Oregon Agriculture Isn’t ‘Struggling’; It’s in crisis
Thoughts from the Tractor Seat By Ken Polehn
The Dalles, Ore., Jan. 31, 2026 — At the recent Northwest Ag Show in Salem, agricultural leaders said out loud what many farm families have known for years: Oregon agriculture is in crisis.
According to reporting by Capital Press, nearly 70% of Oregon farms are operating at a net cash loss, and the state is losing about one farm a day. Those numbers aren’t political. They’re arithmetic. And they match what rural communities are watching happen in real time.
Out here, the crisis doesn’t arrive with headlines. It comes quietly — in delayed repairs, postponed replanting, and conversations about succession that never quite happen because the margins no longer allow for it. Eventually, it ends with land being sold that was never meant to leave the family.
Much of today’s pressure comes from a growing disconnect between agricultural policy and agricultural reality. Farming is a biological system. Crops and livestock don’t follow office calendars, and labor needs don’t arrive evenly throughout the year. Regulations designed without regard for seasonality and timing increase costs while reducing flexibility — often hurting both farmers and workers in the process.
Most farmers want fair treatment for the people who work alongside them. We live in the same communities, send kids to the same schools, and depend on one another year after year. But when policy ignores how farming actually works, good intentions collide with biology — and biology always wins.
What’s most concerning isn’t just the loss of farms, but which farms are disappearing. Oregon isn’t losing agriculture altogether; it’s losing family-scale operations — the middle layer that supports local schools, equipment dealers, packing houses, and rural economies. Those farms don’t simply close. They’re absorbed, consolidated, and restructured.
Once that middle disappears, it doesn’t come back.
Some farms are turning to agritourism or direct sales to survive, and those efforts can help keep land in production. But diversification is a lifeline, not a replacement for a functioning agricultural economy. Food still has to be grown, harvested, and moved — and that requires viable farms and local infrastructure.
As Oregon leaders head into the short legislative session beginning in February, it’s critical that agriculture — and the working families tied to it — remain in sharp focus. Decisions made in short sessions still carry long consequences. For farmers, those consequences show up quickly and don’t fade easily.
Credit is due to farm leaders for acknowledging the severity of the situation. Saying it out loud matters. But acknowledgement alone won’t stop the losses.
If Oregon wants agriculture to remain a living system — not a nostalgic talking point — policy must reconnect with reality. That means recognizing farming as seasonal and biological, understanding that when margins disappear stewardship disappears with them, and accepting that losing a farm a day isn’t progress. The question now is whether anyone in power is willing to look.
About the Author
I was born in 1961 into a second-generation farm family in The Dalles. I grew up on a tractor seat, moving irrigation pipe with my sisters before school, and spent my summers picking cherries alongside the children of migrant families who returned year after year. My wife, children, and parents have all worked the same land. I’ve served as county Farm Bureau president, sat on the county fair board, and continue to support 4-H and FFA. I’ve seen firsthand what happens when farmers are squeezed out—not just of business, but of the conversation.
