Shannon Lourenzo comes from a family of dairy farmers. He and his wife, Julie, have run their own dairy operation since 1993. Eight years ago they bought land near Tillamook and the productive Tillamook Creamery.

The Lourenzos purchased 80 acres and leased another 70 on adjacent land. They husband 300 cows that produce milk.

After Measure 37 went into effect in 2005, the Lourenzos’ landlords filed a Measure 37 claim that proposes a 110-home subdivision.

Julie Lourenzo worries about a subdivision immediately next door to her farm. She said, “We start working at 2:30 in the morning. There’s noise and dust from trucks moving our products to the creamery all day, every day. How will our new neighbors adjust to that?”

Then there are the odors that are unpleasant even to farmers, let alone residential neighbors. “To protect groundwater, we have to retain all our manure and every drop of rain water that lands on it. We hold it all in tanks until the spring, when we use it as fertilizer.” It’s a set up for conflict.

If development forces the Lourenzos out of the dairy business, they fear they will have no good options. No one will want to buy their property for farmland, but they wouldn’t be able to develop their property, which will still be zoned exclusive farmland.

Oregon land use laws were designed to prevent conflicts between residential and agricultural uses. Measure 37 destroyed those protections.

Measure 37 not only will impact the Lourenzos — it could affect the entire Tillamook community, which relies on dairy farming and processing for a major segment of its economy.

Measure 49 will protect family farming operations like the Lourenzo’s dairy farm, keeping farm land in production and supporting Oregon’s rural communities.