Another front in the canola debate is opening in Central Oregon, where crop restrictions may be eliminated even as the Willamette Valley’s regulatory outlook remains unsettled.

At the request of farmers in the region, the Oregon Department of Agriculture is proposing to abolish the “protected district” that prohibits canola production in Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties.

“Folks are looking for another rotation crop that can be planted before the winter and doesn’t need a lot of water,” said Sunny Summers, senior policy adviser at ODA.

The protected district was created a decade ago without generating as much controversy as regulations in the Willamette Valley, which limit the crop to 500 acres per year.

At that time, Central Oregon growers worried canola may pull pollinators away from the region’s signature carrot seed crop, but different bloom times have reduced those concerns, Summers said.

Since then, farmers have also increasingly contended with drought and water restrictions intended to protect the Oregon spotted frog, so canola offers an alternative that’s less dependent on irrigation, she said.

“Our farmers need another crop to be able to save water and diversify their operations. Not only does this help our family farms but it helps all the businesses that support them,” said Brad Hutchins, an agronomist from a Jefferson County farm family, in a petition to the agency.

‘Different beasts’

Though both Central Oregon and the Willamette Valley have protected districts for brassicas to regulate canola, they’re “different beasts” because restrictions in the latter region are mandated by law, said Summers.

“ODA cannot get rid of the Willamette district, because that’s required in statutes, whereas we can repeal the rules that require the Central Oregon district,” she said.

The agency is now seeking comments from the public about removing the Central Oregon brassica protected district through June 28, and may take action on the proposal as early as July, Summers said.

In the Willamette Valley, canola advocates nearly struck a deal with specialty seed producers, who fear cross-pollination from the crop, but compromise legislation was ultimately scuttled during the 2024 legislative session.

Instead, the 500-acre cap on canola in the region was extended until 2028, though it’s possible lawmakers may revisit the issue as soon as next year.

Unlike the Willamette Valley, the potential for cross-pollination between canola and related Brassica seed crops isn’t expected to be a major impediment in Central Oregon, according to several petitions asking ODA for the rule change.

“The production of other brassica crops has dwindled to essentially nothing and would not be a factor,” said Britt Spaulding, an agribusiness supplier in the region.

Even so, the proposed elimination of the Central Oregon protected district has disappointed the Friends of Family Farmers nonprofit, which has opposed loosening regulations in the Willamette Valley.

“I hope they would have engaged in a community discussion instead of proposing to rescind the district,” said Alice Morrison, the group’s co-director.

Friends of Family Farmers would prefer if the ODA considered revisions to the protected district rather than getting rid of it altogether, such as a maximum acreage limit or isolation distances between crops, she said.

“I’d be willing to have a statewide conversation about that,” Morrison said.

Debate less contentious

However, Rep. Anna Scharf, R-Amity, doesn’t think the debate over canola restrictions will become as heated in Central Oregon as it’s been in the western part of the state.

“The specialty seed industry is not as embedded in these three counties as in the Willamette Valley,” said Scharf, whose family grows canola and other crops.

Scharf said she’s of two minds about the proposed elimination of the Central Oregon protected district, given how the ODA has approached the matter.

“I’m thrilled for the people in Central Oregon, who’d have a crop that will solve their economic issues,” she said.

On the other hand, it’s frustrating the ODA hasn’t been as receptive to the arguments of grass seed farmers in the Willamette Valley, who also need crop alternatives, Scharf said.

Though the protected districts are different under law, that’s largely because of ODA’s bungling of canola policy in the Willamette Valley, resulting in lawmakers imposing statutory requirements, she said.

Meanwhile, many of the reasons cited by the agency for removing canola restrictions in Central Oregon — such as improved soil health and disease management — have long been espoused by Willamette Valley growers, she said.

“Yet they didn’t listen to us,” Scharf said.