Oregon’s dairy industry is urging the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to scrap a proposal requiring a minimum distance of 500 feet between livestock barns and farmworker housing.

Imposing the restriction would disqualify a broad swath of the existing housing on dairy farms from meeting broader regulatory standards proposed by OSHA, said Tami Kerr, executive director of the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association.

“It would be devastating. I can’t over-emphasize how devastating it would be to our farms,” Kerr said.

The distance restriction, which would go into effect in 2026, is among a suite of updated farmworker housing standards proposed by OSHA this summer after lengthy negotiations with growers and labor advocates.

Roughly 80% of Oregon dairies have housing within 500 feet of livestock facilities and would be impacted by the rule, resulting in a major disruption to housing availability with no discernible benefit, she said.

“There’s no problem that needs to be solved. Nobody has gotten sick,” Kerr said. “We have pushed the issue, trying to find a scientific reason, but we really don’t have one.”

Originally, the detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza in dairy cattle was mentioned as a justification for the distance restriction, but regulators have backed off from that explanation as the human risks have been determined to be low, she said.

The other rationale cited by OSHA is the need to align state farmworker housing standards with those required by the federal government, but a legal analysis commissioned by ODFA undercuts that reasoning, Kerr said.

According to the analysis from the Tonkon Torp law firm, federal regulations only require that temporary labor camps be located 500 feet or more from livestock barns, but that restriction doesn’t apply to permanent farmworker housing.

From a practical standpoint, it’s convenient for both dairy farmers and their workers to live near livestock facilities, as cattle require round-the-clock care, Kerr said.

“They need to be close to the animals for their welfare and safety. That’s our highest priority,” she said.

Existing housing less than 500 feet from barns hasn’t caused any safety issues but relocating it would be financially or logistically impossible, she said.

“You don’t move permanent homes,” Kerr said.

Public comments on the overall farmworker housing standards were due by Nov. 4, so Kerr hopes that concerns expressed by dairy farmers will convince state regulators to abandon the change.

Most dairy farmers have their homes within 500 feet of their cattle, so it’s unclear if the proposal would affect their children or other family members who live and work on-site, she said.

Depending on how broadly the regulation is interpreted, the restriction could also apply to beef producers or even 4-H and FFA members who raise livestock at home, Kerr said. “Is that going to be illegal as well?”

Meanwhile, the proposal would likely uproot the very farmworkers who the housing standards are meant to protect, according to ODFA’s legal analysis. “Dairy employees who currently live in stable, affordable (often times free) housing will lose their current homes to an arbitrary rule.”

A spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, which oversees the state OSHA, said the proposal is meant to ensure that state standards are “at least as effective as federal regulations.”

When asked about the distinction between temporary labor camps and permanent farmworker housing, the spokesperson said the agency hasn’t yet analyzed the dairy industry’s legal argument.

Farmworker advocates also said the proposal was meant to ensure consistency with federal rules but said they were unfamiliar with the argument that only labor camps are subject to the federal distance restriction.

“This has not come up as a big issue in our rule-making discussion,” said Martha Sonato, state legislative and policy advocate for the Oregon Law Center.

However, a minimum distance between farmworker housing and livestock facilities would have benefits for sanitation and quality of life, said Ira Cuello-Martinez, political director for PCUN, a farmworker advocacy nonprofit.

“It does help reduce concerns about dust, ammonia and pathogens from animal waste,” he said, noting that dairy cows can also generate unpleasant smells. “Buffers can minimize some of those odor nuisances.”