Published 1:45 pm Monday, February 6, 2023
SALEM — A quick glance at the Oregon Encyclopedia reveals no shortage of symbols promoting some of the state’s most iconic and beloved products.
Oregon has an official animal, bird and fish — the beaver, western meadowlark and chinook salmon, respectively. Pears are the official fruit, and hazelnuts the official nut. Dungeness crab is the official crustacean. There’s even an official fossil, the Metasequoia, designated in 2005.
But since Oregon became a state in 1859, there’s never been an official vegetable. That could change this legislative session.
State Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, is sponsoring a resolution that would make the potato the official state vegetable of Oregon, crediting it as a “vital, versatile and easy-to-use food source for Oregonians from all cultural backgrounds and across all levels of income.”
While Oregon grows more than 200 crops, potatoes are the most widely cultivated vegetable by a significant margin.
According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Oregon farmers planted 44,000 acres of potatoes in 2021 and harvested roughly 2.6 billion pounds. The next closest vegetable was onions, at 22,000 acres planted and 1.5 billion pounds harvested.
Hansell, whose district spans the Columbia Basin in northeast Oregon where potatoes are an agricultural staple, said the reasoning behind the designation is clear.
“We produce more potatoes than any other vegetable,” he said. “It can be used as a positive marketing tool, and help us to even sell more potatoes.”
On a national scale, Oregon ranks fourth in potato production behind Idaho, Washington and Wisconsin.
Gary Roth, executive director of the Oregon Potato Commission, said the push to designate potatoes as the state vegetable began about four years ago. Commissioners decided to hold back the proposal each of the last three sessions as the Capitol in Salem was closed due to COVID-19.
With the statehouse now reopened to the public, Roth said the timing is right to make their pitch to lawmakers.
“I think this is a great opportunity for Oregon agriculture,” he said. “We should be having a great time with it.”
In addition to being the most widely grown vegetable statewide, potatoes earned $216.8 million in gross farm gate sales in 2020, making it the seventh-most valuable agricultural commodity in Oregon — behind wheat and ahead of winegrapes.
Roth also emphasized the nutritional value of potatoes, which boast more potassium than a banana and more vitamin C than a grapefruit.
“Potatoes have sustained entire cultures,” Roth said. “I think people have forgotten how healthy and nutritious potatoes are.”
Of course, potatoes are already the state vegetable and world famous in neighboring Idaho. Both Roth and Hansell said they reached out to their respective colleagues in the Gem State before introducing the resolution in Oregon.
“It’s not any kind of a rivalry thing,” Roth said.
Jamie Bowen, marketing manager for the Idaho Potato Commission, declined to comment on the Oregon designation.
Two years ago, the Eastern Oregon Border Economic Development Board sought to designate onions as the state vegetable on behalf of growers in Malheur County.
Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, sponsored that resolution in 2021, which described how onions have been grown in Eastern Oregon since the 19th century.
It was ultimately shelved after Roth said the potato commission informed them they already had their own proposal in the works. Many potato farmers also grow onions and other crops, and Roth said they are committed to promoting all of the region’s farming.
“We see it as a great opportunity to highlight those agriculture- and natural resource-based communities east of the (Cascades), and the vital contribution they make not only to healthy food choices but also the overall health of the economy,” Roth said.
Stuart Reitz, director of Oregon State University’s Malheur Experiment Station in Ontario, said both crops have a case to make for state vegetable.
”I don’t know if one has got a leg up on the other one,” Reitz said.
Hansell said he has gotten some good-natured ribbing from his fellow legislators representing the Treasure Valley, where more than half of Oregon’s onions are produced.
Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, said he will not support Hansell’s resolution — but not because he supports onions over potatoes.
”To pick one over the other is not something I’m willing to do,” he said.
As a state representative in 2017, Findley sponsored a resolution to make the border collie Oregon’s state dog. He said he quickly heard from fans of every other dog breed in the world, opposed to the designation.
”We ought to celebrate all of our crops in this state, and not favor one over the other,” Findley said. “Every farmer supports our state economy, both in jobs and resources. I just think we ought to honor them all.”
Hansell, however, is convinced that potatoes should get the nod.
”Nothing rises to the stature of the potato as far as jobs produced, as far as product shipped and as far as farm gate dollars coming in,” Hansell said. “We want to do everything we can to promote this healthy vegetable.”
