14 CapitalPress.com
February 26, 2016
Grinder could help soil quality in almond orchards Crunch Pak
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
CHOWCHILLA, Calif. —
University of California re-
searcher Brent Holtz believes
a test plot here could hold the
answer to the San Joaquin
Valley’s worsening soil qual-
ity problems.
On a recent morning, Holtz
and others demonstrated a
device called an Iron Wolf,
which uprooted and ground
up whole almond trees and
incorporated the woody bio-
mass into the soil.
Holtz, a UC Cooperative
Extension farm adviser based
in Stockton, Calif., said stud-
ies he’s been doing since 2003
have shown that whole-or-
chard chip incorporation
treatments increased organic
matter, soil carbon, nutrients
and microbial diversity — all
to the beneit of new plantings.
“Growers in the southern
part of the valley have been
seeing sodium levels in-
creasing … especially in the
drought years when we have
less leaching,” Holtz told
growers during the gathering,
which was videotaped by the
Almond Board of California.
“A good point to this orchard
grinding is it’s helping allevi-
ate our sodium levels.”
In a new study, Holtz
hopes to compare the effects
of using the Iron Wolf to recy-
Courtesy of Almond Board of Calif.
An Iron Wolf is showcased at a recent University of California Cooperative Extension ield day in Chow-
chilla, Calif. The machine grinds up whole almond trees and puts the woody biomass back into the soil.
cle an almond orchard to us-
ing a large tub grinder, which
leaves much iner particles of
wood, UC oficials said.
The research comes as some
cogeneration plants have shut
down in recent years, forcing
growers to look for alternative
ways to deal with tree biomass
when they remove old orchards.
In addition, growers in recent
years have reported an increase
in problems with salinity of
groundwater, with many saying
they expect it to affect the quan-
tity or quality of their harvests.
Holtz
began
testing
woody biomass’ impacts on
soil quality with an Almond
Board-funded study in 2003,
incorporating shredded prun-
ings 1 to 2 inches into the soil.
Over time, researchers found
higher soil nutrient levels,
lower pH and more organ-
ic matter in the soil, and the
organic matter bound up so-
dium to the extent that leaves
had about half the amount of
sodium of other orchards, the
board reported.
Holtz also tried planting
trees in containers with one-
third wood chips and two-
thirds soil. Within a couple
years, nutrient levels were
higher, water infiltration oc-
curred faster and trees were
showing less water stress be-
cause the wood chips were
holding water in the soil,
according to the Almond
Board.
In 2008, Holtz used the
Iron Wolf — a 50-ton rototill-
er capable of grinding whole
trees and incorporating their
chips into the soil — to grind
up whole stone fruit trees and
bury the organic matter in the
soil. By the third year, the
nutrients were signiicantly
greater where trees had been
ground and incorporated.
The machine does have its
drawbacks, Holtz said in an
interview. For one thing, it left
some larger-than-anticipated
chunks on the orchard loor,
while the tub grinder could be
an alternative for growers who
could disc the materials into
their soil.
Also, the Iron Wolf is ex-
pensive, costing about $52,000
a month to rent or $1.2 million
to buy, he said. Researchers
will also have to make sure
they’re not putting tree dis-
eases back into the soil, said
Gabriele Ludwig, the Almond
Board’s director of sustainabil-
ity and environmental affairs.
“The lipside of it could be
that by having increased or-
ganic matter in the soil, we can
change the microbial system
… and work against the bad
things,” said Ludwig, adding
that more trials in multiple lo-
cations are needed.
Holtz agrees.
“With all this talk about
cogen plants closing down
and growers won’t have any
alternatives for biomass,”
Holtz said, “my point is I think
there’s a great alternative for
that biomass and that’s putting
it back into the ground.”
Manufacturer offers tips on seed cutter maintenance
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
BLACKFOOT, Idaho —
Shane Mitchell inds most
potato farmers do a good job
of addressing obvious signs
of wear in their potato cutters,
such as failing belts, bearings
and sprockets.
But Mitchell, marketing
director with locally based
Milestone Equipment, the
largest manufacturer of seed
cutters, said growers often
miss problems that are less
visible, and are usually rela-
tively simple to ix.
During a Feb. 17 seed-cut-
ter maintenance demonstra-
tion for growers and farm-
workers, Mitchell explained
quick adjustments and sim-
ple steps such as sharpening
blades can have a signiicant
impact on the uniformity
of seed pieces, resulting in
more even planting and better
yields.
“What we talked about
today was everything under-
neath the surface that real-
ly makes a difference in the
quality of the seed piece the
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Shane Mitchell, marketing director with Milestone Equipment in
Blackfoot, Idaho, makes an adjustment to a seed cutter, demon-
strating how proper maintenance can improve consistency.
Milestone hosted a Feb. 18 demonstration to give growers tips on
maintaining their seed-cutting equipment.
(cutter) will produce,” Mitch-
ell said.
Mitchell said the irst con-
sideration for growers should
be sharpening their cutter
blades. Dinged or dull blades,
he explained, crush seed po-
tatoes, forcing them to spend
time healing rather than grow-
ing.
Second, he recommends
evaluating a cutter’s sponge
drums — a pair of cylinders
covered in foam and rubber
skin that pull potatoes through
the cutters. The skin can hard-
en or begin to separate from
the drums, resulting in lost
control of positioning as seed
pieces enter the cutter and in
inconsistent sizing.
Another problem growers
often overlook is the condition
of ingers on their sizing roll-
ers. Broken ingers and rollers
that fail to turn properly result
in lost ability to place potatoes
where they need to be as they
pass through the knives, Mitch-
ell said.
Mitchell also advises grow-
ers to make sure rollers on their
alignment table, which presents
spuds at the proper angle for
cutting, run in time, and that
knife blades are also properly
synced.
During the next couple of
months, Mitchell said Mile-
stone will send representatives
to farms to help customers
make such adjustments. When
cutters are operating, Mitchell
said growers should be careful
not to apply so much disinfec-
tant on blades that the sponge
drums become slick, interfer-
ing with their ability to pick up
potatoes in the proper position.
He said to apply disinfectant
intermittently, with just enough
chemical to keep blades con-
stantly moist.
Danny Mitchell, an own-
er with the company, advises
growers to use seed proile
mats, which contain a grid of
seed piece shapes, sizes and
weights, enabling growers to
place their cut seed on the grid
Washington’s beef checkoff stays put
Bill dies without
Senate vote
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — The Wash-
ington Beef Commission’s
top administrator described
for a Senate committee Feb.
18 what the state agency does
for cattlemen — one day after
a bill to approximately double
its budget died.
A bill to increase the beef
checkoff to $2.50 from $1.50
failed to pass before Wednes-
day’s deadline for legislation
to clear at least one chamber.
The beef industry wasn’t
united behind raising the per-
head fee paid by cattle sellers
to support the commission.
Several producer groups
backed upping the assessment
to swell the commission’s an-
nual budget to about $2 mil-
lion, bolstering its promotion
and defense of the beef indus-
try.
The Cattle Producers of
Washington, however, vigor-
ously opposed raising the fee,
questioning whether the ex-
pense was worth it.
The Agriculture Committee
scheduled a presentation by
the beef commission’s execu-
tive director, Patti Brumbach,
too late to inluence the debate
this year. Her talk, illustrated
with loads of charts, signaled a
more active campaign to rally
support for increasing the fee.
“I’m conident if people
have the chance to see and hear
all the information, they’ll be
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington Beef Commission Executive Director Patti Brumbach
poses in a hallway Feb. 18 on the Capitol Campus in Olympia after
a presentation to the Senate Agriculture Committee. Legislation to
raise the beef checkoff has died for this year.
impressed by what the check-
off is doing now and will want
to see it increased,” Washing-
ton Cattlemen’s Association
Executive Vice President Jack
Field said. “I can’t say enough
good things about what the
checkoff does.”
Besides the Cattlemen’s
Association, the Washington
Cattle Feeders Association and
the Washington State Dairy
Federation supported increas-
ing the fee, which has been
the same since 2001. The state
commission keeps $1, while
the other 50 cents goes to the
national Cattlemen’s Beef
Board.
The Cattle Producers’ trea-
surer, Lincoln County ranch-
er Nate Hair, said Friday that
cattlemen should at least wait
a year to see how much money
the commission collects from
dairy cow sales that previously
were unreported to the Wash-
ington State Department of
Agriculture.
WSDA records transac-
tions to trace livestock in case
of a disease outbreak. Until
recently, private sales involv-
ing fewer than 15 dairy cows
were exempt from the report-
ing requirement. Dairy farmers
account for about 20 percent of
the beef commission’s budget,
according to Brumbach’s pre-
sentation.
Hair also said the com-
mission’s advertising was too
generic, not drawing a sharp
enough distinction between
Washington-grown beef and
meat from Canada or other
states.
The request for more
money also comes as Eastern
Washington ranchers have
been battered by drought,
wildires, predators and tight-
ening environmental regula-
tions, Hair said. “People say,
‘It’s just a dollar,’ but all of this
adds up,” he said. “It gets over-
whelming.”
Raising the beef checkoff
is an issue in other states, too.
Missouri cattlemen are sched-
uled to vote in April on raising
their assessment to $2 from
$1. Iowa cattlemen are debat-
ing whether to add 50 cents to
their $1 checkoff.
In Washington, the push for
raising the beef checkoff orig-
inated with producer groups.
Brumbach said the Cattle
Feeders group was the irst to
bring the proposal to her. Field
said the Cattlemen’s Associa-
tion has been talking about the
checkoff for several years and
endorsed raising the fee at its
November convention.
The $1 national beef check-
off was set in 1985 and made
mandatory in 1998. The Beef
Board collected $40.3 million
in assessments in 2015. Some
43 states collect an additional
amount for state commissions.
The Washington Beef
Commission collected about
$1 million in 2015. Most of the
money went for advertising,
foreign marketing or burnish-
ing the beef industry’s image
with consumers.
Inlation has eroded the
commission’s promotional
reach, Brumbach said. The
commission no longer buys
TV time to air the iconic com-
mercial “Beef: It’s What’s for
Dinner,” voiced by actor Sam
Elliott. The commission also
doesn’t advertise in Eastern
Washington anymore.
and assess how effectively their
cutters are performing.
Paul, Idaho, potato farmer
Blake Hansen has estimated his
farm has lost up to 50 hundred-
weight per acre in the past due
to planting skips resulting from
unevenly sized seed. Hansen
was impressed by Milestone’s
demonstration showing how
seed can shatter when it’s too
cold heading into the cutter.
Mitchell said seed temperature
should be at least in the mid 40s
prior to cutting, which can be
dificult for growers who pre-
cut seed during colder months.
“We weren’t doing a regu-
lar tracking on (temperature),”
Hansen said. “We were just
cutting whatever came in on
the semi.”
Montana seed grower John
Venhuizen said he’ll try to use
the seed proile mat more of-
ten, will pay closer attention
to making adjustments to his
cutter and will keep a closer
eye on the condition of sizing
rollers.
“You’re planter can only
work as well as the seed that
gets put into it,” Venhuizen
said.
seeks better
employee
relations
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
ELLENSBURG, Wash. —
Crunch Pak, the nation’s leader
in selling sliced apples, has been
taking better care of its employ-
ees since a federal audit cost the
company half of its workforce
two years ago, the human re-
source director says.
Crunch Pak is headquartered
in Cashmere, Wash., and oper-
ates plants there and in Read-
ing, Pa. It has been tight-lipped
about a U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement I-9 audit
of its plant in Cashmere that be-
came news in May of 2014.
I-9 forms include Social Se-
curity numbers or other proof
of employment eligibility. The
ICE audit began in August 2013
and revealed a number of mis-
matches, the company said. In
May 2014, it sent letters to an
undisclosed number of employ-
ees asking them to correct their
I-9s or lose their jobs.
Speaking on a panel about
“Professionalizing the Seasonal
Workforce,” at a Feb. 18 WAF-
LA (formerly Washington Farm
Labor Association) conference
in Ellensburg, Melissa Grimm
said she became Crunch Pak
HR director in January 2014
and that before that the compa-
ny had none. There were 800 to
850 employees, no HR staff and
employees “were hired, given a
badge and went to work,” she
said. “If they made 90 days they
got trained.”
Turnover was high because
workers didn’t like working in
temperatures in the 30s, a lack of
communication and the 12-mile
drive from Wenatchee, where
many live, she said.
“We began issuing cold
weather gear and deducting that
from their wages if they stayed.
We bought them (public transit)
bus passes and bought a bus to
take people home at the 1 a.m.
shift ending,” Grimm said.
Some workers typically quit
during cherry harvest in June to
make more money picking cher-
ries, she said.
The I-9 audit resulted in a
50 percent loss of workers, she
said. Since then there’s been
a management shift and lead-
ership change, she said. Top
managers now meet with new
employees at the end of their
irst week to review beneits and
information shared on the irst
day, she said. Pay is $10.25 an
hour, supervisors are trained to
communicate and the company
continues to look for perks it can
give employees, she said.
Comment sought on
Icicle water plans
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
LEAVENWORTH, Wash.
— A study group is seeking
public comment on $65 mil-
lion to $85 million in pro-
posed improvements to the
Icicle Creek watershed, near
Leavenworth, to boost water
supply for ish, farmers and
residents.
The Icicle Creek Work
Group — made up of local,
state and federal agencies,
tribes, and environmental,
agricultural and residential
interests — worked for three
years to propose a strategy and
projects to boost water supply.
The watershed includes
212 square miles west of town
and mostly in the Alpine Lakes
Wilderness and Wenatchee
National Forest.
Total projects would gain
26,800 acre-feet of water. The
average base low of the creek
in a normal year is 63 cubic
feet per second. That would
increase by 77 cfs for habitat
and instream lows, 4 cfs for
agriculture and 5 cfs for do-
mestic use. In drought years,
20 cfs is the base low, 47 cfs
would be added for habitat
and instream lows, 4 cfs for
agriculture and 5 cfs for do-
mestic.
Projects include $20 mil-
lion to conserve and improve
water quality with well im-
provements and recirculation
tanks at Leavenworth Nation-
al Fish Hatchery, automating
and optimizing releases from
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Icicle Creek lows southwest of
Leavenworth, Wash., in Octo-
ber of 2014. Public comment
is being accepted until May 11
on plans for several projects to
enhance water supply from the
watershed.
six alpine lakes, and restor-
ing Eight-mile Lake reservoir
from 1,375 acre-feet to its
permitted 2,500 acre-feet.
Further work includes con-
serving water by piping and
lining of Cascade Orchard Irri-
gation Co. and Icicle-Peshastin
Irrigation District canals and
pipe replacement and metering
and technical assistance for
domestic use.
An Icicle Water Bank
would be created with an ini-
tial acquisition of 1,000 acre-
feet at $3,000 per acre-foot for
interruptible ag users during
times of shortage. Fish and
wildlife habitat would be im-
proved.