SALEM — The Oregon Water Resources Department invites interested persons to attend a virtual informational session on the Department’s current efforts to update its rules outlining processes for establishing critical
BOARDMAN â Cody Easterday is still waiting for the Oregon Department of Agriculture to approve his application, submitted in June 2019, for a Confined Animal Feeding Operation near the city of Boardman.
Easterday, a 49-year-old rancher whose family owns a huge agricultural operation in Washington state, proposes to open a mega-dairy that would be the second-largest in Oregon. The Easterday Dairy would have up to 28,300 animals and use more water than most cities in the state.
The future of Easterday Dairy is in doubt, however. On March 31, Cody Easterday pleaded guilty to a âghost cattle scamâ that defrauded Tyson Foods and another company out of more than $244 million by charging for the purchase and feeding of animals that never existed.
Cheese in the Desert: Why Mega-Dairies are Piping Water onto Oregon’s Shrub-Steppe
An environmental coalition is lobbying for a moratorium on mega-dairies, which have proliferated in a water-challenged area of northeastern Oregon
In Boardman, Bombing Range Road divides a disused U.S. Navy bombing range (left) and large areas of irrigated land. On the right, Sage Hollow Ranch, one of several mega-dairies in the area, is permitted for up to 8,700 cows. Photo by NASHCO
This piece is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News, California Health Report, Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, Circle of Blue, Columbia Insight, Ensia, High Country News, New Mexico In Depth and SJV Water. It was made possible by a grant from The Water Desk, with support from Ensia and INN’s Amplify News Project.