In 2009, Pennsylvania State University entomologist John Tooker said he “naively waded into the slug world” after slug problems were the topic of 50 percent of his extension calls that year.

Today Tooker is one of the few U.S. researchers actively engaged in slug research.

Tooker will be a featured speaker at the Oregon State University seed crop and cereal production meetings in September.

Tooker also will speak at a seminar on the OSU campus, scheduled from 3 to 4 p.m. on Sept. 9 in room 4000 of the Agriculture and Life Sciences Building.

Sujayo Rao, field crop entomologist at Oregon State University, said that while Mid-Atlantic cropping patterns are different from Oregon’s, she believes Tooker can provide Oregon growers valuable insight on a problem that has beset them in recent years.

An industry study recently calculated the economic impact of slugs on Oregon grass seed crops at just under $100 million annually, or about 20 percent of the crops’ farm gate value.

“Clearly slugs are a big issue, and John Tooker is one of the few researchers nationwide who is doing research on slugs,” Rao said. “This seemed like a good opportunity to bring him to Oregon.”

In a Penn State University Department of Entomology research report, Tooker noted that a 2010 survey of Mid-Atlantic corn and soybean growers, showed that 82 percent of respondents identified slugs as their most challenging pest.

The report also included findings that cover crops, including cereal rye and clovers, helped limit slug damage by providing alternative feed sources for slugs. And it included information that minimal tillage — even light discing in the spring — helped reduce slug pressure.

Research in Oregon also has shown that tillage — even biennial tillage — provided significant benefits in slug control over continuous no till.

“Dr. Tooker’s visit provides an opportunity for us to learn about his slug management successes and challenges, while enlightening him about our challenges,” Rao said. “His awareness about our situation has potential for benefiting us at many levels.”

In addition to Tooker’s presentations, OSU Extension plant pathologist specialist Cindy Ocamb will provide presentations on the impacts of barley yellow dwarf virus in perennial ryegrass and tall fescue. OSU Extension weeds specialist Andy Hulting will look at Italian ryegrass, roughstalk bluegrass and annual bluegrass in wheat and seed crops. And OSU Extension cereals specialist Mike Flowers will provide a look at winter wheat varieties, grain protein, and diseases growers faced in 2015. Flowers also will provide information on seeding rate data.

Two meetings are scheduled on Sept. 10: One from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Elks Lodge in Forest Grove, 2810 Pacific Ave.; and a second from 1:30 to 5 p.m. at Roth’s Hospitality Center in West Salem, 1130 Wallace Road.

The final meeting is scheduled on Sept. 11 from 8 to 11:30 a.m. at the Linn County Fair and Expo Center, 3700 Knox Butte Road, Albany.

A federal judge has ruled that it’s unlawful to use motorized vehicles to remove juniper from nearly 80,000 acres in the vicinity of Oregon’s Steens Mountain.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is cutting juniper from roughly 336,000 acres in the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management Area because the trees are crowding out native vegetation.

Juniper removal is important to ranchers because it’s expected to prevent further population declines of the sage grouse, a candidate for Endangered Species Act protection.

If the bird is listed as threatened or endangered, ranchers fear further restrictions on cattle grazing in its habitat.

U.S. District Judge Garr King has now ruled that using motorized vehicles within “wilderness study areas” is prohibited by a federal law that governs management of the Steens Mountain area.

The BLM argued that there’s an exception to the vehicle ban for “administrative purposes” — including juniper removal — but King sided with the Oregon Natural Desert Association, which filed a lawsuit against the practice.

The judge said that BLM was interpreting the “administrative purposes” language too broadly.

“The BLM’s interpretation places no limit on what falls in the category of ‘administrative,’” he said. “BLM — as the agency charged with implementing Congress’ enactments — could call any activity ‘administrative’ since its job is to ‘administer’ the laws.

Supporters of juniper removal worry that the ruling will complicate activities within the 79,600 acres designated as “wilderness study areas” inside the project’s boundaries.

John O’Keefe, president-elect of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, said the task of removing juniper from enormous swaths of land is difficult enough without onerous restrictions on equipment.

“We’ve got to use the most efficient means we can. These laws can be problematic from time to time,” he said.

It’s unfortunate ONDA wants to limit such tools, as juniper removal is beneficial to the ecosystem that the group wants protected, O’Keefe said.

“To do this effectively, we have to do this fairly large-scale,” he said.

Dan Morse, ONDA’s conservation director, said the group’s lawsuit was intended to enforce the intentions of Congress when it banned motorized vehicles in wilderness study areas.

The vehicle prohibition is meant to preserve the values of solitude and dispersed recreation, as well as prevent soil disturbances, he said.

Juniper treatments can continue with people on the ground, rather than heavy machinery and all-terrain vehicles, Morse said. “We don’t oppose the project’s basic purpose.”

Oregon’s agricultural exports, already the third leading sector among the $21 billion worth of products leaving the state annually, appear poised for continued expansion.

In particular, marketers and trade experts say Vietnam and the Philippines may approve imports of fresh blueberries, and fresh or processed potatoes may find greater acceptance in those countries, Japan, China, Taiwan and elsewhere.

Bryan Ostlund of the Oregon Blueberry Commission said fresh berry exports to South Korea, approved in 2011, reached 1.4 million pounds in 2014 and are on pace to top that in 2015. Korea had a strong retail system in place, which aided distribution after exports were approved, but Vietnam is developing the economic infrastructure and middle class that could make it a “really nice fit” for Oregon products as well, Ostlund said.

“The economy, you can feel it, is just ready to explode in a positive way,” he said. “The buying power is rapidly coming to the table.”

Pests and diseases that may arrive with imports are always a concern to be worked out, he said, as are food safety protocols.

“The Vietnamese and Philippine governments are very keen on broadening the scope of what comes in from the U.S.,” he said. “The growth potential seems huge to me.”

Processed and frozen products such as french fries are popular in Asian countries, as are “chipping” potatoes used for snacks, but grower groups are trying to expand the trade to include more fresh “table stock” potatoes, said Bill Brewer, director of the Oregon Potato Commission.

In Vietnam, for example, fresh potatoes are primarily used in soups, but Oregon representatives have demonstrated western cooking styles, which generated a “great deal of interest,” Brewer said.

The appearance of potatoes from Oregon, Washington and Idaho is totally different than potatoes, usually from China, that Vietnamese consumers are accustomed to, he said. Restaurants and hotels that cater to western tourists are good markets for Northwest potatoes, as are supermarkets whose customers include people who have lived in or visited the U.S.

“Whenever they’re exposed to our potatoes, they like them,” Brewer said.

Asia’s two biggest economies hold continued economic promise for Oregon. China now accepts only processed potato products and could be a great market for chipping and table stock potatoes, Brewer said. Japan is the number one market for processed potatoes and accepts fresh potatoes for chipping, but also could be good market for table stock potatoes, he said.

Because Oregon “faces” Asia, as exporters like to say, Asian trade is a natural, experts say. About 80 percent of what Oregon exports goes to 21 Pacific Rim nations, a category that includes the five largest markets: Canada, China, Japan, Korea and Malaysia. Those five alone receive 60 percent of what Oregon exports, according state economic analyst Josh Lehner.

Oregon’s largest export sector is electronics, followed by heavy manufacturing, with agricultural and food products third.

Barry Horowitz, an international trade consultant in Portland, said Oregon food and crop commissions previously operated on their own but now are beginning to cooperate in presentations to foreign buyers. Thinking of Oregon’s high-quality food products as a series of meals, complete with Oregon beer and wine, sharpens the focus, he said.

“That is a package that is unbeatable in the international marketplace,” he said.

Expanded trade with Vietnam is an example of the export potential that could benefit the state, he said.

“You have a country with almost 100 million people and a literacy rate over 95 percent,” Horowitiz said. “Western countries can’t get in there fast enough.”

Vietnamese distrust of Chinese food products works to the advantage of Oregon producers, who have “developed a highly visible reputation for high quality food,” he said.

“We’re not the most internationally minded place but we have enormous potential, because ag is a fundamental industry everywhere,” Horowitz said. “We can’t talk Intel to everyone, and not everyone in Vietnam can afford Nike shoes. But everyone in Vietnam can afford Oregon food products.”

Online

Read economic analyst Josh Lehner’s report at http://oregoneconomicanalysis.com/2015/08/12/oregon-exports-2015-industries/

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The state Department of Transportation says a portion of Highway 26 will remain closed until at least noon Monday because of a wildfire near Manning, Oregon.

ODOT spokesman Lou Torres says Highway 47 serves as a detour for eastbound and westbound traffic. Manning is about 30 miles west of Portland.

LANGLOIS — Since 1954, the Jensen family has encouraged strangers to mosey through their backyard, share their rows of blueberry bushes with their four dogs and feel free to pick their crops.

LANGLOIS — Since 1954, the Jensen family has encouraged strangers to mosey through their backyard, share their rows of blueberry bushes with their four dogs and feel free to pick their crops. 

SALEM — Oregon emergency authorities will have to assess damages from the Canyon Creek Complex fire before seeking financial assistance from the federal government.

At this point, it’s too early to estimate damage because firefighters are still battling the blaze, said Andrew Phelps, director of Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management.

The agency is contacting state and county officials to inform them how to document damage for the assessment, he said.

“We’re still in the early stage of assessing that damage,” Phelps said. “It’s communicating what the impact is to our communities and our state.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency can offer several types of help if a disaster is declared, but Gov. Kate Brown must first make a request and conduct a joint preliminary damage assessment, said Ryan Ike, spokesman for the agency.

If the federal government then determines a major disaster declaration is warranted, it can cover 75 percent of the repair costs for damaged roads, power lines, bridges and other infrastructure, Ike said.

It’s also possible for FEMA to provide grants and loans to individuals, though this kind of assistance is subject to a different standard, he said.

To qualify for assistance in repairing public infrastructure, a state must demonstrate the disaster damages cross a certain financial threshold, based on its population, said Phelps.

In Oregon’s case, that means $5.4 million in damages.

“Individual assistance is a little bit trickier,” he said.

Though several factors are considered, a key measure is how many uninsured primary residences were destroyed. Secondary or vacation homes don’t count, he said.

If assistance is approved, disaster victims typically receive about $20,000 to $30,000 per household, said Phelps. “They don’t make you whole. They don’t rebuild your house for you.”

While state officials will conduct the analysis, it’s historically rare for wildfires to cause enough damage to qualify for individual assistance from FEMA, he said.

Data from the agency indicate that states face a high hurdle in obtaining help.

In April, Oklahoma asked for individual assistance after tornadoes, flooding and strong winds that damaged 900 residences and destroyed 89, with about 26 to 38 percent of them uninsured, depending on the county.

The request was denied because “damage was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the combined capabilities of the state, affected local governments and voluntary agencies,” according to FEMA.

To compare, 36 homes have been burned in the Canyon Creek Complex fire, though it’s unclear how many were uninsured.

SALEM — Although Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said that the state will do everything it can to make sure victims of the Canyon Creek Complex fire have the tools, resources and knowledge they need to rebuild, the state can provide little in the way of direct aid.

Its only aid program for fire victims — the wildfire damage housing relief program — has strict income restrictions that will exclude all but the poorest of applicants.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers passed a bill that dedicated $50,000 in financial assistance to low-income residents who lose their primary residences to wildfire, with claims limited to $5,000 per household.

To qualify for the program, a household’s income must be 25 percent below the federal poverty level. For example, a household of four would have to earn $18,188 or less per year to be eligible.

Organizations that serve needy Oregonians in the fire area expect that the criteria will likely prevent some homeowners from getting help from the program.

“There definitely are people within that income bracket, but there are more people that need help also,” said Margaret Davidson, executive director of Community Connection of Northeast Oregon, an agency that serves Grant County.

When the organization learned of the program, “We thought, ‘This is going to exclude a lot of people,’” she said.

The $50,000 allocated to the program may not be sufficient if many homes are lost to wildfires in one year, Davidson said.

It is possible for Oregon Housing and Community Services, which administers the program, to shift money from other parts of its budget into the wildfire relief fund if necessary, said Rem Nivens, assistant director of public affairs for the agency.

As of Aug. 20, nobody affected by the Canyon Creek Complex fire in Grant County had applied for assistance, he said.

The program is aimed at closing the financial “gap” that low-income residents face when they suddenly need to relocate after a fire, said Scott Cooper, executive direct of NeighborImpact, a nonprofit that serves Central Oregon.

“It’s $5,000 max, so it’s not going to rebuild your house. But at least it can help you figure out the next steps of your life after you’ve lost everything,” he said.

The program will help those who would have “fallen through the cracks otherwise,” Cooper said. “You’re talking about people who could not afford to pay an insurance premium.”

Rep. Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, originally wanted to devote $200,000 to the wildfire damage housing relief program but the amount was scaled back by legislative leaders, said Kara Walker, his spokesperson.

The legislature’s Emergency Board — which makes emergency funding decisions — may decide to increase the overall amount and ease the income requirements, she said. McLane is a member of the board, which meets next month.

It’s also possible that assistance funding could be obtained through the Federal Emergency Management Agency if the wildfire is declared a federal disaster, said Cooper of NeighborImpact.

However, that’s unlikely to happen unless an event displaces large numbers of people, Cooper said. “Wildfires don’t usually rise to that level.”

Melissa Navas, spokesperson for Brown, said state agencies will partner with organizations such as the American Red Cross to help residents who’ve lost homes.

“The governor is utilizing existing staff and structures within her office, such as Regional Solutions and Constituent Services, to foster collaboration between state agencies and local governments,” Navas said in an email. “This will connect those affected by fires with resources and develop strategies to assist them.”

While the Oregon Revenue Department doesn’t have specific tax relief programs for wildfire victims, residents may be able to get property tax reductions from their county governments, said Bob Estabrook, spokesperson for the agency.

Sorting out funding for repairs to roads and other infrastructure will have to wait until the fire is under control, said Dave Thompson, spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Exactly how much state and federal money is used to repair highways and county roads will depend on the wildfire being declared a disaster by the federal government, he said.

Right now, the focus is on fighting the fire and saving lives, Thompson said. “Quite frankly, the funding thing we’ll worry about later.”

The Canyon Creek Complex fire has caused more destruction to homes in Oregon than any blaze in recent history, said Rich Hoover, community liaison for the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office.

So far, 36 homes have been destroyed by the fire. In 2002, 18 homes were lost in the Eyerly fire in Jefferson County, and before that, 19 were lost in the Skeleton fire near Bend in 1996, he said.

PORT ORFORD — There's a new addition to Driftwood School's front lawn.

PORT ORFORD — There's a new addition to Driftwood School's front lawn.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Officials are starting to report some containment of the wildfire that destroyed 36 houses near John Day, Oregon, but gusty winds were expected to continue spreading the flames on the southeast flank.

The Canyon Creek Complex has scorched almost 100 square miles, much of it in the Malheur National Forest. Various evacuation orders continue.

Lightning started the fire Aug. 12 and strong winds pushed it up a canyon south of John Day in a run that ruined the homes.

More than 900 people have been dispatched to fight it, but some crews were diverted late Thursday afternoon to a new wildfire east of John Day near Prairie City. Some homeowners northeast of Prairie City were put on evacuation alert.

Red flag warnings concerning winds that could rapidly spread flames remained in effect through Friday.

AMITY, Ore. — Grass seed farmer Denny Wilfong was enthused to learn that the Oregon Seed Council and the Oregon Winegrowers Association were organizing a tour to address issues of herbicide drift between grass seed fields and vineyards. So much so, in fact, that Wilfong volunteered to host the first stop on the Aug. 19 tour.

“What it boils down to, is the Willamette Valley is blessed with weather that allows us to produce the best grass seed, wine grapes and blueberries in the world,” Wilfong said. “We’re really fortunate. So we just have to figure out a way to make it all work together and make it all fit.”

On the tour, chemical dealers, licensed pesticide applicators, grass seed and wine grape growers addressed a gathering of legislators, state agency officials, county commissioners, extension agents and others.

Wilfong, of Wilfong Farms in Dallas, Ore., said he takes several steps to avoid damaging wine grapes when spraying broadleaf herbicides. Among them, he, at times, sprays at less than optimum timing to avoid applying compounds during bud break in grapes, uses nonvolatile formulations of herbicides and adds anti-drift agents to tankmixes.

Katie Fast, a neighbor of Wilfong, said she and her husband, Kirk, alert neighboring wine grape grower Dave Coelho when they are going to spray, and tell him what compounds they plan to apply.

“Working with our neighbors cooperatively is very important to us,” Fast said. “It is time that we are taking out of our day, and it takes effort, but I think it is important.”

Coehlo told participants he appreciates hearing from the Fasts, particularly during bud break.

Wine grapes are susceptible to herbicide injury at several points during a growing season, said Alex Cabrera of the OVS subsidiary Results Partners, but never more so than during bud break.

Injury at that point not only affects the current year’s grape crop, but also the next year’s crop and possibly subsequent years’ crops, he said.

“That early-season is very delicate,” Cabrera said.

Cabrera’s presentation at the second stop on the tour was followed by a presentation from Bill Hubbell, general manager of Wilco-Winfield. Hubbell showed growers examples of application technology available to reduce herbicide drift, including interlock nozzles.

“You still have wind issues to deal with,” Hubbell said, “but you can get a lot more control of your application.”

Bob Eccles of Wilbur-Ellis Co. told participants the optimal conditions for spraying are when wind is blowing away from sensitive areas at a speed of between 4 and 10 mph. At less than 4 mph, the chances of volatilization are increased, and drift issues come into play when applying pesticides at wind speeds in excess of 10 mph, he said.

Eccles also advised growers to read pesticide labels.

“There is a lot of new information on those labels,” he said, including information on how droplet size can affect spray quality, and other tidbits growers can use to their advantage.”

Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba, who participated in the tour, said she was pleased to see the wine grape and grass seed growers working to resolve what at times has been a contentious issue.

“I think that both sides are to be commended to be willing to talk to each other about their concerns and take the next step to do this tour,” she said.

“Our whole focus is co-existence,” she said. “The best people to solve these issues are the people that are out on the ground.

“There is so much diversity in Oregon agriculture: There is no way that from the top down that we can prescribe ways for neighbors and farmers to get along,” she said.

COOS BAY

COOS BAY

For the second time in August and third time since June, Oregon’s Mount Emily wolf pack is blamed for killing a sheep in the northeast corner of the state.

A herder on Aug. 15 found a partially consumed sheep in a timbered area of Nine Mile Ridge, in Umatilla County. The site was near a bedding ground on public land.

Wildlife biologists examined the carcass. The sheep’s stomach and thoracic cavity had been eaten, as had muscle and tissue from the neck, ribs, shoulders and front legs. Bite mark size and placement were consistent with a wolf attack, according a report by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

GPS data from a collared wolf showed at least one pack member was in the area when the attack most likely occurred. Previous ODFW investigations showed pack members killed sheep Aug. 4 and June 22.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The chief of the U.S. Forest Service says the intense wildfire season ravaging the West and maxing out fire crews and equipment is “the new normal.”

Chief Tom Tidwell was in John Day on Wednesday visiting the Canyon Creek fire, which burned 36 homes last week in its initial wind-driven run before more than 600 firefighters started corralling it.

He says the succession of intense fire seasons that tax firefighting resources shows the need for continuing to thin forests to make them less vulnerable to fire.

Meanwhile, with civilian fire crews maxed out, Gov. Kate Brown is deploying 125 national guard troops to help fight the 11 large wildfires burning across Oregon.

Incident commanders figure they would have had more than 1,500 personnel on site — more than 2 1/2 times the number currently fighting the fire — if not for the multitude of other fires raging across Oregon and the West.

The Canyon Creek Complex is now 48,201 acres and remains uncontained. Another bout of high winds is in the forecast Friday, which should keep flames spreading quickly.

Earlier in the day, Oregon State Forester Doug Decker and Tidwell joined Brown during a visit with victims who lost their homes to the Canyon Creek fire. The Grant County Sheriff’s Office now estimates 36 homes burned to the ground. No injuries have been reported.

“There has been some tremendous work done to get everyone out safely,” Tidwell said.

By Wednesday afternoon, activity once again increased on the fire lines. Crews along Canyon Creek Lane were forced to retreat to the west side of Wickiup Campground as a giant plume of smoke lifted high over the ridge. Farther south, the town of Seneca, population 200, is on early watch for evacuation notices.

On the opposite side of the road, flames also crept in short grass and logs, occasionally jumping high enough to reach the lower branches of pines. Safety officers kept firefighters back to avoid becoming inadvertently trapped.

“It’s just how extreme it gets so quickly,” said Mike Gorsuch with the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Damon Simmons, fire information officer, said it is easy for crews to lose their situational awareness and become surrounded if they are not careful.

Simmons, a lieutenant with Portland Fire and Rescue, said all agencies are doing everything they can to contain the fire with the resources they have at their disposal.

George Plaven of EO Media Group contributed to this report.

EO Media Group

PENDLETON, Ore. — Idaho Power is asking to build a portion of its proposed Boardman to Hemingway Transmission Line on the U.S. Navy’s bombing range south of Boardman to avoid interfering with nearby farms.

The company, based in Boise, has requested an easement from the Navy to place approximately 10 miles of transmission lines on the west side of Bombing Range Road — which splits the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility to the west and a half-dozen irrigated farms to the east.

The preferred route spans five Eastern Oregon counties and more than 300 miles, beginning at a proposed Bonneville Power Administration substation east of Boardman, Oregon, and ending at the existing Hemingway Transmission Station in southwest Idaho.

Part of the project’s Morrow-Umatilla segment includes an alternative that shows lines running down the east side of Bombing Range Road, drawing loud criticism from landowners and county officials who say the towers would take acres of high-value agriculture out of production.

The issue became so contentious the Oregon Farm Bureau helped craft a bill in the legislature that would have required utilities to study overhead transmission routes to avoid productive farmland. That bill ultimately died in committee.

Mitch Colburn, engineering leader on 500-kilovolt projects for Idaho Power, said they have worked for several months with local stakeholders to come up with a plan that sticks Boardman to Hemingway on the west side of Bombing Range Road.

“We would avoid constructing a line on landowner property that could ultimately remove acres of production due to reduced land availability and equipment operability,” Colburn said.

But, in order to do that, Idaho Power needs a stamp of approval from the Navy.

Numerous officials and landowners signed on to a letter of support sent July 10 to Capt. Michael Nortier, commanding officer for Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington, supporting a Navy easement for Boardman to Hemingway on the west side of Bombing Range Road.

If that easement is approved, Idaho Power would build roughly 10 miles of line along the eastern edge of the bombing range, which would replace an existing 69-kilovolt BPA line on the property.

Umatilla Electric Cooperative owns and operates a 115-kilovolt line on private property across the road, and would cooperate with BPA to maintain electrical service for customers displaced by the removal of the 69-kilovolt line.

Towers would follow the Navy’s requested height limit of 100 feet to avoid conflicts with military operations, according to Idaho Power. The Boardman Bombing Range is currently used as the principal training ground for Boeing EA-18G Growler aircraft based at Whidbey Island.

Colburn said he hasn’t received a clear answer yet from the Navy. Rick McArdle, community planning liaison officer for the Navy’s Northwest Training Range Complex, did not return a call for comment.

Jerry Rietmann, co-owner of the Ione-based Wheatridge Wind Energy, said the plan would make best use of both energy corridors to meet the region’s power needs.

The route along the east side of Bombing Range Road could also become a singular site for new wind energy transmission, Rietmann said. Wheatridge Wind Energy is proposing a 500-megwatt wind farm in southern Morrow and Umatilla counties.

“The different wind companies have been working on a single-use electrical corridor to the Longhorn Substation,” Rietmann said. “It would have some impact, but not the kind of impact Boardman to Hemingway would have.”

Don Rice, director of operations at the 24,000-acre Boardman Tree Farm, said the action will take compromise on everyone’s part, but appears to be the most promising solution available.

“It’s the only plan the parties have been able to coalesce around,” Rice said “The key to making it all work is an agreement from the Navy.”

Colburn said it was good for Idaho Power to hear from communities during the recent public comment period, and fully understand where landowners were coming from.

“We are satisfied,” he said. “We’ll find a way to minimize impacts while at the same time achieving our project’s objectives.”

The Boardman-to-Hemingway project is expected to cost $880-$940 million, and come online by 2020.

Pendleton Grain Growers in Eastern Oregon has “been through a real challenge” in recent years but is not in danger of going out of business, the company’s general manager said.

Rick Jacobson, responding to community murmurs that bubbled up following what was a poor wheat harvest for some growers, said the co-op is “way ahead of where we were last year,” when PGG lost nearly $8 million.

The co-op sold or closed several divisions, laid off employees, reduced excess inventory, restructured its debts into a new loan package and obtained a $20 million line of credit in response to the financial problems. Jacobson said in June that PGG was positioned to make a profit in 2015.

But a lack of moisture and intense heat early in the season “pinched” dryland wheat crops for some PGG growers, resulting in yield reductions of 25 to 30 percent and protein levels higher than exporters prefer. Meanwhile, the price dropped and Gavilon, a grain handling company owned by the Japanese firm Marubeni Corp., opened a truck transfer station in Union County, giving growers another option for selling wheat.

Jacobson acknowledged the combination has complicated PGG’s comeback. He is not sure the co-op will be profitable this year.

“It’s not helpful to have an off crop and it’s not helpful to have another grain company in our backyard, but that’s the life and times of a business,” Jacobson said.

“We’re not going to fold, that’s not going to happen,” he said.

Jacobson said the soft white wheat price is in the range of $5.75 per bushel this year, compared to $7 last year.

“Most businesses can’t take those kinds of hits,” he said. “When yields are off and the price it low, it puts a lot of pressure on the grower.”

But Jacobson, a former NORPAC executive recruited out of retirement in 2012 to stabilize PGG, said the co-op is in the best cash flow position it’s been in for a long time. The company recently signed an agreement with McCoy Grain Terminal to do some wheat marketing for PGG, he said.

An industry insider who spoke on background said PGG and neighboring co-op Morrow County Grain Growers face increased competition from grain handlers with deeper pockets and that are looking to expand their territory. In tight years, companies that offer 10 cents more per bushel may attract growers even if those companies don’t offer other services such as fuel and fertilizer, the insider said.

He asked not to be identified because he works with growers and co-ops.

Pendleton Grain Growers “didn’t attend to business as well as they should have” in the past but appears to have made progress, he said.

“I don’t think they’re in danger of going under, they’re better off now,” he said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Grant County Sheriff’s Office says 36 homes have been destroyed by an Eastern Oregon wildfire — 10 more than previously reported.

Gov. Kate Brown plans to meet Wednesday with victims of the fire near John Day and visit the command post where crews are overseeing the effort to contain the blaze that has charred 67 square miles, mostly on the Malheur National Forest in Eastern Oregon.

The Oregonian reports that fire commanders told a community meeting at Grant Union High School that crews have concentrated on protecting a string of homes tucked in a small river canyon south of John Day. Shifting winds pushed the fire toward homes earlier thought safe.

At this rate, the Thanksgiving turkey will show up on Halloween.

At least one cranberry grower on the Southern Oregon coast began harvest this week, up to two or three weeks earlier than normal. Grower Charlie Ruddell of Randolph Cranberries Inc. believes his harvest will mark the earliest date commercial cranberries have ever left the Bandon receiving station, which he said wasn’t scheduled to open until Sept. 21. A spokeswoman for Ocean Spray, the cooperative of which Ruddell is a grower-member, said his harvest is the first in North America for 2015.

Spokeswoman Kellyanne Dignan said Ocean Spray has no issue with opening the receiving station so early. “If the berries are ready to come in, as a co-op we are open to receiving them,” she said.

Cranberries are judged ready for harvest based on color, size, firmness and sugar content, which is expressed in the term “brix.” The timing of reaching that stage varies, Dignan said. “Mother Nature makes that decision.”

Ruddell attributes the early harvest start to three things: The new variety he planted, Demoranville, which was developed by Rutgers University, is earlier than other varieties. Second, the plants are two and three seasons old, and young plants tend to bear fruit sooner than more mature cranberries. Finally, like many other crops in the Pacific Northwest, warm weather has pushed harvest up by a couple weeks.

Unlike many other parts of the Northwest, Bandon has adequate water this summer, Ruddell said. At harvest time, growers typically flood cranberry bogs with about 18 inches of water and churn the water to loosen the berries. The berries float to the surface, where growers gather them up.

After cleaning at Ocean Spray’s Bandon receiving station, the cranberries will be trucked to a company processing plant in Markham, Wash. Dignan, the co-op spokeswoman, said they’ll either be processed into “craisins,” which are dried, sweetened cranberries, or used to make cranberry juice or sauce.

The USDA has projected strong cranberry harvests for Oregon and Washington. Oregon growers may top the 500,000 barrels they produced in 2014. Washington growers may produce 186,000 barrels, the most in a decade. A barrel equals 100 pounds of cranberries.

Prices vary, but Oregon’s cranberry production is ranked 38th in value among the state’s crops and was worth about $12 million in 2013.