The Oregon Department of Agriculture has rewritten its regulations on dairies, following push back from some small farmers. Previously, the ODA had warned dairy farms that they could face fines if they failed to register as Confined Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs.
In a memo from last year, the agency said several raw milk producers were ignoring the registration requirement, creating environmental concerns and generating complaints from other dairies. However, critics argued the state’s criteria was too broad and would have saddled small businesses with regulatory requirements meant for large-scale farms. “It would have been very cost prohibitive to us to continue to operate the way that we do today, if at all,” said Sarah King with Godspeed Hollow, a two-cow farm in Newberg. “And that could have been the case for many other farms that look like us in the state.”
In January, King joined three other raw milk farmers in a lawsuit against the ODA, accusing the state of protecting the corporate milk industry. “These rules don’t make sense for the small dairies, because they don’t create the kind of problems posed by these larger farming operations,” said Bobbi Taylor, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
