{"id":1566,"date":"2019-09-12T21:02:25","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T21:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmforward1.wpengine.com\/?p=1566"},"modified":"2023-04-11T10:36:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-11T14:36:25","slug":"farm-forward-condemns-reappointment-of-mega-dairy-exec-to-state-agriculture-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/farm-forward-condemns-reappointment-of-mega-dairy-exec-to-state-agriculture-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Farm Forward Condemns Reappointment of Mega-Dairy Exec to State Agriculture Board\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Today, Farm Forward along with a coalition of family farm, animal welfare, and environmental groups sent a <\/span>letter<\/span> to Oregon Governor Kate Brown condemning the reappointment of Marty Myers, general manager of Threemile Canyon Farms for a second four-year term on Oregon\u2019s Board of Agriculture. The groups cited Myers\u2019 conflict of interest in influencing policy decisions by his own mega-dairy\u2019s regulator–the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA)–and his track record opposing rules to limit pollution generated by industrial dairies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The coalition cited the approval and failed oversight of the notorious Lost Valley Farm mega-dairy which eventually had its permit revoked and was sold following numerous violations for animal waste management and storage. We believe that Myers and other Board of Agriculture members have failed to appropriately use their roles as policy advisors to advocate for needed improvements in ODA\u2019s Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) program in the wake of the Lost Valley disaster.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need an Ag Board that is willing to protect Oregonians\u2019 air and water from contamination from mega-dairies, not industry insiders who want to continue to protect their own interests,\u201d said Tarah Heinzen, a senior attorney with Food & Water Watch. \u201cAllowing Myers, a mega-dairy operator, to continue to influence the Department of Agriculture as it considers permitting yet another mega-dairy at the Lost Valley site does not bode well for Eastern Oregon residents or our environment.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith the reappointment of Marty Myers to the Board of Agriculture, Governor Brown has demonstrated her continued allegiance to industrialized dairy in Oregon and her lack of regard for our family-owned dairies, which continue to struggle in very difficult market conditions,\u201d said Shari Sirkin, Executive Director of Friends of Family Farmers. \u201cIt would have been far better to appoint a real family farmer to this board, but once again, Governor Brown chose Oregon\u2019s mega-dairies over its small, independent farms.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The groups blasted Governor Brown for rushing through the reappointment, without addressing community concerns about Myers\u2019 conflict of interest.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a backroom, closed-door decision without any public review or input,\u201d said Hannah Connor, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. \u201cIt indicates the governor remains much more interested in appeasing corporate agricultural interests than working openly with Oregonians to make sure their air and water is safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is <\/span>not the first time<\/span><\/a> that the Governor and her agencies have shut us out of what should be a public process to regulate these massive industrial facilities,\u201d said Amy van Saun, senior attorney with the Center for Food Safety. \u201cJust like in the Lost Valley permit revocation process, where we were excluded from a closed-door settlement, public stakeholders have a right to a seat at the table when state policymakers are deciding the fate of our environment and public health.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Several of the groups criticizing Governor Brown\u2019s decision to reappoint Myers <\/span>raised similar concerns<\/span><\/a> four years ago, but those concerns have gone unanswered. The organizations now seek a meeting with the Governor\u2019s staff to discuss needed improvements to transparency and regulation of mega-dairies going forward.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n\n\n\t

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September 12, 2019<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation","category-food-policy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}