Oregonians know Ron as a senator who listens and innovates. For example, Ron has secured landmark health care and economic wins for our workers and retirees. Always citing the need to "throw open the doors of government for Oregonians," he holds an open-to-all town hall meeting in each of Oregon's 36 counties each year. Thus far he has held more than 970 meetings, as well as several virtual town hall meetings sponsored by the nonpartisan Town Hall Project. Wyden's dedication to hearing all sides of an issue and looking for common sense, nonpartisan solutions has won him trust on both sides of the aisle and put him at the heart of so many of the Senate's most important debates. In 2011, the Almanac of American Politics described Wyden as having "displayed a genius for coming up with sensible-sounding ideas no one else had thought of and making the counter-intuitive political alliances that prove helpful in passing bills." The Washington Post's Ezra Klein wrote: "The country has problems. And Ron Wyden has comprehensive, bipartisan proposals for fixing them."
Senator Wyden continues to push for farm policy that addresses the needs of Oregon’s many specialty crop, fruit and vegetable growers. During negotiations over the most recent Farm Bill (2008), Wyden pushed provisions like the Specialty Crop Research Initiative and the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program which are together bringing nearly $700 million into the state over ten years.
The bill also included provisions authored by Senator Wyden that provided millions in mandatory funding for advanced biofuels development while ensuring that biofuels focuses on existing agricultural production and not virgin grasslands or forests.