WILSONVILLE, Ore. — Clackamas County’s bid to review the status of three land parcels now set aside for agriculture is a concern to farm groups, and the cities that would have to service new development aren’t hot for the idea either.

Charlotte Lehan, a former county commissioner, former Wilsonville mayor and now member of the city council, said it would be “very difficult and very expensive” for the city to provide water and sewer to new development south of the Willamette River.

She said development in the area Clackamas County seeks to review would increase congestion on the Boone Bridge, which carries north-south Interstate 5 traffic across the river. She said a clogged bridge would be “disastrous” for the city.

“I-5 is Wilsonville’s lifeline,” she said. “When the Boone Bridge isn’t working, nothing works. We have to protect the functionality of Interstate 5.”

The arguments back and forth are part of a long-running disconnect over Oregon’s unusual statewide land-use planning system, which was designed to protect farm and forest land from urban sprawl. Under the system, cities are held in check by urban growth boundaries that can be amended in a controlled manner. But development pressure at the edges of cities remains a continuing issue all over the state.

In the Portland area, land-use planning for Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties is done by Metro, which has an elected board. Seeking to end ceaseless arguments, the counties and Metro agreed to a system of urban and rural reserves that was intended to set growth patterns for 50 years.

Clackamas County’s Board of Commissioners now wants to know whether three areas south and southeast of the Portland urban center, previously set aside as rural reserves and thus open to farming, would be more beneficial as “employment lands.”

The county commissioners cite a study by a consulting firm, Johnson Economics and Mackenzie, that said the county is short between 329 and 934 acres of industrial land and up to 246 acres of commercial land, an overall shortage of up to 1,180 acres over the next 20 years.

A majority of the commissioners want to review the status of 800 acres south of the city of Wilsonville; 400 acres adjacent to the urban growth boundary of the city of Canby; and 425 acres south of the Clackamas River along Springwater Road, outside Estacada. County officials believe the land should revert to “undesignated” rather than rural reserves.

County officials have dismissed concerns as overwrought. They point out that any land-use change would take years to accomplish and would be subject to legal review or appeal.

Nonetheless, the proposal has reopened a can of worms. Friends of French Prairie, a farming advocacy group, maintains that allowing development to jump across the Willamette River south of Wilsonville would crack open the state’s prime agricultural areas.

In a guest editorial written for the Capital Press, Friends of French Prairie President Ben Williams questioned the validity of the county’s employment lands report and some of the land is owned by people who have contributed heavily to commissioners’ election campaigns.

Board members of the Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District took the unusual step of publicly warning against a land-use change. “The District believes the County’s current initiative to create employment lands may not adequately consider the long-term value of high-value farmland,” the district said in a letter to Clackamas commissioners. “A significant amount of the land proposed for reconsideration as employment land is high-value farmland, an irreplaceable natural resource.”

Lehan, the Wilsonville council member critical of the land-use review, said her fast-growing city has planned for additional industrial growth in its Coffee Creek and Salt Creek areas, and for residential development in an area called Frog Pond. The city doesn’t need more “employment land,” she said.

“I know how development works and what it takes for a city to support it,” Lehan said. “I’m not anti-growth by any means.”

Lehan was Clackamas County board chair until defeated in 2012 by the current board chair, Commissioner John Ludlow, who is often critical of Metro and of Portland’s influence on its suburban neighbors.

Canby City Administrator Rick Robinson made a point similar to Lehan’s: the city has an existing industrial park that isn’t full. The 400 acres Clackamas County wants to revert to undesignated status is outside the city limits and outside the city’s urban growth boundary, he said. Some of it is farmed now, and much of it is Class 1 agricultural soil, he said. Robinson said the Canby City Council hasn’t taken a position on the Clackamas review proposal.

The third area considered by Clackamas County is outside the city of Estacada. The mayor and city manager were unavailable to discuss the issue.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has selected Valentine’s Day as the trial date for eight of the 26 defendants indicted in the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon.

In a written order Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Anna Brown said the date is firm and no delays will be granted without an extraordinary showing of good cause.

Occupation leader Ammon Bundy and eight others are scheduled to go to trial in September.

The defendants granted a delay until February 2017 include Dylan Anderson, Sandra Anderson, Sean Anderson, Duane Ehmer, Jason Patrick, Jon Ritzheimer, Jake Ryan and Darryl Thorn.

The remaining nine defendants have pleaded guilty and are waiting to be sentenced.

The occupation began Jan. 2 after a rally against prison sentences handed to two Oregon ranchers. It lasted nearly six weeks.

TUESDAY, JULY 26

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Officials are considering a proposal for what would be the state’s second largest dairy in Eastern Oregon.

The Statesman Journal reports the proposed Willow Creek Dairy would house 30,000 animals. Wym Matthews with the state Department of Agriculture says the dairy would be near Threemile Canyon Farms, which is the state’s largest dairy with 70,000 animals.

The department is accepting public comment on Willow Creek’s plans to manage the nearly 200 million gallons of manure it will produce each year.

Greg te Velde has operated the dairy with 8,000 animals for more than a decade on land leased from Threemile Canyon.

Morrow County officials are holding a public hearing Thursday to discuss water concerns with the project, which is located in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area.

ENTERPRISE, Ore. — A noxious weed never before seen in Oregon has been discovered in the northeastern corner of the state.

It is a carduus crispis, or welted thistle, which is also sometimes called a curley plumeless thistle.

“It’s never been seen in Oregon before. The nearest it’s ever been reported is North Dakota and British Columbia,” Wallowa County Vegetation Department Manager Ryan Oberhelman said. “That’s an A-List, worst of the worst, thistle.”

Rancher Todd Nash first found the weed and reported it to Oberhelman.

Genetic testing at Oregon State University confirmed its identity. Then Mark Porter, Oregon Department of Agriculture invasive weed management coordinator, and Oberhelman began searching for more of the thistle. They sprayed the edges of Mark Vanderzanden’s alfalfa field where it was discovered, arranged with him to destroy any baled hay up to 15 feet into the field, and walked the irrigation ditch south of Enterprise.

“It’s all along Lower Alder Slope Ditch,” Oberhelman said.

All sites have been sprayed, but Porter and Oberhelman reckon the weed has been in Wallowa County for about four years — and that means it may have gone out in bales of hay to other locations.

The weed warriors, with the assistance of Vanderzanden and other farmers, are tracking down any folks who bought hay from the immediate area to make sure no weed seed traveled elsewhere.

Fortunately, Vanderzanden has excellent records and the weed only appeared at the edge of his field, Oberhelman said.

He said they have no idea how it got here. It most likely started in the ditch, as ditches are common vectors for weed seed.

“Who is bringing in ditch equipment from North Dakota?” Oberhelman mused. “We will probably never know for sure how it got here. But we’ll get in touch with every single person on this ditch system and warn them to watch out for it. We’ll be monitoring this weed for a long, long time.”

The weed is not poisonous to livestock, but grazing is not a reliable control. If it is grazed early in the spring, it will have time to re-flower and spread its seed farther.

“We need to get on top of this thistle because we can,” said Oberhelman. “It hasn’t had time to spread widely and get out of control.”

CONDON, Ore. — Firefighters expect to fully contain the Scott Canyon Fire in rural Gilliam County by Monday evening, according to a spokeswoman with the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center.

The blaze, which started Thursday on private land near the John Day River, has burned 33,587 acres between Condon and Arlington. A Type 3 incident management team responded Saturday from the Deschutes and Ochoco national forests, as well as the Bureau of Land Management’s Prineville District, to assist local firefighters.

The fire was human-caused, though investigators are still working to determine exactly how it started. High winds fanned the flames up and down several canyons in the area, making for tricky firefighting conditions. Crews on the ground were supported by six single-engine air tankers and three helicopters, which dumped water and retardant around the fire perimeter over the weekend.

The fire did destroy one old homestead, which was unoccupied. No other structures were damaged. Lisa Clark, fire information officer with the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center, commended the initial response for keeping local farms and ranches safe.

Another fire in central Oregon also erupted Sunday about 13 miles east of Warm Springs. That blaze is now roughly 4,800 acres, but wasn’t immediately threatening homes.

ONTARIO, Ore. — Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek says she supports efforts to help Malheur County’s economy, including improving the transportation infrastructure to reduce the cost of shipping agricultural products.

The Portland Democrat visited the Eastern Oregon county last month at the invitation of Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, and agricultural industry leaders concerned about the impact the state’s new minimum wage law will have on farmers and others here.

A three-tiered plan passed this year will hike the minimum wage in rural areas to $12.50 an hour over six years. Malheur County’s farming industry competes with Idaho, which borders Oregon and has a $7.25 minimum wage.

Oregon’s rural minimum wage increased 25 cents on July 1 to $9.50 an hour. It will reach $12.50 on July 1, 2022, and then increase annually, based on the consumer price index for all urban consumers. It will be pegged $2.25 below the Portland Metro minimum wage.

In an email statement, Kotek told Capital Press she now has “a deeper understanding of the economic challenges of sharing a border with a fast-growing part of Idaho. It’s clear that a variety of factors impact the ag industry in both states, including but by no means limited to, the minimum wage.”

Kotek said she supports ideas floated by Bentz that could help improve Malheur County’s economy.

That includes creating a special economic zone and bringing a freight transportation hub to the area, which she said “would cut the time and cost for growers who are exporting onions and other agricultural products.”

Special tax credits for the area and creating a “Micro Irrigation Center” at the Oregon State University are other ideas the speaker supports, Bentz said.

The backbone of the effort to help the county’s economy is to improve transportation infrastructure and reduce freight costs, Bentz said. “We have to have a lower-cost way of getting (our) products to the market.”

Bentz and local ag leaders were hoping to convince Kotek and other legislators to reduce Malheur County’s minimum wage below the $12.50 rate in the plan passed this year.

That appears unlikely, Bentz said.

Kotek said she is “committed to upholding Oregon’s new minimum wage law ... while also respecting regional economic needs and giving local businesses time to plan.”

News that Malheur County’s minimum wage likely won’t be reduced below $12.50 an hour came as bad news to the ag industry.

“That’s a blow,” said Nyssa farmer Paul Skeen. “They can’t see that we have a problem?”

Owyhee Produce General Manager Shay Myers said he’s glad legislators are working on a larger effort to improve the county’s economy.

But onion packers and the local ag industry will still face fierce pressure from competitors on the Idaho side, who will have much lower labor costs, he said.

He said reducing freight costs would benefit businesses on both sides of the border and the disparity in the two areas’ minimum wages will likely cause some Oregon businesses to move to Idaho, automate or both.

His company has already looked at land acquisition options in Idaho.

“It’s not going to change the competitive environment that we as packers of onions are operating in,” Myers said of the economic improvement efforts. “That doesn’t help me in any way compete with my competitors in the state of Idaho.”

Stripe rust pressure this year is “severe to extremely severe” in Pacific Northwest wheat, but most farmers have been able to control it by growing resistant varieties or by applying fungicides.

USDA Agricultural Research Service plant geneticist Xianming Chen blames the mild winter, which allowed the rust to survive and develop in winter wheat.

“Stripe rust developed very early and very quick,” Chen said.

The fungus can cause more than a 60 percent yield loss in highly susceptible wheat varieties.

Applying fungicide has paid off for growers. Rust is generally under control in most commercial fields, Chen said.

“That is big spending for growers, but this year, it was worth it to do that,” he said.

The fungus is occurring almost everywhere in the Pacific Northwest, even in dryland areas.

He hopes to see more farmers plant resistant varieties in the future. That would eliminate the need to spray fungicide, even in severe rust years.

Most wheat fields are now past the point where a fungicide application would help. Rust typically dies by harvest, Chen said, as it cannot live long in dead leaf tissue.

Chen said later-planted spring wheat in higher elevations may still have active rust due to recent rain.

Some of the major fungicides cannot be used after the flowering stage, while others can be used up to 30 days before harvest. Growers should be sure to read the fungicide labels, Chen said.

Temperatures are not quite optimum for the wheat’s high temperature, adult plant resistance to stripe rust to kick in.

It’s too early to tell the outlook for next season, he said.

“It depends on what the weather conditions are from now to the fall,” Chen said. “If the coming winter is cold, then the rust will die more. If the coming winter is very mild like last winter, this rust will survive more.”

Chen said roughly 36 percent of winter wheat varieties are resistant to stripe rust and 16 percent are moderately resistant. Eight percent are moderately resistant to moderately susceptible and 24 percent are moderately susceptible. None are highly susceptible.

For spring wheat, roughly 12 percent of the varieties are resistant, 40 percent are moderately resistant, 11 percent are moderately resistant to moderately susceptible, 11 percent are moderately susceptible and 11 percent are susceptible.

MONDAY, JULY 25

BANDON — Choosing the right health insurance plan is an important health decision for every individual. Coast Community Health Center is excited to announce continued funding by the Oregon Health Authority for insurance enrollment assistance for residents in southern Coos…

SOUTH COAST — Bandon, Langlois and Port Orford are known for their cranberry farms, but there's another berry growing in popularity along the South Coast.

SOUTH COAST — The others of his age group see him as the lead — the inspiration for a bunch more like him.

SILVERTON — The Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association recognized The World, the Bandon Western World and the Umpqua Post with a total of 30 awards this week, including — for the second year in a row — the association’s highest honor,…

SILVERTON — The Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association recognized The World, the Bandon Western World and the Umpqua Post with a total of 31 awards this week, including – for the second year in a row – the association’s highest honor,…

SATURDAY, JULY 23

SILVERTON — The Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association recognized The World, the Bandon Western World and the Umpqua Post with a total of 31 awards this week, including – for the second year in a row – the association’s highest honor,…

ONTARIO, Ore. — The Obama administration is well aware of the strong local opposition to a proposed national monument in Malheur County, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden told Eastern Oregon residents on July 21.

Malheur County residents who asked Wyden during an annual town hall meeting whether he supports the proposed national monument said they didn’t receive a definite answer.

But Wyden did say several times that the president is well aware of the local opposition to a proposed national monument on 2.5 million acres in a part of the county known as the Owyhee Canyonlands.

“I have told the Obama administration repeatedly ... that there is very vigorous opposition at the local level to the monument,” the Oregon Democrat said. “They would have had no confusion about what I’m telling them.”

Supporters want Obama to use the Antiquities Act to declare a national monument in Malheur County.

Ranchers and others who asked Wyden whether he supports the national monument proposal being pushed by the Oregon Natural Desert Association told Capital Press later they didn’t receive a clear answer.

Malheur County Farm Bureau President Jeana Hall asked Wyden for a commitment to “stand up for the people of Oregon, not just here in Malheur, and say that there should not be a monument designation.”

Julie Mackenzie, a Jordan Valley rancher, asked Wyden, “Are you for the monument?”

Wyden said it’s his duty to respect how Oregon residents vote on issues. Malheur County residents voted 9-1 against the monument in a special election in March. He also said that while Malheur County residents have voted on the issue, the rest of Oregon has not.

“I didn’t hear an answer,” Hall told Capital Press later. “I think I heard a ‘maybe’ somewhere in there.”

Mackenzie said she asked the senator “a yes or no question and he didn’t answer it. It was just kind of a going around in circles type of thing.”

Wyden Press Secretary Hank Stern said he would let the senator’s words during the meeting speak for themselves but added, “I thought he expressed himself pretty clearly.”

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an Interior Department funding bill July 14 that includes a provision preventing funds from being used to create a national monument in Malheur County.

Jordan Valley rancher Elias Eiguren asked Wyden whether he would support a similar proposal in the Senate.

Eiguren said he and other ranchers came to the meeting hoping to get Wyden to commit to opposing a monument designation and supporting a proposal in the Senate similar to the one passed by the House.

Eiguren told Capital Press that didn’t happen.

“We would really hope Sen. Wyden will do what is good for the land and help us stop this monument,” he said.

LEBANON, Ore. — Coy Cowart and three friends joked about how many hamburgers his giant steer Buford would make.

They decided the steer would produce 3,600 quarter-pounder hamburgers.

Buford is not your average steer. Weighing in at 2,175 pounds, he brought 83 cents per pound at Cowart’s Lebanon Auction Yard on July 21. When Cowart stood next to Buford in the auction ring, the steer towered over him.

Buford was nearly twice as heavy as the average steer, which typically weighs approximately 1,200 pounds.

Cowart called Buford his pet steer, having raised him for four years.

“He was always the most gentle guy,” Cowart said. “When I would call him in he would lead all of the other cattle in with him.

Cowart said he would have liked to keep Buford longer to see how much bigger he would get but that he became too big to manage with the other cattle.

Cowart is co-owner of Lebanon Auction Yard with his wife, Helen, son Terry and daughter-in-law Lezlie. He started the auction yard in 1987 after he retired from a career in construction.

“I never thought I would own a business before I retired,” Cowart said. “At 54 years old I spent a lifetime making money for other people and thought, Why not do it for myself?”

When Cowart started the auction yard there were 18 other auction yards in Oregon — now there are eight. Three are left in the Willamette Valley.

Diversification has been a big contributor to Cowart’s success. He said he realized early on that auctioning dairy cows wouldn’t be enough to sustain his family so he began investing in other areas.

The auction yard now sells farm equipment and animals and provides trucking services, contracts cattle and transports hay and feed.

Cowart expanded the auction yard last year with the addition of a 100-by-240-foot barn and expects to put in another, bigger barn later this year.

Cowart said family is a huge part of Lebanon Auction Yard and his life. He has 12 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren that help out at the auction yard and in his garden at home.

“I believe in God, family and the nation,” Cowart said, quoting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Cowart said he encourages all of his children and grandchildren to own their own businesses.

He spoke proudly of his grandson, Matt Cowart, who in 2015 opened a brewery in Lebanon, Ore. Cowart said he takes out-of-town business associates and friends to Conversion Brewing whenever they are visiting.

He said everyone at Lebanon Auction Yard is like family, whether they are related or not.

In selling Buford, Cowart said most people don’t want to eat pets once they’ve named them but that he won’t have that problem.

“I’ll have no problem eating Buford,” Cowart said. “He’s going to make some good steaks.”

Rain and temperature fluctuations are worrying some in the Pacific Northwest wheat industry about sprout damage that could reduce the price farmers receive for their crop.

If the weather clears up without additional storms, “then maybe it’s not going to be that big a disaster,” said Camille Steber, USDA ARS research plant molecular geneticist in Pullman, Wash.

The concern is greater for winter wheat than the spring crop.

Grain elevators use the Hagberg-Perten falling number test to measure starch damage due to sprouting, according to Washington State University. A low falling number indicates a high level of alpha amylase, an enzyme that degrades starch and diminishes the quality of wheat products. Grain with a falling number below 300 typically receives a discount in the Pacific Northwest.

“If the wheat is green, the rain won’t cause a low falling number problem,” Steber said. “If it’s turned completely yellow, then you have to start worrying about it. The longer it’s been since it turned from green to yellow, the more likely it is that you’re going to have a problem.”

Susceptible wheat varieties include Bruehl, Jasper, AP Legacy and Xerpha. Resistant varieties include Puma, Skiles, Coda and Bobtail.

Rain when temperatures are in the 80s won’t likely cause sprouting. But rain during cooler periods are concerning to Steber.

Other areas have had a wide temperature fluctuations that can induce late-maturity alpha amylase.

“There may be some farmers whose wheat didn’t even get rained on who will be coming to us and telling us they had falling numbers below 300,” Steber said.

Blaine Jacobson, executive director of the Idaho Wheat Commission, said low falling numbers are a concern in the Lewiston, Idaho, region. Stripe rust is also impacting lower elevations of Nezperce County, according to the commission.

As harvest moved into higher elevations, falling number scores improved, Jacobson said.

“We’re optimistic that as the harvest progresses and the footprint expands, that problem will take care of itself,” he said. “But it is something we’re watching carefully.”

Steber isn’t certain how widespread the problem could be.

“I’m hoping it’s a limited problem this year,” she said.

Steber recommends farmers harvest as quickly as they can, the better to avoid any rains coming through.

Growers are likely to make more money if they avoid mixing wheat likely to have a falling number problem with wheat that probably won’t, she said.

“If you had separate fields where one was totally yellow and one was kind of green when most of the rain came through, keep them separate when you harvest them and take them to the elevator separate,” she said. “The enzyme that causes the falling number problem is actually pretty powerful. If you mixed equal amounts of wheat with falling number 400 with falling number 200, you’re not going to land at 300, you’re going to land lower than that.”

Grain that’s mildly sprouted, in the 200 to 300 range, could be stored for several months to see if the falling number goes up, Steber said. Wheat that’s badly sprouted won’t change because it’s already damaged.

Jacobson recommends farmers who receive a low falling number ask for another test at the elevator.

“There’s a lot of variability,” he said.

Online

http://smallgrains.wsu.edu/recent-weather-could-affect-wheat-quality/

PENDLETON, Ore. — It’s been a hectic homecoming for Tony Flagg.

After nearly two decades as CEO of the Pendleton Flour Mills, Flagg finds himself back in the Round-Up City — this time as vice president of business development for United Grain Corporation, which recently bought all grain assets from the now-dissolved Pendleton Grain Growers.

The deal became official June 10, which gave Flagg one month to hire staff and open a new office on Main Street before the start of wheat harvest. The sale included PGG’s upcountry grain elevators and Columbia River terminal, but not its other businesses or main office building on Dorion Avenue.

The timing was tricky, having to jump directly into harvest. But Flagg said they’ve hit the ground running and made a good first impression on producers.

“I think we’ve been received very well,” he said. “They appreciate that we’re here.”

United Grain now has the task of picking up where PGG dropped off, while updating infrastructure that has become obsolete. When UGC agreed to buy the facilities, it promised to invest $9 million toward making them more modern and efficient. Flagg said the contract gives them five years to get the job done, but added they want to move forward as soon as possible.

“Many of the elevators are so antiquated they’re no longer competitive and, quite frankly, no longer safe,” he said.

That level of commitment from United Grain comes at the backing of its owner, the Mitsui Group, a multi-billion dollar international trading company with offices in Tokyo and New York City. Mitsui became interested in food production after building its portfolio in mining, energy and manufacturing.

United Grain is at the forefront of that strategy, Flagg said. The company formed in 1969 and now operates the largest grain export terminal on the West Coast in Vancouver, Washington. For years, UGC operated purely as a wheat exporter, but with the rise of genetically modified crops, an emerging middle class in China and deepening of the Columbia River channel to accommodate larger ships, Flagg said the market has become significantly larger and more complex.

That, in turn, has led United Grain to branch out and work directly with farmers, which Flagg said gives them a greater command of the whole supply chain. In other words, they can supply more grain at a faster rate, amounting to more reliable service for customers.

“It’s all about speed, space and service,” Flagg said. “That’s why we’re here.”

The PGG Board of Directors voted to dissolve in May, ending 86 years of service in Eastern Oregon. Flagg said everyone, including himself, regrets that the co-op failed. But UGC is excited for the chance to develop relationships directly with farmers. UGC did retain nine former PGG employees, including Jason Middleton, who was hired as region manager.

Flagg knew even before the sale it would take time and money to get the elevators where they need to be. Some just simply aren’t equipped to handle the needs of today’s farmers and, when it comes to harvest, time equals money.

“I’m dealing with truck lineup issues at McNary, and it’s only the front end of harvest,” Flagg said. “If the trucks don’t get back to the field, harvest stops ... We need to make these facilities faster, and hold more grain.”

The first step, Flagg said, is to look at which elevators are worth updating and which UGC will have to close. Flagg, 66, said he will facilitate that process and, once the operation is running smoothly, he plans to retire.

Umatilla County is one of, if not the best, grain producing counties in the U.S., Flagg said. He said it’s up to them now to improve their level of service and win PGG’s customers back.