A proposed ban on biotech crops in Oregon’s Benton County has failed by a strong margin.

Nearly 73 percent of voters rejected Measure 2-89, which would have prohibited cultivation of genetically modified organisms.

The proposal was met with alarm by scientists at Oregon State University, which lies in the county, who feared it would stop research projects that rely on genetic engineering.

Even if it had been approved, the initiative was likely unenforceable.

Legislation passed by lawmakers in 2013, Senate Bill 863, precluded most Oregon counties from regulating GMOs.

However, biotech critics now hope to get a ballot initiative on the 2016 statewide ballot that would allow local governments to enact such restrictions.

Voters in Jackson and Josephine counties passed GMO prohibitions last year.

Josephine County’s ordinance is pre-empted by state law, but Jackson County was exempted from SB 863 because its initiative was already on the ballot.

Alfalfa farmers are now seeking an injunction prohibiting Jackson County’s ban from going into effect for allegedly violating the state’s “right to farm” law, which disallows local government restrictions of farm practices.

LANGLOIS — When Cole Kreutzer was a freshman, he was part of perhaps the most unlikely state championship in Pacific High School history.

Small-scale Oregon farmers and entrepreneurs are getting a helping hand from a state law that went into effect this year.

The law, which allows Oregon-based businesses to raise up to $250,000 from state residents, became effective in January. Called the Oregon Intrastate Offering Exemption, the law allows individuals to invest up to $2,500 per offering.

Amy Pearl, founder of Hatch Innovation Lab and the person who spearheaded passage of the new law in the legislature, said, “Local investing equals impact investing.” Oregon is the 14th state to establish an “intrastate crowd funding” law.

“We were the only state to launch the law with companies who had filed their material and were legal,” said Pearl. Every company defines their own terms, such as selling shares or offering convertible notes.

The nine companies and details of their investment offerings are available at HatchOregon — http://hatchoregon.com.

Five of the companies are involved in food and agriculture.

Red Wagon Creamery in Eugene is a handcrafted ice cream company that focuses on using local ingredients, highlighting seasonal fruits and fresh, local hormone-free milk.

Agrarian Farmhouse Ales outside Eugene is a small craft brewery that grows all its own herbs and hops — 15 different varieties — and sources other ingredients such as grains, chile peppers and honey from neighboring farms. It is working toward becoming a true estate brewery.

Both Red Wagon and Agrarian are offering shares of their company.

All Hatch projects are allowed 12 months to raise the funds with an option to extend for another 12 months. They must meet in person with a Local Business Technical Service Provider to review the business plan.

Once the offering materials are complete, including the reason for the raise, the team involved, the risks and benefits and the terms, the company will be listed on the web site within 7 days.

Ton Ton’s Artisan Affections in Talent sells grain-free, gluten-free cookies and fresh, homemade hummus. In its third year of business, owner Michael Antonopoulos, has both a low and high end goal for the public offering. He wants to high-pressure pasteurize the hummus to increase its shelf life and allow for conventional distribution. Depending on funds, this will happen in the shared rental kitchen or in his own production facility that he envisions as an incubator for the region. He is offering convertible notes.

So is Wylie’s Honey Brews in Phoenix. The company makes local artisan honey sodas sweetened with unheated raw honey using herbs and live enzyme cultures.

Gro-volution is a company that’s still in development. Gro-volution is a high-tech farming concept out of Klamath Falls started by Eric Wilson. He’s working on a unit called a PEA Pod that’s a refurbished, recycled and repurposed shipping container.

“We can take the farm and move it anywhere in the planet and have it close to the people who want it,” said Wilson.

The aeroponic growing technique uses an organic fiber recently approved by the FDA. “We’re trying to achieve close to 100 percent nutrient conversion,” said Wilson.

When entrepreneurs create the terms, the deals are more helpful, said Pearl. “That’s a dramatic difference from banks. We call it compatible capital.”

She sees high interest among farmers who are looking to expand, buy land and move into agritourism.

Todd Perlmeter, the general manager at Agrarian Ales, said the company has already raised $65,000. The first goal was $50,000 to help pay for permanent bathrooms and heaters for the tasting room. “We’ve already broken ground,” he said.

The next goal is $90,000 total to help with expansion of the brewery and hop yard. “We’ve decided to stop there because we’re going into our busy summer season when we have more cash flow. The Hatch offering is setting us up for success with more traditional loans and we may not have to offer up more equity to raise additional funds.”

Oregon’s high school equestrian team championship has been rescheduled to June 24-27 due to lingering concern about an outbreak of equine herpes virus.

The event will be held at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond. Approximately 550 riders from 100 schools will compete in events over the four days.

The championship event was postponed after nine horses became ill following high school meets in April. Multiple horses were quarantined as the disease ran its course. Two horses were taken to Oregon State University’s veterinarian hospital but responded to treatment and have been returned home.

Equine herpes virus, called EHV-1, is a common virus among horses and may lie dormant until activated by stress or other factors. It can cause respiratory or neurological problems and in severe cases can kill horses.

Symptoms can include fever, poor coordination, nasal discharge, urine dribbling, loss of tail tone and hind limb weakness. Horses may lean against a wall or fence to avoid falling, or may not be able to rise.

The illness is spread by horse-to-horse contact, equipment, clothing or human hands.

TODAY

OAKRIDGE, Ore. (AP) — When a tractor-trailer rig loaded with 80,000 pounds of dairy products overturned on an Oregon highway southeast of Eugene, the main problem did not seem to be spilled milk but sour cream — lots and lots of sour cream.

The Register-Guard of Eugene reports that Oregon State Police spokesman Bill Fugate says the truck driver apparently failed to negotiate a curve Monday morning on Oregon Highway 58 and rolled the rig onto its side. The driver was unhurt.

The crash near Oakridge didn’t block the highway but the fuel tanks needed to be pumped and the cargo removed before the truck could be pulled upright and removed. Oregon highway officials first thought the primary product was cheese but later determined it was mostly sour cream. They were trying to salvage as much as possible for nonprofit agencies.

The plan called for removing the cargo Monday, reopening Highway 58 overnight, then re-establishing a detour Tuesday while the truck is removed.

SATURDAY, MAY 16

Dr. David Montgomery is going to be presenting a lecture at the Hale Center at SWOCC this Saturday under the title "The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood." I am alerting B…

With just over a month remaining in Oregon’s legislative session, lawmakers have acted on several bills related to agriculture and natural resources.

Controversial proposals that would increase the regulation of pesticides and genetically engineered crops have died in committee, while others — such as restrictions on antibiotics in livestock — are still awaiting committee action.

Following is a summary of bills that have either passed the legislature or crossed significant hurdles on the way to becoming law:

A mechanism for resolving potential disputes over cross-pollination between organic, conventional and genetically modified crops has made headway in the legislature.

House Bill 2509 creates a mediation system in which the Oregon Department of Agriculture would seek voluntary resolutions to coexistence conflicts.

After winning support from proponents and critics of genetic engineering, the bill was approved 57-1 in the House. The lone dissenter was Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, who introduced legislation restricting where biotech crops are cultivated. That proposal died in committee.

The mediation bill is now being considered by the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, which is scheduled to hold a hearing and possible work session on HB 2509 on May 20.

A proposal to increase funding for predator control by assessing rural landowners up to $1 per acre in special tax districts was approved by the House 56-2 and is now before the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. While House Bill 3188 won by a strong margin, it is opposed by animal welfare and environmental groups that object to lethal methods and local management of wildlife. The legislation was supported by ranchers, who say that such added money is necessary in rural counties facing budget shortfalls and pressure from cougars, coyotes and other predators.

Legal protections for Oregon agritourism operators have passed muster in the Senate, which approved Senate Bill 341 unanimously. The legislation would shield growers from liability for visitor mishaps providing they post warnings, among other conditions.

The proposal got off to a rocky start due to opposition from trial lawyers, but managed to overcome that obstacle with an amendment to the bill.

Proponents hope that greater clarity on agritourism liability will convince more insurance companies to provide coverage for such operations.

A new method of reducing property taxes for urban farmers was approved 50-10 in the Oregon House, but House Bill 2723 will likely face changes on the Senate side.

The bill allows local governments to create agriculture incentive zones within urban growth boundaries where properties would be taxed at a lower rate if they’re devoted to farming for five years.

While HB 2723 appears to have momentum behind it, questions over its potential impact on urban growth boundaries still need to be answered. Supporters are also likely to amend the bill to include a 2023 sunset date and exclude marijuana from the tax relief proposal.

Oregon’s prohibition against raw milk advertising, which hadn’t been enforced for more than a year, is officially no longer a state law.

Gov. Kate Brown recently signed House Bill 2446, which removes the longstanding ban from statute but doesn’t otherwise change restrictions on raw milk sales.

The bill was introduced as part of a legal settlement between the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Christine Anderson, a raw milk producer who sued the agency for violating her free speech rights.

During hearings and work sessions, HB 2446 faced no opposition and sailed through the legislative process without so much as an amendment.

Northwest Farm Credit Services, a major agricultural lender in the region, will be able to participate in Oregon’s “Aggie Bond” program, which is aimed at providing loans to beginning farmers under House Bill 3239. The bill was signed into law by Brown recently and expands the definition of lenders who qualify for the program, which provides companies with a federal tax credit for lending to new growers.

A ban against using drones for hunting and angling was also approved by the legislature and Brown without encountering any objections, though lawmakers did make some adjustments to clarify that such devices can be used for managing wildlife with the approval of state regulators.

House Bill 2534 passed both chambers unanimously. The bill was supported by lobbyists representing hunters and fishermen, who feel that drones threaten the concept of “fair chase.”

House Bill 2432, which expands the use of fireworks for bird control, was another non-controversial measure that was recently signed into law. The legislation allows managers of golf courses, airports, landfills and similar facilities to use fireworks to repel birds. Before the bill was passed, such uses were limited to farms and forests.

Legislation that would streamline the permitting process for artificial beaver dams in the Malheur Lake drainage basin passed the House 51-7 and is now under review in the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

Artificial beaver dams are intended to restore the function of “flashy” streams by slowing them down, which also improves forage conditions for ranchers.

Environmental groups are split on House Bill 3217, with the Oregon Natural Desert Association supporting it but several other groups worried about reduced fish passage restrictions.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The state Drought Council has endorsed seven more county drought declarations and sent them on to the governor.

Water Resources Department spokeswoman Racquel Rancier says the council on Thursday forwarded drought declarations from Deschutes, Grant, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Morrow and Umatilla counties to the governor’s office.

The governor’s declaration allows increased flexibility in how water is managed to ensure that limited supplies are used as efficiently as possible.

According to the state Water Resources Department website, 14 of Oregon’s 36 counties have declared drought disasters, and the governor has followed up with declarations in seven of them. Federal declarations, which make it possible to apply for drought loans and aid payments, have been made in 15 counties.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Running flat out for a new term at home and tiptoeing through tough issues in the Capitol, Ron Wyden brags that he’s “different, like Oregon.”

Not everyone sees that as a good thing, though, at least in the Senate. In the space of just a few hours this week, Wyden managed to offend Republicans and Democrats alike over legislation he co-authored permitting President Barack Obama to cut “fast-track” trade deals that Congress could approve or reject, but not change.

It’s part of Wyden’s effort to show he’s for trade, against government intrusion and pragmatic — even if it means embarrassing his president, irking his colleagues and angering labor and environmental groups back home. As the senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Wyden is at the center of the debate.

“Wyden trying to pull a fast one on fast track,” blared the headline of a recent Oregon AFL-CIO newsletter.

“Save the Internet, Stop Fast Track,” read a 30-foot blimp by a company called Fight for the Future that flew over the senator’s town hall meeting last month.

Wyden acknowledges the hubbub and shrugs it off.

“It comes with the territory,” he said this week, hurrying from the Capitol to his office nearby. “I’m a big guy.”

Six-foot-four, to be exact — tall enough to play Division I basketball in college. Instead of a sports career, he opted for law school and politics. At 66, Wyden is a 35-year veteran of the House and Senate, facing re-election to a full fourth term amid a dizzying array of other details. He’s a father of five — including twin 7-year-olds and a toddler — a cancer survivor and a key negotiator on tax policy, privacy law, health care policy and trade.

“Some days I look at him and I know he’s got to be tired,” said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.

What’s high-energy and a “wide bandwidth” to some is considered frenetic and unpredictable by others in the Senate. But no one doubts that Wyden commands an unusually large portfolio of high-profile legislation or that his brand of pragmatism can be effective.

Wyden, from his post on the finance panel, is his party’s chief negotiator of trade legislation that would allow Obama to negotiate trade deals, such as an historic accord with 11 Pacific Rim nations.

And should Senate Republicans try next week to extend the Patriot Act’s expiring spying powers, Wyden says he’ll try to block the effort with a filibuster.

If he does, little love would be lost between him and majority Republicans, who spent the week openly questioning Wyden’s credibility. A dozen Democrats who support the legislation weren’t happy, either. On the brink of Senate action, they let Wyden know they would vote against it — unless Republicans agreed to demands on other measures that would give them political cover with unions and other groups.

Abruptly, Wyden abandoned the legislation he had helped write. He joined the dozen protesting Democratic senators in the last-minute ultimatum, demanding that majority Republicans also offer votes on bills to enforce labor standards with the U.S. trading partners and crack down on currency manipulation by foreign governments.

An only-in-the-Senate spectacle ensued: Wyden and the dozen Democrats voted against moving ahead on the package they, and Obama, support.

Stunned, the White House sputtered about the “snafu.” Obama summoned Senate Democrats for a meeting. And Republicans thundered about the perceived double-cross by Wyden, in a chamber that operates substantially on relationships and trust.

“Words,” grumbled Utah GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch ominously, “have been broken.”

Does he think Wyden, his negotiating partner on the Finance Committee, had been dishonest?

“I’m not going to talk about our relationship,” replied Hatch, the committee chairman. “Was I disappointed? Yes. That’s all I’m going to say.”

It remained unclear what had transpired between the two, but Wyden insists he did not promise to move forward without the enforcement and currency bills.

“I would not have agreed to that,” he says.

Within 24 hours, Republicans had agreed to the Democratic demands. And the legislation allowing Obama to strike a historic Pacific trade agreement inched forward. Pro-trade lawmakers can say they voted for giving the United States a bigger piece of overseas markets. Democrats could tell labor unions they tried to force through additional bills to enforce existing labor standards with overseas trading partners, and to crack down on currency manipulation by foreign governments. And Wyden could claim both, including co-authorship of the main bill to grant Obama the authority to strike the Pacific Rim deal.

“He did the right thing,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

From Wyden’s viewpoint, the gambit succeeded. He’s pro-trade, but can now say he stood up for the enforcement of labor standards some in the Democratic base demand — both answers to the backlash he’s facing over the issue in Oregon.

Within hours of voting down the initial bill, Wyden’s re-election campaign issued a release bragging about the ultimatum.

“I remain committed to expanding trade opportunities for Oregonians and all Americans,” he wrote. “But we’re going to do it right.”

HONOLULU (AP) — A German citizen who lives in Hawaii is set to be sentenced Thursday for smuggling oil that's commonly used to make ecstasy.

Several Oregon farms have filed crop liens against an out-of-state seed company they claim is past due on more than $1.5 million in payments for radish seed.

Other growers whose contractual payment dates are still upcoming have also filed liens against Cover Crop Solutions, based in Pennsylvania, bringing the total to 35 grain producers liens worth $4.85 million.

“I don’t know of any small business owners in Oregon that can take that kind of hit for an extended period of time. It’s a scary situation,” said Anna Scharf of Scharf Farms, which filed a $250,000 lien against the firm. “When we’re asked to be the banker, it’s hard for farmers.”

David Weaver, CEO of Cover Crop Solutions, said he could not yet discuss the situation but would soon respond to a request for comment from Capital Press.

Jim Gardner of K&J Farms, which filed a $97,000 lien, said his family is relatively new to producing radish seed but it was a major crop for their operation last year.

“I haven’t seen a penny and I need to pay people,” he said.

The uncertainty over payments from Cover Crop Solutions will probably make farmers think twice about growing radish seed, Gardner said. “A farmer can’t grow something for nothing.”

A recent oversupply in the market for radish seed, which is planted as a cover crop, was aggravated by weather in the Midwest last year, said Gary Weaver, president of Weaver Seed of Oregon.

A wet spring in 2014 delayed the planting and harvest of corn and soybeans, which left many farmers in that region with insufficient time to plant cover crops in autumn, he said.

Seed producers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley also overestimated demand for radish seed, Weaver said. “The whole valley planted too many acres.”

However, the oversupply is likely to ease over the next 18 months as seed companies work through their inventories, he said.

Gardner of K&J Farms said that growers file liens because they’re nervous about an eventuality similar to the bankruptcy of Agribiotech, which defaulted on contracts with grass seed farmers in 2000.

“I think it opened a lot of farmers’ eyes about what they need to do to protect themselves,” he said.

In a bankruptcy, liens ensure that farmers are treated as secured creditors who have collateral in the company’s assets, said Tim Bernasek, an Oregon attorney specializing in agriculture.

“Being first in line to get paid enhances your ability to get paid,” Bernasek said.

Under a grain producer’s lien, a company’s entire inventory serves as collateral for the grower — not just the crop he delivered, said John Albert, an Oregon attorney who specializes in agricultural liens.

Farmers therefore don’t have to show the company still has possession of their crop, he said.

“That makes it a pretty powerful tool in the hands of a grower,” Albert said.

However, grain producers liens aren’t effective indefinitely, since they expire after six months.

Before the expiration, growers can enforce the liens to foreclose on a company’s inventory, which is then sold as part of a sheriff’s sale and used to compensate farmers, he said.

Scharf said she doesn’t intend to bash Cover Crop Solutions but is disappointed farmers in the Willamette Valley don’t have the opportunity to plant canola, a related crop that’s restricted in the region.

Canola is a commodity crop that buyers pay for shortly after delivery, unlike contracted seed, she said. “The power is not with the farmers, it’s with the companies.”

From the surface, all will appear normal when Andy Hulting gives his presentation on weed control in grass seed at Oregon State University’s Hyslop Farm Field Day May 27 in Corvallis.

The OSU Extension weed specialist has been a regular on the field day’s agenda during the past nine years.

But this year’s appearance likely will mean a little more to Hulting and those close to him. It will be one his first grower presentations since he suffered a stroke on Jan. 31 that sidelined him for most of three months.

“It is good to be back,” he said. “It beats a hospital room. I can tell you that much.”

Life is slowly returning to normal for Hulting, who spent two weeks in a drug induced coma and another month in professional medical care. Hulting said he still doesn’t have full range of feeling in his right leg, but he has no memory loss, no cognitive impairment and no issue with concentrating. He returned to work part-time in mid-April and started back full-time on May 11.

Hulting suffered the stroke while delivering a talk on weed control at an extension meeting in Prineville. Five minutes into his presentation, Hulting reportedly sat in a chair, announced he didn’t feel well and passed out.

Paramedics transported Hulting from Prineville to the St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, then airlifted him to Oregon Health and Science University.

“I have nothing but good things to say about OHSU,” Hulting said. “And I want to thank the Prineville Fire and Rescue, because they were the first ones there.”

At OHSU, doctors placed Hulting in the coma to stabilize him, identify the cause of the stroke and operate on him. They brought Hulting out of the coma in mid-February, with his family gathered around his bedside.

“My parents were there and everybody,” said Hulting, who is married and has three children. “It was a pretty surreal experience.”

Hulting spent another two weeks in recovery at OHSU, then two weeks at a rehabilitation center in Eugene before returning home in mid-March.

“It was pretty tough for a while,” Hulting said, “but once I got home, things started improving.”

Hulting, 40, said he had no sign that anything was wrong until the moment he suffered the stroke.

“I drove over (from Corvallis) in the morning, had lunch, and everything was fine,” he said.

Hulting said there is no history of stroke in his family. Also, he said, doctors were unable to explain why the stroke struck when it did.

“It is probably a birth defect, and it just picked that day to happen,” he said.

Hulting, who has been at OSU nine years, wanted to thank the many people who have supported him over the past few months.

“I just got tons of emails from growers and industry people,” he said. “I want to thank them for all of their support.

“To be missed and be thought of is a pretty neat experience,” he said.

Second only, perhaps, to being back at work.

Hyslop Farm Field Day

Oregon State University’s Hyslop Farm Field Day includes presentations on winter wheat cultivars, an update on canola and disease management trials, and looks at weed, disease and insect control in Willamette Valley cropping systems.

The field day starts at 8:15 a.m. May 27, and ends with a complimentary lunch served by the OSU Crop and Soil Science Club.

Hyslop Farm is at 3455 NE Granger Ave., Corvallis.

CPL. BEN LEE BROWN

LANGLOIS — Students at the Wilderland School have been busy getting acquainted with the community of Langlois again, said teacher and co-founder Kelly Fleming.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has signed a bill that allows advertising of raw milk

Oregon is among 30 states that allow the sale of unpasteurized milk, but it can be sold only on the farm. Sellers have not been allowed to advertise since the 1950s.

In 2013, a McMinnville farmer challenged the ban, filing suit after state inspectors told her to remove milk prices from a website.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture settled the case in February 2014 by ordering staff to stop enforcing the ban and asking the Legislature to repeal it.

Consumer demand for raw milk has increased in recent years. Health officials say raw milk can carry harmful bacteria that can make you sick.

THURSDAY, MAY 14

Dec. 10, 1947 - May 7, 2015

TODAY