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YakimaFranklin Farm and RanchFarm and Ranch

Northwest

WINTER 2012

Food and farm diagnostics Modern -day farmer faces modern-day needs

Inside this issue

Produced quarterly by Tribune Publishing CompanyProduced quarterly by Tribune Publishing CompanyProduced quarterly by Tribune Publishing Company

Farm Bill holds new revenue safety plan

2 | Friday, December 21, 2012 | lewiston tribune/moscow-Pullman Daily news Northwest Farm and Ranch | Winter 2012

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4 | Friday, December 21, 2012 | LEWISTON TRIBUNE/MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS Northwest Farm and Ranch | Winter 2012

Northwest Farm and Ranch is published quarterly by the Lewiston Tribune and Moscow-Pullman Daily News and printed at the Tribune Publishing Co. Inc.’s

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at [email protected]

Boundary

Bonner

Kootenai

Benewah

Latah

Nez Perce

Lewis

Shoshone

Clearwater

Idaho

Morrow

Umatilla

Union

Wallowa

PendOreille

StevensFerry

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Whitman

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Farm and RanchFarm and RanchFarm and RanchNorthwest

On the cover: Chuck Benbrook, a WSU researcher, is heading a project named

Measure to Manage: Food and Farm Diagnostics for Sustainability and Health.

Change in the airWashington wheat growers receive award for limited

burning | 12

Plant virusesWSU research looks at

simultaneous infections | 8

For the love of fruitLayne takes on lead role with WSU extension | 14

Steve Camp advocates for biodiesel production and sustainability

By William L. SpenceNorthwest Farm and Ranch

Managing fuel costs is an important consideration for any modern-day farmer, but

for Steve Camp the issue has more to do with sustainability.

Camp, a fifth-generation farmer who lives near LaCrosse, Wash., is a staunch advocate of biodiesel pro-duction, both as a way to improve soil health and as a matter of energy security.

He currently grows camelina, an oilseed crop, on about 6 percent of his tillable acres. That yields enough biodiesel fuel to meet all his on-farm needs.

“I started out growing camelina as a contract grower (about six years ago),” Camp said. “I was intrigued by its possibilities as a rotation crop. I eventually started making my own fuel. Now we’re 100 percent self-sus-taining as far as diesel fuel.”

Camelina and canola both produce a cold-tolerant biodiesel fuel, he said, and don’t require any kind of engine conversion to be usable.

“It’s a direct replacement (for regu-lar diesel),” Camp said. “On all the tests I’ve run on my equipment, I get better mileage and the engines run cooler. Vegetable oil has a higher lubricity than petroleum-based oils, so there’s less friction. I haven’t noticed any reduction in performance.”

Camp uses a cold press process that leaves some oil in the meal byproduct after pressing. The meal is then sold as a feed supplement for livestock and chickens, while the oil goes through a processor.

“Once you crush the seeds, you end up with about 65 percent meal and 35 percent oil,” he said. “The oil is filtered to remove any impurities. Then it’s heated to a specific temperature and a catalyst is added, which causes the glycerin to drop out of the vegetable

oil. It’s the glycerin that causes issues with biodiesel, because it can gum up an engine.”

The remaining oil is filtered one last time. Depending on yield, Camp said, one acre of camelina can produce 60 gallons or more of usable biofuel.

“Our farm averages about 1,200 pounds (of oilseed) per acre,” he said. “That yields about 62 gallons of fuel. If you get 1,500 pounds an acre, that’s about 70 gallons of fuel.”

Besides producing his own biodie-sel, Camp also cut his fuel consump-tion in half by switching to direct seeding. He sees both practices as a move toward greater sustainability.

“Fertilizers and chemicals started to show up in the 1950s,” he said. “Before that, farmers did more crop rotations and made their own fertil-izer by spreading manure. It was very labor intensive.”

Chemicals and fertilizers changed that by increasing yields, reducing the need for crop rotations and enabling farmers to make more money for less effort.

“We got lazy,” Camp said. “We’re looking at 60 years of that kind of farming. Now it’s coming back to bite

us. With the focus on cash crops, we haven’t been very good stewards of the land, and my generation is starting to see the results of that. The transi-tion (to more sustainable practices) is starting to happen, and I feel biodiesel should be part of the process.”

Spreading the gospel hasn’t been easy, though.

In 2011, for example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency offered incentives of up to $100 per acre for Washington farmers to try growing camelina. Not a single grower signed on.

A follow-up study by Washington State University’s School of Economic Sciences concluded that farmers acted rationally, because they could make higher profits by sticking with their traditional rotation schemes. The lack of familiarity with camelina and avail-ability of crop insurance or direct payments for competing crops also encouraged farmers to take a pass on the opportunity.

Camp and Iowa-based Independence Energy Co. ran into similar reluc-tance earlier this year, when seeking commitments from local growers to produce at least 5,000 acres of cam-

Modern-day farmer faces modern-day needs

Contributed photoLaCrosse farmer Steve Camp produces his own biodiesel fuel from camelina he grows. The fuel is used to power the farm’s vehicles.


elina.The idea was to

build a processing facility near Dusty and convince farm-ers there would be a market for camelina, Camp said, thereby encouraging them to put it into their crop rotation scheme.

Had enough farmers committed, IEC would have provided process-ing equipment capable of producing 48 tons per day of biofuel. It would have paid a set price for the oilseed and offered growers a 40 percent fuel dis-count as well, but the proposal didn’t attract sufficient interest.

“It’s frustrating, but we’re still plug-ging away,” he said. “There’s a fair amount of interest in the concept. It’s just getting over the hump. Farmers are a hard-nosed group and we don’t change easily. This appears to most to be a significant change.”

While camelina and biofuel pro-duction is profitable, Camp said, it’s not as profitable as growing wheat. So long as that’s the case, many

farmers will be content to stay on the side-lines.

“We need people with vision to step up and see the potential,” he said. “What I’d real-ly like is for the local community to own and operate (the processing facility). But we need to get it off the ground first and prove that it works; that’s where IEC comes in.

“I don’t know how to encourage farmers any more. I under-stand their reluctance — there have been two or three other manufac-turers in this area who promised the world; some took the money and then left. But I’m a fifth generation farmer

here. I want this program to work and be solid. If you watch what the economy is doing, I think we need to step up to the plate and take care of ourselves, because it’s not getting done on the government side.”

William Spence may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 791-9168.

Moscow-PullmanDaily NewsCamelina, similar to what Steve Camp grows on his farm near LaCrosse, Wash., is shown. Camp is a staunch advocate of biodiesel production, both as a way to improve soil health and as a matter of energy security.

“I was intrigued by (camelina’s)

possibilities as a rotation crop. I

eventually started making my own fuel. Now we’re

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Department chair of crop and soil makes move to director of extension

By Elizabeth RuddNorthwest Farm and Ranch

Rich Koenig, recently appoint-ed associate dean and director of extension at Washington

State University, hopes to strength-en the relationship between the uni-versity and state to create more opportunities for students.

“Really creating widespread opportunities for WSU students to participate in, and gain experience in …” he said, “so having that become more of a normal part of WSU exten-sion operations.”

Koenig said throughout his faculty career he has always held extension positions and loves the work done with extension, which prompted him to be interested in the position as director of the organization.

“Extension is really the outreach arm of the university,” Koenig said. “It is responsible primarily for dis-seminating research information out to the residents of Washington.”

Before assuming his new role, Koenig had been the department chair for crop and soil sciences since 2008, and began his tenure at WSU in 2003 when he was hired as a fac-ulty member and soil scientist.

Koenig said he has the perspec-tive of a faculty member and admin-istrator, and hopes he can use those experiences to move extension for-ward and maybe better understand how to fill the gaps.

“I had a strong connection to extension as a faculty member in that (crop and soil) department, and what that did was allow me to have insight into extension,” he said.

While he knows a lot about exten-sion in some areas, Koenig said he still has a lot to learn about the program as a whole, which consists of 700 paid employees and about

13,000 volunteers.Koenig said understanding the

breadth and depth of extension is his first short-term goal as director, and plans to do that with a tour around the state beginning in January.

He said the tour will be completed in phases — hopefully finishing by the end of the year — since all 39 counties in the state work with WSU Extension.

“There’s going to be a consider-able amount of travel and absorption of knowledge from those program,” he said.

Koenig said all the counties also give financial support to WSU Extension, as well as providing the physical space. A portion of WSU salaries in those areas come from local support and in exchange, he said, a pipeline of knowledge and resources is established back to the university.

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the degree requirements on campus to extension. He said he plans to do that by creating opportunities to establish internships for students all across the state that will be more accessible depending on the individual’s situation.

Koenig said he also wants to improve elec-tronic delivery presence within the organization, and because of budget cuts, will focus on strate-gic hiring.

Even so, he said he has a vision for where exten-sion will be in the next five years.

“Heavily engaged in WSU, in disseminating or distributing informa-tion developed at WSU, and maybe recognized as a leader in distributing and developing these types of programs throughout the state and region,” he said.

Elizabeth Rudd can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 237, or by email to [email protected].

Insurance programs to replace direct payments

By Eric BarkerNorthwest Farm and Ranch

Farmers are likely to find them-selves operating under a new rev-enue safety net program if and

when Congress approves a new five-year farm bill.

The latest version of the bill is expect-ed to save $25 billion over five years by replacing direct payment programs with crop and revenue insurance programs. The change will demand more number-crunching time from producers who will have to wade through several crop and revenue insurance options to determine which is best for their operation.

“Farmers are going to have to be more proactive and participate more fully in farm safety net than they have in the past,” said Kelly Olson, administrator of the Idaho Barley Commission.

Gone will be the days when Olson said farmers didn’t have to do much to receive a payment for a portion of their

production.“It didn’t really require

them to do anything. Based on historic crop records they got a guar-antee payment from the government. That era is over,” she said. “It will be replaced by something that is less of a guaran-tee and more of a supple-

ment. Farmers are going to have to step in and buy their own revenue insurance and get something in addition to that as part of the farm safety net.”

Gaining farmer support for replac-ing the direct payment program with insurance support hasn’t been easy, but it is generally backed by growers of the Pacific Northwest, said Travis Jones, executive director of the Idaho Grain Producers Association at Boise.

“Its been a difficult road to get a unanimous position on that in Idaho. Some growers have supported direct payments, but as an association we adopted a policy that agrees to eliminate (direct payment) as long as we are able to maintain a robust crop insurance

program.”He said there is more political sup-

port outside of the agricultural com-munity for the insurance program that requires producers to participate by put-ting in their own money along with some governmental support for premiums or deductibles.

Paul E. Patterson, a University of Idaho extension economist at Idaho Falls, said the recent cycle of healthy commodity prices made direct payments politically unpalatable. But farmers continue to want something to guard against low price cycles in the future.

“The direct payments are difficult to justify given where current markets are,” he said. “Most people do recognize in agriculture, things are cyclical and it’s impossible to predict those up and down cycles and what policymakers are trying to make sure is they have a mechanism in place that would provide some degree of safety net to growers when prices do decline.”

Eric Barker may be contacted at [email protected] or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.

Olson

Farm Bill holds new revenue safety plan

8 | Friday, December 21, 2012 | lewiston tribune/Moscow-PullMan Daily news Northwest Farm and Ranch | Winter 2012

Multiple infections can result in crop damage

By Holly BowenNorthwest Farm and Ranch

Some Inland Northwest crops could suffer at the hand of plant viruses that work together to weaken

their hosts’ natural defenses, according to new research out of Washington State University.

“Especially if there’s more than one virus in your field, they can sometimes help each other and make the disease even worse,” said Hanu Pappu, the Sam Smith Distinguished Professor of Plant Virology and chairman of the WSU plant pathology depart-ment.

The research journal PLOS ONE recently pub-lished the findings, which were the result of a col-laboration among Pappu; Sudeep Bag, a doctoral stu-dent at WSU; Sahar Eid, a former WSU student and a current postdoctoral fellow at the University of Idaho; and Neena Mitter, a profes-sor at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Pappu said onions, potatoes and tree fruits are all examples of regional crops that are susceptible to simultane-ous infection by more than one type of virus.

“The outcome depends on the nature of the viruses coming together,” he said.

His team found that when iris yellow spot virus and tomato spotted wilt virus infected the same plant — Datura stra-monium, in this case — the two viruses collaborated at the genetic level to facili-tate increased infection.

Pappu said it’s not uncommon for plants to be infected with multiple virus-es, especially in the case of flowering crops that are propagated by bulb cut-tings.

“In many cases, they compete and one will prevail, but in a few cases, they end up helping each other, resulting in more serious disease,” he said of the viruses.

Pappu said this research shows for the first time what happens at the

genetic level when these types of viruses, called tospoviruses, combine inside a plant.

According to statistics cited by the research team, tospoviruses could be responsible for as much as $1 billion per year in worldwide crop losses.

Unlike fungi and bacteria, Pappu said, viruses require a living host to survive, so they cannot afford to be picky about the plants they infect.

“It’s very important for viruses to con-stantly expand their host range, or the

number of different hosts they can infect,” he said. “It basically comes down to survival of the fittest. The more hosts they can infect, the better chances of their survival.”

Researchers are always looking out for new viruses and existing viruses that have expand-ed their host range and want to get that informa-tion out to agricultural producers, he said.

Pappu said it’s impor-tant that growers know which viruses and viral vectors are in their region, and which ones impact their crops and neighbor-ing crops, so appropriate

management strategies can be adopted.He said he doesn’t know if mixed

infections are a worsening problem, but he said he and other researchers will continue to look into the “basis for the interaction between two viruses and what it’s actually doing to the host metabolism, the plant metabolism.”

The key is learning how to inter-fere with that interaction to reduce the impact of disease, he said.

The research project was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crops Research Initiative, in addition to the National Onion Association.

The research paper, titled “Complementation between Two Tospoviruses Facilitates the Systemic Movement of a Plant Virus Silencing Suppressor in an Otherwise Restrictive Host,” can be accessed at PLOS ONE at this shortened link: http://goo.gl/o5PNK.

Holly Bowen can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 239, or by email to [email protected].

WSU research explores plant virus partnerships

“It basically comes down to survival

of the fittest. The more hosts

(viruses) can infect, the better chances of their

survival.”Hanu Pappu

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LEWISTON TRIBUNE/MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS | Friday, December 21, 2012 | 9Northwest Farm and Ranch | Winter 2012

By Brandon MaczNorthwest Farm and Ranch

Whether people want to learn the basics of cheese making or how to make their prod-

uct a slice better than before, Russ Salvadalena says, the Washington State University Creamery can help.

The Northwest is gaining a reputa-tion for its cheese, and WSU is part of that with its Cougar Gold, which rep-resents 80 percent of the creamery’s annual revenue. While the cream-ery safeguards secrets surrounding the cheese, it does offer classes to teach people how to craft many other varieties, said Salvadalena, creamery manager.

A basic, three-day course Feb. 19-21 in Chehalis, Wash., focuses on small farmers or artisans looking to distribute their own cheeses or become more knowledgeable about the process.

“That’s where a vast majority of the artisinal cheese makers are,” Salvadalena said of the western Washington venue. “It’s a pretty big expense to have all the equipment to do that.”

For a $529 early registration fee,

prospective cheese makers learn about the coagulating process, using cultures and enzymes, aging cheese and take a field trip to local producers to see how the industry operates.

“The basic one is not complicated at all, said Salvadalena, and cheeses made typically consist of cheddar, a queso fresco and monterey, to name a few.

Advanced courses are preferred by large-scale cheese makers who send their employees for outside training. The next one will be March 5-7 in Pullman.

“We step out a little bit,” Salvadalena said, with other cheeses like mozzarella, havarti and gouda.

Everything but blue

But never mold-ripened cheeses. “Once you bring mold into your

plant, you’re always making blue cheese,” he said. “Even if you’re try-ing to make cheddar, you’re making blue cheese.”

Making cheese from raw milk is also not promoted by the creamery as there are food safety issues with unpasteurized dairy.

Participants will spend two days in the classroom and one day making

Creamery offering cheese coursesSmall- and large-scale producers find value in outside training

WSU

Geoff Crimmins/Daily NewsJohnny Parkins, left, and Beth King rake Cougar Gold curds as part of the cheddaring process at Ferdinand’s Creamery at Washington State University in Pullman on Dec. 6.

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10A | Friday, December 21, 2012 | Moscow-PullMan Daily news Northwest Farm and Ranch | Winter 2012

Gosia WozniackaAssociated Press

FRIANT, Calif. — Two cowboys on horses pushed cattle across an expanse of golden hills overgrown with tall grasses and oak trees, up an unpaved road toward another pasture.

From the Sierra Nevada foothills, the cattle will be sent for processing into beef, prized by consumers looking

for locally raised, grass-fed meat in California’s Central Valley.

But this isn’t a ranch. It’s a nature preserve managed by the Sierra Foothill Conservancy, a Fresno-area land trust that protects ecosystems. The Conservancy says it is breaking new ground by raising its own beef herd, using cattle to benefit the envi-ronment and to improve its bottom line.

Conservationists team up with ranchers, loggers

Associated PressHerd manager Logan Page pushes cattle grazing on the Finegold Creek Preserve toward another pasture on Nov. 26, 2012 near Friant, Calif. The preserve is owned by the Sierra Foothill Conservancy, a Fresno-area land trust that’s raising its own beef herd to benefit the environment and to improve its bottom line.

cheese, Salvadalena said. The early registration fee is $739.

These courses are a way to gain knowledge but not the rigorous certi-fication process the American Cheese Society offers with its cheese manufac-turers exam, he said, which requires test takers to know a lot about the pro-cess, milk, aging, cheese characteristics and more.

“We do give them a certificate that’s just something that shows they partici-pated in a class,” Salvadalena said. “In a lot of cases, it’s something they can take back to their employer.”

Nial Yager, who has worked at the Creamery for 24 years, is one of 126 certified cheese professionals in the country.

“We bring in professionals from all over the world to help make all the

different kinds of cheese,” said Yager. “Since they’re watching and teaching, there’s really no room for error.”

The creamery is also offering a two-day pasteurization workshop aimed at plant operators, suppliers, market-ers, managers and quality control spe-cialists. It will be held April 3-4 in Pullman, and focuses on vat and high-temperature, short-time pasteurization systems.

All of the courses are offered early in the year as the creamery does about two-thirds of its sales from Oct.15-Dec. 15, said Salvadalena. To learn more, go to this shortened link: http://bit.ly/12uSjSH. You can also contact Cathy Blood at [email protected].

Brandon Macz can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 238, or by email to [email protected].

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lewiston tribune/Moscow-PullMan Daily news | Friday, December 21, 2012 | 11Northwest Farm and Ranch | Winter 2012The beef operation is one

of several novel approaches — cost-effective, though paradoxi-cal — that marry conservation work with industries often held in low esteem by environmen-talists.

Across the nation, conserva-tion groups in partnership with ranchers are using cattle to restore native plant species by grazing invasive grasses. Other groups are working with fisher-men to fish sustainably, and using logging and mining prof-its to pave way for forest and salmon restoration.

“There’s been a shift to working more with indus-tries,” said Lynn Huntsinger, professor of rangeland ecology at the University of California, Berkeley. “This is a human landscape. We need food, we need wood, people are crazy about eating salmon. Working closely with those who produce on the land offers opportunities for ... teaching them about con-servation.”

In the past, conservation-ists relied on purchasing land and setting it aside, away from human activity. Logging, ranch-ing or mining were seen as

harmful and incompatible with preservation.

But in recent years, the use of conservation easements to retire development rights on private land has exploded. The easements, which cost a fraction of what it would cost to buy the property, allow landowners to continue working the land.

In areas where nearby urban development has pushed up land values, conservation easements can provide an alternative solu-tion to ranchers who might be tempted to sell their holdings, said Daniel Press, a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Conservationists “have found that allowing, or even encourag-ing or designing some way of making money off of properties is the only way to keep them from being degraded further or developed outright,” Press said.

At the Conservancy — which owns about 6,500 acres of land in Fresno, Madera, Merced and Mariposa counties and man-ages another 20,000 acres for ranchers with easements and for public agencies — allowing ranching on its land was once

controversial.But over the past decade,

studies have shown that cattle grazing can help the land, espe-cially vernal pools, temporary collections of water that provide crucial habitat for native plants and invertebrates, said execu-tive director Jeannette Tuitele-Lewis.

“If we don’t graze the foot-hills, then the European grass-es end up choking out a lot of the native plants and it really decreases the biodiversity of the habitat,” Tuitele-Lewis said.

So-called conservation graz-ing is increasingly used by land trusts and public agencies on preserves and on private ranch-es throughout the U.S., she said. Most lease land to ranchers, but the Conservancy took the prac-tice a step further. Two years ago, it started its own beef herd under the label Sierra Lands Beef.

The group now runs about 300 cows on 1,800 acres of land. The beef operation provides an additional revenue stream, Tuitele-Lewis said, and allows greater control over grazing management.

The conservancy’s herds-

men transport the cattle, five head at a time, to Fresno State University’s slaughterhouse to be butchered, processed and boxed. They then deliver the grass-fed beef to customers.

“We’re creating a bridge between conservation and the local economy,” Tuitele-Lewis said.

Other conservationists are teaming up with private tim-ber investors such as the Lyme Timber Company based in New Hampshire. The company acquires quality habitat that doubles as timberland, gives up development rights by sell-ing conservation easements to land trusts and public agencies throughout the U.S., then logs the land in a sustainable way to generate an income.

Timber is harvested at or below the annual rate of growth, said Peter Stein, the company’s managing director, and harvest-ing methods are third party cer-tified by the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

The approach is key, Stein said, as conservationists aim to preserve larger tracts of land — in the hundreds of acres —

which are too expensive to buy outright.

The Nature Conservancy is also partnering with the tim-ber industry in California and Alaska to restore salmon by felling trees to create stream habitat.

The group has also part-nered with the fishing industry. It bought out fishing permits in California and in Maine to protect millions of acres of ocean habitat, then leased the permits back to fishermen who agreed to fish sustainably.

“We’ve come to the realiza-tion that you don’t try to do everything yourself. You cata-lyze the adoption of practices by having ranchers, fishermen and logging companies adopt them, so that you can have widespread impact,” said the group’s North and Central Coast Director Brian Stranko.

But ecologist George Wuerthner says such approach-es do more harm than good.

“Given all the impacts associ-ated with these operations, it’s troubling to call it conservation,” said Wuerthner, who works for the California nonprofit Foundation for Deep Ecology.

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By Estelle GwinnNorthwest Farm and Ranch

The Washington Association of Wheat Growers was recognized in November for cutting their

field burning to improve the quality of Washington’s air.

After 20 years of working with envi-ronmental groups, the Washington State Department of Ecology and the agricul-tural burning task force, the WAWG received an environmental excellence award for their efforts to eliminate smoky days while maintaining burning as a tool for farming in Eastern Washington.

“We have worked as a team to make

our internationally recognized smoke management and permitting program successful in Washington and a model for others,” Grant Pfeifer, regional direc-tor for DOE, said in a statement.

The agricultural burn program con-siders weather conditions such as wind and air quality. It also asked farmers to pay higher burn fees, which many farm-ers supported

“We went to bat at the legislature and said we would support a fee increase,” Jay Penner said.

Penner is a wheat grower and member of the Agricultural Burning Task Force who has worked on the burning issue for 14 years. The task force is the only

entity that can raise the burn fee, which increased from $2.50 to $3.75 per acre.

“This is a tool the farmers want to keep. It wasn’t a real tough sell because they knew what they were up against,” Penner said. If there was no fee increase

farmers would lose two of their seven burn days.

“We’re the government and we’re the regulators, so for us it’s quite an honor that the folks who use the program would actually come forward, step up

Long path to reward

Washington wheat growers receive award for limited burning

Moscow-PullmanDaily NewsThe Washington Association of Wheat Growers was recognized in November with an environmental excellence award for their efforts to eliminate smoky days while maintaining burning as a tool for farming in Eastern Washington.

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and support the program even though they’re the ones who pay,” Kary Peterson said.

Peterson is the burn team leader at ecology, who makes decisions 365 days a year on whether or not farmers can burn.

By burning when weather conditions are right and raising fees for farmers with burning permits, the number of acres burned in the state has actually gone down. Penner said some farmers are moving toward new technology or alternative meth-ods for clearing field residue.

The acreage started going down in 1999, when the Washington DOE signed a memorandum of understanding with WAWG to reduce burn-ing by half within seven years. The number of acres burned decreased from 229,000 acres to 114,250.

“We’ve improved very much the system we burn under today rather than 20 years ago,” Penner said, although it was not an easy road.

It began in the late 1990’s with a lawsuit filed by Save

Our Summers, a northwest environmental group that was unhappy with the smoky air. The group’s suit posed a threat to the number of days farmers could burn. Farmers were eager to defend their burn days and went into mediation with Save Our Summers.

“It was a very frustrating process,” Penner said. “In the summer of 2000 we mediated 13 times.”

As a result of the mediation, cereal grain burning was pro-tected.

After the seven year agree-ment to reduce burning expired, WAWG continued to work cooperatively with ecology and improve air conditions in east-ern Washington.

The burning task force con-tinues to research best practices for field burning and give fund-ing to research groups working to improve burning and/or find an alternative to field burning.

Estelle Gwinn can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 301, or by email to [email protected].

BOISE — In the last four years, conser-vation-minded farmers, ranchers and forest landowners in Idaho have enrolled more than a half-million acres in USDA’s Conservation Stewardship Program, a program that helps landowners take conservation to the next level. The program is offered through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

“The program is aimed at producers who are already established conservation stew-ards,” NRCS acting state conservationist Gene Schock said. “Conservation work aided by the program benefits working agriculture lands, including improved water and soil quality and enhanced wildlife habitat.”

From improving soil health to sending cleaner water downstream, this program is improving the environment, including the landscape here in Idaho.

Mark Olson, NRCS district conservationist in Salmon, Idaho, said a landowner’s existing level of conservation is examined and before being given suggestions on practices that “can take them up to the next level.”

One practice Olson has worked with land-

owners on is split nutrient applications. Nutrients are applied in the spring and sum-mer instead of just the spring. This can affect water quality downstream in case there is any nutrient runoff.

Other practices used in the area include rotating salt and mineral placement on graz-ing lands, removing fish barriers, fencing off riparian areas, and harvesting hay in a man-ner that lets animals escape.

For more information, look into the Conservation Stewardship Program at your local NRCS office or go online. A CSP self-screening checklist is available to help deter-mine if CSP is suitable for your operation. The checklist highlights basic information about CSP eligibility requirements, stewardship threshold requirements and payment types. It is available from local NRCS offices and on the CSP website: http://go.usa.gov/g9dx.

Nationally, more than 50 million acres are enrolled in CSP, an area larger than Nebraska.

— U.S. Department of Agriculture

USDA conservation programreaches 50 million acre mark

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Desmond Layne takes on lead role with fruit trees at Washington State extension

By Joel MillsNorthwest Farm and Ranch

From a childhood watching his father breed fruit trees for the Canadian government to

his new leadership position with Washington State University exten-sion, Desmond Layne has been a fruit guy his whole life.

“The area where I grew up in Ontario near Lake Erie was all fruit,” Layne said by phone from his soon-to-be former office at Clemson University in South Carolina. “As a high school kid, the only summer jobs that were available that you could ride your bike to were fruit farms.”

Layne was in the orchards every summer through his college years, and eventually followed in his father’s footsteps as a fruit breeder. Now one of the world’s leading experts in tree fruit horticulture, Layne doesn’t shy away using the word “love” to describe his relationship with his field of study.

“First of all, I love to eat fruit,” he said. “I love the science of growing it. I love understanding how the plant functions, and love the fact that it’s providing delicious, nutritious food for people. It’s a vital part of life.”

Layne has become one of the preem-inent peach experts in the Southeast during his years at Clemson, but he

said he couldn’t pass up an “unprec-edented opportunity” to join an expanding team at WSU that aims to be the top tree fruit research and

extension hub for the world.“For a career opportunity for me

professionally, it’s really outstanding to be able to interact with really excel-

lent scientists and innovative growers in a climate where there’s very, very strong collaboration between scien-tists and the industry.”

For the love of fruit

Layne

Associated PressDorisel Estevez of Kennewick harvests Pink Lady apples Nov. 8 at Predator Ridge Orchard off Glade Road about 20 miles north of Pasco, Wash.

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lewiston tribune/Moscow-PullMan Daily news | Friday, December 21, 2012 | 15Northwest Farm and Ranch | Winter 2012He said the coop-

erative work being done between the university admin-istration, its exten-sion services, and the Washington fruit industry is virtually unknown, in his experience.

In fact, the industry itself is funding Layne’s Y a k i m a - b a s e d WSU faculty posi-tion with an endow-ment. He said such action will help create and sustain innovative fruit breeding programs that will survive and grow for years, while fruit research in other regions is in decline.

“Other programs in the coun-try are either static and positions aren’t being filled, or there is very minimal investment from the uni-versity to support applied research and extension, or there are state cut-backs,” he said.

Federal research expenditures are also down, and the remaining fund-ing is getting harder to secure, Layne

added.But the indus-

try’s endowments and other funding efforts will help create stable pro-grams, he said. “It demonstrates that there’s a huge level of trust, that there’s a huge level of commitment to those who will do the research and outreach.”

And WSU will continue to add faculty members and support staff to the effort, eventu-ally creating what Layne called an “all-star team.”

He is also excit-ed about expanding his expertise beyond stone fruits into pom fruits like apples and pears, and to work with an industry that is so much larger than the one he’s been sup-porting in the Southeast.

“This is a phenomenal opportu-nity. Perhaps once in a lifetime.”

Mills may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 883-0564.

“It’s really outstanding to be able to interact with really

excellent scientists and innovative growers in a

climate where there’s very, very strong

collaboration between sci-entists and

the industry.”Desmond LayneWSU extension

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By Tracie ConeAssociated press

SAN FRANCISCO — Napa Valley, one of the world’s premier wine grow-ing regions, has an uncommon problem these days: not enough new grapevine root stock is available to supply the mas-sive replanting that’s under way there.

A trifecta of developments has created the critical shortage:

Aging cabernet vines planted after a deadly phylloxera outbreak in the 1980s are due for replacement that was deferred for years as sales of premium wines slumped in the recession.

With demand again strong, growers are taking the opportunity to replace old vines with varieties and clones better suited for their microclimates. Others are reconfiguring rows to prevent erosion into

sensitive streams, or to allow mechanical harvesting machinery to access vines.

All of this activity caught commercial nurseries across California short of sup-ply. Some are sold out for 2013 and are taking orders for 2014 and beyond.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Michael Monette of Sunridge Nurseries, one of the industry’s biggest suppliers of plants. “What’s totally phe-nomenal for me is I’m focusing on 2014 and 2015, which is absolutely nutso. We have no more space in our green-houses.”

Napa Valley, an hour’s drive north-east of San Francisco, caught the world’s attention in 1976 when, to the shock and chagrin of the French, wines from Stag’s Leap and Chateau Montelena won the Paris Wine Tasting. The ensuing rush to plant was cut short when the rootstock

that most new growers used was not fully resistant to the root-eating phyl-loxera pest.

Nearly two-thirds of the vines there slowly died, and vineyard owners yanked millions of plants beginning around 1990 then spent $1.2 billion replacing them.

That replanting of new clones on more resistant rootstock are the vines on which the Napa Valley’s current reputation for excellence was sealed. Today wines from Napa Valley’s 16 sub-appellations are some of the most complex and priciest produced.

Massive Napa do-over prompts grape plant shortage

Associated PressVineyard manager Chris Pedemonte walks with his dog between Cabernet Sauvingnon vines that were recently pulled up at Round Pond Estate in Rutherford, Calif., on Dec. 13.

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lewiston tribune/Moscow-PullMan Daily news | Friday, December 21, 2012 | 17Northwest Farm and Ranch | Winter 2012After 20 years, however,

plants reach old age and yields begin to diminish in a region where a ton of grapes can fetch $4,500 or more.

Growers routinely replace plants, but the convergence of events has created an urgency that prompted the Napa Valley Grapegrowers to gather experts last week to talk about plan-ning, plant financing and even preventing erosion during the process in a region of sensitive habitat.

“The defining feature of this movement is the scale at which it is taking place,” said Jennifer Putnam, executive director of the association. “That nurseries are sold out is unprecedented. That an industry is reinvesting in itself right now is a sure sign we’re coming out of the reces-sion.”

Mondavi alone is in the pro-cess of planting 1.5 million new vines, she said. One vineyard management company alone removed 8,000 acres this year.

“A lot has changed since the phylloxera replanting,” said Putnam. “We’ve learned more

about the soil, and what variet-ies might be better suited for a site, maybe the row orienta-tion should change. We’re at the beginning of a wave of change.”

While grapes can grow by simply planting a cane in the ground, those plants will not be resistant to pests and disease. Nurseries graft European vines

onto native North American grape plant roots, which are naturally resistant to phyllox-era. Botanists further tweak rootstocks to resist local pests and disease, or to control the vigor of the vines.

“It has been 23 years since 1990, so that’s a lot of acreage coming due,” said Jon Ruel, chief operating officer at the

480-acre Trefethen Family Vineyard in Napa Valley’s Oak Knoll District. “Growers were quiet for a number of years, but now we have a lot more optimism. Now wineries want grapes and growers are like, ‘Shoot, I should have planted a few years ago.”’

Trefethen was founded in 1968 when there were just 15 wineries in the Napa Valley. Since the phylloxera replanting, they’ve learned more about the types of vines suited to the soil and the trellis structure that best supports them. Cabernet sauvignon grapes that ripen in the shade can taste like bell pep-pers, but those with low vigor and clusters exposed to direct sunlight can develop a raisin-like flavor.

Ruel says changing root-stock, as he is doing, is like rotating crops — you end up with a plant that is more resis-tant to whatever pests and disease exist in the soil.

“Every time you replant you have the opportunity to do it smarter,” said Ruel, who will replace 40 acres a year until

his redo is complete. “It’s really an exciting time because it’s an opportunity to reinvest in our vineyard with a better under-standing of how we can pro-duce the best possible grapes and in a sustainable fashion as well.”

Most of the new plantings going on across Napa Valley are cabernet sauvignon, the varietal for which the region is most associated, Monette said. But others are planting rising stars petit verdot, malbec and petite sirah for blending.

Beckstoffer Vineyards is looking at new rootstock and clones as cabernet vines are replaced on more than 200 acres. They’ve placed some orders for 2014 delivery.

“We’ve been developing for two years when (grape) prices were low because we saw they would come back. We’d rather have fruit available than wait two years for it, even when prices were very low,” David Beckstoffer said. “Replanting is expensive, but when prices are where you want them to be your investment pays off.”

Associated PressA vineyard that was grafted with Cabernet Sauvignon earlier this year at Trefethen Family Vineyards in Napa, Calif., is shown. Napa Valley has an uncommon problem these days: Not enough new grape root stock to go around.

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Armed with a $240,000 grant, WSU researchers look to launch website

By Kathy HedbergNorthwest farm and Ranch

Looking for information on food safety, the nutritional quality of food or the effect of farming

on the environment?Although articles on these top-

ics abound in the popular media, accurate, science-based information is sparse.

It’s the goal of a group of Washington State University researchers to reme-dy that situation. Armed with a three-year $240,000 grant from the Clif Bar Family Foundation, Chuck Benbrook, a WSU researcher in sustaining agri-culture and natural resources, plans to launch a website that will answer such questions for scientists, as well as consumers. The project is named Measure to Manage: Food and Farm Diagnostics for Sustainability and Health.

“On all these topics there’s a ton of information, but it’s not organized and accessible to nonscientists in a way that can help people make more informed decisions about the food they eat, the farming systems they choose and the technologies that farmers decide to use,” Benbrook said.

With all the discussion in the media about the problems of obesity and dia-betes, one would think the American public would be changing their diet to promote health, he said.

“But as a matter of fact the lat-est data from the (U.S. Department of Agriculture) shows Americans are slipping in their consumption of fruits and vegetables, which is the food group we need to eat more of to pro-mote health,” he said.

“There’s a disconnect between what

science is clearly showing about what is right and wrong about the American food system and the American diet.”

Benbrook said his program intends to draw on the science that’s already available and integrate it into simple, Web-based tools that people can use to think through ways to improve

their health by altering their diets in ways that are medically sound.

And as for farmers, Benbrook said they are being “pushed and shoved” by a number of factions — federal and state regulations; retailers, big food companies and consumers.

“In the midst of all this new-found

Filling the science-based info void on food safety

An overweight person is shown eating. Despite widespread attention on the nation’s obesity issue, many Americans aren’t changing their diet habits.

Associated Press

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LEWISTON TRIBUNE/MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS | Friday, December 21, 2012 | 19Northwest Farm and Ranch | Winter 2012

CLIF BAR FAMILY FOUNDATION The organization provided Washington State University a $240,000 grant. Learn more about its mission at www.clifbarfamilyfoundation.org

“There’s a disconnect

between what science is clearly showing

about what is right and wrong about

the American food system and the American diet.”

Chuck BenbrookWSU researcher

activism that is focusing on the choices farmers make, the farmers themselves often don’t know how to interpret what’s behind a lot of the kinds of recommen-dations or claims or requirements that they’re being hit with,” he said.

The long-term goal of the project

would be to make sure farmers have solid data and credible science behind suggestions on new directions they should be taking.

And when the science is lacking, Benbrook said, “We’ll point that out and try to prevent food companies in the

state from being led down a primrose path.”

Benbrook expects the Website to be up and ready to use by spring.

“This is a long-term project,” he said. “We’re going to build two versions — one for technical specialists and one for con-sumers. If you try to meet the needs of both audiences with one system you end up not meeting either needs very well. We’re going to build parallel portals for all of these tools.”

Hedberg may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 983-2326.Associated Press

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