March 2007: Dispatches
CENTRAL POINT
There’s a hay shortage in Oregon. According to Jerry May
from the Grange Co-Op,
Oregon growers shipped large quantities of hay to California
after water regulations forced California growers to reduce the
amount of hay they produced, applying direct pressure to the
hay supply in Oregon. Oregonians are getting hay wherever they
can, be it the Klamath Basin or Idaho. Prices rose as well,
from $125 per ton in 2006 to as much as $175 this year. May
says that finding enough available water is rapidly becoming an
issue for hay farmers. Some growers are also planting former
hay fields with corn, tempted by the corn demand fueled by an
increase in ethanol plants around the country.
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