LD-2 Disclosure Form

Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (Section 5) - All Filers Are Required to Complete This Page

1. Registrant Name Organization/Lobbying Firm Self Employed Individual

Oregon Farm Bureau Federation

2. Address

Address1

1320 Capitol Street, NE

Address2

Suit 200

City

Salem

State

Zip Code

97301

Country

USA

3. Principal place of business (if different than line 2)

City

State

Zip Code

Country

4a. Contact Name		b. Telephone Number	c. E-mail
Mr.	DAVID DILLON	5033991701	dave@oregonfb.org

5. Senate ID#

400263203-12

7. Client Name	Self	Check if client is a state or local government or instrumentality
Oregon Farm Bureau Federation

6. House ID#

400040000

LOBBYING ACTIVITY. Select as many codes as necessary to reflect the general issue areas in which the registrant engaged in lobbying on behalf of the client during the reporting period. Using a separate page for each code, provide information as requested. Add additional page(s) as needed.

ESA REFORM

A long-awaited series of bills to modernize and update the Endangered Species Act have been introduced in Congress. These bills are the first step to bringing much needed common-sense updates to a set of regulations that have not been updated in 30 years. ESA restrictions are especially harsh for farmers and ranchers because the law prevents them from making productive use of their primary business asset: their land. Unlike other industries, farmers and ranchers typically live on the land where they work, and they operate with a strong focus on both economic and environmental stewardship.

Modernization and update is necessary because there are clear shortcomings associated with the upkeep and recovery rate of listed species.
Even though the ESA was enacted to promote the public good, farmers and ranchers bear the financial brunt of providing food and habitat for listed species through restrictions imposed by the ESA.
Today, the ESA provides protections for 1,661 domestic species at a cost of $1.47 billion annually (FY 2016).
Only 3 percent of species have been successfully recovered since the law was enacted 45 years ago.

19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None

OFB continues to monitor and support pass of the 2018 farm bill. Specific monitored areas include conservation title, SNAP program and trade titles, hemp language and vaccine bank.

Vaccine bank would acquire vaccine and veterinary countermeasures needed to respond to devastating animal disease outbreaks

S. 2667 designed to remove hemps designation as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency due to its botanical relationship and appearance to its cannabis. They both establish THC limits of 0.3%, the same threshold used in the pilot program outlined in the 2014 farm bill, the statute Oregon farmers are using to grow hemp. The market is vast and includes ingredients derived from industrial hemp in foods and beverages, cosmetics and personal care products, nutritional supplements, fabrics and textiles, paper, construction and insulation materials, supercapacitor batteries and automotive products.

19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None

General monitoring of Ag and Interior appropriations bills. No specifics asks were made.

19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None

Chairman Goodlatte has worked tirelessly as House Judiciary Chair to bring a viable guest worker program for agriculture that is beneficial and balances with the political climate. In short, easier said than done. There was hope earlier in the summer that the bill would be taken up on the House floor prior to August. That did not happen. The hope now is fall, potentially after the elections.

Last October, the House Judiciary Committee reported HR 4092, the AG Act. That measure established a new H-2C guest worker program for agriculture. Many of the elements of that program represented significant improvements over the current H-2A program. They included granting USDA a principal role in administering the program, broadening the program to all of agriculture (including dairy), setting a wage floor that is closer to market conditions, establishing an at-will program, reducing recruitment obligations on employers, reducing bureaucratic hurdles, and eliminating expensive provisions that make H-2A unattractive. Despite these improvements, however, the bill did present significant challenges; they included the visa cap, how our current workers would be treated, a health insurance mandate on workers, and a touchback provision that left in doubt how many workers would actually come forward to participate in the new program.

Over the summer, Chairman Goodlatte agreed to modify the bill. These modifications are critical to the legislation. They include:

o a 3-year visa
ostrengthening the at-will program
oproviding advance parole to streamline the touchback provision
opermitting flexibility in the visa cap in the first two years should it be reached
olengthening the transition from the H-2A program
omodifying the health insurance requirement

The legislation isnt perfect, but support for the bill is a starting point to get it to the floor and improve it when it gets to the Senate. Improvement is focused on what to do with current workers and possibly strengthen provisions that will allow current workers the opportunity to gain permanent legal status.

What is certain is that if the House fails to pass legislation, the issue will be dead - not just for this Congress but possibly for years. The last viable piece of immigration reform dates back to the summer of 2010.

The labor shortage in agriculture is acute and only getting worse. While the AG Act may fall short in some respects, it has enough positive elements to provide a sound foundation on which we can build in the Senate and we urge all members to vote in favor of the legislation.

19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None

Monitored WRDA bills in both House and Senate, specifically ensuring that the ACOE proposal regarding the Willamette Reallocation project was not included. The proposal by ACOE and NMFS leaves Oregon agriculture in peril with regard to water supply in perpetuity. T

Overall, OFB supports S. 3021 is a bipartisan, bicameral agreement that provides improvements to the nations ports, inland waterways, locks, dams, flood protection, ecosystem restoration, and other water resources infrastructure. In addition to the Water Resources Development Act in Title I, the bill also contains provisions for drinking water system improvement, hydropower development and stormwater/wastewater infrastructure improvements. Agriculture depends on efficient ports and inland waterway infrastructure. Farm Bureau supports enacting into law a WRDA bill every two years.

Willamette Reallocation Specifics

BACKGROUND

The Corps constructed a series of thirteen federal reservoirs in the middle and upper Willamette Basin beginning in the 1930s. Currently, the water is stored under Bureau of Reclamation water use rights that authorize storage for irrigation. The Corps proposal in their Tentative Selected Plan (TSP) would reallocate 962,800 acre-feet of water to fish and wildlife, leaving one of Oregons most economical and viable industries, agriculture, in jeopardy.

CONCERN

Concern regarding the Willamette Basin Review Feasibility Study (Study) and the recent recommendations for reallocation of stored water, up to 1.64 million acre-feet, the last remaining allocated water in the Willamette Valley (Valley), in the 13 reservoirs comprising the Willamette Valley Project (WVP). In November 2017, the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) published the Study and Environmental Assessment.

Despite countless meetings with congressional office, NMFS (Portland), NMFS (DC) and the Corps, industry has been unable to get clear answer or commitments as each agency seem to be pointing fingers at the others. At the suggestion of Oregon Farm Bureau, Congressmen Schrader and DeFazio are convening all parties to the table on September 17 to try and get at answers of sharing the pain in low water years and an appropriate AI allocation to start.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

The Valley is the most populated area of the state and is also home to the most diversified and intensively farmed agricultural regions. Approximately 70 percent of Oregons population is located in the Willamette Basin and approximately 85 percent of that population in the Willamette Basin is supported by public water systems. The ability of the water providers to meet the projected long-term water supply requirements of the Willamette Valleys agricultural operations and communities is critical to the economic viability of our state.

The Willamette Valley is home to more than 18,000 farms spanning 1.7 million acres with a market value of more than $2.2 billion. Oregon is number one in the production of nine commodities nationwide. Nursery products raised in the Valley decorate landscapes all along the eastern seaboard. Grass seed, grown in the heart of the Valley is featured on some of the most prominent golf courses and the National Mall. In addition, the Willamette Valley was also recognized as the Wine Region of the Year.

Much of Oregon's population is concentrated in the Willamette Valley from Eugene to the south through Corvallis, Salem and Portland. Other major cities include Gresham, Hillsboro, Beaverton and Springfield. These and other urban and suburban centers are only expected to grow. Population growth estimates for Oregon show an increase for decades to come. In 2016 the population grew 1.56% (62,505 people) and in 2017 that number increased by 1.59% (64,750). Estimates for 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050 are 4,252,100, 4,768,000, 5,203,000 and 5,588,500, respectively.

CORPS ACTION

The Corps reallocation proposal in the TSP was woefully inadequate and underestimates sound population growth estimates and the importance of Oregons natural resource industry. The following includes the proposed allocation that was recommended in the Corps Tentatively Selected Plan, and the allocations proposed by the water users.

USACEs Proposed Allocations
UseVolume (AF)Percent
F&W962,80061%
M&I73,3005%
AI253,95016%
Joint Use299,95019%
Allocations Proposed by Water Users
UseVolume (AF)Percent
F&W962,80061%
M&I159,75010%
AI450,00028%
Joint Use17,4501%

The water users held meetings with each of Oregons congressional offices, the Governors office, Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD), and the Corps expressing these concerns and recommending the approach illustrated above to reallocation the joint use pool to agriculture and municipal uses. OWRD and the Corps have recently notified the water users that they will consider reallocation of the joint use pool as described below.

Allocations Recommended by the State of Oregon
UseVolume (AF)Percent
F&W1,102,60069%
M&I159,75010%
AI327,65021%
Joint Use0%

CONCLUSION

Although efforts were made to reallocate the joint use pool, it was not equitably allocated to meet agricultural needs in the basin. The Corps must reassess its recommended allocation that will have an impact in perpetuity.

Municipalities & Industry and Agriculture Irrigation communities formally request the Corps adjust its recommendation to meet the needs of Oregon citizens and its economy by formally recommending an allocation no less than 159,000 acre-feet for M&I and 450,000 acre-feet for AI.

In addition to this recommendation on the reallocation, the existing agricultural users that hold stored water contracts could be severely impaired and impacted by the application of new curtailment formulas and request those existing contracts be grandfathered in, and no curtailment be applied to those users that have already invested significant amounts in their infrastructure based on the certainty of those existing storage contracts.

Lastly, one of the most crucial policy decisions will be how the storage contracts will be curtailment in years of water shortage and drought. Water users are dependent on these storage contracts to survive during those tough years. A proportionate reduction is the only equitable and fair methodology that can be applied to support fish and wildlife, Oregons citizens, and our critical industrial and agricultural economies.

U.S. SENATE, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Army - Dept of (Corps of Engineers), Natl Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None

$12 billion ag relief package announced
Monitored details of agriculture tariff relief program.

The relief is a short-term relief strategy to protect agricultural producers while the Administration works on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets in the long run to help American farmers compete globally.

USDAs Farm Service Agency (FSA) will administer the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) to producers for seven commodities.

USDAs Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will administer a Food Purchase and Distribution Program to purchase up to $1.2 billion in commodities targeted by retaliation. USDAs Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will distribute these commodities through nutrition assistance programs such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and child nutrition programs.

Through the Foreign Agricultural Services (FAS) Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP), $200 million will be made available to develop foreign markets for U.S. agricultural products. The program will help U.S. agricultural exporters identify and access new markets and help mitigate the adverse effects of other countries restrictions.

Market Facilitation Program ▪ $6 b
corn ▪ cotton ▪ dairy ▪ hog ▪ sorghum ▪ soybean wheat
MFP is established under the statutory authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and administered by FSA. For each commodity covered, the payment rate will be dependent upon the severity of the trade disruption and the period of adjustment to new trade patterns, based on each producers actual production.

Food Purchase Distribution Program ▪ $1.2 b
Apples ▪ beef ▪ blueberries ▪cranberries ▪ dairy grapes ▪ hazelnuts ▪ pears ▪ peas ▪ potatoes strawberries ▪ sweet corn *sweet cherries
The amounts of commodities to be purchased are based on an economic analysis of the damage caused by unjustified tariffs imposed on the crops listed below. Their damages will be adjusted based on several factors and spread over several months in response to orders placed by states participating in the FNS nutrition assistance programs.

Ag Trade Promotion Program ▪ $200 m
intended to assist all sectors of agriculture
through partnerships with non-profit national and regional organizations
The ATP will provide cost-share assistance to eligible U.S. organizations for activities such as consumer advertising, public relations, point-of-sale demonstrations, participation in trade fairs and exhibits, market research, and technical assistance.

19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None

Monitored and evaluated merits of administration realignment initiatives.

Nutrition Assistance - Move the non-commodity nutrition assistance program (currently in USDA) into the Department of Health and Human Services, which will be renamed the Department of Health and Public Welfare (DHPW).

Corps - Move the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works out of the Department of Defense to the Department of Transportation and Department of Interior to consolidate and align the Corps civil works missions with these agencies.

Food Safety Inspection Service - This proposal would address the current fragmented Federal oversight of food safety by reorganizing USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the food safety functions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) into a single agency within USDA.

USDA Housing - This proposal would move the USDAs rural housing loan guarantee and rental assistance programs to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

NMFS - This proposal would merge the Department of Commerces (DOC) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) with the Department of the Interiors (DOI) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). This merger would consolidate the administration of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) in one agency and combine the Services science and management capacity.

CERCLA - This proposal would consolidate portions of the Department of Interiors (DOI) Central Hazardous Materials Program and the Department of Agricultures (USDA) Hazardous Materials Management program into the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Superfund program.

AMS
As part of USDAs internal reorganization effort, it has undertaken significant changes to the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to improve customer engagement, maximize efficiency, and improve agency collaboration. The Packers and Stockyards Program, Federal Grain Inspection Service, U.S. Warehouse Act Program, and International Commodity Purchasing were transferred to the Agricultural Marketing Service as new program areas in FY 2018.

Mission
USDA has begun realigning and consolidating certain offices into more logical organizational reporting structures. The realignment has included the creation of an Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, an Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development (RD), and an Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation. Additionally, USDA is merging the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) into the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).

Regional Alignment
DOI seeks to establish common regional boundaries for its bureaus and offices to provide better coordination across the department, focus resources in the field, and ultimately, improve mission delivery. Currently, each DOI bureau manages its responsibilities using regional structures that follow different geographical boundaries.

Shared Services
DOI is working to collocate bureau offices wherever possible and to emphasize the use of shared administrative support services across its organizational units.

State Oversight
EPA recalibrate resources devoted to oversight of state delegated programs, including the role of EPA National Programs and Regions, and their respective levels of effort. EPA will recognize states as the primary implementers and enforcement authorities where states have authorized delegation of Federal environmental programs. With input from the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) and the states, EPA will streamline, reduce, and tailor its oversight activities to focus on national consistency and technical assistance to states as needed.

Field Presence
After streamlining and tailoring state oversight activities, EPA will assess the best locations from which to provide key functions and services to customers. EPA will assess owned space vs. leasing space for field operations.

19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None

Information Update Page - Complete ONLY where registration information has changed.

23. Name of each previously reported individual who is no longer expected to act as a lobbyist for the client

26. Name of each previously reported organization that is no longer affiliated with the registrant or client

28. Name of each previously reported foreign entity that no longer owns, or controls, or is affiliated with the registrant, client or affiliated organization

First Name	Last Name	Suffix	Covered Official Position (if applicable)	New
Gail	Greenman

First Name	Last Name	Suffix	Covered Official Position (if applicable)	New
Gail	Greenman

First Name	Last Name	Suffix	Covered Official Position (if applicable)	New
Gail	Greenman

First Name	Last Name	Suffix	Covered Official Position (if applicable)	New
Gail	Greenman

First Name	Last Name	Suffix	Covered Official Position (if applicable)	New
Gail	Greenman