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CapitalPress.com
March 4, 2016
People & Places
Researcher helps keep DON in check
Chad Jackson
screens wheat,
barley for Fusarium
headblight disease
Western
Innovator
Capital Press
Chad Jackson
Age: 36
Hometown: Sterling, Idaho
Education: Bachelor’s de-
gree in agricultural science
from Western Illinois Univer-
sity and master’s degree in
plant science from University
of Idaho
Job: Research specialist
at University of Idaho’s
Aberdeen Research and
Extension Center
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Chad Jackson, a research specialist at the University of Idaho’s Aberdeen Research and Extension
Center, holds a handful of corn used to propagate Fusarium headblight to inoculate trial plots in a vari-
ety screening nursery. The disease has become increasingly worrisome for wheat and barley growers.
blight in Idaho. “I think it’s
going to probably be long-
term enough we’re going to
have to plan on having resis-
tance genes stacked into our
varieties coming out.”
The university also con-
ducted headblight fungicide
trials on behalf of product
manufacturers in 2013. The
following year, UI obtained a
$30,000 grant from the Wheat
and Barley Scab Initiative to
set up the nursery. The initia-
tive also funded the nursery
for 2015 and 2016.
Jackson inoculates grain
in his nursery by scattering
moldy corn among the plants
and spraying plants with fun-
gus.
Jackson said Aberdeen will
also participate this summer
in a standardized fungicide
trial for the Scab Initiative,
in which several fungicides
will be evaluated in nurseries
around several states.
About a decade ago head-
blight — which likes hot and
moist conditions — was con-
sidered mainly a Midwest
problem, Jackson said.
“It’s been easy for us to
promote our production, say-
ing we have less of a prev-
alence of Fusarium because
of our arid climate,” Jackson
said.
As Idaho’s corn acreage in-
creased to support the growing
dairy industry, Jackson said
the state experienced a shift
toward F. graminearum — a
more aggressive headblight
strain that thrives on corn and
can be carried long distances
by wind, unlike the prior com-
mon strain, F. culmorum.
“We can’t let our guard
down on this because it has
been a pretty consistent prob-
lem,” Jackson said. “In the last
six years, we haven’t gone a
year without seeing it.”
The most susceptible bar-
ley variety in the 2015 nurs-
ery trials was Goldeneye. The
least susceptible was a Mid-
western variety, Quest.
Marshall, Jackson’s super-
visor, explained that some of
the most tolerant varieties are
six-row barleys, which are
gradually being phased out by
the industry.
“We really have no effec-
tive control of this disease.
When the temperatures are
right, you’re going to get
headblight, even with the best
resistant varieties and fungi-
cide,” Marshall said.
IDO 851, Alpowa and UI
Stone were among the most
Innovation: Planting and
maintaining Fusarium head-
blight screening nurseries
Family: Wife, JanaLee
Barclay Jackson; children
Samantha, 10, Alexis, 8,
Christian 5, Abigail, 10
months
resistant wheat varieties. Jack-
son said hard white variet-
ies, such as Klasic and Snow
Crest, and certain durum
wheat varieties are among the
most susceptible.
In addition to planting re-
sistant varieties, Jackson ad-
vises growers to plant spring
wheat as early as possible to
avoid lowering when spore
loads are high, to avoid plant-
ing susceptible varieties fol-
lowing corn and to spray
fungicides on barley at head
emergence and wheat when
lowers are 50 percent devel-
oped.
OSU prof switches from testing grass straw to sled dogs
By MITCH LIES
For the Capital Press
Morrie Craig, a toxicolo-
gist in the Oregon State Uni-
versity School of Veterinary
Medicine, is spending the irst
couple of weeks of March this
year in some of the remotest
corners of the world.
Craig isn’t looking for a
getaway, however. He’s testing
dogs for the presence of drugs
in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog
Race.
Craig, chief of drug test-
ing for the race for the past 23
years, heads a team of about 15
veterinarians that test for the
presence of drugs at the start,
inish and middle of the 1,049-
mile race, which was irst run
in 1973.
The in-race testing takes
him to some remote sites, he
said.
“You get to see the interior
Calendar
Submitted photo
Oregon State University College of Veterinary Medicine toxicologist
Morrie Craig is shown with a sled dog in Willow, Alaska. He has
been the chief of drug testing for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
for the past 23 years.
of Alaska,” Craig said. “Often-
times it is minus 30 or 40 or
50 (degrees Fahrenheit) and it
takes you to places almost no
Sponsored by:
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capitalpress.com and click on “Sub-
mit an Event.” Calendar items can
also be mailed to Capital Press,
1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR
97301.
Friday, March 4
Paciic Northwest Christmas
Tree Association 2016 Short
Course, 8:30 a.m.-4:10 p.m., Holi-
day Inn Portland South, Wilsonville,
Ore. http://www.pnwcta.org/
Ag Chemical Collection Event,
Redwood Transfer Station, Grants
Pass, Ore., 541-690-9983. www.
rogueriverwc.org/
Saturday, March 5
Basic Farm Equipment Main-
tenance and Repair, 1-5 p.m. This
class offers an introduction to farm
equipment maintenance and re-
pair. Dunbar Farms, Medford, Ore.
https://secure.oregonstate.edu/os-
uext/register/974
Ag Chemical Collection Event,
Rogue Disposal Transfer Station,
White City, Ore., 541-690-9983.
www.rogueriverwc.org/
Thursday, March 10
2016 Idaho Nutrient Manage-
ment Conference, Best Western
Sawtooth Inn, Jerome, 208-736-
3605.
Saturday, March 12
Spring into Gardening, Mc-
Minnville Community Center, Mc-
Minnville, Ore., 503-434-7517.
Established 1928
Board of directors
Mike Forrester ..........................President
Steve Forrester
Kathryn Brown
Sid Freeman .................. Outside director
Mike Omeg .................... Outside director
Corporate oficer
John Perry
Chief operating oficer
By JOHN O’CONNELL
ABERDEEN, Idaho —
The screening nursery Chad
Jackson tends at the Univer-
sity of Idaho’s Aberdeen Re-
search and Extension Center
is the front line in the ight
against Fusarium headblight
in wheat and barley crops.
The fungal disease causes
grain to form the deoxyniva-
lenol toxin, known by the ini-
tials DON, which ruins mill-
ing and malting quality and
can cause sickness in people
and animals. The prevalence
of the disease has been on the
rise in Idaho wheat in recent
years, and in 2015, the irst
loads of barley, originating
from the Idaho Falls area,
were rejected for elevated
DON levels.
Jackson joined UI in 2005
as a research specialist, work-
ing in support of UI Exten-
sion cereals pathologist Juliet
Marshall. He said the screen-
ing nursery includes plots of
roughly 100 spring wheat and
barley varieties. Jackson said
the nursery includes all of the
entries in UI’s variety trials
and barley lines under devel-
opment by USDA Agricul-
tural Research Service barley
breeder Gongshe Hu’s pro-
gram. UI also has a contract to
evaluate lines under develop-
ment by Anheuser-Busch.
“It’s becoming more of an
issue,” Jackson said of head-
Capital Press
This year’s theme will be Home
Landscaping: Small Changes,
Big Impact. Presented by Oregon
State University Extension and the
Yamhill County Master Gardeners
Association.
Monday, March 14
Farm Succession Workshop,
6-9 p.m. Learn about the options
available to you as you prepare
to transition your working lands
to future generations. Speakers
will discuss the legal, inancial and
business factors that a farm family
should consider when planning for
the future. They will present real
world examples of how to address
these important issues while bal-
ancing the complexities of family
dynamics. Sponsored by the East
Multnomah Soil and Water Con-
servation District. Holiday Inn
Express, 477 NW Phoenix Drive,
Troutdale, Ore. http://emswcd.
org/workshops-and-events/up-
coming-workshops/all-events/
farm-succession/
Friday, March 18
2016 Oregon FFA State Con-
vention, Oregon State University,
Corvallis.
http://www.oregonffa.
com
Northwest Horse Fair & Expo
2016, Linn County Fair and Expo
Center, Albany, Ore. The largest
equine expo in the Northwest will
feature fancy dancing horses, strut-
ting stallions, clinics by world-class
horse trainers and riders, breed and
stallion review demos, equine en-
tertainment and a trade show. http://
equinepromotions.net/
one ever visits.
“It’s the last great frontier,”
he said.
Craig, who also is director
of the OSU Endophyte Lab
— which tests grass straw
and seed screenings that are
bound for Asia for the pres-
ence of endophyte, which can
cause problems when fed at
high doses to livestock — irst
came to the attention of Idi-
tarod organizers in the mid-
1990s after the publication
of a book he co-authored on
proper care of racing and re-
tired greyhounds.
About that time, four of the
race’s top performers suspect-
ed drug use among the ranks
of teams competing in the
race. Craig was asked to de-
velop a drug-testing program.
Two years later, event orga-
nizers asked Craig to head the
effort.
Craig and his team will
conduct urine tests on between
180 and 200 dogs during the
10 or so days of the race, test-
ing for 187 different drugs.
The idea behind the test-
ing, Craig said, is to discour-
age competitors from trying
to gain an unfair advantage. In
the statistical-based program
that Craig has established,
cheaters have a greater than an
80 percent chance of getting
caught, he said.
The deterrent appears to
work. “Almost always the
dogs run drug-free,” he said.
Testers will go to work on
March 6, testing about one-
third of the dogs in Willow,
23 miles from the ceremonial
start of the race in Anchorage,
and their work will conclude
in Nome, site of the end of the
race, where dog team members
of the top 25 inishers will be
tested.
Craig wouldn’t divulge
where the veterinarians will
be testing along the course.
“We keep that private,” he
said.
GASES / WELDING / SAFETY / FIRE
20 Northwest Locations
Saturday, March 19
Women in Agriculture Confer-
ence, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Paciic
time, 31 locations across the re-
gion. The 2016 Women in Agricul-
ture Conference will offer women
in Washington, Idaho, Oregon,
Montana and Alaska a unique
opportunity to gather in 31 loca-
tions for a one-day event featuring
knowledgeable speakers, inspir-
ing stories, networking with other
producers and practical advice for
learning new skills. http://wome-
ninag.wsu.edu/
2016 Oregon FFA State Con-
vention, Oregon State University,
Corvallis.
http://www.oregonffa.
com
Northwest Horse Fair & Expo
2016, Linn County Fair and Expo
Center, Albany, Ore. The largest
equine expo in the Northwest will
feature fancy dancing horses,
strutting stallions, clinics by world-
class horse trainers and riders,
breed and stallion review demos,
equine entertainment and a trade
show. http://equinepromotions.net/
Sunday, March 20
2016 Oregon FFA State Con-
vention, Oregon State University,
Corvallis.
http://www.oregonffa.
com
Northwest Horse Fair & Expo
2016, Linn County Fair and Expo
Center, Albany, Ore. The largest
equine expo in the Northwest will
feature fancy dancing horses,
strutting stallions, clinics by world-
class horse trainers and riders,
breed and stallion review demos,
equine entertainment and a trade
show. http://equinepromotions.net/
Monday, March 21
2016 Oregon FFA State Con-
vention, Oregon State University,
Corvallis.
http://www.oregonffa.
com
California Fresh Fruit Associ-
ation Annual Meeting, Resort at
Pelican Hill, Newport Coast. http://
www.cafreshfruit.org
Tuesday, March 22
California Fresh Fruit Associ-
ation Annual Meeting, Resort at
Pelican Hill, Newport Coast. http://
www.cafreshfruit.org
Saturday, April 2
Spring Farming Days, 9 a.m.-
4 p.m., Eastern Washington Agri-
cultural Museum, Pomeroy. www.
co.garield.wa.us/museum
Sunday, April 3
Spring Farming Days, 9 a.m.-
4 p.m., Eastern Washington Agri-
cultural Museum, Pomeroy. www.
co.garield.wa.us/museum
Wednesday, April 6
Idaho FFA State Leadership
Conference, College of Southern
Idaho, Twin Falls. idahoffa.org/
Thursday, April 7
Growing Agripreneurs — A
Season of Farming Training, 6-9
p.m., Growing Agripreneurs is a
seven-month program, beginning
April 7, designed for beginning
farmers interested in gaining the-
oretical and practical knowledge
through classes, ield work, mar-
keting, food preservation, farm
tours and one-on-one mentoring.
Pre-registration by March 25 re-
quired. Southern Oregon Re-
search and Extension Center, 569
Hanley Road, Central Point, Ore.
Cost: $350 (couples discount,
$600) Partial scholarships avail-
able. http://extension.oregonstate.
edu/sorec/farms
Idaho FFA State Leadership
Conference, College of Southern
Idaho, Twin Falls. idahoffa.org/
Friday, April 8
Idaho FFA State Leadership
Conference, College of Southern
Idaho, Twin Falls. idahoffa.org/
Saturday, April 9
96th Annual California Ram
Sale, Viewing starts are 8 a.m.
Over 400 range rams from Cali-
fornia, Oregon, Idaho and Utah.
Crossbred, Hampshire, Suffolk
and White-Faced (Columbia, Ram-
bouillet) rams will be auctioned
off in the sale. In addition three
purebred ewes will also be sold.
Also, ultrasound carcass mea-
surements and a range ram index
will be provided on all sale rams,
Porterville Fairgrounds, 2700 W.
Teapot Dome Ave., Porterville, Ca-
lif. http://cawoolgrowers.org/sale/
ramsale.html
Idaho FFA State Leadership
Conference, College of Southern
Idaho, Twin Falls. idahoffa.org/
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Index
Dairy .....................................11
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Markets ............................... 13
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