farm & ranch 2012
DESCRIPTION
A salute to the hands that feed us.TRANSCRIPT
Megan Anderson
Katy Creason
Tracy Rice (left)Kelly Houson (right)
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WILLIAM LOPEZARGUS OBSERVER
ONTARIO
It’s no secret that Malheur Countyis a community built around agricul-ture and that one of its biggest pro-ducers is onions. During harvestseason, trucks hauling onions areprevalent and those onions travelfrom distances as close as one of thelocal grocery stores in Ontario to asfar as Japan.
One local shipping company,Murakami Produce, exports on av-erage 20,000 loads of onions a sea-son, with each load weighing about45,000 pounds. This could not bedone without the hired help of mul-tiple truck drivers from all over thenation.
Tracy Rice is just one of thosetruck drivers and on Nov. 8, he waspreparing to head out of Ontariowith a full load of onions to be trans-ported to Rollins, N.C.
Rice, who drives a 1971 Peterbuilttruck that was purchased brandnew by his father, is a native ofGrayson, Ky., and owns his own
truck company, Bad NewsTrucking.
Primarily handling exports fromthe Northwestern portion of theUnited States, Rice said that he car-ries a bit of everything, including alarge amount of equipment, butdoes carry a lot of onions duringthis season.
“This will be my last load ofonions for the season, since it is anopen trailer and it’s getting colderout,” Rice said.
Having learned from his dad, Ricesaid that he has been driving truckssince he was 17 and couldn’t imag-ine doing another line of work.Upon completion of high school,Rice spent a year traveling with hisdad and learning the trade beforegoing out on his own.
“Been doing this for years nowand I still love it,” Rice said. “I get tosee different parts of the countryand meet different people every day.It’s not the typical nine-to-fivegrind.”
Rice also said that he loves theCONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Onions good businessfor trucking industry
Onions good business for trucking industry....................................2, 3
Payette Valley Riders for those who love to ride ............................4, 5
Megan Anderson came late to FFA program...................................7, 8
It’s a small world after all..........................................................................8, 9
Ranchers partner in Sage-Grouse Initiative ................................10, 11
Soggy weather sours sugar beet harvest .......................................12, 13
Stink bugs look for a home in Oregon, maybe yours ..............14, 15
Ranchers fight fires to keep a home on the range ..................16 - 20
Hawaii says aloha to Oregon Christmas trees ...................................20
Dairies weather fluctuating prices, contend high feed costs .......21
All-Oregon Thanksgiving feast pricier but possible........................22
Net farm income approaches record high ...........................................23
Inside:
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ORE-IDA® HISTORYOre-Ida Potato Products, Inc. was formed in1952 with its first and largest Ore-Ida®
potato-processing faci ity located in Oregon. It was here that founder F. Nephi Griggprocured many of his potatoes. Thus, the brand name “Ore-Ida®” was born, combin-ing the first few letters of Oregon and Idaho. This name inspired one of the world’smost memorable advertising slogans: “When it says Ore-Ida®, it’s All Righta,” whichwas used for more than a decade.
Working Together Grwoing TogetherSince 1952
Working Together Grwoing TogetherSince 1952
Heinz FrozenFood CompanyOntario, Oregon
challenge that driving on typicalnorthwest roads during the winterbrings, something that some truckdrivers try to avoid.
Throughout the year, Rice saidthat he typically spends about threeto four weeks at a time on the road,and then he spends about a week ortwo back on his ranch in Kentucky.
He takes advantage of his timehome by riding horses and spend-ing time with his family, includinghis two children, who are 13 and 15years old.
“Both kids want to go to collegeand hauling is going to make sure ithappens,” Rice said.
Murakami Produce contractswith an average of 15 to 20 farmersa season to acquire the onions theyship, Kelly Houston, productionmanager, said.
Aside from truck drivers,Murakami has a railroad servicethat hauls onions as far as the east
coast. “We do have a rail service that
helps us ship from coast-to-coast,”Houston said. “We export onions toTaiwan, Mexico, Canada and Japanas well.”
During production season, thecompany has on average 90 to 100employees and that number doublesduring harvest season, Houstonsaid.
Annually, through the amount oflabor, shipments and money gener-ated in Malheur County alone fromthe production of onions is about$120 million, Murakami PresidentGrant Kitamura said. That’s whenyou factor in everything from thefertilizers and seeds needed to theshipping methods.
Kitamura said that during themonths of September throughMarch, 45 percent of the nationalconsumption of onions comes fromthe Murakami Produce companyalone.
WILLIAM LOPEZ | ARGUS OBSERVER
Truck driver Tracy Rice (left) and Murakami Production Manager Kelly Houston standbeside Rice’s freshly loaded truck. Rice, who is taking the onions to North Carolina, ex-pects this to be his last load of onions for the season.
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CHERISE KAECHELEARGUS OBSERVER
PAYETTE COUNTY
For the horse lovers in PayetteCounty who are looking for agroup of like-minded people to ridewith, the Payette Valley Riders of-fers much more than the typical or-ganization- it offers all age groupsthe chance to succeed in their loveof riding no matter the skill-set.
Michelle Brown has been a mem-ber of the Payette Valley Riders foronly a few years, but has been a bigpart of the group’s revitalization.For the last two years, Brown andsome of the other members in PVRhave undertaken the task of clean-ing up the rodeo fairgrounds out-side of Payette that had been neg-
lected for years. The arena and sur-rounding land was bought for thegroup’s use in 1956. Though lately,no one had used the land and it hadbeen overgrown with weeds forquite some time.
Though the history of PVR ismurky, Brown is confident that theorganization has been a part of thiscommunity for quite some time,she said. She has found records in-dicating its existence pre-1940s.
Despite the unknown history ofthe group, she does know the mem-bers of PVR had suffered a down-turn in the group several years be-fore she joined, Brown said. Groupsgo through cycles. They go throughgrowth and like in any club, they gothrough friction and change. Some
people want things the old way, andsome what some new things.
Brown and the other board mem-bers in the group want to make surethere is a balance to the members’goals for the group.
Now, 80 members strong andgrowing, PVR offers to listen to allthe members and plan for the activ-ities they want to do as well as offer-ing playdays to those who do nothave the expertise of riding or thehorse to ride, an opportunity tocome to the arena and ride withthose who know how to ride andwho can make sure every one is safeand comfortable.
They offer lead line classes wherechildren are riding the horses buttheir parents are leading the hors-es.
“We’ve developed classes and di-visions for them that accommodatethe kids who don’t have the skillset,” Brown said.
“If some of our riders are chal-lenged, then we slow it down forthem,” Brown said. “We give themthat extra minute or two to getready to mount their horse for arodeo competition, that they maynot have gotten somewhere else.”
Additionally, PVR wants to pre-
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Payette Valley Riders joined the other participants at the breast cancer awarenesscelebration.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
Payette Valley Riders forthose who love to ride
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. 21, 2012Muir, Clark &Guerrant CPA’s
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pare the teens and participants forthe local rodeos.
The young girls who want to berodeo queen can know what it feelslike when they are crowned PVRRodeo Queen. The group makesthe princesses abide by rules andregulations that are very similar toother rodeos regulations.
“In other rodeos, you’re going tobe seen by others,” Brown said.“You’re going to be scrutinized byothers.” PVR is hoping to allowthem to be better prepared for that.
The girls are representing ourcommunity, Brown said. Theyneed to realize what that means.They have to dress appropriately,they have to put in some communi-ty service time and they have to seethey have a responsibility whenthey are crowned.
The group also wants the mem-bers to go out into the communityand serve. “I’m not talking aboutputting the funny looking jump-suits on,” Brown said. “It’s not likethey are in trouble. I’m talkingabout doing things like breast can-cer awareness walks, taking some-thing and being proud of it. Doinggood deeds for the community.”
Brown hopes that those who aredoing community service are enjoy-ing themselves. This isn’t some-thing they want to force them to door make them dread doing. “The
community has done a lot for thegroup and it’s time for us to giveback to them,” she said.
Brown believes the group hasbeen around for so long becausethere’s people in the communitywho are willing to go the extra mileand make sure the group doesn’tfail.
That idea, that PVR has contin-ued for so long, is part of whatmakes the members work so hardfor nothing.
Members are willing to do almostanything for the betterment of thegroup. They enjoy what PVRstands for and want others to enjoyit too, Brown said. Even non-mem-bers.
Those interested in riding withPVR do not have to be a member todo so. Anyone can join in on thegroup and go with them on theirtrail rides or any of their activities.The only requirement is if a non-member wants to use the arenathen a member must be present.
There is something for all ages atPVR. There’s a group for 5 yearsold and under, as well as all the wayup to adults. “This is not a youthclub, nor it is an adult club,” Brownsaid. “There is combined activitiesand there is separate activities forage groups.”
For more information aboutPayette Valley Riders, visit their website at payettevalleyriders.org.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Katy Creason and her husband added barrel racing to their wedding celebration at thePayette Valley Riders arena earlier this year. Katy Creason and Chase Creason, her hus-band, were married in Bend, Ore., but came over to Payette a couple of months aftertheir wedding.
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. 21, 2012
JESSICA KELLERARGUS OBSERVER
ONTARIO
Megan Anderson, 17, developedher love for horses as a girl, visitingher grandparents’ ranch on theweekends.
At the time, the Ontario HighSchool senior’s grandfather hadsome cattle, and her grandmotherkept 58 head of horses, which shetrained and broke. “Every weekend I’d be over therehelping feed the animals and gath-er the eggs of the chickens and help-ing out as much as I could,” she said.“I loved it.”
Anderson now lives with hergrandmother in Ontario, and shetakes care of their 20 chickens andfour horses, two of which belong toher.
Anderson, however, didn’t decide
to join FFA and take ag classes un-til high school, when she joined asa sophomore at the urging of hermother and grandmother.
While she was unsure about join-ing to begin with, she said she real-ly enjoys it.
Anderson, who is the OntarioFFA Chapter treasurer this year,said, in addition to learning a greatdeal in the ag classes, taught by in-structor and FFA adviser LesLinegar, FFA has helped her devel-op leadership and public speakingskills.
Her favorite ag class, however, isanimal science, because she is learn-ing more about different animals’anatomy and specifically the diges-tive systems of horses, which inter-ests her because she likes knowingmore about her own horses. Of thefour horses she and her grandmoth-
er have at home, she has raised twoherself and has trained all four.
“Just growing up with them, I
have grown to love them,” she saidof horses.
JESSICA KELLER | ARGUS OBSERVER
Ontario High School senior Megan Anderson sits atop her horse Carrot recently.Anderson spent many weekends as a child on her grandparents’ ranch, where shelearned about horses and how to care for them. Now she is learning more through FFAand the ag classes she takes at OHS. She intends to become a large-animal veterinar-ian and run her own ranch in the future.
Megan Anderson came late to FFA program
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Sometimes a per-son can get somefairly odd songs
stuck in your head, es-pecially if you havesmall children. Thosesongs can then bring tomind other thingsseemingly out of theblue. And so it wasthat a couple of songsrunning around myhead brought to mindthe potato.
Potatoes are one of our more inter-esting and complex crop plants.Potatoes provide more calories, vita-mins, and nutrients per area of landfarmed than other staple crops.Potatoes a fat-free, cholesterol-freefood that is relatively low in calories(it’s all the stuff we pile onto potatoesand fry them in that add the calories).
In addition, potatoes are good sourceof fiber and vitamin C. In fact,Spanish sailors found that they couldavoid scurvy by eating potatoes.Given all of these good traits, it’s nowonder that potatoes are one of theworld’s most popular foods.
Today potatoes are a staple crop thatis grown and eaten throughout theworld. They are farmed on 45 millionacres in over 125 countries. InMalheur County, potatoes are one ofour leading crops, with over 2,000acres grown each year.
Potatoes are often associated withthe cuisines of northern and easternEurope. There are the familiar Irishpotatoes, the “chips” in England’s fishand chips, the potato pancakes ofGermany, and potato-stuffed Pierogiin Poland. Yet potatoes are also partof Indian curries, the Gallitos de
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
It’s a small world after all
Malheur
extension
ForuM
Stuart Reitz
Anderson said her animal sci-ence class is also giving her anintroduction to future studies.She said she intends to go toBlue Mountain CommunityCollege next fall because theyhave a good equine program.After getting her associate’s de-gree she will apply to get intothe pre-veterinary science pro-gram at Washington StateUniversity because her ulti-mate goal is to become a large-animal veterinarian.
She attributes much of her fu-ture plans to FFA and what shehas learned in the high schoolagriculture classes.
“I knew that I wanted to pur-sue something with horses, butthat was about it,” Andersonsaid. “I didn’t know that I want-ed to have a degree in veteri-nary science.”
Not that Anderson plans to be
only a large-animal veterinarian. “I actually want to have a
working cattle ranch,” she said. Anderson said, in one of her
classes at school, students com-pleted a section on owning theirown ranch for a year. She saidthat section helped put a lot ofthings in perspective for her,and she believes she can man-age her own ranch some day.
“I like the idea of owning a lotof animals, but they have tohave a purpose,” she said.“They can’t just be there.”
Being a large-animal veterinar-ian will not only benefit herranchwork, but the income shereceives will help supplement theexpense of owning a ranch with,preferably, 300 head of cattle.Anderson said she is not asmuch interested in growing anycrops, but really likes the idea ofworking outside with friendsand family and moving cattle.
FROM PAGE 7
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Papas of Costa Rica, and themashed potatoes your mom mayhave served alongside meatloaf.Not surprisingly with the world’slargest population, China is theworld’s leading producer of pota-toes, but people in the formerSoviet republic of Belarus eat morepotatoes per person than any othercountry – over 400 pounds peryear! Now that is a lot of potato.Americans eat much less than that– about 130 pounds a year, but thatstill comes to 365 potatoes a year.Maybe we should say “a potato a daykeeps the doctor away”.
This widespread taste for pota-toes is a recent phenomenon.Potatoes are native to the AndesMountains in South America,where they were cultivated by theIncas for centuries before theSpanish Conquistadors first tookthem back to Spain during the1500s. Although the gold and other
treasures taken by theConquistadors were quite popular,potatoes took a long time to becomepopular.
For many years in Europe, the po-tato was largely avoided, in part be-cause it is a member of the samefamily as deadly nightshade. Atbest, it was considered a peasantfood only to be eaten when facedwith starvation. Perhaps becausethe people of Ireland have suf-fered so many famines, theywere among the firstEuropeans to adopt the po-tato. It was France’sAntoine-AugustParmentier who actuallypopularized the potatoin Europe in the 1700swith some clever pub-lic relations stunts, in-cluding placingguards around hispotato fields, topique people’s cu-
riosity to try potatoes. Two ofAmerica’s most famousFrancophiles, Benjamin Franklinand Thomas Jefferson did as muchas anyone to place potatoes onAmerica’s dinner plate. But thepotato’s popularity in America on-ly soared after soldiers returning
from theirserviceinFranceduring
the
First World War with a taste forpommes frites, or as we have cometo know them, French fries.
Indeed for the potato, it’s a smallworld after all, andwhat a longstrange trip it’sbeen. Withapologies toWalt Disneyand theGratefulDead, bonappetite!
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FROM USDA NATURAL RESOURCESCONSERVATION SERVICE
PAULINA, Ore. – One hundredmillion years ago during the earth’scretaceous period, Gary Bedortha’sranchland was a shallow ocean sup-porting a rich community of sealife. Today, that same land rises5,000 feet above sea level, and sup-ports a different kind of ecosystem– one rich with sagebrush, bitterbrush, juniper, elk, deer, snakes,bobcats, coyotes, cougars, eagles,hawks and the sage-grouse.
Bedortha’s knowledge and man-agement of his ranch’s ecosystemhas made him a valuable partnerwith USDA Natural ResourcesConservation Service in a strategicconservation effort known as theOregon Sage-Grouse Initiative.“Gary was one of the first ranchersto participate in this initiative” saysChris Mundy, USDA-NRCS
District Conservationist for CrookCounty. “He saw the same issuesthreatening sage-grouse also under-mining the long–term sustainabili-ty of his ranch.”
To reverse the declining popula-tions of the greater sage-grouse,ranchers are partnering withNRCS and the OregonDepartment of Fish and Wildlife toimplement the Oregon Sage-Grouse Initiative. The SGI is a fo-cused strategy for investing FarmBill and other conservation re-sources. The purpose of this initia-tive is to make measurable and sig-nificant progress in alleviating aspecific threat to sage-grouse inOregon—the expansion of westernjuniper. Western juniper is a nativetree that has greatly expanded be-yond where it occurred historicallymoving into sagebrush steppe ar- eas.
Bedortha has watched the sage-grouse population decline as west-ern juniper has encroached into thesagebrush ecosystem over the years.“When I was young growing up inthis country, I knew some of thesedraws had in excess of 100 sage-grouse—you would ride through thedraws and the whole ground wouldmove in front of you. At that time,we didn’t have the juniper like wedo now.”
Bedortha has been able to engagein an aggressive schedule of juniperremoval in order to improve andprotect the sage-grouse habitat.
“It’s a good program,” Bedorthasaid. By complementing some earli-er juniper removal efforts with en-rollment in the SGI, 7,000 acres ofsagebrush-steppe land on theBedortha Ranch has now been re-stored.
Chris Mundy, who has provided
Ranchers partner in Sage-Grouse Initiative
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PHOTO COURTESY OF USDA NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE.
Gary Bedortha surveys his ranch land in Crook County.
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leadership for the conservationservice in Crook County for fiveyears, says the program is differentfrom past efforts. “Now we shoreup the best bird populations andmake sure they can exist in the longrun. Instead of trying to workeverywhere, we focus our effortswhere we can maximize our benefitfor the birds.” Mundy attributes thesuccess of the program to its multi-ple benefits, “It’s good for the birdsand good for the land overall bene-fitting these ranchers,” he says.
The spread of juniper into impor-tant “leks,” nesting and brood-rear-ing areas, is perhaps most problem-atic for grouse. “Leks” are tradition-al mating grounds where the court-ed hens gather to get a clear view ofthe colorful males as they strut andperform their mating dance.
According to NRCS statewidehabitat biologist Jeremy Maestas,“Sage-grouse are highly philopatric,which means they tend to return tothe same breeding areas every year.When the breeding habitat is firstinvaded by juniper, birds may con-tinue to use these areas but sufferincreased mortality by predators.With too many trees, birds disap-pear as they begin to avoid thesearea altogether.”
“Sage-grouse don’t like anythingtall,” Mundy said. “They want tosee for miles and anything up in air
is a threat.” Even if the land issparsely inhabited with trees,grouse don’t want to go there. Treestaller than the native shrubs—or ap-proximately four feet high—mighthold predatory birds including ea-gles, hawks and ravens. Avian pred-ators sit atop their new perches,waiting to swoop down on theirnext meal of grouse adults, chicksor eggs.
Western juniper trees grow forabout 15-25 years before toppingmost native shrubs. After that, theycan really shoot up, depending onwater availability. Mundy explainsthat once the tree population reach-es six feet tall or 20-30 individualsper acre, “If you don’t do some-thing, these trees really start havingan impact on the desirable nativeunderstory plants.” Understoryplants grow under a canopy of oth-er plants and usually include grass-es, forbs and low shrubs. Theseplants are necessary to create ahealthy rangeland environment.The Oregon Sage-Grouse Initiativefocuses juniper removal efforts inareas that are still in the early phas-es of invasion to prevent trees fromreaching the density where damag-ing thresholds are crossed.
On the Bedortha Ranch, the ef-fort to remove juniper is in fullthrottle. Crews of workers are busycutting and flattening trees. Eventhe smallest junipers are removed,
because if permitted to grow, theywill become a problem for the sage-grouse, the ecosystem, and therancher in 20 years. According toMundy, most of the trees on theBedortha Ranch are in the 80-90year old range, which is relativelyyoung for juniper. Wildfires histor-ically killed juniper and kept it outof sagebrush ecosystems, but natu-ral fire regimes were severely al-tered in the late 1800s and early1900s, allowing trees to greatly ex-pand their range. “We want to takeit back to where it was,” says Chris.
As the juniper trees grew and re-produced over the past century,they slowly but surely squeezed outthe habitat for the sage-grouse.“The junipers out-compete every-thing,” Mundy said. “First thebrush goes out, then the grass goesout and then you have no top soillayer.” When plant cover is de-stroyed, there are no roots left tohold the soil in place.
Sage-grouse are true sagebrushobligates. They eat sagebrush leavesand buds and are dependent on itfor cover all year. A sagebrush planthas both deciduous and evergreenleaves so there are always leaves onthe shrub. Several varieties of sage-brush thrive in Crook County.Mountain Big Sagebrush andWyoming Big Sagebrush are the pri-mary species of tall sagebrush inthe area, followed by the lowerspecies Low Sagebrush and EarlySagebrush. If sagebrush is lost fromthe area, the sage-grouse disappearas well.
“What’s good for sage-grousehabitat is good for the rangeland,”Mundy said. Bedortha’s steward-ship of sage-grouse habitat on his20,000-acre ranch ensures that hisrangeland—with an ecosystem con-taining a diversity of wildlife, do-mestic livestock, plant life, soils andwaterways—will thrive for futuregenerations.
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BY KRISTI PIHLTRI-CITY HERALD, WRITER
The metal wheels angle 6 inchesinto the damp earth, each setpulling a long, white sugar beet upand into the maw of the harvester.
One beet, caked with mud, isabout the size of a toddler’s head.The recent rains have added an ex-tra challenge to harvestingWashington’s remaining sugar beetacres near Paterson, said RyanMunn, one of the owners of R.Munn Farms.
The rain and mud will make har-vest last three weeks, instead oftwo, he said. Tractors pulled trucksthrough one of Munn’s fields earli-er this week.
The harvesters fill each truck
with about 13 tons of sugar beets,all of which will head 250 milesaway to Amalgamated Sugar ofNampa, Idaho, where sugar will beextracted from the beets to formthe white, brown and liquid sugarsthat Americans consume, Munnsaid.
Once it’s processed, Munn saidthere is no difference between sug-ar from sugar cane or sugar beets.Just one acre of sugar beets fromthis area can create about 11,000pounds of sugar, he said. That’sfrom an average of 42 to 46 tons peracre.
Sugar beets look like giant turnips,and may weight around 3 pounds.While most are white, a few in
CONTINUED ON PAGE 13
Soggy weather sourssugar beet harvest
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Munn’s field were a lush red. Munnsaid the sugar beets are a mix of va-rieties, and every once in a while,the color of the root vegetableshows that one of its parents was ared beet.
Munn rotates the crops on hisland in a four-year cycle, with a ro-tation crop such as peas or greenbeans, then grass seed, followed byonions and sugar beets.
Onions are the crop that givesMunn the most potential for profit.But, “beets are much more steady,”he said. Sugar beets are easy togrow, once the plants get started,Munn said.
Irrigation is a necessity here,where Munn said they may get 7inches of rain.
They are planted in March, andharvest mid-October, he said. Thelonger they stay in the ground, themore sugar the beets contain.Munn said they started harvest
Oct. 15 this year.First, a beater goes over the rows
of sugar beets, hitting the leafyheads with rubber flails, and scalp-ing off the top of the beets. Then,the harvester comes, with a truckdriving parallel to store all the sug-ar beets. It takes about 20 people to-tal to harvest the root vegetable.
Each truck takes its load to thebeet dump on Munn’s farm, wherebeets are piled to store until a semicomes to truck them to Idaho.
By the time harvest is complete,Munn estimates his 25-foot-tall pilewill be about 200 yards long. Munnsaid he only knows of three farms,including his own, that grow sugarbeets for sugar extraction inWashington. All three farms aremembers of Sunheaven Farms, anirrigation system partnership thatincludes R. Munn Farms and fourother area farms.
R. Munn Farms was putting insugar beets in the late 1980s, while
others were taking them out.They’ve always grown the beets forAmalgamated Sugar, a co-op ownedby the farmers who grow for it. Theco-op determines how many acreseach farm can grow in a given year,said Munn, who is on the board ofdirectors.
Washington’s sugar beet declinestarted when Utah & Idaho SugarCo. closed the only two refineriesin the state in 1979, one inToppenish and the other in MosesLake. Attempts to resurrect the in-dustry in the 1990s failed, withPacific Northwest Sugar Co. ofMoses Lake closing its doors in2002, according to Herald archives.
Sugar beets once covered about95,000 acres in the ColumbiaBasin, according to Herald archives.Washington had only 2,076 acres ofsugar beets in recent years, all inBenton County, according to theU.S. Department of Agriculture.
LARRY MEYER | ARGUS OBSERVER
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FROM THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OFAGRICULTURE
It’s the annual rite of late autumn.Insects jump at the chance, or morelikely crawl, to find safe harbor inhomes as the temperatures drop.For Oregonians, the list of unwant-ed house guests now includes thebrown marmorated stink bug, aninvasive pest that is mainly a nui-sance for residents but a huge eco-nomic threat to agriculture.
The Oregon Department ofAgriculture is beginning to getmore calls from homeowners notic-ing the stink bug. That’s to be ex-pected since the population of thecrop-eating bug is increasing andspreading fairly quickly throughoutthe state.
“We believe the initial infestationwas in southeast Portland, but atthis point, we have 10 counties we
know are infested with brown mar-morated stink bug and another sixwhere it has been reported to befound,” says ODA entomologistJosh Vlach. “It hasn’t even been adecade since it was first found inOregon. We’ve seen it as far east asUmatilla County and as far southas Jackson County.”
It appears the exotic stink bug ishere to stay in Oregon. The pesthas been found in such agriculturalproduction areas as the WillametteValley and Hood River. On a pestrisk scale of 1 to 10, it has been de-scribed by some to be a 15. Nativeto Asia, the brown marmoratedstink bug has no natural predators,parasites, or diseases in the US tohelp control its population. ODA isthe lead regional agency for con-ducting research on finding a bio-
logical control agent to work againstthe bug, but results may be a fewyears away.
While the insect has caught theattention of officials because of itspotential to damage a wide array ofagricultural crops, it is the home-owner this fall and winter whomight see more immediate evi-dence of the brown marmoratedstink bug- especially anyone whomight have attracted the pests ear-lier in the year by having a backyardgarden.
“Oregonians might find severalhundred coming into their homes,but back east, where the stink bughas become well established in highpopulations, some homeowners areseeing up to 50,000 of these bugs in-side their house,” says Vlach.
As creepy and crawly as the stinkbugs may be, they won’t cause harmto humans although, as the nameimplies, they can release an unpleas-ant odor when disturbed.
“They are not harmful outsidethe agricultural setting,” saysVlach. “They don’t bite. Since theydo not feed while overwintering,they will leave your house plantsalone. They won’t bother your pets.They might hide underneath yourpicture frames or get snuggly inyour couch, but they really won’t
hurt anything inside the house.Unfortunately, they do stink whenagitated.”
The best advice for brown mar-morated stink bug is the same ad-vice for any insect potentially be-coming your housemate- keep themout in the first place. Some speciesare much smaller than the stink bugand can easily enter through gapsunder and around doors leadingoutside. They can also wiggle theirway through poorly fitting win-dows, dryer vents, and other pointsof access into a residence.
“Seal up points of access,” says JimLaBonte, another member ofODA’s team of entomologists. “Forbugs that have already entered thehome, it depends on how many youhave and your tolerance to these in-sects. You can escort them outside,flush them down the toilet, or dis-pose of them as you see fit. If thereis a large number of them, a vacu-um cleaner works well. We don’trecommend calling a pest controlcompany this time of year. First,these bugs aren’t harmful. Youshould be able to deal with them onyour own. Secondly, your home islike an island in a sea of bugs.Spraying pesticides, might get rid ofpests inside the house at that time,
Stink bugs look for a home in Oregon, maybe yours
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but others likely will come in andtake their place, especially if youhaven’t sealed the accesses.”
After a few hard frosts, the out-door bugs will likely become veryinactive or will have already foundshelter for the winter. In either case,they aren’t likely to come indoors.
Several native species find theirway into the home during winter,most commonly the box elder bug,which normally feeds on mapleleaves. In the past, ODA has also re-ceived numerous calls and contactsabout the native western coniferseed bug, Leptoglossus occidentalis,a leaf-footed bug sometimes mistak-en for the “conenose” or “kissing”bug. That bug is a species of assas-sin bug, which bites people, suckstheir blood, and can transmitChaga’s disease. However, “co-nenose/kissing” bugs are notfound in Oregon.
Other exotic species distantly re-lated to the brown marmoratedstink bug have also been reportedin Oregon as insects that will aggre-gate in homes. These include thebig-nosed bug, Metapoplax dito-moides, and the tuxedo bug,Raglius alboacuminatus, as well astwo species without commonnames, Rhyparochromis vulgarisand Xanthochilus saturnius. Noneof these are known to be crop pests.
A new insect pest this year to be
reported in eastern Oregonis the elm seed bug, discov-
ered across the Snake Riverin western Idaho this pastsummer when the hot weath-er drove them indoors inmany homes.
Homeowners may also see avariety of spiders indoorsthis time of year. Harmlessweb-producing garden spi-ders, and various house orground spiders are more no-ticeable in the winter monthsas they enjoy the warm con-fines of someone’s residence.These spiders are nothing tobe concerned about.
As recently as last year,ODA was very interested inhearing from homeownerswho might have discoveredbrown marmorated stinkbug living under the sameroof. However, the increasingpopulation of the pest hasmade it well established, especiallyin the Willamette Valley. The onlyregions of the state yet to detect thestink bug are the Oregon coast andsoutheastern Oregon.
Whether this ends up being a badyear for indoor bug activity re-mains to be seen. Like it or not, it is-n’t unusual to have to share yourhome over the winter with insects,including the brown marmoratedstink bug.
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Native to Asia, the brown marmorated stink bug has no natural predators, parasites , or dis-eases in the United States to help control its population.
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BY BRUCE POKARNEYOREGON DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
For many folks who live west ofthe Cascades, southeast Oregonmight as well be in another timezone. In fact, part of MalheurCounty is in the Mountain TimeZone. As the locals say, this is a cor-ner of the state where, on a map,you will find the map’s legend.
But there is a community ofranchers and a rural economy hop-ing to maintain vitality in the faceof changing federal land manage-ment policies, agricultural marketshifts, and a recession. When an actof God strikes in the form of light-ning - as was the case this summer -it takes several acts of peoplepulling together to keep their wayof life from going up in smoke.
Several major wildfires, alongwith many smaller ones that never
made the news, burned about 1.3million acres of southeast Oregonthat provides habitat for wildlifeand forage for cattle. That adds upto the largest contiguous burnedacreage in state history-equivalentto more than a third of theWillamette Valley.
It took heroic human effort to putthe fires out and keep them fromspreading even more. In the after-math, it will take tremendous hu-man effort to restore the burnedlandscape and devise a future ap-proach to land management thatavoids a repeat of this past summer.
Two days after Gov. Kitzhabertoured the burn area and met withlocal leaders in Harney andMalheur counties this fall, OregonDepartment of AgricultureDirector Katy Coba did the same -meeting with ranchers and range-
land scientists from Burns toJordan Valley.
Following one of the worst fireevents in Oregon’s history, Coba’swish is to find a way to mend and pro-tect the area’s natural resources whilekeeping the ranchers in business.
Heroes of the sagebrush steppeHovering over the remains of both
the 162,000-acre Miller Homesteadfire in Harney County and the near-ly 558,000-acre Long Draw fire inMalheur County, a small airplane pi-loted by Jordan Valley rancher BobSkinner, Jr., carries ODA DirectorCoba for a bird’s eye view of the car-nage left behind. The charred pathextends to the far horizon.
“Everything above ground wasburned, mile after mile after mile,”says Coba, after observing a moon-scape-like terrain from several hun-dred feet aloft. What were oncesagebrush plants now appear assmall dark blots on the earth. Thetops of bunchgrass and other nativerange plants wiped clean, althoughroot systems appear to be in goodshape in many areas. This is primereal estate for grazing and wildlifehabitat, including sage grouse, oneof the West’s critters of current in-terest when it comes to the futureof rangeland economies.
Three months earlier, Skinnerand other ranchers could see the
gathering storm clouds. Lightingstrikes are not uncommon in thispart of Oregon, neither are fires.But this time, the conditions wereripe for cataclysm.
“Fire in the desert is a lot differ-ent than fire in the forest,” saysSkinner. “The storms that comethrough here don’t just start a fire,they start a bunch of fires.”
Multi-federal agency teams bat-tled the big blazes. They got tremen-dous help from local volunteer fire-fighters, led by ranchers such asSkinner.
“When we were called to go onthe Long Draw fire, it was on thewest side of Highway 95 and about27,000 acres. When it jumped thehighway and came into our jurisdic-tion, we rallied all of our people.The very next morning, it was at300,000 acres. It went through ourfirefighters and through them andthrough them. It was that way for aday and a half. Had the Long Drawjumped the south fork of theOwyhee River, nobody knowswhere it would have stopped. Itwould have been in Idaho in 15minutes. Our firefighters single-handedly held that fire away fromthe town of Rome without any aer-ial support or help.”
The fires took their toll in manyCONTINUED ON PAGE17
Ranchers fight fires to keep a home on the range
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ways. Local firefighters, many ofthem savvy with experience, cameback devastated. They had neverseen anything like it before.
“These are young, tough guys - intears,” recalls Skinner. “Watchinghabitat go up in flames is one thing,but when you watch animals die infires - I don’t care if it’s jackrabbitsor coyotes - nobody wants to see an-imals burned up and die a slowdeath. The fire took the deer, ittook the birds, it killed fish.Streams were running white withfish bellies.”
Fortunately, the casualty list didnot include people. But it did includesome of their structures and theirlivestock. A precise count of cattlemortality has not been completed,but the deaths and injuries certainlysoared well into the hundreds. Thenumber of grazing cattle displaced bythe fire is several thousand.
The rural firefighters have re-ceived a lot of accolades and theirsuccess points to the need for morefire protection districts to beformed. Rapid response when thefire initially hits is the best strategyfor avoiding the monster blazes.
“That’s where we come in on thisthing,” says Skinner. “The agenciescan’t respond as fast as we can.They don’t know the country and alot of firefighting takes place atnight in strange terrain.”
Self-preservation takes over, both
on the individual and communitylevel. When women drive out to thefirefighters with cases of Gatoradeor when 17 semis arrive in Burnscarrying nearly 500 tons of haygrown and trucked by peoplearound the region just wanting tohelp, it’s a sign that everyone is in ittogether. That kind of collabora-tion kept the 1.3 million scorchedacres from topping the 2 millionacre mark and it helped address theimmediate impacts.
Science and land managementThe perfect storm created the
perfect wildfire. An unfortunatealignment of events preceded thecatastrophe and, for some ranchers,it was all too predictable. SoutheastOregon was hit hard by droughtconditions this year, making theland tinder dry. But relatively wet
conditions the previous two yearsprovided some of the best foragegrowth seen on the range in quiteawhile. Combined with non-nativeinvasive annual grasses, the spike ingrowth also created greater fuels forfire once the drought hit.
The ranching community be-lieves additional grazing on these
federal lands could have reducedsome of that fuel load without dam-aging the landscape. The resultmight have saved a lot of acreagefrom burning while maintaining agood landscape condition.
Meeting with ranchers in Burnsand Jordan Valley, Director Cobalistened to frustrated cattlemenwho want to avoid a repeat of July.
“There is concern about the fed-eral government’s management ofpublic rangelands,” says Coba. “Wealso know these agencies are oftentimes in litigation over decisionsthey make. It really hampers theirability to be nimble in response tochanging circumstances, such asthese big fires.”
The Bureau of LandManagement, which issues grazingpermits and determines allotmentsfor cattle, is also responsible for im-plementing recovery plans for theburned areas. Ranchers are hoping
FROM PAGE 16
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PHOTO COURTESY OF OREGON DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba stands on blackened groundthat was scorched by this summer’s wildfires in southeast Oregon.
CONTINUED ON PAGE18
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the federal agency provides moreflexibility and tries some innova-tive approaches in the future.
Tony Svejcar of USDA’sAgricultural Research Service isbased at the Eastern OregonAgricultural Research Center inBurns. His findings indicate inva-sive annual plants like cheatgrassand the noxious weed medusaheadcreate fire hazards. These invasivegrasses are also one of the largestrisks to sagebrush steppe habitat
and, thus, a significant threat tosage grouse. Svejcar says grazingcan, when managed correctly, helpreduce the fuel load on rangelandwhile establishing native bunch-grasses ahead of the invasives.
“We now have better informationon plant responses to grazing afterfire,” says Svejcar. “In general, if therangeland was in good shape tostart with, and minimal damagewas done, then controlled grazingsoon after the fire is not a problem.”
It’s too early to know how fast the
ecological recovery will take place.In the short term, a lot depends onsuch factors as winter precipitation.BLM will do at least some re-seed-ing of desirable vegetation in thearea destroyed by the Long Drawfire. But not enough resources areavailable to do much more at thistime. If southeast Oregon is blessedwith optimal conditions, ranchershope their animals get a chance tograze by late next summer. Waitingan additional year could be chal-lenging-especially given the price offeed. Some ranchers are alreadypaying up to $200 a ton for hay.
“We aren’t as bad as some folkswho lost everything, but a lot ofcows had to be sent off for butcher-ing,” says rancher Gary Miller,whose family has the dubious hon-or of being part of the name of oneof the large fires.
Currently, some ranchers havefound additional available pastureat a reasonable rate, others have
purchased hay, some have receivedhay donated through the OregonCattlemen’s Association (OCA)and others may have to liquidatepart of their herd in order to staysolvent. If grazing on federal landsis off-limits for two years, optionsmay dry up faster than Oregon’shigh desert. The work of ARS andOregon State University’s researchcenter gives science-based hope andopportunity of doing somethingdifferent and effective.
A catalyst for changeOCA has actively responded to
the great fires of 2012, facilitatingrelief efforts and now advocatingfor changes that could help bothshort and long-term recovery.
“As bad as the fire devastationwas, hopefully it can be a catalystfor change,” says OCA PresidentCurtis Martin, himself a rancher inBaker County. “This discussion
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can’t end at a community center inJordan Valley. It goes beyond theseranchers. We hope this event willget those in high levels of govern-ment to sit down and address theseissues, backed with good scientificdata. We need to make sure our ru-ral communities aren’t decimatedany further and that the economycan grow.”
With the US Fish and WildlifeService set to review the listing sta-tus of sage grouse under theEndangered Species Act (ESA),there is a lot at stake when it comesto averting a “spotted-owl of theprairie” scenario. Oregon’s congres-sional delegation has been contact-ed. The governor’s visit to the areaalso indicates a keen interest in de-veloping solutions that restore andprotect the habitat, but also sustainthe region’s economic health-name-ly cattle ranching.
“We hope to put together meet-
ings with BLM and other groups tocome up with ideas on changing thepast land management that hascaused the problem we saw thissummer,” says Harney CountyCommissioner and rancher Dan
Nichols. “We can come up with aneffective plan, but we’ll need helpfrom federal agencies, ODA, thegovernor, and others to support theconcept of collaboration. We needto break this fire cycle by looking at
philosophical changes to get us backinto positive land management.”
That’s the intent of the“SageCon” effort, an OregonSolutions project co-convened bythe Governor’s office, BLM andUSDA’s Natural ResourceConservation Service with thecounties, OCA, and others at thetable. Through SageCon, the stateis focused on proactively address-ing sage grouse ESA-listing concernwith a collaboratively developedplan that not only conserves sagegrouse populations and associatedwildlife habitat, but addresses theeconomic and community vitalityof southeast Oregon. TheGovernor has indicated that policychanges are on the table and shouldbe part of the SageCon discussion,including the ideas he heard fromSvejcar, Nichols, OCA, and otherswhile visiting Burns.
In September, the Oregon
FROM PAGE 18
PHOTO COURTESY OREGON DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Jordan Valley rancher Bob Skinner Jr. helped fight back the fires that threatened thearea this summer.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
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Legislature’s Emergency Board al-located $50,000 to ODA to helpwith short-term restoration ef-forts. That was matched with an-other $50,000 from theGovernor’s Strategic ReserveFund. Over the next couple ofmonths, ODA will work withranchers and federal land man-agers to determine how best tospend the money.
Despite the uncertainty of thenext year or two, ODA DirectorCoba says some truths and oppor-tunities have emerged from thechaos and ashes of the rangelandfires.
“In the future, there will be morescrutiny on how the federal gov-ernment manages these lands,whether more aggressive manage-ment can better protect the land-scape and wildlife, and how graz-ing, as a tool, can help. We arelearning a lot from these fires. But
we need to keep in mind that thepeople who live here and work theland fear for the future of theirlivelihood. These are multi-gener-ational ranching families that careabout their own animals and thewildlife. They love this land andwant to help prevent future firecatastrophes.”
Even though this tragedy is play-ing out in a corner of the state, thearea is home to environmental,economic, and cultural resourcesfor all Oregonians.
“In Oregon, we value our ruralcommunities and need to makesure we give them a chance to re-cover,” says Coba. “They are strug-gling right now but we want toprovide encouragement andhope.”
Hopefully, the kind of lightningthat struck the sagebrush steppein July 2012 won’t strike twice. Orif it does, circumstances will havechanged by then for the better.
FROM PAGE 19
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FROM THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OFAGRICULTURE
Oregon, the nation’s top produc-er of Christmas trees, is alreadyharvesting and shipping thosetrees to several export marketswith good intentions of not send-ing along insect pests or diseases.One of those key markets is Hawaii,and the Oregon Department ofAgriculture is working with itscounterpart in that state to reduceany chance that invasive speciesgo along for the ride.
“Hawaii is concerned with thingslike yellowjackets, which are verycommon in Oregon, and some ofour slugs and snails that can hitcha ride on trees,” saysGary McAninch, managerof ODA’s Nursery and ChristmasTree programs. “We don’t want tosend those pests there either, so wehave a vigorous program to in-spect those trees.”
Oregon Christmas trees are pop-ular in Hawaii. Last year, about 230containers were shipped to Hawaii,which means about 138,000Oregon Christmas trees weresold to that state in 2011. A similarnumber is expected this year andsome of the first shipments are al-
ready headed across the PacificOcean to Hawaii and other destina-tions such as the Philippines,Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong,and Guam.
“Growers have generally done agood job of adhering to the require-ments for shipping to Hawaii,” saysMcAninch. “They clean those treesup to make sure only the tree itselfgoes to the islands, not any pests ordiseases.”
ODA plays an essential role inmaking the export of OregonChristmas trees possible.Inspectors check to make sure treesbound for other states and coun-tries are as pest and disease-freeas possible. Those inspectors willbe facing a whirlwind of export ac-tivity in the next few weeks asgrowers seek an all-important pieceof paper known as the phytosani-tary certificate.
"The phytosanitary certificate isan Oregon grower's passport to theinternational marketplace," saysBryan Ostlund, executive directorof the Pacific Northwest ChristmasTree Association. "Without theODA inspector, there would be nopassport."
Hawaii says aloha toOregon Christmas trees
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SAMANTHA TIPLERHERALD & NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Milk prices are on the rise after asix-month slump that is costingdairies in Oregon and across thewest.
“There are literally hundreds ofdairies getting foreclosed on be-cause of the last six months,” saidRichard DeJong, of the LangellValley Dairy.
His dairy has survived, but hesaid it has been a challenge.
“You do what you can,” DeJongsaid. “Bite the bullet and hang on.”
The University of Wisconsin list-ed milk prices at a low of $16.20 perhundredweight in May and June. InJanuary the price was $19 and bySeptember the price was back up at$19.10.
In 2011 the prices reached as highas $21.80 in July, according toUniversity of Wisconsin statistics.
In January 2011 the price was low,at $16.70.
In 2010 milk prices dropped evenlower to $14.60 in April.
“It’s extremely difficult from a fi-nancial perspective for a dairymantoday,” said Jim Krahn, executivedirector of the Oregon DairyFarmers Association.
Dairies must be able to profitenough in the good times to survivethe bad. For those with a debt load,
it is more difficult. But even thosewith less debt have to use their eq-uity to keep going, Krahn said.
“In either case it’s not a goodthing,” he said.
Feed costsLow milk prices coupled with
high input costs have put weight ondairies. One of the highest costs isfeed.
“We’ve seen a tremendous in-crease in feed costs for a dairy op-erator,” Krahn said. “When welook at the price of milk today, thatprice is pretty good. But it’s notgood when you compare it with thecost of feed and other inputs.”
For the past few years dairy farm-ers have lost out to ethanol when itcomes to corn, Krahn said. Lastyear, 40 percent of corn was usedfor ethanol, he said. He expects thesame this year.
“It changed the entire dynamicfor livestock producers,” Krahnsaid.
Adding to the burden is theMidwest drought, making a lessproductive corn crop this year.
“It will have some impact to thecost of grain,” Krahn said. “Whoknows to what extent, but it willhave an impact.”
In Oregon, the drought may haveless of an impact because somedairies produce their own corn
silage, grass hay and alfalfa hay,Krahn said.
For those who have to buy, theprice will be higher, Krahn said.
DeJong said his dairy does notproduce any feed, though it doespasture cows during the summer.
DeJong counted himself lucky be-cause he has already contracted hisfeed prices. He does not have to paythe high prices that are hitting themarket now, he said.
“We took a gamble,” DeJong said.“We contracted our grain when wethought grain prices were in a de-cent spot. We did OK as far as thatwas concerned.”
Riding the market“The important thing to remem-
ber about dairy producers is they’reprice takers, they don’t set prices,”said Krahn. “If I’m a dairy produc-er and I ship milk today, I get paid30 days from now. We don’t know
what we’ll get paid.”Dairies have to ride things out
and hope they have enough posi-tive times to get through the nega-tive ones, he said.
With prices back on the upswing,DeJong is looking to pay off debtsand save any funds he can. Still, hesaid it is likely most of his funds willgo toward feed.
Many dairies will try to put muchof their profits toward operatingloans that paid for alfalfa hay.
The best bet, DeJong said, is topay bills every month and at the endof the year see if he’s made a profit.Those funds will go toward prepay-ing hay and grain for the next year.
“The bottom line is, are you cur-rent, are you behind or can you pre-pay?” DeJong said. “Any extra mon-ey now that’s made is going back in-to feed.”
Dairies weather fluctuating prices, contend with feed costs
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All-Oregon Thanksgiving feast pricier but possibleLAURA FOSMIRESTATESMAN JOURNAL
SALEM (AP) — As Thanksgivingapproaches and Oregonians begintheir shopping, they might considertaking the local approach and opt-ing for an all-Oregon feast.
Although the choices are vast, theprice range is not.
The American Farm BureauFederation takes an annual surveyof the price of major components ofa Thanksgiving dinner. Accordingto this year’s survey, prices wereslightly higher than 2011, but theoverall average cost of the meal as awhole still came out to $49.48 for10 people, or less than $5 per per-son.
If shopping around for low pricesis the goal of the meal,Thanksgiving can remain an af-fordable holiday. But with so many
harvest fixtures such as turkeys andpumpkins available in the state, anOregon-only holiday is possible as
well.But it does cost more to eat local
and to eat organic.The Farm Bureau’s average find-
ing of a 16-pound turkey came outto $22.23 in 2012. According to thedetails of the survey, participantswere instructed to price only basic,frozen turkeys and not take into ac-count organic, fresh or free-rangebirds.
LifeSource, a locally owned natu-ral and organic grocery, boasts alarge stock of Oregon-only prod-ucts.
The store has begun takingnames for its Thanksgiving turkeys,which will be coming in from DeckFamily Farm in Junction City. At$8.49 per pound, a large turkey caneasily reach well over $100 — or$135.84 for a 16-pounder.
Roth’s Fresh Markets is anothergrocery chain that often featuresOregon-specific products.Thanksgiving turkeys aren’t on saleyet, but the chain plans to offer anumber of options startingWednesday.
Peter McPartlin, the meat andseafood buyer for Roth’s, said theirturkeys will be coming from Utahand California. Although theyaren’t local birds, Roth’s chosethem because of a reputation ofquality and the ability to keep upwith high consumer demand.
The Utah turkeys are from a na-tional chain called Norbest and willcost $1.29 per pound. Another op-tion will be free-range turkeys com-ing in from California, closer to$2.49 per pound.
Information from: StatesmanJournal, http://www.statesman-journal.com
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with the horsepower I can only get from STIHL equipment,” says David Snodgrass. One of the largest landscaping companies in Portland, Dennis’ 7 Dees is an extension of the family business started 55 years ago. But these days, just getting the job done isn’t enough – it’s getting the job done cost efficiently that really helps the business grow.
David adds, “Using STIHL means less training and downtime for my crew, and more time on the job. My dealer provides great service when I need it.” One brand – it’s smart on the ranch and on the bottom line.
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. 21, 2012
OREGON DEPARTMENT OFAGRICULTURE
Oregon farmers and ranchers en-joyed one of the best bottom linesin recent times last year thanks to acombination of strong agriculturalproduction and good prices formany of the state’s crops and live-stock. Despite concerns over histor-ically high expenses, Oregon’s 2011net farm income shows continuedrecovery from the impact of the re-cession.
“Overall, it was a great year,” saysBrent Searle, analyst with theOregon Department ofAgriculture. “Oregon net farm in-come last year nearly doubled from2010 and was the highest it hasbeen since 2004. The industry hascome out of the trough and manysectors appear to have turned a cor-ner.”
A newly released economic snap-shot of Oregon agriculture showsnet farm income at nearly $1.03 bil-lion in 2011. That’s an improve-ment from the $519 million record-ed in 2010 and continues a newtrend of improving numbers afterfive years of decline.
Net farm income is the amount re-tained by agricultural producers af-ter paying all business-related ex-penses and is considered an impor-tant indicator of the agriculturaleconomy’s overall health. Think ofit as the farmer’s paycheck. Out ofthat paycheck, growers make pay-ments on land purchases, family liv-ing expenses, and family health in-surance. Statistics provided by theUS Department of Agriculture’sEconomic Research Service (ERS)show net farm income is cyclical.They also show that the averagepayout for Oregon farmers andranchers may not be as high as you
would expect from a near record-breaking year for net farm income.
“On the whole, we are doing bet-ter, and that’s the good news,” saysSearle. “But the income gains arenot shared among all producers.The average farmer in Oregonearned $27,000 last year, eventhough the overall net farm incomefor the state exceeded a billion dol-lars.”
With Oregon’s diverse agricul-ture, some producers did far betterthan the average while others, notso well. Much of that depends onthe size of the operation and cer-tainly what they are producing.
The overall value of productionincreased last year. Crop produc-tion in 2011 jumped to more than$3.3 billion — an increase of about23 percent, while the value ofOregon livestock production wasmore than $1.3 billion — an in-crease of about 18 percent.
“Beef and dairy had good priceslast year,” says Searle. “The value ofbeef production was up 34 percentand dairy products were up 28 per-cent. Crops did well too. Wheat seta record high in sales at more than$466 million, which was a 53 per-cent increase from 2010. Otherfield crops, such as hay, corn, andbarley enjoyed their highest sales inyears. Sweet cherries and blueber-ries have increased their produc-tion value tremendously the pastcouple of years. Again, Oregon’s di-versified agriculture has helpedoverall net farm income.”
However, what’s good news forsome producers is not so good forothers. The higher prices receivedby feed crop growers were paid bylivestock owners. The bottom linewould have been much rosier for
cattle and dairy operators, for in-stance, had they not been requiredto pay high prices for feed. In somecases, higher feed prices have led toherd liquidation, which initially de-presses market prices, but thencauses the prices consumers pay forbeef and dairy cattle to rise. Priceswill likely stay up in 2012 and 2013,while inventories remain tight.
Although net farm income has in-creased, cost control remains a ma-jor challenge and keeps incomenumbers from being even better.Last year’s total farm expenseswere a record high for Oregon at$4.3 billion.
“Feed costs were up almost 50percent for livestock operators, fer-tilizer costs went up 36 percent, andthe cost of petroleum fuels in-creased 28 percent,” says Searle.
While rent and interest expenses
were relatively flat-certainly goodnews for the expense side-laborcosts were on the rise again.
“The cost to pay farm employees-largely because we have so manyspecialty crops that require handharvesting-is the single largest ex-pense for Oregon farmers. Lastyear, it topped $1 billion. In fact,overall labor costs continue to behigher in Oregon than net farm in-come. In other words, the total pay-check to Oregon’s farmworkers waslarger than the total paycheck toOregon’s farmers. Both need togrow for ag to remain viable.”
It will be late summer of 2013 be-fore this year’s balance sheet is final-ized. So far, it appears many com-modities are once again doing welleven as livestock producer remainchallenged by high feed costs.
Net farm income approaches record high
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