BUSINESS & AG
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
CARES
Continued from Page 1B
E.J. Harris/East Oregonian, File
Clint Sexson, right, uses an electric branding iron to brand
a calf as Tyler Potter, center, holds the animal’s leg and Jack
Taylor looks on outside Stanfi eld in March 2015. Ranchers
want lawmakers in the 2021 Legislature to consider an al-
ternative proposal to the brand inspection fee increases
the Oregon Department of Agriculture has proposed.
BRAND
Continued from Page 1B
2015,” said Todd Nash,
Wallowa County com-
missioner and OCA’s
president-elect.
Nash said he understood
the brand inspection pro-
gram is facing tough fi nan-
cial times but cited Pres-
ident John F. Kennedy’s
observation that farmers
buy at retail, sell at whole-
sale and pay the freight
both ways.
“We just don’t have a
way to capture it at this
point,” he said of the fee
increase proposal.
The economic situa-
tion is especially diffi cult
for young ranchers and too
many fee increases may
discourage some from
even participating in the
program to the industry’s
detriment, Nash said.
“I know some people
who just don’t brand any-
more,” he said. “If we have
a disease outbreak, that’s
what we have to trace
back.”
The Oregon Farm
Bureau is backing the
OCA’s proposal, noting
that natural resources
agencies are asking for
fee increases “across the
board” during the econom-
ical fallout of the corona-
virus pandemic.
“Their cumulative
impact on the sector will
be substantial,” said Mary
Anne Cooper, the organi-
zation’s vice president of
public policy. “We think
the Oregon Cattlemen’s
compromise is more than
fair.”
Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ash-
land, said the committee
isn’t planning to vote on the
fee increases anytime soon
and urged ODA to discuss
the compromise proposal
with the livestock industry.
Sorrels said the county did
a fi ne job distributing the
money in a timely manner.
“Although we have had
a fairly successful takeout
business, which continues
to grow, the money we take
in does not cover all of our
expenses, considering that
we have an empty restau-
rant,” she said.
Ten Depot’s Paycheck
Protection Program funds
ran out in November, Sor-
rels said, and the CARES
grant enabled the estab-
lishment to keep paying
staff and provided money
for utilities, insurance and
inventory.
“It would have been a lot
harder to survive without
it,” she added.
Tim Osterloh owns and
operates Clank-Tronix in
La Grande. The business
received a Tier 2 grant.
“It helped out dramati-
cally,” he said. “Without the
funding it would have been
diffi cult — I’ve been able
to not just stay in business,
but it helped me to expand a
little bit.”
Osterloh has been
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — 3B
remodeling a back-section
of the businesses at 315
Fir St. to add more space
for customers and what he
called an “education room.”
“I had noticed a huge
boom in home schooling,
people calling for home
schooling books and just
home schooling in general,”
he said. “It’s just amazing
how much I’ve been able
to accomplish. I’ve already
got this room fully remod-
eled, and I’ve already put
in most of the shelves and
got (the books) already on
the shelves, and now I’m
working on just trying to
make things more COVID
friendly, I guess you would
say.”
The Eastern Oregon
Film Festival and the per-
formance arts venue HQ,
both in La Grande, each
received Tier 1 grants —
$7,500 to the festival and
$11,103.25 to HQ.
Chris Jennings, who
helped found each and
helps operate them, said
the grant to the fi lm fes-
tival was “a great help to
fi ll in the gaps.” The festi-
val’s member program “is
just nonexistent,” he said,
and the sponsor program is
likely to net 50% of what
it usually does. Jennings
said that is pushing EOFF
to change its fundraising
model dramatically.
“That $7,500 bucks
from the county is just a
huge saving grace in terms
of keeping general oper-
ations moving while we
try to fi gure out how to
re-leverage donation sup-
port or approach different
foundations, things like
that, and kind of pivot,” he
said.
The grant has helped
the festival “keep paying
the bills,” he said, “pushing
out ad campaigns and pro-
moting the fact that we’re
still gonna be trying in
October.”
HQ’s grant also is
helping it keep the lights on.
“As far as I can tell
that’s kinda the goal of
the grant, too,” Jennings
said. “Keeping baseline —
keeping businesses intact
and keeping them func-
tioning and staying. If we
shuttered our doors we
won’t be coming back,
that’s for sure. We’d unplug
everything and turn off the
lights, and call it a day —
it’s not like that business or
ourselves would be coming
back when it’s time.”
MEAT
Continued from Page 1B
of major meat packing
facilities and increased
demand for local
slaughter and processing
options.
“The COVID-19 pan-
demic revealed a break in
the marketing chain for
all livestock producers, as
there has been an overall
lack of capacity to pro-
cess livestock into meat
in Oregon, said Carol
Lorenzen, head of OSU’s
department of animal and
rangeland sciences.
The ODA’s previous
state inspection program
was eliminated for bud-
getary reasons fi ve decades
ago, and the agency
expects time and money
will be needed to get the
program up and running
again.
Aside from the
$10 million grant proposal,
lawmakers are also con-
sidering bills that would
require state regulators to
study “barriers to fami-
ly-scale meat production”
and the possibility of
permitting animal ren-
dering facilities in Oregon.
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