SALEM — Many attention-grabbing farm-related bills considered during Oregon’s 2017 legislative session died quietly despite much initial fanfare.

Meanwhile, several more-targeted and less-contentious proposals were approved without nearly as much commotion, though they’re likely to have on-the-ground consequences for growers.

Numerous bills drew big crowds to committee meetings where lawmakers heard hours of impassioned testimony.

Limits were proposed for neonicotinoid pesticides, dairy emissions, livestock antibiotics and solar panels on farmland.

New lawsuits over pesticides would have been possible under legislation that removed “right to farm” protections for chemical applications and eliminated the requirement to notify farm regulators before filing complaints.

Every water right in Oregon would have been subject to a new $100 fee under one bill, while irrigators would have to install measuring devices under companion legislation.

Critics of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, attempted to overturn the state government’s pre-emption of local restrictions against such crops. They also supported a bill that would have exposed GMO patent holders to new financial liabilities.

All the above proposals failed, not during dramatic floor votes, but because they were killed off by legislative deadlines.

Lawmakers also sorted through a multitude of attempts to tweak Oregon’s land use laws to relax restrictions on farmland.

A few significant proposals proved successful.

With the passage of Senate Bill 677, companies producing hard cider will enjoy the same land use rules as those producing wine, meaning they can process and sell the beverage on farmland while conducting other agritourism activities.

Several bills would have made it easier to build “accessory dwelling units” to increase housing availability in rural areas.

Under House Bill 3012 — which passed the House and Senate unanimously — historic homes can be converted into such ADUs when a new house is built in a rural residential zone. Previously, the older building had to be demolished to make way for a new home.

It will also be easier to apply biosolids — often called sewage sludge — to farmland.

Biosolids are already regularly used as fertilizer, but they’re often generated by stationary sewage treatment plants.

House Bill 2179 clarifies that human waste from septic tanks can be treated on-site within farm zones in mobile units that travel from property to property.

Another successful bill ensures growers who lose farm structures to natural catastrophes will be able to rebuild without interference from the Department of State Lands.

Last year, the agency tried to block a hay exporter from rebuilding two burned-down barns because they were suspected of being located in a wetland, despite the property’s absence from any wetland maps.

House Bill 2785 clarifies that landowners who want to rebuild farm dwellings and other agricultural structures are exempt from Oregon’s fill-removal laws, as long as they receive county approval and the original destroyed buildings existed before 2017.

Before approving new subdivisions, local governments will have to notify irrigation districts early in the process under Senate Bill 865.

Irrigation districts worried that new housing projects will disrupt canals and other infrastructure, prompting them to propose the legislation.

After some initial resistance from cities, a compromise was struck and SB 865 passed unanimously in the Senate and 56-1 in the House.

On the tax front, farmers won two notable victories.

Beneficial tax provisions — exempting agricultural machinery from property taxes and reducing property tax rates for farmland — were set to expire in seven years under House Bill 2859, whereas they’re currently permanent.

The proposal drew such vehement opposition from growers that the House Revenue Committee decided to scrap those provisions during the bill’s first hearing.

Another tax proposal, House Bill 2060, nearly went the distance.

The bill, which would have excluded small companies with fewer than 10 year-round employees from tax breaks, narrowly passed the House but died in the Senate without a hearing.

Agricultural groups convinced lawmakers to spend money on a couple proposals that are popular among farmers: grants for schools to buy local foods and a fund to pay for farmland-preservation easements.

However, several farm-related spending proposals didn’t gain traction, such as those directing cash to the battles against sudden oak death and invasive weeds.

Bills dedicated to restoring state funding for FFA agricultural education, meanwhile, were approved by education committees in the House and Senate but never received a hearing in the critical Joint Committee on Ways and Means, which allocates funding.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Nevada are about to try again to prove that four men should spend decades in prison for bringing assault-style weapons to a confrontation that stopped government agents from rounding up cattle near Cliven Bundy’s ranch more than three years ago.

Jury selection begins Monday in Las Vegas for the conspiracy retrial of four defendants whose cases were left undecided when jurors weren’t able to reach a verdict in April. Two other defendants were found guilty of some charges.

“They’re going to pare down their case compared to last time,” Jess Marchese, attorney for defendant Eric Parker, said Friday. “The government always fixes their mistakes.”

Todd Leventhal, attorney for defendant Scott Drexler, said prosecutors are now asking the judge to narrow the focus of the trial to the standoff itself, and not let defense lawyers raise arguments about constitutional rights and government land policy. The judge has yet to rule on those requests.

A spokeswoman for acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre declined Friday to comment.

Parker was famously photographed lying on the pavement of an Interstate 15 overpass during the tense April 2014 standoff, looking with his AK-47-style rifle toward heavily armed federal agents below.

“His case comes down to that picture,” Marchese said Friday. “It’s a scary picture.”

Drexler is seen in a similar photo, and images showed Richard Lovelien and Steven Stewart carrying assault-style rifles, but not aiming them.

Yet a 12-member jury that saw the same photos failed to reach verdicts about the four defendants. Most jurors voted to acquit on conspiracy, weapon, assault on a federal agent and other charges.

Defendants maintain they drove to southern Nevada from Idaho and Montana after seeing social media posts about scuffles involving unarmed Bundy family members and Bureau of Land Management agents using dogs and stun guns. Some said they’d never before met Bundy family members.

Officials said the government agents were enforcing federal court orders for Bundy to get his cattle off public rangeland after failing to pay more than $1.1 million in grazing fees.

In the end, no shots were fired in the armed confrontation near Bunkerville. The local sheriff brokered a truce and cows that had been rounded up were released.

The outcome made Cliven Bundy a hero to anti-government activists, and led to his arrest in early 2016 with 18 other men, including four of his sons. All are in federal custody.

Two defendants pleaded guilty last year, and Gregory Burleson and Todd Engel were found guilty during the first trial.

Burleson, of Phoenix, faces 57 years of mandatory prison time on eight charges. Engel, of Idaho, could face up to 30 years in prison. Their sentencings are set later this month.

Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan, and two other defendants are due for trial later this year. Six others, including two other Bundy sons, are slated for trial next year.

OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires barreled across the baking landscape of the western U.S. and Canada, destroying a smattering of homes, forcing thousands to flee and temporarily trapping children and counselors at a California campground.

Here’s a look at the wildfires blackening the West.

CALIFORNIA

Two major wildfires in California have sent nearly 8,000 people fleeing to safety.

About 4,000 people evacuated and another 7,400 were told to prepare to leave their homes as fire swept through grassy foothills in the Sierra Nevada, about 60 miles north of Sacramento, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Sunday.

The fire burned nearly 8 square miles, destroyed at least 10 structures and damaged critical infrastructure, leading Governor Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency to provide assistance to local authorities.

Fire spokeswoman Mary Ann Aldrich said additional homes were destroyed overnight. An inspection team is trying to determine the extent of the damage.

The area burning was about 10 miles south of Oroville, where spillways in the nation’s tallest dam began crumbling from heavy rains this winter and led to temporary evacuation orders for 200,000 residents downstream.

In Southern California, at least 3,500 people evacuated as two fires exploded in size at separate ends of Santa Barbara County and a third one threatened homes near a town in San Luis Obispo County.

One of the fires grew to 12 square miles, traversing a mountain range and heading south toward coastal Goleta.

There was minimal containment and flames shut down State Route 154, which is expected to remain closed for days. At least 20 structures burned, but officials didn’t say if they were homes.

Sarah Gustafson, who moved from Washington to California seven months ago, was out running errands when she saw the pillar of smoke rising near her home. She rushed to retrieve her six cats and then spent the night at a Red Cross shelter.

“It was terrifying,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “The sky was orange and black, you could see flames up on the ridge.”

About 90 children and 50 counselors were stuck Saturday at the Circle V Ranch and had to take shelter until they could be safely evacuated. Buildings have burned but officials weren’t yet sure if they were homes.

Crews were also using an air attack against another blaze about 50 miles north that exploded in size to 37.5 square miles. About 200 rural homes east of Santa Maria were evacuated after the fire broke out Saturday and was fed by dry gusts.

Some of the firefighters working to contain that blaze were sent to nearby San Luis Obispo county when a fire broke out Sunday and threatened numerous structures near the town of Santa Margarita. Officials said the fire burned at least 200 acres.

ELSEWHERE IN THE WEST

Firefighters have been able to build containment lines around about half the wildfire that forced the evacuation of hundreds of people near Breckenridge, Colorado. The fire has not spread since it broke out Wednesday and was still less than a square mile Sunday.

In rural Arizona, fire officials say three homes were among 10 buildings that were burned. The wildfire there has led to the evacuation of the entire town of Dudleyville, about 100 miles southeast of Phoenix.

A wildfire burning in near Summer Lake in south-central Oregon has destroyed a hunting cabin and an outbuilding.

And in Nevada, fire officials have ordered evacuations for a wildfire that is near the same area where another blaze has already burned for days.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Firefighters were contending with more than 200 wildfires burning in British Columbia that had destroyed dozens of buildings, including several homes and two airport hangars. The three biggest fires, which ranged in size from 5 to 8 square miles, had forced thousands of people to flee.

“We are just, in many ways, at the beginning of the worst part of the fire season and we watch the weather, we watch the wind, and we pray for rain,” outgoing Premier Christy Clark told reporters in Kamloops.

Rob Schweizer, manager of the Kamloops Fire Centre, said it had been an unprecedented 24 hours.

“We probably haven’t seen this sort of activity that involves so many residences and people in the history of the province of B.C.,” he said.

REAL Oregon, a new effort to cultivate leaders in the state’s natural resource industries, will convene its first class this fall.

“I think this is something that the natural resource-related industries have recognized as something we need. We want to make sure that it’s diverse, and that all the natural resources are reflected as much as possible,” Greg Addington, executive director of REAL Oregon, said. “We also want it to be sustainable and to produce a network of leaders throughout the state.”

REAL Oregon — an acronym for resource education and agriculture leadership — is targeting participants from all sectors of the agricultural, timber and fishing industries, including farming, ranching and processing.

“I feel really good with the industry’s commitment from agriculture to fishing to forestry, it has been tremendous. As long as we do this right, it’ll be a strong program,” Addington said.

Modeled after Leadership Idaho Agriculture, the REAL Oregon program begins in November and concludes in March of the following year. The program will consist of five 2 1/2-day sessions in Burns, Astoria, Medford, Salem and Boardman.

“Despite having great leaders throughout Oregon agriculture, I’d argue we’re not developing these leaders. Their leadership training is coming from other resources,” said Geoff Horning, executive director of Oregon Aglink. “The mission is simple but complex: Build natural resource leaders who make a difference for Oregon.”

REAL Oregon follows in the footsteps of Leadership Oregon Ag, which was started 15 years ago by Oregon resource groups. That program had only one class and wasn’t financially sustainable, according to Addington.

“That said, I can tell you personally that I thought the class itself was very successful. But I think the fact that it wasn’t sustained left a bad taste in some people’s mouths and it has taken this long to try again,” he said. “The difference this time is that we are modeling it after a more modest program in Idaho. It’s more manageable for now — and more affordable.”

The online application includes a one-page essay and two letters of recommendation. It is also recommended for applicants to speak with employers and spouses because participants are expected to attend all five sessions to graduate, and it is a large time commitment.

The classes will focus on the subjects of board governance, communication skills, conflict resolution, government interaction, public policy, media relations, natural resource industries co-existence, professional presentation, public speaking, strength assessment and urban-rural relationship building.

“The urban-rural divide in Oregon is real. The chasm feels like it’s getting exponentially larger. There is a lot of talk about bridging that gap, but it too often feels like a bridge to nowhere,” Horning said. “Oregon’s natural resource community needs a legion of polished leaders who can both listen and represent our interests. As an industry it’s our responsibility to develop that army. REAL Oregon is that effort by a unified natural resources community to build those leaders moving forward.”

REAL Oregon will accept 30 participants in its first class. The minimum age requirement is 26 years old.

“It’s not that there aren’t great folks under that age, but we want someone on a career path who knows what they want to do, and we don’t want to just get young people. I think it’s important to have a diversity of ages and leadership experience in the class,” Addington said.

The application deadline for the first class is July 28 and the cost of the program is $2,500 a person. While there are no scholarships available at this time, prospective students are still encouraged to apply and indicate in the application if financial help is needed. For more information, Addington can be reached at (541) 892-1409.

Online

http://realoregon.net/

Looking back at my New Years post and my pre-CMC February post, it seems that I was right on…huge crop and we did nothing about it. Now here we are in July talking about a handler set aside of 25% for this years crop. We could have saved a lot of growers a lot of $$ if we had that vote in February.   

Growers please post here or email me if you have a thought on this issue. We need to get this right and have our concerns heard. Oh and BTW, I’m hearing and thinking that we will need another 25% producer allotment on the 2018 and 2019 crops as well.  Yikes!  I have to say that I’m glad we are finally talking about it, but go back and read my previous posts…..I can’t see how independents can support this while a certain large handler keeps allowing their members to plant new hybrids. We ALL know that in a producer allotment year, growers will take advantage of the situation to renovate beds. That will just prolong and accelerate the supply situation. Comments anyone?

SALEM — Oregon lawmakers have created a state fund dedicated to buying farmland-preservation easements, albeit without the $4.25 million initially sought by supporters.

Proponents of the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Fund are nonetheless cheering the news, since new spending bills were met with skepticism from legislators due to a tight budget outlook.

“It’s pretty incredible to create a program like this in a not-easy legislative session,” said Nellie McAdams, farm preservation program director with Rogue Farm Corps, a group dedicated to training future farmers.

Because the state’s land use system greatly restricts building on farmland, working lands easements aren’t as common in Oregon as in many other states.

Farmers can sell easements on their land that extinguish most development rights while still preserving their ability to grow crops and livestock on the property.

However, existing funding sources for easements are often geared toward conserving wildlife habitat and riparian areas and not production agriculture.

The Oregon Agricultural Heritage Fund would help solve that problem with money dedicated to working lands easements, but the $4.25 million originally planned for the program was viewed by legislators as an unrealistic request.

Instead, supporters focused on getting the program’s basic mechanisms and governance established.

“We can focus in the future on funding,” said Mary Anne Nash, public policy counsel for the Oregon Farm Bureau. “There’s a tremendous public benefit so we’ll be looking for public funds in the future.”

Under House Bill 3249, which passed with strong majorities in the House and Senate in the waning days of the legislative session, nearly $200,000 will be directed to writing rules for the program and forming a commission to oversee it.

“The next step will be finding out who will be shaping this program,” said McAdams.

It’s likely that proponents of the fund will go back to lawmakers in 2019 to seek money for the fund, so the next two years will be devoted to setting priorities for the program, she said.

“That process should probably be long and include a lot of public involvement,” McAdams said.

Another farm-friendly program also won funding late in the legislative session.

House Bill 2038, which provides $4.5 million in grants for schools to buy food from local growers, passed both chambers unanimously on July 7, when the session was expected to adjourn.

Funding for the farm-to-school program was pared down from the original request of $5.6 million, but the program is expected to remain functional with the reduced amount, said Jenny Dresler, state public policy director for the Oregon Farm Bureau.

An Oregon rancher is challenging the state government’s method of determining when groundwater well pumping must be shut down to avoid disrupting surface water rights.

Tom Mallams of Klamath County claims the Oregon Water Resources Department has ordered him to stop pumping from a well near Snake Creek, a tributary of the Sycan River, based on an erroneous mathematical model.

The well was drilled into a confined aquifer that’s not connected to the creek or the river, so pumping restrictions won’t have any effect on surface water flows, according to Mallams.

Mallams has petitioned Marion County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Hart to overturn OWRD’s order because it’s “not supported by substantial evidence” as required by Oregon law.

The agency has derived its conclusions from “general studies of the Klamath Basin” without collecting any data specific to Mallams’ well, according to the petition for review.

Mallams claims OWRD should have instead relied on a well driller’s report submitted to the agency, which found the well is hydraulically separate from surface waters.

A representative of OWRD said the agency is reviewing the legal challenge with attorneys from the Oregon Department of Justice and can’t comment on the litigation at this time.

Mallams’ lawsuit is not the first time that OWRD’s method of gauging groundwater pumping impacts on surface water has provoked controversy.

In 2014, lawmakers proposed several bills requiring the agency to prove that individual wells were affecting surface flows before taking enforcement action.

The proposals were divisive in the agricultural community, with some irrigators arguing they’d disrupt Oregon water law while others claimed they’d protect water rights.

According to OWRD, the new testing requirements would have cost the agency $80,000 per well. Ultimately, the bills died in committee.

Aside from Mallams’ petition, the agency’s decision to restrict irrigation in the Klamath region is facing several other lawsuits this year.

Reacting to a “water call” from the Klamath Tribes — which have the most senior “time immemorial” water rights — OWRD has issued orders halting irrigation on roughly 300,000 acres of land.

Since early June, irrigators have filed four lawsuits disputing the agency’s rationale for enforcement action.

NEW YORK (AP) — Campbell Soup says it has agreed to pay $700 million to acquire Pacific Foods, which makes organic broths and plant-based drinks.

The deal marks the latest effort by Campbell to diversify its product lineup to better reflect changing tastes toward foods that are seen as healthier or fresher. The New Jersey-based company’s other acquisitions have included hummus and salsa maker Garden Fresh and organic baby food maker Plum. But its efforts to focus on fresh have run into some struggles , such a recall of Bolthouse Farm drinks as well as smaller-than-expected carrots that hurt sales.

Pacific Foods generated about $218 million in sales for the year ending May 31, according to Campbell. Campbell says it will continue operating Pacific Foods out of Tualatin, Oregon, where it was founded in 1987.

MERIDIAN, Idaho — Farmers in the Treasure Valley of Idaho and Oregon are bracing for an extended heat wave.

High temperatures in the area are forecast to be near or above 100 degrees for at least the next two weeks.

“It’s going to be a tough job the next couple of weeks,” said Meridian, Idaho, farmer Richard Durrant.

Beginning July 4, the high temperature in Homedale, Idaho, is forecast to reach at least 100 degrees on 16 of 17 days through July 20, and it’s expected to hit 99 the other day.

In Parma, Idaho, and Ontario, Ore., the high is expected to reach 100 degrees 15 of 17 days during that same span, with the other two days hitting 99 and 98.

“Having 100-degree weather here is not unusual,” said Stuart Reitz, an Oregon State University Extension cropping systems agent in Ontario. “But having it linger for a couple of weeks is.”

Most crops in the region are behind schedule because of heavy snow cover that lasted longer than normal, followed by a constant string of spring rainstorms, and could use some warm weather to catch up, Reitz said.

But many crops produced in the region stop growing when temperatures reach the high 90s, he said.

“That just puts them that much further behind,” Reitz said. “It just makes things that much more complicated.”

The biggest danger for farmers during a hot spell like this one is reduced yields and timely irrigation will be important to mitigate yield loss, said Joel Felix, an OSU weed scientist and crop production specialist in Ontario.

“The main concern is losing yield through moisture stress,” he said. “If you don’t irrigate when the crop needs it, you will lose the yield.”

Ontario farmer Bruce Corn said maintaining a proper irrigation schedule will be critical during the heat wave and that also means not over-watering “because over-watering will cause stress, too.”

“You just have to watch your water real close,” he said. “You have to be out in your fields every day to see what the moisture levels are. Twelve hours can make a big difference in this kind of heat. It’s just a matter of watching things.”

Growers need to be aware of what’s happening in each of their fields “and water according to their crop’s need and not just keep water going because it’s so hot,” Reitz said. “You just need to pay attention to what each individual crop and field’s needs are.”

Durrant said he’s particularly worried about the impact the lingering heat will have on wheat quality because the high temperatures come as much of his wheat is starting to fill.

The heat could have an impact on some of the region’s seed crops because a lot of them are in bloom or starting bloom and the heat could affect pollinators, said Fruitland, Idaho, farmer Jon Fabricius.

“Sometimes pollinators don’t work best when it’s that hot,” he said.

A new reduced-toxicity pesticide may remain on the market even though its approval violated the Endangered Species Act, according to a federal appeals court.

Cyantraniliprole, or CTP, was registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2014 as an active ingredient in 14 insecticide brands used on numerous crops. It’s commonly known as Cyazypyr.

The chemical provides a new weapon against the spotted wing drosophila in blueberries and the Asian citrus psyllid in citrus crops.

Environmental groups — Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety and Defenders of Wildlife — filed a lawsuit against EPA claiming the agency never studied CTP’s potential effects on threatened and endangered species.

According to the plaintiffs, CTP may be “fairly persistent” in an agricultural environment even as it degrades, raising the possibility the chemical will accumulate over time.

The plaintiffs pointed to EPA’s own ecological risk assessment that found the insecticide is expected to be sprayed in areas inhabited by 1,377 endangered species.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has now agreed that EPA violated the law by not reviewing the chemical’s potential to affect protected species or consulting about those effects with other federal agencies.

However, the EPA did not have “total disregard” for CTP’s possible adverse consequences, as shown by the ecological risk assessment, and registered the chemical because it’s likely to replace other insecticides more toxic to humans, birds, fish and bees, the D.C. Circuit said.

The D.C. Circuit said it’s convinced that leaving CTP’s registration in place while EPA further evaluates the chemical will maintain “enhanced protection of environmental values.”

The insecticide’s manufacturer, DuPont, intervened in the lawsuit, arguing that CTP’s registration fulfilled the fundamental purpose of the Endangered Species Act.

The D.C. Circuit rejected that argument, ruling that EPA wasn’t excused from the legal requirement to conduct an “effects determination” or consult about the chemical’s impact with other agencies.

Senior Circuit Judge Raymond Randolph dissented from the ruling because he believes the environmental plaintiffs weren’t injured by the pesticide’s approval and thus lack the legal standing to file the lawsuit.

Farmers should take advantage of the surge in wheat prices and sell at least some of their crops, market analysts say.

On the Portland market, dark northern spring wheat prices have ranged from $8.55 to $10.15 per bushel, depending on protein percentages. That’s an increase of more that $2 a bushel from April prices, according to the USDA Market News.

The increase is the result of dry weather and extreme heat in the wheat-growing regions of eastern Montana and the Dakotas, said Byron Behne, marketing manager for Northwest Grain Growers in Walla Walla, Wash.

The Wall Street Journal recently listed wheat as the top-performing commodity, up about 25 percent year-to-date.

“I don’t think we’re going back to $25 (per bushel) DNS like we did in the winter of 2008 ... but $10 isn’t out of the question because it’s a very specific high-end wheat with a high-end use,” Behne said. “People are going to pay whatever it takes to get it.”

Dark northern wheat generally has a high percentage of protein — more than 14 percent — and soft white wheat has a lower percentage of protein, usually below 10.5 percent. Higher protein generally indicates higher gluten content. High gluten content is important for baking light, yeast-leavened breads.

Nearby DNS futures prices are higher than futures prices later on, said Clark Johnston, a marketing consultant in Ogden, Utah.

“That’s because the demand is outrunning the supply,” he said. “The market is saying, ‘We need your wheat right now, we’re not going to give you an incentive to hold it until after the first of the year.’”

The DNS price increase prompted speculators to move into the other wheat classes, said Dan Steiner, grain merchandiser for Morrow County Grain Growers in Boardman, Ore.

Soft white wheat ranged from $5.50 to $5.60 per bushel in Portland this wheat. That’s up from $4.40 to $4.60 a bushel in April. Hard red winter wheat ranged from $5.51 to $6.20 per bushel, up from $4.97 to $5.17 a bushel in April.

“For soft white, six months ago, you’d have thought, ‘This would be a great price,’” Steiner said. “But when you’re looking at $9 wheat (for DNS), it’s like, ‘Gee, can we have some more of that?’”

“They’re just buying ... all wheats now, which probably isn’t really sustainable in Chicago futures because soft wheat and dark northern spring wheat are two completely different things,” Behne said.

Lower protein soft white wheat has less gluten that DNS and is used in Asian noodles, cakes, pastries and flat breads.

“I don’t really see this ending well for soft wheat unless we end up with a corn problem later on,” Behne said.

Corn prices would need to increase to pull excess soft wheat supplies into livestock feed channels and boost demand, Behne said. Wheat futures were nearly $2 over corn futures, making the spread too high for farmers to buy it for livestock.

“We have a big soft white crop coming again this year,” Behne said. “Without some feeding going on, I don’t know how we’re going to chew through that.”

Wheat needs to trade at roughly $4.95 per bushel to be viable for feed, Steiner said.

Steiner isn’t sure how long the higher prices will last.

“I had no idea this rally was going to be this big, that it was going to go this far, or how long they’re going to push this,” he said.

Behne and Johnston both expect an eventual drop in prices. But weather forecasts indicate heat will continue in the spring wheat production areas of the Northern Plains, Behne said.

Johnston advises farmers to look for futures bids that are in keeping with current cash prices, and contract their wheat now before prices begin to decline, particularly in the other classes.

If DNS gets to be too expensive, some end-users won’t want it, he said, which will impact cash markets.

“There’s been a 90-cent spread between the high and the low of the day,” he said. “When that kind of stuff happens, I start to get a little nervous about this market.”

In recent tenders, Russia sold wheat to Egypt at $5.80 per bushel and Romania at $5.75 per bushel. France offered wheat at $6.10 per bushel, while U.S. wheat prices were $8.03 per bushel, Steiner said.

“We’re not remotely close to being competitive on the world market,” he said. “(Prices are) spectacular, but probably a selling opportunity (for farmers), I would guess.”

PORTLAND — Remember all that talk and worry about the next farmers? Who are they? Where are they coming from? How will we replace the retiring generation?

Relax. Kids such as Cole Laube are already taking charge.

Cole, who is 12, and his younger brother, Jake, 9, are the sons of Julie and Jason Laube, who operate Greens Bridge Gardens in Jefferson, Ore., about 60 miles south of Portland.

The parents grow berries, vegetables, pumpkins, silage corn, wheat, grass seed and more. They have a fruit and veggie stand at their farm, and also sell at farmers’ markets in Salem, Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Lebanon and — every Wednesday — at the Moreland Market in Southeast Portland.

The boys are part of the family economy. Jake polished up some petrified wood pieces in a tumbler and sold them at one of the markets. This past week, Cole was helping his mom at the Moreland Market as they sold raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, tayberries and a selection of vegetables.

Cole was keeping an especially keen eye on sales of Columbia Star blackberries. He marked containers filled with berries that he personally picked, and got to keep the proceeds from those sales, He estimated he’s earned $50 this season.

His mom said the money goes into the bank, and there’s a lesson in the arrangement.

“They go pick it, they can sell it,” Julie Laube said. “There are a lot of ways for kids to make money. I’m not just going to give it to them.”

The operation may require some negotiation in the future. The boys provide the picking labor, sure, but so far haven’t been assessed a share of input costs and so on.

“Right now it’s 100 percent profit,” Julie Laube said with a smile.

Cole said he wants to be a berry grower when he grows up, and he’s already showing an awareness of business practicalities. He chose to sell Columbia Star blackberries “because they’re the biggest berries my dad grows” and quickly fill picking containers.

“And they’re thornless,” his mom added.

MYRTLE POINT — Coos County Fair Culinary Department has category prizes sponsored by area businesses to go along with your potential "Blue Ribbon Pride."

The first picture I am sharing this week was taken of the Bandon waterfront area back in 1980 when the west side of Alabama Avenue, across from the Arcade Tavern and what was then W.H. Johnston's accounting office, looked more…

SALEM — NORPAC Foods has sold its canning business to Seneca Foods Corp.

“In our 93 years as a farmer-owned cooperative, our canning business has been an important part of our history, but over time, it gradually represented a smaller percentage of our overall business,” Shawn Campbell, president and CEO of NORPAC, said in a press release. He has been the company’s top executive since April.

The canning business represented 6 percent of the company’s volume, according to NORPAC spokeswoman Amy Wood.

“The company is now looking at really focusing energy on growth and innovation in the frozen category,” she said.

A spokesman for Seneca Foods declined to comment on the purchase.

NORPAC is a cooperative owned by more than 200 family farmers in the Willamette Valley, and provides frozen vegetables, fruit, soups and other value-added products to the foodservice, retail, club store, remanufacture and export market segments, according to its website.

The June 30 sale will result in the closure of a small Salem beet processing facility and the consolidation of the Hermiston, Ore., facility with the Brooks, Ore., and Quincy, Wash., operations. In 2018 the plants in Brooks and Stayton, Ore., will be redesigned to accommodate more frozen vegetable processing.

NORPAC will continue manufacturing other products for Seneca through late 2017.

“The transition away from our canning business and the closure of our Hermiston processing facility will help us drive efficiencies and reduce operational complexities as we invest in continued growth and innovation in our frozen product lines,” Campbell said.

In April, Seneca also acquired the remaining 50 percent ownership of Truitt Bros. Inc. from David Truitt, making the Salem-based company a wholly owned subsidiary. Truitt Bros. also has an operation in East Bernstadt, Ky.

Seneca Foods is the leading provider of packaged fruits and vegetables in North America.

The McGregor Co. will offer limited amounts of a soft white winter wheat variety for planting this fall.

The variety, M-Press, is suited for regions with a 16 to 22 inches of annual rainfall, said Cat Salois, company director of research and technology.

“For the last two years, this particular variety was a standout in yield and performance,” Salois said. “I’ve seen it do better in situations where we have a little bit more summer heat.”

M-Press has performed well in the Pendleton, Ore.; Walla Walla, Wash.; Waitsburgh, Wash., and Pomeroy, Wash., areas.

The line has good medium maturity timing and a thick straw to handle a high yield. According to McGregor, the line yields 6 to 8 percent more than SY Ovation or WestBred 1529, Salois said.

The variety will be available through a “limited launch” in the fall of 2017 through Tomco Seed, the seed division of the company.

The variety was slated to be discontinued by its original genetic supplier, as it has a relatively small footprint where it performs best, Salois said.

Under the terms of its agreement, McGregor cannot reveal the original company or the variety’s parentage, Salois said.

M-Press has a solid rust defense package and has a medium susceptibility to cephalosporium stripe rust. It has more snow mold susceptibility, so McGregor will keep it out of areas where that problem is prevalent. It carries a different resistance gene for soilborne wheat mosaic virus than most lines, Salois said.

“Performance alone with that disease package should drive demand,” she said.

If it performs well, Salois believes more farmers will look into the variety.

McGregor may look into other licensing opportunities for varieties to fill a niche in specific areas where they are best suited, Salois said.

Online

http://www.mcgregor.com/home/about/seed-division/

PITTSFIELD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire-based company that's the oldest and largest maker of protective gear for firefighters is being sold to a Pennsylvania company.

Capital Bureau

SALEM — The nearly 600,000 acres of state rangeland leased to ranchers to graze livestock have struggled quietly to generate a profit for decades, even as similar management issues involving the Elliott State Forest are a higher priority and have erupted in public controversy.

But state lands officials say they continue to explore strategies to yield larger returns on eastern grazing lands.

In the 2016 fiscal year, it cost the state $1.2 million more to manage its rangeland — a term that can denote grasslands as well as Eastern Oregon’s iconic stretches of sagebrush — than it realized in revenues.

The state holds a variety of trust lands, including forests, mineral resources and agricultural land. They’re required to generate revenue for the Common School Fund, an endowment for public K-12 education. Rangeland is the largest trust land segment.

Environmental regulations have restricted logging on state forests, causing the forests to operate at a loss. So the state land board — which oversees state trust lands — has been considering selling the Elliott, an 82,500-acre swath of forest near the southwestern Oregon coast.

The possible sale of the Elliott galvanized the state’s environmental activists, though, who spoke of the state’s duty to protect public lands from privatization, turning the debate political in heavily-Democratic Oregon. In May, the board — the governor, secretary of state and treasurer — decided to pull out of its planned sale to a timber company.

By contrast, the state’s rangelands, concentrated mostly in southeastern Oregon, haven’t received much public attention.

Returns from the rangeland have varied.

Between 2013 and 2015, each acre of rangeland generated an average profit of only four cents. That means that rangelands did generate positive net revenues some years, but the margin is thin. The state’s trust agricultural land had an average per-acre profit of $18.84 in that period.

Much of last year’s losses were due to the costs of fighting wildfires. Fires cost the department $1.8 million in 2016, Department of State Lands Director Jim Paul said.

The risks that trust rangeland pose to the Common School Fund are not new. In the early aughts, the problem caught the attention of Oregon’s chief public auditor.

Back in 2004, after finding that state rangelands had lost money as far back as 1987, an audit by the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office made three main recommendations: that the state lands department sell some or all of the rangeland in a competitive bidding process, exchange it for a “better performing asset,” or get market rates for leases.

More than 10 years later, though, the state’s rangeland holdings remain relatively intact. In 2004, the state held 613,000 acres of trust rangeland. In 2016, it held 596,784 acres.

The department says the size of its holdings complicates the sale of rangelands. Putting a large share of it on the market could depress prices, meaning that sales have to be spread out over time.

And the state’s trust forests, such as the Elliott, which are consistently losing more money more quickly, have presented a more immediate problem, Paul said.

“The bigger picture is just around the issue of prioritization and where do we need to focus now, versus which things are sort of in process and are going to take longer,” Paul said.

He said you can look at the state’s trust lands like an investment portfolio.

“An individual one-year loss or one portion of the fund that’s doing poorly isn’t necessarily the trigger,” Paul said. “It’s, are you tending to the whole and getting the performance that a prudent investor would with that kind of asset?”

And since the 2004 audit, Paul said, the department has increased its lease prices, which means the department has brought in more revenue.

The department’s most recent annual report on its trust lands also seems to indicate that the department wants to find other uses for rangeland, such as installing irrigation to convert it to agricultural use, which could improve the land’s money-earning prospects.

It’s also still possible that the Legislature might come up with another plan for trust lands. A bill under consideration would give the land board the authority to develop a list of trust lands with limited performance potential, and a process for transferring them to another entity better equipped to manage it, whether that’s a state or federal agency, or an American Indian tribe.

As hazelnut orchards proliferate across Western Oregon, geographic information system expert Mike McDaniel keeps a bird’s-eye view of their progress.

McDaniel is constantly scouring aerial photographs taken by USDA and commercial image providers to detect where new trees are being planted and where old ones are being removed.

Over the past several years, he’s documented a surge in hazelnut acreage — up roughly 60 percent, to nearly 60,700 acres, between 2012 and 2016.

“I don’t think it can maintain that pace forever, but there’s plenty of room to grow if the market can support it,” said McDaniel.

Pacific Agricultural Survey, McDaniel’s company, is contracted by the Oregon Hazelnut Marketing Board to track the industry’s growth and anticipate future crop supplies.

“The industry infrastructure has to be ready to handle new product as it comes online,” said Polly Owen, the board’s manager.

Fueled by strong prices, healthy Chinese demand and disease-resistant varieties, the hazelnut industry is rushing to take advantage of the fortuitous circumstances.

With each passing year that McDaniel collects data about hazelnut orchards, the industry will develop a deeper, more refined understanding of the state of affairs, Owen said.

“As we move along, it will help more and more,” she said.

When McDaniel began his venture in 2012, he expected to see large blocks of old orchards suffering from eastern filbert blight to be replaced with new EFB-resistant cultivars.

So far, though, that isn’t happening on a major scale.

Instead, growers are planting new orchards in fields traditionally devoted to grass seed and field crops while maintaining their old trees with pruning and fungicides.

“They’ve been doing everything they can to drag them along as long as prices are high,” McDaniel said.

To supplement the aerial images, he also takes field trips to inspect on-the-ground conditions. These visits are necessary to learn facts that aren’t readily visible from the air, such as how badly older trees are infected with blight.

“You can’t expect the same volume from them year after year if they’re struggling,” he said.

Farmers are often opting to plant new orchards in phases over several years, which McDaniel attributes to a limited number of seedling trees and a desire to preserve capital.

“They’ll go in small chunks to slowly plant a new area,” he said.

Rather than invest all at once in a large orchard, many prefer to plant this year’s trees with last year’s profits.

That’s not to say there aren’t any huge plantings going in, McDaniel said. “Every year, you see something really impressive.”

Growers are also eager to fit hazelnut trees wherever they have suitable ground available, even odd locations like the corners of a field irrigated with a center pivot.

“People are finding all kinds of nooks and crannies to cram a few trees in,” he said.

The northern part of the Willamette Valley has the greatest proportion of high-quality soils suitable for hazelnut orchards, but other uses compete for that acreage.

“You’re fighting for space with urban growth,” he said. “Each year there is less good land available.”

The southern valley, on the other hand, has poorer growing conditions but more room to grow.

Experienced hazelnut farmers are seizing on these fields and improving them with soil amendments and drainage improvements.

“They have a lot more space to devote to new orchards,” McDaniel said.

New blight-resistant trees developed by Oregon State University, such as the popular Jefferson cultivar, are more compact than traditional varieties, allowing growers to pack more of them into an acre.

Little is known about how the novel trees will perform upon reaching full maturity, which is why it’s important to observe yields as they grow.

“They basically want to know what they will be faced with in the next few years,” McDaniel said. “The key is to fill in the blanks on how those varieties are going to behave.”

With the industry undergoing a revitalization, McDaniel has also noticed farmers are more willing to experiment with different tree spacings and orchard geometry.

The traditional rules for planting stalwart cultivars, such as Barcelona, aren’t seen as set in stone, he said. “All of that is really going out the window.”

McDaniel’s introduction to the hazelnut industry came when he was a youngster, helping out on his aunt and uncle’s orchard. Later, while attending college, he became fascinated with geography.

“It tracks so many different parts of life, everything from economics to politics,” McDaniel said. “People fight wars over boundaries. Lines on a map have mattered since early human history.”

While his current work fortunately isn’t likely to inspire violent conflict, McDaniel is gratified by the potential to help the hazelnut industry shape its future.

“There’s a lot of planning to be done,” he said.

Mike McDaniel

Occupation: Geographic information system specialist

Hometown: McMinnville, Ore.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in geography from Portland State University in 2000, master’s degree in geography from Syracuse University in 2003

Age: 39

Previous work experience: Mapping infrastructure for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, analyzing satellite imagery of forest fires for the Sanborn Map Co., conducting a nationwide land use survey for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service

HERMISTON, Ore. — July Fourth is just around the corner, and that means famous Hermiston watermelons — in all their sweet, juicy glory — are almost back in season.

This year’s melon crop may have gotten off to a slow start compared to recent years, but growers say they are making up ground quickly as temperatures have started rising above 90 degrees during the heat of day.

Jack Bellinger, owner of Bellinger Farms, said watermelons fell behind early following a cool and wet spring, which impacted both the timing of planting and limited the number of hot days needed for the plants to absorb energy.

A recent stretch of warmer weather, including a record high of 101 degrees on Monday, has helped to speed things up, Bellinger said. Still, he is looking at beginning harvest July 12-14, which is about a week later than usual.

“The name of the game for all crops is heat units,” Bellinger said. “They’ve been pretty hit and miss.”

Patrick Walchli, of Walchli Farms, also figures to push back harvest by a week to 10 days, though he is not alarmed. Weather patterns like this aren’t unheard of for the region, Walchli said, and he is not expecting any problems with yield or quality.

“The crop, for the weather we’ve had at this stage, looks pretty nice,” Walchli said. “I expect the melons will be just as good of quality as ever.”

Watermelons are an iconic crop for Hermiston, thriving in the region’s sandy soils and desert climate. Once summer rolls around, the plants spend all day soaking up the hot sun, which they convert into sugar as a source of energy. Having chilly nights allows the fruit to retain all that sugary goodness.

Hermiston watermelons can be found all over the Northwest, including Portland and Seattle, and have been shipped as far as Maryland and Texas.

Given their immense popularity, it is no surprise that Scott Lukas has chosen to include watermelons as part of his research program at Oregon State University’s Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center south of town.

Lukas, who was hired as the station horticulturist last year, is experimenting with different treatments for soil-borne Fusarium and Verticillium wilt that can infect watermelon vines, causing them wither and die.

Most growers use chemical fumigants to keep the diseases in check. For his trial, Lukas is treating the plants with a couple of alternative products that, if successful, could be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than traditional fumigants without impacting yield, he said.

“That’s the idea, trying different combinations of green chemistries to solve a common issue this region’s watermelon growers face,” Lukas said.

It is still too early to measure results, though Lukas is optimistic. The experiment, which involves irrigating roughly 800 watermelon plants, was not launched until late June, and the melons themselves are still no larger than the size of a bean.

Lukas said growers have been cooperative and enthusiastic about the project, which he intends to expand next year over several acres.

“It is using a potentially cheaper product, and one that has less environmental restrictions and consequences,” he said.

Prior to hiring Lukas, HAREC was without a horticulturist for about five years. While the station is still primarily known for its work with potatoes, Lukas has made it clear he sees plenty of potential for high-value crop diversification across the Columbia Basin.

“We have affordable land prices. We have plentiful water. We have good soils. And we have good distribution as well, in terms of corridors to ship food out,” Lukas said.

Apart from watermelons, Lukas’ program also involves projects with onions, blueberries, sweet corn and broccoli. Lukas may eventually look at the possibility of growing tree fruit and nuts around Hermiston, though he said that research is likely a few years away from happening.

Lukas said he is getting good feedback from local growers who previously didn’t have a lot of resources available for specialty crops at HAREC.

“I want to do what the growers need,” he said. “That’s where this program is and where it’s going to go.”