ONTARIO, Ore. — Onion growers in Eastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho are dealing with a new plant disease that can damage the inside of onions but they so far don’t know what’s causing it or how to prevent it.

Oregon State University researchers are conducting field trials to try to answer those questions.

“We know what the problem is real well but we don’t know what’s causing it or how to manage it,” said Clint Shock, director of OSU’s Malheur County experiment station.

The disease is caused by a plant pathogen known as fusarium proliferatum and can damage the inside of the onion. An affected onion looks fine on the outside but is not desirable to consumers when it’s cut open.

That particular type of fusarium fungi has caused a few cases of so-called onion bulb rot over the years but it became a major issue in 2014 and 2015, said OSU Cropping Systems Extension Agent Stuart Reitz.

“Over the past couple of years we’ve seen it become a real serious problem,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out, is there some trigger that makes onions susceptible to getting the disease.”

One theory that is being explored in the Malheur County field trial is that high temperatures cause a condition known as dry scale, which is when the top of the onion doesn’t completely close, leaving a small opening where the fungal pathogen can enter.

The 2014 and 2015 summers in this region had unusually high temperatures and the OSU field trial includes heat strips that make the soil around the onion bulb hotter.

“By sampling onions every week, we’re trying to understand when the defects start to show up ... and see if temperature is a factor,” Shock said. “If temperature is a factor, there are various approaches we can take to try to reduce the bulb temperature.”

A separate trial is exploring the effectiveness of different fungicides that have proven beneficial in treating related fusarium pathogens that impact other crops.

Reitz is also collecting samples from various farms around the region “and looking at different varieties and growing conditions, trying to track when we see the problem coming on so growers can use fungicides at the right time instead of having to spray all year long.”

Bob Simerly, an agronomist with McCain Foods, a large processor of onions grown in this region, is skeptical that heat is causing the problem. High temperatures and dry scale have been around for a long time but the disease hasn’t, he said.

He thinks it could be linked with a significant increase in corn acreage in the region. Corn is a host for many different fusarium fungi, including the one that causes onion rot, he said.

“My theory is that the increase in corn acres ... has increased the amount of spores of this (pathogen) in the environment,” he said.

Paul Skeen, president of the Malheur County Onion Growers Association, said there are many different opinions on what’s causing the disease but as of now, “I don’t think anybody really knows.”

For the second year in a row, grower Charlie Ruddell of Bandon, Ore., is claiming the earliest delivery of cranberries in North America.

Ruddell planned to deliver the first of 2016’s harvest on Aug. 11 to the Ocean Spray co-op receiving station on the Oregon Coast. That’s eight days earlier than 2015, which itself was about two weeks earlier than normal.

Ocean Spray spokeswoman Kellyanne Dignan confirmed Ruddell is the co-op’s first delivery and said she is confident he’s the earliest in North America as well.

“Mother Nature’s the boss” on harvest timing, she said.

An unusually warm growing season in 2015 made many crops ready for harvest earlier than normal. Ruddell, of Randolph Cranberries Inc., said other factors are at play this year.

The variety he’s growing, Demoranville, blooms earlier and matures faster than other commercial varieties, Ruddell said.

Secondly, Ocean Spray is paying growers a bonus of $2.50 per 100-pound barrel for cranberries that are lighter color than in years past. Another $2 per barrel bonus is available for cranberries delivered by Sept. 19. If a cranberry bog produces 250 barrels, that amounts to a $1,125 bonus.

“It sets well with me,” Ruddell said.

Dignan, the Ocean Spray spokeswoman, said the co-op’s desired color standard has changed over time. Cranberries traditionally were made into juice or sauce, which requires a darker berry. But now most cranberries are dried and sweetened to make “craisins,” and a lighter-colored, earlier berry is preferable, she said.

Wisconsin and Massachusetts rank first and second in U.S. cranberry production. New Jersey is third, and Oregon and Washington are fourth and fifth, respectively. The U.S. usually produces between 8 million and 9 million barrels annually. The Oregon crop is valued at about $12 million per year.

Dignan said Ocean Spray will release updated 2016 crop projections soon. Ruddell said his 2015 crop was down 5 or 6 percent from 2014, but might bounce back this year. “My intuition is that we will have a pretty strong year,” he said.

LANGLOIS -- The Langlois Lions Club is holding a rummage sale from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Lions Clubhouse.

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — Both sides in the debate over removing four dams from the Klamath River are keeping the pressure on as the project moves forward.

The Hoopa Valley Tribe is suing federal agencies to improve flows in the lower Klamath River for endangered coho salmon — a goal that proponents say could be achieved if the dams came out.

Tribal chairman Ryan Jackson said disease rates in juvenile salmon in the past two years have soared well beyond limits established in a 2013 biological opinion from the National Marine Fisheries Service, and that even those limits don’t meet standards set in tribal trusts.

“It’s not so much to do with dam removal per se, although certainly that’s a part of it,” Jackson said of the tribe’s goals behind the lawsuit. “The lawsuit really gets down to the protection of the fishery and the needs for increased flows and enhanced water quality.”

The lawsuit follows the Karuk Tribe’s filing in late June of a 60-day notice of intent to sue the NMFS and Bureau of Reclamation over alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act. The tribe cites a disease infection rate of 90 percent of sampled juvenile salmon in 2015.

The tribes assert that low water levels in the lower Klamath River are too warm for fish and are polluted with nutrients and chemicals. The legal actions lend a sense of urgency as the Karuks and others are engaged in water-sharing negotiations with federal agencies and upper Klamath Basin irrigators.

“We’re trying to figure out how we can add a disease-management flow event,” said Craig Tucker, the Karuk Tribe’s natural resources policy advocate. “We think that dam removal will alleviate the problem, but we need something between now and dam removal. We can’t just allow 90 percent of juvenile salmon in the river to succumb to these diseases.”

Shane Hunt, a Reclamation spokesman in Sacramento, said the bureau doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

The filings come as dam-removal plans agreed on earlier this year are moving forward. The newly formed Klamath River Renewal Corporation, a non-government body taking over the dams from owner PacifiCorp, will likely file for removal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission before the end of August, said Nancy Vogel, a California Natural Resources Agency spokeswoman.

Top state and federal officials signed an agreement in April to have the nonprofit organization go through FERC to remove the dams after legislation authorizing their removal failed to make it through Congress by the end of 2015. Proponents are still seeking federal legislation that would provide money to operate two diversion dams within the basin that PacifiCorp would turn over to Reclamation so irrigators wouldn’t have to pick up the cost.

Political opposition to dam removal remains vocal in the basin, including from Lawrence Kogan, a former Klamath Irrigation District attorney who’s now working through his own nonprofit advocacy organization to raise questions about the project.

The KID’s newly elected majority hired Kogan earlier this year to scrutinize the dam-removal process but cut ties with him in mid-July when some board members thought the New York-based attorney had overstepped his contract, the Klamath Falls Herald and News reported. Acting district manager Darin Kandra did not return calls from the Capital Press seeking comment.

Kogan has since sent public-records requests to the Bureau of Reclamation and five state agencies seeking the details of behind-the-scenes discussions of the amended dam-removal and water-sharing agreements, including how needed irrigation canal improvements would be funded.

“These are things that are public information,” said Kogan, adding that “half of the basin doesn’t know what’s going on and has been kept in the dark” because of non-disclosure agreements among the agencies.

Ed Sheets, who facilitates a committee implementing the Klamath agreements, said all of the bargained-for benefits in the pacts “were clearly spelled out” for those in the basin that would be affected.

“On a larger scale, there’s been some conversations between the tribes and irrigators to see if some of the things (in the original Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement) can be put back together,” Sheets said. “That’s going to be a complicated process.”

Cattle and calves, followed by greenhouse and nursery plants, again paced Oregon crop values in 2015, the state ag department reported.

Preliminary figures assembled by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service show the state with a crop value of $5.4 billion in 2015, similar to the previous two years, Oregon Department of Agriculture spokesman Bruce Pokarney said in a news release.

The statistics showed sharp drops in some crop values due to market conditions. Hay and milk values dropped by $100 million and $180 million, respectively, compared to 2014, but are still much higher than 10 years ago.

The greenhouse and nursery sector, which by itself was valued at $1 billion in 2007 before the recession hit, continues its gradual recovery. The industry hit a low of $667 million in 2010, but stood at $894 million in 2015. Grass seed, which is also tightly tied to housing and development and sank during the recession, is back to the value it achieved in 2005.

Oregon’s wine grape sector has shown “easily the most astonishing growth” over the past 10 years, according to the department. Production value was at $36 million in 2005, but has grown by 308 percent since then and in 2015 was estimated at $147 million. “No other Oregon agricultural commodity has seen a higher increase,” ODA reported.

Oregon Wine Board spokeswoman Michelle Kaufmann said the number of wineries in Oregon has increased 45 percent since 2011.

Here’s the state’s top 10:

1. Cattle and calves, $914 million

2. Greenhouse and nursery products, $894 million

3. Hay, $604 million

4. Milk, $474 million

5. Grass seed, $383 million

6. Wheat, $217 million

7. Potatoes, $176 million

8. Pears, $152 million

9. Wine grapes, $147 million

10. Onions, $125 million

ONTARIO, Ore. — There could be as much as 160,000 acre-feet of carryover water left in the Owyhee Reservoir when the 2016 irrigation season ends.

That’s less carryover water than would be expected during an average year but, due to extended drought conditions that broke this winter, much more than the reservoir has ended the irrigation season with since 2012.

The reservoir provides water to 118,000 acres of irrigated farmland in Eastern Oregon and part of southwestern Idaho.

“It feels a lot better,” than the last several years, Owyhee Irrigation District Manager Jay Chamberlin said about the 2016 water year. “I think overall it’s going to be a good season.”

In an average water year, the Owyhee system will end the season with about 350,000 to 400,000 acre-feet of water that farmers can bank on for the next year. During good water years, that number is as much as 500,000 acre-feet.

The reservoir can hold a maximum of 710,000 acre-feet of storage water for irrigators.

As of Aug. 9, there was 277,000 ace-feet of storage water left in the reservoir and about 3,000 acre-feet has been leaving the system each day.

Chamberlin said that based on current trends, there should be more than 100,000 acre-feet left at the end of the season.

“(That’s) still a long way from normal, but when you’ve come off those really, really tough years that we’ve had, that gives you a lot more hope heading into next year,” he said. “We’re going to be in a lot better shape than we’ve been in.”

OID board member and farmer Bruce Corn estimates there will be between 120,000 and 160,000 acre-feet of carryover water left.

OID patrons get 4 acre-feet of water during a normal water year, like 2016, but only received a third of that amount in 2014 and 2015.

If there is around 150,000 feet of carryover water this year, growers would have a lot more breathing room heading into next year than they have enjoyed the past two years, when the reservoir finished the season with about 5,000 acre-feet of carryover water.

“It gives you a little bit of a cushion” heading into 2017, Corn said. “Exactly how much carryover water we will end up with remains to be seen. But certainly we should be over 100,000 acre-feet.”

Corn and Chamberlin said it’s likely that irrigation water will be shut off about the first of October, a couple weeks earlier than normal, in an effort to ensure as much carryover water as possible.

The OID board will probably decide on a firm shutoff date during its Aug. 23 meeting, Corn said.

Most of the area’s high-water crops are about two weeks ahead of normal, Corn said, which means September irrigation usage should be way down.

“I’d be surprised if we go past that” early October date, Chamberlin said. “Our crops are coming off early (and) I think that will help and nobody hopefully will come up short on water.”

Capital Press

A state economist says five of Oregon’s nine regional economies, paced by Portland, have regained all the jobs lost in the recession and are all-time highs in terms of employment.

Two other regions are nearly at that level, but rural southeast and southwest Oregon “still have a long way to go,” economist Josh Lehner reported in his most recent blog post.

Lehner said the regional economies of the Portland area, Columbia River Gorge, Northeast Oregon, the Willamette Valley and Central Oregon have regained all their recessionary job losses. The North Coast and Rogue Valley areas may reach that point in the next couple months, he said.

In addition to reporting the number of jobs, Lehner said the state Office of Economic Analysis also studies the so-called “jobs gap.”

“This looks at employment relative to the size of population that would likely be working or looking for work if the economy was firing on all cylinders or at full capacity,” he wrote. “The key technical point here is that it adjusts for the aging Baby Boomers as they are entering into retirement in greater numbers these days.”

By that measure, the state in July finally added enough jobs to catch back up with population growth since the onset of the recession, Lehner said. The jobs gap remains largest in rural Oregon, particularly the southern counties, he said.

“Growth has returned, these regional economies are on the mend, but further progress is still needed,” Lehner concluded.

The hazelnut trees in Ron and Daniel Chapin’s older orchards have remained remarkably productive despite the fact they’re dying.

As eastern filbert blight kills many of their trees, the father and son still hope to get as many hazelnuts from them as possible.

At the same time, they want to get a head start replacing the orchards with new varieties that are resistant to the fungal pathogen.

Their solution is to begin growing young hazelnut trees for two years in 15-gallon containers in preparation for transplanting.

That way, the Chapins won’t have to wait as long for the replacement orchards to begin yielding enough nuts to harvest, which usually occurs in the fifth year, Ron Chapin said. “It gets us to production quicker.”

The strategy also makes sense for fields currently producing other crops, he said. “The biggest thing is the extra two years you’ve got to do whatever with the ground.”

Aside from time savings, the containerized hazelnuts provide an agronomic advantage, said Nik Wiman, orchard crops extension specialist for Oregon State University.

Currently, many yearling hazelnut trees are being planted across Oregon even though they probably should have been culled, said Wiman.

Demand is so high for young hazelnut trees that growers are willing to settle for lower-quality specimens, he said.

“We’re limited by plant material, essentially,” Wiman said.

Trees that have spent a couple years in a container have a more developed root structure and should perform better, he said. “That’s what we really need when transplanting the tree.”

Of course, planting larger trees grown with this system does have a downside — handling 45-pound containers is more difficult than yearling “whips” that can be carried around in a sack.

“Logistics is going to be the challenge for us,” said Daniel Chapin.

The bigger, heavier containers take roughly twice as much time to plant and require preparing holes with a tractor-mounted auger. Transport is another issue — it would take a semi-trailer to haul the 300 trees needed to plant about two acres.

Even so, the Chapins are optimistic about their strategy because fewer than 1 percent of the container-grown Jefferson trees they plant end up dying, compared to roughly 3 percent of the variety that die when planted as whips.

Part of the improvement is that deer aren’t as likely to completely destroy the larger trees, said Daniel. “You have a tree that’s much better prepared to defend itself.”

They’re also experimenting with growing trees in 10-gallon containers, which would be easier to handle.

However, the Chapins are hesitant about the prospect of using smaller pots, since tree roots would be more prone to “swirling” in on themselves, resulting in a weaker root structure in the field.

“We need to make sure it’s a big enough pot to fully accommodate the roots,” Daniel said.

The Chapins have planted about 40 acres with containerized hazelnuts, and plan to replace 250 acres of orchards with this method over the next five years.

“I figure by that time, I’ll understand it well enough that I won’t mind selling it to other people,” said Ron.

Given the time, labor and inputs involved, each containerized tree would have to sell for $25-30, compared to $5.50 for a whip, he said. “It’s a more intensive culture for it.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon standoff defendant Ryan Bundy was involved in an altercation with deputies Tuesday when he refused to be handcuffed for transport, authorities said.

U.S. marshals were scheduled to transport Bundy about 6 a.m. Tuesday, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Multnomah County jail spokesman Capt. Steve Alexander said he didn’t know where Bundy was going, but he said Bundy didn’t want to leave the cell and argued with a sergeant who was trying to handcuff him. Alexander said that when Bundy “spun around” the sergeant took him to the ground.

His supporters said on social media that Bundy sustained bruises.

Alexander said Bundy was examined by medical staff, and no redness or anything like that was noted. “He was fine,” Alexander said.

Bundy was taken to the originally scheduled destination later in the day and then moved to disciplinary housing in the jail. He will be written up for administrative violations including allegedly failing to follow orders, behaving in a threatening or assaultive manner and fighting with staff, Alexander said.

A hearing will be held in several days. If the hearings officer finds that Bundy stepped out of line, his jail privileges will be affected.

In April, Bundy may have planned an escape from the jail. Staff found a 12- to 15-foot section of a bed sheet that was braided into a rope in Bundy’s cell, along with a container of extra food he wasn’t supposed to have, officials said. Bundy has denied he was attempting an escape.

Ryan Bundy is the older brother of Ammon Bundy, the leader of the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon.

The Bundys and six other co-defendants are scheduled for trial Sept. 7 for their alleged involvement in the armed takeover early this year. Prosecutors say the group broke into safes, tampered with federal records and left behind a mess, including ammunition, explosives, trash and human waste.

Ryan Bundy is representing himself in the case.

A new invasive species, known as the “crazy snake worm” or “Asian jumping worm,” has been unearthed for the first time in Oregon.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture has confirmed that the worm, Amynthas agresitis, was found in Clackamas and Josephine counties in 2016.

The significant distance between the two discoveries likely indicates the species is probably found elsewhere in Oregon as well, said Clint Burfitt, manager of ODA’s insect pest prevention and management program.

Residential landowners turned the worms over to officials from ODA and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife after noticing its vigorous flipping.

“The behavior is very distinctive,” Burfitt said. “Earthworms aren’t known for their energetic behavior, but this one is.”

The worm’s detrimental effects on forest health have also been causing growing concern in the Great Lakes region and the East Coast, said Jim Labonte, an ODA entomologist.

“There’s beginning to be a lot of attention to be paid to this there,” he said.

Several pathways may be responsible for the worm’s movement, including earthmoving equipment, compost and fishermen, he said. The species reproduces asexually, so not many individuals are necessary for an established population.

By rapidly consuming the detritus along the forest floor, the worms remove the protective layer that plant seeds need to sprout and outcompete other animals that depend on this habitat.

“That affects the forest’s ability to regenerate,” said Burfitt.

Bare soil isn’t as effective as retaining water, allowing it to run off more quickly — potentially having an impact on agriculture, said LaBonte.

The change in soil structure also disrupts nutrient cycling, harming the forest’s health over time, he said.

At this point, though, it’s unknown whether these impacts will be experienced in Oregon as they have elsewhere in the U.S., since the forest type and climate here are different, LaBonte said.

“When you’re making projections, it’s easy to go to, ‘The sky is falling,’” he said. “Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn’t.”

A wildlife biologist said bears might cause problems in the John Day area of Eastern Oregon this fall as they search for food sources to replace the berries and grass burned in the Canyon Creek Fire last year.

Ryan Torland, ODFW district biologist for Grant County, said residents should clean up fallen fruit around trees, avoid leaving pet food outside and keep garbage cans inside a garage or shed if possible. Torland said there have already been a couple incidents with bears poking around homes on the outskirts of John Day.

Bears spend the fall eating heavily to build up fat for winter hibernation, Torland said in an ODFW news release. But the Canyon Creek Fire south of John Day last summer scorched a major food supply, and could send bears searching elsewhere, he said. Bears that raid garbage cans or fruit trees in residential areas could get habituated to them as a food source and cause trouble for homeowners, he said.

The Canyon Creek Fire was started by lightning on Aug. 12, 2015, and burned 110,261 acres. It wasn’t declared contained and controlled until Nov. 5, according to a multi-agency incident command website.

An ODFW website has tips on coping with bears.

Organizers say a two-day “drone rodeo” in Pendleton, Ore., this month will demonstrate the future of digital agriculture.

The event will be held Aug. 18-19 at the Pendleton Airport. The site is one of the national unmanned aerial system (UAS) test ranges and has become a focus of Pendleton’s economic development efforts. Part of the facility is now called the Oregon UAS Future Farm, and is intended be a proving grounds for equipment developed by digital agriculture pioneers.

Steve Chrisman, Pendleton’s economic development director and airport director, said drone and high-tech ag companies are attracted by Pendleton’s wide open spaces and the wide variety of crops grown in the region. While digital ag doesn’t have the economic impact of a 250-employee manufacturing plant, it does have a ripple effect, Chrisman said.

The presence of flight test teams can lead to companies renting office space or workshop space, he said. A Virginia company, Digital Harvest, has opened a branch office in Pendleton. “A certain percentage will take up some level of permanent residence,” Chrisman said.

Industry advocates believe agriculture is on its way to being one of first commercial adopters of drone technology. Equipped with cameras or other sensors, drones could spot irrigation or pest problems, estimate yield, do inventory or other chores. In time, drones could communicate directly with other unmanned farm implements, and send them to take care of problems spotted from the air.

The event is aimed at farmers, and will include flight and data-downloading demonstrations of various types of unmanned vehicles.

“It’s an opportunity for growers and drone guys to be in the field together,” said Jeff Lorton, the event’s promoter and organizer.

The event includes a competition, of sorts. Operators will program their aircraft to launch from the airport, fly to a nearby irrigation pivot and record data with their cameras or other sensors before returning.

“It’s a bit of a shootout,” Lorton said.

Admission to the event is free but registration is required.

Online

Register at http://www.pendletondrone.rodeo

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The federal government is already facing two lawsuits over its plan to manage about 2.5 million acres in Western Oregon that would increase the potential timber harvest by an estimated 37 percent.

The Statesman Journal reports the American Forest Resource Council and Earth Justice have filed suits against the Bureau of Land Management since the plan was enacted Friday.

The BLM estimates 278 million board feet per year could be harvested once the plan is fully implemented. It also predicts it’ll increase job growth, tourism and recreation.

The council claims the logging levels laid out in the plan are still too low, while environmentalists cite concerns over threatened species, such as the Northern Spotted Owl.

Levy said the BLM doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

PORTLAND — Hermiston officials showed Portlanders that life is sweet in Eastern Oregon on Aug. 5 with a giveaway of more than 6,000 pounds of watermelons.

Mayor David Drotzmann, City Manager Byron Smith, members of the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce and a delegation of city councilors and staff arrived at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland and handed out free melons to eager Portland residents as part of an annual tradition to promote Hermiston agriculture.

The tradition was started in the 1980s by then-mayor Frank Harkenrider, who took a pickup truck full of Hermiston watermelons to Portland and challenged then-mayor Bud Clark to a seed-spitting contest. The tradition petered out in 2007 but was revived in 2015.

Produce was donated by local growers. Last year Hermiston also gave away potatoes, but assistant city manager Mark Morgan said that the other options weren’t nearly as popular as the watermelon so this year they just stuck with the city’s famous fruit.

Hermiston won the seed-spitting contest last year and again this year, with city councilor Doug Primmer’s winning effort of 29 feet.

The event is designed to foster better relations between Hermiston and Portland, according to a news release from the city.

“We’re really happy we can continue this great event, and continue to build on our relationship with our partners in Portland,” Drotzmann said.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rallying from 18 down in the third quarter is big in any game. Doing it in the Olympics is pretty special. Guard Kia Nurse put on an impressive show to spark Canada's comeback in women's…

ASTORIA, Ore. — For farmers such as daughter Laurel and mother Anne Berblinger, much of the challenge is in getting Oregon’s specialty crops into the hands of consumers. They grow about 300 varieties of vegetables, fruits and herbs at Gales Meadow Farm in Gales Creek near Tillamook.

“Once they try it, they like it,” Anne Berblinger said, adding her farm is starting an on-site tasting event to initiate potential customers.

The Berblingers and other local farmers got some help Aug. 4, when Oregon State University and the state Department of Agriculture held a “crop-up” farmers market and dinner at the university’s Seafood Lab in Astoria, part of an effort to promote Oregon’s bounty.

The “USDA is trying to get more of these specialty crops out into the public,” said Julia Turner, an international trade manager with the Department of Agriculture.

Turner said Oregon ranks fifth in specialty crop production, including vegetables, fruits, tree nuts and nursery crops. Along with Oregon State, her department received a Specialty Crop Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which they used to fund the crop-up dinners and markets for the next two summers, along with a showcase of Oregon’s specialty crops to foreign food writers at Feast, a culinary event in Portland.

Diners at the event feasted on an eight-course dinner overseen by Jason Ball, a research chef with the university, and Executive Chef Jeff Graham from Fort George Brewery.

“The idea was that we work with farms as local as possible, and we do all the cooking,” Ball said, adding the two first figured out what they were getting, then designed the menu.

The dinner included produce from several of the farms at the pop-up market earlier, along with local seafood. Dishes ranged from confit beet salad and raw sablefish crudo to smoked salmon served with local potatoes and sour cream and barbecue carrots. Ball said part of the purpose was to vary preparation, incorporating baked, smoked, grilled, pickled and confit dishes. For dessert was a mixed berry custard cup with hazelnuts — Oregon leads the production of these nuts — along with marionberries, boysenberries and black raspberries.

Ginger Edwards, who founded R-evolution Gardens eight years ago in the Nehalem Valley at the southern tip of Clatsop County, said the key to marketing specialty crops is in showing people how to use them.

“It’s just a few skills that are missing” from previous generations, she said. “We’ve been really invested in getting people back into the kitchen and cooking again.”

Edwards gets most of her business from farmers markets and community-supported agriculture, a farmer’s choice delivery of vegetables to enrolled members weekly. She also works with the Rinehart Clinic in Wheeler, providing low-income patients with cooking skills and local produce. Along with running her farm, Edwards is the executive director of North Fork 53, a farm-to-table bed and breakfast teaching people how to cook, can and otherwise preserve their produce to last through the winter.

More than 300 specialty crop producers this year have reached Oregon’s students through the state Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School program.

Chief among those was Bornstein Seafoods, a processor based in Bellingham, Washington, with a plant in Astoria. The company on Thursday won the Oregon State Schools Producer of the Year Award.

Christa Svensson, an export and marketing manager at Bornstein, said that when the company’s efforts to get seafood into schools started, the average amount spent per student was $1 per lunch, about one-fifth of it going to milk, and with no state support. In 2011, the state passed House Bill 2800, providing state money for schools to buy food from Oregon producers.

This past school year, Bornstein Seafoods provided seafood to six school districts, including Seaside. Svensson said the company hopes to expand the program to six more school districts in the coming year.

Turner said the crop-up market and dinner will return next year, hopefully in conjunction with the River People Farmers Market, which offers local produce from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays at 12th and Exchange streets.

MONROE, Ore. (AP) — A combine overheated while threshing oats west of Monroe and sparked a fire that spread through farmland and threatened three homes.

Monroe Fire Chief Rick Smith said Friday that the blaze started around 6 p.m. Thursday spread to a field of oats and then to a timber farm in the area west of Interstate 5 between Salem and Eugene.

Residents were told to prepare to evacuate late Thursday but about 50 firefighters were able to contain the blaze overnight.

Elsewhere, a 1.2-square-mile blaze in Crater Lake National Park was 12 percent contained and another fire to the east, near Unity, was 5 percent contained after charring more than 10 square miles.

A smaller blaze near La Pine was 80 percent contained.

Five Oregon cheesemakers won awards in the recent American Cheese Society’s annual competition, held in Des Moines, Iowa.

Rogue Creamery, of Central Point, won six awards. The creamery took second place for its Flora Nelle Organic and third for its Caveman Blue and third for its Tolman Organic in the category of blue-veined cheeses with a rind; second for Echo Mountain Blue Cheese in the rindless/goat’s milk category; third for two-year-old Organic Cheddar; and third for Smokey TouVelle in the smoked cheese open category.

Ancient Heritage Dairy, of Portland, won first place for Hannah in the “American Originals” category.

Ochoa Queseria, based in Albany, won first place for its Queso Oaxaca in the Hispanic- and Portuguese-style melting cheeses.

Oregon State University Creamery, in Corvallis, won third place for its Smoked Cheddar.

Tillamook County Creamery Association, of Tillmook, won second place for its hot habanero Monterey Jack; second place for its white sharp cheddar aged two years or less; third place for its extra sharp cheddar aged two to four years; and third place for its salted sweet cream butter.

Contest results were announced July 29. The contest is the nation’s largest cheese competition. Entries are judge on flavor, aroma, texture and technical accomplishments. The contest this year attracted 1,843 entries from 260 processors in North and South America.

Initiative Petition 28, on track to be called Measure 97 on the ballot, levies a 2.5 percent tax on certain corporations’ Oregon gross receipts exceeding $25 million.

“I have spent my career fighting to make Oregon a place where everyone can thrive, Brown said in a statement. “I support Measure 97 because there is a basic unfairness in our tax system that makes working families pay an increasing share for state and local services, including public schools, senior services, and health care. By some measures, Oregon is among the lowest in corporate taxes, and Oregon ians expect everyone to pay their fair share.”

The tax would pour an estimated $3 billion a year into state coffers but slow job growth and bump up consumer prices, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Revenue Office.

“Our state cannot move forward and meet Oregon’s growing needs over the next decade without a stable revenue base,” Brown said Thursday. “Measure 97 is an important step forward, and I will make sure the funds the measure yields go towards schools, health care, and seniors, as the voters expect.

“State leaders before me have repeatedly tried and failed to solve the problem of adequate and stable funding for schools and other state services. Every solution has had strengths and weaknesses in terms of fairness and economic impact. None has succeeded in bringing the business community, individual and family taxpayers, service providers, and advocates together.”

Many of the public employee unions backing the measure also support Brown’s election.

Bud Pierce, Brown’s Republican challenger in November’s governor’s race, said he was disappointed that Brown is supporting what would be the largest sales tax increase in Oregon’s history.

“If passed, this tax increase would greatly raise the cost of living in Oregon,” Pierce said in a statement. “Everyone, including low-income families would be paying on average more than $1,800 (sic) per family more for goods and services. A tax increase like this will not help anyone. It will hurt low-income families in Oregon the most.”

The Legislative Revenue Office estimated that the tax would cause price increases that would cost a family earning median income more than $600 more per year in the form of increased prices on daily needs, such as food, fuel and electricity.Brown said that state leaders have repeatedly failed to come up with another solution to Oregon’s unstable funding system for schools and other state services.

“Every solution has had strengths and weaknesses in terms of fairness and economic impact,” she said.

DILLARD, Ore. (AP) — Fording a flood of cheaper lumber imported from Canada, local timber executives met with U.S. Senator Ron Wyden to jointly call for a new trade agreement or risk whittling the industry at home.

“What we need is a fair system that allows individuals and companies on both sides of the border to feel they are being treated fairly,” Wyden, D-Oregon, said. “... What this comes down to, folks, is what I call trade-done-right.”

Wyden stopped at a Roseburg Forest Products mill in Dillard on Tuesday to share the latest on talks to hammer out the agreement, which would succeed the Softwood Lumber Agreement that limits the amount of lumber Canada can export to the U.S.

The agreement, which was ratified in 2006, expired last October and gave way to lumber from the neighbors up north to come pouring in. According to Grady Mulberry, CEO of Roseburg Forest Products, lumber from Canada is up 43 percent since the deal expired and prices have been driven down by nearly a quarter on the dollar.

“It’s certainly very impactful on Oregon mills like ours and it certainly makes it very hard for us to compete,” Mulberry said.

The last agreement was established in 2006, but trade deals over lumber between Canada and the U.S. date back to the 1980s. Domestic lumber companies have contended that harvests up north were aided by subsidies from the Canadian government and created a product too cheap for local companies to compete with.

But the pact expired last fall, bringing along with it a one-year freeze on trade tariffs and paving the way for Canadian companies to import freely until this October. With that deadline approaching, some fear what will happen to the domestic market if a deal isn’t struck soon.

Talks between the Obama Administration and that of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been underway for some time. And, on July 19, 25 U.S. senators signed a letter commending the American ambassadors for work in negotiations.

“A strong lumber industry is essential to the U.S. economy, and securing fair trade in lumber is of critical importance to domestic lumber manufacturers and their workers, as well as tree farmers and landowners, and the communities they support,” wrote U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.

Should talks stall, it would be particularly problematic for timber-reliant communities like Douglas County. Wyden went so far as to call the area, “near the epicenter of the debate,” during his remarks.

“What we’re seeing at Roseburg is being replicated all across the country,” Wyden said. “We’re seeing executives, union folks, people all across the political spectrum — Democrats and Republicans — coming together because what is on the line is the ability to have high-skill, high-wage, good paying jobs in natural resources.”

According to Mulberry, Roseburg Forest Products has continued with business as usual, but something needed to change if it was going to succeed in the future.

“We continue to invest and be more-and-more competitive, but at the same time, without a level playing field, it doesn’t matter how competitive you get you can’t offset all of that import supply,” Mulberry said.

Roseburg Forest Products has about 300 employees.

Douglas County Commissioner Susan Morgan drove the point further by talking of how county residents rise and fall with its economy. The county, like much of Southwestern Oregon, has high rates of substance abuse, domestic violence, child poverty and more, she said.

“The one that helps with the economic and social stability here in the county are the jobs in the timber sector. Not just the jobs in the mills, (which) are a really important piece of it, but this reaches out across the economy and across all parts of this county,” Morgan said.

Timber and wood products jobs comprise about 30 percent of jobs in Douglas County, Morgan said. And, according to Wyden, there are about 32,000 employees in those fields throughout the state.