Oregon dairy farmers are being a target once again. This time a group of 22 environmental, public health and animal welfare petitioned Oregon regulators to approve new rules targeting air pollution from large-scale dairies.
On Aug. 17, the petition was filed and aimed at farms with 700 or more mature cows to create a dairy emissions program.
Organic dairy farmer, Mike Miranda from Coquille, Ore. and president of the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association (ODFA) board, says as a small producer, he strongly opposes this proposal.
“This is another attempt to shut down dairy farms,” Miranda says. “We work hard to take care of our animals, the land, our employees and our environment and are proud of the results.”
Emily Miller, staff attorney for Food and Water Watch, estimated the proposal would apply to 91 dairies in Oregon.
"For too long, the state has sat idly by while Oregon mega-dairies have been spewing toxic pollution into the air, wreaking havoc on our natural resources, climate and communities," Miller, the petition's lead author says. "This head-in-the-sand approach must change."
ODFA’s executive director, Tami Kerr says there is a bill nearly every session to shut down dairy farms of a certain size, and the size of farms and their cow numbers keep changing to suit the opponent’s need.
“Oregon does not have an air quality problem,” Kerr says. “The dairy sector has been investing in sustainable practices before emissions were in the forefront of public concern. Since 2007, producing a gallon of milk uses 90% less land and 65% less water, with a 63% smaller carbon footprint than in 1944. Even more recently, when we look at the environmental impact of producing a gallon of milk in 2017, numbers shrunk once again, requiring 30% less water, 21% less land and a 19% smaller carbon footprint than it did in 2007.”
On a national level, the dairy industry is committed to becoming NetZero by 2050 and Kerr says that Oregon dairy farmers will be part of the solution.
“Several of our farms would be directly impacted by this proposal and two of those farms are recent U.S. Dairy Sustainability Winners,” Kerr adds. “In Oregon, dairy is moving towards an environmental solution, thanks to our farmers increasingly innovative practices. This petition isn’t about emissions but another legislative tool to shut down dairy farms.”
Oregon’s largest dairy, Threemile Canyon Farms, is located about 15 miles west of Boardman, along the Columbia River and has approximately 70,000 cows.
Mary Anne Cooper, vice president of public policy for the Oregon Farm Bureau, said the petition is a new tactic from groups that have long opposed large dairies. Although, Cooper says the threshold of 700 or more cows is “very much family-scale operations in this state.”
The commissioner has 90 days to respond to this petition.
