Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Oregon farm income rises in 2002 Nurseries share travel costs
It might be too early to
call it an upward trend, but
Oregon farmers and ranch-
ers generally made a little
more money this past year,
according to newly re-
leased statistics.
Oregon’s net farm in-
come for 2002 was up
around 8 percent from the
previous year, to nearly
$356 million.
The good news is tem-
pered by the fact that 2001
net farm income was at its
lowest level in 18 years.
Still, it appears the agricul-
ture industry in Oregon is
holding its own despite a
number of challenges.
Net farm income is the
amount retained by grow-
ers after paying all ex-
penses for their business.
“Certainly, we are en-
couraged to see the num-
bers go back up and we
hope the net farm income
for Oregon bottomed out
the previous,” said Katy
Coba, director of the Ore-
gon Dept. of Agriculture
(ODA).
“This is one more indi-
cation that our farmers and
ranchers are hanging tough
while the economy strug-
gles to right itself.”
Other economic indi-
cators confirm Coba’s con-
tention that Oregon agri-
culture remains a vital eco-
nomic contributor. The
value of agricultural pro-
duction is at $3.5 billion.
Many individual com-
modities have done well
this past year.
Agricultural exports
are rebounding, and the
value of the U.S. dollar has
softened, which helps the
producer. And as the over-
all economy improves,
there is every reason to
believe agriculture’s bot-
tom line will improve as
well, said ODA.
It continues to be a
roller-coaster ride for Ore-
gon agricultural producers.
Figures from the U.S.
Dept. of Agriculture’s
Economic Research Ser-
vice show a volatile year-
to-year net farm income
figure.
In 1990, net farm in-
come stood at $533 mil-
lion. It peaked at $681 mil-
lion and $672 million in
‘93 and ‘97 respectively.
In contrast, times were
tough in ‘95 ($437 million)
and ‘99 ($354 million).
The 2000 net farm income
of $422 million was a
modest increase from the
previous year, but was fol-
lowed by the low mark of
$330 million in 2001.
An analysis of the sta-
tistics reveals some of the
reasons for the gains this
past year.
Gross sales and cash
receipts last year were
roughly equal to 2001. But
after several years of in-
creasing expenses, it ap-
pears a drop in the cost of
doing business is most re-
sponsible for the improved
net farm income figure
during 2002.
“Farm expenses --
what it costs farmers to
produce the crops and live-
stock -- were down by
around 3 percent from
2001,” said Bent Searle,
ODA analyst. “So even
though the gross farm in-
come was down very mod-
estly, expenses decreased
even more.
“That’s a good sign
that the industry in Oregon
is making crucial adjust-
ments and finding ways to
adapt while maintaining
productivity with fewer
inputs.”
Reflecting the trend in
the overall economy, lower
interest rates have also
trimmed the cost of doing
business for Oregon farm-
ers and ranchers. Growers
paid around $186 million
in interest payments on
real estate, operating loans,
and other forms of credit
during 2002.
Lower land rents are
also a factor in the better
bottom line. Farmers and
ranchers paid $217 million
in 2002 to rent land from
non-operator landlords -- a
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10 percent decrease from
the previous year.
But there are some
higher costs in the latest
report. Labor costs in Ore-
gon climbed a modest half
a percent in Oregon last
year to $756 million, still
making it the highest sin-
gle expense cost for Ore-
gon producers. In fact, the
amount paid to employees
is more than double the
amount retained by pro-
ducers as net farm income.
Machine repair and
maintenance costs continue
to rise for Oregon farmers,
which indicates producers
are making efforts to
lengthen the life of existing
equipment and machinery.
All in all, Oregon’s
agricultural producers are
taking whatever manage-
ment steps they can to con-
trol the expense side of the
balance sheet.
“Farmers and ranchers
are looking real closely at
how they are doing
things,” Searle said. “They
are being careful in what
they are spending and be-
coming much more effi-
cient in their operations.”
While there are a num-
ber of Oregon industries
that may not be enjoying
an increase in the bottom
line, agriculture is demon-
strating its resilience as
one contributor to the
state’s economy that is
showing some signs of
recovery, ODA said.
Our opinion of people
depends less upon
what we see in them
than in what they make
us see in ourselves.
-Sarah Grand-
When Willamette Val-
ley’s Fisher Farms needed
to send only a small order
of plants to Philadelphia
during spring this year it
didn’t have enough to fill a
50-foot-long trailer to be
trucked east. But thanks to
the Internet other nurseries
in similar situations were
found, and together they
had enough plant material
to fill the trailer.
The result is an eco-
nomical and efficient pro-
gram to maximize avail-
able transportation, a key
issue for Oregon’s number-
one agricultural commod-
ity, said ODA.
Funded largely through
a $40,000 specialty crop
grant administered by
ODA, the partial-load web-
site provides a primary
communication tool for
nursery growers who need
to ship less than a full load.
They can find other grow-
ers with the same need for
timely and more cost-
effective shipments. The
Web site, LoadView, is
managed by the Oregon
Association of Nurseries.
So far there have been
nearly 10,000 visits to the
website. Hundreds of par-
tial loads and dozens of
truck transports have been
posted, said ODA. The
overall success is difficult
to measure because most
arrangements are finalized
via telephone calls, ODA
said.
Page 13
Mixed-use
travel focus
of meeting
Establishing a rural
transportation system plan
is the topic of a meeting
set for Monday, Sept. 29
by the Josephine County
Rural Planning Commis-
sion.
The meeting will be
held in Anne Basker Audi-
torium adjacent to the
county courthouse in
Grants Pass from 7 to 9
p.m. Such a plan is re-
quired by State Planning
Goal 12. It must address
all travel modes for people
and commodities.
For more information
phone Steve Hodges at
(541) 474-5460.