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2 CapitalPress.com February 27, 2015 People & Places WSDA official opens doors for ag exporters Joe Bippert manages state’s international marketing program Western Innovator By DON JENKINS Capital Press OLYMPIA, Wash. — Joe Bippert was almost through with college and his job pros- pects began circling the drain. His school days were pro- longed by a two-year church mission to Mexico and a time-consuming passion for ballroom dancing. But he was finally about to graduate from Brigham Young University in business finance with an em- phasis in commercial real es- tate. This was in 2008. The banking world crashed and so did Bippert’s idea to make a fortune in recreational vehicle storage in Arizona. Instead, he got a job audit- ing food banks for the Wash- ington Department of General Administration in Olympia, near where he grew up in Thurston County. A couple of years later, his job was transferred to the Washington State Department of Agriculture. A little more than a year ago, he was pro- moted to manage the depart- ment’s international marketing program. Part diplomat, part salesman and part go-between, Bippert, 33, introduces Wash- ington agriculture to the world. “We’re in the business of selling a brand — the state of Washington,” he said. From a cubicle in WSDA’s Joe Bippert Occupation: Manager, Washington State Depart- ment of Agriculture’s interna- tional marketing program Education: Brigham Young University, business finance Family: Wife, Corinne, two children Don Jenkins/Capital Press Washington State Department of Agriculture International Marketing Manager Joe Bippert oversees the promotion of Washington agriculture abroad. headquarters, Bippert over- sees a marketing program with a $1 million-a-year budget. The program helps business- es, from modest startups to well-funded commodity com- missions, make connections with overseas buyers and for- eign government officials. “They do a great job on the introduction side,” said Ryan Holterhoff, Washington State Potato Commission director of marketing and industry af- fairs. The Washington and Or- egon potato commissions teamed with the Washington and Oregon agriculture depart- ments last fall on a trade mis- sion to Southeast Asia. Hol- terhoff said the commissions could have touted potatoes on their own. But having gov- ernment representatives along helped the commissions get in to see officials to talk about trade barriers, he said. “More doors are open to us.” Trade missions involving agriculture department direc- tors or governors are high-pro- file affairs. Bippert has been on four of them, but most of his work is low profile, providing small companies with infor- mation about markets, promo- tions, financing and barriers. Call it Export 101. “We fill in the gaps where companies might be lacking,” he said. Right now, Washington ag- riculture has a big trade prob- lem — the labor dispute at the ports that just ended. Bippert said he’s worried that produc- ers have lost contracts with overseas customers and may not get them back. Meanwhile, there are all sorts of smaller problems for individual businesses. Bippert recalled arranging a meeting between a snack company and foreign contacts. From the meeting came the revelation that overseas sales depended on packaging that preserved dried fruit for a year rather than just six months. “I love meeting all these companies and seeing what motivates them and see how I can help them,” he said. “We’re not into it to get mon- ey out of them. We’re trying to use taxpayer dollars to help them, which in turn helps the economy and increases the success of Washington state.” In pitching Washington, Bippert stresses quality, food safety and the state’s envi- ronmental responsibility. It doesn’t pay to bad-mouth oth- ers, he said. “It doesn’t help our relation- ship with China to say, ‘Our products are good, and your products are bad,’” he said. Now more about the ball- room dancing. Bippert was a competitive dancer and time spent doing that helps explain why he was in college while everybody was getting rich in business finance. He says he wasn’t good enough to be a professional, but while dancing he met his wife, Corinne, and they have two children: Jack, 4, and Max, 2. So that worked out well, too. There’s a fine line between dumb luck, good marketing By RYAN M. TAYLOR For the Capital Press T OWNER, N.D. — I once saw a “de-motivation- al” poster that said, “Mistakes: It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.” Pretty inspirational, huh? There have been times in my 23 years of post-college cattle ranching where I felt my marketing decisions were best used as a warning to oth- ers. Kind of a “whatever I do, do the opposite” piece of marketing advice for others. Maybe it wasn’t that bad, but I have paid some tuition to the school of hard knocks. If I sold the calves off the cow, I’d have done better if I’d weaned them and fed them a while. If I contract- ed them early, I should have waited until later. If I sent them to a feedlot and re- Cowboy Logic Ryan Taylor tained ownership to finish, I shouldn’t have. And there were times when the market rallied and I was plumb out of stuff to sell. It was like the old joke from the “Hee Haw” show on television. A forlorn looking Archie would tell Grandpa Jones, “Ohhh, I lost $10,000 this week.” “How’s that?” Grandpa would ask, and Ar- chie would say, “Hogs went up and I didn’t have any.” Interesting times These are interesting times in the cattle market. All the commodity markets are having interesting times, but some are a good kind of interesting and some are a bad kind of inter- esting. The last few years have been good years to have cattle. The market went up, and, un- like Archie, we had some to sell. There’s a history to this joy ride of marketing in the ranch- ing business. My middle son has taken to reading my old “Cowpokes” cartoon books that Ace Reid began drawing in the 1950s. I had to laugh when I was reading with him and we saw Ol’ Jake explain- ing to his banker, President Tufernal, “Well, sir, it’s like this: I wuz offered 35 cents on them 28-cent calves, but I was holdin’ out fer 40 cents. Now it looks like we’re gonna have to feed them 21-cent calves till spring.” Just add a zero to the prices and it would fit pretty close for some of today’s ranch market- ing scenarios. I’m not sure what’s go- ing on, but, somehow, my marketing decision this year won’t serve as a lesson to others in what not to do. Just as last fall’s crazy good calf market teetered at the tip-top peak, I pulled the pin and sold our steers. Check in hand, the market started going down. It’s still good, but down. I was beside myself, wondering how that good fortune could have happened to a guy like me. Something’s got to give Then I watched the price of gasoline and fuel start dropping with lower crude oil prices. We’re not the biggest consumers of gas and diesel in the world but we use enough that it’ll make a decent dent in the year’s income. I thought it looked like a good time to buy, so I filled up the bulk tanks with gas and diesel. And, right after I did that, the price started to go back up. I don’t know what this world is coming to. If I can sell our steers at the top of the market and buy our fuel at the bottom of the market, some- thing’s got to give. Makes a fella nervous. Guess it’s time to hunker down and wait. Along with “Hee Haw” quotes and “Cow- pokes” cartoons, I’ll throw in a bumper sticker prayer I saw pinned to a grain elevator bul- letin board, “Lord, give me $15 wheat again, and I prom- ise not to ‘throw’ it away this time.” The sticker used an exple- tive other than the “throw,” but this is a family friendly column. There’s a fine line between dumb luck and good market- ing, but, either way, I’ll take it. And hopefully heed the bumper sticker lesson while it’s still useful. Ag students ponder opportunities at Chico State career fair By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press CHICO, Calif. — More than 20 years after graduating, Tyler Bramble was back at school. The 1994 graduate of Califor- nia State University-Chico works in Fresno as a regional manager for Alltech, a livestock feed addi- tive company. But he was back at his alma mater on Feb. 18 telling current students about opportuni- ties with his company. “We try to hire students from Chico if we can,” said Bramble, who’s on the advi- sory board for the university’s College of Agriculture. Alltech, a 30-year-old mul- tinational company that did $1 billion in business last year, makes recruiting trips to many colleges and universities each year, he said. “We get the chance to meet the future of agriculture and the future of our business,” he said. The company likes hiring “young, enthusiastic, open-minded students” after they graduate because “they’ve got the creativity and hopeful- ly the knowledge just coming out of school,” he added. Bramble’s booth was one of 38 featured at Chico State’s 12th annual career and in- ternship fair for agriculture students, held in the pavilion at the university farm. The career way started as a way to give students access to compa- nies specific to ag, while the job fairs on the main campus mostly cater to other occupa- tions. “We really just want to ex- pose the students to the best opportunities that we can,” said Hillary Bertagna, a Chi- co State graduate who is the university’s external relations coordinator. About 300 students attend- ed this year’s career fair, most- ly from Chico State but also from nearby community col- leges, including Butte College in Chico and Shasta College in Redding, Calif. Garrett Wallis, the student herdsman for the beef unit at Chico State, was interested in companies related to livestock and heavy equip- ment. “It’s definitely beneficial to students” to meet company representatives, said Wallis, who transferred to Chico from Shasta College in 2013. “You learn what they want and what they’re looking for in future employees.” One long-time participant in the fair is Driscoll’s, the world’s largest distributor of fresh berries. Recruiters were telling students about intern- ships related to plant health, production research, sustain- ability and other issues, said Maria Vieyra, a human re- sources representative for the company. “It’s a great way to get peo- ple into the company and ex- cited about working with the company,” said Jeff DeClue, a Driscoll’s recruiter. For many companies, Chi- co State is one of their favor- ite universities from which to recruit workers, Bertagna as- serted. “Most of them come every year,” she said. “They come back because they keep hiring Chico State students.” Stewart Center and CH2M Hill Alum- ni Center, OSU campus, Corvallis, http://osublueberryschool.org/ March 17 — What To Do with My Small Farm? Oregon State University Extension Small Farms, Jackson County, 541-776-7371, ext. 208 paula.burkhalter@ore- gonstate.edu. Cost: $25 Register: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ sorec/farms March 20-23 — Oregon FFA State Convention, Silverton, www. oregonffa.com March 20-22 — Northwest Horse Fair & Expo, Linn County Fair and Expo Center, Albany, www.equine- promotions.net ing meeting room, Seventh Avenue and College Street, St. Maries, 208- 245-2422, http://www.uidaho.edu/ extension/forestry Fruit Association Annual Meeting, The Grand Del Mar , San Diego, www.CA- FreshFruit.com www.idffafoundation.org/ Calendar FEBRUARY OREGON Feb. 28 — Oregon Small Farms Conference, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Oregon State University LaSalle Sells Cen- ter, Corvallis, http://smallfarms.ore- gonstate.edu/sfc IDAHO Feb. 27 — Idaho Hay and For- age Conference, Best Western Bur- ley Inn, www.idahohay.com, 208- 888-0988 or cindy@amgidaho.com Feb. 27 — Drones for Forestry workshop, 1:15-4:30 p.m., University of Idaho Extension, 1808 N. Third Ave., Coeur d’Alene, $15, 208-446-1680 MARCH OREGON March 16-17 — Oregon State University Blueberry School, LaSells IDAHO March 27 — Forestland gazing workshop, 1 to 5 p.m., Federal Build- CALIFORNIA March 3 — Walnut (7-year-olds) No Pruning-Pruning Comparison Field Meeting, morning, Nickels Soil Lab, Arbuckle, 530-822-7515, http:// cesutter.ucanr.edu March 3 — Walnut (2-year-olds) No Pruning-Pruning Comparison Field Meeting, afternoon, Nickels Soil Lab, Arbuckle, 530-822-7515, http://cesutter.ucanr.edu March 17-18 — Fruit Ripening & Retail Handling Workshop, Uni- versity of California-Davis, http:// postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Education/ fruitripening/ March 22-24 — California Fresh APRIL OREGON April 18 — Oregon Women for Agriculture Auction and Dinner, Linn County Fair and Expo Center, Albany, 503-243-FARM (3276), http://owaon- line.org/ CALIFORNIA April 18-21 — California State FFA Conference, Selland Arena, Fresno, www.calaged.org/statecon- vention IDAHO April 8-11 — State FFA Leadership Conference, College of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls, MAY WASHINGTON May 14-16 — Washington FFA Convention, Washington State Univer- sity, Pullman, www.washingtonffa.org/ convention CALIFORNIA May 1-2 — Forest Landowners of California annual meeting, Holiday Inn, Auburn, www.forestlandowners. org/ JUNE CALIFORNIA June 15-26 — Postharvest Tech- nology Short Course, University of California-Davis, http://postharvest. ucdavis.edu/Education/PTShort- Course/ Capital Press Established 1928 Board of directors Mike Forrester ..........................President Steve Forrester Kathryn Brown Sid Freeman .................. 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