Oregon Agricultural Heritage Commission Focusing on Conservation and Succession

A new program stated at the Oregon Department of Agriculture               is trying to help keep agricultural lands in production and that will be the best option for conservation.

ODA Land-Use Specialist Jim Johnson said they want to provide tools so that farmers better understand what’s out there and how it could help them.

“Without that farm use protection, without that forest land protection, you would have other land uses out there coming out of the development world that probably wouldn’t complement fish and wildlife habitat the way that farm and forest land do.”

The commission wants to incentivize farmers and ranchers to support voluntary practices that are good for ag and good for the state’s natural resources.

It’s also about succession planning for producers so that farmers will know what will happen with their farms according to Johnson.

“We have a very aged agricultural population in this state and there is a lot of turnover in terms of ownership going to occur in the next 10 to 20 years, and a lot of farmers and ranchers have not done any or provided any thought in regard to how they are going to convey their land to the next generation.”

Applications are now being accepted by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board for positions on the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Commission.