Oregon Representative defends farmers with example of his own family's dilemma

Rep. Brian Clem, D-Salem, recently rose to the defense of Oregon's farmers after agriculture was criticized for receiving an oversized helping of government support. The House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources is considering a bill to establish the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Fund, which would buy conservation easements from farmers and help them with succession planning.Representatives of several environmental groups and Tax Fairness Oregon — a nonprofit that advocates against tax breaks — came out against House Bill 3249 as being unaffordable.Critics argued that farmers already benefit from property tax breaks and other programs that will amount to $550 million over the next biennium, even though agriculture's conservation of water quality is insufficiently monitored and enforced.The involvement of agricultural groups in designing the fund proposal also came under fire, with critics casting it as a program aimed at helping private interests with public money.Clem, who chairs the committee, pointed out that farmers in Oregon have already collectively had their property values reduced by the state's land use system, which aims to preserve open space and agriculture.HB 3249 is intended to coax them into making these protections permanent by purchasing easements that extinguish a property's development rights, he said.