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CapitalPress.com
January 29, 2016
People & Places
Horticulturist seeks one more hit
Pat Moore searches
for next superstar
raspberry cultivar
before retiring
Western
Innovator
Capital Press
Pat Moore
Age: 63
Position: Horticulturist at
Washington State Universi-
ty’s Puyallup Research and
Extension Center
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington State University plant breeder Pat Moore sits in the office that he’s occupied since 1987
at the Puyallup Research and Extension Service Center. Moore was nationally recognized last year for
developing strawberry and raspberry cultivars.
State University and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture in
1943.
Meeker provided the con-
sistency processors crave, and
nearly all Washington rasp-
berries are sold to processors.
Raspberries are a $57 million
a year business in Washing-
ton. Only California produces
more raspberries, but almost
all of its berries are sold as
fresh fruit.
Meeker’s popularity may
eventually be its downfall,
however. Any disease Meeker
is vulnerable to spreads from
field to field, Moore said.
“Meeker may be showing
its age,” he said.
Fifteen years ago, Meek-
er made up 70 percent of the
plant sales in Washington, Or-
egon and British Columbia.
Now, Meeker holds about one-
third of the market, while an-
other third is held by a relative
newcomer, Wakefield, bred
in New Zealand and tested in
Washington.
No other cultivated variety
claims more than 10 percent of
the market.
The privately developed
Wakefield plants cost more
than cultivars released by pub-
lic institutions such as WSU,
and while that works for some
growers, it doesn’t work for
all, Washington Red Raspber-
ry Commission Executive Di-
rector Henry Bierlink said.
“We would love to see the
hot new berry come out of
WSU,” he said.
The commission, a finan-
cial supporter of Moore’s ber-
ry breeding program, wants a
high-yielding, summer-bear-
ing, winter-hardy, virus-re-
sistant, machine-harvestable
raspberry.
“He’s been very willing
and able and responsive to our
needs, but we also recognize
he’s got a big challenge in
front of him,” Bierlink said.
Many years ago, Moore
decided to brand WSU’s rasp-
berry cultivars with the name
“Cascade.”
Beginning in 2003, Moore
has released Cascade Gold,
Cascade Dawn, Cascade De-
light, Cascade Nectar, Cas-
cade Bounty and Cascade
Harvest.
Bierlink said it doesn’t ap-
pear any of the Cascades will
inherit the Meeker’s throne.
“I would have to say the
consensus opinion of the rasp-
berry growers community is
‘no.’ They have been tried and
have some positive attributes,
but none of those varieties
will dominate in the future,”
Bierlink said.
A raspberry can excel in
one area, but fall short in an-
other. Moore, who fills rasp-
berries with chocolate pud-
ding for church socials, said
Cascade Dawn, released in
2005, was particularly tasty.
But the variety doesn’t shake
off the vine until it’s too ripe,
a flaw for machine harvesting.
Cascade Harvest was the
cultivar most recently re-
leased, in 2013, and the first
full harvest won’t be until
2017. There’s hope the berry
will perform well, and it cur-
rently ranks fourth in plant
sales. But Moore said the ber-
Education: Bachelor’s de-
gree in forestry, Oregon State
University; master’s degree
in forestry, University of Min-
nesota; doctorate in forestry,
Michigan State University.
Background: A Portland
native, after earning his
doctorate, Moore worked
for International Paper Co.
breeding pine trees in the
South; did post-doctoral work
under Michigan State Uni-
versity horticulture professor
Jim Hancock, a breeder of
popular blueberry varieties.
ry has not proven as tolerant
to root rot as he had hoped.
Each new cultivar rep-
resents years of work. WSU
has released 13 raspberry cul-
tivars in 85 years, The average
time between crossing parents
and commercial sales has
been 15.8 years.
Moore’s program grows
thousands of seedlings each
year, looking for good pros-
pects. Only a handful of can-
didates are tried in farmers’
fields, usually in Whatcom
County, where the state’s
raspberry growers are con-
centrated.
Moore said he has four
more cultivars ready to be
planted this summer. He said
the failures will become ap-
parent fairly soon, but winners
will take longer to identify.
Pierson selected as new dairy princess-ambassador
By GEOFF PARKS
For the Capital Press
SALEM — Sara Pierson of
St. Paul was chosen the 2016
Oregon Dairy Princess-Ambas-
sador at the 57th annual corona-
tion banquet Jan. 23 in Salem.
Gina Atsma of Amity was
chosen first alternate.
Both of their families have
been in the dairy business five
generations.
Passing the crowns to their
successors were the 2015 Or-
egon Dairy Princess-Ambas-
sador, Emma Miller, and last
year’s first alternate, Megan
Sprute.
Pierson, 20, is the daughter
of Steve and Susan Pierson,
owners of Sar-Ben Farms of St.
Paul. She and her two brothers
represent the youngest of three
generations actively working
the family’s 165-acre, 350-
cow organic dairy, along with
their parents and grandfather,
Marlin. She represented Mari-
on County in this year’s ODPA
program.
Her jobs at the dairy still
include chores such as mov-
ing the cows among different
pastures and moving irrigation
pipe.
Atsma, 19, represented Polk
County, and was raised on her
family’s dairy farm, Atsma
Dairy of Amity, and still works
Geoff Parks/For the Capital Press
Sara Pierson of St. Paul, the 2016 Oregon State Dairy Princess-Ambassador, takes a bow before the
audience at the coronation banquet at the Salem Convention Center. At back is master of ceremonies
Jim E. Chonga.
there between college studies
and other activities.
In their speeches, both Pier-
son and Atsma celebrated their
families’ long histories in the
dairy industry.
Pierson spoke about her
family’s dairy history and her
part in it under the theme of
“Where I Come From.”
Atsma likewise spoke of the
longevity of the Atsma Dairy
with a theme of “Cows Come
First In Our Family.”
Pierson and Atsma were
chosen over a field that includ-
ed four other young women:
Olivia Miller of Independence,
representing Linn and Benton
counties; Chelsey McFalls of
McMinnville,
representing
Yamhill County; Stephanie
Breazile of Cornelius, repre-
senting Washington County;
and Lucy Kyle-Milward of St.
Helens, representing Columbia
County.
Pierson is a 2014 gradu-
ate of St. Paul High School
and currently is a sophomore
studying agricultural business
management at Oregon State
University with the hopes of
beginning a career in marketing
or business with an agricultural
cooperative.
“I’m super excited,” she
said after her crowning, “but
I’m still sort of in disbelief. I
worked really, really hard for
this and banked a lot of hours
with my adviser to get here. It’s
kind of a nerve-wracking event,
but I was really ready and my
nerves subsided.”
Among Pierson’s first du-
ties as the 2016 Oregon Dairy
Princess-Ambassador will be
to make an appearance during
Dairy Day at the state Capitol
in Salem on Feb. 8. She said
she would probably take a
break from spring term classes
at OSU to deal with the crush
of events — nearly 110 through
the year — that will greet her
beginning this April.
Those events include ele-
mentary school presentations,
public appearances and giving
speeches to civic and commu-
nity organizations. According
to ODPA State Director Jessica
Kliewer, the program last year
reached more than 15,000 stu-
dents.
In another unusual happen-
ing at the coronation event,
Pierson was also voted the
congeniality award. She be-
comes only the third contestant
in the past 42 years to win both
honors.
Monday, Feb. 1
Native Tree Identification Class,
University of Idaho Extension Office
in Kootenai County, Coeur d’Alene,
208-446-1680.
Tuesday, Feb. 2
Spokane Ag Expo & Pacific
Northwest Farm Forum, 9 a.m.-5
p.m., Spokane Convention Cen-
ter.
Wednesday, Feb. 3
Spokane Ag Expo & Pacific
Northwest Farm Forum, 9 a.m.-5
p.m., Spokane Convention Cen-
ter.
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
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By DON JENKINS
PUYALLUP, Wash. —
Since 1987, Washington State
University berry breeder Pat
Moore has occupied the same
office, a cubbyhole crammed
with books, family mementos,
worn furniture and plaques.
The plaques commemorate
milestones in Moore’s career.
He’s patented three strawber-
ry cultivars and four raspber-
ry cultivars. Last year, he was
awarded the Wilder Medal by
the American Pomological
Society, a national honor giv-
en for contributions to fruit
breeding.
Four or five years from re-
tirement, however, Moore, 63,
has ambitions to top his past
accomplishments.
He hopes to develop the red
raspberry that will succeed the
renowned but aging Meeker as
the king of Washington rasp-
berries.
“The growers really want
a new raspberry,” Moore said.
“They feel Meeker, the term
they use, is ‘running out.’”
Raspberry farmers have re-
lied for several decades on the
Meeker, which was released
by WSU in 1967 and named
for Oregon Trail pioneer Ezra
Meeker, Puyallup’s first may-
or.
Meeker, the man, grew rich
growing hops and built a man-
sion 2 miles from the WSU
Puyallup Research and Exten-
sion Center.
Meeker, the berry, was the
superstar of its generation, and
the next.
In the 1980s it surpassed
the venerable Willamette, a
cultivar released by Oregon
Capital Press
Thursday, Feb. 4
Spokane Ag Expo & Pacific
Northwest Farm Forum, 9 a.m.-3
p.m., Spokane Convention Cen-
ter.
Klamath Bull & Select Ranch
Horse Sale, Klamath County Fair-
grounds, Klamath Falls, Ore. Ad-
mission tickets for the Event Center
are available for purchase at sever-
al local retailers and online at www.
klamathbullsale.com.
Friday, Feb. 5
Klamath Bull & Select Ranch
Horse Sale, Klamath County Fair-
grounds, Klamath Falls, Ore., www.
klamathbullsale.com
Nevada Small Farm Con-
ference, Nugget Casino Resort,
Sparks, 775-250-1339.
Swine Information Day, Pillar
Rock Grill, Moses Lake, 509-754-
2011, ext. 4313.
Saturday, Feb. 6
Klamath Bull & Select Ranch
Horse Sale, Klamath County Fair-
grounds, Klamath Falls, Ore., www.
klamathbullsale.com
Nevada Small Farm Con-
ference, Nugget Casino Resort,
Sparks, 775-250-1339.
Sunday, Feb. 7
Klamath Bull & Select Ranch
Horse Sale, Klamath County Fair-
grounds, Klamath Falls, Ore., www.
klamathbullsale.com
Thursday, Feb. 18
WAFLA Annual Labor Confer-
ence, Central Washington Universi-
ty, Ellensburg.
Wednesday, Feb. 24
Southern Idaho Direct Seed
Workshop, Shiloh Inn Conference
Center, Idaho Falls, (208) 334-
2353.
Saturday-Sunday,
Feb. 27-28
Mid-Valley Winter Ag Fest,
Polk County Fairgrounds, Rick-
reall, Ore. 503-428-8224. The
Winter Ag Fest will have events
promoting local ag commerce.
Tuesday-Wednesday,
March 1-2
22nd Fruit Ripening & Ethylene
Management Workshop, Posthar-
vest Technology Center, University
of California-Davis.
Friday, March 4
Ag Chemical Collection Event,
Redwood Transfer Station, Grants
Pass, Ore., 541-690-9983. Pre-reg-
istration is required by Feb. 18.
Saturday, March 5
Ag Chemical Collection Event,
Rogue Disposal Transfer Station,
White City, Ore., 541-690-9983.
Pre-registration is required by Feb.
18.
Saturday, March 12
Spring into Gardening, McMin-
nville Community Center, McMin-
nville, Ore., 503-434-7517. The
4th annual Spring into Garden-
ing event’s theme will be “Home
Landscaping — Small Changes
Big Impact.” Nine speakers will
discuss a variety of garden and
landscaping topics. Presented
by Oregon State University Ex-
tension Service and the Yamhill
County Master Gardeners Asso-
ciation.
Friday-Sunday,
March 18-20
Northwest Horse Fair & Expo
2016, Linn County Fair and Expo
Center, Albany, Ore. 765-655-2107
The 17th annual Northwest Horse
Fair and Expo is the largest equine
expo in the Northwest.
California ................................ 9
Idaho ...................................... 7
Markets ............................... 17
Opinion .................................. 6
Oregon .................................. 8
Washington ......................... 10
World Ag Expo ............... 13-15
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