May 1, 2015
CapitalPress.com
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OSU moving toward hiring hazelnut Extension specialist
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
In a move to catch up
with the state’s fast-mov-
ing hazelnut industry, Or-
egon State University is
in the process of hiring an
orchard management spe-
cialist.
A committee will re-
view applicants for the
job on Friday and choose
finalists for interviews in
May.
Michael Bondi, director
of OSU’s North Willamette
Research and Extension
Center in Aurora, said the
person hired will devote
about 80 percent of his or
her time to hazelnuts, a
$120 million annual crop.
Oregon produces nearly
all of U.S. hazelnuts, and
growers have been adding
3,000 to 5,000 acres a year.
The state went from 29,000
acres of hazelnuts in 2009
to an estimated 47,000
acres by the end of 2014.
“It’s definitely in a sig-
nificant growth mode,”
Bondi said. “There’s a huge
number of new acres. We
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Freshly harvested hazelnuts fill a bin at Aman Farms in this October
2014 file photo. Oregon produces 99 percent of U.S. hazelnuts and
growers are adding 3,000 to 5,000 acres per year.
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Oregon grower Tim Aman pulls a harvester along a windrow of valuable hazelnuts in this photo from
October 2014. Oregon State University is hiring a hazelnut extension specialist to work with growers.
see steady growth for the
next several years.”
But Oregon hasn’t had a
statewide hazelnut special-
ist since Yamhill County
Extension’s Jeff Olsen died
unexpectedly in January
2014.
Michael Klein, execu-
tive director of the Hazel-
nut Marketing Board, said
the industry needs someone
who can carry the work of
OSU researchers to grow-
ers in the field. “It’s some-
thing our industry feels is
critically needed,” Klein
said. “We could really use
the help.”
Turkey is by far the
world’s largest hazelnut
growing region, but has
been hit hard by weather
problems in recent years.
Oregon growers received
record prices this past year
due to a freeze that wrecked
much of the Turkish pro-
duction.
Bondi, the North Willa-
mette director, said the Ex-
tension position will focus
on production, including
the establishment of new
orchards and pest manage-
ment and nutrition prob-
lems. Hazelnut genetics
work is covered by OSU
breeder Shawn Mehlen-
bacher on campus is Cor-
vallis, Bondi said, but the
North Willamette specialist
will carry out basic field
research and demonstra-
tions in collaboration with
growers.
The job pays $70,000 to
$80,000 annually, Bondi
said.
The new person will
work out of the North
Willamette center just
east of Interstate 5 near
Aurora.
Washington hemp bill
grows in scope, cost
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Water flows over Lake Easton Dam into the start of the Yakima River near Easton, Wash., on April 16. Water was just starting into the
main canal of the Kittitas Reclamation District.
Water shortage cuts short
Washington hay production
Capital Press
ELLENSBURG, Wash. —
Most Timothy growers in
the Kittitas Valley will get
only one cutting this sum-
mer because of the drought.
It’s a loss of profit for
growers but should tighten
the oversupply of Timothy
for export, said Mike Ha-
jny, vice president of Wesco
International Inc., a hay ex-
porter in Ellensburg.
“For the grower, it’s
money out of their pock-
et, so they’re not happy.
First-cutting is cash that
covers bills and gives in-
come. Second-cutting is
bonus, so they can make it
financially without second,”
Hajny said.
First-cutting Timothy is
where the money is because
export markets prefer it, he
said.
Last year, there was
enough good first-cutting
Timothy that exporters
weren’t able to sell sec-
ond-cutting, he said. Then
a longshoremen work slow-
down at West Coast ports
created a backlog of hay in-
ventory.
Ports are getting back to
normal but are still congest-
ed, Hajny said. Wesco is ex-
porting 14 to 15 containers
of hay per day versus six a
couple of months ago and
30 before the slowdown, he
said.
Drought, caused by lack
of winter snow in the moun-
tains, has led to the Kitti-
tas Reclamation District
starting water deliveries
April 20 at 1.25 cubic feet
per second per acre per 24
hours instead of a normal
2.25 cfs. KRD is the largest
irrigation district in the val-
ley, serving 60,000 acres.
Two smaller districts have
senior rights and should get
all their water.
“We can’t shut down for
a month and then start up
again, like the Roza district
can (in the Yakima Valley),”
said Ken Hasbrouch, KRD
manager.
The focus, he said, is to
try to supply as much water
as possible until first-cut-
ting in mid-June and then
reduce deliveries, forgoing
second-cutting and stretch-
ing what water is left for
pastures, cattle and tree
fruit.
“We hope we have
enough for them,” Has-
brouch said.
“It is what it is. Each
month plays into the situ-
ation. We’re preparing for
the worst and hoping for the
best,” said Mark Charlton,
a Timothy grower near the
town of Kittitas. He said his
challenge may be finding
water for his cattle.
A lot of Timothy and
some alfalfa is grown in the
valley. Three cuttings of al-
falfa is normal most years,
but this year there will likely
be just one, said Urban Eber-
hart, an Ellensburg grower
and KRD board member.
The weather is dry, tem-
peratures are increasing and
fields are just getting their
first water, he said.
“Ditch riders are work-
ing hard to make sure water
is distributed correctly,” he
said. “There is higher stress
than in a normal year. Ev-
eryone is doing the best they
can with what they have.”
There are emergency
wells on the Roza and KRD
but the state has yet to autho-
rize their use, Eberhart said.
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By DAN WHEAT
OLYMPIA — The once-
promising campaign to legalize
hemp cultivation in Washington
may be withering.
In one of the first bills passed
this year, the Senate in February
unanimously approved no-frills
legislation declaring hemp an
agricultural crop.
The House and hemp advo-
cates, however, favored state
oversight to ensure the canna-
bis crop doesn’t get tainted by
cross-pollinating with marijuana
or run afoul of federal authori-
ties, who categorize hemp as a
controlled substance.
The Washington Department
of Agriculture estimates provid-
ing that regulation would cost at
least $900,000 a year. WSDA
could collect fees from hemp
farmers, but the agency says it
would still need $400,000 to
$500,000 right away from gen-
eral taxes to get the program
started.
Neither House nor Senate
budget writers, responsible for
producing a balanced spending
plan, have proposed allocating
the money to make legalizing
hemp possible this year.
Hemp legislation, Senate
Bill 5012, has languished for
the past month in the House
Appropriations
Committee.
“That bill is probably not mov-
ing,” WSDA policy assistant
Steve Fuller said Tuesday.
Hemp lobbyist Joy Becker-
man Maher said her optimism
has turned to pessimism. “I’m
no longer confident the hemp
bill will pass this year,” she
said.
Beckerman Maher argued
for a state role in protecting the
low-THC purity of hemp seeds
and crops. Now, she says, the
proposed oversight has become
unnecessarily expensive, citing
a provision that would require a
WSDA employee to personally
collect hemp seeds for testing.
Fuller said WSDA wants to
protect the integrity of testing
seeds, but is ready to follow any
direction from lawmakers.
Sen. Brian Hatfield, D-Ray-
mond, sponsored SB 5012, but
a House committee rewrote it.
The measure has little resem-
blance to the two-page bill Hat-
field introduced.
Hatfield said Tuesday he
still favors a light regulatory
touch. “The simpler, the better.
That hasn’t changed,” he said.
“The problem is that the
more regulations, the more
monitoring in place, the more
expensive it is,” he said. “May-
be in the special session we’ll
be able to have a discussion
about what is and what isn’t
necessary.”
Early in the session, legaliz-
ing hemp seemed like a natural
step in a state with voter-ap-
proved recreational marijuana.
Hemp supporters say the crop
has many uses, including live-
stock bedding and feed, and
invoke the memory of the na-
tion’s Founding Fathers, who
cultivated hemp.
Lawmakers, however, are
not obliged to legalize grow-
ing hemp and are unsure of
the expense. WSDA says it
can only make rough guesses
at the cost of regulating hemp.
The U.S. does not yet have a
commercial hemp crop, so it’s
too soon to look at what has
happened in the eight states
that have legalized hemp
farming.
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