Stakeholders urge full funding for Oregon Department of Agriculture at SB 5502/5503 hearing

Salem — Lawmakers heard more than a dozen witnesses on Wednesday during a public hearing on Senate Bill 5502, the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) budget bill, and its companion fee bill, Senate Bill 5503. Testimony, delivered in person and remotely to the subcommittee chaired by Cochair Frederick and Cochair Levy, largely urged continued or increased funding for pest eradication, market access, food-safety work and programs that support small and mid-size producers.

Many speakers stressed that proposed staffing reductions and cuts to targeted programs would increase long-term costs for producers and counties. "Please do not gut Oregonian agriculture protection under the guise of phased out investments," said Max Ragazzino, an invasive species entomologist and union sublocal president, summarizing concerns about proposed reductions that would remove 41 ODA positions from current service level staffing.

The hearing assembled representatives of agricultural trade groups, labor, food processors, conservationists and local government. Reba Daniel, a board member of the Oregon Farm to School Network and a farmer, testified in favor of the Farm to School equipment and infrastructure grant included in ODA's budget, saying Oregon's program is "one of the longest standing programs in the nation" and asking the committee to increase the grant allocation to $1,000,000 for the biennium. Daniel said the…