Severson Farms – I am Oregon Agriculture

Me and my wife Maryanne with our dog Quiz at Severson Farms. One of the primary things we produce are black and red Angus feeder calves and stocks.

I am Oregon agriculture.

My name is Dick Severson, together with my wife Maryanne we own and manage Severson Farms, located near the McKenzie River in Thurston east of Springfield. We have raised our family here and we both have roots that originate from farms in the farm belt of Carroll County, Iowa. We often say, “we grow a little of everything but not a lot of any one thing”. That’s the benefit of Oregon having such a diverse agricultural base. Three primary production segments, however, make up our business, which consists of nursery stock, specialty crops and feeder calves and stocks.

Some of our field-grown nursery stock, consisting of Leyland Cypress, English laurel, Skip laurel, Portuguese laurel, Dwarf Boxwood and Arborvitae.

In the nursery we specialize in field grown hedge and border varieties. We wholesale a variety of laurels, boxwood, arborvitaes, etc. primarily to landscape companies. We operate a cow/calf business, raising both black and red Angus cattle breeds, and selling calves as feeders and stocks for custom finishing. Our specialty crops principally consist of pumpkins, ornamental corn and gourd varieties. We also grow sweet corn to be sold retail and to catering venues, which can range from 40 ears to 4,000.