Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences has submitted an application to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration seeking permission to conduct research on industrial hemp production, according to an OSU announcement issued Nov. 5.

Jay Noller, head of the college’s Crop and Soil Science Department, said the university hopes to secure approval from the DEA and the Oregon Department of Agriculture in time to begin the research next year.

The 2014 Farm Bill included a provision allowing higher educational institutions to conduct industrial hemp research in states where hemp production is legal.

The Oregon Legislature in 2009 legalized the production and possession of industrial hemp.

Noller said the research will focus on agronomic production of industrial hemp in Western Oregon.

He said the College of Agricultural Sciences hasn’t identified a particular individual interested in conducting the research, but believes researchers are available that would be interested.

“I think there are agronomists, particularly those who just completed graduate school training, who could come in and perform the field trials,” he said. “My ideal sense is we would be able to secure enough external funds to make it worthwhile for somebody to study this.”

Asked if the college’s interest in hemp research could bleed into marijuana research, Noller said: “I wouldn’t rule that out in the long run if federal actions move that to where it is permissible.

“At this time we are just looking at the question of will industrial hemp varieties grow in Western Oregon,” he said.

According to the announcement, industrial hemp has many uses, including in paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, fuel and health and food products. It also is an environmentally friendly plant that grows fast and requires few pesticides.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Forest officials have voted to expand no-logging buffers along streams on private timberland in Western Oregon to keep water cool enough for salmon.

The Oregon Board of Forestry adopted the rules on Thursday, despite protests from logging interests. Riparian zone buffers would increase to 80 feet on medium-sized streams and 60 feet on small streams, with the option to not cut any trees or to do thinning on part of the buffer.

The new rules won’t apply in the Siskiyou region, which was left out of the buffer expansion.

Currently trees must be left uncut 20 feet from streams on private timberland — though some additional feet are required where a number of trees must be maintained.

Removing too many trees leads streams to warm up, which can harm cold-water fish like salmon, steelhead and bull trout. Logging near streams also eliminates downed logs, which help create deep pools for salmon to escape predators and hide from the heat.

The bigger the no-logging buffers, the more shade, but the greater the economic impact on timberland owners.

Conservationists for years have been trying to get the board to boost the current buffers of 20 feet to 100 feet in order to meet the cold water standard. In recent years, record hot temperatures and drought have killed fish.

Earlier this year, federal regulators ruled that Oregon logging rules do not sufficiently protect fish and water in western Oregon from pollution caused by clear-cutting too close to streams, runoff form old logging roads, and other problems.

The Board of Forestry considered two proposals. One would have increased no-cut buffer zones to 90 feet, while the other would have left buffers unchanged, but would have require approaches such as thinning, sun-sided buffers or staggering harvests. The newly adopted rules were a compromise between the two.

“We feel it’s a modest step in the right direction, but we’re concerned it doesn’t go far enough,” said Bob Van Dyk with the Wild Salmon Center. Van Dyk said the new small stream buffers still won’t meet legal requirements to protect cold water for salmon.

Timber companies said the buffer increase would have big economic effects and is too expensive for loggers. Kristina McNitt, president of the Oregon Forest Industries Council, said the organization sees the new logging restrictions as political and arbitrary. The group represents private timberland owners.

“There is no evidence that modern forest practices harm fish,” McNitt said in a statement.

LANGLOIS — The Langlois Lions and the Friends of the Langlois Public Library will sponsor the 20th annual Holiday Crafts Fair 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, and Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Langlois Lions Hall on Floras Loop Road,…

LANGLOIS — The Langlois Lions and the Friends of the Langlois Public Library will sponsor the 20th annual Holiday Crafts Fair 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, and Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Langl…

LANGLOIS — A house cat tested positive for rabies in Curry County last month, the first feline to do so in Oregon since 1999, public health officials have confirmed.

LANGLOIS — A cat that tested positive for rabies in Curry County is the first feline to do so in Oregon since 1999, public health officials have confirmed.

BANDON — With the closing of Shindler's Pharmacy in early October came the end of an era of family-owned drug stores in Bandon.

BANDON — The Bandon Playhouse presents the return of the Christmas musical-comedy "Bethlehem Road" by Bandon playwright Neal Davis.

BANDON — With the closing of Shindler's Pharmacy in early October came the end of an era of family-owned drug stores in Bandon.

BANDON — The Bandon Playhouse presents the return of the Christmas musical-comedy "Bethlehem Road" by Bandon playwright Neal Davis.

LANGLOIS — A cat that tested positive for rabies in Curry County is the first feline to do so in Oregon since 1999, public health officials have confirmed.

LANGLOIS — A house cat tested positive for rabies in Curry County last month, the first feline to do so in Oregon since 1999, public health officials have confirmed.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — An organic seed company and an organization opposed to genetic engineering will be allowed to defend a prohibition against biotech crops in Oregon’s Josephine County.

Circuit Court Judge Michael Newman ruled Nov. 4 that Siskiyou Seeds and Oregonians for Safe Farms and Families can intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the county’s ban on genetically modified organisms.

The seed company should not have to wait to defend the ordinance until its crops are at risk of cross-pollination from GMO varieties, Newman said at a hearing in Grants Pass, Ore.

The judge also allowed OSFF, a group that campaigned for the ordinance, to serve as Siskiyou Seeds’ co-defendant.

The company and OSFF argued that Josephine County’s government won’t defend the ban against genetically engineered crops, so they should be allowed to resist an attempt to overturn it.

The intervenors claimed that it would be prejudicial to exclude them from the lawsuit because the county doesn’t appear willing to challenge a state law that pre-empts most local governments from regulating GMOs.

“This litigation won’t be fully and fairly litigated by the existing parties,” said Stephanie Dolan, an attorney for the intervenors.

The group cited court documents filed by Josephine County, which raised no “affirmative defenses” of the ban on genetically modified organisms and did not question the legal standing of farmers who filed a case to invalidate the ordinance.

Robert and Shelley Ann White, who grew transgenic sugar beets, filed a complaint earlier this year seeking a declaration that the ordinance was pre-empted by a state statute passed in 2013.

In its answer to the complaint, Josephine County said it “takes no position” on whether the plaintiffs are entitled to a declaration that the GMO ban is unenforceable.

Instead, the county joined the plaintiffs in a request that a judge decide whether the prohibition is valid, noting that the ordinance was passed by voters and not the county.

“We have to follow the law. What we want to know is what law: the county law or the state law,” said Wally Hicks, attorney for Josephine County.

John DiLorenzo, attorney for the farmers who filed the case, said Siskiyou Seeds and OSFF weren’t entitled to act as defendants.

“It has to be more than an interested person who wants the laws enforced,” DiLorenzo said.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a similar bid by an anti-gay marriage group that wanted to defend a California initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman, he said.

In that case, lawyers representing California decided the statute was legally indefensible, DiLorenzo said.

“I don’t know why the county is not actively defending the (GMO) ordinance. It may be because it has come to the same conclusion as California’s attorney general did,” he said.

Don Tipping, owner of Siskiyou Seeds, hasn’t shown “one scintilla of evidence” that his company was harmed by biotech crops, DiLorenzo said.

The GMO ban would not have prevented Tipping from buying corn seed that contained GMO traits, as occurred in the past, he said.

Tipping’s decision to tear out a field of Swiss chard due to the proximity of a biotech sugar beet crop did not amount to harm either, he said.

“He dug it up himself without any evidence of harm,” DiLorenzo said. “His interest is not real or probable. Rather, it is hypothetical or speculative.”

Dolan countered that Tipping suffered a real injury, based on the economic damage he would have sustained from growing and harvesting a contaminated seed crop that was unsalable.

“Given our narrow valleys and the light pollen that can travel for miles, they’re effectively prohibiting non-GE farmers from growing other crops such as Swiss chard,” she said.

Litigation over the county ordinance should not be rushed, but instead the issue of whether state pre-emption is valid should be fully vetted, she said.

“At this stage, the challenge to the state seed law can begin,” Dolan said. “The current parties are not going to fully litigate the constitutionality of state law.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon nonprofit has filed a lawsuit seeking to reinstate a state law that would have allowed people to get driver’s cards if they can’t prove legal presence in the United States.

The law was approved by lawmakers in 2013, but overturned by voters the following year in a referendum.

In its lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Oregon Law Center says it’s illegal for Oregon to enforce Measure 88, because it was motivated by a desire to regulate immigration laws and that’s the federal government’s job.

The group also says the measure is illegal because it targets a group of people based on their Mexican and Central American national origin.

About 120,000 immigrants in Oregon — 3 percent of the state’s population — lack legal status. Most are from Mexico.

The Oregon attorney general’s office declined to comment on pending litigation.

Global marketing will be a hot topic when Pacific Northwest grain farmers get together next week for their annual conference, the leader of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers says.

U.S. Wheat Associates vice president of overseas operations Vince Peterson and representative Joe Sowers will speak during the Tri-State Grain Growers Convention Nov. 11-14 in Spokane.

It’s one of the most popular items on the agenda, since 90 percent of the region’s wheat is sold outside the United States, said Michelle Hennings, WAWG executive director.

Peterson and Sowers will talk about trade relationships, growing markets, world demand and the impact on Northwest wheat.

“Farmers take a big interest in this,” Hennings said. “That’s how they sell their wheat.”

Several representatives of the National Association of Wheat Growers will also talk about the next Farm Bill during the convention, Hennings said.

“We always try to provide educational breakouts they can take away, knowing what to expect in the future,” she said.

Comedian Damian Mason returns as emcee. Keynote presentations include agricultural speaker Jolene Brown, Intrexon chief communications officer Jack Bobo on global agricultural trends, food safety and risk perceptions; and “Market to Market” host Mike Pearson on the outlook for farm markets.

Other sessions include tips for relieving stress on the farm and bringing renewal to the family farm and family life by keynote speaker Brown; conducting and participating in effective meetings by Ray Ledgerwood and ag apps for farmers’ cell phones. Several beer companies will talk about malting barley.

The convention is at the new Davenport Grand Hotel, which opened in June.

“We’re very excited,” Hennings said. “We think this is going to top any of our other conventions.”

Online

http://www.wawg.org/convention/

PORTLAND — Chelsea Clinton, potentially the daughter of two presidents, visits Portland Nov. 5 to promote her book and talk about food.

Clinton will join a panel to discuss topics such as reforming the food system, food security and the farm to school program, which links local producers with school food buyers.

The event is hosted by Ecotrust, a nonprofit involved in food, forestry and social issues. Most importantly to agriculture, Ecotrust works to connect small- to mid-size local producers with institutional food service buyers such as hospitals, schools, jails and prisons, retirement homes and care centers.

Joining Clinton to discuss food issues will be Curt Ellis, co-founder and CEO of FoodCorps; Susannah Morgan, executive director of the Oregon Food Bank; and Gina Condon, founder of the Construct Foundation.

Clinton, of course, is the daughter of Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the U.S., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former senator and Secretary of State who is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 election.

Chelsea Clinton spent her teen-age years growing up in the White House. She’s 35 now, married and has a daughter of her own. Among other activities she’s written a book, “It’s Your World,” which encourages children to become active in social, political and environmental issues.

PORTLAND (AP) — Oregon and federal officials will work over the next three years on plans to locate, protect and restore sections of cold-water habitat for migrating fish in the Columbia and lower Willamette rivers, according to an agreement released on Tuesday by NOAA Fisheries.

The agreement is included in an updated plan reviewing Oregon’s standards for water temperature. Known as a biological opinion, the revised plan was ordered by a judge two years ago as part of a settlement with an environmental group that twice challenged the standards in court.

According to the plan, the warmest temperatures allowed under state standards may harm nine fish species unless cold-water zones are implemented. The plan concludes the state has lacked a clear blueprint to map and develop these areas, known by the scientific term refugia, and it proposes a detailed framework to implement the work.

Warm water can kill salmon and other cold-water fish as they migrate upstream to spawn, and drought and climate change have exacerbated the problem. This summer, thousands of sockeye salmon died in the Columbia River because of excessively hot water. On the Willamette, water temperatures that were warmer than usual also killed spring Chinook.

Scientists have found that salmon and steelhead during their migrations seek out cold-water zones when temperatures spike during dry summer months or because of climate change.

Officials say the refugia will act like stepping stones in the rivers, allowing fish to temporarily escape lethally hot waters and make it safely to spawning grounds. “With scientists predicting we may have more of those hot years in future... these refugia are going to play an even more vital role,” NOAA Fisheries senior biologist Jeff Lockwood said.

After Oregon adopted temperature standards in 1996, federal agencies concluded they would not harm endangered and threatened fish species, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved them. But a legal challenge sent the agencies back to the drawing board.

When the state revised the standards and the EPA in 2004 approved the new ones, the group again sued. A judge invalidated part of the standards and ordered a new biological opinion.

In its newest plan, NOAA found that most of the standards are protective of fish. But it also found that at 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), some species in the Columbia and lower Willamette were weak and diseased or died, so they needed refugia to cool off.

To implement the plan, scientists will evaluate temperature-monitoring data, Lockwood said. They’ll document where and how fish use refugia, how many they need and how spaced out they should be.

Although cool water spots already exist, more could be restored, Lockwood said, by reducing temperatures in tributaries, releasing more cold water from dams, reconnecting floodplains or changing forestry and agricultural rules to require larger buffers of vegetation around streams. Such actions may take years, he said.

Nina Bell, executive director of Northwest Environmental Advocates, the group that sued over the standards, applauded the state for focusing on refugia. Bell said they’re critical to fish, and the state has talked about the concept for years, but never implemented it.

But it’s unclear in the plan whether fish escaping the heat into thermal zones would be protected from fishermen who go where fish congregate, Bell said. The biological opinion does not address fishing explicitly, but officials say it’s one of the factors that will need to be considered in the future.

Bell also said there is disconnect between the current plan and the reality on the ground. Her group is also suing the state over the allowed temperatures for water cleanup plans. Those plans were based on a standard that was invalidated by a judge, but they are still in effect.

“The irony is this opinion today talks about 20 degrees being a problem for fish and that it needs to be offset with thermal refuges or cold spots. But the same agencies have already said thumbs up across the state for temperatures that are much higher,” Bell said, up to 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit). Such temperatures are lethal to fish.

EPA officials said the current biological opinion does not address those cleanup plans, and they’re unable to comment on specifics of that case because it’s under litigation.

TUALATIN, Ore. (AP) — A barn at a Tualatin farm that offers tours for children has been destroyed in a fire, leaving 15 chickens and a calf dead.

KPTV-TV reports the fire was reported at Lee Farms early Tuesday.

Firefighters arrived to find the 24-by-42 foot barn fully engulfed by the blaze. They were able to extinguish the fire quickly and kept the flames from spreading.

The family-owned farm has hosted school tours, birthday parties and other events.

Investigators say the fire, which caused an estimated $10,000 in damage, was likely sparked by a heat lamp.

No people were injured.

The Oregon Farm Bureau fears that growers will be forced to track the hours of farmworkers hired by labor contractors under proposed paid sick leave rules.

Earlier this year, state legislators passed a law requiring companies to provide employees with paid sick leave, depending on how many work hours they’d accrued.

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries is now crafting regulations to implement the statute.

Under the agency’s proposed rules, “employees of a temporary agency, staffing agency, employee leasing company, professional employer organization or in another similar employment arrangement are considered to be jointly employed by both the agency and the client entity contracting for the employee’s services” and subject to accrual record-keeping requirements.

This joint liability is duplicative and expensive for farmers, since the rule is very unclear about when they must begin tracking workers as they move from property to property, said Jenny Dresler, director of state public policy for the Oregon Farm Bureau.

“The farmers doesn’t know how many hours the worker has worked before they got to the farm,” she said.

Under the law, employers with fewer than 10 employees must provide sick leave, but don’t have to compensate workers for that time.

A troubling aspect of the proposed rules is that farmers will have to count workers hired by a labor contractor as their own employees when calculating whether they must pay for sick leave, Dresler said.

Counting such temporary workers twice — as employees of the farmer and the contractor — goes against legislative intent, she said.

The rules should also clarify that co-owner spouses do not qualify toward the 10-employee limit, Dresler said.

The Oregon Farm Bureau also recommended several other revisions to the proposed rules to BOLI, which is reviewing submitted comments before finalizing the regulations.

Most employers would have to provide workers with sick leave in one-hour increments unless this arrangement creates an undue hardship for the company, in which it could require workers to schedule sick leave in four-hour increments.

During harvest, allowing pickers to suddenly leave an hour or two early would effectively prevent growers from finding replacements, said Dresler.

Among the factors that make an employer eligible for the “undue hardship” provision is the handling of perishable materials. Oregon Farm Bureau wants the rules clarified to include perishable crops in this definition.

“As a farmer, the harvest period is seen as an ‘all hands on deck’ period requiring all employees to be present,” said Launa Frahm, an Ontario, Ore., farmer, in comments to BOLI.

“Providing paid sick leave time in small increments during this period would be an undue hardship to my business, as would finding replacement employees during this critical time,” Frahm said.

Strong Northwest harvests and a sub-par crop in Wisconsin may boost Washington and Oregon cranberry growers.

The harvest in Wisconsin, by far the top cranberry state, will be below expectations, holding down total global production, according to Ocean Spray, which takes in more than half the world’s commercially grown cranberries.

U.S. cranberry growers are struggling with a huge surplus driven primarily by large Badger State crops and increasing production in Canada and Chile.

A serious supply-and-demand imbalance remains, even though cranberry consumption has increased 8 percent in the past year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.

Average prices farmers receive have been roughly halved since peaking in 2008.

“With the anticipated smaller industry crop, we do not expect inventories to increase this year, particularly in light of the strong demand we have seen over the past few years,” Ocean Spray spokeswoman Sarah Gianti said Tuesday in an email.

The Massachusetts-based cooperative, which many Washington and Oregon growers belong to, projected in October that the global crop would reach 12 million barrels, which would top the record 11.94 million barrels harvested in 2013.

With the harvest nearly over, Ocean Spray forecasts the crop will fall short of the 2013 mark and be less than the 11.81 million barrels reaped last year. One barrel equals 100 pounds.

Wisconsin was projected to produce about 5 million barrels, but winter damage and a May frost lowered yields, said Tom Lochner, executive director of the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association. “I’ve been hearing that it’s at least a firm 10 percent down,” he said.

Meanwhile, Northwest cranberry growers enjoyed an unusually warm growing season. “This is the best crop we’ve ever had,” said Long Beach, Wash., cranberry grower Malcolm McPhail.

“It’s pretty much true for our area here,” he said. “It’s just kind of a remarkable year.”

Washington State University horticulturist Kim Patten, who works with cranberry growers in both states, said per-acre yields are high, rivaling levels typical for Wisconsin but rarer in the Northwest. “If we can do that, we can compete,” he said. “We’re all excited Wisconsin has an off-crop this year.”

Gianti said smaller crops are expected in New Jersey and Quebec, Canada. Massachusetts and British Columbia, Canada, are expected to have strong crops, she said.

Ocean Spray took in 430,00 barrels from Chile in June, almost a record. The cooperative began taking berries from the South American country in 2012.

While foreign production has increased in the past several years, so has U.S. production. The cranberry inventory before this fall’s harvest began was 9.1 million barrels, according to the federal Cranberry Marketing Committee. In a September market outlook, the USDA’s Economic Research Service said another large crop likely will put more downward pressure on prices. The cranberry industry reduced surpluses in 2001 and 2002 with federally approved volume controls. The USDA this year rejected a request from the industry to order production cutbacks, saying it was concerned U.S. growers were conspiring with Canadian growers to limit supply.

Lochner said he doubts volume controls can be used again. “If Canada doesn’t agree to limit harvests, it’s going to be very difficult for U.S. growers to say, ‘We’re going to cut back production,’” he said.

The USDA has supported the industry by buying large amounts of cranberries for schools and food banks.