Fifteen Oregon breweries and cideries are pouring beer this Saturday in Southeast Portland for a cause that has nothing to do with hops and everything to do with dirt. The fifth annual Cheers to the Land campaign kicks off October 10 with a beer festival and a free pop-up farmers market at John’s Marketplace, part of a statewide push to keep working farms from vanishing under development.
A Growing Beer Fest With a Shrinking-Farmland Problem
Cheers to the Land is a collaboration between Oregon craft beverage makers and the Oregon Agricultural Trust, created to highlight the beverage industry’s ties to agriculture and support permanent protection of working land across the state, according to the Oregon Agricultural Trust. Each year the trust invites brewers around Oregon to craft new beverages using ingredients grown on Oregon farms, the organization notes. This year’s campaign has expanded to 16 breweries and cideries and four events statewide, as reported by New School Beer, up from the 13 breweries, one cidery and one kombucha maker that made up the 2024 edition. Reporter Kohr Harlan visited John’s Marketplace in Portland for KOIN to show how the craft beer industry is supporting that agricultural space, noting that nearly the entire world of hop beer was born from Oregon lands.
What's Happening Saturday in Southeast Portland
The Portland kickoff features a beer fest pouring 15 Cheers to the Land releases, a pop-up farmers market featuring Oregon growers, and a chance to meet the brewers themselves, per New School Beer's reporting. Beer fest tickets run $25 and include a commemorative tasting glass along with eight sampling tickets. The farmers market portion is free and open to everyone, no ticket required, according to the event listing on Mercury Tickets, which also notes that every ticket purchase directly supports the Oregon Agricultural Trust's work. The campaign also debuted a new Farmland Protection badge this year, a label marker meant to signal which food and beverage makers are committed to protecting farmland, the same report states.
The celebration doesn't stop at the festival gates. Ranch Pizza will offer a Cheers to the Land pizza at its Southeast 11th Avenue location starting Sunday, October 11, with a portion of proceeds from each pie going to the Oregon Agricultural Trust, New School Beer reports.
Why Oregon's Farmland Keeps Shrinking
The urgency behind the campaign is rooted in real numbers. Oregon lost 2,069 farms and 667,000 acres of farmland between 2017 and 2022, declines of 5.5% and roughly 4.2%, respectively, according to the OSU Extension Service. Oddly enough, the state's inflation-adjusted total farm sales climbed by $865 million, a 14.64% gain, over that same stretch, even as the land itself disappeared. Oregon lost relatively fewer farms but more farmland than the country as a whole over the period, the Extension Service found, with Curry and Jefferson counties each seeing acreage declines topping 30% while Washington, Baker and Clatsop counties posted gains of at least 20%. Jackson County, meanwhile, saw the state's largest jump in farm numbers, up 12%.
Non-farm development is by far the biggest factor driving the losses, with utility-scale solar projects and drought also playing a role, according to OPB.
How Much Land Has Already Been Saved
The organization's own protected-land page states that it has protected 33,700 acres of farm and ranchland in Oregon. New School Beer's coverage of this year's campaign cites a similar figure, reporting that the trust has permanently protected more than 33,700 acres with 49 active projects that could protect another 140,000 acres.
The campaign has grown to four statewide events and 16 participating makers, including a Saturday Portland kickoff.
