Oregon Public Broadcasting

We've all heard about the decline of the family farm in the U.S. and the dominance of giant corporate farms. The trouble is, in Oregon that’s just not the case.

In fact, according to the latest census figures, even though farm acreage in the state has dropped slightly, there are actually more farms now than there were a decade ago.

Pete Springer paid a visit to one of these small farms to check on the state of the family farm in Oregon.

Damascus farmer Larry Thompson is the essence of the modern family farmer.

Larry Thompson's parents moved to Oregon "to raise strawberries and kids."

Larry Thompson: “My parents came out here in 1947, my mom loved to tell the story that she came out here to raise strawberries and kids and they accomplished that -- they were true pioneers, they left their farm in South Dakota, just came out here, and started farming.”

His parents started with a five-acre strawberry farm.

Thompson now grows 50 different crops on 120 acres.

He says the growth and diversity of the food grown at the farm are just some of the differences between the way his parents ran the farm and the way it operates today.

For example, the “no trespassing” signs are gone these days.

Larry Thompson: “Today what we do, this whole neighborhood right next to me, everyone knows -- they walk their dogs out here, they jog around the farm, they ride their bicycles up and down the roadways.  We encourage all of that because our job, again, is not only raising food but we’re part of the community and we realize that.”

Another change is that Thompson sells everything directly to the public.  His parents used to sell to grocery stores and processors.

Larry Thompson: “Once NAFTA came in, they started importing an awful lot of produce and I was being told what my product was worth to them, not what it cost me to grow and not what the consumer wanted, but what it was worth to them, so I got out of that market because I had no destiny and no control on the prices.”

That's  fairly typical of Oregon family farms, says Bart Eleveld. He's an agricultural economist with Oregon State University.

Bart Eleveld: “Going beyond just producing a raw commodity but producing something that is either consumer ready or at least closer to the consumer perhaps -- maybe they’re producing a commodity that they sell to the restaurant trade, or they sell to retail markets directly rather than going through a broker or a more commodity kind of orientation.”

Eleveld says the future of the family farm in Oregon is healthy but the definition is changing.  More and more family farmers are selling directly to the public, and many of them are actually expanding their farms.

Bart Eleveld: “Because farms are enlarging, are expanding, are becoming bigger by absorbing other farms -- the farmland is largely being kept in production.”

Jim Johnson agrees.  He’s a land-use specialist for the state Department of Agriculture. 

Johnson says for the most part Oregon’s land-use laws  prevent farms from being sold to developers. 

Jim Johnson: “Even if there’s not a farmer to come in and take over that farm specifically there are other farmers on surrounding farms that are willing to acquire that or rent or lease that.  And if the land-use laws weren’t in place, those parcels could be available for basically non-farm use or whatever -- that land wouldn’t be available.”

Johnson says family farms and urban areas in Oregon actually benefit each other.

Jim Johnson: “You don’t see, you know, a large corporate agricultural operation marketing their products at farmers markets and farm stands and the like.  And so a local food push helps a family farm and urban populations tend to be the markets for those local food products.”

Which is pretty much how Larry Thompson operates his farm.  He sells at farm stands and farmers' markets. His latest market is stands at local hospitals.

And while Thompson’s farm has successfully transitioned into new markets, he’s not so certain what the future of his farm will be.  He doesn’t want his son to work the long hours 7 days a week his  farm requires.

Larry  Thompson: “I think it’s ludicrous to think that we’re gonna get a younger generation to come in here and work the kind of hours that I work to get it to this point.  I’m used to working those hours -- that’s what I do.  I don’t know anything else.  My son, knows other things.”

Thompson says the future of his farm will most likely be a smaller farm surrounded by restaurants, high-end houses, and retirement communities. 

Jim Johnson with the state Department of Agriculture says the future  of small farms depends on the quality of the product – and the farm experience itself.

Jim Johnson: “A lot of people are willing to pay for added values, that is if they’re sustainably grown or environmentally safe or socially responsible -- those types of things.”

Johnson adds that Oregon farmers have a huge advantage over farmers in other parts of the country. 

More than 200 commodities can be grown in Oregon -- something few other states can claim.