characters, Ruby Thewes, talks about politicians and how they started the crisis.
As we head into the Christmas holiday season and the watch 2020 come to a close, I must admit that I’m feeling a bit of sadness — and a little bit of joy — contemplating the departure of two v…
Will Rogers said, “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” This virus scare has put us in a hole. The mainstream media have done an excellent job of inciting fear. Of course, their succ…
In appointing Tom Vilsack to resume his post as Secretary of Agriculture, President-elect Joe Biden has taken a significant step in putting farmers and ranchers at ease that a dependable hand …
During the past nine months, 110,000 of U.S. farmers’ best customers have been shut down as COVID-19 continues its march through the countryside.
Last week, the Oregon Department of Agriculture released its final rule on chlorpyrifos, phasing out most uses by December 2023.
As a new year begins, we want to share the good news that U.S. wheat exports to Asian markets are increasing, and the outlook for those markets remains positive, notwithstanding the unique tra…
A recent opinion editorial in the Capital Press invites readers “to come with us on a virtual road trip.” The road trip purports to illustrate that the tragic fires that damaged towns througho…
Farmers, ranchers and foresters know very well the value of soil carbon for the health and water holding capacity of their soil. But economic barriers limit adoption of practices that build so…
The pandemic has presented great challenges for everyone across our state, country, and the world.
As 2020 comes to a thankful close, so does my 22 years of public service in this incredible crucible of democracy: the U.S. House.
When President-elect Joe Biden takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, he will usher in a new administration with decidedly different objectives than those of his predecessor. The newly appointed…
It is starting to look a lot like Chi-com Christmas. Did you know that Wal-mart, Cabellas-Bass Pro and Costco stores' inventories are around 40% Chinese imports? For you distance learners, tha…
Come with us on a virtual road trip. We’ll start in the Cascade Range near the Willamette Valley of Oregon and head south on Interstate 5. We’ll stop in towns with names like Detroit, Gates, B…
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly has ruled that USDA’s records about farmers and the size and location of their operations are “exempt from disclosure” under the Freedom of Information Act.
On Dec. 2, the Environmental Protection Agency celebrated its 50th anniversary. Created by President Nixon in 1970, EPA consolidated the environmental responsibilities of the federal governmen…
Last month a coalition of agricultural and environmental groups announced an historic alliance to recommend proposals to the Biden administration to address climate change.
In California, farmers have property rights — except three times a day. That’s when total strangers can come onto a farm and solicit its employees to join a union. And they can do it for three…
In 1980, my 10th season on a tree planting crew in Oregon, a buddy and I were camped on the Elk River at a USFS campground, while our crew was working on units in the Sixes River drainage.
To watch the nightly news showing long lines of drivers accepting food handouts because their families are hungry is depressing. To know the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is spending $50 mil…
Despite a seemingly endless era of upheaval — a surging pandemic, contentious election cycle and racial strife — we still have the responsibility to address pressing issues that cannot wait fo…
Oregonians are a little more than halfway through Gov. Kate Brown’s two-week “freeze,” but there has been much more public resistance to this latest effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 than …
Thanksgiving is one of the most patriotic holidays we celebrate as Americans.
Each Thanksgiving my family reads the First Thanksgiving Proclamation. It is a reminder of the greatness of the blessings of living in America.
Thanksgiving is all about making time to reflect on the many things in life for which we are grateful. In conversations around the dinner table, Oregon Farm Bureau urges readers to remember th…
Recounts and legal challenges notwithstanding, it appears Joe Biden will be president on Jan. 20.
Scientists know a lot about West Coast chinook salmon and the rivers where they spawn before their progeny head downstream to the open ocean.
As I watch the snow falling outside my basement window — COVID-19 has driven me from my university office to my basement — I find myself not only reflecting back on the 2020 crop season but ba…
You need three things for a fire: oxygen, a spark and fuel.
Up and down the Columbia and Snake rivers, salmon-dependent businesses are hurting. Tribes are suffering as many of the salmon runs they depend on for sustenance and culture are on the brink o…
America became the greatest nation in the world because we were free to dream, free to act and free to mold our own destiny.
This is in response to the article on Impossible Foods. If these fake, highly processed, chemically laden concocted substances are what they want to call food, then count the majority of Ameri…
Come January, American farmers will have at least one less ally in Washington.
Pollsters have taken it on the chin for again woefully misreading the presidential electorate. We are inclined to put more faith in a Gallup survey that has ranked farming and agriculture as t…
The Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that agricultural workers must be paid overtime for working more than 40 hours a week.
COVID-19 infections and deaths are surging. Vaccines are hopeful but months or more away from successful impact. If you are genuinely interested in balancing health and economy, I suggest the …
Some weeks ago, the Capital Press gave space to two “environmentalists,” with credentials, who wished to work with farmers east of the mountains.
Many veterans return home feeling lost, without purpose.
