Meet OSC Scholarship Recipient: Frank Pohlschneider

Annually, the Oregon Seed Council recognizes exceptional students for its scholarship program. This year, the Oregon Seed Council had many students apply and is pleased to announce one of five recipients of this year’s award: Frank Pohlschneider.

MEET FRANK

Frank Pohlschneider is a recent graduate from St. Paul High School. He is preparing for his first year at Oregon State University with a focus in horticulture. During his high school experience, Frank was a four-sport athlete and spent his summer breaks working with his father in the nursery and on his grandparents’ farm. 

Outside of working for his family’s operations, Frank has invested significant time and resources into a personal agricultural project, raising pigs for the Marion County livestock auction.

The Oregon Seed Council is pleased to award Frank with the 2026 Oregon Seed Council Scholarship.

Contributed by: Lexi Leathers | Social Media & Public Relations Coordinator



Meet OSC Scholarship Recipient: Kailee Macy

Annually, the Oregon Seed Council recognizes exceptional students for its scholarship program. This year, the Oregon Seed Council had many students apply and is pleased to announce one of five recipients of this year’s award: Kailee Macy.

MEET KAILEE

Kailee Macy is entering her junior year at Oklahoma State University, studying Agribusiness and Agricultural Communications. She is originally from Culver, OR, serving as a fourth generation member on her family’s farm and a seventh generation Oregon agriculturalist. Her family’s operation produces seed potatoes, carrot seed, grass seed, mint for tea leaf, parsley seed, and wheat.

In the future, Kailee hopes to help positively influence agricultural policy and contribute to agricultural advocacy efforts. 

The Oregon Seed Council is pleased to award Kailee with the 2026 Oregon Seed Council Scholarship.

Contributed by: Lexi Leathers | Social Media & Public Relations Coordinator



Meet OSC Scholarship Recipient: Kendra Glaser

Annually, the Oregon Seed Council recognizes exceptional students for its scholarship program. This year, the Oregon Seed Council had many students apply and is pleased to announce one of five recipients of this year’s award: Kendra Glaser.

MEET KENDRA

Kendra Glaser is currently a student at the University of Idaho, focusing on Food Science and Nutrition. She is a fifth-generation producer on her family’s farm, which produces grass and specialty seed crops. 

Beyond farming and school, Kendra enjoys spending quality time with her family and practicing clay shooting at the range.

The Oregon Seed Council is pleased to award Kendra with the 2026 Oregon Seed Council Scholarship.

Contributed by: Lexi Leathers | Social Media & Public Relations Coordinator



Meet OSC Scholarship Recipient: Sofia Vachter

Annually, the Oregon Seed Council recognizes exceptional students for its scholarship program. This year, the Oregon Seed Council had many students apply and is pleased to announce one of five recipients of this year’s award: Sofia Vachter. 

MEET SOFIA

Sofia Vachter is currently a marketing student at Oregon State University. She is passionate about social media and digital marketing, especially with regard to creating content that helps brands and organizations connect with their communities in an authentic way. Through her experience with content creation, branding, and audience engagement, she has developed a strong interest in creative strategy and digital communication.

Outside of academics, Sofia serves as a peer mentor at OSU and works in donor relations with Our Beaver Nation at Oregon State Athletics, where she supports donor engagement, events, and communications efforts. She enjoys opportunities that allow her to combine creativity, communication, and community involvement. 

The Oregon Seed Council is pleased to award Sofia with the 2026 Oregon Seed Council Scholarship.

Contributed by: Lexi Leathers | Social Media & Public Relations Coordinator



Meet OSC Scholarship Recipient: Ruby Shumaker

Annually, the Oregon Seed Council recognizes exceptional students for its scholarship program. This year, the Oregon Seed Council had many students apply and is pleased to announce one of five recipients of this year’s award: Ruby Shumaker.

MEET RUBY

Ruby Shumaker is a junior at Oregon State University pursuing a degree in Business Administration with a minor in Crop Science. She currently works at Pacific Ag Resources, where she is gaining hands-on knowledge of the agricultural industry while developing professional communication and problem-solving skills.

Ruby is looking forward to graduating in the Spring of 2027. After graduation, she plans to continue on a career path focused on Oregon agriculture. 

The Oregon Seed Council is pleased to award Ruby with the 2026 Oregon Seed Council Scholarship.

Contributed by: Lexi Leathers | Social Media & Public Relations Coordinator



OSC Legislative Report

OSC Releases 2026 Legislative Report

The 83rd Oregon Legislative Assembly convened for the 2026 Legislative Session on Monday, February 2, and adjourned Sine Die on Friday March 6. In the 32 days of Session, legislators passed dozens of bills of the more than 300 introduced. The Oregon Seed Council tracked more than one sixth of the total bills over the course of the Session. Issues ranged from employment to estate tax, to land use, to climate, to water, to taxes, to transportation – and many more.

The short Legislative Session, held in even numbered years, is authorized for 35 days by the Oregon Constitution and was intended to focus on adjusting budgets, and small, technical policy changes.

STATE’S TOP ISSUES

The Legislature started its short Session with a heavy emphasis on budgets and a focus on where to trim. Following the 2025 Legislative Session, the federal spending bill, H.R. 1 passed Congress and was estimated to leave a $900 million shortfall in the state’s coffers.

Budget cut options were reviewed during the Interim Legislative Days, and within the first couple of days of Session, Ways and Means Co-Chairs scheduled a public hearing on proposed program reductions.

The Oregon Seed Council submitted testimony advocating for four programs:

  • Funding for OSU Statewides
  • Maintaining funding for Future Farmers of America
  • Retaining grant funding for the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program (OAHP)
  • Japanese Beetle Eradication

Following this hearing, the February revenue and economic forecast was released, highlighting more receipts than anticipated from the close of the last fiscal year and additional revenue anticipated. Total budget reductions hit around $128 million, generally through keeping vacant positions open and reducing agency supply budgets.

Other large areas of focus areas for the Session included:

  • Transportation package referendum and funding
  • Providing funding for improvements to the Moda Center (up to $365 million approved through SB 1501)
  • Response to federal immigration policies
  • Campaign finance

For OSC and the seed industry, major policies included:

  • Taxes (SB 1507, the federal disconnect bill; SB 1511, estate tax restructure)
  • Land Use (SB 1586)
  • Seed Industry Regulation (HB 4065)
  • Budgets
  • Cost drivers

LEGISLATIVE RELATIONSHIPS

OSC met with numerous legislators and staff to build relationships, elevate the partnership of the seed industry overall, and begin the conversations of how OSC can be a resource for the Legislature.

During the Session, OSC President Dave Goracke and I were able to meet with several legislators, county commissioners, and leaders from the San Francisco Chinese Consulate to build partnership between agricultural industries in Oregon, Oregon government officials, and Chinese officials.

We are excited for the potential to build more relationships and bring positive outcomes to our industry.

THANK YOU!

Finally, I want to thank each of you for thoughtful conversations, your input, and your support as we navigated the 2026 Session.

A special thank you to the OSC Board of Directors, Government Affairs Committee, and Executive Committee for quick action and in-depth discussion on policies and how OSC can best support industry in the legislative process and policy discussions.

Our industry members were quick to react to Action Alerts and engage legislators, and for that, we want to offer a big thank you! Your engagement truly makes a difference, and this, we hope will be clearly evidenced in the 2026 OSC Legislative Report available here.

Megan Chuinard Graser

Executive Director

Oregon Seed Council

Oregon Seed Council advocates for industry’s success

Megan Chuinard, executive producer of the Oregon Seed Council, wants to ensure that Oregon seed is not forgotten.

“There’s a lot of policy conversations at the capitol, at the federal level, where we need to be involved in the conversations and have folks know the impact that their decisions will make on this industry,” she said.

Created in the 1960s, the Oregon Seed Council is a trade organization that advocates for seed farmers, marketers, brokers, researchers and others involved in the Oregon seed industry within the public, media and government decision makers.

“We are the umbrella organization for the industry because we have such diverse members representing different sections of Oregon’s seed industry,” Chuinard said. “So for us, it’s really bringing people together and being the voice for the industry.”

Dave Goracke, president of Oregon Seed Council and owner of Cala Farms, said from his perspective as a grower the council is a great place to convene and discuss their plan to “defend their rights as farmers, especially when legislature is in session.”

“We’re working hard to prioritize what items that we’re going to stand up and fight for,” he said. “And so it’s a great tool in that respect.”

Goracke sees the three biggest issues the seed council is currently tackling in the buckets of regulation, production and market challenges.

“In the market world, we are faced with an extremely down market right now with a lot of overproduction coming off of the COVID era,” he said.

To alleviate those challenges, the seed council has done more active outreach through social media promotion as well as organized activities like a trade mission to China to educate their industry and government officials on the benefits of Oregon seed crops.

Chuinard added that there’s been barriers with international trade. Normally, Oregon exports $162,824,000 worth of seed to 56 countries.

For regulation and production, Goracke said the biggest combination issue is field voles. Although there’s a lot of research around the pests, he said it’s been a “tricky deal to navigate.”

Despite the challenges facing the industry, the Oregon Seed Council was honored with the 2025 Global Trailblazer Award by the Oregon Consular Corps for its impact in sports and recreation.

For the last four consecutive FIFA World Cups, 99% to 100% of the grass seed for the natural turf fields were from Oregon companies, Chuinard said.

“I think it was really helpful to provide a view of agriculture that people don’t always see,” she said. “I don’t think folks always think about, ‘wow, this thing that I really love has this strong connection to Oregon agriculture’ and we’re, able to take that and tell more story about Oregon seed.”

Going forward, Goracke hopes for the industry to get out of its market slump and focus on tackling the production challenges, and Chuinard said the council is advocating for policies to help members during times like these when it is a hard market.

“We are a significant industry for the state of Oregon. Agriculture is our number two economic driver and grass seed is the number four commodity,” she said. “So how do we keep propping up the seed industry as a whole?”

As someone who grew up in seed production, Goracke said he’s passionate about the industry and would hate to lose production to a competing area.

“We’re in a special place. Our climate, our soils are just perfect for what we do,” he said. “So, I’m doing what I can to help preserve Oregon’s ability to produce quality seed.”

Contributed by: Aliyah Hall | Capital Press

For the original article published by the Capital Press, click here.

Anguina funesta seed gall nematodes and Oregon annual ryegrass seed

Annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum, ARG), for seed production can be parasitized by Anguina funesta or seed gall nematodes (SGN), which can vector Rathayibacter toxicus, a bacterium lethal to grazing animals.

Read more

OSC Announces Opening of 2026 Scholarship Application Process

The Oregon Seed Council announced the opening of its 2026 scholarship application process.

The Oregon Seed Council will be offering three college scholarships this year in the amounts of $2,000, $1,000 and $500.

A scholarship committee will review applications, conduct interviews and choose the scholarship recipients.

The scholarship will be available for college bound students who come from a farm involved in seed production, have worked on a seed farm or have worked for a seed company. High school seniors, home school seniors, or current college students are eligible. Past winners are encouraged to apply. Applications must include responses to a questionnaire, an essay of less than 500 words describing why the student deserves the scholarship, and three letters of reference.

Students interested in applying should review rules and critera and the 2026 scholarship application. Applications are due annually on March 1.  The application will open on February 1.

For questions, please contact Megan Chuinard at Megan@MAC-Consulting-LLC.com.

Oregon Seed Council Releases 2026 Guide to the Legislative Session

This year, the Oregon Legislative Assembly will convene on Tuesday, February 2nd. The session may last for up to 35 days. Whether you are a seasoned professional when it comes to the Oregon Legislative Session, or if this is your first year getting involved, the Oregon Seed Council’s 2026 Guide to the Legislative Session is here to serve as your ultimate resource for this year’s proceedings!

The Oregon Seed Council’s 2026 Guide to the Legislative Session provides information on the current structure of both the Oregon House and Senate. This document includes details on leadership, bill tracking logistics, and committee organization. Additionally, this guide offers key information on how to submit written and/or verbal testimony, and provides a general overview of the legislative process. 

Further information is listed in the document that focuses on the legislative calendar. There are some key dates to keep an eye on for this session, which include the following: 

  • February 2nd- Session starts
  • February 4th- Revenue forecast
  • February 9th- Deadline for bills to be posted for a work session in their first chamber
  • February 16th- First Chamber Deadline (When a bill must move from one chamber to the other in order to proceed). 
  • February 20th- Deadline for bill to be posted for a work session in their second chamber
  • February 26th- Second Chamber Deadline (When a bill must move out of its second chamber). 
  • March 8th- Constitutional Sine Die. 

Click here to view the Oregon Seed Council 2026  Guide to the Legislative Session.

If you have questions about this guide, you can find contact information for Megan Chuinard Graser, OSC Executive Director/Lobbyist listed at the end of the document. The Oregon Seed Council looks forward to a productive 2026 Oregon Legislative Session!

Contributed by: Lexi Leathers | Social Media Coordinator

Contact

(503) 585-1157
info@oregonseedcouncil.org

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