EUGENE, Ore. — The growing consumer appetite for organic food has caused a chain reaction through the agriculture industry, all the way through to farm input suppliers.

Rising interest in organic farming has spurred the creation of new products and companies seeking to supply those growers with organic fertilizers, pesticides and other goods.

Over the past 20 years, the number of products listed for organic use by the Organic Materials Review Institute has increased from fewer than 200 to more than 6,000.

OMRI, a nonprofit based in Eugene, Ore., is charged with ensuring those crop, livestock and processing products comply with organic standards established by the USDA.

In just the last year, the number of products listed by OMRI has shot up 20 percent.

There is some confusion about the institute’s role in the organic industry, said Peggy Miars, its executive director.

Companies occasionally try to convince OMRI to approve a product even though it contains a prohibited substance, not understanding the organization doesn’t make such calls, she said.

OMRI doesn’t decide whether it’s appropriate for a substance to be allowed in organic production — that responsibility falls to the USDA’s National Organic Program and an advisory group of industry stakeholders, the National Organic Standards Board.

“We never advocate for or against a particular substance,” said Miars.

Instead, the institute evaluates the formulations of branded products to determine if they’re composed of substances that are permitted by USDA.

When a substance is proposed for inclusion in organic production, the USDA may also hire the institute to research the material’s impacts on the environment and human health.

However, OMRI doesn’t make recommendations and stays out of controversies about approving or prohibiting substances, said Miars.

“One reason OMRI is respected is because we are neutral,” she said. “We don’t go one way or another.”

The vast majority of products listed by OMRI — 86 percent — pertain to growing crops, and most of those are fertilizers and soil amendments.

The remaining 14 percent are fairly evenly split between livestock products and processing products, such as those used to make cheese and wine.

In recent years, there have been a lot of new innovations with anaerobic digestate. This liquid and solid waste comes from anaerobic digesters, such as those that generate power from dairy manure, said Kelsey McKee, OMRI’s review program and quality director.

OMRI’s role is to ensure the digestate byproduct doesn’t contain substances that are prohibited in organic production, she said.

Input suppliers are also developing new products containing specific beneficial microbes and mycorrhizal fungi, McKee said.

These soil amendments go beyond general compost: Certain bacteria and fungi can reduce pressure from pathogens or maximize nutrient availability, she said.

OMRI determines whether these microorganisms are genetically engineered, which is excluded from organic farming, or are grown in synthetic media that aren’t allowed.

“Different microbes can have different roles,” McKee said. “We are looking at where are they getting it, how are they growing it.”

Before OMRI was founded two decades ago, organic certifiers such as Oregon Tilth and California Certified Organic Farmers would review branded products for compliance with organic standards.

As the work became increasingly time-consuming, these and other organic groups chipped in financially to launch OMRI, which would be dedicated to this function.

With the climbing number of products proposed for listing, the institute has been swamped with work.

When Miars was hired seven years ago, the organization received about 40 applications a month. It’s now up to 130.

Since the organization wasn’t willing to compromise on thoroughness, the backlog has lengthened OMRI’s review periods, Miars said. “We had a reputation for being really slow.”

A hiring spree that increased OMRI’s staff by 50 percent over the past two years has reduced the wait time. In late 2016, the median review process took seven months, but it’s now down to two months.

OMRI is also automating its application process to require less data-entry from employees, which the institute hopes will further improve efficiency.

“We are relying more and more on technology,” Miars said.

Cutting down on mind-numbing tasks serves another worthwhile function: Making jobs at OMRI more rewarding.

Recruiting and training educated workers costs money, so the nonprofit must focus on retaining them, she said. “It’s good to see people want to stay with OMRI and grow with us.”

To that end, the institute encourages its employees to give presentations and write articles about obscure materials-related dilemmas.

For example, can paper bags with colored ink be used in organic compost? The answer is yes — the ink is considered an unavoidable environmental contaminant.

The institute has also set its sights beyond the U.S.

In 2012, OMRI started a program to review materials that are compliant with Canada’s organic standards, and it’s looking to replicate the effort in Mexico.

Currently, organic materials review in Mexico is conducted by organic certifiers, Miars said. “There are certifiers and growers in Mexico who would love it if we could launch that program tomorrow.”

Organic Materials Review Institute

Executive director: Peggy Miars

Founded: 1997

Headquarters: Eugene, Ore.

Employees: 56

Function: Reviewing branded products for compliance with organic standards.

Listed products: More than 6,000

Product categories: More than 86 percent are crop-related, 7 percent are processing-related and nearly 7 percent are livestock-related.

Product origins: 70 percent are from the U.S., 13 percent are from Mexico, 7 percent are from Canada, and 10 percent are from 36 other countries.

Bear Branch Farms, a small family-run farm near Stayton, Ore., will host its third annual open farm day Saturday, April 21, from noon to 3 p.m. The public is invited for tours and spend the afternoon.

“It just gets people onto the farm, so kids and families can get connected to where their food comes from,” said Janis Newsom, who owns the farm with her husband, Nate. “They can go walk the fields, walk around the greenhouses, pet and feed the animals, ask gardening questions, the whole gamut.”

Bear Branch Farms grows more than 100 different fruits and vegetables, which it sells on a Community Supported Agriculture model, or CSA, where customers pay up front for “shares” of the harvest.

Newsom said they will be raffling a half-price CSA membership during the event. Foodology, a mobile kitchen from nearby Stayton, will also be on site. Newsom said families can bring chairs if they would like to picnic at the farm.

Bear Branch Farms is at 40929 Huntley Road SE. For more information, call the farm at 503-769-3025.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A state agency has refused to provide a county sheriff and prosecutor in Oregon with a list of medical marijuana grow sites, marking the latest friction over marijuana between local and state officials.

On March 13, Oregon Health Authority official Carole Yann told Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel and Sheriff Shane Nelson that the law doesn’t permit the agency to provide the list.

Instead, local law enforcement — on a case-by-case basis — can verify the registration status of a site through a data base or call the medical marijuana program managed by Yann, she said.

On Thursday, Hummel and Nelson challenged that justification and said they need the list to help identify illegal grow sites.

“I respectfully suggest that providing Sheriff Nelson and I with the addresses of medical marijuana grow sites does not run afoul of Oregon statutory law,” Hummel wrote to Yann in a letter that was also signed by Nelson.

On Tuesday, officials in another county sued the state in federal court, asserting that Oregon laws that made pot legal are pre-empted by a federal law that criminalizes it.

The Josephine County Board of Commissioners in December tried to ban or restrict commercial pot farming on rural residential lots, but the state Land Use Board of Appeals put the restrictions on hold.

The county has petitioned the Oregon Court of Appeals and sued in federal court.

The cases illustrate a continuing struggle by local, state and federal officials over legalization of marijuana in Oregon and other states.

In ballot measures, Oregon voters legalized medical marijuana in 1998 and recreational cannabis in 2014. Some jurisdictions in Oregon were allowed to opt out of allowing recreational marijuana businesses.

Deschutes County, in the high desert and mountains of Central Oregon, decided in 2016 to allow them after previously banning them in unincorporated areas.

But county commissioners said this week they may try to prohibit new marijuana businesses until the rules are better enforced.

Hummel and Nelson complained in their Feb. 7 letter to the health authority, which regulates medical marijuana, that local law enforcement often can’t tell whether medical marijuana grow sites are legal or illegal because the agency hasn’t provided a list of authorized sites. They asked for a list of licensed medical growers.

Hummel said Thursday that state law doesn’t prohibit the health authority from providing the list. He asked Yann to specify if the Legislature prohibits it, or if the health authority chose to require law enforcement to make case-by-case requests for information.

In their letter, Hummel and Nelson included a thumb drive containing every address in Deschutes County. They told Yann to verify whether each is a registered marijuana grow site.

Local farmers and ranchers from the Klamath Basin in Southern Oregon are hitting the road for San Francisco to witness a pivotal court hearing that may determine when they can finally start irrigating their crops this year.

It is yet another chapter in the ongoing dispute to balance water rights for agriculture and endangered fish along the Klamath River.

Water users are especially nervous now heading into summer, as Oregon Gov. Kate Brown already declared a drought emergency in Klamath County on March 13. Snowpack is just 51 percent of normal across the basin, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service predicts stream flows between April and September may range anywhere from just 24 to 58 percent of average.

Or, as Scott White of the Klamath Water Users Association put it, “This is not a fun time down here.”

“People have just been trying to get by,” said White, KWUA executive director. “Anxiety is through the roof in this basin right now.”

Yet the Bureau of Reclamation, which administers the Klamath Project, still has not been able to announce a water allocation or irrigation start date for the season. That’s because the agency is hung up on a previous court ruling that requires 50,000 acre-feet of stored water for in-stream flows to wash away a deadly parasite that attacks coho salmon, known as C. shasta.

The injunction, filed Feb. 8, 2017 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, essentially calls for three types of flows to combat C. shasta. The first is a “flushing flow” of 6,030 cubic feet per second for 72 hours, which must be completed every year before the end of April. There is also a “deep flushing flow,” which is required every other year but not for 2018.

The last is what’s known as “dilution flows,” which are contingent on the presence of C. shasta spores in the river. If water tests higher than five spores per liter, that triggers the release of 3,000 cubic feet per second for seven days below Iron Gate Dam to cleanse the stream. If that doesn’t work, water releases are ramped up to 4,000 cubic feet per second for another seven days.

Dilution flows are no longer needed once 80 percent of the salmon have migrated out to the Pacific Ocean, but White said that date can be difficult to pin down, and is making it difficult for water users to plan for the summer. Releases also cannot interfere with water needed for endangered sucker fish that inhabit Upper Klamath Lake.

The Yurok Tribe, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Klamath Riverkeeper and the Hoopa Valley Tribe sought the injunction to protect juvenile coho after several years of deadly C. shasta outbreak.

The KWUA, along with Klamath Irrigation District, Sunnyside Irrigation District, Ben Duvall Klamath Drainage District and Pine Grove Irrigation District, recently filed a motion to stay the court’s injunction. U.S. District Judge William Orrick will hold a hearing Wednesday, April 11 to consider the argument.

White said the water users association has reserved a bus with 45 seats to take farmers and ranchers down to the hearing in a show of support. It is possible Judge Orrick may rule from the bench that very day, and White said he is optimistic about the outcome.

“That’s really all we have to live on, is hope and faith that the judge will see things our way,” he said.

The Bureau of Reclamation has proposed an irrigation start date of April 19 and water allocation of 252,000 acre-feet — roughly 36 percent less than full allocation for the project.

Glen Spain, Northwest regional director for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, said they sympathize with basin farmers, but unless something is done to stop the onslaught of C. shasta, it may push Klamath salmon to extinction.

“For us, it’s an existential problem,” Spain said. “We don’t exist as salmon fishermen without salmon.”

The PCFFA represents most of the West Coast commercial fishing industry. Like farmers, Spain said they are helping families to put food on the table. Unfortunately, with an over-allocated river, he said, the demand for water is turning good people, and valuable industries, against one another.

“We need that water in the river. Farmers understandably need it on their crops. And there is not enough to go around,” Spain said.

The late start to irrigation season is already a killer for farmers and ranchers struggling to turn a profit, White said. He hopes this ordeal will demonstrate these types of issues are best worked out at the local level, instead of handed down by the court.

“Not only is it expensive, but it’s never an ideal outcome,” White said.

Anyone interested in taking the bus to San Francisco can contact the KWUA office at 541-883-6100.

PORTLAND — Environmentalists are urging a federal judge not to throw out a lawsuit they filed 15 years ago alleging that grazing harms the threatened bull trout in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest.

Last year, a federal magistrate judge found the Oregon Natural Desert Association and Center for Biological Diversity had failed to prove that livestock grazing along two rivers in the forest is to blame for the protected species’ decline.

The plaintiffs have objected to his recommended dismissal of their complaint, which was originally filed more than 15 years ago.

During oral arguments held April 5 in Portland, the environmental groups asked U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman to instead rule that grazing authorizations along the Malheur and North Fork Malheur rivers violated federal laws.

Fewer than 50 bull trout now inhabit each of the waterways, which together should support about 2,000 of the fish, said Mac Lacy, attorney for the plaintiffs.

The U.S. Forest Service has authorized livestock grazing on seven allotments covering tens of thousands of acres without analyzing the site-specific effects as required by law, Lacy said.

In recommending the lawsuit’s dismissal, the magistrate judge incorrectly found that attainment of “riparian management objectives” for the fish can be measured at the “watershed or landscape scale,” the plaintiffs claimed.

The agency cannot decide it has met these objectives based on “habitat indicators” that don’t mirror reality while ignoring actual measurements that show stream conditions are worsening, Lacy said.

Grazing must be suspended if it prevents a “near natural rate of recovery” under the National Forest Management Act, while the Forest Service faces a similar obligation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, according to the plaintiffs.

“It’s not just a non-degradation requirement,” Lacy said. “It’s an enhancement requirement.”

Stephen Odell, attorney for the government, argued that it’s up to the Forest Service to decide how best to measure compliance with recovery strategies for the fish.

The agency has relied on the most relevant data collected over thousands of hours, he said. “It’s extremely rigorous.”

Riparian management objectives are “dream stream” benchmarks that would exist under ideal conditions and are meant to measure progress, Odell said.

However, the Forest Service doesn’t have to attain these standards to comply with its recovery strategies for the bull trout, he said.

Odell also revived an argument against the environmentalist lawsuit that was rejected by the magistrate judge.

The plaintiffs have challenged more than 100 agency decisions regarding grazing, which amounts to an improper attempt to change the Forest Service’s entire grazing program, he said. Such “programmatic” revisions are meant to occur during rule-making or in Congress, not in federal court.

Instead of finding faults specific to each of the actions, the plaintiffs make the same “blanket assertion” to challenge all of them, Odell said.

Just two weeks after completing the first Resource Education and Agricultural Leadership Program, otherwise known as REAL Oregon, Matt Mattioda was able to put his newly refined skills to the test.

Mattioda, who works as the chief forester for Miller Timber Services in Philomath, Ore., was informed by a client that Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read was interested in touring a project site to better understand how trees are harvested on the landscape.

“I had a chance to show him what we’re doing,” Mattioda said of the visit. “If we don’t reach out and engage folks ... then whatever comes our way, we’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Thanks to REAL Oregon, Mattioda said he is comfortable advocating for his industry to a high-ranking state official. The program was conceived by businesses to engage natural resources professionals in career and leadership training — everything from government relations and conflict resolution to public speaking and presentation.

Over the course of five months, Mattioda and 29 others attended two-day sessions around the state, each with a local focus. The first class graduated March 8, which included 10 agricultural producers, three forestry workers, four government employees and 13 people from natural resource support industries.

In addition to leadership training, Mattioda said REAL Oregon provided an opportunity to network and build bridges across industries.

“I have really grown to appreciate what other folks do in natural resources, whether you’re a rancher or a farmer,” Mattioda said. “We’re all in this together. Even if some folks have differences in opinion, let’s rally around and focus on those things we have in common.”

REAL Oregon was established in 2017 and is similar to programs in 34 other states around the country, including neighboring Washington and Idaho. Greg Addington, program director, said the sessions are meant to break people out of their “silos,” and understand the bigger picture for natural resources.

In hindsight, Addington said the first year could not have gone any better.

“I think we’re on to something here,” he said. “There’s a big need for it in the state.”

Addington, who owns a consulting company in Klamath Falls, Ore., and is the former executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, said he already has a list of more than 200 names recommended for future classes. He is now working on the application and curriculum for the class of 2018-19.

Last year’s program kicked off in November with a trip to Ontario, Ore., where participants learned about production agriculture. The group then traveled to Newport in December for a session on commercial fisheries; Medford in January for timber; Salem in February for the short legislative session; and Pendleton and Boardman in March for irrigated farming and livestock.

“The networking that occurs with such a diverse group of people is just awesome to watch,” Addington said.

Megan Thompson, director of field services for Cascade Cherry Growers and Sage Fruit Co. in The Dalles, Ore., said the networking was especially valuable for her.

“At some point, we’re all fighting a very similar fight,” Thompson said. “We all have similar causes, and similar drives, and we all need to work together for those causes.”

Thompson added the field trips they took on location further drove home the point.

“It was a great experience,” she said. “I think it’s made 30 new advocates for agriculture.”

More information about REAL Oregon, including an application form, is available online at www.realoregon.net. The program costs $5,000 per person, though half of the funding is covered by business sponsors.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Officials in an Oregon county who have tried to restrict commercial marijuana production sued the state in federal court, asserting state laws that made pot legal are pre-empted by federal law that criminalize it.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court escalated a long-running battle between the state and the Josephine County Board of Commissioners.

The panel says pot farms are a nuisance. The county is in a prime marijuana-producing region of southern Oregon.

Voters in the state legalized marijuana with a 2014 ballot measure, prompting a “green rush” as pot entrepreneurs set up shop in the fertile, rainy mountainous area.

County Commissioner Dan DeYoung has said rural residents, many of them retirees, are fed up with the proliferating farms in areas zoned as rural residential.

“The good people are leaving and the marijuana people are staying,” DeYoung said, according to the Daily Courier newspaper.

The commission in December tried to ban commercial pot farming on rural residential lots of five acres or less and to drastically reduce the size of some larger grow sites.

But the state Land Use Board of Appeals later put the restrictions on hold, saying the county failed to properly notify land owners.

Pete Gendron, a marijuana grower in the county and president of the Oregon SunGrowers’ Guild advocacy group, said the growers have invested large sums to start operations and were shocked when the county tried to restrict them.

One grower had a letter from the county dating back a year or more stating that cannabis cultivation was farm use and was allowed, Gendron said.

“He invested a half-million dollars in the county,” Gendron said. “He would not have made those investments if not for those assurances.”

The lawsuit by the commission contends the state cannot dictate marijuana regulations over county restrictions because marijuana remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

“Any person in any state who possesses, distributes, or manufactures marijuana for medical or recreational purposes, or attempts or conspires to do so, is committing a federal crime,” Wally Hicks, a lawyer for the county, wrote in the lawsuit that names state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum as a defendant, along with the state.

Rosenblum’s spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson said she can’t comment on pending litigation but noted in an email: “We will defend the state laws of Oregon related to marijuana.”

The lawsuit calls on a federal court in Medford to declare that two ballot measures in 1998 and 2014 that legalized medical and recreational marijuana, respectively, are pre-empted by federal law.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who famously declared that “good people don’t smoke marijuana,” recently gave U.S. prosecutors more leeway to pursue federal anti-marijuana laws in states that have legalized pot.

A flock of chickens roams free range outside the faded red barn at Converging Creeks Farm north Colton, Ore., while rows of spicy wasabi arugula mature in one of three nearby greenhouses.

It is a bucolic setting, surrounded by forested hillsides in the lush Willamette Valley, and precisely the vision Nathan McFall had when he decided to embrace subsistence farming coming out of the Peace Corps.

“I really need to be active and outside, having that relationship with the earth,” said McFall, who spent every dime he had to buy the farm in 2008. “This is much more of a lifestyle.”

The idea behind Converging Creeks Farm, however, is bigger than just one person. The roughly six acres of land is also a teaching grounds for the next generation of farmers, where they can learn hands-on how to grow, harvest and process their own food.

McFall and business partner Matt Brown have spun this concept into their own nonprofit organization, called Food|Waves. The goal, McFall said, is to perk interest in local, sustainable farming at a time the average age of American farmers is rising, and fewer people overall are engaged in food production.

According to a 2016 study by Oregon State University and Portland State University, the average age of Oregon farmers is now 60, up from 55 in 2002. At the same time, the American Farm Bureau Federation reports that farm and ranch families now make up just 2 percent of the U.S. population. By comparison, farmers made up 38 percent of the total workforce at the turn of the 20th century.

“That knowledge is being lost,” McFall said. “People need to know how to grow food, and we’re here to help.”

Food|Waves primarily serves communities in Clackamas County, Ore., with the vast majority of food sales coming at the Portland Farmers Market. Converging Creek Farms grows more than 30 types of vegetables, primarily specialty greens that are suited for the farm’s higher elevation and unique microclimate.

The farm also raises chickens for meat and eggs, goats for meat and milk, turkeys and pigs for meat and ducks for eggs.

“Our program is getting better as we find our niche,” McFall said. “In seven years, we’ve come pretty far.”

Growing up in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, McFall did not become interested in growing his own food until he went away to college.

It was there, at Texas A&M University, that McFall took up hobby gardening. He then met a Peace Corps recruiter through the Texas Environmental Action Coalition who had previously served in Senegal, Africa. The meeting was a life-defining moment for McFall.

“I just thought, ‘I need to go there,’” he said.

McFall spent two years, from 1998 to 2000, in the small west African nation of Togo, teaching environmental education and organic farming techniques. Overpopulation had taxed much of their soil and natural resources, McFall said.

“It was really in Togo I decided I wanted to be a farmer,” McFall said. “Living for each other, subsistence living, really spoke to me.”

While in Africa, McFall also met Brown, and the two discussed their ambitions of forming a nonprofit. The men went their separate ways, with McFall ultimately managing a farm in northern California and Brown teaching high school science and horticulture near Los Angeles.

On Thanksgiving Day in 2008, with the global financial crisis looming, McFall pulled the trigger on buying Converging Creek Farm. One year later, he started his own construction business to support himself financially.

McFall reached out to Brown, and the two hit on the idea of a teaching farm. By 2010, a decade after they first met abroad, the duo formed Food|Waves, with Brown as executive director and McFall as farm management director.

Brown and his wife moved to Milwaukie, Ore. which now serves as the organization’s headquarters.

“Our mission is to teach people how to grow food,” McFall said. “There needs to be more facilities where young people can learn to farm.”

In seven seasons, more than 20 people have participated in internships through Food|Waves, from ages 15 to 40.

Alexandra Hagiepetros, 28, spent a full season living at the farm in 2017, from May 1 through Nov. 1. As a student, Hagiepetros attended baking and pastry school at the Art Institute of Portland, but had greater ambitions of working in local food systems.

During those six months, Hagiepetros said she learned how to do everything from handling seeds to customer relations. The farm also takes great pains in post-harvest preparation, hand washing each individual vegetable to boost its appearance and presentation.

Hagiepetros is now preparing for an apprenticeship at Carnation Farms in Carnation, Wash. She aims to start her own farm business within the next five years.

“Growing your own food is a very rewarding experience,” Hagiepetros said. “I think everyone should have that.”

That is where the other two programs offered by Food|Waves come in.

Brown, the organization’s executive director, said that when they aren’t busy farming, they do garden education trainings at schools, food pantries and churches around Clackamas County. In 2012, Food|Waves received a grant from the county health department to begin building demonstration gardens at local Head Start sites. Through a combination of grants, fundraising and donations, Brown said they have built more than 10 gardens in Colton, Gladstone, Estacada, Oregon City, Milwaukie and Sandy.

“The idea was to help families that may not be able to afford organic food, to give them these skills,” Brown said. “You don’t need a whole lot of money to grow a whole lot of food.”

For families who express further interest in gardening, Brown said Food|Waves will help them start their own garden at home, building one 6-foot-by-4-foot raised bed. That effort, known as Gift Garden for Healthy Harvest, has resulted in more than 60 new garden beds.

The mission, Brown said, is promoting fresh, nutritious, healthy and sustainable food systems in Oregon.

“We need to get people out there with the knowledge to train others,” Brown said.

Both Brown and McFall agree that Food|Waves is hitting its stride, and they will continue to work toward maintaining the programs they have in place. McFall said he expects 1-2 full-time interns and 3-5 part-timers this year, with farm work beginning in earnest by late May.

“Learning hands-on is the way to do it,” he said.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Some of Oregon’s agricultural producers are waiting to see the effect trade disputes between the United States and China will have on their products.

China announced on Sunday it would put extra tariffs of up to 25 percent on certain U.S. products such as fruits and nuts, including a 15 percent tariff on hazelnuts.

The Register-Guard reports that aside from hazelnuts, that move would also affect pears, berries, apples and wine.

The country already has a 25 percent tariff on hazelnuts.

Oregon hazelnut producers say they are already have a workaround for China tariffs.

State Department of Agriculture Director Alexis Taylor says the effect the tariffs will have on Oregon products will depend on whether Chinese consumers will be willing to buy their produce at a higher price.

Dwellings can be rebuilt on Oregon farmland regardless of when the original structures were destroyed or removed, according to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

The ruling overturns an earlier interpretation of state law by Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals, which held that dwellings can only be rebuilt if they were subject to property taxes within the past five years.

Landwatch Lane County, a farmland preservation group, argues thats the Oregon Court of Appeals has misconstrued the pertinent land use statute, creating an “end run” around the state planning goal of preserving farmland.

“I would call it devastating for Oregon farmland,” said Lauri Segel-Vaccher, the group’s legal analyst.

Long-lost homes could be rebuilt on farmland regardless of soil quality and with uncertain proof they existed in the first place, she said.

Counties are often “lackadaisical” in protecting farm and forestland, so they may require only scant evidence of a dwelling’s location, Segel-Vaccher said.

“Anybody could come up with a photograph or a diary entry from the 1800s,” she said.

Landwatch Lane County hasn’t yet decided whether to challenge the decision before the Oregon Supreme Court, Segel-Vaccher said.

Oregonians In Action, a property rights group, believes state lawmakers were “fully informed” of the effect their revisions would have on the applicable land use statute in 2013.

“The whole purpose of the bill was to allow property owners to replace dwellings that had been removed, in some cases, decades earlier,” said Dave Hunnicutt, the group’s executive director.

The notion that a significant number of homes will be built as a result is “silly” because landowners must still demonstrate the existence of a dwelling, he said.

“Most rural land is on parcels that have never had farm dwellings,” said Hunnicutt.

The legal dispute over replacement farmland dwellings stems from the case of landowner who sought to rebuild three houses on 100 acres of farmland near Florence, Ore., that were torn down more than two decades ago.

Lane County officials permitted the construction based on a 2013 bill that eased the replacement process for dilapidated or demolished farm dwellings.

However, the county’s decision was reversed last year by the Land Use Board of Appeals, which found the dwelling replacement provision is “somewhat ambiguous” but only applies to a five-year “look back” period during which property taxes were imposed.

The Court of Appeals has disagreed with that understanding, ruling that it’s “logical to conclude that the legislature intended to excuse demolished dwellings from the taxation requirement altogether.”

At the intersection of agriculture and technology, Alex Paraskevas sees major potential for the Mid-Willamette Valley.

The greatest advancements may not come from the slickest machines, Paraskevas said, but from data mining solutions to help local growers make the best possible management decisions.

“Margins are slim, time is short and people don’t necessarily want to go out on a limb,” Paraskevas said. “We’re trying to be the glue, holding things together.”

Paraskevas was hired in February by the Strategic Economic Development Corporation, or SEDCOR, as a regional innovation catalyst, focusing particularly on building bridges between the agriculture and technology industries.

Recently, tech giant Intel teamed with Rogue Ales on a project at the brewery’s hops farm in Independence, Ore., tracking environmental conditions aboard trucks as the sensitive crop is hauled north to Portland.

Though Paraskevas cannot talk about specific proposals in the pipeline — they are closely guarded secrets, discussed using code names — he believes the collaboration between Intel and Rogue Ales may be just the beginning. His job, he said, is to continue building that culture and momentum.

“We’re trying to create an environment where two individuals can talk to each other, where they might not talk to each other normally,” Paraskevas said. “We would love for this to become sort of a test bed innovation area.”

SEDCOR, which serves members in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties, hired Paraskevas with support from a two-year, $50,000 grant from the Ford Family Foundation. He previously worked 10 years at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., serving as assistant director of alumni communication and then as the associate director of research and prospect management under University Advancement.

In addition to being a regional innovation catalyst, Paraskevas will be responsible for business retention and expansion in Polk County. He is already working closely with Shawn Irvine, economic development director for the city of Independence, on its Smart Rural Community effort, encouraging the growth of agricultural technology businesses.

“Alex brings an inquisitive mind and go-getter attitude,” Irvine said in a statement shortly after Paraskevas was hired. “He is quick to see connections and understand what people need. I’m excited to get started and see where we can go together.”

Paraskevas, 33, is a native of the area, graduating from South Salem High School in 2002 and from the University of Oregon in 2006. Both of his parents are professors at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Ore.

Paraskevas readily admits he has little to no background in agriculture. He describes himself as the “typical Salemite,” not fully aware of where his food comes from. But he said he is learning fast as he goes.

“It’s fun to be learning the nuts and bolts of all the different commodities in this area,” Paraskevas said.

SEDCOR President Chad Freeman said they are excited to have Paraskevas aboard.

“We are excited to see where his energy, enthusiasm and knowledge takes us as we work directly with business to grow jobs for Polk County and the region,” Freeman said.

Moving forward, Paraskevas said there is no real agenda for his position, other than to foster participation and cooperation that could lead to big developments down the road.

“It’s just building more of a formal pipeline for this kind of stuff to come out,” he said. “Necessity is truly the mother of all invention for (farmers). They don’t care what necessarily it looks like. They just need to get the job done.”

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Residents in an Oregon county could soon see changes to the county’s approach toward its existing policy on marijuana.

The Bend Bulletin reports Deschutes County’s community development department presented its assessment of county marijuana rules to the Deschutes County Commission Monday during a work session.

The presentation was intended to spearhead discussion on potential changes to county rules.

Commissioner Tammy Baney says the goal is to cut down on the illegal activity she and many rural residents believe is occurring outside of the legal, permitted grows.

Deschutes County implemented its rules for marijuana production, processing, retail and wholesale operations outside urban growth boundaries in 2016. Deschutes County Senior Planner Matt Martin says the rules were always meant to be revisited once the community development department has more information about the newly legal industry.

NEW YORK (AP) — Seventeen states, the District of Columbia and six cities sued the U.S. government Tuesday, saying the addition of a citizenship question to the census form is unconstitutional.

The Trump administration’s decision to ask people about their citizenship has set off worries among Democrats that immigrants will dodge the survey altogether, diluting political representation for states that tend to vote Democratic and robbing many communities of federal dollars.

Supporters of the plan for the 2020 census argue that enforcing voting rights requires more data on the voting-age population of citizens than current surveys are providing. It would be the first time in 70 years that the government uses the census form sent to every household to ask people to specify whether they are U.S. citizens.

New York Attorney General Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat who announced the new lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, said the plans would have a “devastating effect on New York, where we have millions of immigrants.”

“It’s unlawful. It’s unfair,” Schneiderman said at a news conference. He added that it would end a longstanding bipartisan effort to have the Bureau of the Census conduct a full and fair count of the population, including citizens and non-citizens.

The Census Bureau hasn’t included a citizenship question in its survey of all U.S. households since 1950, well before passage of a 1965 law meant to ensure minority groups are fully represented in the once-a-decade count.

The lawsuit, which also included the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors as a plaintiff, said adding the citizenship question was arbitrary and will “fatally undermine the accuracy of the population count.” It asked for a ruling that the citizenship demand is unauthorized and unconstitutional.

According to the lawsuit, nearly a quarter of households in New York state did not return their 2010 census questionnaire, requiring an in-person follow-up. It noted that one-in-five New York residents were born in another country. The NAACP has also said the new plan will also lead to a massive undercounting of blacks.

A government spokesman did not immediately comment. The Justice Department has said it “looks forward to defending the reinstatement of the citizenship question.” The Commerce Department has said the benefits of obtaining citizenship information “outweighed the limited potential adverse impacts.”

The decennial census is required by the Constitution and used to determine the number of seats each state has in the House, as well as how federal money is distributed to local communities. Communities and businesses depend on it in deciding where to build schools, hospitals, grocery stores and more.

Several states that have slowing population growth or high numbers of immigrants such as California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts and Ohio are typically at risk of losing U.S. House seats when their congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years — depending on how fully their residents are counted.

The defendants in the lawsuit are the U.S. Department of Commerce, responsible for the census, and the Bureau of the Census. Plaintiffs include New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, the District of Columbia, New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, San Francisco, Seattle and Providence, Rhode Island.

California’s attorney general filed a separate lawsuit last week that seeks to block the citizenship question from being added to the census questionnaire.

The aroma and taste of smoke can make it into nearby grapes and linger in the wine, even after it’s been fermented and distilled. That’s worrying growers and winemakers here in Oregon.

Elizabeth Tomasino is an assistant professor of food science and technology at Oregon State University. She told OPB “Weekend Edition” host John Notarianni that smoke is essentially an aerosol, with both solid particles and water droplets.

“What will happen is the smoke in the air will settle on the leaves and grapes, and they’re actually transported through the cells into the grape,” Tomasino said.

She said the results aren’t likely to produce a finished wine with much mass appeal: “People like to talk about it tasting ashy or like licking an ashtray — not very appetizing at all.”

Unfortunately, Tomasino said, there’s not a lot farmers can do to prevent the taint. But scientists like Tomasino are experimenting with new processes to treat the grapes once they’ve been picked.

“Adding a little bit of activated carbon can strip some of the compounds out,” she said. “You want to think about things that will bind up phenolic compounds, which are the main compounds in smoke taint.”

In the meantime, winemakers might have to get creative.

“I tease people that it would make a lovely barbecue wine,” Tomasino said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed an order to spill more water over Columbia and Snake river dams to help protect salmon and steelhead and aid their migration to the sea.

The decision came after U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon of Oregon ruled last spring that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must spill more water through spillways rather than turbines that pose a danger to the fish.

He sided with conservationists who say allowing extra water to flow between April and mid-June will help young salmon.

The Army Corps, National Marine Fisheries Service and another federal agency appealed Simon’s ruling.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court said Monday that Simon rightly concluded that the salmon and steelhead are imperiled and will remain so without further conservation efforts.

The judges also pointed to decades of studies that show higher spill volumes lead to increased survival rates.

“At best, federal defendants establish uncertainty about the benefits of increased spill, but the existence of scientific uncertainty does not render the district court’s findings clearly erroneous,” Chief Judge Sidney Thomas wrote in the opinion.

The new spill operations are set to begin Tuesday at some dams on the Snake River and next week on some dams in the Columbia, one of the largest rivers in North America. The Snake is its largest tributary.

Conservation groups said it’s the fourth time since 2005 that increased spill has been mandated by the district court.

“It’s tragic that the federal agencies are still ignoring their own science in fighting spill at every step of the way,” said Glen Spain, Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.

The Corps did not have an immediate statement on the ruling. Agency spokesman Tom Conning said it may respond later in the day.

Rebounding wheat prices aren’t likely to go much higher despite USDA reports of smaller stocks, a small grains economist says.

Nationally, wheat stored in all positions dropped 10 percent, from 1.66 billion bushels to 1.49 billion bushels. The amount of wheat stored in all positions in Idaho dropped from 55.4 million bushels a year ago to 39 million bushels, a nearly 30 percent decline. Oregon wheat stored in all positions dropped from 27.7 million bushels in 2017 to 22.6 million bushels, a 18 percent decline. Washington wheat stored in all positions dropped 20 percent from 104 million bushels to 82.9 million bushels.

It’s not surprising that stocks are down, given that overall supplies are also down relative to a year ago, said Randy Fortenbery, small grains economist at Washington State University.

Reduced stocks puts less downward pressure on prices, Fortenbery said.

Wheat prices have increased by about 5 to 6 cents per bushel, he said, but soybeans and corn have had bigger rallies, which is hard to explain given the stocks report.

“It’s really hard to take the information we got and translate that into the price rallies we saw,” Fortenbery said.

Soft white wheat is roughly $5.40 to $5.66 per bushel on the Portland market.

Crop prices are still in roughly the same range they’ve been for the last month or two, and are still well below prices from three to four years ago, Fortenbery said.

Exports for all three crops are behind where they need to be for the time of year to hit USDA’s forecast for the marketing year, which ends May 31, he said.

“We’ve got a lot of export competition internationally, so everyone has a lot of wheat to export,” he said.

The value of the American dollar is also a factor. Recently, the dollar has been down compared to major foreign currencies.

Concerns about the Trump administration’s trade policies could also play a part, Fortenbery said,

If exports continue to lag, Fortenbery said, “it’s going to be hard to argue that prices should be much higher than they are now.”

USDA also called for slightly more wheat acres nationally and in the Northwest in its prospective plantings report.

Idaho is expected to plant a total of 1.24 million acres of wheat, up 6 percent from 1.17 million acres in 2017. Oregon is expected to plant 790,000 acres, up 2 percent from 775,000 acres. Washington is expected to plant 2.23 million acres, up 1.6 percent from 2.2 million acres in 2017.

Nationally, wheat acres are expected to increase nearly 2.9 percent, from 46 million to 47.3 million acres.

Spring wheat and corn planting conditions will be important in the coming weeks, Fortenbery said. Wheat prices are affected by corn prices.

“If we end up having any disruptions, not able to plant the number of acres that they’re now projecting we will plant, that could be a little bit positive for the market,” Fortenbery said. “But if we have great planting conditions, that means we will lose a weather scare. It will be hard for the market to rally much.”

The beginning of spring ushers a flurry of activity on the vast, rolling wheat fields of Umatilla and Morrow counties in northeast Oregon.

Farmers drive large sprayer rigs over still-green plants to control weeds and pests, while crossing their fingers for make-or-break rainstorms that can turn otherwise average yields into a bumper crop.

This year, however, a new layer of uncertainty has emerged for the Northwest wheat industry. Since the U.S. pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, growers are worried about maintaining strong relationships with longtime foreign customers in countries such as Japan, which signed on to a revised version of the trade deal March 8 in Santiago, Chile, along with 10 other nations.

The vast majority of Oregon wheat — between 85 and 90 percent — is exported, with 21 percent of export sales to Japan. That amounts to $60 million, at current prices from Portland grain terminals.

While the price of soft white wheat has rebounded modestly from its sub-$5 per bushel low last year, Japanese flour mills estimate higher tariffs on American wheat could negatively impact market share by more than half, from 3 million metric tons to less than 1.4 million metric tons. And once that market share is gone, it can be difficult to recapture.

Matt Wood, who farms several thousand acres of dryland wheat and cattle pasture near the small town of Helix, Ore., said farmers are wary of the unpredictability. But the economic consequences extend even further.

“The community you draw business support is ever shrinking,” Wood said. “That’s a real concern.”

Ripple effect

What has happened in Helix — population 181 — is what continues to happen all over rural America, Wood said.

Wood took over the lease on his family’s farm in 1993. Since then, he said the town has lost its grocery store, hardware store and the post office was forced to cut back hours. The Helix Market & Pub nearly suffered the same fate until Wood and four other guys bought the place in 2006 just to keep it open — it was cheaper than paying their tabs, he quipped.

The Watering Hole Consortium, as they called themselves, has since passed the pub along to Anna Doherty, who has kept it running.

“The concern we all had was if that place closes, it ain’t opening again,” Wood said.

Helix has historically depended on agriculture, yet Wood estimates that half his neighbors are no longer farming. The return on investment is no better than 2 percent, he figures. So, instead of having 10 guys farming 2,000 acres, he said two guys are now farming 10,000 acres.

That observation is backed up by data from the USDA. A recent report from the agency’s Economic Research Service shows that farm production has been trending toward consolidation over the last three decades. By 2012, 36 percent of all cropland was on farms with at least 2,000 acres, up from 15 percent in 1987.

Consolidation means fewer people to invest in the community, Wood said.

“It’s just been a shift in the economy,” he said.

Eric Orem, a wheat farmer north of Lexington, Ore., has seen something similar. Orem serves on the board of directors for Morrow County Grain Growers, the local farmers’ cooperative. Between drought-stunted yields and increasing trade uncertainty, he said the co-op is experiencing some lean years in product and equipment sales.

In turn, the co-op — while still profitable — has less money to support community-based organizations like FFA or Little League Baseball.

“It’s a ripple effect, for sure,” Orem said. “It’s definitely a reflection of what’s happening on the farms.”

Exports crucial

Exports remain crucial to wheat growers to turn a profit. Umatilla and Morrow counties rank first and second, respectively, in statewide production as of the most recent 2012 Census of Agriculture. Combined, they total roughly 395,000 wheat acres.

With the U.S. out of the latest TPP agreement, state and national wheat industry groups sent a letter to Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, urging President Donald Trump to reconsider.

“The President has promised to negotiate great new deals,” the letter reads. “American agriculture now counts on that promise and American wheat farmers — facing a calamity they would be hard-pressed to overcome — now depend on it.”

Wood said the last thing the wheat industry needs is to jeopardize any kind of international trade. Orem said that, while he does not believe U.S. wheat will ever truly lose the Japanese market, the latest developments are “troubling,” and “disheartening.”

Blake Rowe, CEO of the Oregon Wheat Growers League and Oregon Wheat Commission, echoed the farmers’ sentiments. In addition to TPP, Rowe said the organization is keeping a close eye on NAFTA negotiations, and possible retaliation against U.S. agriculture based on new steel and aluminum import tariffs.

“It’s not a good time,” Rowe said. “I think folks are being cautious, not knowing where this is going to end up.”

Dryland wheat is the still the major agricultural crop for many communities in the dry, arid climate of Eastern Oregon. Without access to irrigation water, there are not many viable alternatives.

“I’m not really sure how communities will absorb those hits,” Rowe said.

Bruce Sorte, community economist for Oregon State University Extension in Eastern Oregon, said wheat isn’t the only commodity that may be affected. Fruit also depends on exports, along with processed potatoes and onions.

“Those exports are just critical to the folks out there,” Sorte said. “How these things play out, you never can tell.”

Job diversification

Steve Chrisman, economic development and airport manager for the city of Pendleton, Ore., said the local job base has grown more diverse over the last couple of decades, which has helped insulate the community against impacts to a single business — namely agriculture.

“If wheat’s not going to do well, it’s not good for the city, but it doesn’t cripple it, either,” Chrisman said.

Chrisman pointed to Wildhorse Resort & Casino, Keystone RV and Interpath Laboratory as examples of large employers outside the farm sector. Another recent development that has him excited is the development of the Pendleton Unmanned Aerial Systems Range, which he said is beginning to add full-time permanent jobs.

Companies such as Yamaha, A^3 and defense contractors have flocked to the range, which has been the site of several high-profile drone launches including the Project Vahana air taxi and ArcticShark, which will be used to gather sophisticated climate data in the Arctic atmosphere over Alaska.

The range has brought anywhere from 20 to 50 people into Pendleton at all times during the last six months, Chrisman said, eating out in local restaurants and staying in local hotels. And Chrisman believes this is only the tip of the iceberg.

“The potential for growth here is pretty exciting,” he said. “I think we’ve made huge strides in the last two years.”

Pat Beard, who manages the Pendleton Convention Center, added summer tourism as another economic driver for the city, with Pendleton Bike Week, Pendleton Whisky Music Fest and, of course, the world-famous Pendleton Round-Up.

Beard said he knows, living in a very agriculture-oriented area, the price of commodities will always affect the community. But as the economy diversifies, it is not as devastating a blow as it would have been 50 years ago.

“While it’s challenging times, it’s part of the lifestyle,” Beard said.

That lifestyle is what keeps farmers like Wood and Orem working through the tough times.

“It’s what we do. It’s what we know,” Wood said.

Orem said he is still optimistic for the future, and believes the battle-tested wheat economy will ultimately prevail.

“We’ve been through tough times before,” Orem said. “We’ll figure these trade deals out. It’s a bump in the road right now.”

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Open a pack of convenience store gummy candies and it’s hard not to grab a handful at a time to satisfy your craving.

But doing the same for a tube of marijuana gummy candies purchased at one of Las Vegas’ legal pot dispensaries could leave users on the floor.

Marijuana edibles have quickly become a hot seller in the first seven months of legalized pot in Nevada, with as much as 45 percent of all weed sales being edibles, according to figures from several dispensary owners.

The extreme potencies, however, have forced dispensaries and lawmakers to be proactive in educating many first-time Nevada users on how ingest pot properly.

“We’ve been very involved in the outset to prevent overconsumption,” said Riana Durrett, executive director of the Nevada Dispensary Association. “It has happened in other states and we want to prevent it from happening here.”

Marijuana edibles in Nevada are limited to 10 milligrams of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in pot, per dose or more than 100 milligrams of THC per package, according to state law. The edibles — in the form of chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, cookies, gummy candies, nuts and granola — can’t resemble images of cartoon characters, toys, balloons or animals and must be sold in sealed, opaque packaging.

An average dose for regular marijuana users is 10 milligrams of THC, said David Goldwater, owner of Inyo Fine Cannabis Dispensary in the central valley. While frequent pot users can easily handle up to 20 or 30 milligrams, first-time and less-experienced users should begin with 2.5 to 5 milligram doses.

That means when opening a stack of pot gummy rings — commonly sold in packs of 10 small candies at 10 milligrams each — first-time users should only eat one-fourth of one gummy to achieve a desired high. Experienced pot users could consume two to three whole gummy candies, Goldwater said.

As weed edibles can take the average person from 45 minutes to two hours to start feeling its effects, Goldwater said it should come as no surprise that so many Nevadans have struggled to adapt to appropriate doses. It’s a drastic difference from the typical fistful of candies out of the pot-free gas station bag.

“Low and slow is always our recommendation,” Goldwater said. “Low THC milligram count and eat it slow.”

Chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, brownies and even dried fruit edibles are similar in serving size and potency. A 12-square chocolate bar totaling 100 milligrams of THC would have just over 8 milligrams of THC per square, which is more than enough for most people to get high, Goldwater said.

Goldwater and other dispensary owners said they’re doing everything they can to prevent overdoses and negative experiences from souring customers’ taste for pot edibles.

As part of a monthly free “Wellness Wednesday” seminar, Essence Cannabis Dispensary owner Armen Yemenidjian welcomes adults age 21 and over to listen to doctors, attorneys, state regulators and industry members speak on a variety of pot safety topics. Among them, edible safety is a “top priority,” Yemenidjian said.

Essence employees undergo education training so they can give first-time customers directions on how to consume edibles.

“Put it this way, we want people to enjoy the edibles so they come back for more,” Yemenidjian said. “We don’t want them to hate the experience and be turned off by the whole process.”

At The+Source, owner Andrew Jolley provides handout literature for customers on proper edible use. The+Source also holds monthly educational seminars, and Jolley’s employees are trained to educate customers on proper quantities.

Goldwater directs Inyo customers to the company’s website, where its “knowledge” section outlines acceptable doses for edible uses.

While sales of marijuana flower and concentrates have endured plateaus or even slight dips at different points through the first months of marijuana legalization in Nevada, edibles have continued to grow at a higher rate, according to dispensary officials.

Goldwater said edibles are the least expensive way for pot consumers to get high. At $26 for a tube of 10 gummy candies, buyers can get a strong THC high for $2.60 or less. Comparatively speaking, an 18 percent THC-gram of flower sold for $15 would cost the average user about $7 to $8 to get high.

“People start by trying the edibles, then they realize they like them and come back for more,” Goldwater explained. “We’ve been seeing edible sales grow very rapidly.”

With “ample” education materials available and staff from nearly all of the Las Vegas Valley’s nearly 45 dispensaries available to advise on proper edible use, customers bear the ultimate responsibility to keep themselves safe, Durrett said.

“The resources are out there, a lot of it is just being responsible and knowing what you’re consuming,” she said. “And being patient is part of it.”

DENVER (AP) — A growing number of companies that service the wine industry are now pursuing opportunities in the cannabis sector, hoping to generate new revenue streams.

For marijuana businesses, that means a host of potential new ancillary companies to choose from, as well as added legitimacy from an industry that once appeared to be a potential enemy.

According to George Christie, CEO of the Wine Industry Network, wine-centric businesses and professionals that have expressed interest in the cannabis sector include:

—Attorneys

—Accountants

—Compliance specialists

—Farm equipment suppliers

—Labeling and packaging companies

—Marketers

—Vineyard operators

“I was always aware that when recreational cannabis became legal, there would be a lot of opportunities for companies that already serve the wine industry,” Christie said.

“Certainly, it’s an easy segue into that industry.”

Christie tried to assist in melding the wine and cannabis sectors last year when his Healdsburg, California-based trade organization held a symposium and expo designed for businesses from both industries.

He got the idea for the one-day conference during a Wine Industry Network expo in December 2016 that featured a 60-minute session, “What Impact Will Marijuana Legalization Have On Wine Sales.”

“In the seven years of doing the conference, it was by far the most-packed session we ever had,” Christie said.

“Every seat was taken, people were standing along the walls.

“When it was done, it was very clear that we had barely scratched the surface. That prompted us to do a full-day dive into the topic.”

Wine-focused companies’ growing interest in cannabis is aided by the fact the threat of federal interference has yet to materialize.

These businesses — like Clearwater Tech of San Luis Obispo, California, for example — are increasingly at ease with cannabis.

Clearwater, whose ozone generators are used for disinfection in the wine, food, pharma and commercial laundry industries, was reluctant to jump into the cannabis industry because of the potential legal perils.

“We were a bit nervous until things became a bit more legalized and stable, and then it made sense for us to go down that path,” said Marc DeBrum, sales manager at Clearwater.

Clearwater’s cannabis opportunity was generated by the strict hygiene and contamination controls that state-legal medical and recreational marijuana programs require cultivators and processors to abide by.

“There’re going to be more regulations that will hit this industry and that ask for organic solutions,” DeBrum predicted.

The company currently has a dozen or so marijuana clients that include licensed cultivators in Canada as well as California and other states, he said.

“We just dipped our toe in (cannabis) last year,” DeBrum said, “so for now they account for a fairly small portion of our sales.

“But I think it’s going to grow rather quickly.”

He noted that Clearwater is increasingly reaching out to cannabis businesses through the use of Google AdWords and the company’s presence at marijuana business conferences.

Packaging and labeling companies that specialize in wine and other regulated industries are also entering the cannabis sector.

Brian Lloyd, sales manager for Label Innovators, based in Livermore, California estimates that 70% of wine purchases are made because of the appeal of the label on the bottle, and he believes marijuana companies are looking for the same kind of return from their labels.

“We see the parallel need between the wine and cannabis industry to elevate packaging labels to communicate the quality of the product and educate the buyer about what is unique inside,” said Lloyd, who noted that Label Innovators already has a half-dozen clients.

“The need to educate a potential buyer about the differences and characteristics places a bigger need on the package to help communicate what the buyer can expect,” he continued.

“Many of our cannabis clients have told us they see the need to follow in the path of the wine and spirits industries, which makes the transition easier for us.”

While many wine businesses see marijuana as a natural market to explore, some still see cannabis as an adversary.

Of course, some marijuana businesses view their wine-industry counterparts with similar suspicion and often are reluctant to work with people outside their familiar cannabis business circles.

“Connecting with (marijuana) clients is a challenge,” Lloyd said. “Some only buy with those they already know and trust because of the sensitive nature of the product and the federal regulation issue.

“Once a client knows and trusts us, though, we’ve found they are happy to refer us to other clients in their networks.”

Conversely, Christie of the Wine Industry Network believes it’s only a matter of time before companies that started as cannabis service providers will look to expand into the wine sector.

“I 100% believe that’s going to happen. There are just too many similarities between the two industries,” he said.

“It’s not going to happen in the next year or two — these companies are just too small right now.

“But maybe in the next 10 or 20 years.”

Oregon Women for Agriculture, an all-volunteer organization dedicated to promoting the importance of agriculture statewide, has presented its 2018 Service Award to Bob Spinney of Albany, Ore.

Spinney has worked most of his career as an agronomist and crop protection specialist. He has also assisted with crop research for Oregon State University, OSU Extension and local growers.

He has also been an active volunteer for OWA for decades, according to the organization’s press release. His most recent contribution to agricultural education has been the placement and upkeep of crop identification signs around the Willamette Valley and Interstate 5 corridor. OWA described Spinney as a tireless advocate for agriculture, and OWA.

The award was presented to Spinney on March 18 at the Cascade Grill in Albany.

Meanwhile, OWA is gearing up for its 31st annual auction and dinner Saturday, April 21, at the Linn County Fair and Expo Center in Albany. The event begins at 4:30 p.m. with a silent auction, followed by dinner at 6:15 and a live auction at 7:45.

Tickets are $50 per person before April 7, and $60 per person after April 7. Dinner will include appetizers, a no host bar, grilled oysters, lamb, baron of beef and roasted pig.

For more information, visit www.owaonline.org or call 503-243-3276.