Oregon Cranberry Growers Association
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Go! Calendar of Events, Sept. 10
Bandon Cranberry Festival: Your Jivin' '50s Festival
Bandon Cranberry Festival: Your Jivin' '50s Festival
Pigskin Preview for Sept. 10
Pigskin Preview for Sept. 10
Eight-man showcase is Saturday
Eight-man showcase is Saturday
Cranberry Bowl history
Cranberry Bowl history
Arrival of cool Oregon nights should help wine quality
Unusually warm weather made for an early start to the wine grape harvest in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, and continued cool nights should assure quality is top notch, a research climatologist said.
Gregory Jones, a professor at Southern Oregon University who tracks the industry and specializes in how climate variability affects vine growth and wine production, said many growers are reporting the earliest harvest since 1992, or the earliest harvest ever at their vineyards.
Early ripening and sparkling wine varieties were the first picked, Jones said in an email newsletter he circulates to about 3,000 subscribers in the West.
“All other varieties are lining up for harvest but the recent shift to cool nights will allow for some timely queuing for flavors to develop,” Jones said in his Sept. 5 newsletter.
The unusually hot summer, of course, is the reason for an early harvest.
Average temperatures for August were one to four degrees above normal in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho, Jones reported.
The increase in degree-day accumulation — the combination of heat and time required to complete a plant’s growth — was even more striking, especially in Oregon and Washington, Jones said.
Degree-day accumulation in both states as of Sept. 1 was 10 to 15 percent above 2014, another hot summer, and 30 to 35 percent higher than 1981 to 2010 averages, he said.
The arrival of cooler nights, if the pattern holds, can put a good finish on what appears to be another good grape crop.
“There are two things that help plants to start ripening, especially wine grapes,” Jones said. “Shorter days, and cool nights. That is an environmental cue to tell the plant, ‘We have to ripen this fall.’ ”
The same thing happens with tomatoes, which take on a deep red color as summer ebbs, he said.
“Those cooler nights tell them to do this soon or you’re not going to ripen,” Jones said.
Jones said vineyard managers face day to day harvest decisions in such conditions. “How long do they leave fruit out there to get the different flavors they want?” he said.
Jones agreed Oregon growers are optimistic at harvest time no matter the conditions.
“It’s kind of like in Bordeau, in France,” he said with a laugh. “It’s always the vintage of the century.”
Langlois Library's Silent Auction ends at the Blueberry Bash
Langlois Library's Silent Auction ends at the Blueberry Bash
Quilts on display during Cranberry Festival
Quilts on display during Cranberry Festival
Yourgo's (kinda tardy) 2015 predictions
Yourgo's (kinda tardy) 2015 predictions
Attendance at Farwest Show climbs 10 percent
The 10 percent boost in attendance at the Oregon nursery industry’s Farwest Show this year bodes well for ornamental plant sales, according to the event’s organizer.
More than 6,000 people attended the 2015 trade show, which seeks to connect wholesale producers of nursery stock with retailers and other buyers.
“I think it’s a further indicator the nursery industry is recovering,” said Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, which organizes the annual event.
Last year, Oregon nursery sales grew 11 percent to $830 million, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
Oregon’s favorable growing conditions have allowed the nursery industry to capitalize on increased demand, said Stone.
Nursery producers in the state also didn’t cut back on production as much as growers elsewhere, putting them in a better position as the economy improved, he said.
“Oregon product is moving. There are shortages in the marketplace,” said Stone.
Rising revenues are the result of larger consumption rather than increased prices, with demand growing due to the housing market’s recovery and greater yard investments by homeowners, he said.
The market is even on the upswing for the beleaguered shade tree sector, which was particularly hard hit when residential construction plummeted, he said.
The industry has generally become more flexible, with retailers repeatedly making orders throughout the year as their inventory decreases, rather than buying large amounts of stock at once, Stone said.
Nursery producers also re-oriented to focus on newly-popular products, such as food-producing trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals, he said.
“It’s about trying to anticipate that demand,” he said.
The Farwest Show remains an important financial component of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, which derives roughly one-third of its revenues from the annual event.
That’s down from about half of its revenues before the recession, as the association has diversified to include other sources of income, Stone said.
OAN tries not to be overly reliant on membership dues, keeping them at about one-third to one-fourth of its budget, he said. Instead, the group has begun offering more fee services, such as insurance and fuel programs.
While the Farwest Show is a major revenue stream, it’s also expensive to produce.
Not only does the event require a lot of staff time, but renting the Oregon Convention Center isn’t cheap, said Stone.
The location is great for OAN due to its ability to accommodate large events, he said. “Because of our size, we’re fairly limited on where we can go.”
Oregon’s first In-N-Out opens on Wednesday
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — The wait for In-N-Out Burger is over for Oregon residents.
The Mail Tribune reports that the In-N-Out chain has formally announced a Wednesday opening for its first restaurant in the state in Medford.
The store was to start serving at 9 a.m. after a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
City officials are preparing for increased traffic and waits of up to four-hours in the drive-thru and walk-in parts of the restaurant.
Those looking to sneak in early should be warned that the parking lot will be secured until the store opens.
After the opening, officials say the burger joint will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.