January 2010
Volume 1, Number 2
Dinnertable and water cooler conversations of late in Oregon relate to Measures 66 and 67 on the tax increases instituted by the 2009 legislative session. The tax increases helped partially mitigate the very significant impact of the economic downturn on education and other public services. Unfortunately, however, many - including some in the agricultural community - oppose any tax increase, without thinking of the public investments needed to ensure a strong and viable economy, including the (agricultural) economy, of our state. In this issue of The Source, you will find explicated the economic context and implications of these Measures.
Similarly, another story examines Oregon's agricultural economy, by county and commodity through time. Oregon produces well over 200 agricultural commodities - from albacore tuna to cherries to milk, vegetable and grass seed to wheat, and everything in between, with a farmgate value in 2008 of nearly $5 billion, and an economic impact approaching $25 billion.
The research and educational knowledge base to support the production of most of these commodities is the purview of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University; in addition our faculty, staff and students help determine and explain the direct and indirect impacts of this huge enterprise - on the local to global economies or from ecosystem services to environmental impacts. By connecting consumers with farmers and developing best-practices guidelines, our economists have helped grow the number of local markets. Innovations in crop production have cut water and fertilizer use by half and produced crops of the very largest onions, enhancing the local economy while mitigating the environmental impacts. Ensuring the genetic purity of seeds, enhancing sweet cherry production, determining the relationship between competitive crop production, trade barriers and climate change, economic disparities between communities, and the impact of state and national policies on the economics of alternative energy are also just a few of the stories in this issue of The Source.