Friday, March 18, 2022
CapitalPress.com 11
Leaving: ‘The biggest reason we left was regulation’
Continued from Page 1
Farm migration
According to U.S. Census
Bureau data, between sum-
mers 2020 to 2021, 4.3 mil-
lion U.S. residents moved
from one state to another.
California and Washington
lost residents to net out-mi-
gration, while the South and
Intermountain West grew in
population.
This general population
data, however, doesn’t reveal
how many farmers moved.
Experts at nearly two
dozen Western organizations
— state departments of com-
merce, revenue, business and
agriculture, along with non-
profits and associations —
said they are not aware of
any organization that tracks
businesses relocating to other
states.
“It’s challenging because
businesses are not required
to notify the state if they
close or move out of state,”
said Penny Thomas, spokes-
woman for the Washing-
ton State Department of
Commerce.
Lynn Hamilton, profes-
sor of agribusiness at Cali-
fornia Polytechnic Universi-
ty-San Luis Obispo, said that
rather than moving, farm-
ers more commonly respond
to pressures by consolidat-
ing, retiring early or phas-
ing out labor-intensive crops
in favor of machine-harvest-
able crops with higher profit
margins.
Some operations, includ-
ing vineyards, are especially
hard to move, said Tawny
Tesconi, executive director
of the Sonoma County Farm
Bureau.
“As farmers, we can’t
pick up the ground and move
it,” said Shannon Doug-
lass, a Glenn County farmer
and first vice president of
the California Farm Bureau
Federation.
Dairy and livestock pro-
ducers have moved in larger
numbers.
According to USDA,
between 2020 to 2021, Cal-
ifornia and Washington lost
dairy cows while other states,
including South Dakota and
Texas, gained.
Ben Laine, vice pres-
ident of dairy analysis at
RaboResearch, said this can
be attributed to increasing
efficiency, farmers moving
away from high-cost states
and rising consumer demand
for processed dairy prod-
ucts including cheese; many
cheese plants are in or near
the Midwest.
“It’s not the case that
everybody’s bailing out of
the West Coast,” said Laine.
“Some are moving, but I
don’t want to sound the
alarm. California is and will
continue to be the main dairy
state.”
Although most farmers
aren’t leaving, people with a
bird’s eye view — experts at
land-grant universities, farm
groups and commodity com-
missions — said they have
noticed an uptick in farmers
moving during the past few
years.
“People have talked about
moving for years and years,
but now people are actually
doing it,” said Ryan Jacob-
sen, manager of the Fresno
County Farm Bureau. “Sta-
tistically, it’s still probably
a blip on the radar. But it’s
crazy that it’s actually hap-
pening. Some people are
Courtesy of Midge Smith
Wayne Smith, right, and his kids. Left to right are Royce, Lydia and Tyrell.
Courtesy of Stephanie Nash
Stephanie Nash, a dairy farmer whose family left California for Tennessee.
their children’s education in
Oregon’s school system.
The icing on the cake
was Oregon’s energy and
emissions regulations. Roth
said that running a 1,800-
acre organic crop operation
demanded large amounts of
diesel fuel.
And one year, from 2019
to 2020, the Roths said
their farm’s electricity costs
increased by $60,000.
They decided to move,
leaving their cows and set-
ting out to build a new herd.
Leaving felt strange, Roth
said. He and several relatives
attended Oregon State Uni-
versity, and he had thought
his kids would do the same.
Shay Myers
Tawny
Tesconi
Lynn
Hamilton
pulling up stakes and moving
out of here.”
Here are some of their
stories.
Nash Family Farms
California to Tennessee
Most farmers who talked
to the Capital Press moved
between 2020 and 2022,
with a notable exception:
Stephanie Nash, whose fam-
ily moved ahead of the latest
wave.
Nash, 28, is a fourth-gen-
eration farmer whose family
has been in dairy for more
than 100 years.
In 2014, the Nash family
moved from Selma, Calif., to
Chapel Hill, Tenn.
“The biggest reason we
left was regulation,” said
Nash.
Steve Nash, Stephanie’s
dad, had worked for years to
build up high-quality genet-
ics, so he brought his cows
to the new location. It took
about 30 semi-truck loads to
move the family’s 900 cows.
“It was a heck of a jour-
ney,” said Stephanie Nash.
Leaving was sad, Steph-
anie said, but she said she’s
glad the family moved
because Tennessee has been
more “business-friendly.”
David Lemstra
California
to
South
Dakota
David Lemstra, a dairy
farmer, said that about a
decade ago, he realized
farming in California would
become increasingly difficult
due to rising labor costs and
limited water.
Lemstra, 50, said the
“straw that broke the camel’s
back” was the Sustainable
Groundwater Management
Act, legislation passed in
2014 that regulates ground-
water management.
Lemstra said he believes
Courtesy of Brendan Duyck
From left: Gail Sheelar, Pete Betancourt, Rick Sheelar
and Brendan Duyck.
water shortages are not just
the natural consequence of
drought but are also the result
of decisions made by govern-
ment officials.
“I think California’s water
problem is a management
issue,” said Lemstra.
In 2020, Lemstra’s fam-
ily sold its farm and herd
and moved to South Dakota,
a state with what Lems-
tra describes as “a more
ag-friendly environment.”
Today, his family sells
milk from its 4,000 cows to
a newly expanded cheese
plant.
Is he glad he moved?
“Overjoyed,” he said. “We
loved that place, enjoyed it
very much, but California
didn’t seem to love us back.”
to take the risk and make the
move.”
It took 21 semi-trucks to
haul their 360 best cattle to
Nebraska.
Moving also took an emo-
tional toll as the family left
relatives, friends and land
behind.
“Our whole family, we
miss the mountains,” said
Smith. “We don’t have any
mountains here. We can go
to the highest point of our
ranch, and as far as you can
see, it’s just rolling grass
hills.”
But Smith said he believes
his family made a good
decision.
“There’s not as much of
a daily wrestling match,” he
said.
Smith family
The Roths
Oregon to Nebraska
In early 2020, cattle ranch-
ers Wayne and Midge Smith
moved with their three kids
from Oregon to Nebraska.
The Smiths had proper-
ties in Riley, near Burns, and
Seneca, south of John Day.
The couple’s decision
to move was multifaceted,
blending concerns over reg-
ulations, dwindling ground-
water supplies and a desire
to give their kids a better
chance to farm for a living.
“In Oregon, it was an
uphill battle to stay in busi-
ness,” said Wayne Smith, 52.
“To do the best thing for our
business and for our kids to
have a chance and a future
in agriculture, we decided
Oregon to Oklahoma
In December 2021, the
Roths — wife, husband
and five children, who ran a
cow-calf operation and grew
organic crops in Hampton,
Eastern Oregon — moved to
Oklahoma.
What prompted the move?
“On the one hand, I’d say
political uncertainty. And
on the other, I’d say politi-
cal certainty,” said Stephen
Roth, 47.
He explained that although
policies were unpredictable,
what was predictable was the
political climate toward agri-
culture that, in his view, was
mostly negative.
Roth said he and his wife
were also concerned about
Oregon to Idaho
For some farmers, “mov-
ing” has just meant expand-
ing across state lines.
One example is Shay
Myers, a grower in Malheur
County, Ore., and CEO of
Owyhee Produce.
“Obviously, our farmland
can’t be moved. So, we’ve
moved our packing opera-
tions,” said Myers.
In the early 2000s, his
business moved its aspar-
agus-packing operation to
Idaho, and in 2018, its onion
packing operations. Next
year, Myers plans to move
the whole-peeled onion
operation.
The No. 1 factor in these
moves, Myers said, was the
cost of labor. The minimum
wage is lower in Idaho than
in Oregon. Myers said that
while some industries, like
tech, can pass on or absorb
costs, that’s not an option
for most farmers, who are
“price-takers.”
Brendan Duyck
Oregon to Montana
At age 8, Brendan Duyck
started helping his grandpa
farm at the edge of For-
est Grove, Ore., west of
Portland.
“My mom thought I had
too much energy, so she sent
me to the farm,” said Duyck.
He laughed.
When his grandpa retired,
Duyck’s uncle took over and
Duyck helped run the 950-
acre farm, which had a dairy
and crop acreage.
In January of 2022,
after 25 years of farming,
Duyck moved his family to
Montana.
Duyck said his main rea-
son for leaving was Oregon’s
estate, or “death,” tax, but he
said regulations, labor costs
and concerns about COVID
lockdowns all influenced the
decision.
“I’ve been fed up with
regulation and taxes for a
long time. But COVID was
the last straw,” he said.
Duyck got a temporary
job at Discovery Ski Area in
southwestern Montana, but
in the long term, he envisions
working in agriculture.
In Montana, Duyck said,
the community appreciates
agriculture. Duyck said he
feels like Oregonians “want
all their food grown some-
where else, out of sight, out
of mind.”
But Duyck left his heart in
Oregon.
His uncle, 65, contin-
ues to run the farm. He’s
had three back surgeries, so
running equipment for long
periods of time can be hard
on him. Duyck plans to visit
this year to help with harvest,
but there isn’t a younger gen-
eration to take over the farm
now.
“Oh dang, this is so hard,”
Duyck said, his voice break-
ing as he fought back tears.
“So hard to talk about it. It’s
hard. It was my life. I was
pretty sure I was gonna die
there.”
Rich Callahan
Washington to Nevada
Some farmers have left
behind farm life for good.
In 2020, Richard “Rich”
Callahan, a Washington state
grower, sold his 450 acres
of apples and cherries to a
pension fund and moved to
Nevada, retiring at 54, earlier
than he had planned.
“It was the best thing
I ever did,” he said. “I
don’t regret moving out of
Washington.”
Callahan
said
that
although he loved farming,
he concluded “the risk was
not worth the reward any-
more” amid new regulations,
climbing labor costs and
other challenges.
Callahan said what frus-
trated him most was what he
perceived as a negative atti-
tude toward farmers from
labor groups, state agencies
and the public.
“It didn’t matter what you
did, you were always wrong,
you were a bad person,”
he said. “You could never
get done looking over your
shoulder, and I couldn’t take
it anymore.”
Those who stay
While some farmers
leave, most remain.
“Most people aren’t leav-
ing. Most are staying,” said
Douglass, the farmer in
Glenn County, Calif. “I’m
glad I’m here. We do have
these roots and this love for
the place. And we want to
stay.”
Mary Anne Cooper, vice
president for government
affairs at the Oregon Farm
Bureau, said farmers are
pivoting, consolidating and
planting different crops to
stay in Oregon.
“It’s in your blood,” she
said. “It’s everything that
you’ve worked your life for.”
Into the unknown
For Shane and Crystal
Otley of Harney County,
the future is a blank slate.
If their deal closes April
15, they plan to move their
approximately 170 head of
cattle to a state where they
can expand and where their
daughters, Jacee and Sierra,
can “take up the reins” if
they want.
“They’re young. They
can still change. But we
want to leave that door open
to them,” Shane Otley said
of his daughters. “Where
we’re going, I hope will be
better for all of us.”
Water: Research and modeling will help basin come up with innovative solutions
Continued from Page 1
date back to the 2009 SECURE
Water Act, which directed the
USGS to establish a national water
availability assessment.
The agency uses “regionally
focused innovative data collection,
research and modeling” to provide
real-time data on water quality,
quantity and usage. From there,
scientists can develop an Inte-
grated Water Availability Assess-
ment predicting the amount of
surface water and groundwater
available to balance each basin’s
needs.
Don Cline, USGS associate
director for water, said water mon-
itoring, research and modeling will
help the Willamette Basin come up
with innovative solutions to issues
that are common across many
Northwest river systems.
“For example, we expect it to
bolster our scientific understand-
ing of seasonal variation in precip-
itation, groundwater-surface water
interactions, snowpack influence
on summer low flows, watershed
response to severe fire and harmful
algal bloom prediction,” Cline said.
The USGS says it will begin
meeting with partners in the basin
later this spring.
Weather: ‘You can’t really rule anything out, but I think the odds are pretty slim’
Continued from Page 1
In the short term, the
National Weather Service
predicted Friday that Wash-
ington, Oregon and Idaho
will be cooler and wetter than
average over the next two
weeks. Northern California’s
weather will be near normal,
the service predicted.
As expected during a La
Nina, Washington’s snow-
pack was strong early in the
winter and was 107% of nor-
mal on Jan. 1. It declined to
95% of normal by March
1, according to the Natu-
ral Resources Conservation
Service.
The snowpack typically
peaks in April. It’s been fall-
ing behind average all month.
NRCS water supply spe-
cialist Scott Pattee said Fri-
day that he’s not optimistic
the snowpack will recover
and get back to average.
“You can’t really rule any-
thing out, but I think the odds
are pretty slim,” he said.
The climate center pre-
dicted a wet January, Feb-
ruary and March for Wash-
ington. “That has not played
true at all,” Pattee said. “We
should be receiving snow in
the mountains every day this
month.”
Bond said that even if La
Nina drops snow at high ele-
vations, it may not provide
much relief for low-elevation
parts of Central and Eastern
Washington that remain in
severe or extreme drought.
“Some places that are
more in trouble now don’t
necessarily do as great during
La Nina,” he said.
Drought grips the entire
West. Some 50% of Wash-
ington is in drought, the U.S.
Drought Monitor reported
March 10. Eight other West-
ern states are suffering more.
Some 90% of Oregon
and 100% of California are
in a drought. Drought covers
84% of Idaho.