Oregon officials used a Feb. 13 agriculture gathering in Salem to preview a new approach to supporting food and agriculture businesses: a pilot network designed to help producers and processors find funding and technical assistance through a clearer, more coordinated “front door.”
The concept — a regional food and agriculture business center pilot being developed with SEDCOR — was presented as a practical fix for a common frustration in agriculture: programs exist, dollars exist, and partners exist, but they often operate in parallel. The result, speakers said, is that businesses spend too much time navigating disconnected systems and not enough time expanding capacity or reaching new markets.
The 2026 SEDCOR Ag Breakfast, held at Chemeketa Community College’s Agriculture Hub, brought together growers, producers, processors and ag-supporting businesses from across the Mid-Willamette Valley. New this year, organizers also built in a networking and resource hour after the formal program so attendees could connect directly with speakers, industry experts and resource partners.
Speakers repeatedly returned to one pressure point: the “middle” of the supply chain — processing, aggregation, storage and distribution — that determines whether Oregon-grown products can reliably reach Oregon buyers. When that middle is weak, farms can be forced to ship products farther for processing or distribution, limiting margins and slowing growth even when demand exists close to home.
State officials described a shift underway inside the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA): streamlining how the agency delivers services while coordinating more closely with the Governor’s Prosperity Council and other partners to improve the state’s business climate. The critique wasn’t framed as one new sweeping rule, but as the cumulative drag of small requirements and process layers that build up over time — especially for smaller operations trying to scale.
A major piece of the state’s capacity strategy has been federal investment through USDA’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI), which is designed to strengthen the middle of the food supply chain. Officials said the funding, alongside state dollars, had supported infrastructure and equipment investments aimed at expanding processing and value-added capacity, including equipment that helps producers access school and institutional markets.
Even so, speakers emphasized a constraint: ODA can’t solve supply-chain gaps alone. They described a landscape where a single business might interact with USDA Rural Development, education-related grant programs and statewide economic development resources — without enough coordination to ensure investments stack effectively, timelines align, and businesses can actually take full advantage.
That set up the pitch for the regional business center pilot. Rather than a new building, the center was framed as a connector — a place businesses could go to be routed to the right mix of financing, technical assistance and partner programs, without duplicating what other organizations already provide. ODA’s Lindsay Eng told attendees the pilot year was intended to do two things at once: start offering clearer navigation and collect feedback on what support is truly missing, what communication channels work best, and where producers and processors feel the most friction.
Federal uncertainty was the other major thread. U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas told the audience the delayed farm bill reauthorization had continued to create planning instability, leaving producers making decisions about next season — and the next generation — without a predictable federal framework. She described a Congress still working through what a new package should prioritize, particularly for specialty crops, smaller operations and rural communities that depend on more than commodity safety nets and crop insurance.
The program also leaned into near-term tools that could affect day-to-day costs. Blinn Carstensen of AgWest Farm Credit delivered an outlook for 2026, while Robert Wallace of WyEast Resource Conservation & Development discussed energy-efficiency incentives for agriculture — the kind of opportunity that can reduce operating costs, but only if producers can find it, qualify for it and complete the process without getting stuck.
Innovation was framed as another route out of the squeeze, but with a farmer-first emphasis. AgLaunch President Pete Nelson argued agriculture was moving into a period where “portfolio” thinking — not single-crop dependence — would shape which farms remain resilient. He urged producers to organize across regions to reduce the cost and friction of field trials and adoption, including models where farmers earn equity for testing technologies on their land. Nelson also addressed farmer mental health directly, warning that prolonged financial stress can deepen isolation and urging people to check on neighbors and seek help when needed.
The program closed with a workforce and education update from Paul Davis of Chemeketa Community College, tying the morning’s policy and innovation discussion back to training and industry engagement.
Attendance for the SEDCOR Ag Breakfast was free for farmers and growers, with agriculture-supporting businesses encouraged to participate—an intentional structure that reflected the event’s core message: agriculture works best when the entire ecosystem is at the table. Throughout the program, speakers reinforced that new initiatives and pilot efforts will only succeed if producers and food businesses actively engage—using the tools, offering feedback, and helping shape what works on the ground.
