Siskiyou farm cooperative helps feed Oregon’s hungry

The Little Applegate Valley looked postcard-pretty Wednesday as Gov. Ted Kulongoski drove up to Kris Hoien’s farm on Yale Creek.

Swallows swooped over lush, spring-green pastures, and snow glistened on distant ridgetops as the governor walked Hoien’s farm and talked about ways that Oregon farmers can feed their hungry neighbors.

Oregon has the biggest hunger problem of all 50 states, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Agriculture. In 2001, nearly 600,000 Oregonians received food from emergency food pantries.

A USDA study found Oregon had hunger rates nearly twice the national average — about 6 percent of Oregon households were going hungry, and more than 12 percent of households were "at risk of hunger" because they could not consistently afford an adequate diet.

Kulongoski said hunger is as much a problem in rural areas such as Jackson County as it is in Oregon’s metropolitan areas, but it’s harder to see outside cities.

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"Hunger often gets masked in rural areas," Kulongoski said. "It’s out of sight, out of mind."

The governor praised Hoien and a dozen other farmers who organized a cooperative to market their produce. Their Siskiyou Sustainable Cooperative works on the principle known as "community supported agriculture" — people "subscribe" for produce at the beginning of the season and agree to buy a weekly basket of locally grown fruits and vegetables. The subscriptions assure growers of a market and a reliable income stream.

The Siskiyou co-op and community-supported agriculture groups in Eugene and Bend are enrolled in Oregon’s Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program. Low-income seniors and women with young children receive coupons that they use like cash to buy fresh produce from Hoien’s co-op or from any of the other participating producers of fresh fruits and vegetables. The farmers redeem the coupons for cash, which comes mostly from the USDA.

"Over $1 million goes directly to farmers and provides better nutrition for seniors, women and children," said Laura Barton, a representative of the Oregon Department of Agriculture who joined Kulongoski on the tour.

Hoien encouraged Kulongoski to find more funding to expand the program. "We’d love to see it grow," she said. "Last year 300 people signed up, but we could only take 100."

The governor said Oregon’s current hunger problem can be traced to the gradual disappearance of well-paying jobs in the timber industry over the past 25 years. As the costs of housing and medical care have increased, many people have been forced to choose between "paying rent or putting food on the table," he said.

Oregon’s hunger rate stayed high, even during the boom of the 1990s. Incomes for the poorest one-fifth of Oregon families actually fell, and by 2000 about one-fifth of Oregon renters were paying more than half their income for rent.

Kulongoski said he wants to promote Oregon agriculture to encourage economic growth in rural areas. Oregon’s reputation as a place that values quality of life can make Oregon products attractive across the United States and around the world, he said.

He said agricultural practices that are designed to succeed over the long term are the key to the future, just as long-term forest health is the key to successful forestry.

"We’ve got to do things smarter," he said.

New cabinet-level office will address Oregon’s rural needs

Gov. Ted Kulongoski announced Wednesday the creation of a new Office of Rural Policy to address the needs of rural areas across the state.

The new cabinet-level office will serve as a go-between for elected officials in rural areas and the governor’s office, and it will provide rural comments to legislators and the governor about proposed changes in state laws.

Speaking to reporters at Kris Hoien’s farm in the Little Applegate Valley, Kulongoski said one of the office’s goals would be to "bring stronger economies to rural areas."

Kulongoski signed the executive order creating the new office Wednesday in John Day after he flew out of the Rogue Valley.

"Although all of Oregon is challenged by a sluggish economy, poverty and hunger, rural Oregon is even more deeply affected, because the natural resource base that has been the foundation of rural Oregon’s economy has changed dramatically over the past two decades," the governor wrote in the executive order. "Oregon’s drive to economic and social prosperity must include all areas of our state, including rural Oregon."

The office will be headed by a new rural policy adviser who will be paid between $54,276 and $79,908 a year. Half the money for the two-person staff will come from reshuffling dollars within the Department of Administrative Services and the rest comes from a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The executive order also creates a 14-member Rural Policy Advisory Committee. The governor will appoint 10 of the members. The president of the state Senate will appoint one senator from each party, and the speaker of the House of Representatives will appoint one representative from each party.

The executive order also directs 12 departments in state government to identify at least one person as a "rural policy liaison" who will work directly with the Office of Rural Policy.

The Legislative Emergency Board approved the office’s $130,000 price tag in January.

Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail bkettler@mailtribune.com