Phil Hassinger, a farmer in Eastern Oregon, voted yes on 37. He says he liked the idea of compensation in some cases. But now the reality of that law, which sounded so simple, has come home to roost.

Phil is working to reform the measure before irreversible damage is done to Oregon’s agricultural industry. And his son’s future.

Phil wants the family farming business to survive into a fourth generation. Measure 49 would make it possible for that to happen.

Without protection from 49, however, development on track to happen via Measure 37 would derail his plans and those of his son, Seth.

Measure 37 has created a climate of uncertainty that makes it impossible for an alfalfa, wheat, grass seed and peppermint farmer from Cove to plan for the future.

Seth’s ability to expand the family business by acquiring land would be Measure 37’s first casualty, Phil says. Farmers simply can’t compete with housing developers for raw land.

For example, the Hassinger family owns property near La Grande that likely would fetch around $2,000 per acre for farm use. But as land for residential development, it likely would go for closer to $100,000 per acre. Given that enormous difference, it’s understandable why some farmers are funding their retirement by selling property to developers.

Most farmers—both those who want to stay in the business of agriculture and those who aren’t eligible for the special rights of Measure 37—are finding it hard to compete in this new climate of uncertainty.

“Measure 49 precludes the developers from moving in on us,” Phil says.

The second issue is the compatibility of farm uses with residential development. Farmers get up early, make noise, raise dust and sometimes create a literal stink. That’s why Phil protested a Measure 37 claim that paved the way for a housing development in the rural Grande Ronde Valley of northeastern Oregon.

“People living on small lots surrounded by agricultural land is problematic,” he says.

Aspiring fourth-generation farmer Seth already has invested money in the family farm and has taken agricultural classes in anticipation of taking over a family enterprise that could fall victim to a measure his father initially supported.