February 20, 2015
CapitalPress.com
13
Ramaswamy sees ‘incredible advancement’ in ag tech
terview from his offi ce in Washington,
D.C.
He said the prospects for agricul-
ture are “mind boggling.” A picture of
a 20th century farm, he said, might be a
Norman Rockwell scene of a farmer in
bib overalls, rolling hills and a couple
cows.
“Fast-forward to the 21st century,”
he said. “You’ve still got a guy in bib
overalls, but he’s got a hand-held de-
vice and he’s a data manager, is what is
he is now. Oh, by the way, sensors are
telling him how much nitrogen is in the
soil, if insects are out there and if polli-
nation is needed.”
His agency is backing the develop-
ment of such technology.
In December, NIFA granted $3
million to four universities involved in
various forms of robotics. Georgia Tech
will develop robots that collect leaves
and soil samples as part of integrated
pest management systems. The Uni-
versity of Illinois will develop “coop-
erative networks” of human operators
and mobile robotic platforms that work
well on variable terrain and with inter-
changeable tools and crops. Carnegie
Mellon will work on the safe integra-
tion of robotic equipment and human
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Sonny Ramaswamy has never been
accused of thinking small.
The former dean of Oregon State
University’s College of Agricultural
Sciences sees and speaks in big sweeps
of ideas and possibilities. And now, in
his third year as director of the USDA’s
National Institute of Food and Agri-
culture, he oversees a grant-dispensing
agency that can make things happen.
In an interview with the Capital
Press, Ramaswamy explained his par-
ticular interest in what he calls the “in-
ternet of agricultural things.”
Essentially, Ramaswamy sees the
farm of the near future as a place where
soil sensors, ground-based robots, over-
head drones and plants themselves
monitor crops, check conditions, collect
data and even apply inputs. The infor-
mation fl ows to a farmer’s hand-held
device or among the machines them-
selves. A robot patrolling a crop might
have the ability to recognize weeds and
zap them with an onboard laser.
Data would follow food to the grain
silo, grocery store and even the home
refrigerator, all of which communicate
Courtesy of USDA
Sonny Ramaswamy, former dean of
OSU’s College of Agricultural Scienc-
es, is director of the National Institute
of Food and Agriculture.
among themselves and with the pro-
ducer and consumer. The fridge, for ex-
ample, might read the milk jug’s RFID
tag and warn you when it has reached
its pull date.
“It is the interconnection of all as-
pects of food and agricultural systems,
from the farm all the way to the dinner
table,” Ramaswamy said in a phone in-
State could fund water projects in 2015
ver
Farmers, conservationists and state officials are
negotiating a possible deal to free up more
water for fish and farmers in
the Umatilla Basin.
Umatilla
14
Co l u m b i a
Hermiston
84
Wash.
Ore.
12
11
Milton-
Freewater
730
Ore.
84
Umatilla River Basin
Wash.
Ore.
Ri
82
h.
Was
Umatilla Basin Administrative Boundary
37
Possible water projects
within these areas
204
Pendleton
MORROW
er
a R iv
Uma till
UMATILLA
74
207
Enterprise
74
WALLOWA
82
395
UNION
Joseph
Wallowa
Lake
La Grande
203
84
237
10 miles
Wallowa
Area in detail
ORE.
207
Source: Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Hillary Borrud and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Lawmakers will continue
to push water development
Hansell, Smith will
work to educate new
Gov. Brown
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
PENDLETON, Ore. —
Local lawmakers remain con-
fi dent they can continue to
develop new irrigation water
supplies in northeast Oregon,
despite losing an important ally
in former Gov. John Kitzhaber.
Kitzhaber, who announced
his resignation Friday amid
mounting political scandal,
was instrumental in convening
the Columbia River-Umatilla
Solutions Task Force in 2012,
and his staff has been working
diligently on negotiating addi-
tional water rights proposed by
the Northeast Oregon Water
Association for the region’s ag-
ricultural economy.
If successful, the NOWA
plan could put up to 200,000
acres of farmland back into full
production between Hermis-
ton and Boardman, growing
high-value crops and vegeta-
bles. That would equal billions
of dollars in potential econom-
ic benefi t.
In his resignation statement,
Kitzhaber, a Democrat, said
Oregon is poised to reach an
agreement expanding irrigat-
ed agriculture in the Umatilla
Basin. The job now falls to
Kate Brown, who succeed-
ed Kitzhaber as governor on
Wednesday.
Rep. Greg Smith, R-Hep-
pner, said it is his job — along
with Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Ath-
ena, and Rep. Greg Barreto,
R-Cove — to help educate
Brown on the importance of
sound water policy in their ru-
ral, mostly farming districts.
“I think we have to help
our colleagues understand that
water equals economic devel-
opment and prosperity for the
state of Oregon,” Smith said.
As Brown assumed the
governorship, Kitzhaber’s pro-
posed budget already includes
$51.6 million in a water de-
velopment fund meant to help
irrigators and conservationists
reach a deal. NOWA has de-
veloped a three-phase plan that
would allow farmers to pump
up to 500 cubic feet per second
of additional water from the
Columbia River, in return for
funding upstream projects that
would boost fl ows for native
fi sh runs.
The new water supplies
would also allow badly
stressed underground aquifers
the chance to recharge. Nego-
tiations are ongoing between
NOWA and environmental
groups to fi nd common ground,
with Kitzhaber’s top natural re-
sources advisor, Richard Whit-
man, leading the talks.
As co-chair of the legis-
lature’s General Government
Subcommittee on Ways and
Means, Smith said he has al-
ready developed a close work-
ing relationship with Brown
through previous budget talks.
He also spoke to Whitman just
a few days ago about advanc-
ing economic development.
“I saw no sign on letting up
to advance these issues,” Smith
said.
Echoing Smith, Hansell
said legislators will be switch-
ing into education mode to
bring Brown up to speed on
measures affecting rural Or-
egon, in particular the water
issue.
“I have no reason to doubt
she would not be supportive of
what has been several decades
of work now in the basin to get
where we are today,” Hansell
said. “If we do our job, which
Colorado State’s description of the
research says it is a new technology,
with “plants serving as detectors for ag-
riculture.” The work allows the public
to “see GMO applications other than
those focused on foods.”
Oregon State has been on the re-
ceiving end of NIFA grants as well,
including a $4 million grant in 2010 to
prevent childhood obesity in rural Ore-
gon and a $2.9 million grant in 2014 to
manage nursery plant diseases.
Dan Arp, the current dean of OSU’s
College of Agricultural Sciences, said
Ramaswamy – a friend – has opened
more NIFA grants to competitive appli-
cations.
“That’s always a benefi t for us,” he
said. “Studies have shown our scien-
tists are very effective at competing for
grants. As long as the process is open,
our scientists do well.”
Ramaswamy, who was picked for
the NIFA job in 2012, said he misses
Oregon but is having fun and is excited
about agriculture’s prospects.
“Yet I lament that this incredible
enterprise — we don’t tell our stories,”
he said. “We’re still not able to con-
nect back to the average person on the
street.”
President Obama’s budget could cut
funding at Pendleton research center
Scientists, programs
face termination
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
3
82
workers.
The biggest slice, $1 million, went
to Washington State University to work
on robotic bin management systems in
fruit orchards.
“We are on the cusp of seeing in-
credible advancement in the use of ro-
botics and sensors supporting agricul-
ture in this country,” Ramaswamy said
in a news release announcement of the
grants.
Also in December, NIFA announced
it’s making $15 million available for
fellowships to train the next generation
of agricultural researchers.
Earlier in 2014, NIFA granted $1.3
million for a University of Florida re-
searcher’s continued development of a
monitor that detects fruit rot diseases
in strawberry plants and alerts grow-
ers when to spray. Previously, growers
sprayed once a week from November
to March as a preventative; the tech-
nology allows them to spray only when
conditions warrant.
Ramaswamy said some of the most
unusual work funded by NIFA is at Col-
orado State University, which is devel-
oping genetically engineered “sentinel”
plants that can detect pathogens and
turn color to alert producers.
PENDLETON, Ore. — The
Columbia Plateau Conservation Re-
search Center in Pendleton stands to
lose nearly half its funding from the
federal Agricultural Research Ser-
vice in President Barack Obama’s
proposed 2016 budget.
Such deep cuts would force
the center to end some research
programs, lay off three of fi ve
scientists and reduce their over-
all support staff, said center di-
rector and research leader Dan
Long.
Though the fi nal budget
must fi rst be approved by Con-
gress, Long said it puts a dark
cloud over station operations.
CPCRC serves approximately
3 million acres of dryland crop
production in northeast Oregon
and southeast Washington, with
projects aimed at improving
farming practices, techniques
and equipment.
Since 2010, the station has
helped local wheat farmers im-
prove their soil management
practices to conserve water and
provided scientifi c proof that
reduced tillage fallow systems
can outperform conventional
tillage systems — both in re-
taining moisture and controlling
erosion.
The tilled summer fallow
program is one of 15 projects
from across the country that
would be cut back or eliminat-
ed in the President’s budget in
order to shift money to what the
administration has identifi ed as
higher priority initiatives within
the ARS.
CPCRC could lose up to
$911,000 out of its annual oper-
ating budget, Long said, which
is currently funded at $1.91
million. The station would lose
its soil chemist, hydrologist and
soil physicist with the loss of
programs.
“That important research is
going to come to a dead halt,
if this budget is passed,” Long
said.
Established in 1970, CPCRC
offi ces and laboratories are lo-
cated on Tubbs Ranch Road just
north of Pendleton. The building
is shared with Oregon State Uni-
versity’s Columbia Basin Agri-
cultural Research Center, which
also focuses on experiments to
benefi t farmers.
Funding woes actually
started a year ago, Long said,
in the wake of the federal gov-
ernment’s budget sequestration.
When a budget was fi nally
passed, the ARS experienced an
8 percent cut across the board,
which dropped $152,000 out of
CPCRC’s discretionary funds.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown.
we are prepared to do, we
would be in a position I think
to win the day.”
What’s not certain, Hansell
said, is whether Brown will re-
tain the same budget and staff
throughout the session. He said
retaining Whitman is especial-
ly critical, given the knowledge
and expertise he already has
about region’s water needs.
“Should he leave, that would
be a huge loss in this whole se-
ries of events,” Hansell said.
Whitman did not return
calls to the East Oregonian
seeking comment.
Gary Neal, general manag-
er at the Port of Morrow, said
they have hosted Brown on
tours before and said she has
taken an interest in the region’s
potential for growth and pro-
duction.
Neal, who also serves on
the NOWA Board of Direc-
tors, said he hopes Brown will
continue the same kind of ap-
proach in the coming months.
“I think she understands
how important water is to this
region, and the benefi ts the cit-
izens of this state derive from
that,” Neal said. “We would
ask her to seriously commit
to carrying that forward as it’s
originally been proposed in
front of the legislature now.”
Septoria a concern for westside wheat, expert says
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Stripe rust isn’t the only issue
Willamette Valley wheat farm-
ers have to worry about, Oregon
State University Extension cere-
als specialist Mike Flowers said.
“Actually, it looks like a pretty
bad septoria year,” he said.
Septoria is a fungal disease
that is resistant to the strobilurin
class of fungicides, which are
good on rusts, Flowers said.
“We’re also whittling away
our effi cacy of the triazole class
of chemistry on septoria,” he
said. “What we would really
like to see is guys who don’t
need to treat (their crops) not
treating. Those guys that are,
need to make sure they’re using
an appropriate product.”
Another class of chemicals,
called SDHIs, is effective on
septoria, but Flowers cautions
that the disease could build up a
resistance to it as well.
Farmers going after rust early
can use strobilurins or triazoles,
but should avoid products with
SDHIs except at the time of fl ag-
leaf application, the best timing
for septoria control, he said.
“We don’t want to see them
put that class of chemistry on
early or late,” he said. “The more
we use it, the quicker we’re go-
ing to lose that chemistry.”
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