YAKIMA, Wash. — Smaller apple crops elsewhere in the U.S. and in Mexico, Canada and Europe may help Washington marketers maintain sales and prices for the state’s huge crop this season.

The total 2017 U.S. apple crop is estimated at 248 million, 42-pound boxes, down 8 percent from last season.

The national forecast was released Aug. 25 by the U.S. Apple Association at its annual outlook conference in Chicago.

“All in all, people were optimistic the U.S. crop should allow for solid prices,” said Mike Preacher, director of marketing at Domex Superfresh Growers in Yakima, Wash. He attended the conference.

The global picture looks good for Washington apples but it’s too early to know how good, he said. Early Gala prices are solid, he said.

Desmond O’Rourke, apple market analyst and retired Washington State University ag economist, said it’s doubtful this season will be as good as 2012, but that it should be better than the 2016 season now ending.

Washington had a huge crop in 2012, when many other apple producers were down. It enabled Washington to sell record volumes at high prices.

O’Rourke said he sees the year-long average wholesale price of all varieties bouncing back up to $25 after being $22 this past season.

Red Delicious should climb back up to $20 from $15 and Gala should go from $21.50 to $22, he said. Generally, $17 to $18 is breakeven.

Michigan’s apple crop is forecast 27 percent down at 20.3 million boxes because of a late spring freeze.

“It’s an easier market for our guys to tap into because it’s closer than New York,” O’Rourke said.

New York is advancing strongly in fresh market with growing volumes of its new SnapDragon and RubyFrost varieties, developed by Cornell University and marketed by Crunch Time Marketing Group, he said.

Mexico’s crop is down 30 percent and is Washington’s largest export market. It should be an excellent opportunity this season, O’Rourke said.

“That all helps, but big crops are always tough,” said Andy Handley, a small grower in East Wenatchee, Wash.

There’s a lot of new production in Quincy and it’s hard to know how big it really is, Handley said, adding he suspects the crop maybe bigger than forecast.

Washington’s fresh crop is forecast at 130.9 million, 40-pound boxes. Its total fresh and processing crop is estimated at 159.5 million, 42-pound boxes, down 8 percent from 2016.

Other major state fresh and processing forecasts at the outlook conference: New York, 28 million, even with 2016; Michigan, 20.3 million, down 27 percent; and Pennsylvania, 11.2 million, up 6 percent.

The next tier in millions of boxes: Virginia, 5.2 million, up 22 percent; Oregon 4.1 million, down 10 percent; California, 5 million, down 16 percent; North Carolina, 2.3 million, down 7 percent; West Virginia, 2.3 million, up 21 percent; Idaho, 1.2 million, down 8 percent; and Ohio, 1.1 million, up 40 percent.

U.S. Apple Association’s national forecast of 248 million boxes is even with its five-year average. It’s 400,000 boxes less than a USDA estimate.

Mark Seetin, U.S. Apple’s director of regulatory and industry affairs, there’s real reason to be optimistic about the 2017 season given industry advancements of recent years. He listed the ability to effectively market larger crops, increased productivity, improved quality in storage, new varieties aimed at consumer preferences, innovative marketing and export prospects.

Apple production was 6 percent higher in 2016 than in 1995 but on 31 percent fewer acres, Seetin said. Yield per acre has increase 50 percent in the past 13 years, he said.

In 2016, 67 percent of the U.S. crop was fresh market and 33 percent processed versus 51 percent fresh and 49 percent processed in 1994, Seetin said. Fresh market growth is driving grower income, he said.

Total U.S. USDA apple farmgate value was $3.46 billion in 2016, up 3 percent from the previous year for a record. Even after adjusting the 1994 crop for inflation growers received 33 more from the similar sized 2016 crop, Seetin said.

Mark Boyer, a principal in Ridgetop Orchards, Fishertown, Pa., was elected chairman of the board at the U.S. Apple meeting. Kaari Stannard, president and owner of New York Apple Sales, Glenmont, N.Y., was elected vice chairman. Jeff Colombini, president of Lodi Farming, Stockton, Calif., was elected secretary; and John Graden, of Crunch Pak, Cashmere, Wash., was elected treasurer. Mike Wade, general manager of Columbia Fruit Packers, Wenatchee, is past chairman.

Silverton, Ore. — Karl Dettwyler puts his farm first.

The manager of Blue Line Farms, member of the Oregon Blueberry Commission and father of two daughters, Dettwyler admits that he doesn’t know how he’s been able to balance his responsibilities.

“I think you have to have (attention deficit disorder) in order to handle it. It’s like putting fires out, you leave one smoldering until you have time to put it out,” he said.

Dettwyler has been on the blueberry commission for 2 1/2 years, and finds the organization valuable.

“On the farm anymore, if you want to be relevant, you need to be involved. My Uncle Bob taught me that it’s important to be involved in the industry,” he said. “You can’t complain if you’re not involved, and I see a lot of growers grumble about this or that but never take the step to be involved.”

The commission was established in 1986 and consists of nine members. The terms are three years with a limit of two consecutive terms. There are 353 growers, and this year the commission is estimating a harvest of 118 million pounds of blueberries.

Blue Line Farms hand-picks around 6,000 pounds of blueberries a year.

The farm employs five people full-time, including himself, his brother and his cousin. His uncle and father also work part-time.

Dettwyler enjoys getting to know people through the commission and helping address problems that other growers are having.

“All of a sudden you hear a commissioner talk about the problems and challenges he’s having, and even though we’re both blueberry farmers, because of soil tops and their access to labor versus my access to labor, we’re always learning,” he said. “I’m learning from him, and he’s learning from me, too, hopefully, and together we can help the whole industry.”

Beyond blueberries, Blue Line Farms also grows turf type grasses such as perennial rye grass and tall fescue, green beans and hazelnuts.

However, 7.5 percent of the farm is blueberries. The varieties he grows include Elliot, Liberty, Legacy and Aurora. Legacy is his favorite.

Dettwyler said the most reward part of farming is “seeing a crop come to fruition.”

“There’s challenges, but seeing the different challenges and rewards, and being able to eat the fruit when it’s blue. There’s one variety out there that’s so sweet and I love it,” he said about the Legacy variety.

Although the blueberry industry has been booming in recent years because of recent health studies revealing the benefits of eating blueberries, Dettwyler has noticed the market leveling off.

“There are ways of mitigating risk, but it depends on how innovative you are,” he said. “If you sit back and say ‘that’s the market’ and don’t do anything innovative, you’re going to have to ride out the highs and the lows, if you can.”

His innovative examples included a roadside blueberry stand or talking to a different packer or to the commission about new ways to promote blueberries.

Dettwyler encourages farmers to get involved and share their story.

“There’s a rural versus city divide,” he said.

“There’s a lot of things people don’t understand about agriculture, and we want to get people to understand why we do what we do.”

Capital Press

EUGENE, Ore. — Ten years ago, Linda Perrine left the tech world after spending the first half of her life working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

She bought a neglected 32-acre farm, which she named Honor Earth Farm, and began her production of organic Casina and Willamette hazelnuts.

She is one of only a handful of organic hazelnut growers. Although 99 percent of U.S. hazelnuts are grown in Oregon, less than 1 percent are organic. In 2015 — the most recent year for which numbers are available — nine organic farms harvested 108 tons of hazelnuts, bringing in $859,810.

That’s a stark contrast to the 31,000 tons that conventional hazelnut producers harvested in 2016 worth $118.8 million.

To bring awareness to organic hazelnuts and the concerns of the smaller organic growers, Perrine helped start the Organic Hazelnut Growers Association this year.

The biggest challenge organic hazelnut producers such as Perrine have encountered has been processing. She said there are only a few organic nut processors in the area and it costs more because the nuts are not uniform in size so they take more time to sort and shell.

In general, certified organic growers have a higher profit opportunity than conventional growers, Nathan Kroeker, another founding member and spokesman for the association, said. However, it depends on the method of selling a farmer chooses.

In-shell organic nuts sell wholesale for about $3.40 a pound, he said. But custom processing returns the kernels to the farmer who can sell them directly to consumers for about $8 a pound or for up to $20 a pound at retail stores such as Market of Choice or Whole Foods.

For that reason, one of the goals of the association is to establish a processing facility, he said.

According to Kroeker, there are three reasons to be organic: ecological benefits, food safety and profit opportunity. He said that he’s a mix of all three.

“(Organic growers) care about the lands and sustainability,” he said.

“Some will say organic hazelnut production is near impossible given the obstacles of the actual farming management,” Kroeker said.

Obstacles he has heard from conventional farmers include weed control, eastern filbert blight, filbert worm and organic nitrogen limitations.

The environment is important to Perrine, who harvests 90 percent of her nuts, but leaves 10 percent on the ground as her way to “give back to the wildlife.” She is proud of the environment she has created on her farm, and tries to be welcoming to the insects, birds of prey and coyotes.

“I’m creating habitat for wildlife to live with me,” she said.

Perrine joked that she spends most of her time mowing the orchard to keep the ground harvestable. She said the ground cover keeps the nuts cleaner when she brings them in. One of her other harvesting strategies is using a leaf blower to gather the nuts.

To combat pests and diseases, she sets out traps and prunes her trees often. She believes that the she shouldn’t let the branches get to the point of growing lichen, and to stop the spread of eastern filbert blight she cuts and burns infected branches.

Another organic hazelnut farm in the area is My Brothers’ Farm in Creswell, Ore, run by Taylor Larson. The farm has 320 acres, and raises over 2,000 hazelnut trees, along with cider apple trees, pigs and bison, according to the website. Larson specializes in Yamhill, Sacajawea, McDonald and Wepster hazelnut varieties and mixes nut and apple trees in the same orchard.

“It stops disease pressure and breaks up pests,” he said.

After harvest, Larson runs his pigs through the orchard to eat the remaining hazelnuts.

However, for the future, he is looking into ways of harvesting the nuts from the tree instead of from the ground, using a machine that shakes the nuts out.

“Each farm has unique needs,” Kroeker said. “There’s all kinds of ways; do what works for you; innovate your way.”

TUESDAY, AUG. 29

McMINNVILLE, Ore. — An Oregon member of Congress heard from organic dairy cooperative members last week about what they want from the next farm bill.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., toured the newly refurbished Organic Valley Creamery and Forest Glen Jerseys dairy farm on Aug. 25 and was briefed on the co-op’s priorities as Congress works on a new farm bill.

Jake Schmitz, the co-op’s regional pool manager, and Scott Fields, the McMinnville plant manager, told her Organic Valley’s priorities include modernizing organic trade oversight by increasing funding of the National Organic Program to identify and shut down suspected international fraud and supporting a technology upgrade to better track international organic trade.

Schmitz, who used to work as an organic certifier, said that while there are many organic businesses with integrity, there needs to be more enforcement against those that cheat the system.

“We need a budget increase to employ more certifiers to get work done and monitor it all,” he said.

Also on the list is funding more organic research and maintaining conservation investments by renewing and maintaining the working lands conservation programs.

An investment of $16.5 million is needed each year to keep in line with growth of organic agriculture, according to Organic Valley. In 2016, U.S. organic sales were $47 billion and there were 24,650 organic certificate holders.

Schmitz and Melissa Collman, an Organic Valley cooperative member from Cloud Cap Dairy in Boring, Ore., also said the NOP needs to modernize its technology.

“There’s no way to upload information,” Collman said. “You have to keep track by hand. There is no modernization, and technology would make (the process) better.”

Bonamici expressed concerns she heard about whether younger generations will be taking over the farming business.

However, Schmitz told her that with the profitability of organic dairy farms, it has become a viable option to own a farm — last month he signed up two sons taking over the family farm.

Schmitz said because the younger generations are enthused by organic farming it’s important to continue research in the field.

“Organic is the golden child of agriculture,” he said.

Fields then walked Bonamici through the butter plant, showing her the process of separating the cream and the milk, which was pasteurized, dried and bagged as powder.

Fields said much of the cost of refurbishing the creamery was spent in the pasteurization room, and estimated with Schmitz that refurbishing the plant cost about $1 million, including a state grant of $350,000.

Bonamici later met with Dan Bansen at Forest Glen Jerseys in Dayton — her first visit to an organic dairy farm. She said the trip “exceeded her expectations” by seeing the creamery operating and how Bansen’s cows were raised.

“It’s helpful to meet people involved in agriculture, and now in the creamery,” she said. “I keep it in mind when I’m making policy decisions in D.C. It makes it real instead of abstract.”

BROOKINGS, Ore. (AP) — A wildfire in southwest Oregon grew by about 5 square miles overnight and covered about 168 square miles by Sunday.

Residents living in the nearby town of Brookings, Oregon remained under a preliminary evacuation notice Sunday.

The fire is about 5 miles northeast of the town in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

The so-called Chetco Bar Fire was started on July 12 by lightning and has continued to grow due to hot, dry conditions.

Officials say dead and down timber along with dried out grasses are making conditions hazardous for firefighters.

They set an estimated containment date of October 15.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An odd thing has happened in wheat country — a lot of farmers aren’t planting wheat.

Thanks to a global grain glut that has caused prices and profits to plunge, this year farmers planted the fewest acres of wheat since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began keeping records nearly a century ago.

Instead of planting the crop that gave the wheat belt its identity, many farmers are opting this year for crops that might be less iconic but are suddenly in demand, such as chickpeas and lentils, used in hummus and healthy snacks.

“People have gone crazy with chickpeas. It’s unbelievable how many acres there are,” said Kirk Hansen, who farms 350 acres south of Spokane in eastern Washington, where wheat’s reign as the king crop has been challenged.

American farmers still plant wheat over a vast landscape that stretches from the southern Plains of Oklahoma and Texas north through Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas as well as dry regions of Washington and Oregon. However, this year’s crop of 45.7 million acres is the smallest since 1919.

North Dakota harvested wheat acres are down 15 percent, Montana 11 percent and Nebraska 23 percent, to the state’s lowest winter wheat acres on record.

Fewer farmers planted wheat after a 2016 crop that was the least profitable in at least 30 years, said grain market analyst Todd Hultman, of Omaha, Nebraska-based agriculture market data provider DTN.

Many farmers took notice of a surging demand for crops driven by consumer purchases of healthy high-protein food.

“The world wants more protein and wheat is not the high-protein choice and so that’s where your use of those other things come into play and are doing better,” Hultman said. “Up north around North Dakota you will see more alternative things like sunflowers, lentils and chickpeas.”

How long the new trend will continue is unknown. While some farmers will likely switch back to wheat when profitability returns, others may keep planting the alternatives because demand is expected to remain strong, keeping prices at attractive levels.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, acres planted in chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are at 603,000 this year, up nearly 86 percent from last year.

North Dakota more than tripled chickpea acres planted to 44,100 and Montana increased acres 150 percent to 247,000. Nebraska increased chickpea acres 79 percent to 5,200 acres.

The USDA says lentils reached a U.S. record high 1.02 million acres planted this year.

A farmer in southwest North Dakota, for example, could expect to earn $105 an acre on small chickpeas and around $89 an acre planting lentils this year, according to data compiled by North Dakota State University. The same farmer would lose $21 an acre on winter wheat and $4 an acre on spring wheat.

Wheat profitability has fallen precipitously.

In Illinois, wheat fell from more than $7.13 a bushel in 2012 to $4.30 this year, while for the same period land costs rose 10 percent.

Lentils are increasingly used in cereals, energy bars, chips and pasta as a way to boost protein and fiber content. General Mills now offers Cheerios Protein, which includes lentils, and Barilla Protein Plus pasta contains flour from lentils and chickpeas as an ingredient.

About 20 percent of U.S. consumers now say they eat at least one meatless meal daily and get their protein instead from plant-based sources, said Kelly Weikel, director of consumer insights at Technomic, a Chicago-based market research firm that tracks food trends.

“We’ve been able to maintain a strong demand for these crops, which is why farmers in that northern Plains and Washington and Idaho area continuing to grow them and increase their acreage,” said Tim McGreevy, an eastern Washington farmer.

High-protein snacks that were once found primarily in health food stores are now available in typical grocery stores.

Hummus is a good example. Made from chickpeas, the dip and sandwich spread was considered an exotic Middle Eastern food just a few years ago but is now found in more than a quarter of U.S. households. Hummus sales have grown to $700 million to $800 million in recent years from $10 million in the late 1990s.

USDA reports show other crops have been pushed to record planting this year by changing consumer tastes including canola and hops.

Canola, used for frying and baking and as an ingredient in salad dressings and margarine, was planted on 2.16 million acres this year, 22 percent higher than the previous record set in 2015, the USDA said.

LANGLOIS -- Mare Wakefield and Nomad tour this summer and fall playing songs from upcoming record "Time to Fly" (Jan 2018 release). The tour starts in the Midwest and circles the nation to end in Texas in early October.

LANGLOIS -- Mare Wakefield and Nomad tour this summer and fall playing songs from upcoming record "Time to Fly" (Jan 2018 release). The tour starts in the Midwest and circles the nation to end in Texas in early October.

Tuesdays

Oregon wildlife officials killed a fourth member of the Harl Butte wolfpack Aug. 25, a day after authorizing the killing of two wolves from the Meacham pack following a series of attacks on cattle this month.

Both wolfpacks are in northeastern Oregon.

That makes four wolves from the Harl Butte pack, in Wallowa County, that have been killed. The most recent was a non-breeding adult female. Another wolf, also a non-breeding female, was killed Aug. 17, according to ODFW. The pack is now believed to include six adult wolves and at least three pups, the department said.

The Meacham Pack, in Umatilla County, is responsible for four confirmed attacks on calves in August. The cattle all belonged to the same producer and all were on private grazing ground.

In announcing the Meacham pack decision, ODFW detailed the non-lethal deterrence measures taken by the rancher. As was the case with ranchers and the Harl Butte pack, the producer requested ODFW kill the entire Meacham pack. The pack included seven wolves at the end of 2016 and is thought to have added four pups this year.

ODFW staff may kill the wolves but also issued the producer a temporary permit to shoot two adult or sub-adult wolves himself, but not pups. The permit is limited to the grazing area where the attacks have occurred, but it does not require the producer to catch the wolves in the act of biting or chasing livestock. They can be shot on sight.

In announcing the decision, ODFW Director Curt Melcher acknowledged many people oppose killing wolves for any reason.

“While it’s disheartening for some people to see ODFW killing wolves, our agency is called to manage wildlife in a manner consistent with other land uses, and to protect the social and economic interests of all Oregonians while it conserves gray wolves,” Melcher said in a prepared statement.

“It’s important that we address and limit wolf-livestock problems while also ensuring a healthy wolf population. Lethal control is identified in the Oregon Wolf Plan as a needed tool we use when non-lethal measures alone are unsuccessful in resolving conflict.”

The department will reassess the situation after the two Meacham wolves are killed, Melcher said.

The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association believes ODFW’s incremental approach won’t work. Todd Nash, the OCA’s wolf committee chairman and who lost a calf to the Harl Butte pack in August, called it a “poor decision.”

“They’re toeing a political line rather than a scientific one,” he said.

A coalition of conservation groups, including Oregon Wild, strongly opposes killing wolves in response to livestock depredations. Eighteen groups have called on Gov. Kate Brown to intervene; to date she has not.

“We continue to believe that there should be no kill orders until ODFW can finally update the wolf conservation and management plan that is over two years out of date,” said Sean Stevens, executive director of Oregon Wild. “If two wolf packs with kill orders in two weeks is what ODFW views as successful wolf management, they are living in an alternate universe.”

According to ODFW, and as required by the Oregon Wolf Plan, the producer took a series of defensive steps to deter the Meacham Pack.

The rancher removed livestock carcasses the same day they were found and removed weak cattle that might become a target for the wolves. The producer employed a range rider five days a week to maintain a human presence in the pasture and to monitor the wolves — none of which wear a tracking collar. The producer put larger, more mature calves in the pasture and delayed turnout for 30 days in hopes the wolves would move on and to give the calves time to gain size that might make them more difficult targets.

The pasture typically would be used until October, but 90 percent of the cattle that normally use it have already been moved, according to ODFW. For the past two years, the producer has chosen not to use a sheep grazing allotment on public forestland adjacent to the private pasture.

Online

ODFW depredation reports are online:

http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/wolf_livestock_updates.asp

NYSSA, Ore. — The Idaho-Oregon onion industry’s rebuilding efforts following the heavy damage to storage and packing facilities caused by this year’s harsh winter are in full swing and going well.

But with the main onion harvest set to begin about mid-September, some onion growers and shippers say they won’t be ready in time.

“There are definitely people who are delayed,” said Shay Myers, general manager of Owyhee Produce, an onion grower-shipper company in Nyssa, Ore.

About 60 onion storage sheds and packing facilities in the Treasure Valley of Idaho and Oregon either collapsed or sustained major damage under the weight of several feet of snow and ice.

Owyhee Produce lost four storage sheds. Its packing facility was damaged but continued operating.

Myers said his company was “fortunate” in that its buildings were some of the first to collapse so it got a relatively quick start on rebuilding.

Because most of the 1 billion-plus pounds of Spanish bulb onions grown in the region are stored and marketed later in the year, it’s important for the storage sheds to be rebuilt in time to house this year’s harvest.

Owyhee Produce will have its storage sheds rebuilt in time for harvest, but barely.

“We will have them done just in time for harvest,” Myers said.

Across the Snake River in Payette, Idaho, Partners Produce lost four buildings to the snow and ice, including its main onion packing line.

Despite its best efforts and people working seven days a week, Partners’ lost storage capacity will not be replaced before this year’s harvest begins in earnest. Its new packing facility won’t be ready until about Thanksgiving.

“We’re scrambling, all right,” said Eddie Rodriguez, director of sales and part owner of Partners. “I will have some problem finding storage and may have to rent some storage, if available, from other packers or growers.”

Partners’ packing facility in Ontario was not damaged and continues to operate.

While some rebuilt storage sheds won’t be ready in time, industry leaders say onion yields could be down significantly this year, which means the lost storage capacity won’t be quite as important.

“I think yields may be down and that might be a saving grace this year,” said Stuart Reitz, an Oregon State University Extension cropping systems agent in Ontario. “That might take some of the pressure off.”

“With the yields we are going to have, it’s likely to be less of an issue than it could have been during a normal onion production year,” Myers said.

Myers and Rodriguez said the industry will bounce back stronger in the long run because companies like theirs that have to rebuild are putting in state-of-the-art equipment and more automation.

The rebuilding process “may be a little slower coming than we were hoping for,” Myers said. “But the new infrastructure and new dedication people are putting toward the future will be better for the industry as a whole.”

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Hay exporters are beginning to rebound from more than two years of oversupply and low prices, but they say business is still lacking.

“Overall quality is up but demand is flat to down and shipments are down because of a rapid price increase. Export volume is down versus this time last year,” said Mike Hajny, owner of Hajny Trading, an Ellensburg hay exporter.

“The timothy market has improved. Alfalfa continues to be underpriced in export markets. There continues to be more processing capacity for export than demand. We need more growth in export markets,” said Mark T. Anderson, president of Anderson Hay & Grain Co., a large West Coast exporter in Ellensburg, Wash.

While prices have improved they are still low for growers and exporters compared to their costs, Anderson said.

Exporters lost money on a lot of hay last winter to clear out an inventory build-up caused by a union work slowdown at West Coast seaports in 2014 and 2015. A long, cold winter and cool spring increased domestic feeder hay demand and helped reduce stockpiles.

In the Columbia Basin, the price of premium export alfalfa increased from $120 to $180 per ton in less than six months.

The sharp price increase met some overseas buyer resistance and while Japan, South Korea and China began buying more U.S. hay they will also be looking for cheaper alternatives, Hajny said.

“Pricing in China continues to be low compared to U.S. market conditions,” Anderson said.

The average farmgate price of big bale premium timothy was $245 per ton in the Columbia Basin on Aug. 18 and $155 to $175 for alfalfa, according to the USDA.

Shawn Clausen, a Warden, Wash., grower, said hay prices are now slumping because corn and wheat prices fell in just the last two to three weeks. At lower prices, grain will be attractive to overseas livestock owners who normally buy hay, he said.

Exporters are leery of buying hay at $175 per ton and being unable to sell it profitably overseas, he said.

Third-cutting alfalfa in the Columbia Basin was compromised in quality by about two weeks of smoke from British Columbia wildfires, Clausen said.

“It created a false cloud cover. The sun didn’t come through and that created high humidity and a lot more bleached out hay that took a couple more days drying time,” he said.

Smoke had a “big impact” on third cutting quality, Anderson said.

Analysis and color of alfalfa is generally better this year, but timothy quality is “outstanding, the nicest we’ve seen in years” with second cutting following far enough after the smoke to not be damaged, Hajny said.

“Essentially, Ellensburg and Idaho went up with no rain on timothy and it caught limited showers in the Basin,” Hajny said.

First-cutting yields were light because the weather was too cool in May, and Columbia Basin tonnage undoubtedly will be down 10 percent this year, Clausen said.

He normally gets yields of 9 tons per acre but will be closer to 8 this season, Clausen said. He plans to begin swathing fourth cutting on Sept. 11 and finish baling by Oct. 1.

“Overall the hay industry is better this year than last without a doubt. I have a chance to break even and pay my bills. Last year was a loss,” Clausen said. “It’s a slow comeback from the port deal. I won’t be planting more alfalfa next year. I don’t do timothy, but I may next year.”

U.S. hay exports, mostly along the West Coast, were developed in the 1970s for the dairy and beef markets in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. In the last 10 years, China and United Arab Emirates became big markets. Exports peaked at 4.5 million tons in 2013, were just under 4 million in 2014 and were about 4.2 million in 2015 at a value of $1.3 billion, according to the University of California-Davis.

Volumes have been published on conservation approaches to benefit embattled Western sage grouse populations, but economist John Tanaka believes researchers have largely overlooked how such strategies affect ranchers’ bottom lines.

Tanaka, associate director of the Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station, and his research team have started working on a model to estimate the economic impacts of sage grouse management practices on ranches of varying sizes and distributions of public and private grazing land.

The model will be used to develop at least 36 enterprise budgets covering hypothetical ranches in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Montana and Nevada.

“From an economic standpoint, nobody has ever looked at if what we’re proposing ranchers do to enhance sage grouse habitat is going to enhance their bottom line,” Tanaka said, adding the data should help guide decisions of land managers and ranchers.

Local USDA offices will help Tanaka’s team recruit ranchers to serve on small focus groups and provide baseline data on regional industry practices. To model likely outcomes of management practices, Tanaka’s team will interview scientists, land managers and ranchers.

“We’re trying to find a representative response, not a specific ranch response,” Tanaka said. “We’ll use expert opinion and anecdotal evidence where we need to.”

Tanaka’s team also includes principal researchers Kristie Maczko, director of the Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable, and University of Wyoming agricultural economist John Ritten. Their work is funded by a nearly $500,000 grant from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and they expect to complete the model by next May.

They’ll be improving upon a previous ranch-management model Tanaka developed with retired University of Idaho economist Neil Rimbey and New Mexico State University emeritus economist Allen Torell. Rimbey believes the economic data will help land managers address a common void in their environmental reviews.

Rimbey said concerns about sage grouse sometimes lead land managers to implement grazing permits requiring ranchers to delay grazing by a month, or to remove cattle a month early, “with no idea of the economic impact, and they can have very dramatic impacts at the ranch level.”

Tanaka anticipates the project will show economic benefits resulting from some common sage grouse conservation practices, such as adding off-stream watering, thereby dispersing cattle to graze land more evenly, or removal of junipers to improve both sage grouse habitat and livestock forage.

John Peavey, who has implemented conservation practices on rangeland near Carey, Idaho, believes practices that reduce the risk of wildfire provide the greatest benefit for both cattle and grouse.

Farm Bill programs under the NRCS Sage Grouse Initiative cover up to 75 percent of ranchers’ costs of implementing approved conservation practices. Sage Grouse Initiative coordinator Thad Heater said the program has facilitated conservation across 5.6 million Western acres in its first seven years.

Heater explained that voluntary conservation efforts helped avert an Endangered Species Act listing for sage grouse in 2015, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is scheduled to review progress in 2020.

SALEM — As the Oregon State Fair prepares to open its doors Friday, 4-H’ers Jessica Simpson and Kaitlyn Bloom are excited to show off their Boer goats and make new friends.

“Showing is my passion,” Simpson, 14, said. “At the state level it’s more competitive.”

But she’s not worried. She described herself as being “really competitive” as well.

Simpson has been part of 4-H for five years. She is a member of the Livestock Royalty group from Deschutes County in Central Oregon.

At age 13, Bloom is attending her first Oregon State Fair. Originally from Sonora, Calif., she has been a member of 4-H for four years. She is part of two groups, the 40 Swiners for pigs and one for goats.

Bloom enjoys showing because she gets to know her animals’ characteristics better.

The fair starts Friday, Aug. 25, and runs through Monday, Sept. 4, at the Salem fairgrounds. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The carnival opens daily at 11 a.m.

This year the fair features a new Agricultural Showcase Stage, six new rides and new special events and featured performances.

The fair also continues hosting signature agricultural events, such as the 4-H and FFA competitions and the Open Class Livestock exhibits.

“We are proud of the increasing popularity of the Oregon State Fair — and are thrilled we’ve continued to grow from year to year,” said Dan Cox, a fair spokesman. “The event uniquely combines the excitement of today with the nostalgia of yesteryear. As soon as fairgoers enter the gate, there are events, experiences and activities to remind them or inspire them — no matter what their age.”

Starting Friday, the Agricultural Showcase stage will feature presentations and activities related to agriculture. It will be in a tent on the west side of the Forster Livestock Pavilion. The purpose of the stage is to allow “an opportunity to bridge the gap between producer and consumer,” Brooke Broadbent, organizer of the showcase, said.

“The stage is an opportunity to show different aspects of the industry as a whole, and the importance of agriculture in everyday life,” she said.

Events include the Oregon leaders’ annual Goat Milking Showdown, the Dairy Princess meet and greet, country-western dance lessons and Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom “Egg Day,” when they’ll give out 1,500 eggs on a stick.

There will also be speakers from the Capital Press, and Oregon Forest Resource Institute, as well as booths from agricultural organizations, such as the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Farm Bureau.

Elsewhere this year, the fair will also offer animal attractions, such as Creature Feature Extreme and Dog Town, as well as the horse shows and competitions and livestock competitions.

The horse shows are featured throughout the day, with events including a drill team competition, a miniature horse demonstration and Tennessee Walkers.

The livestock competition categories are Open Class Livestock and 4-H and FFA horses, along with small animal competitions.

Agriculture and horticulture competitions include farm and garden, floral, honey and other products of the hive.

New this year are Cirque Ma’Ceo — an acrobatic equestrian show — and the Colors of Fun Fire Finale, featuring the Sacred Fire Dance Company and its nightly exhibition of pyrotechnic special effects.

Tickets are available at the Cirque Ma’Ceo website and the 20-minute fire show is every night free with admission.

Eleven concerts are in the 2017 line-up: Dwight Yoakam, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, the Salem Symphony, Josh Turner, For King and Country, Kenny Loggins, Third Eye Blind, Vince Neil, Trace Adkins, the Salem Symphony and Eddie Money.

All of the 11 concerts are free with fair admission except the Salem Symphony performances. Limited VIP seating is available for all of the performances for $35 online.

In addition to the 40 carnival rides, the fair is offering six new ones: the Vortex, Shockwave, bumper cars, Mardi Gras and the new Rainier Expo Wheel. One ride ticket is 50 cents, 120 tickets are $50 and 250 tickets for $100. An unlimited ride wristband is also available for $50.

Other contests include Creative Living Competitions, featuring a new First Lego League Global Scientific Challenge, and four culinary and beverage contests, including the 58th Gerry Frank Chocolate Layer Cake Contest.

There are 10 opportunities for deals and discounts, including Senior Day, Free Kids Day and Two Dollar Tuesday.

For more information and tickets, visit oregonstatefair.org.

The combination of two obscure passions — for the Russian language and exotic fruit — led Jim Gilbert to success in his career as a nurseryman.

Gilbert launched his nursery roughly a decade before his first visit to Russia in 1990, when the communist Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse.

There, he discovered uncommon varieties of seaberry, honeyberry and Cornelian cherry, among others, to bring back to his Northwoods Nursery near Molalla, Ore.

“I had a feeling of opening up a treasure chest,” said Gilbert.

In the Soviet era, a lot of Russia’s agricultural research was devoted to home gardeners, he said. While commercial production was carried out on collective farms, many fruits and vegetables were grown by city dwellers on small intensively managed plots.

“That’s how people survived, by growing their own food,” Gilbert said.

Plants that can endure Russia’s brutal winters are often suited to growing in the Pacific Northwest, where they still experience the necessary winter chill but not extremely low temperatures.

Over time, Gilbert expanded his network of plant contacts in former Soviet states, such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Belarus. He also traveled farther east, collecting rare persimmon varieties in South Korea and pineapple guava in New Zealand.

Among the nursery’s signature products are unusual varieties of common fruits, such as columnar apples, which gardeners with small yards favor for their vertical tree structure. Gilbert has also found success with previously little-known American fruits, such as paw paws.

Nursery stock that produces fruit has generally been more resilient during economic downturns, he said.

“I’ve always liked growing edible things,” Gilbert said. “It’s not just ornamental, it actually gives you something.”

Originally, Gilbert specialized in chestnuts, black walnuts, black locusts and Norway maples, but he had his fruit “breakthrough” in the mid-1980s due to the popularity of hardy kiwis.

As he delved deeper into rare cultivars, Gilbert found that some information wasn’t readily available in English — prompting a reacquaintance with the Russian language, which he studied in high school and college.

Aside from easing plant research, his increased proficiency in Russian helped Gilbert complete his bachelor’s degree in the language in 1997, which he’d begun roughly three decades earlier.

These days, Northwoods Nursery grows hundreds of varieties of roughly 60 types of fruit on 66 acres, with about 60 percent of the production dedicated to containers and the rest to bareroot stock.

Managing this broad assortment of species isn’t easy, he said. “For a lot of plants, there is no guidebook. You have to figure it out on your own.”

He is now facing a problem common in agriculture: insufficient labor. Despite strong demand for his products, Gilbert’s growth is constrained by a dearth of employees.

“It’s a really frustrating situation,” he said. “We’re going to cut back on what we grow.”

Labor shortages forced Gilbert to sell off his retail operation, One Green World, in 2015, allowing him to focus on wholesale marketing to independent garden centers and mail order nurseries that sell through catalogs.

However, his nursery operation is finding way to improve efficiency and make the best use of available workers.

For example, employees now graft buds onto trees with Parafilm — a wax-based adhesive — rather than plastic tape, avoiding labor later in the process.

“It breaks down on its own. You don’t have to go back and cut the tape,” Gilbert said.

He’s also covering rows of plants with sheets of plastic — thereby suppressing weeds while reducing water usage and boosting growth. He also recently invested in a more efficient potting machine.

“There have been some major changes in the way we do business,” he said.

Jim Gilbert

Occupation: Owner of Northwoods Nursery

Hometown: Molalla, Ore.

Family: Partner, Lorraine Gardner, and four grown children

Age: 73

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Russian Language from Portland State University in 1997

Quote: “I’ve always liked growing edible things. It’s not just ornamental, it actually gives you something.”

Oregon wildlife officials authorized killing two wolves of the Meacham Pack after a series of attacks on cattle this month.

The pack is the second targeted for lethal control this summer. Department staff have shot and killed three wolves from the Harl Butte Pack in Wallowa County and as of Aug. 24 were intending to kill a fourth as well. The Meacham Pack, in Umatilla County, is responsible for four confirmed attacks on calves in August. The cattle all belonged to the same producer and all were on private grazing ground, not on public range.

In announcing the decision, ODFW detailed the non-lethal deterrence measures taken by the rancher. As was the case with ranchers and the Harl Butte pack, the producer requested ODFW kill the entire Meacham Pack. The pack included seven wolves at the end of 2016 and is thought to have added four pups this year.

ODFW staff may kill the wolves but also issued the producer a temporary permit to shoot two adult or sub-adult wolves himself, but not pups. The permit is limited to the grazing area where the attacks have occurred, but it does not require the producer to catch the wolves in the act of biting or chasing livestock. They can be shot on sight.

In announcing the decision, ODFW Director Curt Melcher acknowledged many people oppose killing wolves for any reason.

“While it’s disheartening for some people to see ODFW killing wolves, our agency is called to manage wildlife in a manner consistent with other land uses, and to protect the social and economic interests of all Oregonians while it conserves gray wolves,” Melcher said in a prepared statement.

“It’s important that we address and limit wolf-livestock problems while also ensuring a healthy wolf population. Lethal control is identified in the Oregon Wolf Plan as a needed tool we use when non-lethal measures alone are unsuccessful in resolving conflict.”

The department will reassess the situation after two wolves are killed, Melcher said.

The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association believes ODFW’s incremental approach won’t work. Todd Nash, the OCA’s wolf committee chairman and who lost a calf to the Harl Butte pack in August, called it a “poor decision.”

“They’re toeing a political line rather than a scientific one,” he said.

A coalition of conservation groups, including Oregon Wild, strongly opposes killing wolves in response to livestock depredations. Eighteen groups have called on Gov. Kate Brown to intervene; to date she has not.

According to ODFW and as required by the Oregon Wolf Plan, the producer took a series of defensive steps to deter the Meacham Pack.

The rancher removed livestock carcasses the same day they were found and removed weak cattle that might become a target for the wolves. The producer employed a range rider five days a week to maintain a human presence in the pasture and to monitor the wolves — none of which wear a tracking collar. The producer put larger, more mature calves in the pasture and delayed turnout for 30 days in hopes the wolves would move on and to give the calves time to gain size that might make them more difficult targets.

The pasture typically would be used until October, but 90 percent of the cattle that normally use it have already been moved, according to ODFW. For the past two years, the producer has chosen not to use a sheep grazing allotment on public forestland adjacent to the private pasture.

ODFW depredation reports are online: http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/wolf_livestock_updates.asp

BROOKINGS, Ore. (AP) — Cooler temperatures and coastal moisture allowed fire crews to make progress Wednesday fighting a large blaze in southwest Oregon and keep another conflagration in the central part of the state in check, authorities said.

No new evacuations were ordered for the 156-square-mile blaze in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest near Brookings, just north of the California border, said Zach Ellinger, a fire spokesman. The blaze is burning the scars of a notorious fire from 2002 that scorched 800 square miles.

After smoldering for more than a month, the lightning-caused blaze was listed as the top firefighting priority in the nation Tuesday after rapid growth last week. On Wednesday, Gov. Kate Brown announced a mobilization of an additional 125 Oregon National Guard resources to support others working on the fire starting Thursday. The fire has destroyed five homes, officials said Tuesday.

“Our local and state responders, as well as nearby community members, are facing a very challenging fire in the Brookings area,” Brown said. “These additional resources are needed to prevent further harm.”

Ellinger said Tuesday that the weather Tuesday was cooperating.

“We have cool marine moisture coming in off the Pacific Ocean. And that’s keeping fire activity down and allowing our fire crews to go in and put down those containment lines that they’ve been wanting so badly to do” he said.

In central Oregon, fire crews reported no significant growth overnight on a blaze about six miles west of the tourist town of Sisters. About 600 people who had been under mandatory evacuation orders were allowed to return to their homes, but they could be asked to leave again if conditions change, said Ronda Scholting, a fire spokeswoman.

Crews were able to light a backfire overnight to help contain the fire’s spread. By Wednesday morning it was cool, with a very light rain falling for a brief period, she said. There was concern that afternoon winds could push the flames to the east, where Sisters is located, she added.

That blaze is now 19 square miles in size and is 23 percent contained.

August is typically the worst month for wildfires in Oregon. Resources are mobilized around the state to help contain them.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he’s recommending that none of 27 national monuments carved from wilderness and ocean and under review by the Trump administration be eliminated.

But there would be changes to a “handful,” he said.

Zinke told The Associated Press that unspecified boundary adjustments for some monuments carved out of wilderness and ocean over the past four decades will be included in the recommendations he planned to give President Donald Trump on Thursday. None of the sites would revert to new ownership, he said, while public access for uses such as hunting, fishing or grazing would be maintained or restored.

He also spoke of protecting tribal interests and historical land grants, pointing to monuments in New Mexico, where Hispanic ranchers have opposed two monuments proclaimed by President Barack Obama.

Zinke declined to say whether portions of the monuments would be opened up to oil and gas drilling, mining, logging and other industries for which Trump has advocated.

If Trump adopts the recommendations, it would quiet some of the worst fears of his opponents, who warned that vast public lands and marine areas could be lost to states or private interests.

But significant reductions in the size of the monuments, especially those created by Obama, would mark the latest in a string of actions where Trump has sought to erode his Democratic predecessor’s legacy.

“There’s an expectation we need to look out 100 years from now to keep the public land experience alive in this country,” Zinke said. “You can protect the monument by keeping public access to traditional uses.”

The recommendations cap an unprecedented four-month review based on a belief that the century-old Antiquities Act had been misused by past presidents to create oversized monuments that hinder energy development, grazing and other uses.

The review raised alarm among conservationists who said protections could be lost for areas that are home to ancient cliff dwellings, towering sequoia trees, deep canyons and ocean habitats. They’ve vowed to file lawsuits if Trump attempts any changes that would reduce the size of monuments or rescind their designations.

Zinke had previously announced that no changes would be made at six national monuments — in Montana, Colorado, Idaho, California, Arizona and Washington. He’s also said that Bears Ears monument in Utah should be downsized.

The former Montana congressman declined to reveal specifics on individual sites in an interview with the AP. He offered no further details on his recommendations for the two New Mexico monuments — Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument and the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.

He also struck back against conservationists who had warned of impending mass selloffs of public lands by the Trump administration.

“I’ve heard this narrative that somehow the land is going to be sold or transferred,” Zinke said. “That narrative is patently false and shameful. The land was public before and it will be public after.”

National monument designations add protections for lands revered for their natural beauty and historical significance with the goal of preserving them for future generations. The restrictions aren’t as stringent as national parks, but some policies include limits on mining, timber cutting and recreational activities such as riding off-road vehicles.

The monuments under review were designated by four presidents over the last two decades. Several are about the size of the state of Delaware, including Mojave Trails in California, Grand-Staircase Escalante in Utah and Bears Ears, which is on sacred tribal land.

Many national monuments were later declared national parks. Among them were Zion National Park in Utah and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

No other president has tried to eliminate a monument, but some have trimmed and redrawn boundaries 18 times, according to the National Park Service.

Many times, presidents reduced monuments only slightly, like when Franklin Roosevelt removed about 52 acres from Arizona’s Wupatki National Monument in 1941 to make way for a dam. But occasionally the changes were drastic, like President Woodrow Wilson’s move in 1915 to cut Mount Olympus National Monument roughly in half to open more land for logging.

Environmental groups said the 1906 Antiquities Act is intended to shield significant historical and archaeological sites, and that it allows presidents to create the monuments, but only gives Congress the power to modify them.

U.S. milk production in July at 18.2 billion pounds was up 1.8 percent year over year on an additional 74,000 cows and an extra 20 pounds per cow, according to the latest milk production report from USDA National Agricultural Statistic Service.

However, production in the Northwest and California, was down, with fewer cows and lower milk production per cow reported in Washington and Oregon, fewer cows in California and lower production per cow in Idaho.

The cow count in Idaho increased 2,000 head to 601,000, but monthly milk production per cow was off 10 pounds to 2,155 pounds. That dropped total production by 0.2 percent.

The main reason is a long, hot summer that’s dragged on for a couple of months, said Tony VanderHulst, a Wendell dairyman and president of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association.

“Cows are tired. They’re recovering from a long winter, and then they get a hot summer. It hammered on them; it’s a double-whammy,” he said.

Feed quality is fine, but cows are weary, milk prices are low and everybody’s just trying to buckle down. It’s a roller coaster ride, he said.

Mornings have been cooling off the last couple of weeks, but it’s been a hot couple of months and milk production isn’t going to turn around overnight. Fall is coming on, and cows will be using their energy to put on winter coats, he said.

“So they’re getting over one winter and getting ready for another, and the Farmers’ Almanac is expecting it to be another rough one,” he said.

California’s steady decline in milk production tapered off a bit in July, down only 0.2 percent. Cow numbers are still heading south — down 13,000 in July year over year to 1.75 million — but milk per cow saw a 10-pound boost.

Oregon was down only 1,000 cows from a year ago, but per cow production dropped 40 pounds. Washington was down 2,000 cows and 30 pounds per cow.

Production was up markedly in other Western states, with New Mexico up 8.4 percent, Arizona up 6.3 percent, Colorado up 6.8 percent and Utah up 9.6 percent.

Texas was up 14.8 percent and has posted double-digit increases all year. Cow numbers in July were up 25,000 head year over year, and production per cow was up 130 pounds.

Some of the Lone Star State’s impressive increases this year are reflective of the industry’s recovery from winter storm Goliath that hit in late December 2015, but producers have expanded herd size beyond pre-Goliath numbers, said Ellen Jordan, dairy specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

The cow count on Texas dairies — 461,000 in December 2015 — dropped to 455,000 in January 2016. In July, it was up to 515,000, according to USDA.

Herd growth was somewhat subdued last year. Growers refilled their pens after Goliath but have continued to add cows. A couple of good crop years have allowed them to finish filling their facilities. They might have added some pens, but there aren’t any new facilities or parlor expansions, she said.

“So I think we’ll continue with slow growth but not at this pace,” she said.

In addition to the Northwest and California, production declines in July were seen in four other of the 23 reporting states. Production was down slightly in New York where the cow count was up 4,000 head but milk per cow was down 15 pounds. Losses in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia were due to fewer cows.