ROSEBURG, Ore. — After several years of work, applying for grants and buying and modifying equipment, Oregon Sheep Growers Association members staged their first sheep shearing school last week in Roseburg, Ore.

Participants learned how to handle the sheep, lay out and pick fleeces, use and care for shearing equipment and how to disinfect and suture nicks and cuts to the animal should they happen. Students came away from the school with a certificate of completion and the go-ahead to shear small flocks for hire.

Dan Dawson, a sheep grower and shearer from Roseburg who was part of the team, sees training young sheep shearers is a way for them to earn money when regulations bar them from being employed in most jobs until they are 18 years old.

“One 18-year-old young man came up to me at the end of the school and told me that he had done a lot of hard things in his life but that this had been the hardest,” Dawson said. “I reminded him that it may be hard, but at least they don’t have to be 18 to earn money shearing sheep.”

In addition to Dawson, volunteer instructors included Kathryn Ritchie and John Fine from Roseburg and Wendy Valentine from Bandon.

During the four-day school, four high school students and one adult sheared more than 350 sheep. The program was financed with grant money from the American Sheep Industry’s Let’s Grow program and the Oregon Sheep Commission.

“We’ve been trying to get a sheep shearing school in Oregon for a long time, because we have a shortage of small flock shearers,” John Fine, a longtime sheep grower and former FFA teacher, said. “I had three requests to hire the graduates of this school in the first two days after the school. One producer had too many sheep for a student to handle but two of them will be a good fit.”

“In the past, Gene Pirelli (an Oregon State University Extension agent) and I tried to figure out how to bring Washington State University’s shearing trailer down from Moses Lake but it is was too difficult because of its size,” he said. “When Dan Dawson found one that we could easily collapse and haul on the highway, we set to work and got the funds to buy it.”

The trailer is only eight feet wide but pulls out to 20 feet wide, which provides training space, he said. The trailer complete with shearing equipment is the property of the Oregon Sheep Growers Association.

Ritchie, a sheep shearer with a small flock, used her experience of attending shearing schools in both North and South Dakota.

“We were glad to see so many young people in the class because that’s the best time to start,” she said. “Though the enrollment is limited to 10, having half that many worked well for the students because they got so much one-on-one attention. I thought we did well for our first year and after spending some time to appraise what we did this time we’ll be ready to set the date for the next one.”

The fees for the school were $250 for adults, $225 for students and included a one-year membership in OSGA. To receive information on the next school, email johnandpeggyfine@charter.net. For more information on the ASI Let’s Grow Programs, visit http://sheepusa.org/Growourflock Home

CORVALLIS – Oregon State University will hold its 149th commencement on Saturday, June 16, beginning at 10:30 a.m. in Reser Stadium. OSU is one of the few large universities in the nation to hand out students’ actual diplomas during the…

Idaho Power Co. on June 1 decreased rates by about 4.25 percent for irrigation customers in Idaho, but the Boise-based company slightly increased rates its irrigation customers in Oregon pay.

Tax reforms eased irrigation rates in both states. Oregon customers, however, will pay higher rates because of added costs that include ceasing two coal-fired generating operations.

In Idaho, irrigation rates are dropping by 2.33 percent because of recent tax reforms and by 1.91 percent based on the annual power-cost adjustment, Idaho Power said in a statement.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission approved the company’s request, commission spokesman Matt Evans said.

Idaho Power each year applies to the commission for a power-cost adjustment reflecting cost increases or savings the company realized in providing power to customers. Company spokesman Jordan Rodriguez said the adjustment takes into account factors such as coal and natural gas prices, and the amount of water available for generating hydroelectric power — the company’s most cost-effective source. If the company has more water available for hydroelectric power generation, it can spend less on other sources.

Federal and state tax reforms that generated cost savings for Idaho Power prompted the company and commission to settle on a method by which the company shares those savings with customers. The method, reflected in the new rate package the commission approved, includes a reduction in base rates and a cost offset, the commission said in a release.

Idaho Power is decreasing rates by 7.04 percent overall in Idaho for residential customers and by 6.63 percent for small, general-service customers. Other decreases are 4.48 percent for large general service customers and 5.52 percent for large power users.

The annual fixed-cost adjustment accounted for over half the reduction for residential customers and just over half for small general-service customers — 3.6 and 3.73 percentage points, respectively.

Evans said irrigation, large power and large general-service users are not subject to the fixed-cost adjustment because the commission hasn’t applied it to them to date. And these users have access to other programs that can help Idaho Power manage its costs, such as an incentive for irrigators to have pumps shut off during periods of peak demand, he said.

Idaho Power said its irrigation customers in Oregon would see a combined 2.49 percent increase in rates.

For its Oregon irrigation customers, a 2.69 percent rate decrease due to tax reform was offset by a 3.51 percent increase associated with early cessation of coal-fired operations at the Boardman, Ore., and North Valmy, Nev., power plants — lower than for other customer classes — and a 1.68 percent increase for the annual power-cost update and power-cost adjustment combined, Idaho Power said.

Other overall rate changes for Oregon customers are a drop of 3.27 percent for residential customers and increases of 2.03 percent for small general service, 2.63 percent for large general service and 3.77 percent for large power customers.

Idaho Power said in a separate June 1 statement that the Public Utility Commission of Oregon approved an agreement between the company, commission staff and the Citizens’ Utility Board regarding recent federal tax reform, which reduces residential rates and lessens effective rate increases for other customer classes.

Idaho Power serves more than 547,000 customers in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon.

Online

https://www.idahopower.com/news/

http://www.puc.idaho.gov/electric/electric.htm

http://www.puc.state.or.us/Pages/Index.aspx

A well-known Oregon flour mill wants a federal judge to declare it can use a gluten-free label without paying a nonprofit group for certification.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat and other grains to which some people have an intolerance that causes digestive problems.

Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods of Milwaukie, Ore., has filed a lawsuit claiming the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America asserted trademark rights in a “GF” gluten-free symbol that’s similar to a logo used by the company.

The nonprofit sent a letter to Bob’s Red Mill alleging consumers may be “confused into thinking GIG has certified your product as satisfying its gluten-free standards, even though GIG has not,” the complaint said.

Bob’s Red Mill should either stop using the logo or become certified by the nonprofit, the letter said.

The lawsuit claims it’s “somewhat puzzling” that GIG has taken this position because the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office considers the GF symbol as “merely descriptive,” which means the nonprofit “has no right to exclusive use of that mark.”

More than 100 gluten-free products are sold by Bob’s Red Mill, which has “built a separate facility with specialized machinery” for such products and targeted consumers seeking to avoid gluten for three decades, the complaint said.

While there is no federal standard for “gluten-free,” the company only uses such labels for products containing fewer than 19 parts per million of the substance, according to the lawsuit.

Bob’s Red Mill is seeking a “declaratory judgment” that it’s not required to pay for certification or cease using the GF logo, which would “require the withholding from store shelves of millions of dollars’ worth of product,” the complaint said. “At a minimum, complying with GIG’s demand would require a significant redesign and marketing process.”

The company has also asked the judge to declare the GF trademark unenforceable and to enter an injunction prohibiting GIG from claiming that others may not use a similar symbol.

Capital Press was unable to reach Sarah Bottorf, the nonprofit’s executive director who sent the letter, for comment.

Gluten Intolerance Group of North America took in about $3 million, most of it derived from “program service revenue,” during 2016, the most recent year for which its tax information is available.

In 2017, the nonprofit filed a lawsuit over the GF trademark against organizations affiliated with Jamie Oliver, a famous chef, which was dismissed earlier this year subject to an undisclosed agreement.

A new tree fruit specialist has arrived at Oregon State University Extension just in time for the cherry and pear growing seasons.

Mateus Pasa was hired in April at the OSU Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Hood River, Ore. A native of Brazil, Pasa spent four years as a research pomologist at the Santa Catarina Agricultural Research and Extension Center in São Joaquim.

Though he primarily worked with apples during his time in Santa Catarina, Pasa will be responsible for finding ways to improve fruit set and production for pears and cherries in the Columbia River Gorge.

“The growers and the fruit industry are very supportive,” Pasa said. “I’m working to help them fix their main problems, and to get better and more efficient and make their orchards more profitable.”

Pasa is no stranger to the region. During his doctorate program, he spent a year at MCAREC working with Todd Einhorn studying the effects of prohexadione calcium — a chemical used to thin trees and reduce fire blight — on the growth of pears.

Pasa now leads the cherry and pear research program at MCAREC, along with Ashley Thompson, who was also hired in April. Pasa said they will continue to develop new rootstocks that allow for planting orchards in higher densities, paving the way for more mechanization and reduced labor costs.

“We need to think ahead and reduce the need for labor,” Pasa said.

Pasa can be reached at MCAREC at 541-386-2030, ext. 38216, or email at mateus.pasa@oregonstate.edu.

Andy Deterding, a crop duster pilot who flew for several decades over many acres of southwestern Oregon, died in a plane accident on May 30.

Deterding, 57, was flying and spraying a herbicide over a field just north of El Reno, Okla., when he made a turn, hit a guy wire on a cell tower and crashed to the ground. He was the only person in the plane. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

His business, Andy Deterding Ag Aviation, is based in Pond Creek, Okla. However, for over 30 years, he had flown seed and fertilizer onto hillside pastures in Douglas and Coos counties, seed onto Bureau of Land Management ground that had been burned and lime onto some Oregon Christmas tree plantations. Deterding worked in Oregon in August, September, October and early November.

Ranchers who worked with him remembered him as both a friend and a professional pilot.

“The thing I want people to know about Andy is that he was more than just a pilot who flew fertilizer on your fields, he became a friend,” said George Sandberg, a Roseburg, Ore., area rancher and president of the Douglas County Farmers Cooperative’s board of directors. “This is a tragedy, a great loss.”

The co-op coordinated the delivery of seed and fertilizer with Deterding’s flying schedule on the different ranches when he came to Douglas County.

“Everybody wanted Andy when the first rains would come late in the summer,” said Melvin Burke, the co-op’s general manager. “It was a tradition for him to come here. His arrival helped kick off the fall season. When you heard Andy flying, you knew the grass was beginning to grow.”

Burke said Deterding understood the importance of getting the product on the ground because growing grass for the livestock meant not having to buy hay to feed.

“For Andy, it was not just about putting fertilizer down by aerial application on the hillsides,” Burke said. “It was about timing for optimal grass growth before the fall rains. He did his best to have the fertilizer and seed down in time for optimal growth before the fall weather turned too cold.

“Secondly, the fertilizer was there and in place when the spring weather returned the next year,” Burke explained. “He could cover areas with that plane that people couldn’t get with ground equipment.”

Burke estimated Deterding flew several tons of fertilizer and seed onto hillside pastures in Douglas County each year.

Dan Dawson, another Douglas County rancher, was a small boy when he first met Deterding about 30 years ago.

“You couldn’t meet a better guy,” Dawson said. “He was a good-hearted, nice guy.

“He flew seed and fertilizer for all of us around here,” Dawson added. “We couldn’t have had anyone better. He knew every ranch in this area. There are so many valleys here and he knew the air currents in every one of them. You didn’t have to tell him twice what you wanted done.”

David and Jill Kennedy, who ranch in the Oakland, Ore., area, had Deterding over to their house for many dinners when he was in Douglas County. On two occasions, he had Thanksgiving dinner with the Kennedys because rainy weather in mid-November prevented him from flying home.

“We’re all just very fond of Andy,” said Jill Kennedy. “He was always just a happy guy. When he laughed, his whole body laughed.

“When he’d come here, he would buzz the house (with his plane),” she added. “He was very experienced, he was very professional about his job. It’s just horrible, horrible to think that good person isn’t going to be here anymore.”

Deterding is survived by his wife Sue and their grown children, Greg, Nikki and Tommy.

Ranchers said it is too soon to know who will provide aerial service to their hillsides later this year, but they hope the Deterding family business will continue the tradition. Greg and Tommy are both pilots.

“We really have a need for that service here,” Burke said. “It’s a unique service that Andy provided for many years.”

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A DNA study of sage grouse has revealed a vast network of mating grounds in the U.S. West akin to interconnected regional airport hubs that the imperiled species is using to maintain genetic diversity across its entire range.

The 19-page report by the U.S. Forest Service made public in early May involved nearly 6,000 sage grouse and maps some 1,200 mating sites in 10 western states and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

Scientists say identifying mating sites that are the most critical hubs can help land managers avoid decisions that could cut the genetic exchange sage grouse need to remain a viable species.

Officials in 2015 opted not to list the chicken-sized, ground-dwelling bird as needing federal protections, but are scheduled to review that decision in 2020.

PORTLAND — Pacific Northwest pear growers anticipate an average crop this year of 18.8 million, 44-pound boxes after lighter crops four years in a row.

Growers produced a record 21.69 million boxes of pears in 2013 but every year since then the yield has been much lighter. Hot weather causing fruit drop and contributing to decay called cork is at least partially responsible for the lighter crops.

The 18,855,900-box estimate is just 58,345 boxes less than the five-year average of 18,914,245 boxes. It is 18 percent bigger than the 2017 crop, which will soon finish sales at close to 15.9 million boxes.

“I like that this looks like a good, full crop. Not record by any means, there should be plenty of promotable fruit for export and domestic markets if this forecast holds,” said Kevin Moffitt, president of The Pear Bureau Northwest in Portland.

That can be a big if. A 17.6-million-box crop was forecast a year ago. It grew to an 18.3-million-box forecast on Aug. 22 but has dropped 13 percent since then.

That’s a much larger shrink than most years, Moffitt said. Beside an increase in cork, about 150,000 boxes of pears were lost in an October fire at Underwood Fruit in Bingen, Wash., near Hood River, Ore.

The Pear Bureau is the Northwest’s fresh pear industry promotional arm and gave the forecast on May 31, the second day of its annual meeting in Portland.

The forecast will be updated in mid-August. Right now, the breakdown by growing district is: Wenatchee, 8.6 million boxes; Hood River, 7 million; Yakima, 2.4 million; and Medford, 751,200 boxes.

The top volumes by variety will be: 9.3 million boxes of d’ Anjou, up 10 percent from 2017; 4.5 million of Green Bartlett, up 24 percent; 3.1 million of Bosc, up 42 percent; 1 million of Red d’Anjou, up 7 percent; and 309,100 boxes of Starkrimson, up 20 percent.

The percentage jump in Bosc is large because it was short last year, Moffitt said.

Organic pears are expected to total 1.6 million boxes, up from 1.2 million last year.

“There’s been more and more transition. It takes three years to transition from conventional to organic. Demand has been growing and our supply is behind demand,” Moffitt said.

Harvest is forecast to start with Starkrimson in Hood River on Aug. 3 and will finish in late September or early October in higher elevations of Hood River and Leavenworth at the upper end of the Wenatchee Valley.

The Pear Bureau renewed grower assessments at 38.5 cents per box for promotions and 3.3 cents for Pear Bureau administration and funding the Northwest Horticultural Council. It increased research assessments from 3.1 to 4.5 cents per box.

The preliminary domestic and foreign promotions budget will be about $6.9 million, up $500,000 from the preliminary spending plan approved a year ago. Of that, $5.7 million is for domestic promotions and $1.2 million for export promotions. Some $2.8 million from the USDA Market Access Program is expected to bring export promotions up to $4 million and the total budget up to $9.8 million.

The 2017 crop was 94.45 percent shipped as of June 1 versus 93.78 percent of the crop shipped a year ago. About 883,000 boxes remained to be sold versus 1.1 million a year ago.

Sales have been slower than shippers wanted, with exports down because of a strong dollar, larger fruit and more small fruit selling domestically in pouch bags, Moffitt said.

“The biggest problem in return to grower is getting fewer boxes per bin because of cork. Yield is down in Anjou because of cork,” he said.

Yakima and Wenatchee prices of d’Anjou were $22 to $26 per box for U.S. No. 1 grade, size 80s on June 1, down $1 from a year ago, according to USDA.

A class action lawsuit that alleges insufficient logging of Oregon’s forests can go to trial without first being reviewed the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Linn County Circuit Judge Daniel Murphy has rejected a motion by the State of Oregon to allow for an “interlocutory appeal” on thorny legal questions before the Oregon Court of Appeals.

The complaint seeks more than $1 billion in damages on behalf of 14 counties and numerous taxing districts, which claim they’ve received inadequate logging revenues from forestland they’d donated to the state government in the early 20th century.

Contractual agreements require those forests to be managed for maximum timber revenue, but for the past 20 years, Oregon has instead focused on environmental and recreational values, according to plaintiffs.

Over the past two years of litigation, Murphy has ruled on several contentious points of law in the case, such as whether “sovereign immunity” bars counties from suing the state government in this context.

In January, the judge denied a request by Oregon’s attorneys to dismiss the lawsuit on that basis, but the state government had hoped to raise the matter and others in an “interlocutory appeal” before a trial.

While the state’s attorneys claimed the Oregon Court of Appeals would provide a “road map to the key issues,” the counties argued such an appeal would unnecessarily delay the proceedings by up to three years.

Postponing the trial would prejudice the counties’ case because witnesses and experts “are already in advanced years and may not be available, or may have less clear recollection,” once finally called to testify, said John DiLorenzo, the plaintiffs’ attorney, in a court brief.

With the judge deciding against an interlocutory appeal, a trial can be expected to take place within the first half of 2019, most likely by March, he said.

Capital Press was unable to reach an attorney for Oregon for comment on the decision.

George Fox University, a private Christian school based in Newberg, Ore., is reaching out to small farmers and vintners in the Willamette Valley after receiving a $100,000 Renewable Energy Development Assistance Grant from the USDA.

Students and faculty in the university’s College of Engineering will use the grant to help agricultural producers become more energy efficient, conduct energy audits and consider renewable energy options on the farm or vineyard.

The university is collaborating with Spark Northwest, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization dedicated to renewable energy development. Funding will be provided by the USDA over two years, beginning this fall.

Bob Harder, dean of the College of Engineering at George Fox, said students will also benefit by becoming more widely recognized in the state as viable contributors to the growing needs of agriculture.

“George Fox is located right in the heart of a verdant countryside surrounded by agricultural endeavors of all kinds — berries, grapes, nuts, dairy and hops — which provides us with a significant opportunity to get to know and serve our neighbors, an advantage we have over some of the other engineering programs located in more urban parts of the state,” Harder said in a statement.

Founded in 1885 as a school for Quakers, George Fox offers bachelor’s degrees in more than 40 majors, 13 master’s and doctoral degrees and six seminary degrees. More than 4,000 students attend classes at the main campus in Newberg, south of Portland.

The university’s foray into agricultural outreach began two years ago, when school President Robin Baker gave a presentation about enhancing the value of George Fox among local communities.

As part of that initiative, one goal was to “develop solutions to real-life challenges in the Northwest through effective cross-disciplinary collaboration between students, professors and the marketplace.”

Harder said the university saw a “clear alignment” between the needs of the USDA Rural Development agency and the strengths of their engineering program. The College of Engineering — led by associate professor Chad Stillinger, and with encouragement from Jill Rees, USDA Rural Development economic coordinator for Oregon — decided to apply for the grant, which it received earlier this spring.

“In looking at our surroundings, it became obvious that one of our regional stakeholders was the agricultural industry,” Harder said. “Through this grant our students will get the unique opportunity to interact with owners of small farms and vineyards, understand their energy needs and use their technical engineering capabilities to assist them in diagnosing energy waste as well as propose efficiency measures and renewable energy options.”

Harder said the grant also positions the university for future USDA funding at the “energy-food-water-climate nexus,” including precision agriculture, field drones and sensors and digitizing data.

Erin McDuff, a spokeswoman for USDA Rural Development in Oregon, said the program is available not only to farmers and ranchers, but rural communities where farmers and ranchers live and work to help them thrive.

The renewable energy development program specifically is designed to help businesses save money on their utilities, which will make them stronger and more resilient, McDuff said.

“We’re also hoping to bring that innovation and new technology into those communities and make them more successful,” she said.

George Fox was the only university in Oregon to receive the grant this year.

For most of the past three years, Jonathan Sandau was content working as a district aide for U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore. But when the Oregon Farm Bureau announced earlier this year that former Government Affairs Specialist Jenny Dressler was leaving, Sandau saw an opportunity on the horizon.

In February, Sandau made the leap from national to state politics, joining the Farm Bureau as its newest government affairs specialist.

“This was a huge opportunity for me,” Sandau said. “I have always wanted to balance politics and agriculture, and you can’t blend agriculture and politics more than in Farm Bureau.” Sandau added that few opportunities would have pulled him away from Schrader’s office. “But this is one of them,” he said, “if not the only one.”

Dressler, who joined the Farm Bureau in December of 2014, left in March to take a position with the Salem lobbying group Public Affairs Counsel.

Sandau, 28, comes by his enthusiasm for politics and agriculture naturally. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Portland in political science, and he was raised on a fifth-generation family farm just east of Salem.

His work in politics includes a six-month internship with Schrader’s office in Washington, D.C., and work on former Gov. John Kitzhaber’s re-election campaign in 2014, in addition to the three years he spent as a district aide.

Still, his immersion in state politics was a bit daunting, as he started with the Farm Bureau midway in the February 2018 session.

“It was trial by fire,” he said. “The short session was a good introduction into what state politics looks like and how it is done.”

Sandau, whose family has belonged to Farm Bureau for as long as he can remember, said he has enjoyed getting to know legislators and the dynamics in play around the Capitol. And he has enjoyed his visits with Farm Bureau members.

“Getting out on folks’ farms and seeing first-hand how the issues impact them is something I think is critically important for us and for policy makers to do. The more we can build those bridges between the farming community and legislators, the better,” Sandau said.

“Agriculture in Oregon has an excellent story to tell, and that story is not on the forefront of people’s minds,” he said. “So, we have to work at telling the story that what we are doing is good, that what we are growing is socially, economically and environmentally responsible, particularly when the perception is sometimes otherwise. And at the Farm Bureau, we have a very credible, authentic and well-branded voice to help folks tell their story.”

Sandau, who is married and lives in South Salem, said he hopes one day to get back to farming, and said if the opportunity arises, he could see a future in politics, as well.

“Right now, though, this is where my focus is,” he said, “and I can’t imagine a better position to be in.”

Capital Press

Crop and field conditions in much of Idaho and eastern Oregon look good headed into the key summer growing season.

Milder spring conditions compared to the cold, wet 2017 got many crops — and some weeds and pests — off to a strong start this year. Several farmers like what they see and are optimistic.

“We are ahead of last year. The crops look good,” said Galen Lee of Sunnyside Farm in New Plymouth, Idaho. The farm grows sugar beets, peppermint, asparagus, alfalfa hay and corn. Sunnyside also has a beef herd and a dairy.

Lee said he has seen some weeds in spots, “but the crops are taking off.”

Getting necessary spraying done was one challenge given southwest Idaho’s considerable wind recently, he said.

April was drier than usual in the area, and Lee started irrigating earlier than is typical. This year’s water supply is good, he said.

Malheur County Onion Growers Association President Paul Skeen, who farms near Nyssa, Ore., said onions in the area “have had a really good spring.”

“Things were planted on time, we had good moisture, and the crop looks as good as it has ever looked,” Skeen said. “There are some problems occasionally in a field or two, but for the most part the crop looks excellent.”

The current onion crop’s condition outshines the usual for this time of year and is much better than that of a year ago, he said.

Following last year’s heavy winter and wet spring, onions in eastern Oregon got off to a late start and then endured lots of heat as the 2017 growing season unfolded. Skeen said yields were lower, though onion quality was excellent.

“At this stage, we are looking like we are going to have excellent quality this year, too,” he said.

Skeen is not concerned any more than usual about weeds, weather or pests.

“It’s part of growing onions,” he said. “But the fields are pretty clean and Mother Nature has been, for the most part, pretty good to us.”

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service on May 29 reported that in southwest Idaho, onions were almost completely emerged and continued to appear in good condition.

In north central Idaho, Robert Blair of Blair Farms, in Kendrick, says fields and crops look good.

“We have had good moisture so far this year. Conditions for growing so far have been very good,” he said.

Seeding in the region is probably “99 percent done” except for some legumes, alfalfa and grass seeding left to do at higher elevations, Blair said.

Winter wheat is “looking good and heading out,” meaning the kernel-containing wheat heads are emerging, he said.

North central Idaho got another dose of rain May 31 and early June 1 — good for crops but possibly increasing risk for diseases like rust in wheat and blight in chickpeas, Blair said. “I’m going to be monitoring that.”

Weather and growing conditions, a mixed bag last year, are good so far, Blair said.

“Right now, we are having ideal growing conditions,” he said. “It has been a little on the cool side, but the moisture we have received here has been really good … keeping the moisture level really good from what’s evaporating out.”

Blair said that a year ago, “we had a couple straight weeks of high-70- to mid-80-degree days the end of May and the first week of June, and a cloudburst rainstorm the first week of June. And that was the last rain we had last year through the growing season.” High heat followed, and spring crops such as spring wheat and legumes did not fare well. Yields were off by at least 15 percent in places, he said.

Ideally, this June will bring some timely rains and will not get won’t get too hot, he said. Highs around 80 and lows in the 50s are good, he said. He plans to watch closely around mid-month for weed issues.

“If you get those timely rains in June, it makes farming that much easier,” Blair said.

Drought continues to spread across vast portions of southern and Eastern Oregon, with Lake County the latest to receive an emergency declaration from Gov. Kate Brown.

“Forecasts are predicting severe drought and wildfire conditions for much of Oregon,” Brown said in a statement. “The conditions in Lake County are already concerning, and I’m directing state agencies to prioritize assistance in the area to help minimize the impacts drought conditions could have on the local economy.”

Drought has also been declared in Klamath, Grant and Harney counties. Racquel Rancier, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Water Resources Department, said no other applications are currently pending.

The Lake County Board of Commissioners requested drought relief in March, citing below average precipitation and inconsistent water storage, ranging from 51 percent of normal at Cottonwood Reservoir to 114 percent of normal at Drews Reservoir.

Approximately 45,000 acres of irrigated farmland were expected to run out of stored water between April and May, and 147,000 outlying acres were also expected to run out of water around the same time, according to the county’s drought resolution.

“Many longtime Lake County farmers and ranchers have commented that they have not seen water conditions this severe since 2015,” the county resolution states.

As of May 30, snowpack has entirely melted in the Lake County and Goose Lake basins. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows nearly all of southern and Eastern Oregon in some stage of drought, from abnormally dry to severe conditions.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center also forecasts Oregon will be hotter and drier than normal for the next three months, exacerbating drought statewide.

“The Lake County Board of Commissioners determines that extraordinary measures must be taken to alleviate suffering of people and livestock and to protect or mitigate economic loss, and to be responsive to the threat of wildfires,” the resolution continues.

The governor’s drought declaration gives water managers some increased flexibility to assist producers on the ground, such as emergency water use permits, water exchanges, substitutions and in-stream leases.

The first two days of negotiating updates to the Columbia River Treaty were “very productive,” U.S. negotiators say.

The talks were May 29-30 in Washington, D.C.

Some provisions of the treaty, adopted in 1964 for cooperative development and operation of water resources in the Columbia River Basin, are set to expire in 2024.

Negotiators spoke during a conference call May 31 following the first round of negotiations to modernize the treaty between the U.S. and Canada.

Media were advised to identify speakers only as “senior U.S. government officials.”

“We’re in the beginning stages and right now we’re just reaffirming cooperation,” one official said. “We’re just laying out what our future objectives are at this point.”

Negotiators are relying on a 2013 regional recommendation developed by the Bonneville Power Administration and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after years of consulting federal agencies, states, tribes and “extensive” stakeholder engagement.

“This is our guide, this is our foundation,” the official said.

U.S. objectives include continued careful management of flood risk; ensuring a reliable and economical power supply and better addressing ecosystem concerns.

Both the U.S. and Canadian governments have brought up mitigating any impacts associated with climate change, an official said.

The official declined to go into specific negotiating positions.

When asked by reporters whether the Trump administration had issued “marching orders” or expressed views on the treaty as a good deal or bad deal, the officials reiterated that they were relying on the regional recommendations.

Asked if Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum and renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement would affect negotiations, the official was not aware of any discussions to merge the issues.

“We have no information that suggests these discussions will be impacted at this point,” an official said.

Pacific Northwest tribes and First Nations tribes in Canada have expressed concerns that they don’t have a seat at negotiations, a reporter said.

The officials are “deeply grateful” for the tribes who contributed to the consensus outlined in the 2013 recommendation.

“We value the expertise and experience of the tribes, and the department has maintained regular contact and communications with the tribes,” an U.S. official said. “We will continue to consult with the tribes on a regular basis as negotiations proceed. We are working with the tribes to develop an engagement plan that allows for meaningful consultation throughout the negotiation process.”

The next round of negotiations will be Aug. 15-16 in British Columbia.

A controversial Oregon dairy won’t be forced to auction off its cattle and will instead seek to sell the animals together with the facility and land.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Fredrick Clement has decided against lifting bankruptcy protections for Lost Valley Farm of Boardman, Ore., effectively forestalling a liquidation sale sought by Rabobank, the dairy’s main creditor.

Rabobank sought to foreclose on the herd to repay some of the $67 million it had loaned to the dairy, but owner Greg te Velde filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, automatically protecting against such actions while he restructures debt.

His bankruptcy filing canceled a liquidation auction of Lost Valley Farm’s cattle in April, but Rabobank has since argued the dairy shouldn’t be shielded from foreclosure because it’s being mismanaged.

Rabobank argued that Columbia River Processing, a subsidiary of the Tillamook County Creamery Cooperative, had terminated its contract to buy milk from the dairy and would cease accepting it after May 31.

Patrick Criteser, Tillamook’s CEO, submitted a declaration the contract was terminated because the dairy wasn’t paying its debts and had violated quality standards more than 60 times by supplying milk with high bacteria levels.

The bank also claimed that Lost Valley Farm is out of compliance with its “confined animal feeding operation” permit, which regulates wastewater, despite a settlement with the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Correcting wastewater management problems at the dairy will require expensive remediation, such as emptying and rebuilding manure lagoons, at a cost of nearly $400,000 that’s not in the company’s budget, according to Rabobank.

Te Velde’s “substance abuse problem” also weighs against his continued operation of the dairy, since his “half-baked, slapdash approach” to complying with wastewater regulations is “just the latest manifestation of his drug problem,” the bank said.

In court documents, te Velde disputed the contract with Columbia River Processing was terminated, saying that “my special counsel and I continue to assert there is a scheduled, valid, executory contract and we are prepared to litigate any act by CRP to discontinue receiving our milk product.”

It’s true that ODA has threatened to “hold a contempt hearing” due to alleged violations of the dairy’s wastewater settlement, but the facility will comply with regulations by spreading wastewater on a forage crop to increase open capacity in its manure lagoon, he said.

Te Velde also claimed he will soon begin work on lining another lagoon and upgrading a wastewater conveyance system but “there is no immediate danger of the lagoons overflowing.”

While acknowledging his drug problem, te Velde said he’s enrolled in a “recovery program” and will return to residential treatment for up to three months once his business operations are stabilized.

“It should be noted that while Rabobank has pointed out my substance abuse problem, it does not contend that I have cheated, lied or stolen,” he said.

Capital Press was unable to reach an attorney for Rabobank.

Riley Walter, an attorney representing te Velde, said he wouldn’t characterize the judge’s decision as a victory but simply a recognition that lifting bankruptcy protections now would be premature.

“It’s the way Chapter 11 should work,” Walter said. “The debtor is entitled to a reasonable breathing spell to get his house in order.”

Rising milk prices bode well for the dairy’s finances, as every $1 increase in price per hundredweight translates to a $130,000 boost in its monthly revenues, he said.

Te Velde’s request to hire a real estate broker to market the Lost Valley Farm property is still pending, but he continues to believe the operation is worth more if it’s not sold piecemeal, Walter said.

The broker would try to sell the property and cattle for $109 million, according to a court document.

“I don’t think it’s true he will sell at any price, but he will sell if he gets his price,” Walter said.

The Oregon Court of Appeals has provided a new legal rationale for why an 80-acre solar power project on farmland in Jackson County was improperly approved.

Last year, the county government granted Origis Energy, the project’s developer, an exception to Oregon’s land use goal of preserving farmland, but the decision was reversed by the state’s Land Use Board of Appeals.

According to LUBA, the solar project didn’t qualify for the exception because it’s not dependent on a “unique resource” that would require converting farmland for industrial development.

It’s not unusual for farmland to be “flat, 80 acres in size and exposed to the sun” and the project’s proximity to an electrical substation in Medford also doesn’t justify the exception, LUBA’s ruling said.

Approving the project on this basis would undermine the purpose of “urban growth boundaries” by allowing development on farmland near cities, the ruling said.

The Oregon Court of Appeals has now disagreed with this interpretation of the state’s land use law but has still reversed the county’s approval of the project.

The relevant statute provides a list of “unique resources” that would justify converting farmland, including “geothermal wells, mineral or aggregate deposits, water reservoirs, natural features, or river or ocean ports.”

However, this list is “not a description of the entire group of possible advantageous locales” and the “locational attractor” does not have to be found exclusively on rural land, according to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Even so, the appellate court has concurred with LUBA that Jackson County improperly used the exception because a solar power project is not an “industrial development” under land use rules.

The county evaluated the project with criteria for such an “industrial development,” but an “energy facility” doesn’t fall into this category, according to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

The county’s other justification for the project — conserving energy is encouraged by another Oregon land use goal — did not fare any better in the ruling.

The Oregon Court of Appeals sided with LUBA, finding that this goal simply means development should be “managed and controlled” to conserve energy.

“Neither the text of the goal nor its guidelines ‘require’ the county to develop or facilitate the development of any particular land use, much less large solar power generation facilities,” the ruling said.

Capital Press was unable to reach attorneys for Origis Energy or the Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association.

Though the ruling has blocked the project for now, it’s possible the developer will seek another pathway under land use law to gain approval for it, said Meriel Darzen, attorney for 1,000 Friends of Oregon, a conservation group that opposed the project.

However, the developer would need to re-apply to the county for permission and begin the process anew, she said. “They will have to start over if they want to try again.”

While it’s too early to say what legal precedent the ruling will have for other renewable energy projects, 1,000 Friends of Oregon is satisfied with the outcome, Darzen said.

“From our perspective, it’s a 100 percent victory,” she said.

Malheur County Development Corp. recently signed an initial contract with the Oregon Department of Transportation, enabling the county to access up to 5 percent of $26 million earmarked for a long-planned intermodal, truck-to-rail loading facility north of Nyssa.

“That is a start, and it gets us on the map for intermodal movement,” Malheur County Economic Development Director Greg Smith said. “No doubt we are going to be making investments for years to come, but this gets us started.”

Called the Treasure Valley Reload Center in planning documents filed last December with the Oregon Transportation Commission, it’s viewed as benefiting farmers. Many of the area’s onion shippers, for example, pay to truck their products more than 200 miles to a Wallula, Wash., reload facility.

“It’s heaven-sent,” said Paul Skeen, president of the Malheur County Onion Growers Association. “That rail center is going to save our industry, I am hoping.”

Having multiple transportation modes available nearby will be a big benefit, he said. Truck availability has been tight partly because of new rules, he said.

“We are going to measure our success by how well this serves our local industry,” Smith said. “That rail center is going to save our industry, I am hoping.”

State funding is from Oregon Lottery-backed bonds. Malheur County must spend it on project-specific planning, engineering, construction and equipment, for example. The funding was part of the Oregon Legislature’s 2017 transportation package.

Smith said having initial state money in hand bodes well as the county competes for other funding sources, like discretionary grants through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program.

State Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, said getting the initial funding is “very important” because it reflects the Oregon Department of Transportation’s finding that the project is meeting detailed requirements. It was one of four projects funded in 2017 using the state’s Connect Oregon program requiring projects move through a step-by-step process showing the project is properly managed and is progressing.

The state funding is “a huge vote for Oregon’s eastern edge,” he said.

Bentz said the reload facility would save significant expense for local onion growers while making eastern Oregon more competitive with onion-growing areas such as eastern Washington and parts of South America. The rail industry also stands to gain local cargo volume.

Smith said another milestone for the Treasure Valley Reload Center will be to submit a final proposal to the Oregon Department of Transportation for approval. That is due Sept. 27. Final engineering planning, construction budgeting and contractor hiring would follow the department’s final approval.

Construction could begin as soon as spring 2019, he said.

The facility will be designed to match demand with affordability requirements, yet accommodate expansion as needed later, Smith said.

The three-parcel, 400-acre site on the east side of Highway 201 includes a planned industrial park and room for connecting to a Union Pacific Railroad main line via easements for rail spurs and sidings.

Smith said the reload facility could consist of a tilt-up concrete structure with a truck staging area, and bays and cross docks set to enable incoming product to go directly onto rail cars or stored temporarily.

“We are designing the facility in such a way to where private industry could locate adjacent to our facility and be able to utilize rail service and/or temporary storage from their building into ours,” he said.

Planning also is under way for an intermodal shipping facility in the Millersburg-Albany area of Western Oregon.

A cool breeze blows between the rows of heirloom apple trees at Queener Farm in Scio, Ore., where Jeannie Berg plucks a small, unripened Almata apple to show its bright red flesh.

Almatas are just one of roughly 80 different apple varieties that Berg expects to pick from the orchard this year. Some, like Honeycrisp, are well known and popular. Others, like Calville Blanc d’hiver and Dumelow’s Seedling, are a bit more adventurous.

With such a diverse selection, Berg launched the Queener Farm Heirloom Apple Club in 2015, delivering boxes of unique, organically grown apples to members looking to broaden their palate.

“There are people who had no idea apples could taste this different,” Berg said.

For example, Berg described the Whitney crabapple, which she said is sweet with a distinctly vanilla flavor. On the other hand, there is the Alkmene apple, a juicy variety that Berg said tastes (and even sparkles) like lime soda.

The Heirloom Apple Club works on a community supported agriculture, or CSA, model. Members pay for apple boxes delivered every other week during the heart of the season, from roughly mid-July through October.

In turn, Berg said members are supporting the biodiversity of apples at Queener Farms, which has 2,000 heirloom trees — most of which are more than 20 and 30 years old.

“It is much more interesting and fun to both farm and market a wide variety of apples,” Berg said.

That biodiversity also poses an intellectual challenge on the farm, Berg said. Different varieties bloom and ripen at different times throughout the season, which means there is no one-size-fits-all treatment for pests, like codling moth, and fungal diseases prevalent across the Mid-Willamette Valley.

“We have all these variables in the orchard that are incredibly educational,” Berg said. “But the thing about them from a farm perspective is there is nothing about this farm that’s efficient.”

Berg, who took over farming at the 40-acre property in 2014, said she is also beginning to grow 700-800 new trees that will eventually be planted in the orchard.

“We feel that continuing to plant more orchard block is important,” Berg said. “Eventually as these trees get older, they’re not going to be as productive ... It’s sort of renewing over time.”

Along with the Heirloom Apple Club, Queener Farm offers U-pick days at the orchard and a Hard Cider Club featuring workshops taught by Zeb Dewar, of Baird & Dewar Farmhouse Cider.

Berg said the orchard at Queener Farm is “a laboratory like no other.”

“You may not love every apple in the box, but it’s never boring,” she said.

Three agencies are considering 13 options as they develop a draft environmental impact statement for operating the federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

The options range from making no changes to current operations to breaching dams on the lower Snake River.

The study also includes maintaining current barge navigation on the rivers and providing the authorized irrigation water supply for the Columbia Basin Project.

U.S. District Judge Michael Simon in 2016 ruled that federal government plans for operating facilities violated the Endangered Species Act. He ordered the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Army Corps of Engineers and the Bonneville Power Administration to study new alternatives to protect threatened and endangered fish.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the environmental impact statement must address long-term operations of the 14 federal dams in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana.

The agencies held an update webinar and conference call May 30 to discuss their progress.

The agencies will evaluate the impacts of the alternatives on resources and include potential variations due to climate change, said Lydia Grimm, BPA senior policy adviser.

Among the alternatives under study is one that requires no action, meaning it would maintain current dam operations.

Another alternative would weigh the benefits and tradeoffs of removing the lower Snake River dams, Grimm said.

Environmental groups claim breaching the dams would benefit the fish, while farmers argue it would make the river unusable for transporting wheat downstream to market and transporting supplies upriver.

Navigation is an authorized purpose for the system. The study objective is to maintain navigation, not change or improve it, said Rebecca Weiss, of the corps.

The agencies will use what they learn in the studies to shape a preferred alternative, Grimm said.

“We want to make sure we’re ... getting to the right combination and have the complete answer,” she said.

They will provide another update in the fall.

Some alternatives may not create the needed benefits or could have greater impacts, so the agencies will also consider ways to mitigate them, Grimm said.

During the public scoping process, the agencies received comments on the importance of the river system for agriculture and irrigation, which is being studied, said Sonjoa Kokos, bureau ecosystems analysis program manager.

The public will have the opportunity to comment on the draft EIS in March 2020, she said.

A final EIS is slated for March 2021 with a record of decision set for September 2021.

The objectives of the EIS include improving the survival rates for protected adult and juvenile salmon, resident fish and lampreys and providing an “adequate, efficient, economical and reliable” power supply.

The agencies also want to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from power production and meet the authorized water supply obligations, Grimm said.

“There’s already authorization in the Columbia Basin Project for expanding irrigation for crops, agriculture and other purposes,” she said. “We want to make sure we’re looking at the water operations that will help fulfill that current authorized water supply.”

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March 3, 1940 - May 25, 2018