McMINNVILLE, Ore. — Sitting face-to-face with organic dairy farmers from around the Willamette Valley, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley pledged their support for organic agriculture, an industry that Merkley called “an exciting opportunity for our food and our economy.”

Brown and Merkley, both Democrats, visited the Organic Valley creamery in McMinnville on Friday, one year to the month after the plant opened with $350,000 in funding from the state’s Strategic Reserve Fund.

The creamery now has 42 full-time employees and brings in 500,000 pounds of organic milk every day to process into butter and powdered milk. Organic Valley is the nation’s largest organic farming cooperative, with more than 2,000 members in 35 states — including 75 organic dairy farms in Oregon and Washington.

One of those members is Sar-Ben Farms in Saint Paul. Steve Pierson, a fourth-generation family farmer, also serves on the Organic Valley board of directors. He talked about the process of going organic, shifting from a confined feeding operation to a grass-based operation, which helped to improve the health of his cows.

“We felt that herd should have been healthier,” Pierson said, and though it was intimidating to change their production model, “We found that working with Mother Nature, instead of against it, was really better for us.”

Pierson’s daughter, 22-year-old Sara, will become the fifth generation, along with her brothers, to work at Sar-Ben Farms. While Sara Pierson said she originally thought she might be interested in a more traditional 9-to-5 job, she ultimately missed the fast-paced work.

“I really love the way I grew up on the farm,” Pierson said. “I don’t think I could have an office job.”

Organic Valley has been a key partner in helping those dairy farms remain in business, cutting $59 million in milk checks for Oregon members in 2017. The McMinnville creamery is the co-op’s only brick-and-mortar facility outside of Wisconsin.

Brown said she was pleased to see the creamery has created new jobs in the community, and will be talking with Department of Agriculture Director Alexis Taylor on programs to support further growth in organic farming.

Getting into the organic business is no easy task. For dairy farmers, cows can only eat organic feed, cannot be given any additional hormones or antibiotics, and must have at least 120 days to graze on open pasture. For farmers growing their own feed, it takes three years without spraying chemicals before the land can be certified organic.

At the end of the day, Pierson said organic farmers must maintain consumer trust and credibility, which is why they are willing to work with lawmakers on new guidelines and regulations.

“It’s all about integrity, really,” he said. “We need to meet that (customer) expectation.”

Adam Warthesen, who heads government relations for Organic Valley, said the co-op feels “pretty good” about where organics stand in the 2018 Farm Bill, which is scheduled to go to conference committee Sept. 5.

Merkley, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, pointed to several provisions in the Senate’s version of the Farm Bill intended to invest in organics — such as creating permanent mandatory funding for organic research, providing mandatory funding for cost-share programs to help farmers transition to organic practices, and strengthening enforcement tools under the USDA National Organic Program to protect against fraudulent imports.

Last year, the USDA Office of Inspector General issued an audit claiming that the agency could not provide reasonable assurance that the National Organic Program required documents at U.S. ports to verify that labeled organic products, in fact, came from organic sources.

Chris Schreiner, executive director of Oregon Tilth, a nonprofit organization accredited to certify organic farms, said that report served as a call to action.

“The organic label rests on consumer credibility and trust,” Schreiner said. “It’s really our job as certifiers to make sure that integrity is there.”

The USDA Risk Management Agency has agreed to temporarily change its policy to allow farmers in Wasco and Sherman counties that were affected by wildfire to plant cover crops without affecting their crop insurance.

“We will make changes where we modify the definition of summer fallow in a way that will not invalidate their summer-fallow designation, even though they planted a cover crop in the fallow year,” said Ben Thiel, director of the Spokane Regional Office of the agency, in a phone interview on Aug. 22.

The agency changed its policy after hearing concerns from farmers about leaving ground exposed to the elements in the 2019 fallow year and checking with agricultural experts, Thiel said.

“Pretty much the consensus was, yes, this would be a good farming practice and that you would help reduce yield loss for 2020 by planting a cover crop, as long as it is terminated in the spring and doesn’t continue to grow later in the spring and through the summer where it would deplete moisture,” Thiel said.

Normally, growers are restricted from planting cover crops in a fallow year under the USDA summer-fallow crop insurance program. The provision is in place to ensure farmers are optimizing yield potential in crop years, Thiel said.

“Generally, you get better moisture retention if you leave a field fallow every other year, and that will produce a better crop in low rainfall areas, such as Sherman and Wasco counties,” Thiel said.

Brian Tuck, field crops extension agent for Wasco and Sherman counties, said RMA’s decision could be critical in helping protect soil left bare by wildfire from wind and rain erosion. Typically, wheat stubble protects ground in fallow years, he said.

“The stubble is a big deal,” Tuck said. “Having that surface stubble on there provides biomass to the soil for nutrient cycling and is a huge factor in keeping the soil cooler and protecting it from both wind and rain erosion.”

“Now we just have to hope we get some fall rains here” to help establish the cover crops, he said.

He advised growers to check with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and their local Soil and Water Conservation District for cost-sharing opportunities potentially available to help offset the cost of purchasing and planting cover crop seeds.

Three wildfires, the Substation, South Valley and Long Hollow fires, burned approximately 135,000 acres in the two counties in a two-week span beginning in mid-July, just when wheat harvest was kicking off.

The fires cost growers millions of dollars in lost crop, particularly given that growers were looking at above-average yields. “This was looking to be a pretty good year,” Tuck said. “We had some really good rains in some places, so the yields were looking very good.”

Growers with crop insurance are eligible to recoup losses based on average yields.

Also, while prices “haven’t been the greatest,” Tuck said, they are up from the previous three years, with wheat at $5.92 a bushel in Portland on Aug. 23.

Many growers also lost equipment, fencing, structures, pasture and rangeland to the fire, Tuck said, and the fire cost the life of Wasco County farmer John Ruby, 64, who died digging a firebreak to protect a neighbor’s property.

PORTLAND — A retired Oregon State University professor has cast doubt on claims of excessive water usage at a controversial Oregon dairy that farm regulators seek to shut down.

Lost Valley Farm of Boardman, Ore., entered into a settlement with the Oregon Department of Agriculture in March to limit its water usage to 65,000 gallons per day.

Since starting operations in 2017, the second-largest dairy in Oregon has been cited repeatedly for wastewater problems by ODA, which led to the lawsuit.

The agency now alleges that Greg te Velde, the dairy’s owner, has committed contempt of court by exceeding the agreed-upon amount by up to 375,000 gallons per day, thereby contributing to wastewater management problems at the site.

To sanction the dairy, ODA is requesting that a judge order the facility to stop generating wastewater, which would effectively shut it down.

During an Aug. 24 court hearing in Portland, Ore., defense witness Mike Gamroth — a retired OSU professor with extensive experience in the dairy industry — said he doubted ODA’s estimates of water usage.

Gamroth testified that he doesn’t see how hundreds of thousands of additional gallons could be used without a glaringly obvious “Olympic-size swimming pool” of excess water at the facility.

“I can’t find where that water goes, I really can’t,” Gamroth said.

One factor that could figure into ODA’s estimate is an inaccurate water meter that varies in its flow rate and total usage data, he said.

“It’s simply not realistic, and it’s got to relate to that meter,” he said.

State officials also based their estimate on the changing levels of water in manure lagoons, which are difficult to measure, Gamroth said.

A variation of just one inch in lagoon levels equates to 160,000 gallons of water, he said. “I don’t have confidence in those measurements, basically.”

Gamroth said he has probably visited every dairy in Oregon and does not believe Lost Valley Farm’s water usage is abnormally large.

“I don’t see any difference for a dairy of that size,” he said.

Similar conditions exist at other dairies, for which they haven’t been cited, Gamroth said.

“I think it’s a fairly clean dairy. Compliance issues are quite minor in most cases,” he said.

Overflow problems have been “minor,” wastewater storage is no longer a problem and the facility poses no greater environmental risk than other dairies, Gamroth said.

During cross-examination by the state’s attorney, Lisa DeFever, Gamroth acknowledged that he submitted a declaration in Lost Valley’s bankruptcy proceedings in May stating that the facility used nearly an acre foot of water per day, or roughly 320,000 gallons.

DeFever said the dairy hasn’t properly tested the nitrogen content of wastewater applied to fields, potentially causing groundwater contamination.

She also said the facility’s manure storage problems will likely resume once summer is over, which will “come back and bite us” when the rainy season begins.

“We will end up with them in the winter full and overflowing,” DeFever said.

The search for a new Port of Morrow manager spanned several months and drew applicants from around the U.S., but the role will go to a homegrown candidate.

Ryan Neal, the current Port of Morrow Warehousing manager and son of longtime port manager Gary Neal, was selected on Aug. 7 from a pool of about 33 total applicants, after the port commission and several panels conducted interviews with Neal and three other finalists.

While the panels made suggestions, the five port commissioners unanimously made the final call to extend the job offer to Neal.

As Neal prepares to assume the job this fall, he said he plans to build on the rapid growth the port has seen, with both existing and new industries.

“We’re definitely an ag resource-based economy, but we’ll continue to diversify,” Neal said. “Obviously technology will continue to be a major part of it. But we’ll see — we seem to get leads all the time.”

Neal will step in at a time when the port has seen a boom in business, both from tenants and its own operations, in the last few years. He said his background in business, as well as his recent experience in Boardman, has given him skills he feels will serve the port.

“I think I have a lot of structure in my management style,” he said. “Working for companies that have corporate cultures, I understand the good and the bad that comes with that.”

He added that he’s developed an understanding of the interpersonal relationships with port clients and employees during his time with POM Warehousing.

“I think bridging those gaps in relationships is important to focus on, both at the state agency and at the business level,” he said.

A graduate of Riverside High School and Oregon State University, Neal started his career with Knight Transportation in Portland, where he worked for 10 years. After various roles in operations and business development, he moved to their corporate office in Phoenix.

He moved to Yakima in 2012 to become the director of operations at Haney Truck Line — a business he said had about 500 trucks and employees.

Looking to return to his hometown, Neal said he jumped at the opportunity to work at Port of Morrow Warehousing when the facility opened in 2015. The facility stores frozen vegetables before food processing companies ship the product to stores.

After working as the operations manager under director Jim Barnes, Neal took over the general manager position when Barnes retired in late 2016.

In that position, Neal said, he oversees about half of the Port of Morrow staff — about 61 people. He reports directly to his father.

“Our operating budget is approximately one-third of the port’s budget,” he said.

Board president Jerry Healy said the commissioners hired George Dunkel from the Special Districts Association of Oregon to recruit candidates. After the initial recruitment period, they asked Dunkel to expand the search to a wider geographic region, and ended up with 33 applicants.

Neal was selected after a search that started in late spring of this year, and ended with a day of interviews with three panels of community members and people from regional businesses and industries. Neal and the three other finalists went through the panel interviews. One was eliminated, another chose not to move forward, and Neal and finalist Stephanie Seamans were interviewed by the port commission.

Seamans is a Certified Public Accountant and the community and economic development manager for Benton-Franklin Council of Governments in the Tri-Cities. She worked for many years as a CPA and business development manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Seamans declined to comment for this story.

Port commission vice president Rick Stokoe said Seamans had many of the qualifications they wanted, but she did not have experience with ports.

Healy said Neal’s background, both with the port and at other businesses, made him a compelling candidate.

“He’s had a very successful marketing career,” Healy said. “He’s grown the businesses he’s worked with.”

Stokoe said the commission didn’t talk to the panels directly, but all the information was relayed to them through Dunkel.

“The panel didn’t make a recommendation to us — they told us their thoughts,” he said.

He said the commission asked the candidates an identical set of about 20 questions, including questions about their leadership style, and their willingness to move to Morrow County.

Though Neal will succeed his father in the position, both commissioners said the relationship ultimately had nothing to do with their decision.

“I was very concerned, as was SDAO, and Gary,” Healy said. “He’s been pretty walled-off from the process. He was not involved in any special meetings or phone calls regarding the hiring.”

Stokoe agreed.

“His relationship to Gary didn’t have anything to do with my decision,” he said. “We didn’t exclude anybody. We wanted input, we invited panelists from all over. If our sole intention was to hire Ryan, we didn’t have to open it up.”

Ryan Neal said he understands the scrutiny that comes with a public position, but didn’t feel the relationship had to do with his hiring, and said his father had no input or involvement in the process.

“I feel like my background in business development shows that I have the skills that align with what the executive director at the port needs,” he said. “I followed the process just like everybody else.”

Don Russell, a Morrow County commissioner and former Port of Morrow commissioner, has known Ryan Neal for many years, through his early career and time at the port.

“It seems like a bunch of guys from Morrow County ended up at Knight in Portland,” he said, noting that Neal was promoted quickly and rose through the ranks of the company.

He said the port works with the county regularly, including on the Enterprise Zone committee. That committee has two voting members each from the Port of Morrow, Morrow County and the city of Boardman. He said Neal will likely fill his father’s spot on that board.

Russell said he thinks Neal’s qualifications will speak for themselves.

“I believe in the next two years, Ryan Neal will make us all forget who his father is,” he said.

–——

Contact Jayati Ramakrishnan at 541-564-4534 or jramakrishnan@eastoregonian.com

Ron Pearmine describes himself as a “broccoli ambassador” for the Willamette Valley.

This year, Pearmine is growing 175 acres of broccoli at his family’s farm in Gervais, Ore. But the crop, while desirable, has declined significantly in the area due to labor shortages and rising production costs.

Broccoli is harvested today almost exclusively by hand, with crews of about 20 people going over fields two or three times to maximize yields. Without enough workers, local farmers are growing just half as much broccoli as they were six years ago, according to NORPAC Foods, a farmers’ cooperative and food processor based in Salem.

Ever the engineer — he has a bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering — Pearmine began tinkering with machinery to come up with a solution. He created a mechanical harvester out of a 1976 Chisholm-Ryder bean picker that he believes could promote increased acreage, while replacing hand crews entirely.

“I’m excited about it,” Pearmine said. “It does create a new opportunity for broccoli here in the valley.”

Pearmine’s goal is to machine-harvest 80 acres of broccoli at his farm this season. Other growers have also shown interest, allowing Pearmine to harvest several smaller plots in their own fields.

On Aug. 2, Pearmine mounted the harvester and began a trial run at Obersinner Farms on Howell Prairie between Salem and Silverton. It took 20 minutes to make one pass down a quarter-acre row, filling four large wooden crates with broccoli bound for NORPAC.

“It works. It’s effective,” Pearmine said. “We could pick our broccoli mechanically if we choose to. It’s a viable option.”

Pearmine is not the first to conceive of a mechanical broccoli harvester — though nothing has been developed so far commercially.

Pearmine was inspired to come up with his own design after a trip to Case Equipment Manufacturing in North Dakota, where he saw robots welding parts for machinery. If robots can weld, then he figured they can also pick broccoli.

The first attempt came in 2013, or what Pearmine calls “the big fail.” Nothing about that system worked right, he said, and the setback lingered for several years before he went back to the drawing board.

“I have an engineering brain, I guess you could say,” Pearmine said with a chuckle.

By sheer innovation — or insanity, as Pearmine jokes — he assembled a working prototype last year by rigging the old bean picker with three rows of spinning blades in front, similar to a corn harvester. Once cut, the broccoli is carried up a conveyor belt over a series of metal rollers that pinch off the leaves, and dropped into bins on a flat trailer.

Pearmine gave a presentation on the harvester at a NORPAC grower meeting in December 2017, where he caught the attention of fellow growers like Tom Fessler, of Fessler Farms in Woodburn, who agreed to participate in field trials.

“There’s been talk we need to move in that direction,” Fessler said. “Ron took the bull by the horns, and developed a machine.”

From a technical standpoint, Fessler said the harvester works well. The problem: It cuts everything all at once, though broccoli often does not mature at the same rate.

That means potentially sacrificing yield with machine harvesting, for the sake of efficiency.

“You’re going to have some (plants) that are slightly over-mature, some that are just right and quite a few that are on the small side, based on our experience right now,” Fessler said.

Pearmine acknowledges that, unless broccoli fields are uniform in maturity, the harvester has its drawbacks.

“That’s part of the reason why I want to get it out, so guys can have that experience,” Pearmine said. “How much do you want to give up on yield? If you don’t want to give up anything, you’ll continue picking by hand.”

Pearmine is nonetheless bullish that mechanical harvesting will eventually prove to be a boon for the industry, reversing the trend of lost acreage brought on by mounting labor shortages.

Randy Lyons, vice president of agriculture services for NORPAC, said fewer workers combined with Oregon’s rising minimum wage have driven the decline in broccoli production from 2,000 acres in 2012 to just 1,000 acres this year.

To make up the difference, Lyons said the co-op is buying twice as much broccoli from Mexico to process into its line of soups and frozen vegetables. NORPAC is excited about the potential of Pearmine’s harvester, Lyons added, though crop quality will be the ultimate test.

“We’re working with him real closely to make sure what he’s bringing into the plant, we can make the best use of,” Lyons said. “It has to be as good as what’s in the marketplace, or better.”

In addition to NORPAC, Pearmine said he has received support from Wilco and Marion Ag Services. After harvest, he intends to compare machine-harvested yields to those of hand crews, and continue working with partners to fine-tune the system.

“People are interested. They’re supportive, and they’re excited,” Pearmine said. “It creates a new future, I think, for NORPAC and broccoli.”

Ron Pearmine

Age: 68

Occupation: Farmer, Pearmine Farms

Hometown: Gervais, Ore.

Family: Wife, Pat, and kids Ernie, Molly, Alli and Grey

Education: Bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering, Oregon State University, 1972

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon has issued $43,200 in fines to a Seattle-based seafood company after environmental regulators found wastewater violations at its surimi factory in Newport.

The Statesman Journals reports the recent fine is the third time since 2015 the state Department of Environmental Quality has fined Trident Seafoods for polluting Yaquina Bay.

The factory, which processes fish into imitation crab meat, is allowed to discharge a certain amount of treated fish-processing wastewater into the bay.

According to the department’s penalty order, the company exceeded the limits of various pollutant amounts dozens of times between July and October 2017.

Plant manager Bill Olivera did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

Department spokeswoman Katherine Benenati says the agency doesn’t anticipate finding additional violations because the facility is under new ownership.

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say a new wildfire in southwestern Oregon has prompted mandatory evacuations and an emergency conflagration declaration.

The Mail Tribune reports a fire erupted Wednesday afternoon north of Medford near Gold Hill.

The Ramsey Canyon fire is burning around Hull Mountain south of the Garner fire, which has been 85 percent contained after burning through about 14 square miles.

Governor Kate Brown on Wednesday night approved an emergency conflagration declaration for the fire. At the time of the declaration, the governor’s office said up to 200 homes were threatened, with some of those residents under mandatory evacuation orders.

The Governor’s declaration authorizes the Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal to mobilize additional help for local crews battling the fire.

Oregon hazelnut growers can expect a record-high crop in 2018, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The latest production forecast issued Aug. 21 calls for 52,000 tons of hazelnuts, surpassing last year’s total of 32,000 tons and the previous record of 49,500 tons set in 2001.

Meredith Nagely, manager of the Hazelnut Industry Office in Aurora, Ore., said the report comes as little surprise. Hazelnuts tend to be alternate bearing, meaning low yields one year are usually followed by higher yields the next.

Overall hazelnut acreage is also on the rise, with 72,353 acres of orchards across the state — including 40,000 acres of mature, nut-bearing trees. Total acreage has more than doubled in the last 10 years, Nagely said, and rose from 66,980 acres in 2017.

“I think interest has (been) piqued,” Nagely said. “We have a high-quality product, and there’s just a huge potential.”

Tom Klevay, CEO of Willamette Hazelnut Growers in Newberg, said he anticipates greater harvests for the foreseeable future as growers continue gravitating toward hazelnuts, and new plantings reach maturity in the coming years.

“Hazelnuts, you don’t have to plant them every year,” Klevay said. “In the eyes of the grower, it’s a crop that represents a good opportunity, so that’s where they’re placing their bets.”

Oregon is responsible for growing nearly all U.S. hazelnuts, but accounts for less than 4 percent of the world’s supply. Nagely said industry leaders are working hard to develop new markets, both domestically and overseas, though higher tariffs in China and lower prices offered by Turkey have combined to heighten trade anxiety.

In Turkey, the world’s predominant hazelnut producer, the lira has dropped about 60 percent compared to the dollar so far this year, which could potentially depress global hazelnut prices. Meanwhile, China slapped a 15 percent tariff hike on U.S. hazelnuts in April following the Trump administration’s increased tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.

While the prospect of selling more hazelnuts may not seem appealing at first glance, Klevay said a larger — and more predictable — supply of Oregon-grown hazelnuts may actually increase demand, opening new avenues to sell the crop.

“We feel that as the supply gets larger, the demand will follow, similar to what’s happened with pistachios and almonds,” Klevay said. “Our crop is known to be very high quality, and those markets that are looking for quality are opportunities for us going forward.”

Nagely said the recent developments in China and Turkey have brought the Oregon hazelnut industry to the forefront, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.

“Our hazelnuts have been in a lot of discussions recently,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for us to make some things happen.”

While hazelnut yields may experience record highs, the same USDA forecast noted a record low average nut size. Nagely said the hot, dry weather may at least be partially to blame.

The Willamette Valley, where most hazelnuts are grown, has received just 85 percent of its normal precipitation for the current water year, and the entire region is now listed in severe to extreme drought.

The weather may also push the beginning of harvest season up to mid-September, Nagely said. It is expected to run through October, possibly into early November.

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington state plans to sue the Trump administration over its proposal to dismantle pollution rules that would have increased federal regulation of emissions from coal-fired power plants, Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday.

The Environmental Protection Agency plan threatens lives, props up an old technology and is illegal, the Democrat told reporters. “It’s an affront to people who want to breathe clean air.”

The state will file a lawsuit — likely joining with other states — but it must first wait for the EPA rule to be formally proposed and finalized, which could take months, said Bill Sherman, the attorney general’s counsel for environmental protection.

The EPA announced Tuesday that it plans to replace President Barack Obama’s 2015 Clean Power Plan, his signature climate policy. It says its Affordable Clean Energy rule “empowers states, promotes energy independence and facilitates economic growth and job creation.”

It also acknowledged that the increased emissions from aging coal-fired plants could kill hundreds more people annually and cost the country billions of dollars.

Sherman said it’s too early to discuss details about the state’s legal challenge but they’ll likely argue, among other things, that the EPA is acting beyond its authority under the Clean Air Act and contrary to science and facts.

The EPA proposal broadly increases the authority given to states to regulate existing coal power plants.

While Washington can act through legislation to control its own pollution, Inslee said, state residents are breathing smoke from other places and “we have an interest in reducing coal smoke from all over the U.S.”

Inslee, who has made climate a key priority, has pushed to phase the state off electricity from coal.

The state’s only coal-fired power plant in Centralia is already scheduled to stop burning coal entirely by 2025. Two older units at the Colstrip coal plant in Montana supplies coal-fired electricity to Washington state and are scheduled to close by mid-2022. No date has been set to close two newer units at that plant.

Several proposals to bring coal through Washington for export also have been defeated.

Washington is facing a legal battle over its decision to reject permits for a massive proposed coal-export terminal on the Columbia River in Longview. On Tuesday, a federal judge allowed California, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Oregon and Massachusetts to file a joint amicus brief supporting the state in the case.

The state Department of Ecology denied the project a water-quality permit last fall, saying there were too many major harmful impacts.

Utah-based Lighthouse Resources, which operates coal mines in Montana and Wyoming, sued Washington in federal court in January, alleging officials violated federal laws in denying approvals for its $680 million Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview project.

The company accuses the governor and state regulators of being anti-coal and discriminating against it by blocking the movement of coal mined in other states from being exported.

Wyoming, Montana, Kansas, Utah, South Dakota and Nebraska and several national industry groups have filed legal briefs backing project developers, saying the case has broad implications for the export of commodities that are important to many states.

EAGLE POINT, Ore. (AP) — Livestock producers are feeling the effects of drought at an intensifying rate.

On the heels of two sparse rain years, pastures are drying up and herds might follow suit if the trend continues into next year.

Fourth-generation Eagle Point rancher Ron Anderson figures plenty of his fellow ranchers are in a world of hurt.

“We had no snowpack to speak of in comparison to what we used to,” Anderson said. “So when the snow’s gone, you know the runoff slows down. If you’re in the right place, you still get some runoff. There are places in Oregon where once that snow is gone, they don’t get nothing. If we don’t get a wet winter, or a lot of snow this year, then we’re really in for it. That could be a disaster.”

Anderson said it is reminiscent of the climate shift in the late 1970s.

“If you’re not in the right place, you can’t irrigate,” Anderson said. “You might only get one or two irrigations, well that don’t grow any feed, so that makes it difficult. You take a dry year on dry-land farming, you might get nothing.”

While herd sizes have remained stable over the past decade, they’re much smaller than they were 40 years ago, Anderson said. At the same time, there are fewer acres devoted to hay and feed production.

With pastures drying up this summer, farmers and ranchers resort to buying hay, more than likely from outside of the Rogue Valley.

“People will have to buy some hay to survive this drought,” Anderson said. “The price is pretty high right now compared to last year ... good alfalfa will be $200 and something a ton.”

The Klamath Basin has long been an option, but that’s not a given this year.

“There was quite a little rain damage there on the first cutting,” he said.

Anderson is among the cattlemen whose herds graze locally, then are moved across the state line in the winter.

“There’s worse drought in California than there is here,” Anderson said.

Last week, Jackson County livestock producers gained eligibility to apply for 2018 Livestock Forage Disaster Program benefits for small grain, native pasture and improved pasture.

The program provides compensation for producers who suffer grazing losses for covered livestock due to drought on privately owned or leased land, or fire on federally managed land.

“We’re so far behind on water that we won’t catch up,” said Phillip Morton, local executive director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, which administers the disaster relief program. “But if we don’t have a good fall, winter and spring going into next year and the rain stops in February like it did this year, it’s going to be much worse.”

The lack of ready forage and high cost of hay could hit hard, Morton said.

“Local herds disappear,” he said. “Producers can’t afford to feed them, and it becomes cost-prohibitive to feed your herds, so folks start selling off cattle. We’ll see less livestock in the county, and producers will get a setback in their herd development. Of course, if a lot of cattle start showing up on market, the natural thing is for prices to come down.”

Until the most recent farm bill was passed, the Farm Service Agency awaited a presidential declaration. Now, the agency follows the U.S. Drought Monitor. Adjacent counties were previously included, so if Klamath County had a dry year, Jackson County was eligible.

While the drought assistance is welcome to livestock owners, it’s not a sure thing.

“They’re usually pretty good at helping you fill out the paperwork. Then you’ve got to wait and see if there are funds available, passed by Congress, where it goes and how much,” Anderson said.

Often it turns into a waiting game.

“The biggest complaint I hear is these guys meticulously fill out the forms and they never hear anything,” said Applegate Valley farmer Warren Merz.

“When you figure all the farmers trying to raise dryland hay crops, or dryland grain,” Anderson said, “you’ve got the irrigated crops, so they’re not quite so bad, as long as you don’t run out of irrigation water in these districts.”

While this isn’t the worst summer in his recollection, John Dimick of Eagle Point said the string of dry summers is taking a toll, and wildfire smoke is creating additional woes.

“The smoke is heavy enough that the second-cutting hay crop is not growing,” Dimick said. “Those guys that have actually cut some hay have had a real hard time getting it dry, because of the lack of direct sunlight. Pastures are not growing like they should be, so if you are a dryland pasture guy, you’re in big trouble. There are some people that are really hurting for feed because it’s so dry. There’s just not a lot of green grass growing out there.”

HERMISTON, Ore. — Henry the lamb might just be the most valuable lamb in history.

After Maddy Thomas, an 11-year-old 4-H student from Echo, showed him at the Umatilla County Fair his sale brought in $23,200 — totaling about $162 per pound at an auction where lambs were averaging $7 per pound.

The auction marked the one-year anniversary of Maddy’s diagnosis of a brain tumor, and the money will go to help her family cover continuing expenses related to her treatment. Her mother, Jenny Thomas, said she doesn’t have words to describe how grateful she is for the “unbelievable” show of support.

“Anyone who has had a sick child knows the kind of bills that come, and I’ve had to miss a lot of work,” she said.

The lamb didn’t start out as a fundraiser idea. Maddy just wanted to participate in a “normal” activity after finally finding a cancer treatment that was working and she was regaining some of her strength. She got Henry in May and began walking, feeding and grooming him.

“I liked him because he liked to head butt me and he was always playful,” Maddy said. “I liked walking him around the house.”

Jenny said the exercise was so good for Maddy — using muscles she hadn’t used in months and giving her an incentive to stay outdoors — that doctors told her she could drop her occupational and physical therapy. She lost some of the weight that steroids in her treatment had caused her to gain, and color returned to her cheeks.

“He gave her a purpose,” Jenny said.

When fair time came, Maddy brought her lamb to the barns with the other youth and enjoyed a week at the fair. Like all 4-H students, when the youth livestock auction rolled around on Saturday she found it bittersweet.

“It was hard saying goodbye,” she said.

Jenny said she had heard “rumblings” that community members at the auction were conspiring to make sure Maddy’s lamb went for a little extra, but she thought that meant $10 per pound. Instead, the price just kept rising as more people realized something special was happening and jumped in with bids of their own, then cheered on other bidders.

Both Jennie and livestock auction superintendent Marie Linnell described the atmosphere during the bidding as “electric.” Linnell said that even auctioneer Ford Bonney started choking up as he continued to take bids.

“It was like electricity was running through the air,” Linnell said. “The feeling there was incredible.”

The bidding ended at $50 per pound, but the fair also allows “add-ons” from people who didn’t win an animal but still want to contribute to the youth who raised it. The add-ons came pouring in, bumping it up to $78 per pound that day. First it was adults and businesses, then other Umatilla County 4-H and FFA members started contributing a portion of their proceeds. Linnell said last week support was still trickling in, but the 143-pound market lamb has brought in $23,200 from more than 60 adults, businesses and 50 youth.

“We always say these 4-H and FFA kids are the cream of the crop,” Linnell said.

Henry the lamb went on to resale, and Maddy said she is already looking forward to raising another lamb next year.

“It was fun,” she said.

Meanwhile Jenny said the money raised from the sale — Linnell said the fair won’t be taking a commission off the top — will help the family with medical and travel expenses, and some will be put into a college fund for Maddy.

Maddy also said she wanted to thank everyone for their support.

Linnell said she has never seen anything like what happened last week, but the community has always been extremely generous at the youth livestock auction in her 12 years as superintendent. With Maddy’s lamb, it was the highest grossing auction to date. Without factoring in Maddy’s lamb, it was the second highest at $480,750 on 251 lots.

Anyone who wants to add on a donation to Maddy’s lamb before the deadline next Friday can email Linnell at mlinnell5@gmail.com or stop by the fair offices at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center.

A federal judge has dismissed a racketeering lawsuit filed by Oregon landowners against neighbors who allegedly produce marijuana but the plaintiffs can refile their complaint.

Last year, several people filed a lawsuit accusing neighboring property owners near Lebanon, Ore., of growing marijuana in violation of the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act.

U.S. District Judge Michael McShane has now ruled that the injuries alleged by the plaintiffs, including unpleasant noises, foul odors and reduced property values, aren’t the kind that can be compensated under RICO.

The 10 plaintiffs — Robert Ainsworth and Tami Ainsworth, Karl and Lucinda Frink, Gordon and Elaine Griswold, John and Linda Lindsey and William and Suzanne Whitaker — claimed they’d been adversely affected by a “persistent stench,” traffic, greenhouse fans and guard dogs.

According to the complaint, because marijuana remains illegal under federal law regardless of its legalization in Oregon, RICO has been violated by the defendants: Mark Owenby, Michelle Page, Jenny Silveira, Howard Brown, William Templeton, Elisha Templeton and Bryan Philp.

Whether or not the marijuana is still grown at the site is a point of dispute — the defendants say it’s hasn’t operated since October 2017 while plaintiffs claim it’s still functional.

Though the judge found that the plaintiffs have constitutional standing to file the lawsuit, he has decided that diminished “use and enjoyment” doesn’t qualify as an “injury to property” under RICO, even considering their “out-of-pocket expenses for firearms, fencing, gates, and security cameras.”

Such costs arise from an alleged personal injury that’s not covered by RICO “because those losses are derivative of their emotional distress and not a property interest recognized under Oregon law,” McShane said.

The reduction in the plaintiffs’ property values is speculative, since they haven’t shown any attempt to “rent, sell or otherwise monetize their property interests,” rendering the alleged harm “abstract” and uncompensable under RICO, he said.

However, the judge will allow the landowners to amend their complaint to make such a claim “in good faith” and he agreed that the marijuana operation was a plausible cause of any alleged reduction in property value.

“If plaintiffs cannot sue to vindicate the federal drug laws and recover for any compensable injuries, it is difficult to imagine a person who could,” McShane said.

Capital Press was unable to reach the plaintiffs’ attorney, Rachel McCart, for comment.

Alex Tinker, attorney for the defendants, called the ruling “a very well reasoned opinion” that recognized the facts don’t allow for a RICO case to move forward in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A similar case was allowed to proceed in the 10th Circuit, which has different case law regarding RICO.

Tinker said he expects it will be difficult for the plaintiffs to “plead around” the problems identified by McShane, which may bode poorly for several other marijuana-related lawsuit filed by the same attorney.

“At the very least, it should give the plaintiffs a bit of pause in those cases,” he said.

The courtyard at Monrovia’s 1,200-acre plant nursery in Dayton, Ore. was buzzing with bees Tuesday as visitors toured elaborate displays set up for the company’s 2018 Handcrafted Expo, which runs through Sept. 7.

Kate Karam, editorial director for Monrovia Nursery — one of the largest growers in the country — highlighted new selections for 2019, including hydrangeas, roses and rhododendrons, which she said have jumped in popularity over the last several years.

“It’s been a really steady category for a very long time,” Karam said. “A couple of big designers in the U.K. started doing big designs with them. All of a sudden, everyone wants rhododendrons.”

The fourth annual Monrovia expo kicked off July 30, overlapping with the 2018 Farwest Show, the industry’s largest trade show on the West Coast. An estimated 6,000 people are expected to attend Farwest, Aug. 22-24 at the Oregon Convention Center in downtown Portland.

Both events come at a time of promising growth within the industry. According to figures released by the Oregon Department of Agriculture, wholesale and retail nurseries posted their second-best sales year on record in 2017, at $947.7 million.

Greenhouse and nursery plants were the most valuable agricultural commodity in Oregon in 2017, followed by cattle and calves at $695.2 million, hay at $585.1 million, milk at $500.7 million and grass seed at $455.2 million.

Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, hailed the latest figures in a statement, adding that more than three-fourths of what is grown in Oregon is shipped over state lines to destinations as far as the East Coast.

“The wholesale nursery industry is a traded sector that serves markets in every time zone of the United States, as well as Canada and overseas, and brings significant dollars back to the Oregon economy,” Stone said.

Oregon is the nation’s third-leading greenhouse and nursery state, behind only California and Florida.

Jonathan Pedersen, vice president of business development and intellectual property for Monrovia, attributes strong sales nationwide to the rebounding U.S. economy. Indeed, the Oregon industry’s best sales year came in 2007, topping $1 billion worth or products just before the Great Recession hit, causing sales to decline.

“The landscape and nursery industry is very tied to housing starts,” Pedersen said in an interview at the 2018 expo. “When housing rebounded after the recession, so did we.”

Along with new houses, Pedersen said landscaping is the number one return on investment for current homeowners to increase their curb appeal, adding $1.15 to $1.20 in value for every dollar spent.

Monrovia has four nurseries across the country, including Dayton, with the others in Visalia, Calif.; Cairo, Ga.; and Granby, Conn. Corporate offices are located in Azusa, Calif. The company grows roughly 4,000 different varieties of plants.

Josh Cady, a sales manager for Monrovia, led a tour of the Dayton nursery, which handles most of the plant propagation and is the only nursery of the four to have a tissue culture lab.

Tissue culture now accounts for 26 percent of propagation inside the greenhouses, Cady said.

“It’s a great way for us to keep selections true to type,” he said.

It generally takes at least three or four years before plants are ready to ship to stores, and as many as six years for certain varieties. From seedling to shipping, Cady said the goal is consistency.

Looking ahead, Pedersen said the company is focused on breeding plants that require less intensive care and maintenance. Western Oregon is a great place to grow nursery plants, he said, based on climate and availability of water.

Pedersen is hesitant to predict the future, but said that as the economy continues to do well, the industry will also continue to thrive.

“We’re a discretionary income product,” he said. “Right now, it looks good.”

In its century of existence, the Cooperative Extension System has been a valuable resource distributing university-driven, science-based information — mostly about farming and gardening — to the public. But in today’s less agricultural America, the Extension network is adapting, expanding its rural focus into cities and suburbs too.

Urban and suburban communities have their own health needs, says Wiley Thompson, a regional director for Oregon State University Extension. “Some live in ‘food deserts.’ They want to further their education but may not want to move, and many want to intensively garden and manage their compact green spaces,” he says.

“I sense the need for Cooperative Extension is stronger than ever,” says Thompson, who previously chaired the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Cooperative Extension, formalized by the federal Smith-Lever Act of 1914, was designed to translate know-how from technical Land Grant campuses into practical knowledge, and share it with local communities. Most of that outreach was about agricultural production and livestock, gardening, food preservation and safety, nutrition, sewing, early childhood development and 4-H Club activities, says Amy Ouellette, associate director of University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension.

A century ago, 41 percent of America’s workforce was engaged in farming. The comparable figure in 2000 was only 1.9 percent, prompting questions about Extension’s continuing relevance.

Over the past few decades, Extension’s funding has gone flat or been slashed, its offices closed or consolidated, and its staffing reduced.

“In the early days, about one-third of our funds came from the federal government, one-third from the state and one-third from counties,” Ouellette says. “Federal funding has been stagnant. Now it’s about 12 percent of our budget.”

In New Hampshire, state financial support is funneled through the university system (about 40 percent), while counties contribute about 15 percent, she said. Grants, contracts, fees for service and gifts cover the balance, Ouellette says. Other states use similar funding models.

Despite the cutbacks, most Extension programming is still provided without charge, says Scott Reed, Oregon State’s Extension Service director.

Cooperative Extension remains the one-stop shop for soil test kits, planting information, farm financial health and youth leadership workshops. You can join Extension Agents for field trips to pick out promising calves or lambs for 4-H competition at County Fairs.

“We teach in support of positive youth development, preventive health behaviors, improved water quality, sustainable natural resources, and available high quality and safe food, among other items of public value,” Reed says.

Extension is the only deliverer of science-based, unbiased education in rural settings, and can’t abandon its rural commitment, he says. But if it’s to thrive, it also must go where the people are, he believes, reaching more people through community colleges and virtual learning environments, and through partnerships with educational non-profits and other groups.

Extension’s outreach technology already has pivoted toward community settings with hybrid in-person/online courses.

“We have electronic records of those who participate,” Reed says. “We know what they’re interested in and we go proactive with that.”

Education delivery is a crowded field in urban settings with a variety of non-profits and foundations providing services. “In those areas we’ve become wholesalers of information, expeditors and facilitators, rather than retailing directly to clients,” Reed says.

“There’s not enough of us to go around.”

The new efforts often mean hiring staff with more diverse interests and backgrounds. “We can never forget our roots, but they (staff) must be willing to adapt and innovate both in knowledge and delivery,” says Thompson.

For more about the future of the nation’s Cooperative Extension System, see: https://www.joe.org/joe/2014december/comm1.php

SEATTLE (AP) — Smoke from wildfires clogged the sky across the U.S. West, blotting out mountains and city skylines from Oregon to Colorado, delaying flights and forcing authorities to tell even healthy adults in the Seattle area to stay indoors.

As large cities dealt with unhealthy air for a second summer in a row, experts warned that it could become more common as the American West faces larger and more destructive wildfires because of heat and drought blamed on climate change. Officials also must prioritize resources during the longer firefighting season, so some blazes may be allowed to burn in unpopulated areas.

Seattle’s Space Needle was swathed in haze, and it was impossible to see nearby mountains. Portland, Oregon, residents who were up early saw a blood-red sun shrouded in smoke and huffed their way through another day of polluted air. Portland Public Schools suspended all outdoor sports practices.

Thick smoke in Denver blocked the view of some of Colorado’s famous mountains and prompted an air quality health advisory for the northeastern quarter of the state.

The smoky pollution, even in Idaho and Colorado, came from wildfires in British Columbia and the Northwest’s Cascade Mountains, clouding a season that many spend outdoors.

Portland resident Zach Simon supervised a group of children in a summer biking camp who paused at a huge water fountain by the Willamette River, where gray, smoky haze obscured a view of Mount Hood.

Simon said he won’t let the kids ride as far or take part in as many running games like tag while the air quality is bad.

“I went biking yesterday, and I really felt it in my lungs, and I was really headachy and like, lethargic,” Simon said Monday. “Today, biking, you can see the whole city in haze and you can’t see the skyline.”

One of Colin Shor’s favorite things about working in the Denver area is the view of the high peaks to the west. But that was all but gone Monday.

“Not being able to see the mountains is kind of disappointing, kind of sad,” he said.

Forest fires are common, but typical Seattle-area weather pushes it out of the way quickly. The latest round of prolonged smoke happened as hot temperatures and high pressure collided, said Andrew Wineke, a spokesman for the state Ecology Department’s air quality program.

It’s a rare occurrence that also happened last year, raising concerns for many locals that it may become normal during wildfire season. Wineke said climate change is expected to contribute to many more fires.

“The trend is clear. You see the number of forest fires increasing, and so there’s going to be wildfires,” Wineke said. “There’s going to be smoke. It’s going to be somewhere.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said airplanes bound for the Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle’s main airport, may be delayed because of low visibility.

In Spokane, air quality slipped into the “hazardous” range. Thick haze hung over Washington’s second-largest city, forcing vehicles to turn on their headlights during the morning commute.

The air quality was so bad that everyone, regardless of physical condition or age, will likely be affected, according to the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency.

In California, wind blew smoke from several wildfires into the San Francisco Bay Area, where haze led authorities to issue an air quality advisory through Tuesday. They suggested people avoid driving to limit additional pollutants in the air and advised those with health problems to reduce time outdoors.

Health officials say signs of smoke-related health symptoms include coughing, scratchy throat, irritated sinuses, headaches, stinging eyes and runny nose. Those with heart disease may experience chest pain, irregular heartbeats, shortness of breath and fatigue.

Patients at Denver’s National Jewish Health, a respiratory hospital, were reporting worsening symptoms, hospital spokesman Adam Dormuth said.

In Portland, six tourists from Lincoln, Nebraska, posed for a photo in front of the Willamette River with the usual Mount Hood backdrop shrouded in haze. The group of siblings and friends rented an RV and drove in to visit a sister who recently moved to the area.

“We are disappointed that we can’t see the mountains and the whole city, because our relatives live here and tell us how pretty it is, and we’re missing it,” Bev Harris said. “We’re from tornado alley, and we don’t have wildfires. It’s a different experience.”

———

Flaccus reported from Portland, Oregon. Associated Press reporters Nicholas K. Geranios in Spokane, Dan Elliott in Denver and Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed to this story.

Idaho Power Co. in each of the last three years spent more to help irrigators upgrade or replace equipment, and is on track to see more gains in 2018. The Boise-based utility is sending proportionately less electricity to these customers, one of the program’s goals.

Participants in the Irrigation Efficiency Rewards program can receive cash incentives for a portion of the cost to install a new, more efficient system or to make energy-efficiency improvements to existing infrastructure. Company officials say demand has been increasing largely independently of year-to-year changes in water supplies and crop prices. A bigger factor appears to be a tight supply of skilled labor.

“This year’s participation is significantly above expectations,” said Dan Axness, who coordinates Idaho Power’s irrigation customer segment. “If we continue at the same rate, we will exceed last year’s incentive savings and payments.”

Idaho Power paid 33 percent more in incentives to irrigators in 2016 compared to 2015, and 0.35 percent more last year compared to 2016. Energy savings — the amount of electricity the company would have supplied irrigators if the upgrades weren’t in place — grew more than 12 percent between 2015 and 2016, and by 7 percent between 2016 and last year.

Irrigators in 2015 used about 2.05 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, and the program saved 14.03 million kilowatt-hours, paying about $1.5 million in incentives, according to Idaho Power data. Irrigators accounted for more than 14 percent of the utility’s total load that year, Axness said. A kilowatt is 1,000 watts. The average home uses about 950 kilowatt-hours per month.

From 2016 to 2017, the amount of saved energy increased from 15.75 million kilowatt-hours to nearly 16.9 million. Incentives paid increased from $2.007 million to $2.014 million. Irrigation usage dropped from 1.95 billion kilowatt-hours to 1.77 billion.

So far this year, Idaho Power has realized irrigation-related energy savings of 12.28 million kilowatt-hours and spent about $1.42 million on incentives.

Many irrigators install or upgrade systems outside irrigation season, so more growth is likely this year, Axness said. “While you’re doing it is a good time to think about improving it,” he said.

A short supply of skilled labor is a bigger driver of demand than year-to-year changes in water supply and even in crop prices, Axness said.

Water supply in Idaho Power’s service territory was lower than average two years ago, well above average last year — reducing Idaho Power’s irrigation-related electricity output, or load, he said — and is around average this year except in southeastern Oregon. The company this year slightly increased the rates paid by Oregon non-residential customers including irrigators.

Axness said this year has seen more interest in Irrigation Efficiency Rewards projects in eastern Oregon, where the water content in several reservoirs is well below average.

“There is a continuing effort to have more water-efficiency projects in that area served by Owyhee Reservoir and others,” he said.

“It seems like labor is driving things,” Axness said. “The one thing we hear more than anything else is the labor savings.”

As labor availability becomes more challenging, “we see more conversions from flood and wheel-line irrigation to center-pivot irrigation and a much smaller amount of drip irrigation,” he said.

Idaho Power recently sees more irrigation projects on farms that are consolidating or expanding, and a fair number of projects on small acreages - whether it’s a small farm converting to sprinkler irrigation or a small, possibly oddly shaped parcel where a center pivot is now viable due to technological advancements and labor shortages, Axness said.

“I often wonder how a porducer or irrigator can afford to do it, and they often say they cannot afford not to do it,” he said.

Idaho Power has about 20,000 irrigation meters, or services. About 4,000 customers operate one meter each, and about 2,000 including many sizable agriculture producers operate the remaining 16,000, he said.

“Crop demands are so important and crop water use is so important that the year-to-year changes (in water supply) over the last few haven’t appeared to be a factor” in demand, he said, notwithstanding this year’s water-savings efforts in dry southeastern Oregon. Irrigation Efficiency Rewards participation rose even as alfalfa hay prices dropped in 2016 and ’17, he said.

Idaho Power added 294 irrigation customers last year, a company fact sheet said. Its total customer base exceeds 547,000.

Online:

Program detail:

https://bit.ly/2LdzPBm

The U.S. Forest Service has named a new regional forester for the Pacific Northwest covering Oregon and Washington.

Glenn Casamassa, a longtime Forest Service employee and former supervisor of the Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests and the Pawnee National Grassland in Colorado, will take over Sept. 17 at the Portland office. He succeeds Jim Pena, who retired July 3.

Casamassa is a 30-year veteran of the Forest Service. As the regional forester, he will oversee 16 national forests, two national scenic areas, the Crooked River National Grassland in Oregon and two national volcanic monuments.

In a statement released by the Forest Service, Casamassa said he is committed to working with agency employees, tribes and local communities to share stewardship of public lands across the two states.

“Being good neighbors and setting a standard of excellence for public and customer service are priorities for the region in working alongside the people who care for, value, and depend upon these lands,” Casamassa said.

Casamassa earned his bachelor’s degree in forest ecology from Utah State University, and completed post-graduate work in logging system engineering at the Oregon State University College of Forestry. He began his career as a forestry technician, working as a seasonal firefighter on the Tonto National Forest in Arizona.

Casamassa landed his first permanent job on the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, and from there went to work on the Wasatch-Cache National Forest in Utah. He has also served as district ranger of the Moab and Monticello ranger districts on the Manti-La Sal National Forest, and was the regional environmental coordinator for the Forest Service Intermountain Region, spanning portions of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada.

Casamassa also worked as a legislative affairs specialist at the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. Forest Service Interim Chief Vicki Christiansen said Casamassa has played a leading role in reforming regulations at the national level, and brings with him “tremendous land management and conservation leadership experiences.”

Jerome Rosa, executive director of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, said he is looking forward to working with Casamassa to address outstanding issues — namely livestock and grazing guidelines — in the final draft of the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision, which sets goals and desired conditions for 5.5 million acres in the Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman and Malheur national forests in Eastern Oregon.

“We’re really excited about the opportunity to work with him,” Rosa said.

Dianne Guidry, who has served as the acting regional forester since Pena retired in July, will resume her role as deputy regional forester after Casamassa arrives.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Eugene is a fine place to be if you’re a bee.

The Register-Guard reports that an environmental group dedicated to protecting bees, butterflies and pollinators has given the Oregon city a Bee City USA designation.

Eugene is the 71st city to get the honor from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

An international decline in bee populations has environmentalists worried about the insects.

Five years ago, beekeepers and others urged Eugene leaders to stop using a pesticide suspected of killing honeybees at a golf course and on downtown flower pots. The city stopped using the pesticide in 2014.

Eugene also received the designation because it has 10 parks where herbicides are not used.

Krystal Abrams of Beyond Toxics, a Eugene-based environmental group, says the city uses pesticides sparingly, only when it has to control an outbreak.

Organic hazelnuts can fetch a premium price but growing them without conventional tools also leaves farmers prone to unforeseen risks, according to experts.

Farmers who cultivate hazelnuts organically — or aspire to do so — learned about dealing with the challenges during an Aug. 15 tour of operations near Lebanon and Scio, Ore., organized by the Organic Hazelnut Growers Association.

Without access to most chemical sprays, organic growers have to be creative in battling the multitude of pests and diseases that can afflict the crop, according to speakers.

“You really can’t just do it for the return. It’s a different system of farming if you’re not used to it,” said Drew Katz, transition coordinator for Oregon Tilth, an organic certifier.

One scourge facing organically grown hazelnut trees is Eastern Filbert Blight, a fungal pathogen that conventional growers can fight with systemic fungicides.

Organic farmers can treat their orchards with copper but the substance must be re-applied after rain, requiring multiple applications during the storm season.

Copper can also build up in the soil to the point that it’s toxic to the trees, said Nik Wiman, an Oregon State University orchard specialist. “It can hurt plant growth in the long term.”

Keeping the orchard floor clean in preparation for harvest is also more labor-intensive without the “chemical mow” offered by herbicides, requiring the planting of cover crops as well as mowing and tillage.

Sharp-point fluvellin is a problem weed that can wrap around components of harvesting equipment and has spread through an organic orchard owned by Chess Ag Full Harvest Partners, an investment firm.

Don Hatai, the company’s farm manager, said he’s thinking about planting perennial grasses to “shade out” the weed, but may need to switch back to conventional treatments to control it.

In general, it’s advisable to establish an orchard block with conventional methods before transitioning it to organic production, Hatai said. “You need to get that tree to grow.”

For example, there’s no organic spray to control flathead borers, which tend to feed on younger trees, he said. Once they reach about five years, though, the insect doesn’t inflict as much damage.

Disrupting the reproduction of filbertworms — which eat kernels — with pheromone treatments can control their populations in organic orchards.

However, mating disruption is most effective at keeping the number of insects low, rather than treating an orchard that is already teeming with them.

“You can’t manage a big population,” Wiman said.

Organic farmers can spray for filbertworms with Entrust, a biopesticide, which has a “synergistic effect” when combined with neem oil, he said. The worry is that growers are becoming too reliant on the chemical, threatening its effectiveness.

To transition to organic production, an orchard cannot be treated with a prohibited substance for three years.

Farmers who have already transitioned their land to organic production must plant new orchards with organically grown seedlings, unless they’re not available, said Katz.

If growers can demonstrate they can’t obtain the variety, quantity or quality of organic trees they need, they can then plant conventional stock, he said.

Apart from agronomic considerations, processing is another complication for organic hazelnut growers.

The options for “custom processing” are currently limited due to the small volume of organic hazelnuts, which is why the Organic Hazelnut Growers Association is looking at options for a dedicated facility.

To maintain her crop’s organic status, farmer Linda Perrine must use an accredited organic pasteurizer, processor and commercial kitchen.

While a pound of her hazelnut kernels sell for up to $11 wholesale and $15 retail, the expense of producing an organic crop is considerably greater, she said. “The broader public doesn’t understand why there is so much cost difference.”

Founded in 1852, seven years before Oregon became a state, a farm in Saint Paul, Ore., is continuing to build on its legacy as a family operation.

Mullen Farms is one of two sesquicentennial farms designated this year by the Oregon Century Farm and Ranch Program along with 12 century farms. The sesquicentennial award recognizes families who have continuously farmed portions of their original family acreage for 150 years or more. Farms designated century farms have been in continuous operation 100 years.

“We are definitely a family farm,” said Jerry Mullen, great-great grandson of one of the farm’s founders, Patrick Mullen.

Through the years, it has been important to every generation to keep the farm going and in the family, Mullen said. Mullen never knew his dad, who died when Mullen was two years old, but Mullen spent a lot of time with his grandfather, Charles S. Mullen Sr., who taught him about the farm.

On the property is a house where Mullen’s grandfather was born and lived for 101 years.

“It was important to my granddad especially that we kept the farm together,” Mullen said.

Mullen recalled growing up on the farm mentioning how they had their own pigs, dairy and granary. “I grew up with all that to self-sustain and then grow enough to make some cash,” Mullen said.

Over time the farm has grown from 150 to 1,300 acres as the Mullen family has added other farms and land to the business. They now grow mainly seed crops and hazelnuts.

Keeping the farm’s legacy alive is important to Mullen. “We are doing everything we can do at this point to make sure it is a viable farm going forward,” he said.

The other sesquicentennial farm honored this year is the Robinson Stillwell Taggart Farm in Dayton. It was founded in 1844 when Benjamin and Elizabeth Robinson came to the Oregon territory on a wagon train.

The farm is still in the family, though pieces of it were sold off during the Depression.

“(The farm) has been a source of pride for our family for generations,” said John Taggart, current owner of the farm.

The farm is leased to a couple who Taggart says he is close to and trusts. Taggart lives in Eastern Oregon and wants to keep the farm because of its history.

Also on the list are 12 newly designated century farms:

• J.G. Kuenzi Farm, H.M.K., began in 1917 after the founder traded a smaller farm in Mt. Pleasant for the 217-acre farm near Silverton. The farm has grown different types of berries over the years, as well as grass seed, hogs and clover.

• Watts Ranch in Klamath County was founded in 1910 when its founders, Jim and Jack Watts, moved to Oregon from Utah. The family runs cattle and grows hay.

• Brown Farm, in Morrow County, goes back to 1912 when Chris P. Brown, an immigrant from Denmark, purchased 350 acres to grow wheat. His grandson and his grandson’s wife, Chris E. and Kathy Brown, currently run the operation.

• Wilsonview Dairy Inc. was founded in 1918 in Tillamook County by the Josi family, which immigrated from Switzerland and began a dairy in a lease-to-buy arrangement.

• Henry W. Jones Farm in Yamhill County has been operated by four generations of the Jones family. They have grown many crops including clover, wheat, oats and silage corn. Today, the farm is run by Steve Jones, the great grandson of the original founder, Henry W. Jones, who purchased the farm in 1918.

• Howard-Allstott Ranch in Umatilla County was founded by William Howard in 1884, when the homestead claim was approved. The ranch was eventually passed down throughout the generations to Richard and Dorothy Howard Allstott, the great granddaughter of the founder.

• The Rockwell-Doherty farm was founded in 1906 by Seth and Sarah Rockwell in Umatilla County. The farm has seen many different uses through the years, including fruit orchards, raising horses and growing irrigated wheat, pasture grass and alfalfa. Richard Doherty now runs it for the family.

• Tilla-Bay Farms in Tillamook County began when Fred and Gotfried Josi purchased the land in 1918. In the beginning the dairy operation consisted of 24 milk cows. Today the dairy is operated by the founder’s granddaughter, Terry Mizee and her husband, Bart, along with their son, Kurt Mizee.

• DeLano Farms in Clackamas County was founded by Hatsil DeLano in 1916 as a nearly 57-acre plot and today has grown to 216 acres. Over the years the farm has shifted from dairy and vegetable production in the early years to cattle and hay production and added a horse barn and arena. Karen DeLano now runs the horse barn and Renata Squier raises cattle and hay.

• Sandoz farm was founded in 1880 in Wasco County by three brothers, Alphonse, Arnold and Charles Sandoz. They grew root vegetables, fruit trees and grapes. Ted, Charles Lee and Mary Sandoz are the third generation and operate a farmstand where they sell USDA beef and pork along with fruit, vegetables and other products.

• Beitel Farm was established in 1915 by Alois and Cecilia Beitel in Marion County. Currenty the farm grows grass seed is being passed on from John J. and Debbie Beitel to the next generation, John R. Beitel. In the early days the farm was typical of many farms during the time with chickens, sheep, cows and pigs.

• Tideman Johnson Farm goes back to 1880 when Tideman and Olava Johnson settled 60 acres in Multnomah County. At one point part of the farm was donated to the city of Portland as a park. The original farmland still owned by the family is around 8 acres. However, the family continues to farm the land in cooperation with several organizations. The awards ceremony for the century and sesquicentennial farms will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at the Oregon State Fair picnic grove area.

The Oregon Century Farm and Ranch Program is administered by the Oregon Farm Bureau Foundation for Education. It is supported by a partnership among the Oregon Farm Bureau, the State Historic Preservation Office, OSU University Archives and by generous donations of Oregonians.

For information, contact Andréa Kuenzi, program coordinator, at 503-400-7884 or cfr@oregonfb.org. The application deadline for 2019 is May 1.