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CapitalPress.com
June 26, 2015
People & Places
UI researcher viewed as a bridge
between U.S., Mexican spud industries
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Western
Innovator
Arturo Quintero
Ferrer
Age: 29
Home town: Originally from
Jalisco, Mexico, but now
residing in Moscow, Idaho
For the Capital Press
An unfamiliarity with the
art world helped launch the
art career of Corvallis, Ore.,
farmer Karla Chambers.
Chambers, who co-owns
and helps manage Stahlbush
Island Farms, said she often
walked by the prestigious San
Francisco art house, Gallery
444, while spending 20 years
on the Federal Reserve Board,
which met regularly in San
Francisco.
One day, a couple of years
after she took up painting,
she stopped in the gallery and
asked how to get artwork dis-
played there.
“They handed me a sheet
of paper asking me how much
art I’ve sold, what my price
points are, what juried com-
petitions and museum exhib-
its I’ve had,” she said. “I said
I can’t fill out anything on
By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER
For the Capital Press
Old MacDonald has nothing
on you.
He has a farm, you’ll have a
farm. On his farm, he has some
cows and pigs and chicks, and
your farm will have animals, too.
The only difference is that Mac-
Donald has had his farm since
before your mother was a child,
and you’re pretty green on yours
– but you can catch up. You can
read “Woman-Powered Farm”
by Audrey Levatino.
So you’re getting your very
own spread, or you’ve recent-
ly taken control of one you’ve
Forestry shortcourse, 10 a.m.-1
p.m. West Bonner Library, Priest
River, 208-446-1680. This 6-session
program will help forest owners un-
derstand ecology, silviculture, wildlife
and other topics. Register by June 5.
Saturday, June 27
Bill “Skinny” Luchs Estate Farm
Auction, 9 a.m. N/A, Portland,
360-521-6610. Restored 1940 Ford
cabover, 1937 John Deere tractor,
1941 Ford 9N, 1950 Chevy flatbed,
plus two other vintage trucks. John
Deere wagon, primitive antique fur-
niture, way too much to list. Preview
starts one hour before auction. Food
An independent newspaper
published every Friday.
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Arturo Quintero Ferrer, a Ph.D. student at University of Idaho in Moscow studying potato virus Y, tours R & G
Potato Co. in American Falls, Idaho. Ferrer plans to return home to Mexico to apply what he’s learned.
son who may help bridge this
gap between the Mexican and
U.S. potato industry.”
Ferrer explained Idaho and
Jalisco are considered sister
states and have an agreement
to share technology. While
attending the University of
Guadalajara, he agreed to
participate in a new exchange
program with UI. Though
he was initially interested in
studying human genetics, a
course Ferrer took at UI made
him aware of opportunities
in plant genetics. He joined
Karasev and began working
in PVY in 2008, and should
graduate with his Ph.D. in De-
cember.
Ferrer, who has a full
scholarship from the Mex-
ican government, has been
working to map the genes of
nine newly discovered PVY
strains.
“It’s very important to
know your enemy,” Ferrer
said. “We need to understand
how PVY evolves and where
it is going.”
PVY, spread by aphids,
reduces potato yields, and
there’s been a shift toward
strains that also cause tuber
necrosis.
For research purposes, UI
maintains a collection of more
than 30 PVY isolates, sup-
ported in tobacco seedlings
that must be replaced with
freshly inoculated plants ev-
ery few months.
Since he first set to work in
PVY, Ferrer said several new
strains of the disease have
surfaced — including four
genetically unique strains he
personally cataloged from
Jalisco field samples.
One of his discoveries from
Mexico, PVY M3, is similar
to a common U.S. strain, PVY
NTN, but displays a disturb-
ing characteristic. In tobacco
plants, PVY M3 shows no
visual symptoms. Ferrer be-
lieves the trait shows how
easily new PVY strains could
evolve that are undetectable
in potatoes, making it difficult
for growers to remove infect-
ed plants from fields and po-
Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is
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1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem OR 97301.
Family: Mother, Claudia;
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and at additional mailing offices.
father, Arturo; sister, Monica
tentially resulting in broader
infections.
Certain potato varieties,
such as Russet Norkotah, are
already known to show little
to no symptoms of some PVY
strains.
Karasev said potato breed-
ers have targeted PVY O,
responsible for 26 percent
of infections in 2010, and
reduced its prevalence to 6
percent of infections in 2014.
Strains that cause tuber necro-
sis now represent a quarter of
infections. Karsev said PVY
N Wilga, which doesn’t cause
tuber rot but is tough to detect
in many varieties, now causes
70 percent of infections and
should be a priority for potato
breeders.
this piece of paper. I’ve nev-
er sold a dollar’s worth of art,
but I think my art would fit in
here.”
Chambers said the gallery
owner politely came down
and asked her to send some
pictures of her art. “And so I
did,” Chambers said, “and she
brought my work in.
“What I didn’t know is the
price points in that gallery,”
she said, “and I didn’t know
that 1,200 artists a year ap-
proach that gallery and that I
was the only new artist in two
years that they had taken in.
“I didn’t realize how rare
it was to get into a gallery
like that,” she said. “I would
have psyched myself out had
I known too much.”
Chambers’ emergence in
the art world began innocent-
ly enough while on a fly-fish-
ing trip in Montana. Cold
temperatures prompted her to
Mitch Lies/For the Capital Press
Corvallis, Ore., farmer Karla Chambers, standing beside one of her
pieces of art, has had her art exhibited in New York, Eugene, Ore.,
and at the prestigious Gallery 444 in San Francisco. Chambers
portrays the colorful, nutritious and tasty bounty of Oregon’s fruits
and vegetables in her artwork.
forgo the fly fishing and spend
time with three professional
artists.
“They painted and we
painted and I came away from
there thinking maybe I can go
home and paint,” she said.
Chambers laughs that until
then her experience with paint
was limited to painting houses
and barns.
Soon, however, Cham-
bers was showing in Gallery
444 with the likes of William
Johns and Rafal Olbinski.
In addition to Gallery 444,
Chambers also has shown in
New York and at the Jordan
Schnitzer Museum of Art in
Eugene.
She describes herself as a
colorist because of the bounty
of bright colors in her paint-
ings, a bounty inspired by the
food she produces.
Chambers also creates art
for the packaging of Stahl-
bush Island food.
“What I am showing is a
connection between where
these berries or vegetables are
grown, whether that is with a
backdrop of Mary’s Peak or
Mount Jefferson, and these
brilliant natural colors that
we are producing, which cor-
relate directly to health and
nutrition and natural sweet-
ness,” Chambers said.
“It’s pretty cool,” she add-
ed. “I’m one of the few artists
in the world with artwork in
people’s freezers.”
“Woman-Powered
Farm”
By Audrey Levatino,
photographs by Michael
Levatino
c. 2015, The Countryman Press
$24.95 U.S./$29.95 Canada
344 pages
lived on for awhile. Women have
worked on farms for centuries, so
you’re joining a solid sisterhood;
in fact, recent studies show that
over 13 percent of all farms in
the U.S. are operated by women,
and that includes women who are
African American, Native Amer-
ican, and Asian.
There’s a lot to learn when
you want to run a successful farm
of any sort but, above all, you’ll
need somewhere to do it. The
best advice Levatino says she got
when she and her husband first
began farming: “too much land
is never a bad thing.” And yet,
finding a location may be pre-
mature if you’re unsure of what
direction to take. In that case, you
may consider an internship or
apprenticeship. Soak up all the
lessons you can find, query your
local farm bureau, or talk to a
county agent. As one interviewee
points out, to learn on a farm, all
you ever need to do is ask.
It goes without saying that
different kinds of farms need
different kinds of tools, but there
are obvious requirements across-
the-board, says Levatino. You
may need a chain saw or tractor,
and you’ll want to know how to
safely operate both. In this book,
you’ll learn the basics for main-
taining a water system and a
wood-burning stove, the overall
differences in fencing, and which
just-in-case items to keep in your
farm truck.
You’ll also learn that farming
is for cities, too. And then there
are the animals because, really,
what’s a farm without a cat or
two, and a dog, at least? Leva-
tino explains pros and cons for
various livestock, how to keep
them, and how she memorialized
the inevitable harsh reality.
If you know your way around
a barn or you’re already farm-ex-
perienced, you can stop right
here. This book isn’t for you.
No, “Women-Powered Farm”
is more for the newbies who
have no idea what they’re getting
themselves into, and who need
the basics. Author Audrey Leva-
tino gives them that in a no-non-
sense, reassuring tone that’s not
condescending. She offers inter-
views, tips, and hints to help get
many kinds of operations run-
ning, including safety reminders,
ideas on bookkeeping, garden-
ing advice, and enough info to
empower even the most citified
reader.
tour highlighting operational and
research poplar plots.
Friday, July 3
tations will examine hedgerows and
windbreaks, landscape ecology and
agriculture, an introduction to alley
cropping, riparian buffers and wildlife
habitat and agriculture. Please
RSVP.
Calendar
Friday, June 26
Entire contents copyright © 2015
EO Media Group
dba Capital Press
under UI virologist Alex
Karasev studying potato
virus Y
Book targets women who take up farming
Book review
Capital Press Managers
Mike O’Brien .............................Publisher
Joe Beach ..................................... Editor
Elizabeth Yutzie Sell .... Advertising Director
Carl Sampson ................Managing Editor
Barbara Nipp ......... Production Manager
Samantha McLaren .... Circulation Manager
Occupation: Ph.D. student
Agri-business leader finds new success as artist
By MITCH LIES
Established 1928
Board of directors
Mike Forrester ..........................President
Steve Forrester
Kathryn Brown
Sid Freeman .................. Outside director
Mike Omeg .................... Outside director
Corporate officer
John Perry
Chief operating officer
Capital Press
MOSCOW, Idaho — Uni-
versity of Idaho potato virol-
ogist Alexander Karasev has
high hopes for Ph.D. student
Arturo Quintero Ferrer, both
as a future scientist and a po-
tential potato industry diplo-
mat.
Ferrer, a 29-year-old re-
searcher from Jalisco, Mex-
ico, has been helping Kara-
sev to better understand the
complex interaction between
rapidly evolving potato virus
Y strains and specific potato
varieties.
Ferrer’s ties have also
opened doors in Karasev’s ef-
forts to access PVY-positive
plant samples from Mexican
fields for comparison with
U.S. strains.
Karasev hopes Ferrer will
continue researching potatoes
when he returns home and
help to build a better relation-
ship between the U.S. and
Mexican potato industries.
U.S. growers have long
been restricted to selling their
fresh potatoes within 16 miles
of the U.S.-Mexican border
but were briefly granted ac-
cess to the entire country last
summer, until the Mexican
potato growers association
blocked the expanded access
in court. Those cases are still
pending in the Mexican legal
system.
“I realized there’s a great
divide between Mexico and
the U.S.,” Karasev said.
“That’s my expectation, that
perhaps he may be the per-
Capital Press
on site day of sale.
Tuesday, June 30
P oplar for Biofuels field tour, 10:30
a.m.-1 p.m. Hayden Demonstration
Site, Hayden, 253-241-5043. Join
extension professionals, research-
ers and environmental professionals
in learning about the latest biofuel
and biochemical developments
in the Pacific Northwest. Topics
include: Growing hybrid poplar as a
short rotation woody energy crop;
sustainable production and envi-
ronmental impacts on soil, water
and wildlife; best areas to develop
biofuel and biochemical industries;
biomass production
Wednesday, July 1
O SU Caneberry Field Day, 1 p.m.-5
p.m. North Willamette Research and
Extension Center, OSU, Aurora, 971-
373-5912.
Thursday, July 2
Estate Auction, 3:30 p.m. N/A, Brush
Prairie, 360-521-6610. 1980 Harley
Davidson with sidecar, 1970 21’
Holiday Rambler trailer, 20’ drag car
trailer, new truck work box, tons of
new HVAC parts, tools. Way too much
to list. Preview begins one hour before
auction.
Forestry shortcourse, 10 a.m.-1
p.m. West Bonner Library, Priest
River, 208-446-1680. This 6-session
program will help forest owners under-
stand ecology, silviculture, wildlife and
other topics. Register by June 5.
Wednesday, July 8
An Introduction to Pacific North west
Agroforestry Practices, 9 a.m.-3p.m.
Willow Lake Wastewater Treatment
Plant, Salem, 503-391-9927. The
workshop will focus on the topic of
integrating trees and shrubs into
an agricultural land-use system to
enhance productivity, profitability and
environmental stewardship. Presen-
OSU Blueberry Field Day, 1 p.m.-5
p.m. North Willamette Research and
Extension Center, OSU, Aurora, 971-
373-5912.
Friday, July 10
Forestry shortcourse, 10 a.m.-1
p.m. West Bonner Library, Priest
River, 208-446-1680. This 6-session
program will help forest owners under-
stand ecology, silviculture, wildlife and
other topics. Register by June 5 .
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Index
California .............................. 10
Drought ................................. 5
Idaho ...................................... 9
Markets ............................... 13
Opinion .................................. 6
Oregon .................................11
Washington ........................... 8
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