Believe me, nothing feels better than taking action when you're confused and thinking the situation is hopeless when it comes to fighting big political battles. If you have just three minutes, you can click on the "TAKE ACTION" link after each description and make a meaningful contribution to issues directly affecting your life and that of the communities we call home.

Regulate Data Centers in Oregon

Data Centers owned by large corporate interests (like the Google Data Center in The Dalles, above) are flooding into Oregon, gobbling up our diminishing farmland, turning valuable agricultural resources into industrial wastelands and consuming huge amounts of our water and electricity. (Read about one attempted land grab here in Oregon.) 

Data centers' water and energy consumption are directly related: 

• Each year, a 100MW data center will consume 100 million gallons of water, enough for 2,500 people’s domestic use. 
• Data centers produce wastewater laced with contaminants and pollutants not normally targeted for removal by wastewater treatment plants.
• Data centers’ water use—from groundwater to streams and rivers that feed municipal water supply—drains water supply in drought-prone areas and endangers fish and wildlife.
• Data center operators have resisted efforts to make water use and impact data available.

TAKE ACTION: Tell the Oregon Public Utility Commission to regulate data centers to protect the climate and water.

Fight Factory Farms

As regular readers of Good Stuff NW know, factory farms put public health and  our food supply at risk, pollute the environment and drinking water, wreck rural communities, and fuel climate change while increasing corporate control over our food. (Read more about local efforts to stop these industrial facilities.)

The Farm System Reform Act will revitalize independent family farm agriculture and rural communities by:

• Placing a moratorium on new and expanding large factory farms.
• Phasing out existing large factory farms by 2040.
• Holding corporate integrators responsible for harm caused by factory farms.
• Providing a $100 billion voluntary buyout program for contract farmers who want to transition away from factory farms.
• Strengthening the Packers & Stockyards Act to protect family farmers and ranchers
• Restoring mandatory Country of Origin Labeling for meat and prohibiting the USDA from labeling foreign imported meat products as “Product of USA.”

TAKE ACTION: Urge your Members of Congress to support the Farm System Reform Act.

Maintain Affordable Access to Clean Drinking Water

Oregon is already facing a water crisis. Trump’s budget plan for next year proposes to cut the main source of federal funding for local water and sewer systems by 89 percent His goal is to outright eliminate this support for safe and clean water, which would seriously endanger public health. 

We need Congress to step up and safeguard federal support for safe water. WATER Act—which stands for Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability—is critical legislation that would fund water and sewage system repairs, create good jobs for over 1 million people nationally, help stop sewage overflows, and make infrastructure fixes each year.

TAKE ACTION: Tell your Members of Congress to sign on to the WATER act.

There, now—don't you feel better?

As the Oregon legislature nears the end of its 2023 session, there are several bills affecting small farmers that need your help to get over the finish line successfully. (Click on the action link at the end of each item.)

Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program (HB 3366): This bipartisan program, known as OAHP, helps farmers and ranchers protect their land while keeping it in production, supports rural communities, and helps Oregon leverage unprecedented federal funding. In the first grant cycle, OAHP protected more than 12,400 acres of working land across Oregon. The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) requested $10.8 million in grant and administrative funding for the 2023-2025 biennium, but that funding was not included in the Governor's budget. Contact your legislators today and ask them to support this program at the link below.

ACTION LINK: Tell your legislators to fund the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program.

Healthy Soils Bill (HB 2998): This bill leverages federal funding and existing programs to expand resources to support farmers and ranchers with soil health practices that make the most sense for their land and businesses. The Healthy Soils Bill is important in meeting the needs of farmers and ranchers, and addressing the climate crisis. We are at a critical time in the legislative session where funding for many bills, including the Healthy Soils Bill, is being determined. Your advocacy right now could make a real difference for the success of this bill so please contact key legislators to urge them to fund the Healthy Soils Bill.

ACTION LINK: Copy and paste the template provided into an e-mail to tell legislators they need to fund the Healthy Soils Bill.

Canola Bill (SB 789): In a parliamentary move attempting to waylay this bill, the House Ag Committee held a work session resulting in this being moved to the House Rules Committee instead of going to the House Floor for a vote. It is more important than ever that constituents make their voices heard to get this bill passed in this legislative session. We need to maintain the current 500-acre canola cap in the Willamette Valley in order to protect brassica specialty seed production.

ACTION LINK: Tell your legislators they need to act to protect specialty and organic seed production in the Willamette Valley.

Support for Farmers Transitioning to Organic (SB 1058): Oregon is ideally situated to be a leader in the rapidly growing organic industry, which surpassed $60 billion in 2022, but will need to make both public and private investments in order to fully actualize this opportunity. Organic farmers are subject to third party verification, rigorous certification processes, and federal standards that mandate practices which, among other benefits, creates the healthy soils found on organic farms. Certification takes three years and is a considerable economic burden on organic farmers that conventional farmers are not subject to. Given the triple bottom line benefits organic can bring Oregon, investments in organic farming and transitioning to organic are smart policy moves.

ACTION LINK: Copy and paste the letter provided into the template form and let your legislators know it's critical to help grow organic in Oregon.

Thanks to Friends of Family Farmers (FoFF) for these legislative alerts and links.