Oregon, if I understand correctly, has made it so you can’t keep animals somewhere that has a gravel or cement floor, or somewhere on a gravel or sealed road, or water them from a river, lake, pond or dam, even if you constructed pond or dam, or well. No vegetable gardens… although you can use collected rainwater. People have been served from satellite data. Cease and desist. Apply for permit.
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In Oregon, the landscape of small-scale farming is undergoing a seismic shift due to recent regulatory changes affecting water rights and farm operations. These changes are casting a shadow over the future of family farms and local agriculture, invoking a series of legal challenges and widespread concern among the farming community.

t the core of the upheaval are two contentious issues: the expanded definition of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and stringent water usage restrictions. These regulations have placed an undue burden on small farmers, many of whom are now facing the threat of closure due to what they view as overreaching government intervention.

The reclassification of small homesteads as CAFOs, based on broad criteria including the presence of rock or gravel pathways, has ensnared numerous family-run operations under a regulatory umbrella typically reserved for much larger, industrial-scale farms. This shift has not only surprised many in the farming community but also spurred legal action. A lawsuit filed earlier this year on behalf of these small-scale operations argues that the definition of a CAFO is overly broad and unfairly targets those who are least able to bear the regulatory and financial burdens imposed by such a classification. Critics, including those from Yanasa TV and the National Review, highlight how these definitions and the aggressive enforcement tactics—like the use of satellite technology to issue cease-and-desist orders—represent a misguided approach to environmental protection that disproportionately impacts small farmers.

more…
https://thatoregonlife.com/2024/03/small-farms-in-oregon-suffer-as-new-cafo-definitions-threaten-livelihoods/

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/25/oregon-department-of-agriculture-withdraws-requirements/

dv said:

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/25/oregon-department-of-agriculture-withdraws-requirements/

ta.
solves that. for now.

“ Since the withdrawal is only temporary and the department is not conceding that it lacked the power to enforce the new requirements, the lawsuit, filed by the nonprofit Institute for Justice, will continue in federal court, according to Bobbi Taylor, one of the attorneys representing the four dairy farmers.

“They’ve stopped short of saying that they would never enforce this policy against small farms like Sarah’s or disclaiming that they had the authority to do so in the first place, which is what we’re challenging in the lawsuit,” Taylor said. “So there’s still a fight to be had and we’re gonna continue to have that fight.”