Oregon’s winemakers reported a 12 percent sales increase to $529 million, planted 2,400 more acres of grapes and opened 23 more wineries in 2016, according to an annual census commissioned by the Oregon Wine Board.

The growth came despite a 6 percent drop in production, slipping to 79,782 tons from the 84,782 tons harvested in 2015.

Not to worry, said Steve Thomson, CEO of Cristom Vineyards and the wine board chair. For one thing, the 2014 and 2015 vintages were unusually large, and 2016 was closer to normal — although the 2017 yield is shaping up as another big one.

More important, he said, is the price per ton is increasing and the state’s “pricing power” is intact. In other words, the state’s winemakers concentrated from the early days on quality rather than quantity, and consumers remain willing to pay more for Oregon wine.

“It all fits together really well,” Thomson said.

The Willamette Valley’s internationally acclaimed Pinot noir is still the big dog, accounting for 64 percent of the 30,435 acres of wine grapes grown in Oregon. In addition, about 73 percent of the grape “crush” happened in the North Willamette Valley. But Thomson said the state is no longer a “one trick pony.”

The warmer Southern Oregon and the Columbia Valley regions, the latter including American Viticulture Areas in sections of Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington, produce a range of Mediterranean and Bordeaux varietals to complement the Burgundian style Pinot noir. Across the state, buyers can find Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot gris, Syrah, Zinfandel, Malbec, Merlot, Tempranillo and more.

“It’s a strong healthy sign for our industry,” Thomson said. “I marvel a little bit. Ten years ago it was Pinot noir driven, now there’s incredible variety. It helps immunize our industry for the future by having greater diversity across our industry.”

The census is the work of the Southern Oregon University Research Center. Among other statistics, the report showed Oregon now has 725 wineries, adding them at a pace of nearly two a month. Case sales at winery tasting rooms, where visitors can sample “flights” of various varietals, jumped to 484,714 in 2016 — 63,000 more 12-bottle cases than in 2015.

The Oregon Wine Board is a semi-independent state agency that does marketing, research and education for the industry.

Online: The 2016 Oregon Vineyard and Winery Census Report

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 30

HERMISTON, Ore. — The spring weather may not have been ideal, but Tony Amstad is still pleasantly surprised with the size and quality of his early season potatoes.

While an abundance of rain and snow pushed back planting by about a week in March, Amstad said the delay doesn’t seem to be affecting his fresh market crop. Harvest is now underway, and what he sees are spuds that are just the right shape, color and consistency for supermarket shelves.

“It’s going to be a decent year,” said Amstad, owner of Amstad Farms. “It started out bad and ended up good.”

Amstad Farms grows 2,250 acres of potatoes, mostly around Hermiston and Echo. On Tuesday, Amstad watched as crews sifted through a stream of Russets that were loaded up a conveyor belt into the back of a 30-ton semi-truck bound for the farm’s packing plant in Sherwood.

In another three weeks, Amstad said they will be going full bore on filling their eight, 9,000-ton storage sheds around the county. Most of what Amstad grows are fresh market potatoes — the kind you find in the produce section of the grocery store — though the farm also plants several varieties of red and yellow potatoes, which are sold to Reser’s Fine Foods to make potato salad.

Not only is quality looking good this year for Columbia Basin potatoes, but so is price, according to Amstad. Thanks in large part to a 15,000-acre reduction in neighboring Idaho, Amstad said the fresh market is looking to bring in about $12 per 100 pounds, which is the best he’s seen in three years.

“It’s called supply and demand,” he said. “And demand has been real good so far.”

Bill Brewer, CEO of the Oregon Potato Commission, said the fresh market has been dogged by overproduction the last couple of years. When Idaho, the largest supplier nationwide, reduces production, Brewer said Oregon is well positioned to reap the benefits.

Oregon’s potato export markets have also been on the rise over the last 10 years, Brewer added, thanks to the prosperous french fry and potato chip industries overseas in countries like Mexico, China and throughout the Pacific Rim.

“Our international markets are extremely important to us,” Brewer said, noting that 65 percent of Oregon potatoes are exported.

Domestically, about half of Oregon potatoes are sent to french fry factories like the massive Lamb Weston plants in Hermiston and Boardman. Another 20 percent are used for potato flakes and flour, like what’s made at Oregon Potato Company in Boardman. Roughly 8-10 percent go to potato chip processors like Shearer’s Foods in Hermiston.

The rest are fresh market, which makes up the bulk of taters at Amstad Farms.

Tony Amstad started the business in 1959, making this his 58th potato harvest. He has seen plenty of cycles in the industry, and has learned to take the good with the bad.

“Overall, when I look back on 58 years, it’s been very good to us,” he said.

Amstad’s partners include his two sons, Jeff and Skeeter, and his nephew, Todd Dimbat. Amstad Farms is now one of the region’s larger growers of fresh market potatoes.

This year brought excellent growing weather during the months of April, May and June, Amstad said. He admits he was concerned as temperatures have climbed in recent weeks to triple digits, as such stifling heat can essentially halt the development of tubers. But with harvest beginning Aug. 5, he said yields are so far looking promising.

Brewer cautions it is still early, and said he wouldn’t be surprised if the intense heat does result in a slight dip in yields. Most growers are prepared for that, he said, and he doesn’t anticipate any quality issues related to the heat.

Meanwhile, Amstad’s crews will remain busy with harvest well into October. Barring anything unexpected, the crop should fetch a reasonable profit.

LEBANON, Ore. (AP) — A handyman in Lebanon, Ore., has died after being fatally electrocuted in a freak farming accident.

Linn County authorities said Tuesday that 58-year-old Robert Leeland Prock was standing a 40-foot irrigation pipe on its end to move it when the pipe touched an overhead electrical wire.

The 12,000-volt wire was suspended 22 feet above the ground.

Prock was knocked unconscious by the shock and was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.

His 11-year-old son, who was helping him, was also shocked but survived with no serious injuries.

The investigation is continuing.

EUGENE, Ore. — Margarito Palacios belongs to one of the two families that runs the Small Farmers’ Project, a cooperative for Latino families that sells organic blackcap raspberries, fruit jam and U-pick strawberries at their farmstand.

The effort started in 2008 through Heifer International and Huerto de la Familia, which is Spanish for the Family Garden. For three years they supported the program by securing a $6,000 grant, renting the farmland, helping put in electricity and hiring veteran berry grower Carl Berg to train the farmers over six months.

The SFP has since become a separate enterprise, but Palacios said the organizations still support them.

Sarah Cantril, former executive director of Huerto de la Familia, said she is happy that the SPF continues, even though the operation has scaled back over the past several years, with several families leaving the co-op and fewer acres being farmed.

“The thing about the project, if you look at it from a capitalistic point of view, it’s hard to see the benefit,” she said. “They had to have jobs off the farm. It hasn’t been as lucrative as it could be, but I know for a fact people have paid off debt and sent money home to their children. Three people out of two families were able to have their higher education paid for in their home countries.”

The project also helped the Latino image in the community, Cantril said.

Palacios was eager to join because he said Latinos don’t make enough money to have their own farm. He was working minimum wage at SPF’s creation, but still works as a supervisor at a cleaning company.

“When we heard (about SFP) we say ‘yes’ quickly because it’s an opportunity for our family,” he said. “My daughter is four and my son is two, and I want a good life for them.”

Palacios is proud that SFP is organic. He said it is everyone’s responsibility to take care of the world for future generations — such as his children, who often go through the fields eating berries straight off the plant.

The initial struggle the business had was reaching customers. For that reason, SPF contracted with Organically Grown Co., the University of Oregon and others, according to Cantril.

From 2011 to 2014, SPF worked with Organically Grown Co. to produce blackcap raspberries. Approached by Cantril and Berg about the berries’ marketability, Organically Grown decided to help the group package and market the product for them, said Mike Neubeck, director of sourcing.

In four years, SPF sold 1,500 units of 12 half-pint blackcap raspberries.

Neubeck said that SPF began to “test different waters,” adding the U-pick strawberry field and jam products. Eventually the co-op told him that they were wanting to sell direct to retail.

“They’re great people and it was a neat experiment,” he said.

Cantril credits SFP as the “project that instigated the Cambio businesses,” a micro-development program through Huerto de la Familia that will assist Latinos set up or expand farm and food business ideas. The program offers both training and business counseling, as well as a food booth program.

“Shifting the dynamic of Latinos to being leaders of micro-businesses will help them to integrate into the larger Eugene (and) Springfield community, access new financial opportunities and help lead our disadvantaged communities to a more equitable and prosperous future,” Huerto de la Familia said on its website.

For Palacios, SFP is more than a way to support his family. It’s a chance to show Americans why he came to the U.S.

“Sometimes a couple gringo think that we come to do bad things, but with my job I show them what I come to do,” he said. “It’s not only for me. I do this for many, many Latinos.”

Tracks indicated the 500-pound calf churned 150 feet up a slope, leaving blood splattered on four logs, before going down in a pile of Meacham Pack wolves.

There wasn’t much left when a ranch hand found the carcass Aug. 19, perhaps two or three days after the attack. Most of the calf had been devoured, except the vertebrae with ribs, pelvis and tail still attached. The calf’s lower jaw and contents of its rumen were nearby.

It was the pack’s fourth confirmed attack within a week, all on livestock grazing on a 4,000 acre private, forested pasture in the Sheep Creek area of Umatilla County. The producer asked ODFW to take “lethal control” against the Meacham Pack as allowed under Phase 3 of Oregon’s wolf management program.

The rancher wanted them all dead. The wildlife agency authorized killing two of them, an incremental approach it had taken earlier in August with Wallowa County’s Harl Butte Pack, which attacked livestock eight times since July 2016.

In that case, ODFW quickly shot two adult Harl Butte wolves, then a third and fourth in the days that followed as it appeared the pack was still going after calves.

The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association argued that ODFW’s approach was a waste of time. Even with four dead, the Harl Butte Pack consisted of six adults and three growing pups – a 33-pound pup was unintentionally trapped, then released unharmed, as ODFW pursued the adults.

The Meacham Pack, meanwhile, had seven members at the end of 2016 and added at least four pups this past spring.

As Wallowa County rancher Todd Nash put it, “big dogs” eat a lot of meat.

The apparent spike in livestock attacks in August raised questions. ODFW said Oregon’s unusually warm and dry summer — even Portland went 57 days without rain — caused deer and elk to move to higher ground. With their natural prey more scarce, wolves then turned to attacking cattle, went the explanation.

But as Northeast Oregon research scientist Jim Akenson pointed out, deer and elk go to higher ground every summer. That’s not new, although conditions were more severe this year.

Instead, Akenson believes the packs may be “habituated” to eating cattle. For that reason, he said, ODFW’s incremental response — killing two adults at a time and monitoring the effect on pack behavior — probably won’t work.

Once the pack members “flip that switch” in terms of prey selection, it is tough to deter them, he said.

“They’re habituated to easy pickings,” Akenson said. “Plucking out a couple individuals is probably not going to change that behavior.”

Akenson is conservation director for the Oregon Hunters Association. His wife, Holly Akenson, is a wildlife biologist and member of the ODFW Commission, which is expected to revise and adopt the state’s wolf management plan this year. The Akensons live in Enterprise, in Wallowa County, and have extensive wildlife and wilderness experience in the Pacific Northwest.

John Stephenson, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist based in Southwest Oregon, said larger packs tend to go after livestock.

“There’s a relationship between pack size and increased incidents of depredation,” he said.

Location is another factor, he said. The Harl Butte Pack operates where several herds graze on a mix of public and private land. All of its attacks over the past year were within 9 miles of each other, according to ODFW. The Imnaha Pack formerly prowled the territory and was known for attacking livestock. ODFW shot four Imnaha Pack wolves in April 2016 after repeated attacks on calves and sheep.

Meanwhile, all of the Meacham Pack’s attacks in August took place on the same private pasture.

Conservation groups oppose killing wolves and have asked, without success, for Gov. Kate Brown to intervene in ODFW’s decisions. The groups, including Oregon Wild, believe ODFW should not be taking lethal action until Oregon’s outdated wolf management plan is reviewed and revised. The ODFW Commission is expected to take action on the plan this year.

Local lakes: Several local lakes are still good choices for rainbow trout anglers. Anglers are reporting good trout fishing out on Garrison Lake in Port Orford and Floras Lake in Langlois. Bank fishing has been decent in the early mornings…

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.