July 17, 2015
CapitalPress.com
More visiting buyers check
out Northwest wheat,
grain commission says
Organization
maintains contact
with overseas
customers
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — Increased
interest in Northwest grain has
boosted the number of trade
delegations visiting the Wash-
ington Grain Commission in
recent years, the agency’s CEO
says.
Several years ago, one
to three U.S. Wheat Associ-
ates-organized trade teams
would pass through the region,
said grain commission CEO
Glen Squires. But in the last two
years, that number has increased
to four to six, with additional in-
dependent buyer groups coming
through on their own.
The commission recently
hosted a team of Japanese mill-
ers and will host visits from
representatives of South Korea,
the Philippines and other groups
this year.
The Northwest grain com-
missions work together to pro-
vide information to visitors,
Squires said. The Washington
commission shares informa-
tion with Idaho’s and Oregon’s
wheat commissions.
U.S. wheat is often more ex-
pensive than that of competing
countries, but performs better in
mills and bakeries, said Wash-
ington commissioner Dana Her-
ron.
“Agriculture and sales of
commodities are a relational
business — you need to know
who your customer is and make
sure he’s getting what he needs,”
Herron said. “It’s about building
relationships.”
A Japanese trade team visit-
ed commissioner Brit Ausman’s
Asotin, Wash., farm last year.
It’s important for the commis-
sion to be involved with buyers,
Ausman said.
“We can meet their needs
and they can get a feel for where
the product’s coming from,” he
said. “We’ll continue to work on
that relationship so that there’s
trust in the high-quality product
we’re producing.”
The commission also works
to keep communications on-
going with customers. Com-
mission representatives often
travel at the request of buyers
to address problems or provide
information, Squires said. The
commission recently partici-
pated in U.S. Wheat Associates
seminars overseas, talking about
breeding and quality in Indone-
sia, Thailand and the Philippines
with wheat buyers.
Squires expects the upward
trend in the number of visits to
continue. Millers want to see
things for themselves, he said.
“They hear about stuff in the
media, so they want to see first-
hand,” he said. “They want to
see a barge being loaded or learn
about the river system.”
Indonesia, Vietnam and
Thailand top the grain commis-
sion’s wish-list for future trade
team visits, Squires said.
The commission is setting
up a tour of Indonesian mill-
ers, Squires said. A team from
Indonesia previously visited
the Wheat Marketing Center in
Portland, but this would be their
first visit to the countryside, he
said. That tour would likely oc-
cur next year.
Thailand is a key custom-
er and Vietnam is an emerging
market for wheat. They’ve vis-
ited in the past, but not recent-
ly. The commission is also in
conversations with millers from
Latin America and South Amer-
ica, Squires said.
“How can we help facilitate
trade and exports there?” he
said. “A lot of times, it’s when
they come and learn about what
we have and get familiar with
the system.”
13
Humidity, heat can bring
‘summer slump’ to alfalfa
By WILL KOENIG
For the Capital Press
BUCKEYE, Ariz. — Ari-
zona’s heat and ample irriga-
tion supplies create perfect
conditions for growing alfal-
fa, but those factors can con-
verge in a troublesome pro-
ductivity slowdown known
as “summer slump.”
The problem of slow
growth primarily surfaces
from mid-July to mid-Au-
gust, during the peak of
Arizona’s monsoon season,
according to Mike Ottman,
an extension agronomist
with the University of Ar-
izona School of Plant Sci-
ences. The combination of
high temperatures and high
humidity from heavy down-
pours is believed to be the
culprit.
“Particularly in August
... the plants just look sick,”
Ottman said. “They’re short.
They’re pale. They don’t
grow as much.”
While the alfalfa crops
don’t die because of summer
slump, productivity declines
as the plant struggles, an im-
portant issue for a state with
about a quarter of its arable
land planted to the forage
crop, Maricopa County Ex-
tension agent Ayman Mosta-
fa said. Arizona claims some
of the highest average alfalfa
yields in the world, as much
as 8 tons an acre.
“This time of year we
start to see it,” said Perry
Rayner, a fourth-generation
Arizona farmer at A Tum-
bling T Ranches. Despite
experimenting with different
trials and products, summer
slump has been difficult to
prevent. “Nothing seems to
affect it much.”
Alfalfa and other plants
function much like evapora-
tive coolers, giving up mois-
Will Koenig/For the Capital Press
Mike Ottman, University of Arizona Extension agronomist, talks about moisture levels in alfalfa on July
8 at a field day near Buckeye, Ariz.
Information
To read more on summer slump
in alfalfa, go to cals.arizona.
edu/pubs/crops/az1611.pdf
ture to manage heat, Ottman
said. And, like swamp cool-
ers, they function more ef-
ficiently in dry conditions,
even in the high temperatures
Arizona experiences in May
and June. But the increase
in humidity brought by the
monsoons forces alfalfa to
expend more energy, pulling
carbohydrates from its car-
rot-like taproot to maintain
respiration instead of grow-
ing. This leads to less stored
sugar for the plant to use to
regrow after a cutting.
Any form of stress on al-
falfa can contribute to sum-
mer slump, Ottman said, in-
cluding insect pressure and
skipping an application of
fertilizer or irrigation. But
spacing between cuttings is
one of the biggest factors
that farmers can directly
control. Longer cycles, es-
pecially waiting until the al-
falfa blooms, allow for more
robust alfalfa stands.
Jason Rovey, who took
over operation of his family’s
farm two seasons ago and
partners with the University
of Arizona on research trials,
said that summer slump isn’t
a significant problem in his
fields, but that may be be-
cause of his fields’ relatively
high elevation of 1,000 feet
above sea level.
“It starts to slow down in
July and August, but yields
haven’t been hit too bad,”
Rovey said.
In a presentation at a Uni-
versity of Arizona field day
at his farm near Buckeye on
July 8, he said he spaces cut-
tings anywhere from 27 to
42 days apart, depending on
what is best for the alfalfa.
“I don’t want to cut on a
schedule,” Rovey said, as he
described how he monitors
heat units and crop condi-
tions to decide when to start
a cutting.
According to research
by Ottman and Mostafa,
cutting at full bloom allows
the root to replenish carbo-
hydrate reserves, reducing
the effects of summer slump
and improving yield in the
fall. More information on
summer slump is available
through University of Ari-
zona Cooperative Extension
offices.
Alabama
professor
studies
bumblebee
evolution
TUSCALOOSA,
Ala.
(AP) — A University of Al-
abama biologist is part of a
national team of researchers
examining the adaptive qual-
ities of bumblebees across
multiple habitat types.
Jeff Lozier and his col-
laborators from the Univer-
sity of Wyoming and Utah
State University is spending
a $1 million National Science
Foundation award to study
the genetics of differing bee
species.
Lozier told the The Tus-
caloosa News that the team
is trying to determine links
between the species differing
genetic makeup and their hab-
itats. Put another way: How
quickly and how well do the
bees adjust to their changing
circumstances?
The study focuses on two
species that are abundant in
California, Oregon and Wash-
ington across multiple eleva-
tions and habitats.
The team is also interested
in how much the species have
shared genes through inter-
breeding.
Lozier explained that the
project grew out of more gen-
eral assessment of bumblebee
species. “The goal is to really
get at some of these patterns
that were hinted at previous-
ly,” he said.
Data about the bees’ adap-
tation and mating could help
scientists understand how the
species and other pollinators
handle changing environ-
ments. Pollinators are vital to
the health of their ecosystems
because of the direct roles
they play in plant life, which,
in turn, affects humans’ sup-
ply of food and oxygen.
“It’s important to know
something about how these
things are adapted to the envi-
ronment,” Lozier said.
The research team will
publish their results, but Lozi-
er said he hopes their findings
form the basis for “spin-off
projects down the road.”
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