Some Oregon farms are up in arms about proposed changes to so-called farm stand rules. Gov. Tina Kotek has paused the changes for now. Here’s a look at some of the underlying issues.
Oregon’s land protection laws are enshrined in Senate Bill 100, which passed in 1973. The foundation of the law is a set of 19 statewide land use planning goals. One of them, goal three, requires counties to identify farmland and zone it as exclusive farm use, or EFU.
“Exclusive farm use zoning limits what can be done with that good agricultural land,” said Hilary Foote, a farm and forest specialist at DLCD. “But despite the name exclusive farm use zone, the [Oregon] legislature has recognized that there are a variety of residential and commercial opportunities that might be compatible with an agricultural environment.”
There are over 60 such uses that are allowed on farmland zoned as EFU.
While activities like “u-pick” — when a visitor harvests their own fruit or cuts their own flowers or — will not be affected at all, because it falls under an “allowed” farm use, some farms that run that type of activity also have a farm stand permit.
That permit allows them to sell more than just the crops they grow, it allows them to sell t-shirts or bumper stickers with their logo, jams or pickles made from crops they grew, or hold outdoor farm-to-table dinners and hayrides.
Oregon State University provides further resources and definitions on agritourism here.
