Oregon’s vineyard and winery operators are by nature an optimistic, glass-half-full bunch, and their assessment of the 2016 harvest is no exception.

The Oregon Wine Board’s annual harvest report said the fruit produced throughout the state was marked by “wonderful concentration and complexity with characteristic natural acidity” despite numerous quirks in the growing season.

An unusually warm spring produced a grape bud break two to four weeks earlier than normal, and a following hot spell condensed the flowering period and caused a smaller fruit set for most producers, wine board Communications Manager Michelle Kaufmann wrote.

Average conditions prevailed during the summer, causing smaller berry size but “a higher concentration of flavors,” according to the Nov. 8 report.

The 2016 vintage produced “practically immaculate fruit” with few disease or pest problems, according to the report. Yields statewide were a mix of higher and lower than average. Crop production was down slightly in the Willamette Valley but up in Southern Oregon and Eastern Oregon, Kaufmann said.

The harvest report includes accounts from growers and winemakers throughout the state’s regions. In Eastern Oregon, viticulturist Jason Magnaghi of Figgins Family Wines described the vintage as one of the most interesting in his 16 years.

Bud break and bloom were two weeks early, he reported, but harvest played out at a “nice slow pace” that allowed workers to pick fruit at “perfect ripeness.”

“All indications point to a really exceptional vintage,” he concluded.

In the Willamette Valley, Cristom Vineyards owner Tom Gerrie said his 2016 harvest was smaller than the previous two years but close to his historical average of 2 tons per acre. Variable weather during flowering resulted in small berries and clusters that “lead to depth, intensity and concentration in the young wines,” he wrote for the wine board report.

The 2016 vintage “may be headed toward greatness,” he said.

PORTLAND — After voters defeated Measure 97 Tuesday, the battle over increasing taxes on corporations is likely to rage on in the Oregon Legislature in 2017.

Measure 97 failed Tuesday 58 percent to 41 percent. The measure would have levied a 2.5 percent tax on certain corporations’ Oregon sales exceeding $25 million per year.

The measure was opposed by a coalition of business interests, including many from Oregon’s agriculture sector.

Lawmakers plan to propose a more “reasonable” tax revenue proposal next session to offset a $1.4 billion revenue shortfall in the 2017-18 budget, said Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton.

“I think policy will be developed by lawmakers and interested parties at the next session,” said Rebecca Tweed, Defeat the Tax on Oregon Sales campaign coordinator. “Our coalition came together for the purpose of defeating this $6 billion tax on sales, and we’re thankful we were able to do that.”

Proponents of Measure 97 vowed to lobby lawmakers to make large corporations pay a larger share of Oregon’s tax revenue and protect investments in education and health care, which the measure was intended to support.

“We are going to keep fighting,” said Ben Unger, campaign manager for Yes on 97.

The campaign was scheduled to release details of its next steps at a news conference Wednesday, Nov. 9. Unger declined to comment Tuesday on whether the public employee union-backed Our Oregon would attempt another ballot measure in 2018.

Measure 97 failed Tuesday 58 percent to 41 percent. The measure would have levied a 2.5 percent tax on certain corporations’ Oregon sales exceeding $25 million per year.

A coalition of businesses raised a record-breaking $26.5 million to thwart the measure. Proponents raised about $17.7 million. The ballot measure was the most expensive in the state’s history.

“Voters didn’t buy claims that the $6 billion tax, based on business sales instead of profits, would not increase consumer costs,” Tweed said. “And they understood that the money raised could have been used any way legislators wanted to spend it.”

The opposition’s blast of advertising on television, radio and social media drove home projections by the nonpartisan Legislative Revenue Office that consumers ultimately would pay for much of the measure in the form of higher prices. The office estimated that the typical family would pay about $600 more per year under Measure 97.

Unger said Tuesday his only regret during the campaign was that Yes on 97 failed to raise as much money as the opposition.

He said he believed his campaign’s message resonated with voters.

“We didn’t win this election this time, but we did win the debate,” Unger said. “Because of the work we did, no one is going to accept a proposed school cut or more expensive health care before asking instead of cuts, why not make corporations pay their fair share?”

A legislative mix-up has blocked the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s implementation of a mediation program for growers of conventional, organic and biotech crops.

A lack of interest in the program, however, raises questions about its necessity.

In 2015, Oregon lawmakers passed House Bill 2509, which created mediation protocols for growers who believe nearby farming practices are interfering with their operations.

While the wording of the legislation is broad, it was considered a compromise bill to soothe conflicts among producers of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, and their neighbors.

Another proposal to create “control areas” where GMOs would be subject to restrictions died in committee that year.

When the ODA began the rulemaking process for the mediation program, the agency discovered it lacked the authority to legally implement it.

Another bill passed in 2015, House Bill 2444, clarified language related to mediation by the agency and removed key provisions that ODA relied upon for the GMO mediation program.

“Through the hustle and bustle of the legislative session, it wasn’t cross-checked with the other mediation bill,” said Kathryn Walker, special assistant to ODA’s director.

The problem will require a legislative fix during the 2017 session, she said. “There is interest in correcting the situation.”

Since the law was passed, though, the agency has received no requests for mediation under the program, Walker said.

Growers can seek similar mediation through the USDA, but none have expressed interest with that agency, either.

Problems of cross-pollination among GMOs and other crops aren’t prevalent, said Barry Bushue, president of the Oregon Farm Bureau.

“My guess is there’s probably not a lot of need for it,” Bushue said of the GMO mediation program.

Bushue pointed to a USDA survey that found only 92 organic farms across the U.S. experienced crop losses from GMOs between 2011 and 2014, while the nation has more than 14,000 organic farms.

“It’s incredibly small,” he said.

Oregonians for Food and Shelter, an agribusiness group, wants to know what kind of problems exist, but the lack of conflicts reported to ODA or USDA indicate they’re likely minimal, said Scott Dahlman, the group’s policy director.

“It speaks volumes to the fact that farmers know how to work together and find ways to figure it out themselves,” he said.

It’s possible that some conventional and organic growers haven’t sought help from the mediation program because they see it as bureaucratic, said Elise Higley, director of Our Family Farms Coalition, which supports GMO-free zones.

Perhaps the legislative fix required for the program will allow lawmakers to revisit a 2013 bill that pre-empted local ordinances from restricting GMOs, she said.

Rather than have a mediation program to deal with the consequences of cross-pollination, farmers would benefit more from a system that prevents problems in the first place, Higley said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Kate Brown defeated Republican opponent Bud Pierce on Tuesday, but the GOP won its first statewide election since 2002, with a victory in the race for the state’s second-highest office.

Republican Dennis Richardson beat Democrat Brad Avakian to become the next secretary of state. It was the first GOP win in a statewide race since then-U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith was re-elected in 2002. The GOP hasn’t won the governor’s office since 1982. The last Republican secretary of state was Norma Paulus, who held the position in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, Ellen Rosenblum held onto her seat as attorney general, the first woman to hold the position, defeating Republican challenger Daniel Zene Crowe.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden handily defeated Republican challenger Mark Callahan to retain his seat. Oregon’s sole Republican in Congress, Greg Walden, beat Democratic challenger Jim Crary in his district.

Democratic U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio, Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici and Kurt Schrader were also keeping their seats in Congress.

Brown’s victory keeps her in the governor’s job for another two years. She will be finishing the last two years of the term of Gov. John Kitzhaber, who quit in February 2015 because of an influence-peddling scandal swirling around him and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes.

Brown, the nation’s first bisexual governor, took over for Kitzhaber because as secretary of state she was next in line.

There will be another gubernatorial election in 2018.

In the run-up to Tuesday’s election, Brown touted achievements such as a deal to incrementally raise the minimum wage to as high as $14.75 by 2022 and passage of pioneering legislation to eliminate the use of coal-fired power by 2035.

Pierce, a Salem oncologist and political newcomer, got into trouble by suggesting during a debate with Brown that successful women aren’t susceptible to domestic abuse and sexual violence. He later apologized.

Richardson narrowly lost the run for governor to John Kitzhaber in 2014. Avakian is Oregon’s labor commissioner. Each candidate accused the other of hitting below the belt in the race for secretary of state.

Avakian said Richardson is “extreme, like Trump.” Richardson retorted that Avakian has a history of not paying his bills.

Richardson and Avakian are veteran politicians. In 2003, both came to the state House as freshmen lawmakers.

The treasurer’s race featured three candidates: Democratic state Rep. Tobias Read, Republican and Lake Oswego City Councilman Jeff Gudman, and the Independent Party’s Chris Telfer, a certified public accountant and former Republican state lawmaker.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregonians on Tuesday shot down a state ballot measure that would have taxed companies’ sales of more than $25 million, with many voters worrying that it would hit their own wallets.

Ben Unger, a main backer of Measure 97, conceded defeat Tuesday evening in a message to the media and supporters, saying that “big, out-of-state corporations had to shatter campaign finance records to beat us.”

Tens of millions of dollars were thrown into the battle over Measure 97 by both sides, with the “no” campaign largely funded by mostly out-of-state corporations.

Measure 97 “fell of its own weight when people understood what it would do,” Pat McCormick, a spokesman for the campaign to defeat the tax, said, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Opponents and even the Legislative Revenue Office say every Oregonian would have been affected.

Oregon is one of only five states in America that doesn’t have a sales tax. Opponents called Measure 97 a sales tax in disguise, saying companies that have to pay it will pass on the cost to their customers.

Allison Ellermeier said she had voted against Measure 97 after agonizing over it. The real estate agent voted with her 6-month-old son strapped to her chest and a friend’s daughter in a stroller.

“I voted no, and that’s a hard thing to say because I’m all for taxing all of us for schools and other social services,” she said.

Backers said the revenue from the tax would have gone to education, health and senior services, although it would have landed in the general fund, which the legislature can spend as it sees fit.

Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat who won her own race on Tuesday, said she supported the measure because the state budget is facing a $1.3 billion deficit, and the money is needed to help fund education, health care and senior services.

Republican challenger Bud Pierce said the measure would increase the cost of living for every Oregonian and that instead state government should learn to live within its means.

Consumers would not have been directly taxed by the measure, which was expected to increase state revenue by $3 billion per year. Many businesses that have narrow profit margins felt threatened because sales would have been taxed, not profits. The minimum tax for companies with more than $25 million in sales in Oregon would have been 2.5 percent of the excess over $25 million, plus $30,001.

Even Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders weighed in on it, saying in a statement last week that “at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, it is time for large profitable corporations to start paying their fair share of taxes. That is why I am supporting Oregon 97.”

LANGLOIS -- Wild Rivers Land Trust is inviting its community supporters to come together for a spectacular evening full of music, friends and food on Saturday, Nov. 12.

POINT BARROW, ALASKA -- Summer of 1944. The following is an accurate account of one of my adventures during World War II.

Retailers across the U.S. are coming to an uncomfortable realization as the holiday season approaches.

The abundant supply of Christmas trees they’ve come to expect in recent years has now turned into a shortage.

“They didn’t realize how quickly we had rolled over to an undersupply,” said Bob Schaefer, CEO of Noble Mountain Tree Farm near Salem, Ore.

While farmers are benefiting from higher prices, the shortage has sparked concerns of market share loss to artificial trees.

The industry won’t be able to quickly ramp up production because trees typically spend two years in the nursery before being planted out in the field, Schaefer said.

The problem is aggravated by insufficient recent seed crops, he said.

For Noble firs, the most popular tree species, an adequate supply of seedlings may not be available until 2019, Schaefer said.

The immediate impact is on prices.

Trees are selling for 8 percent to 15 percent more than last year, Schaefer said. Noble firs are selling for roughly $28 while Douglas firs are selling for up to $18, he said.

In terms of supply, the shortage isn’t so severe that retailers will end up with empty tree lots, said Betty Malone, co-owner of Sunrise Tree Farm near Philomath, Ore.

“I think everybody will get something, just maybe not the species or size they want,” Malone said.

Much of the is shortage was caused by farmers getting out of the tree business during the recent glut, which suppressed prices, she said.

Between 2010 and 2015, the number of Christmas tree growers dropped more than 30 percent, from 699 to 485, according to Oregon Department of Agriculture data.

Tree sales in Oregon plummeted 26 percent during that time, from 6.4 million trees to 4.7 million trees, according to a survey by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Meanwhile farmers were planting fewer trees than they were selling.

About 3.7 million trees were planted in 2015, down from 5.6 million in 2010, according to USDA NASS.

“A lot of people got burned in the last decade,” said Casey Grogan, whose family owns Silver Bells Christmas Tree Farm near Silverton, Ore.

Planting Christmas trees has also appealed to fewer farmers due to growth in alternative crops, such as hazelnuts and grape vines, Grogan said.

Grogan said he is worried that high prices could push some consumers toward artificial trees, but he said growers need to recoup years of losses.

“There’s ground to make up financially for people who stuck it out through the oversupply,” he said. “We need higher prices to stay in the game.”

Drakes Crossing Christmas Trees, which also grows seedlings, is cautiously increasing production as the industry’s financial outlook improves, said Jan Hupp, its manager.

“We’re not going whole hog, but we are doing it,” Hupp said.

With few seedlings in the pipeline, it’s unlikely the Christmas tree industry will face another major surplus until 2025, he said.

However, the industry will likely again swing into overproduction eventually, Hupp said.

“Name a single commodity crop that doesn’t have a cycle like that,” he said. “It’s going to be good for a while, but not forever.”

TUESDAY, NOV. 8

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Enrollment at Oregon State University is 2.9 percent higher than last year, although Corvallis has only seen a fraction of that growth.

The Corvallis Gazette-Times reports that OSU’s total fall enrollment is 31,303. School officials announced Monday that OSU has 852 students more than the start of the 2015 school year and is the state’s largest university for the third year in a row.

Officials say the increase in students studying at OSU’s main campus in Corvallis is less than one percent. The university’s online enrollment and enrollment at its Bend campus jumped by more than 10 percent each.

OSU officials say the school has grown over the past three years. That sets it apart from other public universities in the state, where enrollment is starting to decline.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Republicans and Democrats are keeping a close eye on the secretary of state’s race in the Tuesday election, because it might be the GOP’s chance for winning its first statewide race in more than a decade.

Polls have indicated it could be a close race Tuesday between Republican Dennis Richardson and Democrat Brad Avakian, Oregon’s labor commissioner.

Polls have also indicated Democratic Gov. Kate Brown has no reason to worry about the challenge from her Republican opponent, Bud Pierce.

No Republican has won a statewide race in Oregon since then-U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith was re-elected in 2002.

Oregonians on Tuesday were also voting for treasurer, attorney general and candidates in federal races.

Brown’s victory would keep her in the governor’s job for another two years. She would be finishing the last two years of the term of Gov. John Kitzhaber, who quit in February 2015 because of an influence-peddling scandal swirling around him and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes.

Brown, the nation’s first bisexual governor, took over for Kitzhaber because as secretary of state she was next in line.

There will be another gubernatorial election in 2018.

In the run-up to Tuesday’s election, Brown touted achievements such as a deal to incrementally raise the minimum wage to as high as $14.75 by 2022 and passage of pioneering legislation to eliminate the use of coal-fired power by 2035.

Pierce, a Salem oncologist and political newcomer, got into trouble by suggesting during a debate with Brown that successful women aren’t susceptible to domestic abuse and sexual violence. He later apologized.

While the gubernatorial contest is often the marquee race, the rivalry between Richardson and Avakian has been the most heated. Each candidate accused the other of hitting below the belt.

Avakian said Richardson is “extreme, like Trump.” Richardson retorted that Avakian has a history of not paying his bills.

Richardson and Avakian are veteran politicians. In 2003, both came to the state House as freshmen lawmakers. Avakian has been labor commissioner since 2008. Richardson challenged Kitzhaber and lost to him in the 2014 gubernatorial race.

The treasurer’s race featured three candidates: Democratic state Rep. Tobias Read, Republican and Lake Oswego City Councilman Jeff Gudman, and the Independent Party’s Chris Telfer, a certified public accountant and former Republican state lawmaker.

In the race for attorney general, Republican Daniel Zene Crowe challenged Democratic incumbent Ellen Rosenblum, the first woman to hold the position.

In federal races, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and fellow Democratic U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader, Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici were all facing opponents who were not seen as serious threats. The same held true for Oregon’s sole Republican in Congress, Greg Walden, whose Democratic challenger, Jim Crary, lacks an extensive background in politics.

HERMISTON, Ore. — Whether mashed, baked, scalloped or fried, there should be no shortage of locally grown potatoes to serve up at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner.

As fall potato harvest wraps up around the Columbia Basin, farmers are expecting above-average yield and quality thanks to an exceptional growing season.

Bill Brewer, CEO of the Oregon Potato Commission, said early spring conditions helped to jump-start the crop’s growth, while summer cooled off enough to avoid stifling the plants. Most farms finished harvesting ahead of schedule, Brewer said, with only minimal delays from October’s record rainfall.

“The weather was actually very cooperative,” Brewer said. “It ended up working out well.”

According to the National Weather Service in Pendleton, 1.9 inches of rain fell last month at the Hermiston Municipal Airport, making it the wettest October on record. Downtown Pendleton also received 2.32 inches of rain, making it the third-wettest October there since 1900.

Soggy weather can make for a difficult time harvesting potatoes — especially spuds bound for the storage shed. If there’s too much mud, it could block airflow to the plants and cause them to rot before they can be sold to supermarkets or food processors.

Fortunately, the early start allowed most growers to avoid that issue, Brewer said. The Columbia Basin is also home to sandy, well-drained soils that dry out more quickly, meaning farmers don’t have to wait long after it rains to get back out into the fields.

“I really don’t think it was an issue,” Brewer said. “Most people were done by the time the moisture really started coming.”

Greg Harris, farm manager for Threemile Canyon Farms near Boardman, said they finished harvesting storage potatoes by Oct. 10, which was a few days ahead of schedule. The farm grows 7,000 acres worth of spuds — including several varieties of Russets — which are sold to processors including french fry giant Lamb Weston.

“Because most of the rain came during the second half of October, most people had the bulk of storage done,” Harris said. “Otherwise, it definitely would have been a problem for us.”

Along with storage, Threemile Canyon delivers potatoes directly from the field to customers through early November. That’s where having sandy, absorbent soils comes as a benefit, Harris said. In particular, processing plants around the Tri-Cities leaned heavily on the farm during the late October rains.

“They were almost doubling our output out of here for three or four days to get potatoes to those plants,” he said.

The early season growing conditions have made for an excellent crop, Harris said. He estimates production to be about two tons per acre higher than usual.

“We’re happy with how it turned out,” he said. “Certainly, it was one of our better crops.”

Statewide, Oregon farmers grew nearly 1.22 million tons of potatoes in 2015, worth $176.45 million. Brewer said the region from Hermiston to Boardman averages 30-plus tons per acre, mostly for processing into products like fries, potato chips and potato flakes.

Basin Gold, a cooperative of Oregon and Washington growers, also specializes in producing and marketing fresh market potatoes, like the ones on supermarket shelves. Bud-Rich Potato, of Hermiston, is part of that co-op.

Most farms should be producing at or above average throughout the area, Brewer said.

“Everybody had a pretty good fall harvest,” he said.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — While many of their compatriots will finally have the opportunity to vote in the U.S. elections on Tuesday, over half of Oregon’s registered voters had already cast their ballots.

On Monday, Kevin Cadwallader walked into a grocery store on and put his ballot into an official drop box festooned with American-flag balloons, becoming one of the more than 1.29 million Oregonians who have voted.

“I wanted to see if there was going to be anything else that comes out in the press,” Cadwallader said, explaining why he waited until the penultimate day to vote. There was a lot of “he said, she said” in the U.S. presidential race, Cadwallader noted, but nothing that changed his vote.

A total of 50.3 percent of Oregon’s 2,567,282 registered voters had cast ballots by mail or in drop boxes by Monday morning, a day before election day on Tuesday, the Oregon secretary of state’s office said. That’s a slightly smaller percentage than in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Just a couple of blocks from the Oregon State Capitol, Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess’ office was a hive of activity.

Burgess had about 100 part-time workers sitting at rows of tables and standing at counters, going through stacks of incoming ballots that are enclosed in envelopes with each voter’s signature.

Those ballots that seemed to have more than one vote for a candidate or for a measure, or a write-in candidate, received extra scrutiny in another room.

“We cherish the idea that everyone’s vote is important and sacred,” Burgess, who was wearing an American-flag tie, told a visiting mother and her four young children, who were staring goggle-eyed at all the activity.

In a backroom, the shelves were laden with ballots, whose results have been digitally tabulated by his people but not yet counted. The results will be added up by computer after polls closed. He said there were about 80,000 ballots in the room already, available to be hand-counted in case a recount is ordered.

Similar activities were being done in all of Oregon’s 36 counties.

Grant County, in Eastern Oregon, has the highest return rate as of Monday on ballots, with 62.7 percent. Columbia County had only 43.6 percent.

Oregonians vote by mail. While it’s too late to mail in a ballot for it to be counted, voters can take them to drop boxes as long as they do so by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Cadwallader, a construction worker with six children, said a lot is resting on the outcome. “It comes down to, what kind of country do I want my kids growing up in?” he said.

A Beaverton, Ore., company received a $600,000 USDA grant to continue research and development of a wind energy system they will first market to farmers.

The company, eWind Solutions Inc., is developing a tethered, rigid-wing kite that spins an electrical generator as it deploys in a corkscrew pattern 300 to 500 feet in the air. The system can be programmed to continuously deploy and retract the kite, generating electricity the landowner can sell back to the utility grid or use on-farm. Company partners say a system will provide enough energy to power five homes or one small to mid-size farm.

Once the kite reaches its maximum altitude — no more than 500 feet to conform with FAA regulations — it brings itself down, said Katie Schaefer, eWind’s director of strategic partnerships. The device uses 4 percent of the power it created on launch to retract itself to a lower altitude, then rises again to continue energy production.

If the wind isn’t right, the kite comes all the way down and docks itself. The station required is about the size of a small shipping container or a large pickup truck, Schaefer said.

The concept has previously won funding from Oregon BEST, a spinoff of the state business department that connects clean-tech entrepreneurs with money and with university researchers who can help with technical aspects. In 2015, eWind was granted a $100,000 startup grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The new grant also is from NIFA.

Schaefer said the company is pursuing development grants from the U.S. Department of Energy. The company is about nine months away from being ready to approach private investors; she estimated the company will need $3 million to $5 million to gear up for commercial production, possibly in 2018. Schaefer’s husband, David, is the company founder and CEO.

The company chose agriculture as its first niche for the technology because farmers generally have uncluttered air space above their farm, Katie Schaefer said.

“We don’t need their land, we just need the space above it,” she said.

She said dairies or other operations with high power requirements might be a good market. Wineries have shown early interest, she said, in part for branding purposes and the “wow” factor, and also for potential side benefits such as bird deterrence.

Schaefer estimated a system would cost $45,000 to $50,000. She said an airborne system provides more electricity than solar panels and takes less room. Wind turbines are larger, more ponderous and aren’t built high enough to catch wind all the time, she said, while eWind’s device would operate at higher altitudes where wind is more consistent. Unlike solar, they also can operate at night.

The company’s long range vision is to take the technology worldwide after getting established with farmers, Schaefer said,

The system could be used to provide emergency electrical power in disaster relief cases, or where the power grid has been compromised or doesn’t exist, she said.

MONDAY, NOV. 7

SATURDAY, NOV. 5

SALEM — Three candidates seeking to become the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s next director met in Salem, Ore., with a panel of interviewers on Nov. 2.

The state’s Department of Administrative Services, which is overseeing the hiring process, refused to disclose two of the candidates’ identities because it could damage their relationships with current employers.

The third candidate, Lisa Hanson, has served as ODA’s interim director since early October and before that was the agency’s deputy director for 11 years.

The Department of Administrative Services did release the names of the 10 panelists — drawn primarily from state government and the farm industry — as well as the criteria upon which the candidates would be evaluated.

Among the representatives from state government are Katy Coba, the ODA’s former director and current chief of DAS, as well as Madilyn Zike, Oregon’s chief human resources officer, and Lauri Aunan, a natural resources policy adviser to Gov. Kate Brown.

Panelists from the farm industry include Pete Brentano, nurseryman and chairman of the Oregon Board of Agriculture; Lynn Youngbar, board president of the organic certifier Oregon Tilth; Bryan Ostlund, executive director of multiple commodity commissions; and Jenny Dresler, state public policy director for the Oregon Farm Bureau.

Jas Adams, an adjunct law professor at Willamette University; Michelle Delepine, member of the Oregon Invasive Species Council; and Shawn Miller, president of the Northwest Grocers Association, are also on the panel.

Each applicant rotated through 45-minute interviews with three groups of panelists, who evaluated the candidates on the following criteria:

• A “depth of understanding” of how to work with diverse “stakeholders” representing the farm industry, the environmental community and other interests.

• Experience working with legislators and representing farm, ranch and natural resource issues while working for a state governor or federal official.

• Filling a “leadership role” at a state agency or other entity “similar to the scope and complexity” of ODA for at least 10 years.

It’s possible there will be a consensus of support for one candidate, or the panel members may be divided in their recommendations, said Matt Shelby, communications strategist for DAS.

The ultimate hiring decision will be up to Gov. Brown, he said.

Ostlund, the executive director of multiple commodity commissions, said he’s looking for a candidate who can provide “creativity in leadership” in conflicts over pesticides, water quality and similar concerns — particularly when urban and rural interests collide.

“The Willamette Valley is becoming a tighter and tighter neighborhood all the time,” Ostlund said, adding that other communities face similar situations. “It is just a big cauldron of complicated issues.”

The ideal candidate will display a solid understanding of the business side of running a state agency and interacting with the Legislature, said Brentano, nurseryman and Board of Ag chairman.

“They all have experience with agriculture,” Brentano said of the candidates.

The next ODA director should recognize the effects of climate change on agriculture and how the industry can conserve natural resources, said Youngbar, of Oregon Tilth.

The agency’s chief walks a fine line in advocating for farmers while also regulating them, Youngbar said.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it requires someone in the leadership position to be really attuned to that tension,” she said. “It’s a big job.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Some of the biggest names in Oregon’s renewable energy and forest products industries landed on a list of suspicious state giveaways during an investigative audit of Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit Program.

The list included tax credits large and small, subsidizing everything from gigantic wind farms to a fat-rendering technology that was supposed to make biodiesel from meat scraps. It never worked and only operated briefly, but still collected more than $1.1 million in taxpayer subsidies for equipment that was left piled in a parking lot.

The forensic audit was conducted by Marsh Minick, a financial crime consulting service hired last summer by Oregon Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins. The audit identified 165 projects with $347 million in tax credits as potentially concerning.

Marsh Minick delivered its results to the secretary of state in late August. Separately, it forwarded a report to the Oregon Department of Justice detailing projects it red-flagged during its investigation through the use of fraud detection technology, its review of project files, interviews and other research.

The firm’s findings weren’t conclusive. It noted, for example, that it didn’t complete a full inquiry of the tax credits in question, and that its list of questionable deals, culled from more than 14,000 the department processed from 2006 to 2014, was not comprehensive. But it’s another embarrassing coda to a program that some Oregon lawmakers would love to forget.

The audit details ongoing and costly failures by staff at the Oregon Department of Energy in applying the most fundamental rules of the program or performing basic due diligence to ensure tax credit applicants qualified for the money and used it as intended.

Its release comes as a joint oversight committee appointed to look at restructuring the department meets Friday to discuss its recommendations for the Legislature. It also leaves the open question of whether Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum will pursue her own investigation of the questionable credits.

A spokeswoman, Kristina Edmunson, said the Justice Department was “still reviewing for any potential criminal or civil violations.”

Neither the Energy Department nor any of the companies on the list contacted by The Oregonian/OregonLive have heard from Rosenblum’s office in the two months since the report was forwarded.

“I would hope the DOJ has several people investigating those allegations in depth,” said Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls and a member of the oversight committee. “These are serious allegations of misuse of public funds ... and I think the people deserve to know where that money got spent.”

Marsh Minick divided its list of questionable tax credits into two buckets: large projects in which the costs and resulting tax credit exceeded program limits; and “projects of concern.”

The former is tied to qualifying expenditures. State law sets a maximum tax credit for each facility, per year, of $10 million, or 50 percent of eligible project costs up to $20 million. But Marsh Minick found that a variety of applicants exceeded their maximum eligible program costs, and had requested multiple credits for the same project in the same calendar year. Among those companies:

Klondike Wind Farm: The Sherman County wind farm was developed by the Portland-based developer Iberdrola Renewables, now known as Avangrid. The project was developed in four phases, and Klondike III alone applied for and received three separate $11 million tax credits in the same year.

Art Sasse, a spokesman for Avangrid, says the company’s projects are separate and distinct and that it will cooperate with the Justice Department if contacted.

SolarWorld: Marsh Minick said the Hillsboro solar manufacturer applied for multiple credits on separate projects and may have violated the program’s separate and distinct facilities. It ultimately received tax credits with a face value of $42 million. The report said the company’s applications exceeded maximum allowable costs.

The company sent a statement: “SolarWorld operates in conformance to the highest legal and ethical standards. Regarding this investigation, we have not been approached with any questions.”

Pacific Ethanol: This company built an ethanol production plant and distribution facilities in Boardman, aided in part by two tax credits worth $18.2 million. Both projects were completed in September 2007. Marsh Minick said there were possible violations of the separate and distinct facilities standard and that they exceeded maximum allowed costs.

Paul Koehler, a vice president for Pacific Ethanol, said the California-based company simply followed instructions from program managers at the Department of Energy when applying for tax credits. He maintains the two projects were separate, remain operational and represent a success for the program.

Marsh Minick labeled its second bucket of questionable tax credits as “projects of concern,” which were flagged for multiple reasons.

They included a series of solar projects built by SunEdison and SolarCity. Both companies used highly complex financial arrangements that resulted in opaque project costs and ownership shared among multiple subsidiaries. In the case of Missouri-based SunEdison, Marsh Minick said it was unclear who owned the physical assets subsidized by Oregon taxpayers.

As for SolarCity, Marsh Minick pointed to cost reporting problems, and allegations that false documents and invoices had been used to make the case for tax credits. It also said there was a possibility that the California-based company generated positive net proceeds through state and federal subsidies.

Forest products companies were heavy users of the Business Energy Tax Credit Program to upgrade their facilities, and a number of them were flagged as dubious, including Bear Mountain Forest Products, Boise Paper, Rough & Ready Lumber Co., and Douglas County Forest Products.

Marsh Minick found projects undertaken at the same facility with conflicting goals. In some cases, tax credits were finalized before projects were inspected. Some facilities closed or were sold soon after tax credits were granted; in one case, the equipment subsidized by taxpayers was found sitting in shipping containers, uninstalled and non operational.

There was the Team Estrogen Warehouse Project, an online retailer of fitness apparel that received $23,493 to build what Marsh Minick determined was an illogical bike commuter room, at its warehouse along a country road in Hillsboro. The credit was justified by its projected 15-year energy savings, but the company moved after three years.

Clear Edge Power Projects, another Hillsboro firm, received $8.6 million to help develop and manufacture fuel cells. The company ultimately moved its operations to California, filed for bankruptcy, then was purchased by a South Korean firm that sold its assets in an auction.

There’s no record of what became of the equipment funded by Oregon taxpayers.

HERMISTON, Ore. — It took a little push to get Red, a six-month-old miniature Jersey calf, into the back of a trailer bound for Woodland Park Zoo near downtown Seattle.

“I’m so excited he gets to live out his life on the zoo,” said Belinda Smith, who has raised Red from birth on her 10-acre property in Hermiston. Woodland Park staff arrived Tuesday morning to pick up the animal, which will be featured in the zoo’s “Family Farm” exhibit where kids can get up close with cows, chickens, donkeys, goats, sheep and pigs.

Smith and her husband, Bob, began raising Jersey cattle about seven or eight years ago. Jerseys are smaller than Holsteins, and known for their high butterfat content in milk. Calves like Red typically sell for at least $500, Smith said, and she was happy for the zoo to make the 250-mile trip.

As for the rest of the heifers, they will provide milk for the Smiths’ new creamery dubbed Smith’s Tiny Farm, or STF. Belinda said they could be making cheese by January, if all goes according to schedule.

Bob, a sixth-grade teacher at Sandstone Elementary School and retired Navy hull technician, began building the structure for a small cheesemaking facility in June. The couple currently has five milking cows, and Belinda said they will eventually end up with eight, milking three every day and processing cheese with 30 gallons of milk at a time.

“There’s just not a lot of creameries around,” Smith said. “It seemed totally reasonable and practical to us.”

The Smiths will sell STF Creamery cheese at local farmers markets and stores, though that could take some time. It takes at least 60 days of aging before soft, raw milk cheeses are ready for market. Belinda Smith said they will use whole cream milk to make their cheese, which could be pasteurized or not, depending on the style.

Making cheese is a science, Smith insists. Her initial trials included making Colby, Gouda, pepper jack and cheddar in small batches in her kitchen last winter. She and Bob taste tested each one with their prayer group at New Hope Church, to rave reviews.

“We begged them to be honest,” Smith remembers. “We had a Gouda with garlic in it that everybody just loved.”

Smith said she and her husband take pride in being largely self-sufficient making their own food. In addition to their cows, they also raise chickens and run a commercial greenhouse, growing a variety of vegetables such as tomatoes, onions and peppers.

The inspiration for STF Creamery came from Yvonne Carroll, who owns and operates the Umapine Creamery in Milton-Freewater with her husband, Brent. Smith said they met last year through Carroll’s daughter-in-law, Erica Turner-Carroll, and spent a day together making 180 pounds of cheese up at the Umapine farm.

Throughout the process, Carroll said the Smiths came to realize that cheesemaking would be doable, that it would be OK to make mistakes and OK to experiment.

“You could tell they were getting excited,” Carroll said. “It’s about thinking and relaxing and enjoying the process.”

Smith said they have ordered cheesemaking equipment, including a 60-gallon vat, cheese press and vacuum sealer, through a company based in Maryland. The machinery should be delivered sometime in the next three weeks. Until then, Smith said they are wrapping up their permit for a confined animal feeding operation through the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Carroll said getting that CAFO permit is the hardest part of starting any creamery.

“It’s all the regulations,” she said. “You have to have a CAFO permit that dictates how your waste is going to be used.”

The payoff, however, is being able to set up at farmers markets and meeting people from throughout the region, she added.

“It’s just a fun place to be,” Carroll said. “I think they’ll have a blast, and I think they’ll be well received.”

There are still finishing touches to be done on their milking parlor and building, but Belinda Smith said she and Bob are looking forward to getting their new business off the ground.

“This is the lifestyle we’ve chosen,” Belinda Smith said. “It just seems like the right thing to do. And it’s fun.”.

Forty organizations, including Oregon State University and the Oregon Food Bank, have teamed up to strengthen local food systems and connect growers who struggle to find markets with buyers who struggle to obtain healthful food.

People involved with the new entity, which is called the Oregon Community Food Systems Network, or OCFSN, believe strong local and regional food systems can improve economic, social, health and environmental conditions throughout the state.

The network formed from the realization that many nonprofit organizations were working on aspects of food, farming, health, poverty and economic development issues, but were coming at it in a disconnected way. They would benefit by collaborating, said Lauren Gwin, associate director of OSU’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems and a member of the new network’s leadership team.

Jump-started with funding from the Meyer Memorial Trust, network members settled on four primary initiatives:

• Obtain money to match SNAP vouchers, formerly called food stamps, spent at farmers’ markets and rural grocery stores. The move would double the purchasing power of SNAP recipients choosing to buy fresh and local food.

• Establish a “Veggie Rx” program, in which doctors could write a prescription for healthful food as they would for medicine. A program in Hood River, Ore., initiated by Gorge Grown, allows doctors to give patients $30 vouchers that can only be used to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. In the past year, the program helped 6,500 people buy food.

• Provide new and beginning farmers with access to farmland and capital by supporting various transition programs. With many farmers approaching retirement, analysts estimate two-thirds of Oregon farmland will change ownership in the coming years.

• Help producers scale-up and sell more to retail and institutional food buyers. One of the ideas is to establish food hubs that aggregate, process and store production from small farms to provide the large volume needed by big buyers.

The network’s vision statement is ambitious: All Oregonians will have access to healthful, affordable food that is grown and processed regionally. This will happen in a food system that is environmentally and economically resilient and that “provides entrepreneurial opportunity and fulfilling livelihoods for employees throughout the supply chain.”

Gwin, of OSU, said farmers should understand the group is not saying the existing food system is bad. It does keep people fed, she said, but serious health disparities exist.

The network also is “not just about small farms,” she said, but about mid-size and large farms as well. The food they produce, the way it’s produced and the impact on rural economic vitality are all part of the discussion, she said.

“Farmers need to know how to support that without losing their shirts,” Gwin said. “It’s important for ag to see themselves in this.”

The network’s website is at http://ocfsn.net