SALEM Next week hundreds of farmers, ranchers and eaters from across the state will gather in Salem to support family farms, sustainable agriculture and local food production.

Family Farm & Ranch Rally Day on Monday, March 18, is hosted by Friends of Family Farmers, with support from the Oregon Grows Partnership and Oregon Rural Action, an Eastern Oregon community organization based in La Grande.

Oregon Rural Action is getting out the word and recruiting participants for Rally Day in Eastern Oregon.

We encourage any farmers, ranchers and eaters who care about the policy affecting family agriculture and local food production to join our caravan to Rally Day, said ORA community organizer Nella Parks. The trek to Salem is a big commitment for all of us, but citizen lobbyists are key in steering the future of our ag and food system in Oregon.

She also said that ORA arranges carpools, accommodations, dinner and more to make the long trip more convenient for participants.

Oregon Rural Action is organizing a carpool from Eastern Oregon on March 17, leaving La Grande at noon and picking up folks along the way. Rally Day will start Monday, March 18 in Salem with workshops and trainings on citizen lobbying and current bills from 9 to 11:30 am at Willamette University.

The training is followed by legislator meetings and a rally on the capital steps. An indoor farmers market will take place all day in the capitol galleria. The ORA carpool will return to Eastern Oregon Monday evening.

Participants should RSVP as soon as possible for lunch and legislator meetings, online or by contacting Parks at 541-975-2411 or nella@oregonrural.org. More information and the online RSVP form are available at www.oregonrural.org.

Family Farm & Ranch Rally Day is scheduled during each odd-year legislative session.

In 2011, Rally Day helped successfully push passage of the Farm Direct Law, which allows the sale of home-processed foods including dried fruits, jams and pickles. Rally Day also pushed passage of the 1000 Bird Exemption, allowing up to 1000 birds to be raised, slaughtered and sold on farms and ranches.

In 2013 Family Farm & Ranch Rally Day will address two priorities in particular:

HB 2393 makes a small change to the 1000 Bird Poultry Slaughter Exemption 2011 so that conditional use permits are not required to utilize the exemption on land zoned Exclusive Farm Use.

HB 2700 or Aggie Bonds would increase affordable financing for Oregons small and beginning farmers. Under this bill small is consider 30% or less the average size of farms in the county and new and beginning are producers who have farmed or ranched less than 10 years.

This bill is important for both new farmers trying to purchase land and retiring farmers looking to transition their property, Parks said. We want to see both greenhorns and greyhorns at rally day, letting our legislators know this program is important to Eastern Oregon.

Other legislative issues that will be discussed at Rally Day include funding for Farm to School programs, funding for Ag Extension, reinstatement of the crop donation tax credit, GMO planting and protecting farmers ability to farm organically.