CORVALLIS — Oregon farm regulators may decide to take over fresh produce safety inspections from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next year.

The FDA began performing inspections in Oregon in 2019 to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act, a federal statute intended to prevent foodborne illness.

Since then, the state Department of Agriculture has focused on providing education and technical assistance to fresh produce growers rather than directly conducting on-farm inspections.

However, some farmers have told ODA that they’d prefer to be overseen by state inspectors who are more familiar with local crops, said Susanna Pearlstein, the agency’s produce safety program manager.

“They want Oregon people to regulate Oregon agriculture,” she said.

Currently, Oregon is one of just four states that allow FDA to perform on-farm inspections rather than hiring their own inspectors, she said May 5 at the State Board of Agriculture meeting in Corvallis.

“The majority of states have taken on regulatory programs,” Pearlstein said.

Farmers are inspected by 25 investigators from FDA who may not be acquainted with the processes and equipment used for the state’s niche crops, she said.

Some of them may prefer working with ODA inspectors who are more knowledgeable about their specific circumstances, said Lauren Henderson, ODA’s deputy director.

Those state inspectors would be credentialed by the FDA and operate under its authority.

The Oregon Farm Bureau has urged the ODA to take on the additional inspection role, citing “significant regulatory hurdles for producers” who’ve found “federal inspectors to be overreaching and difficult to work with.”

Support for switching to ODA inspectors is not universal among the state’s farmers, though, and agency officials plan to seek more input before they have to make a decision.

“We want to have additional stakeholder outreach, meetings and conversations,” said Alexis Taylor, the agency’s director, noting ODA also will ask the State Board of Agriculture to weigh in on the choice.

“It’s going to be an additional workload,” she said.

The ODA is approved for $630,000 in federal funds to provide assistance and education during the FDA’s 2021-2026 grant cycle. If it decides to directly perform inspections, the federal government may provide another $500,000 in funding.

The state agency must decide by a March 2023 deadline to qualify for that funding during the current five-year grant cycle.

While it’s estimated those funds would cover the ODA’s costs of implementing the program, it’s unknown whether the agency can count on continued federal support in future cycles, said Henderson.

The FDA reduced its education and outreach funding by $100,000 in 2021-26 compared to the previous grant cycle, for example.

In the past, the federal government has helped state agencies get started with funding for programs but eventually ended that support, he said.

That raises the possibility that on-farm inspectors would eventually be paid for with fees from produce growers, which may discourage some from supporting direct ODA oversight.

“Once you commit yourself to do something, it’s hard to un-commit yourself,” Henderson said.