PORTLAND — Producers should watch for localized efforts to restrict genetically engineered crops and pesticide use at the county and city level, while in the upcoming session of the Oregon Legislature, the concern is “budget, budget, budget,” the policy director for Oregonians for Food and Shelter said.

Speaking at the annual Northwest Agricultural Show, Scott Dahlman said he expects legislation regarding GMO crops, pesticides, fertilizer, labor, water and other ag concerns.

“When the Legislature’s in town, that’s when we get worried,” Dahlman said.

He said a “wild card” in the upcoming session is the state’s new agriculture department director. Alexis Taylor replaced Katy Coba, who was “absolutely wonderful for us” and maintained good relations with legislators, he said.

Taylor has a strong ag background, “But it’s fair to say she will have a lot to learn about Oregon ag,” Dahlman said.

One bill already proposed, Senate Bill 499, would remove pesticide applications from the activities protected under Oregon’s “right to farm” law and forestry practices. Traditionally, the state has held producers can’t be sued for noise, dust and other normal practices, but the bill would remove pesticides from protected activities.

“We’re very worried about anything that would roll that back and open up farmers and foresters to nuisance lawsuits,” Dahlman said.

He said producers need to be careful.

When applying pesticides, for example, producers must follow label instructions exactly, Dahlman said.

“There is no room for error,” he said. “Activists are out there looking for mistakes.

“Agency investigations are becoming front page news,” he added. “All is takes is one bad apple out there and it’s on the front page of the Oregonian.”

He said conflicts within agriculture — a recent example would include herbicide drift from farm operations harming vineyards — should be handled among producers. “We’re seeing a disturbing trend of certain groups running to the Legislature” instead of sitting down with their neighbors to resolve problems, he said.

To make themselves heard, producers should call up their legislators, introduce themselves and be willing to tell their story. The latter involves being willing to testify before legislative committees that are considering laws.

Dahlman said legislators tire of hearing from lobbing groups such as OFS.

“They listen to constituents,” he said. “The best expert on what you do is you.”

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — In a scenario that could come from a horror film, normally timid mountain lions are forced by heavy snows into a remote community, where they feast on pets and chickens. It’s happening in Oregon.

Cougars prowling through La Pine have killed two pets and at least 12 chickens, stoking fear in the town in the piney woods of Oregon east of the Cascade Range.

On Saturday, Deschutes County deputies shot and killed a cougar that was hiding under a porch after attacking a dog. On Monday, state and federal wildlife officials went to investigate and killed three more of the cougars that have been leaving their paw prints in the snow on the decks of homes and in backyards.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement Tuesday the cougars are causing public safety issues in and around town.

It said officials from the Oregon agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services were tracking at least one cougar after it was sighted at a store.

There has never been an attack by a wild cougar on a person in Oregon, which is home to about 6,300 cougars, although attacks have occurred in other states and Canadian provinces, the Oregon agency said.

Resident Shannon Shahan said 14 of her chickens were killed or died of shock and two survived. She told Bend TV station KTVZ the cougars had jumped a fence to get at the chickens. Her surveillance cameras caught at least one cougar on her property, leaving large paw prints in the snow.

The state wildlife department said deep snow is likely a factor in the appearance of the cougars.

“The cougars are having trouble hunting their traditional prey so are coming to residential areas for an easier meal,” said Corey Heath, a wildlife biologist with the department. “Unfortunately at this point we consider them a significant human safety risk, so they need to be removed for the safety of La Pine residents.”

Some people think killing the trespassing cougars is going too far. They said people should protect their pets and appreciate the cougars as a part of living in a rural area.

A dog and a cat have been killed, in addition to the chickens.

In its statement, the state wildlife department said wildlife managers will not relocate the trespassing cougars because the animals would cause problems in new areas or return to La Pine.

Officials recommended residents feed their pets indoors, walk their dogs on a leash and be aware of their surroundings, especially at dawn and dusk.

ONTARIO, Ore. — USDA officials have defended their Jan. 17 decision to deregulate a genetically engineered creeping bentgrass that escaped field trials in 2003 and has taken root in two Oregon counties and a small part of one Idaho county.

And Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., which created the grass, defended its decision to seek a deregulated status for the grass despite agreeing not to commercialize it.

Environmental groups, on the other hand, continue to harshly criticize USDA’s decision to deregulate the creeping bentgrass, which was developed by Scotts and Monsanto Corp. to withstand applications of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer.

Rick Coker, a USDA public affairs specialist, told Capital Press in an email the department must, under the Plant Protection Act, respond to any petition that requests a determination of regulatory status for a genetically engineered organism.

USDA’s decision must be based on whether the organism is likely to pose a plant pest risk, he said. If the department determines it does not, it “has no legal basis to continue to regulate that GE organism and must deregulate (it).”

After escaping field trials, the bentgrass took root in Malheur and Jefferson counties in Oregon and part of Canyon County in Idaho.

Scotts reached a 10-year memorandum of agreement and memorandum of understanding with USDA in 2015 that lays out the company’s continued responsibilities for helping control the bentgrass.

As part of the agreement, the company has agreed not to commercialize the plant, which was being developed for use on golf courses.

Jim King, senior vice president of corporate affairs for Scotts, said the golf course industry has changed dramatically since the company started developing the plant and the marketplace for that product is no longer viable and shrinking.

“Economically, it makes no sense to commercialize it,” he said.

The company opted to continue to pursue deregulation because it felt it needed an answer from USDA on whether a product Scotts invested tens of millions of dollars in should be approved, King said.

USDA has a regulatory road map that allow companies such as Scotts that are in the business of innovation to know if a certain product should be approved, he said.

“We had a legitimate petition in front of USDA, we wanted an answer and they finally provided the answer,” he said.

Lori Ann Burd, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s environmental health program, said the decision to deregulate the bentgrass means the agreements covering the control of the escaped crop are no longer valid.

She pointed out that the word “regulated” appears before “glyphosate tolerant creeping bentgrass” each time Scotts responsibilities are laid out in the agreements.

The responsibilities “apply exclusively to regulated (bentgrass),” she said.

But even if that’s not the case, she said, the agreements only require Scotts to take minimal action.

Burd said USDA’s decision leaves her group no choice but to explore legal options to challenge it.

The agreements require the company in 2017 and 2018 to provide technical assistance to affected farmers and irrigation districts and provide incentives for the adoption of best management practices to control the grass.

Scotts will pull back a little after that but still continue to analyze the situation, educate growers and provide technical assistance.

Coker said the agreements “remain in effect regardless of the deregulated status of (the grass) because the compliance incidents predated the deregulation.”

King said Scotts will honor the agreements “and, if we have to, we’ll do more. We consider those to be documents that were negotiated in good faith .. and we have every intention of living up to everything we said we were going to do.”

SALEM — Kiara Single was chosen the 2017 Oregon Dairy Princess Ambassador at the 58th annual coronation event on Jan. 21 in Salem.

The 20-year-old Warren resident, representing Columbia County, was crowned from a field of four finalists. The event was sponsored by the Oregon Dairy Women.

Kortni Ragsdale, a 2015 Banks High School graduate now attending Portland Community College and who represented Washington County in the competition, was chosen the First Alternate.

Other finalists included Faith Wilson of Linn and Benton counties and Emma Coleman of Marion County.

Ragsdale also received the Miss Congeniality award.

After the crowning ceremony, Single was presented over $3,500 in scholarships.

Outgoing 2016 Oregon Dairy Princess Ambassador Sara Pierson received a total of $17,675 for her past year’s work.

Single is a student at Concordia University studying elementary education, and hopes to become a second-grade teacher. She is the daughter of John and Suzie Single, and her father is the production planner at the Kroger Swan Island milk processing plant.

Her speech at the banquet held in the Salem Convention Center was titled, “For the Love of Milk,” and centered on the health benefits of dairy products and “the journey of milk from farm to table.”

She now begins her year traveling statewide to make presentations at fairs, town meetings and public events representing Oregon’s dairy industry. A particular focus is on classroom presentations depicting life on a dairy farm and the nutritional benefits of dairy products.

The Oregon Dairy Women’s Dairy Princess Ambassador Program has served since 1959 as a prime advocate for the state’s dairy industry in collaboration with the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association and the Oregon Dairy Nutrition Council.

“We have expanded our program to include K-12 and civic presentations,” said Jessica Kliewer, Oregon Dairy Princess Ambassador program state director. “Since Kiara is planning on becoming an educator, we believe she will be a great asset in spreading the good news about dairy.”

The Oregon Dairy Women award scholarships, and provide financial support to 4-H and FFA programs, Agriculture in the Classroom, Ag Fest, Summer Ag Institute, Adopt-a-Farmer and judging teams.

SALEM — Agribusiness groups have cheered the Trump administration’s vow to roll back federal regulations but they continue to fear overreach by the state government in Oregon.

With Democrats controlling the Oregon Legislature and the governor’s office, farm lobbyists said they expect new threats to emerge during the 2017 legislative session.

Despite optimism at the national level, the political climate in Oregon “sucks some of the air out of the room,” said Katie Fast, executive director of the Oregonians for Food and Shelter agribusiness group.

Though Republicans picked up one seat in the state Senate during last year’s election, they’re still a minority in both legislative chambers and several moderate-leaning Democrats have left their positions, Fast said during the 2017 Ag Summit, organized by the Dunn Carney law firm.

One proposal to be considered during the upcoming legislative session, Senate Bill 499, would remove protections for pesticide usage from the state’s “Right to Farm and Forest Law,” which prohibits lawsuits and local ordinances against common farming practices, she said.

“It’s a big attack on the whole program,” said Fast.

Another piece of legislation — House Bill 2469 — would effectively allow Josephine County to ban genetically engineered crops, she said. State law pre-empts local governments from regulating such crops, but includes an exception for Jackson County.

Lawmakers will also be asked to consider Senate Bill 500, which removes the requirement people to notify the Oregon Department of Agriculture before filing lawsuits that allege damage from pesticides, Fast said.

Though bills have yet to be introduced, Oregonians for Food and Shelter also expects legislation that would impose new notification requirements for pesticide spraying as well as restrictions on neonicotinoid insecticides, she said.

Labor advocates succeeded in getting paid sick leave and minimum wage increases passed during recent legislative sessions, and will turn their aim to new policy proposals in 2017, said Jenny Dresler, state public policy director for the Oregon Farm Bureau.

Under House Bill 2193, for example, large employers would have to provide “predictable scheduling” under which workers would be paid “penalty wages” if their shifts change with less than two weeks’ notice.

While smaller-scale employers wouldn’t be subject to the requirement, their workers would have the right to offer input on their work schedules under the bill.

It’s also likely that labor advocates will propose a 1 percent payroll tax to pay for a statewide family and medical leave policy for workers, Dresler said.

Farms and other businesses will be pushing for transportation funding that would alleviate congestion and reduce the time their products get to market, said Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries.

However, there may not be “enough oxygen” for such a proposal given the need to fill the state’s $1.7 billion budget hole, Stone said. “You may not be able to get both.”

YAKIMA, Wash. — Bob Bailey, who grew his family farm into the largest cherry operation in Oregon, is the 73rd king of the Pacific Northwest cherry industry.

Bailey was chosen by past cherry kings for his industry service and was crowned at the annual Cherry Institute of Northwest Cherry Growers at the Yakima Convention Center on Jan. 20.

Bailey, 75, is chairman of the board of Orchard View Farms Inc. in The Dalles, Ore. His daughter, Brenda Thomas, is president, and his brother, Ken, is vice president.

His brother, Tom, was also involved in the family business and was cherry king in 2003. Their father, Don, was king in 1974. Don and Tom worked to patent View Fresh, modified atmosphere cherry packing in the 1990s.

“I feel really good about it because a lot of people I’ve worked with over the last 30 to 40 years in the industry are the people who honored me with this honor,” Bob Bailey said.

Having enough workers is the biggest challenge the industry faces today, he said.

Orchard View Farms employees 100 people year-round and 1,000 during cherry harvest, which is done without hiring H-2A visa foreign guestworkers. Most of their seasonal help comes from California, he said.

The company has 2,500 acres of cherry orchards and packs about 1 million, 20-pound boxes of cherries annually, making it the largest sweet cherry grower in Oregon and one of the largest in the nation.

The cherries are sold through The Oppenheimer Group in Vancouver, B.C.

Bailey was born in The Dalles on July 30, 1941, one of seven children of Don and Edwina Bailey. His grandparents, Walter and Mabel Bailey, started the farm in 1923.

With his siblings, Bob Bailey was picking up peach tree prunings when he was 6 years old. His grandfather and father ran Columbia Fruit Growers, a cooperative in The Dalles that through several mergers is now part of Oregon Cherry Growers.

Bailey enjoyed growing cherries, ran harvest crews each summer and graduated from The Dalles High School in 1959. He graduated from Oregon State University in Corvallis in 1963 with a major in business and a minor in horticulture.

Bailey met his wife, Barbara Strickland, on a blind date at Seattle Seafair in 1961 and in 1965 they decided to become the first full-time farmers in the family, transitioning his family farm from apples to cherries in the 1990s. He worked to extend his cherry season with new varieties and expanding his orchards from The Dalles to Dufur Valley and Klickitat County in Washington. In the early 1980s, he built apple cold storage and packing facilities and added a cherry packing line in 1984 which was replaced with a high-tech Unitec line in 2016.

A Wallowa County ranch figures to save 1 billion gallons of water annually through a series of conservation projects, such as adding sprinklers and forgoing irrigation during peak summer months.

The Freshwater Trust, an environmental nonprofit with offices in Portland, announced it is working with Wolfe Ranch to upgrade irrigation infrastructure, transfer points of diversion and lease water rights on the farm to benefit endangered salmon in the Lostine River.

Funding comes from a $1.4 million grant awarded by the Oregon Water Resources Department. Irrigation upgrades are also expected to boost crop yields by 5 to 20 percent on the ranch.

“We’ve formed lasting relationships with dozens of farmers and ranchers who understand conservation isn’t just about protecting fish,” said Aaron Maxwell, flow restoration project manager for The Freshwater Trust, who works out of Enterprise. “It’s about the longevity of their farms, economies and entire communities.”

Nearly 1,100 acres of forage and grain crops will be converted to pivot sprinklers as opposed to flood irrigation at the ranch — which Maxwell compared to the difference between letting your hose run into the yard, or watering just the section that needs it most.

“In the face of present and future water scarcity, modernizations like this will only become more imperative,” he said.

Ditching flood irrigation may also have a positive effect on water quality, Maxwell said, reducing the amount of standing water in fields that can become contaminated with sediment, bacteria and toxins before draining back into streams.

Water saved through the irrigation upgrades will be transferred back into the Lostine River, which harbors summer chinook and steelhead populations. Wolfe Ranch will also voluntarily abstain from irrigating in August and September, when the river reaches critically low water levels.

The changes may allow Wolfe Ranch, a sixth-generation family operation, to begin growing more high-value food crops, which could have a ripple effect down the entire Wallowa County agricultural industry. Local businesses are already slated to provide approximately $2 million in construction materials and labor.

“Production and economics must always be taken into consideration with projects like these,” Maxwell said. “This will have positive implications for the landowner and the local economy.”

The Freshwater Trust has been working with farms and ranches on the Lostine River for more than a decade, Maxwell said, after chinook runs were nearly wiped out in the 1990s. The organization was also awarded $114,265 from the Water Resources Department last year to study whether irrigation efficiencies could help protect salmon on upper Catherine Creek in Union County.

Woody Wolfe, owner of Wolfe Ranch, said water scarcity and quality issues aren’t going to simply go away.

“Projects like this help further the responsible use of our natural resources while benefiting the environment,” Wolfe said.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Scientists at Oregon State University have sequenced the beaver genome thanks to a 2015 crowdfunding effort.

The Register-Guard reports that the funding drive raised $20,001 from 103 donors. OSU used the money to pay for research on the genetic code of its mascot animal, the North American beaver.

The project used a blood sample from the 5-year-old beaver, Filbert, who lives at the Portland Zoo. OSU researchers say they discovered that beavers have 26,200 genes, or about 33 percent more inheritable information that humans have.

OSU says the project was done in a spirit of fun but could also lead to scientific advances by providing insights into beaver populations, diseases and evolutionary history.

Corvallis, Ore. — The expansion of Oregon’s hazelnut orchards is gaining momentum, with acreage surging by nearly 64 percent in the past five years, according to an industry analyst.

Farmers planted about 9,200 acres of hazelnuts last year, up from 6,200 acres in 2015 and 4,300 acres in 2014, said Mike McDaniel, principal of Pacific Agricultural Survey, which tracks the industry’s growth.

“It’s an accelerated growth of new plantings,” McDaniel said.

Enthusiasm for hazelnuts is high due to healthy prices and the availability of new cultivars resistant to eastern filbert blight, a fungal pathogen that once threatened the industry.

Total hazelnut acreage in Oregon now tops 60,600 acres, according to McDaniel’s analysis. That’s an increase of more than 23,500 acres since the USDA’s 2012 Census of Agriculture.

To compare, Oregon’s hazelnut acreage increased by fewer than 4,000 acres in the entire decade between 2002 and 2012, according to USDA.

Pacific Agricultural Survey relies on aerial geographic data to monitor hazelnut acreage, McDaniel said on Jan. 18 at the 2017 Nut Growers Society meeting in Corvallis, Ore.

The company’s estimate of hazelnut acreage growth is conservative, since many growers think the expansion is even larger based on sales of nursery seedlings, he said.

It’s likely that some new trees are “intercropped” within existing hazelnut orchards, obscuring the new plantings, McDaniel said. “That’s not visible through a dense canopy cover.”

In other cases, McDaniel said he’s observed new orchards failing to become established, with the trees removed soon after planting.

Nik Wiman, an Oregon State University Extension orchard crops specialist, said he isn’t surprised.

“I think a lot of poor quality trees have been sold,” Wiman said.

Weak hazelnut seedlings don’t necessarily end up dying, though.

Farmers who buy weak trees may plant them in high-density sawdust nursery rows until they grow stronger and are ready for the orchard, Wiman said.

In his aerial reconnaissance, McDaniel has noticed that farmers haven’t been removing mature orchards all at once — not surprising, given the high prices hazelnuts have fetched in recent years.

Instead, growers divide orchards into several blocks and replace old trees with new ones “a few bites at a time,” he said.

Aside from the ongoing battle against eastern filbert blight, recent droughts in Oregon have stressed hazelnut trees, making new plantings vulnerable to flatheaded borers, which are tree pests.

“It advertises the tree to the borer. They’re less able to resist,” Wiman said of drought effects.

In 2017, OSU plans to conduct trials to determine the effectiveness of different pesticides in fighting the borers, he said.

Another pest, the brown marmorated stinkbug, is becoming a significant problem for hazelnut producers, but help is on the way, Wiman said.

The samurai wasp — a natural predator of the exotic stinkbug — was discovered at 11 sites in Multnomah County, Ore., last year.

Specimens of the wasp have been redistributed to fruit and nut orchards across the state to speed up their predation of stinkbugs, he said.

It will take a while for wasp populations to catch up with those of stinkbugs, but they are an effective predator in China, the homeland of both species, Wiman said,

“Over there, they hammer 80-90 percent of the eggs,” he said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The attorney for a leader of the armed occupation at an Oregon wildlife refuge is now facing three charges after an incident in which federal marshals tackled him for refusing to stop arguing with the judge in the case.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports a federal prosecutor assigned from Washington state filed court documents Friday charging Marcus Mumford with three misdemeanors.

The incident in question occurred when Mumford’s client Ammon Bundy was acquitted last fall.

The latest documents replace citations against Mumford which he had pleaded not guilty to earlier this month.

Mumford is accused of creating a disturbance by impeding or disrupting official government duties. He’s also charged with failure to comply with signs that prohibit disruption of official government duties and failure to comply with the lawful direction of a federal police officer.

Mumford and his lawyer, Michael Levine, have said they intend to vigorously challenge the charges.

Due to severe winter weather in the Columbia River Gorge, the Capital Press is experiencing difficulty in trucking the Jan. 20 edition from our printing plant in Pendleton, Ore., to the Postal Service in Portland. We expect delays in readers receiving their copies.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Subscribers have access to all Capital Press content, which is available on this website. Or, they can read the e-edition of this week’s paper, also available on this site.

If you are unsure how to access the e-edition, call us at 1-800-882-6789 for assistance.

With snow turning to rain in Western Oregon, producers are digging out and checking for damage in a variety of crops.

Some hazelnut orchards in the Eugene area sustained heavy limb breakage and even toppled trees during an ice storm in December, but the snow and ice of January was more widespread and may have affected a broader range of crops.

Bernadine Strik, an Oregon State University horticulture professor and berry crop specialist, said June-bearing strawberries should be fine, especially if protected by a snow cover. However, continual cropping varieties such as Albion may have sustained some damage if farm temperatures dropped below 20 degrees and lacked a snow cover.

Trailing blackberries vary in cold hardiness, Strik said by email. Marions are less hardy than Columbia Star or Black Diamond, for example.

“The good news is that it got cold when plants were fully dormant and it stayed cold — that’s better than fluctuating temperatures,” Strik said. “I think most growers of Marion should be OK, especially if temperatures stayed above the low teens (Fahrenheit). Farms where it got colder may see some damage.”

Raspberries and late-season fresh-market blackberries should be fine, and blueberry varieties are cold hardy when fully dormant, she said.

Strik said growers can’t assess damage now, as it takes time for cold-damaged tissue to express itself. She recommended sampling canes, buds or strawberry crowns in late winter, prior to bud break, by slicing open the tissue and looking for oxidized or brown and black material.

In the Columbia River Gorge, producers saw heavy snow and then were hit by an ice storm that arrived on the afternoon of Jan. 17. The storm quickly forced the closure of Interstate 84, which parallels the river, from Troutdale, a suburb on Portland’s east side, to Hood River, a stretch of about 50 miles.

The front hit Portland as rain but turned to black ice on the freeway farther east as moisture met the cold air that funnels down the gorge in winter.

In The Dalles, 85 miles east of Portland, OSU Extension small grains specialist Brian Tuck said “So far, so good” on ag damage but was keeping an eye on the ice storm approaching Hood River.

Luckily, a good snow cover was in place to protect the Columbia basin’s winter wheat crop, Tuck said. Snow acts like a blanket and insulates the young wheat plants, planted last fall, during extended periods of cold, he said.

At Surface Nursery outside Gresham, Ore., the first ice storm in December broke some tree branches but caused minimal damage overall. The bigger problem came with the subsequent extended cold in January, owner Graham Anderson said. “Our harvest was brought to a standstill by 4 inches of frost in the ground covered by 4 inches of snow,” he said. In addition, icy road conditions prevented employees from getting to work, he said.

The nursery grows shade and flowering trees and pulls them from the ground this time of year for a shipping season that normally starts Feb. 1, Anderson said by email.

“We are eager to thaw out and resume harvesting trees,” he said. “We will certainly be behind schedule due to winter weather delays and shortage of labor.”

In Southern Oregon, environmental science professor Gregory Jones said there may be some vineyard damage in the coldest areas and to selected varieties in the Rogue and Applegate regions.

“Nothing from the northern Umpqua south and throughout the Rogue,” Jones reported by email. “We have been cold and snowy since Christmas, but no ice or major damage from the snow.”

A Spray, Ore., landowner was awarded the state’s first loan under a program intended to jump-start the removal of Western juniper trees.

Jim Epley, who is restoring 1,500 acres of long-held family property to be a cattle operation, will use the $39,000 loan to continue cutting and milling juniper trees. He’s bought saws, a trailer, a portable mill and a skid-steer Bobcat to move logs. In addition, he’s hired two people and had a third coming on before recent bad weather force a temporary shutdown.

The state loan program, known as the Western Juniper Industry Fund, was established by the Oregon Legislature in 2015. Advocates have long held that removing intrusive juniper trees from Eastern Oregon rangeland has multiple benefits. Juniper is a “water thief,” as one rancher called it, that can use up to 30 gallons or more of water a day and rob native grasses of moisture.

A study by Oregon State University showed that removing juniper almost instantly improved watersheds and stream flows, and Epley said he’s seen that on his own property.

When he was growing up, the property had multiple springs that bubbled up to the surface in springtime. He left home to do other things, and when he moved back in 1996, juniper trees had crowded in and the springs had dried up.

He decided to clear 10 to 15 acres around one of the springs, cutting the juniper trees and hauling them out.

“The next day, the ground was wet,” he said. “In a week, water was running.”

Stories like that are why researchers, politicians, various government agency experts and environmental groups have pushed for juniper removal. In addition to improving rangeland, they believe juniper logging and milling could revitalize the economy in parts of rural Oregon.

Believing it and making it come about are two different things, however. Juniper is gnarly wood that is tough to cut and mill into lumber, and requires extensive de-limbing. Unlike fir and pine trees in national forests, it grows in areas of the state that often lack logging roads and other infrastructure. In the past, ranchers simply piled it and burned it, because doing more with it was time-consuming and expensive.

However, a small but strong market has emerged for juniper landscape timbers and posts, and some furniture makers seek it out as well. Juniper posts are naturally rot-resistant and don’t have to be treated with preservatives, making them attractive for use in organic vineyards, for example, and in playgrounds.

The Legislature approved the $800,000 juniper industry fund to support removal programs. Of that, $500,000 was intended as loans to increase harvesting and manufacturing; $200,000 was for technical assistance; and $100,000 was for workforce training.

Epley said there is enough juniper on the family property and adjoining neighbors to keep him busy for two or three years, and after that may explore logging elsewhere.

The deregulation was not unexpected. Last month APHIS released a final Environmental Impact Statement that recommended deregulation of the genetically engineered creeping bentgrass because it “is unlikely to pose a plant pest risk....”

Scotts and Monsanto petitioned USDA to deregulate the bentgrass, which was genetically engineered to withstand applications of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s popular Roundup weed killer.

The plant escaped field trials in 2003 and has taken root in Malheur and Jefferson counties in Oregon.

Some farmers and water manages in the affected counties worry that because the bentgrass is resistant to glyphosate and difficult to kill, it could clog irrigation ditches and affect shipments of hay and other crops to nations that don’t accept traces of genetically modified organisms.

Scotts reached a 10-year agreement with USDA last October that critics say allows the company to essentially walk away from any responsibility for controlling the plant in a few years.

As part of the agreement, Scotts and Monsanto agreed not to commercialize or further propagate the plant in the future.

JUNCTION CITY, Ore. (AP) — A 33-year-old vineyard worker from Corvallis is dead after he was found trapped under a utility vehicle at a winery near Junction City.

The Register-Guard reported Tuesday that Bentley Hart Chappell was pronounced dead at the scene on Saturday at Brigadoon Wine Company.

He was found by another employee at the bottom of a dirt road.

The cause of death is being investigated by the Lane County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Lane County Sheriff’s Office.

Winery owner Chris Shown says the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also investigating the death.

Shown declined to comment further to the newspaper.

Friends say Chappell — a native of Georgia — was working at the winery to learn more about winemaking.

He was also passionate about music and craft brewing.

———

Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Freezing rain, ice and fallen trees forced the closure of highways and roads in Oregon and Washington on Wednesday.

A 45-mile stretch of Interstate 84 between Troutdale and Hood River will remain closed all day.

Interstate 90 over Snoqualmie Pass, east of Seattle, remained closed due to ice, snow slides and multiple crashes. The Washington State Patrol says troopers responded to 67 collisions overnight because roads are covered with layers of snow, sleet and freezing rain.

Oregon transportation officials are making the call Wednesday after a major ice storm hit the Columbia River Gorge and forced the highway to shut down Tuesday afternoon.

But temperatures are now warming and the next concern is flooding as heavy rains mix with melting snow and ice from recent storms.

Freezing rain also hit a broad swath of the Cascades, Central Washington and southwest Washington.

The Yakima airport in Washington closed at 6 p.m. while the runway at Spokane International Airport was closed at 9 p.m. due to freezing rain.

SALEM — With global blueberry production climbing, farmers should focus on improving efficiencies rather than hoping for prices to rise, according to an industry expert.

“If you’re the lowest-cost producer, you will survive whatever kind of price stress we have in this industry,” said John Shelford, strategic advisor to the Naturipe Farms food company, at the Jan. 16 Oregon Blueberry Conference here.

Cold storage inventories of frozen blueberries have mounted in recent years, suppressing prices for the processed crop, he said.

In 2016, the pile of frozen blueberries leftover from the previous year’s harvest hit 145 million pounds in the U.S., up from 51 million pounds just five years earlier, according to USDA.

Frozen inventories will likely grow to 160 million pounds before this year’s blueberries enter cold storage, said Shelford. “I do not see any improvement in pricing for the 2017 harvest.”

Shelford projects that annual blueberry production in the U.S. and Canada will increase roughly one-third, from 1.2 billion pounds to 1.6 billion pounds over the next decade.

Farmers can’t depend on domestic consumption of the crop to grow proportionately and will have to ship more blueberries overseas to keep prices stable, he said.

“We can’t take our eye off the export business,” he said.

Niche markets offer an opportunity for growers but they don’t have a lot of “elasticity,” Shelford said.

For example, the market for organic blueberries — a relatively large niche — can easily be overwhelmed by excessive tonnage, causing prices to collapse, he said.

Surplus organic blueberries are actually better off being sold in the conventional market to avoid affecting organic prices, he said.

The average number of calories consumed per capita in the U.S. is effectively flat at about 2,500 calories per day, and the share represented by whole fruits actually declined in recent years across several demographics, Shelford said.

“If you eat more blueberries, you’re going to displace something else. It’s really a zero-sum game,” he said.

New blueberry plantings have slowed in North America and Chile, but farmers have still been enthusiastically committing new acreage to the crop in China, South Africa, Peru and Mexico, said Cort Brazelton, who heads business development at Fall Creek Farm & Nursery and tracks global blueberry production.

Mexico is in a strong position to supply “counterseasonal” fresh blueberries to U.S. consumers, since the country can ship its crop to the U.S. much faster than Chile, a prominent counterseasonal producer, Brazelton said.

Expansion of blueberry acreage in Peru is occurring in conjunction with overall agricultural growth in that country, which is tied to the construction of major irrigation projects, he said.

“If it grows in Peru, they’re planting it like crazy,” Brazelton said.

While North America remains an important destination for South American blueberries, producers on that continent are increasingly shipping more fruit to European and Asian markets, he said.

For North American farmers, remaining competitive will require keeping the per-unit cost of blueberries down while retaining a reputation for high quality, Brazelton said.

The stronger U.S. dollar presents a headwind for overseas sales, he said. “I wouldn’t make relying on a weak currency a tenet of successful exports.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland area is bracing for freezing rain that could bring up to an inch of ice to some areas east of the city, with heavier accumulations in the Columbia River Gorge.

The National Weather Service issued an ice storm warning for Portland on Tuesday and an ice storm advisory for the central Willamette Valley.

And an incoming weather system is also beginning to spread freezing rain across a broad swath of the Cascades, Central Washington and southwest Washington. The system could turn roads and highways into skating rinks.

Forecasters say freezing rain will begin Tuesday morning and could last until late afternoon, with slick conditions overnight.

Portland can expect less than one-tenth of an inch of ice, but areas east of Interstate 205 and into the Columbia River Gorge could get an inch or more.

Nearly two dozen flights had already been delayed Tuesday morning at Portland International Airport due to ice concerns.

Oregon has been pummeled by snow and below-freezing temperatures for days, but a warming trend should mean a thaw and possible flooding later in the week.

ALSEA, Ore. — The inception of Leaping Lamb Farm was far from auspicious for novice sheep producer Scottie Jones.

Upon moving to damp rural Oregon from dry metropolitan Arizona in 2003 with her husband, Greg, Jones seemed to encounter disaster at every turn.

“Things just fell apart,” she said.

Fences, irrigation equipment and farm machinery constantly broke down while the sheep had trouble birthing lambs, leading Jones to question whether they’d gotten in over their heads when buying the 44-acre farm near Alsea, Ore.

“Quite honestly, it was a mid-life crisis,” she said. “We were naive and idealistic. If we’d known a lot more, we probably wouldn’t have done it.”

Knowing full well that the couple’s friends in Phoenix were taking bets on how soon they’d give up and move back, Jones vowed not to quit.

With the help of neighbors and Oregon State University Extension agents, Leaping Lamb Farm gradually found its legs.

Much like the pioneers who traversed the Oregon Trail, Jones said she may have underestimated the challenges lying ahead, but she does not regret the venture.

The couple bought more land, expanding to 67 acres, and sold lambs both directly to consumers and to larger sheep producers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Due to the paltry wool market, Jones also switched to raising hair sheep — specifically a cross between Katahdin and Dorper breeds — which had fewer birthing problems and better resistance to parasites, she said.

Even as she fine-tuned the operation, though, the farm was just breaking even financially.

Since farm chores kept her tied to the property, Jones decided to make the operation more profitable by starting a side business on-site.

“If I’m not going to leave the farm, what can I do?” she said.

Since she’d never been shy about socializing with strangers and was familiar with the concept of on-farm lodgings in Europe, Jones decided to open her property to overnight visitors.

Jones admits that her business plan for offering “farm stays” amounted to little more than “build it and they will come.”

Although her strategy was rather vague, that’s exactly what happened.

After Jones obtained a conditional use permit from the county government and launched a website in 2006, Leaping Lamb Farm was mentioned in four paragraphs of a Sunset magazine story on agritourism.

Despite the brevity of the reference, it nonetheless spurred public interest and further media attention.

An article mentioning Leaping Lamb Farm in a “foodie” magazine caught the attention of Kim Hall, a resident of Portland, Ore., who wanted to teach her four-year-old daughter about agriculture.

“I will probably never own a farm myself, so it was an opportunity to see what that’s like,” Hall said.

Over the past six years, Hall and her daughter, now 10, have repeatedly returned to Leaping Lamb Farm during different seasons.

The experience has changed as her daughter has grown older and become interested in new things, she said. “It’s always a different adventure.”

Lisa Peters, another Portland resident, has been coming back to the farm for three years with her two sons, now aged 13 and 15.

“It was magical,” she said, noting that they’ve pitched in with feeding the animals and distributing hay. “I don’t know how well we did at any of the tasks.”

Leaping Lamb Farms appeals mostly to families, as well as people who are thinking of leaving behind other careers to start farms, said Jones.

Visitors commonly help with chores such as collecting eggs and cleaning stalls, but some even assist with tail docking, ear tagging and castration duties.

“If you want to help, that’s great,” she said. “If you don’t want to help, that’s fine, you’re paying to be here.” Roughly 60 percent of the farm’s guest come from the Portland area, while the rest generally live along the West Coast.

The “farm stays” eventually became so popular that Jones had to turn away guests, steering them to other farms that offer overnight lodgings.

Those references led her to another project, the U.S. Farm Stay Association, which provides information about roughly 900 other farms that offer overnight lodgings across the country.

Jones created a website for the nonprofit association, also known as Farm Stay U.S., which is sustained by about 133 paying members who are allowed to display additional information and photos.

Farm stays appeal to consumers because the property is an attraction, not just a place to sleep, like a hotel, Jones said.

“A lot of people think they’re going to go places, but they don’t go anywhere because there’s enough to do here,” she said.

Leaping Lamb Farm

Owners: Scottie and Greg Jones

Hometown: Alsea, Ore.

Purpose: Raising lambs while providing lodgings to agritourists

Family: The couple has two grown daughters

Ages: Scottie is 63, Greg is 66

Education: Scottie earned a master’s degree in medieval archeology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1980 and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix in 2003. Greg obtained a doctorate in psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1978.

ONTARIO, Ore. — About 18 onion storage and packing facilities in southwestern Idaho and Eastern Oregon have collapsed over the past week from the weight of snow and ice, knocking out about 25 percent of the region’s total onion processing capacity, industry sources say.

“This is major. There are a lot of them down,” said Murakami Produce General Manager Grant Kitamura.

Prices for the Spanish bulb onions grown in this region have risen dramatically as a result.

Heavy snowstorms since December were followed by near-freezing rain last week and then more snow. That has caused many structures throughout the Treasure Valley area to collapse.

Kitamura, chairman of the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee’s promotion committee, said several other onion packing or storage facilities are on the brink.

“Some are still standing but they’re not looking too straight,” he said.

Partners Produce’s main onion packing facility in Payette, Idaho, collapsed and will be out of commission for at least seven months, said co-owner Eddie Rodriguez.

“I have 25-30 million pounds of onions that were destined to run through that line,” he said.

The company’s empty inventory holding facility also collapsed.

The roofs of at least four onion packing facilities have collapsed because of the weight of snow and ice.

“At least three of them will be out of commission the rest of the season and several are wounded,” Kitamura said.

At least 14 onion storage facilities have collapsed as well.

The disruptions will affect growers as well, said Oregon farmer Paul Skeen, president of the Malheur County Onion Growers Association.

“When a shipper loses their packing line, it’s not just him but all his growers have to figure out what to do as well,” he said. “All those onions have to go somewhere.”

There are about 300 onion farmers and 30 onion shippers in the region, which produces about 25 percent of the nation’s storage onions.

About 25 percent of the region’s total onion processing capacity is currently off line, according to several sources, and demand is exceeding supply, which has pushed prices up dramatically.

The cost for a 50-pound bag of yellow jumbos has risen from about $3.50 before the damage occurred to close to $6.50 now, said Shay Myers, general manager of Owyhee Produce in Nyssa, Ore.

“It’s directly related to the disruptions,” he said.

Rodriguez expects demand to continue to exceed supply for awhile because of the production disruptions.

“I think that will be the case throughout the rest of the season,” he said.

Demand for the region’s onions typically increases significantly following the new year, Kitamura said.

But the lost production capacity, coupled with trucking and railroad transportation issues related to the severe weather, has caused a significant reduction in the number of onions being shipped, Rodriguez said.

There are usually an average of about 180 total 40,000-pound shipments leaving the area each day this time of year but the actual number right now is around 110, he said.

“There have been massive disruptions in onion production this week,” Myers said.

He’s hopeful the production disruptions will be fixed and the region’s remaining onions will be shipped. “It’s just going to take a bit of time and some plan B’s and C’s.”