MILWAUKIE, Ore.  The hum of the tractors in the back of the Land Lab usually signals a productive Tuesday for the North Clackamas School District’s agricultural program. But lately, the sparks flying aren’t just from metal hitting metal – they’re from a heated statewide debate that has ignited deep inside the district’s “Ag Wing.”

For high school students in the Sabin-Schellenberg Ag Class, the final months of the school year are typically reserved for prepping livestock for the summer fair for their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE). This year, however, a new bill has dominated the curriculum: IP28.

Known as the Prohibiting Extreme Animal Cruelty and Exploitation (PEACE) Act, the initiative petition aims to remove long-standing exemptions for livestock management from Oregon’s animal cruelty laws. If passed in November 2026, the measure would reclassify standard agricultural practices, including slaughter, artificial insemination, and certain veterinary procedures, as criminal acts. 

Current Ag practices vs. Proposed IP28 Changes: No on IP28

A Curriculum Under Fire

For students like Lily Buerkle, a junior from Adrianne C. Nelson High School and chapter officer, the initiative feels less like “peace” and more like a shutdown. “If this passes, SAE is effectively illegal,” Buerkle says. “I raise market lambs. Under IP28, processing those animals for food would be considered a felony.”

The impact would be felt immediately in the classroom, says ag teacher Kathy Mayfield, since vet science units could face legal scrutiny.

The Student Perspective: Ethics vs. Reality

While the Land Lab remains a stronghold for traditional farming, the debate is reaching students across the district who view the bill through a different lens. Gigi Freed, a senior at Milwaukie High School, is a devoted pescatarian, meaning she eats seafood but not red meat or poultry. She represents students who see an ethical drive behind the bill.

“I watched a meat production documentary in health class,” Freed says, recalling the moment she decided to stop eating meat. “I saw the conditions that the animals were in… it made me sick to my stomach. I realized I can’t do it.”

For Freed, IP28 isn’t just about farming; it’s a moral stand against “evil and inhumane” practices like hunting and factory farming. However, when Freed got into the granular details of the bill, specifically the bans on veterinary procedures, she hesitated.

“That’s where I kind of disagree with the bill,” she says. “Spaying and neutering is something you have to do… it should be allowed for health reasons. I’ve had to put a dog down, and it’s awful to see your dog suffer. If (euthanization) is what’s best for them, it’s what has to be done.”

The “Humane Transition” Tension

If the bill passes, supporters have proposed a “Humane Transition Fund” to help farmers pivot toward plant-based models. Oregon’s proposed IP28 seeks to ban slaughterhouses, livestock farming, hunting, and fishing by removing exemptions to animal cruelty laws, potentially criminalizing routine agricultural practices. If passed, this would effectively eliminate in-state meat and dairy production, forcing ranchers and farmers to abandon traditional animal agriculture. Mayfield and students have noticed this and the gravity of this shift. 

In the Sabin-Schellenberg Land Lab, she’s seen the focus shift from daily chores to deep-dive policy analysis. Where students once debated the best feed ratios, they are now dissecting the legal definitions of concepts defined in the petition relating to animal safety.  “We’re learning about the legislative process in a way we never wanted to,” says senior Ava Bernhard.

The economic impact is large, too; the Ag industry would likely cause massive disruption and significant job losses across the agriculture, natural resources, and food service sectors. While students like Freed believe the measure could lower animal abuse, they acknowledge the risk of a divided state. “I think there would be a lot of pushback. I think (the country) would be divided… some states will say yes to the animals, other states will say ‘No, these are our jobs.'”

From Students to Advocates

Many Ag students find themselves explaining the legal allowances that currently keep the Land Lab running, and how the food supply chain suffers when those protections are taken away.

As the signature deadline looms, the mood across the district’s Ag programs is a mix of defiance and anxiety. Whether the goal is protecting a way of life or ending what some see as systemic cruelty, the students of North Clackamas are realizing that the future of  FFA may be changing as more bills keep getting put out. Students are used to working with their animals at the end of the school year and summer, but are now realising that they might have to do more research on what IP28 actually means.

“I started my FFA journey because I wanted to work with animals, but now my time involves reading 15-page legal briefs instead of working with my pig,” says Ava Bernhard.