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June 3, 2016 CapitalPress.com 5 Wilco, Hazelnut Growers of Oregon propose merger Members scheduled to vote on combination on June 7 By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Members will vote on June 7 whether to merge Wilco’s farm supply business with Hazelnut Growers of Ore- gon’s processing facilities. The boards of directors of the two Oregon coopera- tives have already approved the combination, which they believe would create “syner- gies,” such as spreading ad- ministrative costs across addi- tional business units. Doug Hoffman, Wilco’s CEO, said the merger would further diversify his coopera- tive, insulating it from the ups and downs experienced by any one sector. “It has served us well over the years not to have all our eggs in one basket,” he said. “It spreads our risk.” Apart from its seven agronomy centers, which sell fertilizers and pesticides, Wil- co also provides fuel services and owns 17 retail stores, with total annual revenues of about $220 million. Wilco’s consumer-orient- ed farm stores are currently growing faster than its farm- er-focused supply business, so the merger provides an opportunity to provide more services to grower-members, Hoffman said. “It’s more of a vertical in- tegration,” he said. The merger would also provide HGO with more fi- nancial stability when the cooperative must cope with volatile hazelnut volumes or prices. HGO is considering relo- cating from its current facility in Cornelius, Ore., to a plant that’s more geographically accessible, so the combined balance sheet will help with that investment. The existing processing facility owned by HGO is food-grade and shells nuts, but needs a quality upgrade to better serve the domestic mar- ket, said Hoffman. “It needs to be bigger and more auto- mated.” The two cooperatives have scouted a location for the new facility near Donald, Ore., and are in negotiations with the property owner, but plans to build the plant in time for the 2018 harvest are contingent on the merger’s approval, he said. Members of Wilco current- ly earn equity in the coopera- tive based on their purchases, while those in HGO gain eq- uity based on hazelnut deliv- eries. Those two modes of earning equity — and thus dividends — would remain distinct under the merged co- operative. “Two separate pools, two separate checks,” Hoffman said. Under the terms of the proposed deal, the two would simply merge and no money would change hands. The current CEO of HGO, Jeff Fox, would head the ha- zelnut unit and report to Hoff- man, who would be at the helm of the combined coop- erative. Roughly half of the 150 farmers who belong to HGO are already members of Wil- co, which has 3,000 members in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and was created in 1967 from the merger of four smaller co- operatives. The two companies com- bined have 900 employees, though some administrative positions will likely be elim- inated if the merger is com- pleted as planned in August and some of HGO’s office functions are eventually shift- ed to Wilco’s headquarters in Mt. Angel, Ore. While Wilco’s current agronomy stations wouldn’t likely begin cleaning or pro- cessing hazelnuts, they may serve as transfer stations for the crop during harvest. Wilco and HGO current- ly each have a nine-member board of directors, with farm- er Ben Coleman serving on both boards. The combined board would have 17 mem- bers, which would be whittled down to 12 as they come up for re-election. Boarding school will host firefighters this summer By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press Courtesy of University of Idaho A University of Idaho doctoral student’s research shows the winter hardiness zones could shift nationwide by the year 2050 because of climate change, with milder low temperatures allowing new crops to thrive in different regions. Researcher predicts cold hardiness zone shift By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press MOSCOW, Idaho — Re- searcher Lauren Parker pre- dicts a time when the almond orchards of California could expand northward into Or- egon and the fruit farms and specialty crops common in Western Idaho may also thrive in the state’s eastern region. Based on the average of Lauren 20 predictive Parker climate mod- els, Parker, a University of Idaho doctoral student, has calculated how climate change might af- fect winter hardiness zones throughout the U.S. by the year 2050. Parker emphasizes winter hardiness is but one factor in determining the agronomic viability of raising a crop in a given region, along with con- siderations such as market de- mand and water availability. But when considering win- ter hardiness alone, her map of the U.S. a few decades into the future shows widespread potential for farmers to intro- duce new crops into their ro- tations without fear of winter kill. However, the warmer zones will also benefit pests and weeds, she said. “Across the country, these coldest temperatures are go- ing to be warming in the fu- ture, and that results in an upward shift in the hardiness zones,” Parker said, adding that when she started the proj- ect she was surprised to learn that other researchers hadn’t already modeled hardiness zone changes. Her paper, funded with USDA’s Regional Approaches to Climate Change grant, was published in a recent edition of the journal Environmental Research Letters. Parker’s research focused on the potential expansion of the growing area of three crops — almonds, orang- es and kiwis — predicting a much broader footprint in each case. She’s preparing a more in-depth look at the potential to raise almonds be- yond California’s Central Val- ley, factoring in other produc- tion-related considerations. Parker explained that zones range from 1 in cold regions to 13 in the hottest ar- eas, with each zone’s coldest temperature 10 degrees apart. Zones are further subdivided into “A” or “B” areas, repre- senting 5-degree differences. Her model shows the in- land Northwest would shift from 6A to 7A, and Twin Falls County, Idaho, should shift from 6B to 7B — more like current growing conditions in the Nampa area. The greatest changes are predicted in the Upper Mid- west, which could move up a zone and a half. Cathy Wilson, the Idaho Wheat Commission’s re- search collaboration director, believes market opportunities play a greater role in crop choices, and drive breeding efforts that can also expand growing zones for crops. She said water availability will also limit crop choices. “While we’ve been in a warmer cycle over the last 10 years, whether or not that will continue is based on models that may or may not actually happen,” Wilson said. Parker’s adviser, UI clima- tology professor John Abatzo- glou, has conducted research showing the coldest nights of winter have warmed 3 to 4 de- grees during the past 45 years across the Northwest. He said a student’s pre- vious research finds climate change should also reduce the prevalence of false springs, which result in premature blossoms that are killed by frost, in most of the U.S. Grass Expertise. BURNS, Ore. — If wild- fires erupt in the dry range and timber of southeast Ore- gon or southwest Idaho again this summer, firefighters will have a ready-made place to rest, shower, eat and stage for suppression work. Crane Union High School, one of a handful of public boarding schools in the U.S., has signed a contract to allow Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service fire- fighters to use its facilities. Firefighters will be able to sleep in the school’s dorms, shower, eat in the cafeteria and even shoot hoops in the school gym, Crane Union Superintendent Matt Hawley said. Firefighters will be able to park trucks, tanker and doz- ers on the school grounds, as well. Usually, crews live in tents while staging to fight fires. The contract pays for use of the facilities for a minimum of 14 days, even if crews don’t stage there, Hawley said. The district will be compensated for any additional days of use beyond the initial two weeks, he said. Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service A “Hotshot” firefighter gestures during the Soda Fire rangeland blaze southwest of Boise in August 2015. Crane Union High School east of Burns, Ore., has signed a contract that allows federal fire crews to bunk, shower, eat and stage at the school during fire season this summer. Like most small school districts, Crane Union could use the money, Hawley said. “We’ve lost population out here so this is a partnership that benefits both entities,” he said. “It generates some rev- enue.” The school will be avail- able to firefighters from June 10 to Aug. 6, after which the district needs to get ready for the 2016-17 school year. In a news release, the BLM said the staging area will put teams and equipment in a stra- tegic location to fight fires in Southeast Oregon, Southwest Idaho and Northern Nevada. Public safety remains the top priority, but crews also will be pre-positioned to protect sage grouse habitat in the Burns and Vale BLM districts and nearby communities, BLM Fire Operations Specialist Sam DeLong said in a pre- pared statement. Crane Union is 30 miles east of Burns. The district has 54 students in kinder- garten through eighth grade, and 52 students in grades nine through 12. Boarding is available for the high school- aged students, and 28 students lived in the dorm this past year. The high school draws from elementary schools in a 10,000 square mile area, Superintendent Hawley said. Of the 28 boarders, 10 come from families in which the parents also were boarding school students, he said. Farmers to own Puget Sound food-distribution network Growers can buy in for $250 By DON JENKINS Capital Press A grower cooperative has been formed to assume own- ership of the Puget Sound Food Hub, a distribution net- work that allows farmers to sell directly to wholesale cus- tomers. The hub was started in 2012 by the Northwest Ag- riculture Business Center, in partnership with 21 Acres Center for Local Food and Sustainable Living. The hub’s manager, Terri Hanson, said rapidly growing sales led the hub’s advisory board to opt for a change in ownership, transferring con- trol from the business center to member farmers. “We’re not a distribution company,” she said. “From a business standpoint, to con- tinue to expand, it needed to be on its own, and the most Courtesy of Northwest Agriculture Business Center Skagit County, Wash., blueberry farmer Harley Soltes maneuvers a forklift as workers load farm goods onto a delivery truck at a Puget Sound Food Hub center. A farmer co-op has taken ownership of the hub, which allows about 60 farmers to sell directly to wholesale customers. logical thing is to put it in the hands of the farmers.” About 60 small to mid- sized farms in Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King and Pierce counties sell their products through the hub to about 220 customers. Sales quadrupled in 2015 to nearly $1 million from the year before. The hub hopes sales will reach $1.4 million this year, said Hanson, who works for the business center and will continue to manage the hub for the co-op. So far, about a dozen farm- ers have paid the one-time $250 fee to buy into the co- op, Hanson said. But the co- op was formed only recently, she said. “My guess is 90 percent of those (60) farmers will be- come members,” she said. Farmers have until Nov. 30 to join. Until then, a sev- en-member board will direct the co-op, and farmers can continue selling through the hub without joining the co- op. A new board will be elect- ed in December, Hanson said. The hub’s customers in- clude restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, daycares, food banks, food co-ops and the food service company that supplies Amazon’s worker cafeterias, she said. Farmers post their prices and unit sizes online. Farm- ers package and deliver the orders to distribution centers in Everson, Mount Vernon, Woodinville and Tacoma. The customer receives one weekly delivery and a single invoice. The Northwest Agriculture Business Center was formed in 2006 to serve farms in Northwestern Washington. It receives funding from the U.S. Department of Agri- culture, the state and several foundations. Over 40 Years Experience LET’S TALK! GREENWAY SEEDS Caldwell, Idaho • Alan Greenway, Seedsman Cell: 298-259-9159 • MSG: 298-454-8342 Alan Greenway, Seedsman 23-2/#17 Pre-mixed pasture mixes are okay if you’re a hobby farmer, but if you’re a serious grass producer, let’s have a serious talk. 23-4/#14