Cattle ranchers will have plenty to talk about when they gather for the annual Oregon Cattlemen’s Association convention and trade show Dec. 4-6 in Bend.

The convention includes Dec. 4 educational sessions on beef quality assurance training and certification and herd management concepts. Speakers scheduled Dec. 5 include Phil Ward, Oregon director of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency; Dustin Van Liew of the Washington, D.C., lobbyist group Public Lands Council; and Kevin Mannix, a former Oregon legislator and founder of Common Sense for Oregon.

The association’s annual business meeting will be held Dec. 6.

The convention is at The Riverhouse in Bend. To see the full agenda, visit http://orcattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Convention-Agenda-102114.pdf.

Kendall Derby rolls into Portland in a tan GM Sierra pickup truck, pulling a flatbed trailer full of hope and bother. It’s a load of landscape timbers Derby cut from gnarly western juniper trees, and he drove 170 miles from Fossil, the emptiest spot in rural Oregon’s bare economy, to sell them in the city of hipsters.

Derby, 53, is burly, bearded, holds a rangeland ecology degree from Oregon State University and runs a two-man sawmill called In the Sticks. He said a guy should be able to make a living milling the juniper that cattle ranchers and government agencies want removed from the landscape.

He wants to believe that. But the saw should be whining, the kiln should be humming and the phone should be ringing with orders and offers. Instead, the only sound is the wind gently flapping the plastic covering stacks of sawn timbers.

Winter’s coming on and he doesn’t have a juniper log deck to cut.

“One of the things that haunts me is, everybody that has tried juniper has gone under,” Derby said.

“Part of it is just hanging in there.” he said. “I come close to the edge pretty regularly.”

There is potential for a cascading economic and environmental impact that goes beyond Derby, a load of juniper and a struggling sawmill.

In much of the rural West, juniper sucks up water, crowds out sage and native grasses and provides perches for hawks and other predators. It’s an pervasive presence. Oregon alone has an estimated 9 million acres of juniper.

Wildlife biologists have identified the juniper infestation as one of the problems afflicting greater sage grouse, which is a candidate for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2015.

If there is a market for juniper products, the thinking goes, ranchers and other landowners will cut more of it, which will improve habitat for greater sage grouse. In turn, that might keep the bird off the endangered species list. Which would be good for cattle ranchers, farmers, miners and energy developers in 11 Western states, who worry deeply about the restrictions and regulations that come with the ESA.

But that’s national issue stuff. The rise or fall of Derby’s juniper sawmill is a big concern locally. Wheeler County is Oregon’s least populated county, with more square miles, 1,713, than people, 1,430. Fossil, the county seat, has 475 people.

The county’s economy was knocked flat when the Kinzua mill closed in the late 1970s and hasn’t gotten back up.

The situation is such that June Rollins, owner of the Kountry Kafe in Fossil, has an informal arrangement with RJ’s, the restaurant across the street. Kountry Kafe serves breakfast and lunch, RJ’s serves lunch and dinner. That way, they split the trade between them.

Derby has one employee helping him. A couple jobs in Wheeler County, former county Judge Jeanne Burch said, are the equivalent of a couple hundred in Portland.

“Two jobs won’t turn the economy around, but it makes an impact,” said Burch, who was judge for 18 years. “Every dollar goes to the grocery store, to the gas station, to the restaurants.”

Selling juniper makes sense, she said. People in the county admire Derby for what he’s doing and wish him well, she said.

“It’s a bright way to go if he can just hang in there,” Burch said.

Ryan Temple, president of Sustainable Northwest Wood, arrives on a blue Salsa bicycle as Derby’s trailer is being unloaded,

The business, in Portland’s inner east side warehouse area, is a specialty lumber yard. It’s a for-profit spinoff of Sustainable Northwest, a non-profit that mediates environmental and rural economic concerns.

Sustainable Northwest Woods is the organization’s effort to “walk the talk,” Temple said. The business buys wood from 45 small Pacific Northwest mills such as Derby’s and sells to people looking for unusual decking, butcher block, fences, flooring, timbers, posts and other items.

Temple acknowledges the difficulty Derby and other rural producers face in reaching consumers.

“The reality of it is, the purchasing power exists in dense urban areas,” he said.

In October, Sustainable Northwest received a $65,000 USDA grant to certify western juniper’s structural characteristics. The testing will be done by Oregon State University and West Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau. Certification is necessary to get broader use of juniper.

But even without certification, demand is not the problem.

Tamra Rooney, operations director for Sustainable Northwest Wood, said juniper sales are growing at 50 percent a year and will approach $500,000 in 2014. “We can sell juniper all day long,” she said.

Organic vineyards want juniper posts at the end of their rows of grapes, because juniper is naturally rot-resistant and doesn’t have to be treated with preservatives. Derby is filling an order of 800 posts for a new organic vineyard.

Meanwhile, parks departments and transportation divisions want juniper for signposts, guardrails and trail beams. The University of Washington ordered juniper timbers for a retaining wall.

The most unusual application may be in Sweden, where a distiller ages gin in barrels made from juniper staves cut by Derby.

Derby believes a lack of logging infrastructure is holding back the juniper market. Two other small Oregon mills cut juniper, but they’re also struggling to get logs.

Two Baker County men who have worked on the issue say large-scale juniper logging doesn’t appear feasible. Josh Uriarte, who splits time between the local Soil and Water Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Logan McCrae, with the state Department of Forestry, say juniper is difficult to cut and de-limb.

Mechanized faller-buncher machines would make logging more efficient, but don’t do well cutting gnarly juniper, the men say. In addition, larger juniper trees usually grow at higher elevations, which are difficult to reach. A lack of roads in rangeland means logging trucks can’t get to where the trees are.

Many ranchers and land management agencies are cutting juniper, but are either letting them lie or burning them, Uriarte and McCrae said.

Derby, the juniper mill operator, acknowledges the difficulties cause him some sleepless nights. But he hasn’t fallen off the edge yet. For now, he’s an “artisan sawyer,” as he jokes, hauling loads to Portland.

“I don’t expect it to be easy,” he said, “but I expect it to be possible.”

SALEM — Oregon is on its way to creating a registry of government-owned drones, but uncertainty about federal regulations for the unmanned aircraft means any state registry for privately held drones could be more than a year away.

The Oregon Department of Aviation plans to deliver a report to lawmakers early next month on the feasibility of a state registry for private drones, and a lawmaker who reviewed a draft of the document said he expects the state will recommend against pursuing such a registry in 2015.

“There’s no need in being too anxious, because federal law is going to pre-empt state (law),” said Rep. John Huffman, R-The Dalles, who sponsored a 2013 bill to regulate governments’ use of drones in Oregon.

Government agencies can currently obtain federal permits to use drones and the Federal Aviation Administration treats the small, recreational versions of the aircraft the same as model airplanes, said Collins Hemingway, president of the board of directors for the nonprofit Soar Oregon, which is dedicated to developing the industry.

That leaves out commercial drones, which the FAA has not authorized to operate in U.S. airspace outside of specific test ranges. The FAA expects to unveil a proposal to regulate small, commercial unmanned aircraft by the end of the year, and Hemingway said the federal agency might create its own drone registration system.

“If so, the state could end up having a registry but use the federal (identification) numbers,” Hemingway said. “That could be the simplest thing to do, if the state feels it needs to register them at all.”

The Oregon government drone registry was included in a 2013 bill that also established regulations on use of the aircraft by law enforcement and other government agencies. In addition to the registry, House Bill 2710 called for annual reports on government drone activity. The requirement to register government drones takes effect in January 2016.

The Oregon Department of Aviation was supposed to deliver its report on the status of federal regulation of drones and whether the state should create a private drone registry to the legislature by Nov. 1. Mitch Swecker, director of the Department of Aviation, said he provided a draft of the report to the office of Gov. John Kitzhaber for feedback, and he expects the report will be ready by the time lawmakers meet for three days of committee sessions starting Dec. 8.

The slow pace of federal regulation of unmanned aircraft systems or UAS has not dampened enthusiasm for the industry among some state lawmakers, who see it as a way to add more well-paying jobs.

The FAA approved three drone test sites in Oregon almost a year ago, as part of an effort requested by the U.S. Congress to safely integrate the vehicles into airspace. That could help convince lawmakers to approve potentially millions of dollars in 2015 to help boost development of the test sites in Tillamook, Warm Springs and Pendleton.

Soar Oregon received an $882,000 state economic development grant in the current biennium, and the group asked for $3.5 million in the two-year budget cycle that will begin in July 2015. Business Oregon, the state economic development agency, included the Soar Oregon request in the budget proposal it submitted to the governor, communications and marketing manager Nathan Buehler wrote in an email.

Huffman said he has already observed the economic impact of the unmanned aircraft industry in the Columbia River Gorge because his constituents include some of the approximately 850 people who work just north in Bingen, Washington, at the drone company Insitu Inc.

Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, said the three federal test ranges need help to build the infrastructure for drone testing.

“If we are thoughtful and careful about what we do, we could easily turn Oregon into the silicon sky, just as we turned it into the silicon forest,” said Johnson, who spent 20 years in the commercial aviation industry.

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of Americans across the country marked Thanksgiving Day with lots of turkey, football, parades and early shopping, while many overcame nasty weather, power outages and…

Today we celebrate our uniquely American holiday, the day of Thanksgiving. In few other places in this state and this nation is today needed more sorely than here on the South Coast.

OregonLive.com
Oregon cranberries: A 360-degree look at the industry (interactive graphics, photos & video)
OregonLive.com
Meet Starvation Alley Cranberry Farm In 2010, Jessika Tantisook, 28, and Jared Oakes, 34, started the first organic cranberry farm in Washington. The 10-acre, 10 employee farm on the Long Beach peninsula, produces about 1,700 gallons of pure, ...

and more »

OregonLive.com
Oregon cranberries: A 360-degree look at the industry (interactive graphics ...
OregonLive.com
Meet Starvation Alley Cranberry Farm In 2010, Jessika Tantisook, 28, and Jared Oakes, 34, started the first organic cranberry farm in Washington. The 10-acre, 10 employee farm on the Long Beach peninsula, produces about 1,700 gallons of pure, ...

and more »

Oregon cranberries: A 360-degree look at the industry (interactive graphics, photos & video)  OregonLive

Oregon cranberries: A 360-degree look at the industry (interactive graphics, photos & video)  OregonLive.com

The berries at the center of many Thanksgiving day traditions are a significant year-round business in Oregon, which produces more of them than anywhere else ...

Oregon cranberries: A 360-degree look at the industry (interactive graphics, photos & video)  OregonLive.com

The berries at the center of many Thanksgiving day traditions are a significant year-round business in Oregon, which produces more of them than anywhere else ...

Oregon cranberries: A 360-degree look at the industry (interactive graphics, photos & video)  OregonLive.com

The berries at the center of many Thanksgiving day traditions are a significant year-round business in Oregon, which produces more of them than anywhere else ...

Thanksgiving cranberry sauce short cut -- not all store-bought brands are ...
OregonLive.com
Related Stories. Thanksgiving 2014 menu planner: Every recipe you need for turkey, potatoes, side dishes, gravy, dessert · Oregon cranberries: A 360-degree look at the industry (interactive graphics, photos & video) ...

and more »

A tight supply will lift soft white wheat prices in the coming months, Northwest wheat marketing experts say.

According to USDA Agricultural Marketing Services, soft white wheat prices were mostly $7.19 per bushel, ranging from $6.96 per bushel to $7.36 per bushel.

Ty Jessup, merchandiser for Central Washington Grain Growers in Waterville, Wash., and industry representative for the Washington Grain Commission, expects soft white wheat prices to remain at the same level.

Moving into the winter, the market will turn its attention to next year’s crop, Jessup said. Prices will adjust according to the outlook.

“The challenge for next year’s crop is not knowing what next year’s crop is going to be,” Jessup said, pointing to possible impacts of a recent cold snap. “The hard part about winter weather conditions is we can kill a crop several times, but you don’t ever know the answer until next spring.” Soft white wheat is a little high in protein, but good quality, said Dan Steiner, grain merchandiser for Pendleton Grain Growers and Morrow County Grain Growers. The 2015 crop does not appear to be off to a good start, with dry conditions and late planting affecting development of the root system, he said.

He expects prices will remain steady through the holiday season. But he’s encouraged by USDA reports calling for the second-tightest carryout — the amount of wheat left over from 2014 — since 1988.

“The only year it was tighter than that was the year it went to $16 per bushel,” he said. “No, we’re not going to $16, I don’t think, but we’re going to have really tight carryouts.”

If production problems occur in a major wheat-producing corner of the world, Steiner said, prices could easily reach $8 per bushel.

“This market’s not going to stay down long - it may dip, we may have adjustments of the futures, but right now there’s not any serious downside for any extended period of time,” he said.

Byron Behne, marketing manager for Northwest Grain Growers in Walla Walla, Wash., agrees that a tight supply will likely raise prices in February or March.

“That might be the time period where we start to see some big gains,” Behne said. “With white wheat being the only variety of wheat that’s super tight this year, prices should stay firm and move higher, maybe towards $8 per bushel.”

The world wheat supply is strong enough that Behen also doesn’t foresee $16 wheat.

“Prices are at the highest levels we’ve been since prior to harvest, so if a guy needs money it’s not a bad time to sell some wheat,” Behne said. “But if you don’t have to, I don’t mind sitting on wheat just to see what happens.”

The U.S. Department of Labor said it’s negotiating a possible end to litigation with Oregon blueberry farms the agency accused of “hot goods” labor law violations.

The agency has asked a federal judge to postpone proceedings in its lawsuit against the growers while they try to reach a resolution.

In 2012, the agency claimed that Pan-American Berry Growers and B&G Ditchen paid pickers less than the minimum wage, rendering their blueberries unlawfully harvested “hot goods” that can’t be shipped in interstate commerce.

The farms agreed to pay $220,000 and waive their right to challenge DOL’s findings so the agency would lift the “hot goods” objection, thus preventing their crop from rotting.

Those deals were found to be unlawfully coercive earlier this year by a federal judge who vacated the settlements and re-opened the litigation.

Since then, the legal conflict has escalated. The farmers demanded their money back, plus $150,000 in damages for the shipping delay that hurt fruit quality.

DOL countered that it couldn’t return the money that had already been disbursed to workers and refused to pay damages or attorney fees.

The agency also upped the ante in its complaints against the farms, seeking to add new defendants and additional charges of wrongdoing stretching back further in time.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin was set to hear oral arguments on DOL’s motion to broaden the charges against the farms on Dec. 3 and to accept court briefs regarding the payment of restitution and attorney fees.

The agency has now asked him to postpone that hearing until Jan. 13, 2015 and delay court briefing of the other legal issues.

DOL and the farms “have exchanged proposals for resolution of all the combined cases in this matter” and it may conserve the resources of everyone involved if the proceedings were delayed, the agency said in court documents.

The DOL’s documents claim that Tim Bernasek, the farmers’ attorney, has agreed to postpone the oral arguments and briefings but Capital Press was unable to reach him for confirmation.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, followed closely by the 4th of July. Why? Beause it is all about food and family:)

I’m thankful for everyone in our crazy industry:
the farmers that grow a healthy, beautiful berry
the processors that haul, clean and freeze our crop
and the
handlers that make our crop into sauce, juice, dried cranberries and keep trying to invent new uses.

Enjoy our day!

No, it isn’t from tax revenues…read on…

http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/fdd-history-and-background

Section 32!!

The purchase of cranberry products by the USDA is good news for our industry.

http://wisconsinwatch.org/2014/11/a-happy-thanksgiving-for-cranberry-caucus-as-usda-makes-big-berry-buy/

If you haven’t tasted these..track some down and give them a try. Absolutely wonderful.

http://www.jsonline.com/features/food/cranberries-get-new-lower-calorie-treatment-thanks-to-uw-graduate-b99393001z1-283865481.html?ipad=y

LONDON (AP) — Plump turkeys in butcher shop windows. Harvest displays of pumpkin and corn. Sandwich boards describing groaning feasts.

BANDON — Many prefer the experience of going out and cutting down their own Christmas tree. The same tradition has developed in Bandon, except it's at Thanksgiving — and it involves turkeys.