COFFEE BREAK
B8 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THuRSDAY, DECEmBER 23, 2021
Friend’s death cloaked in secrecy and silence
DEAR ABBY: A dear friend
of mine, “Dirk,” died by suicide a
couple of years ago. We were very
close when we were young but
saw each other only occasionally
as adults. However, on the occa-
sions we did get together, it always
felt like we picked up where we
left off.
I found out about my friend’s
death from a family member after
I discovered his phone number
was no longer working and his
Facebook and Messenger accounts
DIRT
Continued from Page B1
land attractive.
Then the recession hit.
As stock prices plum-
meted and financial insti-
tutions teetered toward
collapse, Fairbairn said,
“farmland, along with
other ‘real assets,’ took on
a new luster in the eyes of
investors.”
The financial sector’s
appetite for farmland took
off and hasn’t slowed since.
Land use experts say other
factors, including concerns
about climate change and
dwindling water supplies,
have intensified the land
rush.
Tracking buyers
Uncovering who’s
investing isn’t easy. That’s
because, according to
Andrew Gunnoe, a pro-
fessor of rural sociology at
Maryville College, in the
U.S., “no comprehensive
database of landownership
exists at the federal level.”
USDA tracks purchases
by foreign investors but not
domestic buyers.
States, too, rarely track
farmland ownership, so tax
parcel data are scattered
across counties.
Jim Johnson, land use
and water planning coordi-
nator at the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture, said
capturing a true picture of
investment would demand
data from every county
in the West. Experts say
no one has undertaken
that mammoth project
in its entirety, but indi-
vidual organizations and
researchers have compiled
pieces.
Megan Horst, a Portland
State University professor
who studies food systems,
is a leader in this field.
Stringing together data
had been deleted. He had died a
few months earlier. Dirk’s family
asked me not to tell anyone that
the death was a suicide. They
didn’t want his memory to be
about that final decision. Because
there was no obituary in the news-
paper (they didn’t want one), it
feels as though my friend has been
erased with no trace.
I’m still having a hard time
with his death. I feel like I should
put an in-memoriam obituary in
the paper. I also feel a need to
talk about it with others (both
for myself and as a warning to
others). My mother thinks I should
abide by the wishes of the family.
What do you think? — MISSING
MY FRIEND IN OHIO
from Oregon’s 36 counties,
she recently analyzed farm-
land sales from 2010 to
2015 in an effort to uncover
investment patterns.
“I think it’s important
for people to know who
owns our land,” she said.
Building on Horst’s
work, the Capital Press
requested data from county
assessors’ offices on farm-
land sales from 2015
through 2021, focusing on
three major regions: the
Columbia Gorge, Central
Oregon and the Willamette
Valley.
Big picture
The datasets reveal that
while the majority of farm-
land sales are still associ-
ated with family farming,
more properties are being
sold to investors and
corporations.
Between 2010 and 2015,
there were, on average,
1,656 sales of Oregon farm-
land each year.
Seventy-nine percent
of these properties were
sold to individuals or sim-
ilar entities, accounting for
54% of the acreage.
In contrast, 12% of
farms were bought by
corporations, but they
accounted for more than
40% of the acreage pur-
chased. In other words,
corporations bought larger
properties.
Of the 1,853 corporate
buyers, less than half had
clear connections to agri-
culture and instead were
involved with real estate
and property development,
investing, manufacturing,
renewable energy and other
industries.
Only 10% of the farms
were purchased by out-
of-state buyers, but they
bought 26% of the total
acreage.
Who is buying farm-
land is only half the story
DEAR MISSING: When
someone takes their own life,
there are usually a range of emo-
tions experienced by the survi-
vors. These can include shame,
guilt and anger. Fortunately, there
are mental health programs that
can help with these if the family
is aware they are available. A call
to the National Suicide Preven-
tion Lifeline (800-273-8255) could
guide them if they reach out. I sin-
cerely hope you will listen to your
mother and respect the wishes
of the deceased’s family, even
though you do not agree. If you
do what you are contemplating, it
could cause the family even more
pain.
DEAR ABBY: Our 26-year-old
— some would say the less
important half.
“Who owns the property
is not really relevant,” said
Greg Holmes, food sys-
tems program director and
Southern Oregon advocate
at 1,000 Friends of Oregon,
a land use watchdog non-
profit. “What’s relevant is:
What are they going to do
with it?”
Columbia Gorge
From 2010 to 2015, the
Columbia Gorge region
had the highest percentage
of properties purchased
by out-of-state buyers, at
14%, and one-quarter of all
buyers were corporations.
The region has con-
tinued to be a popular
investment location. From
January 2015 to November
2021, in Hood River
County, 413 farm prop-
erties representing 9,760
acres were sold.
The database, cross-ref-
erenced with business fil-
ings, reveals that top areas
of investment were in
tourism, real estate and
high-value perennial crops.
“The biggest threat to
farming in the Hood River
area is mostly tourism-re-
lated,” said Mike McCarthy,
whose family grows pears
in the area.
McCarthy is a board
member of Thrive Hood
River, a land use organiza-
tion. He became interested
in protecting farmland
after, in the 1970s, a resort
developer offered to convert
his parents’ land into a golf
course.
According to an agri-
cultural lender who spoke
on condition of anonymity,
there’s also “huge insti-
tutional interest” in land
near the Columbia River
because of the valuable
water rights.
In some pockets along
the Gorge, growers have
married son currently lives with
us. His wife of three years (close
in age) was raised in a different
culture and has recently started
living with her parents in a city
four hours away. My son has a
stable, well-paying job and cannot
relocate. They talk on the phone
many times a day and night, and
both say their marriage is “fine.”
She doesn’t work and doesn’t
finish anything she starts.
She contributes to her fami-
ly’s household by using the car
and money our son provides.
She says she became depressed
when she lived in our town but
is happy with her parents and
really doesn’t see moving out.
We feel she is immature, con-
banded together to hold out
against corporate invest-
ment pressure, leasing
properties to one another or
forming partnerships.
New business growth
is soaring in Oregon
And federal pandemic
aid, in the form of busi-
ness grants and personal
SALEM — New busi- stimulus payments, may
ness formation climbed
have provided capital for
sharply in Oregon as
people to set out on their
the pandemic recession
own.
eased, with entrepreneurs
Other metrics tell sim-
ilar stories.
leaping in to start new
The share of self-em-
companies this year at an
ployed Oregonians fell
unprecedented rate.
sharply in March and
Oregonians started
April but rebounded
an average of 4,100 busi-
nesses each month over
almost immediately to
the past year, an increase
pre-pandemic levels,
of more than 25% from
according to data from
the same period in the
the Oregon Employment
12 months before
Department. A sim-
ilar picture played
the pandemic,
out nationally.
according to U.S.
And venture
Census Bureau
capital, the money
data. That’s the
entrepreneurs use
fastest pace in the
to pursue especially
17 years for which
Oborne
ambitious ideas, is
the government has
soaring to its highest level
Oregon numbers.
since the dot-com era.
It might seem sur-
prising that people
Oregon startups raised
just over $1 billion in
choose to take a big risk
the first nine months of
— starting a new busi-
ness — during a time of
the year, nearly double
upheaval. Some Oregon
the amount they raised
businesses, especially
during the same period
bars and restaurants that
in 2020, according to the
endured intermittent shut- quarterly report from the
downs during the pan-
National Venture Cap-
demic’s first year, have
ital Association and
now closed permanently.
PitchBook. Oregon had
But entrepreneurs
132 startups funded, up
recognize recessions as
25% from the same nine
opportunities, too, when
months in 2020.
old business models are
New businesses rarely
under stress and new ones have it easy, of course.
emerge.
And the pandemic con-
tinues to present enor-
“Entrepreneurs have
mous challenges, from
always thrived in the
the omicron variant to
unknown,” said Amanda
supply-chain snarls and
Oborne, president of the
historic inflation.
Oregon Entrepreneurs
“It’s a challenging
Network. “These massive
time to start a company
disruptions are just an
incredible time to rethink, because the future is less
certain, I think, than it
reinvest, to start some-
thing, to look at some-
ever has been,” Osborne
thing with fresh eyes.”
said.
By MIKE ROGOWAY
Central Oregon
From 2015 to 2021, the
number of farmland trans-
fers in Deschutes County
was 568, representing
35,196 acres.
In Central Oregon as
a whole, one-quarter of
investors from 2010 to
2015 were corporations
that bought a whopping
59% of the total acreage
sold.
Horst, of PSU, said the
big trend in Central Oregon
has been conversion of
farmland into develop-
ments, in part because
the city of Bend is a fast-
growing population center.
“Things are changing
rapidly in Central Oregon,”
said Horst.
Experts say the popula-
tion upswing has put pres-
sure on land and water
supplies.
“We’re seeing inch-by-
inch erosion of farmland,”
said Nellie McAdams,
executive director of the
Oregon Agricultural Trust.
Deschutes County data
from 2015 to 2021 show
a few major themes. Top
buyers included real estate
and land development com-
panies, investment firms
and companies, including
water utilities, buying land
for the water rights.
Farther east, in Grant
County, investments have
taken on a different flavor.
Here, said Shaun Rob-
ertson, president of Grant
County Farm Bureau, two
big themes have emerged:
wealthy individuals or
families moving to the
country for its amenities,
and people or companies
buying land for hunting
purposes.
trolling and taking advantage
of our son. We have told him as
much. He understands he has a
situation but seems too weak to
change it. What more can we do?
— FLUSTERED PARENTS IN
TEXAS
DEAR PARENTS: Your son
knows your opinion. You can —
and should — do nothing more
than you already have. Because
he and his wife say they are
happy with the situation, keep
your mouths shut and refrain
from stirring the pot. At some
point, one of them will want to
make changes, which may mean
your son will have to relocate.
But this is his problem, and one
he must resolve on his own.
The Oregonian