SCIO, Ore. — Two properties that had been planned as locations for large-scale chicken farms in Oregon’s Willamette Valley are up for sale.

An application for Evergreen Ranch is still pending with the state Department of Agriculture, according to agency spokeswoman Andrea Cantu-Schomus. The application, filed last year, calls for building 16 barns each measuring 60-by-600 feet on about 90 acres near the small town of Scio.

Evergreen Ranch proposed raising six flocks of 750,000 broiler chickens annually for Foster Farms, totaling 4.5 million birds. The property was recently listed for sale for $1.4 million.

Jason Peters, who sought to open Evergreen Ranch, declined to comment when contacted by the Capital Press. Representatives for Foster Farms did not return calls for comment.

Cantu-Schomus said Peters’ application for a Confined Animal Feeding Operation, or CAFO, permit had not been withdrawn as of Oct. 2. CAFOs are regulated by ODA and the state Department of Environmental Quality to prevent groundwater and surface water pollution.

Wym Matthews, CAFO program manager, said any new landlords would need to file a new permit application if they wanted to continue pursuing a chicken farm on the property.

Senate Bill 85

Oregon lawmakers passed new restrictions on CAFOs during this year’s legislative session after opponents raised concerns about how such operations might harm the environment.

Senate Bill 85 was spurred by the Lost Valley Farm debacle in Eastern Oregon. Regulators approved the dairy in 2017 for up to 30,000 cows, though it was soon plagued by overflowing manure lagoons and hundreds of other wastewater violations.

Lost Valley Farm went into bankruptcy and shut down in 2019.

SB 85 initially started as a moratorium on large CAFOs but was instead revised to tighten rules for permitting these types of farms, such as limiting the amount of groundwater they can pump in a day and allowing local governments to require setbacks from neighbors.

Amy van Saun, a Portland-based attorney with the Center for Food Safety, an environmental group that supported SB 85, said she believes the bill played a role in halting Evergreen Ranch by capping stock water pumping to 12,000 gallons per day.

“For a large operation of this size, it would not be sufficient,” van Saun said.

A second property between the cities of Stayton and Aumsville was also being considered for chicken farming, though it too is now listed for sale for $1.3 million.

Randy Hiday, of Hiday Poultry Farms LLC, bought the 86 acres and was looking to expand his business. He currently raises 530,000 chickens per flock for Foster Farms at his Nye Road Ranch about 40 miles south near Brownsville, Ore.

Hiday could not be reached for comment. He had not yet submitted a CAFO application to the state.

Christina Eastman, president of Farmers Against Foster Farms, a group of small farmers and residents fighting against the proposed operations, said she was relieved when she learned about the properties going up for sale.

“It was like I could breathe for the first time in over three years,” Eastman said. “They were believing this could be the next big chicken state. … They definitely started at the wrong place. We’ve been fighting them tooth and nail.”

One other poultry CAFO, however, has already received the go-ahead from state regulators.

J-S Ranch

J-S Ranch was issued a permit by the state in 2022 — before the passage of SB 85.

Eric Simon plans to build 11 barns each measuring 39,120 square feet where he will raise six flocks of 580,000 chickens per year, or 3.48 million birds near Scio. No chickens will be slaughtered on site, and will instead be sent to the Foster Farms processing plant in Kelso, Wash.

Like Hiday, Simon is a longtime poultry farmer who has been raising broiler chickens for Foster Farms near Brownsville since 2000. Simon has said the barns will feature modern technology and ventilation systems that are designed to minimize odor and provide an optimal indoor environment for chickens.

Eastman, whose family farm is next to where J-S Ranch will be built, is part of a lawsuit filed in Linn County Circuit Court challenging the state’s decision amid concerns about potential water contamination and manure spills along the banks of the North Santiam River.

Along with Eastman, plaintiffs include Farmers Against Foster Farms, Friends of Family Farmers and Willamette Riverkeeper. A trial is scheduled for February 2024.

The Northwest Chicken Council, meanwhile, has filed to motion to intervene in the lawsuit in defense of J-S Ranch. Bill Mattos, the council president, previously told the Capital Press that he believes the farm will be “one of the finest in Oregon and the Northwest.”

Consumers are demanding locally raised chicken, Mattos said, and new facilities like J-S Ranch are needed to make up for lost production as older growers retire.

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