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Editor’s note: This is the fifth and final installment in a series of features by Pac/West Lobby Group Communications Director George Plaven detailing his professional development journey with REAL Oregon. To read previous installments in this series, click the links below:

• Session 1: Klamath Falls
• Session 2: Roseburg
• Session 3: Newport
• Session 4: Salem

A large video board displaying a world map hangs inside the SAGE Center near Boardman, one of many interactive exhibits at the museum and visitor’s center showcasing Eastern Oregon agriculture.

From a console below, visitors can press one of 13 buttons that each represents a different commodity produced in the region. The map then lights up revealing where those products are shipped globally — wheat to Japan and Korea, potatoes to Mexico and South America, and beef to China and Canada, among other markets.

An interactive exhibit at the SAGE Center shows where Eastern Oregon agriculture is shipped around the world.

For our final session together, REAL Oregon Class 8 gathered in Umatilla and Morrow counties for a glimpse at farming east of the Cascades, including industrial-scale operations that must strike a balance between feeding the world and maintaining sustainability at home.

According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Oregon as a state shipped $2.4 billion in agricultural exports in 2022, ranking 24th nationally. Top exports by value were nursery plants, wheat, hazelnuts, beef, and processed vegetables.

While much of what we saw was familiar from my days reporting for the East Oregonian, I am always struck by the incredible size and innovation of farms and food processors here. Our conversations as a class also raised important issues like the ethics of corporate farming and impacts on smaller producers.

Having such frank and honest discussions was, truly, one of the biggest takeaways for me from REAL Oregon. None of the issues we’ve explored over the last five months has been simple. The program teaches that effective leadership requires an open mind and active listening, and I am appreciative of my classmates for helping me to sharpen these skills.

Closed-Loop System

 Perhaps the apex of modern farming can be found at Threemile Canyon Farms, a massive 145-square-mile oasis in the sand and sagebrush 15 miles west of Boardman.

Greg Harris, director of farming and agronomy at Threemile Canyon, showed us the central control room where they oversee the farm’s expansive irrigation system. Using advanced technology such as soil moisture sensors and flow meters, employees can adjust irrigation in real time to conserve as much water as possible.

Greg Harris, of Threemile Canyon Farms, shows REAL Oregon the irrigation control room.

Threemile Canyon manages 39,500 acres of irrigated farmland, growing both conventional and organic crops including potatoes, onions, carrots, dry corn, alfalfa, blueberries, hemp, and, coming soon, winegrapes. Another 23,000 acres is set aside as a wildlife conservation area, managed by The Nature Conservancy.

But the most well-known aspect of Threemile Canyon is, without question, the Columbia River Dairy, with its 70,000 head of cattle including 36,000 milking cows. Cows are milked twice daily on large robotic carousels that can hold up to 80 cows at a time. They produce about 2.5 million pounds of milk per day. Every drop is used to make Tillamook cheese at the nearby Port of Morrow.

Outside the Columbia River Dairy milking parlor at Threemile Canyon Farms.

Threemile Canyon proudly touts its “closed-loop system,” whereby nothing on the farm goes to waste. The farm grows its own feed for cows (a mix of triticale, alfalfa, and corn silage), and recycles manure for both fertilizer and to make renewable energy at its digester facility. Leftover dried solids from the digester are used for animal bedding.

Nitrate Worries

During a driving tour of the Port of Morrow’s East Beach Industrial Park along the Columbia River, we got to see the diversity of industries that has helped Morrow County rank fourth statewide in total payroll growth, including an eye-watering stop at the Boardman Foods onion processing plant.

A whole lotta onions in storage at Boardman Foods. 

Being a major agricultural hub has also raised concerns about elevated levels of potentially harmful nitrate in the local groundwater. The state designated the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area in 1990, and while farming isn’t the only source of nitrates, the majority of the contamination — about 90% — is estimated to come from irrigated agriculture, large dairy and cattle farms, and animal pastures.

This is a highly contentious issue that has been bubbling up for decades. Efforts to curb nitrate pollution have historically relied on voluntary measures, though community activists argue the state and federal governments should intervene to protect residents whose wells are polluted.

In the meantime, the Oregon Health Authority is working with partners to test residents’ wells and provide clean drinking water to those who need it, free of charge, while longer-term solutions continue to take shape.

Graduation Day

Our Eastern Oregon session wrapped up with a graduation ceremony, including a keynote address from former state Sen. Bill Hansell.

Former state Sen. Bill Hansell delivered the keynote address during graduation for REAL Oregon Class 8.

Of course, this is not the end. Rather, it is the beginning. I look forward to seeing how I can advocate for agriculture and natural resources in the future and apply the skills I have learned in my role at Pac/West Lobby Group.

REAL Oregon has been an amazing experience, and I encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about our state’s natural resources to participate. I look forward to seeing my fellow program alumni at our upcoming reception in Mt. Angel!

Receiving my graduation plaque from REAL Oregon board chairman Brent Klumph. 

Apply for Class 9

Anyone interested in applying for REAL Oregon Class 9 can do so online, or click here to download a hard copy of the application. The application deadline is July 31, though early submissions are strongly encouraged.

For questions, please contact Program Coordinator Lauren Lucht at info@realoregon.net, or (503) 710-7001.

They are the big guys in housing. In fact, in Oregon, they are the biggest of all, operating hundreds of multi-family apartments, almost exclusively for low-income renters. And, as recently as 2023, they authorized rent increases averaging 8.6% on 45 of the properties in their portfolio. No wonder tenant advocates are demanding the Legislature take action and mandate housing providers slash maximum rent increases to no more than 6%, regardless of market conditions or expenses.

Except the “big guy” in this case isn’t some Wall Street equity firm or corporate behemoth. No, the “big guy” is the State of Oregon, whose Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) agency maintains operational control over thousands of low-income housing units in its portfolio. Under state and federal laws, requests for rent increases of more than 5% in these properties must be authorized by the state if necessary to meet developer, operational, and maintenance expenses and to pay back state bond obligations.

OHCS has done a remarkable job in providing housing opportunities to low-income Oregonians. In doing so, however, even the state realizes that price controls without regard to financial stability in its own portfolio are untenable. And these projects already have significant public dollars invested in them.

Rent Control (Ironically) Puts the Squeeze on Low-Income Oregonians

That realization seems lost in HB 3054, which in its latest iteration, seeks to place tighter price controls on communities of manufactured homes by reducing the maximum rent increase to 6% per year. Unlike the mostly newer units in the OHCS portfolio, these parks are decades old and in constant need of expensive maintenance and repair. Unlike OHCS properties, these property owners are not subsidized by the government. Why the double standard?

Regular efforts to ratchet up price control in Oregon have led to the destabilization of rent stabilization. Some owners have indeed raised rates to the current 10% cap — ironically, in many cases, increases greater than they would have done without price controls — out of fear that the Legislature would continue to move the goalposts and leave them unable to cover future expenses. That fear has shown itself to be justified. Rent control has actually raised rents.

These parks remain one of Oregon’s most affordable housing values, and without government dollars. While exact numbers are unknown, the statewide average rent rates in manufactured home parks are likely below $900 per month. In contrast, according to RentCafe, the average apartment rent in Portland is $1,729, and $1,809 in Eugene.

A couple of new wrinkles in HB 3054 have been tossed into the mix. Proposed amendments would allow owners to increase rent by 12% once every five years if the majority of renters vote to approve the increase. Instead of a concession, it’s more like a poisoned pill. What renter is going to vote to double their rent increase? It would be like having grocery shoppers vote on how much the store must sell them bananas.

The other provision would exempt manufactured parks with fewer than 30 units from the new constraints. It’s an opaque attempt to get at “corporate owners” without regard to the fact that many larger parks are owned by Oregon families — some for generations.

Tenants at Hillsboro Park At Risk of HB 3054

The reality is that most of these manufactured home parks are in or adjacent to the city limits. They are flat, already equipped with urban services, and ripe for redevelopment.

Hilja has owned her park for 49 years. She has more than 20 acres in her park in the middle of Hillsboro’s urban growth boundary. Developers call nearly every day. Hundreds of market-based apartments could be built on her prime site in the middle of Oregon’s Silicon Forest. Her land is far more valuable as a redevelopment than housing her 63 families. If she has to sell because her income is squeezed further, not only will her lowest-income families be forced to find new homes, so will the rest of the families living in the park. In parks across the state, well-intentioned efforts to help the lowest-income residents can put all residents in jeopardy.

The real issue is poverty. Name it, address it. No set of price controls will solve it. The solution is to address the core issue.

Rather than put all manufactured home community residents at risk, direct assistance to those most in need. If the Legislature wants more government-funded housing, it should fund it. This can be accomplished by following established programs already used for the development of new affordable housing. The state can establish a fund specifically for rent assistance to the most financially vulnerable residents in a manufactured park. As state and local governments do with new housing developers, they can provide subsidies to park owners in exchange for voluntarily reducing rent increases to a clearly identified and qualified cohort of residents within the park.

But implementing government price controls on private property owners and mandating they become unsubsidized low-income state housing providers is not the answer.

The Legislature should pause and direct the Office of Economic Analysis to conduct a thorough and comprehensive independent study on the impact Oregon’s rent control law — and the uncertainty created by new rent control proposals — has had on housing affordability, availability, development, and preservation of existing affordable housing. Then, in the 2027 session, the Legislature will be armed with real data and analysis to guide what changes, if any, should be made to current law.

Investigate, evaluate, and then act. Not the other way around.

From hazelnuts to hay, wine to watermelons, and pears to potatoes, Oregon farmers have rightfully earned a reputation for producing some of the highest-quality crops enjoyed around the world. Yet according to the latest USDA Census of Agriculture, our state has seen nearly 2.4 million acres of farmland taken out of production between 1997 and 2022.

It is an alarming trend with no singular cause. As a reporter covering agriculture in the Pacific Northwest for over 10 years, I’ve sat at the kitchen table across from farmers and ranchers who have told me how burdensome regulations and added costs are pushing their operations to the breaking point. Extreme weather and wildfires fueled by climate change have also made farming more unpredictable, forcing growers to adapt.

With these myriad challenges, some producers have turned to solar energy as a lifeline. While opponents argue solar development poses a threat to agriculture, others are demonstrating how these two industries can be not only compatible, but symbiotic.

This solar project in Lake County was developed in cooperation with the landowner to produce renewable energy.  (Contributed by NewSun Energy)

Oregon needs to build more solar energy to meet its decarbonization goals set in House Bill 2021 and satisfy power demands for growing economic sectors, including energy-hungry data centers. Farmers and ranchers typically make between $300 and $2,000 per acre per year leasing land for solar, providing much-needed income to help them weather volatile global markets and stay in business.

As of August 2024, Oregon has about 1,815 megawatts of installed solar capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). That represents a 23-fold jump over the past decade. Still, solar makes up only 4% of Oregon’s total electricity generation, showing ample room for growth as investor-owned utilities work to decarbonize retail electricity sales by 2040. Data centers like those near The Dalles and Hermiston will be particularly energy-intensive going forward, requiring 10-50 times more per square foot than commercial office buildings, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

When it comes to siting solar projects, developers must meet stringent requirements aimed at protecting communities, farming, and natural resources. Site certificates are reviewed by the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC), and projects on public land are also subject to the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). These reviews ensure that solar projects are built in appropriate areas that avoid harming or fragmenting high-value agricultural land.

Additionally, researchers at Oregon State University are now studying ways that solar panels can be incorporated on farms to benefit crops and forage. The concept, called agrivoltaics, is now being put to the test on a research farm at OSU’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center. Chad Higgins, who is leading the project, said agrivoltaics is showing promise to not only add another revenue stream for farms, but also better manage sunlight to grow healthier plants using less water.

All of this goes to show that farms and solar panels cannot just coexist, but they can be mutually beneficially. Rather than scapegoating solar for Oregon’s declining farmland, lawmakers should be focused on improving the regulatory environment that will improve both our food and energy production together. Oregon farmers and ranchers have a long history of innovation, and solar energy should be treated as a friend, not foe, to this important industry.

Austin, Texas and Denver were two of America’s biggest boom towns in the 2010s. Housing demand far exceeded the supply of affordable housing, and rental rates were climbing. Economists generally agreed that the path to lower housing costs would not come by artificially restricting the current supply, but by increasing it. Failing to focus on supply would only exacerbate the affordability problem.

In response, the Democrat-controlled city councils in Denver and Austin initiated an aggressive pro-development approach to build tens of thousands of new rental units as quickly as possible. Planning doors were swung wide open, red tape slashed, and developers responded. Austin has built tens of thousands of units in the past three years and Denver has added more than 21,000 rental units this past year alone. (Source)

The results: Austin has seen declining rental rates for 19 consecutive months and rental costs in Denver have dropped almost 6% in the last year.

In the summer of 2024, the Biden administration proposed capping rental rates nationwide. Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis criticized the approach, saying the plan “would lead to less affordable housing being built and substantially increase housing costs.” The governor was seeing the impact of a supply generation approach firsthand, and the results are impressive.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has a firm grip on the economics of the state’s housing needs and has called for an ambitious annual goal of 36,000 new housing units statewide. The legislature also responded with an infusion of capital on multiple fronts in the past two years and more is on the way.

Despite these efforts, Oregon has not seen the rapid response as experienced in Austin or Denver. Kotek rightfully sees affordable housing as an emergency, but not everyone has moved with the focus and speed this emergency requires.

The state cannot create new housing stock without the commitment of local governments, as seen in Austin and Denver, to move aggressively to meet the state’s stated benchmarks. That means streamlining the permit processes, easing development codes wherever possible, and setting unit objectives and timelines to achieve those goals. Both state and local government can help incentivize builders for both market-rate and subsidized projects by reducing the time — and thus the costs — associated with getting shovels in the ground.

Success requires focusing on increasing the supply of affordable rental housing and avoiding distractions from the stated goal. Yet there is movement in the Legislature this session to sidetrack from that focus by further tightening rent caps in parts of the housing market, such as aging manufactured home parks. That approach has not only proven ineffective but could rapidly accelerate park closings as owners seek to redevelop the land for more financially stable purposes, leaving more people searching for affordable housing.

Multi-family developers, who are keys to meeting this housing emergency, may also be wary of investing large sums of capital in an environment where stifling rent control ideas are constantly looming.

As Jason Furman, the top economic advisor to former President Barack Obama, said last summer: “Rent control has been about as disgraced as any economic policy in the toolkit,” in an interview with the Washington Post. He went on to say that “it will ultimately make our housing supply problems worse, not better.”

The Legislature and local housing authorities can help those currently struggling on fixed incomes to meet housing costs by ensuring those impacted individuals are aware of all existing assistance programs and resources, and supplementing those resources wherever possible, without jeopardizing the financial viability of current housing providers.

Oregon needs more affordable housing, and on an accelerated pace to make up for lost time and escape this every-other-session Band-Aid approach to systemic issues. Gov. Kotek has identified the solution and the path forward. Time to stay focused on outcomes. If they can do it in Texas and Colorado, we can do it in Oregon.

“You can’t go home again,” observed the famed novelist Thomas Wolfe in his iconic book by the same name. Life experiences and growth as a person forever change us, prohibiting the past from being relived the same way we remember it.

Sens. Bruce Starr (R-Dundee) and Mike McLane (R-Powell Butte) are putting that theory to the test as they return to the Oregon Legislature after a prolonged absence.  Both are poised for the challenge.

While both Starr and McLane share similar conservative perspectives, they are also attuned to recognizing the value of opposing views in striving for the greater global good.

Back from the Bench

Mike McLane left the Legislature in 2019 to pursue a new career as a circuit court judge. He had served as the House Minority Leader. During his tenure in that role, he earned a reputation for fiercely defending his eastern Oregon district, while working collaboratively with the Democratic majority on areas of mutual concern.

His return to Salem evolved from contrasting his own life experiences.

“I enjoyed my role on the bench,” McLane said, “but I missed the legislative process. My wife told me I should decide to choose either my voice or my robe.”

He didn’t deliberate long. Calling balls and strikes in a courtroom gave way to returning to the pitcher’s mound where the law is decided and he could have a role in the outcome.

What have the two experiences taught him?

“It is imperative to ask the right questions. When we do that, it helps us all get there together,” he said.

McLane, who also is a Colonel in The Oregon Air National Guard, believes getting the right answers and fulfilling the mission begins and ends with a sincere effort to bridge the political divide.

“This is a relationship business. It is foundational to having true and genuine conversations take place,” he observed. “I don’t believe in ‘cancel culture’, where people are cancelled because they have a different view.”

McLane noted that when he started in the Legislature in 2011 it was in the throes of the Great Recession. “We were having to cut budgets, something many legislators have not experienced.”

He sees clouds on the horizon as billions of dollars of federal spending, prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, disappears from state coffers.

“There is going to a reckoning soon and I believe my experience can help provide a reasoned approach to addressing that challenge.”

Starr Shooting for Collaboration

Bruce Starr left the Oregon Senate a decade ago. He returns to a new, more agricultural-based district than the greater Hillsboro community he once served.

Like McLane, he yearns for a return to a place where legislators are committed to more collaboration.

“It used to be way more collegial,” Starr said. “It is really tough losing someone like Peter Courtney who understood that the legislative process benefits from really listening to expertise from both sides of an issue.”

He is, however, optimistic that goal can be restored.

“I spent an hour and half with (Senate President) Rob (Wagner) and we just talked. Building relationships is so important.”

He laments that ongoing construction at the Capitol has impeded building those relationships.

“I am concerned we don’t have a legislative lounge where you can sit down and have lunch with a state representative. We need to find ways to break down the barriers,” he said.

Starr is excited about the work ahead, especially in his primary wheelhouse — transportation.

“My goal this session is developing a strong transportation package, one that is balanced and really addresses our needs,” he said.

Starr was instrumental in the passage of multiple renditions of the Oregon Transportation Investment Acts during his initial Senate service. He will play an influential role in working with transportation co-chairs, Sen. Chris Gorsek (D-Gresham) and Rep. Susan McLain (D-Forest Grove) to secure Republican votes for the final work product.

The return of McLane and Starr bolsters the collective experience of the Legislature on both sides of the political aisle. Considering the myriad critical issues facing the state, that experience, along with the infusion of fresh ideas and energy from younger members, can be a blueprint for a successful session.

Both men served in a pre-pandemic capitol, and now they are adapting to a post-pandemic process with a plethora of newer legislators. They have seen it from both sides. McLane has found his lane and a Starr is reborn.