Hal Balin’s family has been farming in the Klamath Basin for almost 100 years. In recent years, Hal has seen dairy farmers move into southern Oregon after being pushed out of California by urban development. Now he’s concerned farmers will be pushed out of Oregon, as well.

In the 1970s, Hal notes, Oregon put in place solid policies that protected farmers from land use fights and conflicts with neighbors. But following Measure 37, some landowners have the right to develop farmland and timberland however they see fit. That means Hal and other farmers face the possibility of a giant subdivision or other inappropriate development cropping up next door.

Measure 49 limits development that can happen via Measure 37 to as many as 10 homes per property owner.

Hal feels the Measure 37 claims that have popped up in the basin threaten the ability to “grow food and fiber” in his part of the state. Not only could they bring neighbors who will object to routine farming practices but they also will threaten the basics of food production: water and good soil.

“To raise an agricultural product, you need water. Here in the Klamath Basin, we have one of the oldest and most efficient irrigation systems in the nation. When you divide up an irrigation system by building subdivisions on farmland, the system no longer is efficient,” he says.

And water is too valuable to waste. “You can’t make more water.”

Hal sees that in today’s economy, a farmer needs to continue adding land to be able to bring in the same amount of revenue. When adjacent parcels become housing tracts, it means that quality farmland is gone forever. As the farming base erodes, so does the economic viability of a farming community.

“Build homes where it makes sense,” Hal says. But too often, “being reasonable isn’t part of the equation.”

Hal is supporting Measure 49 as a way to bring reason back to Oregon’s land use policies.