SALEM — While Oregonians are set to elect a new governor in November, change is already underway at the top of the state Department of Agriculture.

Alexis Taylor, the agency’s former director, stepped aside after she was nominated in May as USDA undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs in the Biden administration. Her nomination was recently advanced by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

It will eventually fall on the newly elected governor to pick Taylor’s replacement. Until then, that leaves Lauren Henderson, ODA deputy director, to fill the top job in the interim, providing leadership through a period of transition.

“My job is to make sure our agency is grounded and doing the things we need to do every day,” Henderson said. “I’m looking at myself to be the ‘steady Eddie’ for everything.” 

Henderson is a longtime ODA employee and native Oregonian, growing up in Madras. He joined the department in 1999 and worked his way up to the director’s office in 2005.

For most of the last 17 years, Henderson was an assistant director for ODA, making him third in command. Last year, he was promoted to deputy director under Taylor. Gov. Kate Brown then appointed Henderson acting ODA director on Oct. 1. 

“I never had it in my sights to be director,” Henderson said. “I’m humbled that the governor asked me. I was excited, and it was an easy answer, yes. I don’t take for granted anything, and really have to work every day to make sure I deserve to be called director of this great department.” 

The first order of business, Henderson said, is to prepare ODA’s budget request heading into the 2023 legislative session.

ODA has requested a budget of nearly $214 million for the 2023-25 biennium, which would fund 571 positions, including approximately 446 full-time employees. That would be a 62% budget increase over the 2021-23 biennium.

That request is now being reviewed by Brown, and the new governor will have until Feb. 1 to make changes.

“Obviously, the new governor is going to come in with their footprint on what they want the budget to look like,” Henderson said. “We’ve always been an agency that can pivot. I think we’ll be ready to modify and adapt where we need.”

By Henderson’s estimate, ODA is understaffed by about 50 people. These are key positions that need to be filled, he said. They include lab technicians, brand inspectors and a senior chemist in the food safety program. 

“We had a lot of folks who have reached retirement age. There was a point in time where we had 57 folks who were eligible to retire,” Henderson said. “We’re left in this spot where we are constantly having to recruit.” 

Henderson pointed to several recent accomplishments engineered by ODA, such as distributing nearly $20 million in emergency aid for producers impacted by natural disasters in 2021, and reviving the state’s meat inspection program earlier this year with approval from the USDA.

Drought, market access and increasing costs will continue to challenge family farmers, Henderson said, and ODA must be responsive to their needs. 

As acting director, Henderson said his goal is that stakeholders won’t see a blip in services.

“Our credibility as an agency, as people and professionals, are everything,” he said. “We’re going to continue to be that.”