16 CapitalPress.com
December 25, 2015
Dairy will relocate to Boardman tree farm
Sale completed
in November
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
Nearly one-third of the
massive Boardman Tree Farm
has been sold to a local dairy
that plans to move operations
within the next year.
Willow Creek Dairy pur-
chased 7,288 acres of the tree
farm from GreenWood Re-
sources in November. Owner
Greg te Velde said the land
he purchased runs along the
property’s southern boundary
— out of view from Inter-
state 84 — near Finley Buttes
Landfill.
Once trees have been re-
moved from the property, te
Velde said he will put in a
center pivot to grow irrigated
wheat, corn and alfalfa. His
dairy currently raises about
8,000 cows and provides
70,000 gallons of milk per
day to Tillamook Cheese at
the Port of Morrow.
Te Velde lives in central
California, and established
Willow Creek Dairy in 2002
on land leased from Threemile
Canyon Farms. The operation
employs about 50 people.
“The whole community is
great,” te Velde said. “It’s all
about agriculture. It’s really
easy to do business here.”
Te Velde purchased land,
water rights and irrigation
EO Media Group file photo
Nearly one-third of the 25,000-acre Boardman Tree Farm is being
sold to the Willow Creek Dairy.
equipment from the Board-
man Tree Farm for $65 mil-
lion, according to documents
at the Morrow County As-
sessor’s Office. GreenWood
Resources has owned the
Boardman Tree Farm since
2007, totaling 25,000 acres
of hybrid poplar trees that are
grown in rotation and sold for
sawlogs, pulp and biofuel. It
takes 12 years before the trees
fully mature.
Te Velde said he expects a
measured transition from tree
farm to dairy farm on the new-
ly acquired land. GreenWood
Resources did retain some
options in the deal, depending
on market conditions.
With any luck, te Velde
said he could be moved within
the next year.
“We’ll have a little more
control over our destiny,” he
said.
Don Rice, director of
North American operations
for GreenWood Resources, did
not comment on the long-term
future of the tree farm. The
area spans six miles along In-
terstate 84 and 13 miles to the
south, and stands as a signifi-
cant landmark for the region.
The tree farm includes
roughly 6 million standing
trees, and provides lumber to
the Collins Companies’ Upper
Columbia Mill, which oper-
ates in conjunction with the
GreenWood Tree Farm Fund.
There is also a veneer mill
owned by Columbia Forest
Products that opened in 2013.
The Tree Farm also has
hosted “A Very Poplar Run”
since 2011, with 5K and 10K
races to benefit the Agape
House in Hermiston.
E. Oregon farms step up organic acres
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
Kathy Aney/EO Media Group
Bins of fresh, organic peppers beckon shoppers at the Safeway
store in Pendleton, Ore.
Organic groups welcome
more research funding
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Groups representing or-
ganic growers are pleased
with USDA’s announce-
ment of $17.6 million in
funding to support organic
research but say the bur-
geoning industry needs
much more.
USDA Secretary Tom
Vilsack said the available
funding, through grants
from the Organic Agricul-
ture Research and Exten-
sion Initiative, is part of
USDA’s efforts to support
organic producers as they
respond to increasing con-
sumer demand for organic
products.
“We think it’s just ter-
rific, but it’s just part of
what we need to scale up
organic production to meet
the tremendous demand,”
said Cathy Calfo, execu-
tive director of California
Certified Organic Farmers
(CCOF).
“Demand is sky high; we
need more of this,” she said.
Consumer demand for
organic has really emerged
in the last decade, and U.S.
production is just catching
up. The fact that USDA is
taking note is “very posi-
tive,” she said.
But more investment
is needed for organic re-
search, which has only
received a small portion
of USDA’s $1.1 billion re-
search budget for 2015,
unrepresentative of the 5
percent of U.S. food sales
claimed by organic, she
said.
“For us, any part of that
is significant. In the over-
all budget, it’s a very small
part, less than a couple per-
cent,” she said.
With organic imports
increasing, it’s important
to invest in U.S. organic
now to be able to turn that
around in the future, she
said.
The Organic Trade As-
sociation agrees, stating
it is pleased with USDA’s
announcement but organic
research is still woefully
underfunded.
“More organic research
is critically needed to help
organic agriculture grow
in this country, and to give
producers and all organic
stakeholders more resources
to help them make the best
business decisions,” OTA
said in a written statement
to the Capital Press.
“We appreciate USDA
Secretary Vilsack’s pledge
to foster organic production
in the U.S., but more needs
to be done. We will contin-
ue to advocate for more or-
ganic research funding and
policies to increase those
research dollars,” OTA stat-
ed.
In that regard, the orga-
nization petitioned USDA
this past spring for an or-
ganic check-off research
and promotion program.
CCOF has also been en-
gaged in organic research
efforts, meeting with the
dean of the University of
California-Davis College
of Agriculture and Environ-
mental Sciences earlier this
year, asking her to devote
more research to organic
production, Calfo said.
Organic growers are re-
questing research that ad-
dresses plant production,
pests and soil health. There
needs to be more tools to
improve organic farming,
and research is an important
tool, she said.
Jennifer Miller, food and
farm programs director at
the Northwest Center for
Alternatives to Pesticides,
said USDA has provided
important support for or-
ganic farming through sev-
eral programs, initiatives
and projects.
The center is also pleased
to see continued emphasis
on plant breeding for organ-
ic systems, she said.
Farmers rely on preven-
tative practices for man-
aging pests on organic
farms, and seeds developed
under organic conditions
are better able to com-
pete with weeds and re-
sist pests and diseases, she
said.
“Consumer demand for
organic foods continues
to show strong growth, so
even greater investment is
needed to help U.S. farm-
ers meet this market oppor-
tunity,” she said.
The purpose of the or-
ganic research and exten-
sion program is to fund
high-priority
research,
education and extension
projects that enhance the
ability of producers and
processors who have al-
ready adopted organic
standards to grow and mar-
ket high-quality organic
products.
Project applications for
the latest round of fund-
ing are due March 10. For
more information, visit
www.nifa.usda.gov.
Eric Nelson knew it
wouldn’t be easy when he
decided to go organic on his
family’s 900-
acre wheat farm
north of Pendle-
ton.
Nelson,
a
fourth-gener-
ation
farmer,
talked it over Eric Nelson
with his father
— former state Sen. David Nel-
son — who wondered how they
would control weeds without
herbicide, or how they’d afford
organic fertilizer and still turn a
profit. But Nelson had faith it
would work, and in 2008 Nel-
son Grade Organics harvested
its first organic crop.
“I’m very comfortable with
what we have done, what we’re
doing and where we’re going,”
Nelson said. “For me, I see no
need to go back.”
Overall, the number of or-
ganic farms has declined in Or-
egon between 2007 and 2012,
yet total organic acres nearly
quadrupled over that time, ac-
cording to the National Agri-
cultural Statistics Service.
Organic sales also rose from
$88 million to $194 million in
Oregon, making up 4 percent
of all farms sales statewide.
Nationally, the organic food in-
dustry made $39 billion in 2015
— an 11 percent increase over
the previous year.
Despite the demand, be-
coming an organic farm takes
serious time and money. Fields
cannot be sprayed with any
prohibited chemicals for at least
three years before they are cer-
tified organic. Without certifi-
cation, products won’t fetch the
same kind of premium price at
the market, which can be dou-
ble or more, depending on the
commodity.
Nelson said he had help
from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture getting started, but
even that didn’t help pay all the
bills. Organic fertilizer costs up
to twice as much as the con-
ventional stuff, and managing
weeds can become a real issue
without being able to use her-
bicides.
To make it over the hump,
Nelson said he had to get cre-
ative with his cropping systems.
He uses spring grains such as
mustard and barley to break up
soil-borne diseases and replen-
ish nutrients underground.
“We basically have to create
our own nitrogen,” he said.
Wheat is still the big mon-
ey-maker on the farm, but Nel-
son recently started selling or-
Kathy Aney/EO Media Group
Produce manager Aaron Mitchell places stickers on apples Monday at the Pendleton, Ore., Safeway
store, identifying them as organic.
ganic mustard seed to Barhyte
Specialty Foods in Pendleton,
Ore., as an additional source of
revenue.
“Some years are tough, but
we have made a profit. We’re
still surviving,” he said.
A portion Nelson’s wheat
goes to Hummingbird Whole-
sale, a company in Eugene,
Ore., that distributes dry organ-
ic goods to small independent
grocery stores, restaurants and
food processors.
General Manager Justin
Freeman said most of the prod-
ucts they buy come from West-
ern Oregon, but there is a grow-
ing interest among Eastern
Oregon farmers in going organ-
ic. The key hurdle, he said, is
supporting growers during that
three-year transitional phase in
certification.
“It’s about finding solutions
for people and getting risk out
of the equation as much as pos-
sible,” Freeman said.
In the past, Hummingbird
Wholesale has purchased rice,
beans and cranberries at premi-
um organic prices from farmers
who have started the process
of certification. The goal is to
win over more organic farms to
keep up with demand, Freeman
said.
A similar initiative for wheat
has also been launched by Ar-
dent Mills, of Denver, which
hopes to double U.S. organic
wheat acres by 2019. Oregon
Tilth, a nonprofit organization
that helps certify local organic
farms, has also signed on as a
partner.
Chris Schreiner, executive
director of Oregon Tilth, said
the growing demand for or-
ganic products is being driven
in part by a renewed interest in
food and earth-friendly farming
practices.
From a grower standpoint,
Schreiner said there is a tre-
mendous opportunity for go-
ing organic, but recognizes it
comes with risks.
“Their challenge is figuring
out a new management system
and accessing those new mar-
kets,” Schreiner said. “We’re
committed to supporting them
and helping them seize that op-
portunity in the marketplace.”
One of Eastern Oregon’s
largest irrigated organic grow-
ers, Threemile Canyon Farms
in Boardman, now has 7,800
acres in certified organic vege-
tables. General Manager Marty
Myers said he hopes to grow
that total to 12,000 acres over
the next two years.
Threemile Canyon grows
organic sweet peas, sweet corn,
onions, carrots, potatoes and
edamame, which are mostly
sent to the farm’s frozen foods
plant in Pasco. Frozen products
are sold primarily to Costco un-
der the brand name Organic by
Nature.
The farm also developed its
first organic dairy earlier this
year just east of Hermiston,
with about 1,300 cows. Part of
the requirement for an organ-
ic dairy is to let cows graze in
pasture for at least 120 days of
the year.
Myers said Threemile Can-
yon first dipped its toes in or-
ganic farming in 2002, using
fertilizer generated from the
farm’s dairies. Without that in-
house fertilizer source, Myers
said they likely couldn’t make
the organic operation work.
Organic vegetables yield
about 75 percent versus con-
ventional methods, though My-
ers said premium prices make
up for the hit. Growing organic
means going back in time about
20 year in terms of production
practices, he said. Sometimes,
the only way to manage weeds
is to pull them by hand.
“There are a lot of farmers
who have tried it and didn’t like
it, for obvious reasons,” Myers
said. “We feel we can be a low-
cost producer. That gives us an
advantage over a lot of other
producers.”
On a much smaller scale,
Gus Wahner grows organic
produce on about one-third of
an acre in Stanfield, including
tomatoes, basil, cucumber and
garlic.
Wahner has been farming
on and off for 30 years at his
home, which he’s named Way
of Life Farms. Though not cer-
tified organic, he said the land
hasn’t been sprayed since 1970.
He raises produce from the
greenhouse to the hoop house,
and made $15,000 in profit last
year.
Wahner, who serves on the
Umatilla County Soil and Wa-
ter Conservation District, is a
longtime advocate of organic
farming. He uses an aerobic
system to brew his own com-
post “tea,” which he sprays
along with a mixture of fish,
kelp, molasses and sea minerals
to create healthy, organic soils.
“When people talk about or-
ganic, it needs to be biological,”
he said. “The whole essence of
organic is improvement in the
soil.”
Wahner said he’s not an
environmentalist, but growing
organic requires being in tune
with nature. Spraying chem-
icals kills off components in
the ground, he said, but organic
farming is about working with
nature to grow what you need.
The food is also healthier, he
said, because it absorbs a great-
er host micro-nutrients from the
ground.
“I don’t do farming to make
money, necessarily. I do it for
people to experience great food
and be healthy,” Wahner said.
Ten years after switching to
organic, Nelson said they con-
tinue to make a living while
preserving the legacy of their
land.
Apple commission seeks State commission
redesigns website
voting method change
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
The Washington Apple Com-
mission wants to modify how
growers vote on major policies
such as changing the assess-
ments that fund it.
By state law, each grower
gets one vote, but also gets one
vote per acre, said Todd Fry-
hover, commission president.
It takes 60 percent of votes
by grower, plus 60 percent of
votes by acreage to pass propos-
als such as changing the 3.5-cent
per box assessment that funds
the commission, he said.
The commission is not con-
templating changing the assess-
ment and plans to keep one vote
per grower but believes the oth-
er part of voting should be based
on the number of boxes packed
instead of acreage, Fryhover
said.
More fruit is grown per acre
with newer, high-density plant-
ings than is grown with older
plantings of larger trees, he said.
Therefore, it’s more equitable to
base the vote on boxes packed,
he said.
It also is easier to track boxes
packed through packing compa-
nies than to track acreage from
growers, he said.
At a Dec. 10 commission
meeting, commissioners agreed
to seek that change through the
state Legislature, he said.
WENATCHEE, Wash. — The Washington Apple Com-
mission has launched a redesigned website, www.bestap-
ples.com, aimed at reaching millions of overseas consumers
who rely on smart phones for information.
The site uses the tagline “The State for Apples,” in En-
glish, and uses responsive design for optimized viewing on
screens of all sizes.
“The goal is to make the content appealing and infor-
mative for our fans in the U.S. and foreign markets,” said
Rebecca Lyons, the commission’s international marketing
director.
Content is available in eight languages targeting con-
sumers in Latin America, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thai-
land, Vietnam and the Middle East.
The project was partially funded by a specialty crop
grant through the state Department of Agriculture.
About one-third of Washington’s apple crop is usually
exported to more than 60 countries. The commission is a
grower-funded organization that promotes Washington ap-
ples in international markets.
— Dan Wheat