The following transcript was generated using automated transcription software for the accessibility and convenience of our audience. While we strive for accuracy, the automated process may introduce errors, omissions, or misinterpretations. This transcript is intended as a helpful companion to the original audio and should not be considered a verbatim record. For the most accurate representation, please refer to the audio recording.
Michael Dunne: I'm Michael Dunne. Oregon has obtained a reputation as being unfriendly to business. Some cite tough anti-growth regulations. Others cite a regressive tax situation. But whatever the cause, chambers of commerce and business organizations routinely rail against the Beaver State's anti-business climate. What if that reputation isn't supported by facts on the ground? Today on the show, you'll hear from an OSU doctor in economics who led a study showing that more businesses opened in Oregon in the past decade than closed, which runs counter to the state's reputation. Then in the second part of the show, you'll hear from one of our reporters on her story about a local sheep rancher who has learned a lifetime of lessons by becoming an accidental shepherd here in Oregon. Richard Acquah-Sarpong is a doctor in applied economics at Oregon State University. Richard, thanks so much for coming on and talking with us.
Richard Acquah-Sarpong: Hi, Michael. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
Dunne: I read about the study that you did. I found it fascinating. Tell us about this study and what you found regarding business openings and closings in Oregon.
Acquah-Sarpong: Thank you. So my study actually found that Oregon experienced net business growth for most of the 2012 to 2022 period, and in most years, more establishments opened than closed. The broad pattern is that Oregon looked weak in the post-recession years, but from about 2015 onward, business openings generally outpaced closings, which points to a business environment that was more adaptive and entrepreneurial.
Dunne: Tell us how you conducted your research.
Acquah-Sarpong: I used private establishment-level data from the National Establishment Time Series database, together with U.S. Census Bureau business formation statistics data. I tracked business openings and closures over time, then compared the ratio of openings to closings across industries and mapped those ratios across Oregon counties to see both the sectoral and geographic variation.
Dunne: Obviously, when you started your research in 2012, there was an enormous shock to all states and the world with COVID. Can you talk a little bit about how COVID impacted business openings and closings in Oregon?
Acquah-Sarpong: During the COVID years, we saw a slight decrease in the number of new businesses. However, this was still significantly higher than the number of closures. And when COVID ended, we also saw a national surge in business applications, which Oregon participated in strongly.
Dunne: Did certain industries do particularly well in terms of new business openings in Oregon?
Acquah-Sarpong: Yes. The strongest performance was concentrated mostly in service-oriented industries. I found especially strong net entry in transportation, real estate, education, and food and hospitality, with openings running about 50% above closures over the 2012 to 2022 period.
Dunne: So I guess the flip side of that would be: Were there certain industries where you saw a dramatic number of businesses close up shop?
Acquah-Sarpong: Yes. The one sector that explicitly reported more closings than openings was management of companies and enterprises. Those have to do with regional headquarters, holding companies and the like. There are other sectors that showed some stagnation as well. Those include manufacturing: wood, paper, chemical, metals, machinery, and electronics manufacturing, which showed roughly the same number of closings as openings.
Dunne: Were there any conclusions you could draw about why certain industries were able to open more businesses than others?
Acquah-Sarpong: Yes. As we saw in the study, most of the industries experiencing growth are in the service sector. One of the main drivers of this dynamic is population growth. The strong growth in the service sectors, particularly hospitality, is really correlated with population growth. Within that same period, Oregon saw about a 7% increase in its population. The state also has a relatively educated workforce compared to other states, and that is driving the entrepreneurial spirit we see here.
Dunne: Richard, my last question for you: There is a conventional wisdom. You often hear politicians talk about their belief that Oregon is not a business-friendly state. Your study seems to suggest that's not necessarily the case. In terms of business openings versus closings, we're doing pretty well, right?
Acquah-Sarpong: So, in my opinion, that's not entirely the case. The state has generated sustained net growth in new business openings over much of the last decade, and that matters because a place that is truly hostile to business will not normally show openings persistently exceeding closures. I think the more accurate takeaway is that Oregon's business climate is mixed. Startup activity has been comparatively strong. But the other concern has to do with scaling and expansion of existing businesses. It really depends on which aspect we're most interested in. Are we looking at the number of new businesses, or are we more interested in the expansion and scaling of existing ones? There have also been reports showing that many Oregon businesses have expanded out of state, which presents some challenges to the economy, because Oregon would lose thousands of potential jobs and private investment. So I think the conventional idea that Oregon is unfriendly to business is not entirely true. It is partly true when you look at expansion and internal growth of businesses. But when it comes to the formation of new businesses, Oregon has a very good environment for startups.
Dunne: Well, this was fascinating. Richard Acquah-Sarpong, who is a doctorate in applied economics at Oregon State University, Richard, I really appreciate you coming on and talking with us.
Acquah-Sarpong: Thank you so much, Michael. I appreciate it.
Dunne: Julia Boboc of our station joins us now to talk about her latest story on the life of a shepherd in our community. Julia Boboc, reporter here at KLCC. Julia, great to see you. Thanks for coming in.
Julia Boboc: Thanks for having me.
Dunne: I really enjoyed your story. I might even term it interviewing an accidental shepherd here in our community. Give us an overview of what the story was about.
Boboc: Absolutely. This story is about Scottie Jones, who moved to Alsea, Oregon, at 50 years old to buy a sheep farm and start her and her husband's life as sheep farmers. Her story is just an incredible one of adapting to a completely new environment and learning as you go. It was really fun to see her now, 23 years into sheep farming, very comfortable and natural, but also knowing the difficult situations that came up at the beginning and shaped her journey to this point.
Dunne: Before we get into some of those highs and lows, what interested you in this story?
Boboc: I really wanted to do a story on sheep farming. I didn't necessarily have a specific angle or idea going in, but I was mostly inspired by the fact that Olympic uniforms were made with Oregon wool. So I thought this felt like a really cool excuse to go to a sheep farm and interview some farmers about what the wool industry looks like. I reached out to a bunch of farms, and Scottie responded. Again, I didn't have a very specific angle in mind, but after our conversations, it revealed this really interesting, cyclical story about birth and life and death on sheep farms in Oregon.
Dunne: I thought it was great, because you talk about how she had this romantic ideal of what it was going to be like, and it hit headlong into reality, didn't it?
Boboc: Yeah. The first few days, she was talking about how everything was going wrong. It was really interesting. She also mentioned that situations like that are the reason farmers are so adaptable and take on so many different roles, because there's no one else to do it. She specifically has this story about her city dogs leading a sheep into a creek. She called her neighbor and said she needed a vet. But the neighbor, who had clearly been on their farm much longer, said no, the vet would cost more than $100, and she needed to figure it out herself. That seemed to be the general way of things: You just have to figure it out yourself. No one is going to come help you. So you have to be the carpenter, the engineer, the vet, all of those things.
Dunne: Yeah, it's funny. As I was listening to your story, Scottie comes from Phoenix, Arizona, and I thought, oh, she worked at the Phoenix Zoo, so she must know about animals. But of course, she was just doing business work, which is very important. Obviously she really had to learn on the fly.
Boboc: Oh, yeah. She went and got an education in archeology, and then worked in the business and retail side of the zoo. She was telling me that she thought there was absolutely nothing in her background that would help her on the farm whatsoever. And it turned out to be quite the opposite. Things as simple as getting an archeology education, so you know how to move a wheelbarrow around. And on the business and retail side, being able to start her farm stay and track profits and losses and market things. There was another really interesting story she mentioned that didn't make it into the piece. She talked about how the zoo manager, whenever visitors would say to clear the brushes on the side of the walkways because they were getting in the way, would always refuse, because he wanted people to actually brush up with nature. She kind of absorbed that mentality from watching him. And she said that being on this farm now really felt like brushing up with nature in a really intentional way. I kind of liked that callback.
Dunne: In your piece, you talk about the fact that Scottie's family and friends were kind of shocked that she made this huge life transition.
Boboc: Yeah. One of her kids had just gone to college, and she said everyone was absolutely appalled. I can imagine. I'm thinking of my own mom just becoming a farmer out of nowhere. She said her kids would come and stay on the farm and things like that, but people were betting on her and her husband not to make it. I also spoke to someone who works with the OSU Extension Service who taught Scottie a lot of the harder farming skills. And she said it is really hard as a first-generation farmer to survive. There are things you need to know that people inherit across generations, an innate understanding of the land that beginning farmers might not have. That can quickly lead them to leave farming. But Scottie dug her heels in. As soon as people started doubting her, she felt even more motivated to prove them wrong. And she did. I guess you need that tenacity.
Dunne: She's also involved in agrotourism. In your piece, you talk about that. First of all, what is agrotourism?
Boboc: So Scottie has a farm stay, which consists of two different buildings. There's a six-bedroom main house, which is stunning, and a cottage with a pretty front porch that looks out on the fields and the chicken coops. She started those three years into farming. That came from understanding the business side and also realizing that lamb meat doesn't necessarily pay the bills as well as she'd like. So she started these farm stays, and over the years people have been coming from across the country. She recently mentioned that someone came from Vermont or somewhere far away. People come and essentially live on the farm and learn what farming looks like. A lot of times they bring their kids to play around with the animals. It seems like what Scottie wants is a moment of real connection and intentional time in nature. There are tons of hikes and creeks and animals around to admire. I was pretty sold on the farm stay after I visited. I told my mom we might need to make it happen. Never mind the conflict of interest.
Dunne: Toward the end of the piece, you talk about Scottie having some real trouble with the butchering of the lambs. Talk about that.
Boboc: Yeah. She mentioned that early on it was really hard for her to be around. She specifically said that in Arizona, she was accustomed to thinking about life but didn't necessarily think about the death part of things, unless it was a pet or something like that. Early on, as I can imagine, it was really difficult. She said the butcher came at like 5 in the morning and she just wouldn't want to be there. But 20 years in, she said it's more interesting now because she has accepted that this is the life cycle of it all. In the same way that plants grow and die on the farm, so do the lambs, in order to not just pay the bills but to keep life going on farms. She said it's actually interesting for her now to be a part of it and learn more about what the lamb meat is, what it looks like, and to talk to the butcher about whether a particular lamb is high quality and what they should be doing better. It has been quite the journey, going from being really bothered by the death of it all to now understanding that it's just a part of farm life and it's important to be engaged with it.
Dunne: Julia, my last question: Does Scottie have any regrets?
Boboc: None at all. None at all.
Dunne: That's great. Julia Boboc, reporter here at KLCC, thanks so much for your story.
Boboc: Thank you, Michael.
Dunne: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon on the Record are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. Tomorrow on the show, as many of us start to make summer plans, a local teacher is planning to race from Canada to Mexico by bike and try to beat the speed record. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon on the Record. Thanks for listening.
