Below is one of a series of articles examining Initiative Petition 28, a potential citizen ballot measure proposed by radical anti-hunting and animal rights extremists that would make it a crime in Oregon to hunt, fish, raise livestock and poultry for food and/or dairy products, and even carry out pest control. It would also severely affect and change private property rights, recreational activity on public lands, restaurants and small business owners, coastal communities, working animal industries, agricultural-related youth organizations and programs, and the state’s economy on multiple fronts. Also, it would lessen the ability of Oregonians to acquire food. This piece focuses on IP 28’s devastating impact on farming and ranching.
Farming and ranching are the lifeblood of tens of thousands of Oregonians.
According to the Oregon Farm Bureau, the state is home to more than 35,000 farms and ranches, with 96 percent of them owned and operated by families. Oregon produces farm products with an annual market value of $6 billion, and the state ranks 15th nationally in its reliance on farm jobs. Forty-four percent of all Oregon farmers and ranchers are women, the fourth highest ranking in the nation. On average, one Oregon farmer feeds 168 people.
It is already a challenging way of life as 69 percent of farmers operate at a net cash loss due to high input, labor costs and overregulation.
Initiative Petition 28 (IP 28) would make things worse, much worse. If passed into law, it would put an end to these traditional, food-producing operations that raise animals for meat, milk, cheese, leather, wool and other byproducts. Petitioners claim standard, accepted breeding practices, which improve health and strength, better manage disease and enhance economic efficiency and genetic improvement are nothing more than “animal sexual assault,” with perpetrators committing a crime.
“You couldn’t have permits for slaughtering,” said David Michelson, IP 28 chief petitioner. “Those opposed to our campaign are correct that it would ban killing animals, although they occasionally aren't as precise in their language as would be helpful. For example, this doesn't ban all farming, since it is possible to farm vegetables, fruits, legumes, etc.”
Michelson says farmers can convert chicken farms to mushroom farming and change ranches into landscapes where animals simply roam free in the form of animal sanctuaries and “maybe even transition some of the farmers into sanctuary workers so they can take care of the same animals.”
“I hear about farmers who say they want to care about the animals. Give them the opportunity. Say, ‘Okay, we will then use the millions of dollars we normally subsidize killing them to actually raise them and let them be healthy and happy,’ keeping them employed while also keeping the animals there where they are…but obviously much bigger spaces and not in confinement,” said Michelson.
What he does not suggest, or perhaps understand, is the wide-ranging and disastrous economic impact of removing statewide farms and ranches as current food production centers. Such an action will lead to skyrocketing costs for importing meats, cheeses, milk and other products from other states to Oregon for grocery and convenience stores, gas stations, restaurants and other eateries, while forcing some of them out of business. Those costs would also be passed on to everyday consumers.
For Michelson, in addition to vastly altering the lives and lifestyles of farmers and ranchers comes other pie-in-the-sky thinking.
“They could, theoretically, move their animals out of state to California or Idaho or Washington. It certainly protects the animals while they’re in Oregon and could end up creating a system where we’re trying to get animals into Oregon from other states to protect them and rescue them. It would set up a really interesting infrastructure of moving animals into the state,” he said.
Ironically, such activities could be illegal, according to Michelson’s own measure since IP 28 spells out that those who transport animals in a way that they become injured may be prosecuted for animal cruelty.
Hunt 2 Conserve strongly opposes IP 28 and urges Oregonians to reject it.
About Hunt 2 Conserve
Hunt 2 Conserve is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Its mission is to advance a legacy of hunting and conservation by educating, activating and developing stewards and defenders of these fundamentally American ideals. For more information, go to hunt2conserve.org.
