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Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett, Klamath Falls
Dist 28 10/2/12
Agricultural contributions and water
reallocation
The combined annual economic output of
agricultural production, food processing and
related services from irrigated agriculture
exceeds $128 billion in the seventeen
western states. The economic output from
irrigated lands attributable to the beef
cattle industry ranks either first or second
in fourteen of those seventeen western
states.
Only 18 percent of Oregon’s more than 10
million acres of agricultural lands are
irrigated. However, $3.2 billion, or 66
percent, of Oregon’s entire agricultural
economic output is derived from those
irrigated lands. Last year, irrigated
agriculture contributed a total of nearly
$3.6 billion to household income in Oregon.
To put that number into perspective, it
calculates to nearly a thousand dollars for
every resident of our state.
The economic output attributable to Oregon’s
beef cattle industry ranks second, while hay
production ranks third and our dairy
industry ranks fourth. The combined economic
output of beef, dairy and hay production
simply dwarfs any other sector of Oregon’s
agricultural enterprise.
Yet irrigated agriculture and especially the
ranching communities in Oregon are under
siege. It is little different in the sixteen
other western states.
Each year, ever more water used for crop
production and processing is being
purchased, leased or transferred to
in-stream use for the benefit of fish and
other aquatic species. In Oregon, more than
twice as much water is protected in-stream
for fish and recreation as is diverted for
irrigating crops and growing cattle.
Irrigators are compensated for these leases
and transfers; however, the water will
virtually never again be available for crop
production once transferred to in-stream
use.
Each year, ever more water used for crop
production and processing is being
reallocated by state and federal governments
to what they consider to be more important
beneficial uses.
Water used for irrigation is routinely
reallocated to provide habitat for alleged
threatened or endangered species. Since
water supplies are not being enhanced, the
only possible outcome is a diminished supply
of water for irrigators. This usually occurs
without compensation to the producers who
have had their valuable and legal right to
use that irrigation water taken from them.
Both state and federal government agencies
have taken the designation of wetlands to a
new art form. Virtually any land that
experiences seasonal standing-water for any
reason, in any amount, is in jeopardy of
being named a wetland and excluded from any
other use by penalty of law. Owner
compensation for the loss of the use of
their land through wetland designation is
unheard of.
Creation of new wetlands, as well as the
expansion of existing wetlands and emergent
marshes, by government agencies and
non-government organizations is causing the
evaporation of ever more water formerly used
for irrigation. An emergent marsh or wetland
in Oregon may be expected to evaporate and
evapo-transpire about four acre-feet of
water per acre each year. The amount of
water lost from a wetland or emergent marsh
is nearly twice the amount used by the
typical irrigator to grow an acre of hay or
pasture for an entire season. The water that
is lost to evaporation is no longer
available for irrigation. No compensation
for their property loss is generally
available to the former users of that water.
Both the state of Oregon, and the federal
government, have created, and continue to
make more stringent, water quality
standards. The water quality requirements
often exceed the historical background
levels before European man arrived in
Oregon. These standards are not now, and
never have been achievable. Never the less,
they are enforced by draconian fines as well
as the threat of imprisonment.
Strict enforcement of the new standards will
force irrigators to stop flood irrigation in
most areas. Alternative irrigation methods
require significantly more energy and may be
too expensive to be economically feasible,
especially for pasture management. State and
federal environmental policies are driving
energy prices out of the reach of many
agricultural enterprises. Farmers and
ranchers have no choice other than to cease
operations when their costs exceed their
production returns.
America’s beef cattle herd is now at the
smallest number it has been since the early
1950’s.
Our nation’s ability to produce inexpensive
food may be the single most important reason
for American prosperity. In 2010 the average
American family spent only 6.7 percent of
their disposable income on food costs. In
contrast, food costs in the United Kingdom
are at nearly ten percent of the disposable
income, more than twenty percent in China
and more than thirty percent in Russia.
Americans enjoy so much food security that
we are able to spend more than 93 percent of
our disposable income on other commodities.
That ability drives our economy and sets us
apart from the people of all other nations.
Unfortunately, our farmers and ranchers are
growing older. They now spend as much as
half of their time attending meetings and
hearings attempting to secure the right to
continue to make a living in agriculture.
Two generations of their children have
witnessed the unrelenting state and federal
attack on their way of life and their rights
to continue to produce food on their land.
These young adults have largely chosen to
seek other means of supporting their
families.
It is not too late to change the government
policies that are driving this migration out
of, and away from, agricultural production.
It is past time to stop the government
persecution of are farming and ranching
families.
The United States Constitution’s Fifth
Amendment guarantees that no person shall be
deprived of property without due process of
law, nor shall private property be taken for
public use without just compensation. Isn’t
it time to recognize and preserve the
constitutional rights of our farming and
ranching families. Isn’t it time to take
action to exchange misplaced and
unsustainable social progressive
environmental agendas with common sense
management of our agricultural resources. It
has been my experience that America’s
farmers and ranchers are the true stewards
of our land and water resources.
In my opinion, our food security and our
prosperity, as well as the rule of law, are
in serious jeopardy if we fail to make the
needed changes in the near future.
Please remember, if we do not stand up for
rural Oregon, no one will.
Best regards,
Doug
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