Weeks Berry Nursery has decided to sell its nursery and property, co-owner Bradley Weeks said.

The nursery, which was started in 1908 and has been in business for more than a century, includes 45 acres of land on Windsor Island Rd. N. in Keizer, Oregon, north of Salem. The nursery leases an additional 120 acres and specializes in small fruit-bearing shrubs and supplies about 1,800 home and garden centers in the U.S. and Canada.

Weeks said it wasn’t one thing, but a combination of things that drove him to the decision to sell the nursery.

“Honestly, Oregon has become extremely hostile towards small farms when it comes to labor laws, taxes, and certification issues,” he said. “Five or six years ago, when the state decided to raise the minimum wage, our labor was $350,000. Last year, it was $795,000. Then, in 2022 the Legislature passed ag overtime.”

Weeks said he actively worked with the Oregon Association of Nurseries to try to affect legislative decisions on minimum wage and ag overtime.

“I don’t think that [legislators] understand how agriculture works, even though it is one of the largest industries in Oregon,” Weeks said. “We’re a wholesale company that does a lot of business out of state and our competitors are out of state and my profit margins disappeared.”

He noted that out-of-state nurseries don’t have the same labor costs as Oregon nurseries.

“We used to be one of the few certified nurseries to sell table grapes, and due to regulations that have come down and lack of funding for Oregon Department of Agriculture, the burden of testing fell on my lap and the cost of growing that product become to much to bear for us so we had to get out of that product,” Weeks said.

“My overhead has just exploded. Covid hit pretty hard too and it affected fuel prices, supply shortages, fertilizer costs. All of these things added up and quickly ate up our profit margins,” Weeks said. “This is a gut punch for me. My dad’s half owner and he was honestly surprised that I’ve kept it going as long as I have.”

While the business is looking for a buyer, Weeks said he’s also looking at consolidating resources and examining other business models.

“We’re just doing our best to try to change the business model,” he said. “I still want to see some sort of agriculture work on this property. Whether or not I can make that happen, we’ll see.”