Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has decided to preserve farmland near Hillsboro, rather than turn it over for possible development into a semiconductor research facility.

It was the right decision.

The Biden administration has made increasing U.S. computer chip manufacturing a priority. The federal government is putting billions of dollars into research and manufacturing.

Oregon had hoped to be selected for a proposed federal semiconductor research facility. Supporters hoped the facility would provide high-paying jobs and become a springboard for more semiconductor projects.

To help the industry and to facilitate the federal largess, the legislature last year gave the governor limited authority to designate, by executive order, eight sites suitable for industrial development — two each at 500 acres or greater, and six smaller sites — and to redraw adjacent urban growth boundaries to include those parcels.

Kotek was asked to use that authority to designate 373 acres zoned as farmland for the project. But with the prospects of being selected for the research facility dimming, the governor decided not to change the farmland’s designation.

The governor’s special authority expired Dec. 31.

We support the development of a domestic semiconductor industry, and we are in favor of high-paying jobs for Oregonians.

We do not support the passage of special exemptions that allow developers to sidestep land-use laws to facilitate whatever type of development the Legislature deems fashionable.

Farmland is too often viewed as “empty” land, a blank slate ready for development. It is, in fact, the vital resource on which 13% of Oregon’s economy is produced. Without it, Oregon’s food and fiber industry would not exist.

And as the old saying goes, they aren’t making more of it.

Farmland that remains intact often remains in agriculture. Once paved and developed, it can never be recovered. While farm families that sell may enjoy a windfall, their farm neighbors will see the ag infrastructure of their area diminish, and they will come under pressure to sell to developers.

A factory and its high-paying jobs often have a finite lifespan. Incentives run out, taxes get too high and regulation too tight. There’s always another state ready to lure a willing manufacturer and its jobs with a more lucrative deal.

Domestic food production should be viewed as a vital strategic priority. A country that can’t feed itself can’t sustain itself against hostile threats. Farmland is a finite resource that must be held dear.

Oregon agriculture needs the protection afforded by the state’s robust land-use laws.