Implications of the 2016 Oregon Minimum Wage Increase for Direct Market Farmers, Farmworkers, and Communities

Abstract

Abstract:We conducted interviews with 18 direct market (DM) farmers to explore the implications of the Oregon minimum wage (MW) increase for the state's DM agricultural sector. How, if at all, will DM farms in the Willamette Valley (OR, USA) adjust their production and marketing practices in response to the MW increase? How will these adjustments affect DM farm viability, farmworkers, the environment, and the communities in which the farms are embedded? This region has a vibrant food system with many small-to-mid sized, diversified farms that sell through direct and intermediated marketing channels. The diversified production and marketing practices of these DM farmers are labor intensive and, in many respects, environmentally friendly. These practices result in relatively high costs and the farmers' ability to respond by increasing prices is constrained by mainstream retail prices. Most growers reported that they will adjust to the MW increase by reducing their production and marketing costs with a decrease in total labor hours being an important strategy. This study, while small and exploratory, is the first in Oregon (and perhaps nationally) to collect empirical farm-level data about how DM farms will adjust to a MW increase. It sets the stage for future research.

Farm Direct at Five Years: An Early Assessment of Oregon's Farm-Focused Cottage Food Law

“…This holds true today; as a high-level ODA employee who typically focused on export markets and larger-scale agriculture said recently, "We have so many advocates and so much interest by people for the movement, sale, and purchase of Oregon food and agricultural products, that I would expect direct farm marketing to significantly expand in the near and longterm future" (ODA, 2016). Farmers and other local food system stakeholders, building on this influence, can use this study and the growing body of applied research about Oregon's local food and direct market farming sector (e.g., Brekken, Parks, & Lundgren, 2017;Horst & Gwin, 2018;Lurie & Brekken, 2017;Rahe, Van Dis, Weiland, & Gwin, 2017;Trant, Brekken, Lev, & Gwin, 2018) to advocate for supportive public policy, from laws and regulations to the allocation of public resources.…”