Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 24, 2018
A5
Rickreall woman places at farm meet
Unemployment rate
unchanged
By Jolene Guzman
Itemizer-Observer staff report
The Itemizer-Observer
RICKREALL — In 2009,
Jenny Freeborn watched as
the final four competitors in
the National Youth Farmers
& Ranchers Discussion Meet
worked together to propose
solutions to challenges facing
farmers.
Watching from the audi-
ence, she made it her goal to
be on that stage someday.
The discussion meet is
held at the American Farm
Bureau Federation convention
each year, and in 2018, Free-
born achieved her goal. Not
only did she make the final
round, but placed second in
the competition, which took
place during the convention
in Nashville Jan. 5 through 10.
Freeborn is the chairwom-
an of the Oregon Farm Bureau
Young Farmers & Ranchers
Committee, a group within
OFB representing members
between the ages of 16 and 35.
In joining OFB leadership,
she’s following in family tra-
dition.
Her father, Dean Freeborn,
is an OFB board member,
and her sister, Kathy Hadley,
served as YF&R chairwoman
in the past.
Two years ago, Hadley
made it to the Sweet 16 round
of the competition. That’s
where Freeborn believed
her run representing Oregon
would end.
Hearing her name an-
nounced as a final four com-
petitor, Freeborn said she was
shocked.
“It’s just about every emo-
tion you can possibly feel all
at once. It really is. It’s really
exciting and very rewarding,”
she said. “You get a lot of sup-
port, not just from your own
state, but all the other farm
bureaus. That’s really cool how
Farm Bureau really is a family.”
She had actual family on
her side, too.
Freeborn said her sister
texted her early in the morning
before the final round. She was
up, unable to sleep. Hadley
stayed up the rest of the night
with her, keeping her focused
Jolene Guzman/ Itemizer -Observer
Jenny Freeborn with her dog Wrangler. She will receive a new tractor for placing second in the discussion meet.
and relaxed before the com-
petition.
Discussion meets are not
debates. Competitors are
not trying to out-do each
other’s answers, but build on
each other’s thoughts to find
the best solution. Freeborn
said the competition model
mimics the deliberations that
would happen at a board
meeting.
“You gather information
and you have thoughts and
ideas to share, and then the
four people that discuss work
together collaboratively to
come up with solutions or
ideas,” Freeborn said. “That’s
one of the things I think I like
the most about it. It’s not de-
signed to be contentious.”
While she spent weeks
preparing, Freeborn said the
discussion meet taught her
a lot about topics and chal-
lenges facing farmers — and
she believes some good ideas
came out of the deliberations.
“There’s always something
that comes up a discussion
meet that you hope someone
in the audience is writing
down,” she said.
Freeborn said she’s the
“off-farm kid” in her family,
meaning she isn’t helping
run the farm her family has
worked for three generations,
but she’s still connected to
farming through her job.
She specializes in farm,
ranch and equine insurance
at Pacific Risk Management
in Salem.
“I absolutely love that
job because I can use all of
my background that I grew
up with, all of my skills and
knowledge and ability to
help farmers with something
that’s not real fun,” she said.
“Nobody wants to deal with
insurance.”
Freeborn will remain active
in Farm Bureau through her
role with the YF&R Commit-
tee, a post she was elected to
in December.
“I hope that our organiza-
tion continues to grow and
bring new people in, especial-
ly on the young farmer side,”
she said.
SALEM — Oregon’s unem-
ployment rate was essentially
unchanged at 4.1 percent in
December from 4.2 percent in
November. Oregon’s unem-
ployment rate was the same as
the U.S. unemployment rate,
which was also 4.1 percent in
December. The state’s annual
average unemployment rate
for 2017 was 4.0 percent, which
was Oregon’s lowest annual
average unemployment rate
since comparable records
began in 1976.
In December, Oregon’s
nonfarm payroll employment
grew by 14,700 jobs, following
a revised loss of 300 jobs in
November.
Monthly gains were concen-
trated in two industries that
bounced back from weaker
hiring patterns in the summer,
as leisure and hospitality added
4,400 jobs in December and
professional and business ser-
vices added 3,000. Three other
industries added at least 1,000
jobs in December: manufactur-
ing (+2,400 jobs), construction
(+1,600), and health care and
social assistance (+1,000). No
major industry cut jobs sub-
stantially in December.
Since December 2016, total
nonfarm payroll employment
grew by 48,400 jobs, or 2.6
percent. This is near the rate of
growth experienced through-
out 2016 and well into mid-
2017. While the jobs reports in
late 2017, which covered the
August through November
data, were indicating a slow-
down in Oregon’s economic
expansion, the strong jobs
reading in December reflects a
return to robust growth.
Over the most recent 12
months, gains were most rapid
in construction, which added
8,800 jobs, or 9.4 percent. Next
in line was leisure and hospital-
ity (+8,900 jobs, or 4.4 percent),
followed by private educational
services (+1,400 jobs, or 4
percent). Several major indus-
tries expanded by close to 3
percent: health care and social
assistance (+7,200 jobs, or 3.1
percent), financial activities
(+2,900 jobs, or 3 percent),
and professional and business
services (+6,600 jobs, or 2.8
percent). Meanwhile, two in-
dustries changed employment
by less than 1 percent: govern-
ment (+2,300 jobs, or 0.7 per-
cent) and wholesale trade (-200
jobs, or -0.3 percent).