Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current, June 24, 2016, Image 3

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Newspaper Page TextJune 24, 2016 CapitalPress.com 3 Rain takes a bite out of cherry crop By DAN WHEAT Capital Press Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press Shannon Hughes, manager of the Custom Meat Co. in Eugene, Ore., speaks about the company’s closure on June 17. Oregon slaughter facilities are under pressure as owners retire or die and replace- ments are hard to ﬁ nd. Slaughter facilities face challenges Slaughter, processing skills tough to replace, expert say s Oregon slaughter and processor operations Slaughterhouse Poultry/rabbit slaughter 250 223 176: Down 21% from 2000 By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press After roughly four decades in operation, the Custom Meat Co. of Eugene, Ore., shut down on June 17. While employees and cli- ents still hope the mobile custom slaughter and meat processing company will be bought and re-opened, they acknowledge the business fell into disarray after owner Victor Hastings succumbed to cancer in January. Hastings didn’t leave a will and key licenses for the facility lapsed, contributing to its closure, said Shannon Hughes, the company’s man- ager. Unless an investor takes over the company, Keith Coo- per, who raises hogs at nearby Sweetbriar Farms, is worried about traveling much greater distances to process carcasses. The facility and its workers were instrumental in helping Cooper prepare meat for his customers, often when time was in short supply. “I probably couldn’t have existed or grown my business to the extent I had without the assistance of Custom Meat or Vic Hastings,” he said. The problems encoun- tered by the Custom Meat Co. provide an example of the pressures faced by Oregon’s slaughter and meat processing facilities. As the owners of such com- panies retire or die, ﬁ nding re- placements is difﬁ cult — both because their skills are rare and because fewer people are willing to do such work, said Lauren Gwin, an Oregon State University professor and di- rector of the Niche Meat Pro- cessor Assistance Network. Custom stationary slaughter Custom mobile slaughter Custom meat processor 200 150 100 50 Source: Oregon Department of Agriculture Alan Kenaga/Capital Press 0 2000 ’05 “It is a brutal job to go out and kill things all day long,” Gwin said. “It’s not the kind of thing younger people are interested in doing.” Since 2000, the number of mobile and stationary custom slaughter facilities in Oregon has dropped more than 30 per- cent, from 93 to 63, according to data from the Oregon De- partment of Agriculture. Such operations kill animals for their owners, rather than for meat resale. In that 15 years, the number of USDA-inspected slaughter- houses — which can process livestock for the wholesale meat market — has fallen 25 percent, from 16 to 12. Apart from the physical hardship of killing, bleeding out and skinning livestock, the job is often ﬁ nancially chal- lenging as well, said Gwin. An owner of a mobile slaughter truck, for example, must pay for its fuel and up- keep as well as disposing of offal and maintaining the ap- propriate licenses, she said. “It’s hard to make it pay,” Gwin said. Changes in the overall beef industry have also affected slaughter facilities, said Jerry Haun, owner of Haun’s Meat ’10 2015 and Sausage and executive secretary of the Northwest Meat Processors Association. Cow-calf producers often prefer to sell cattle in large lots instead of selling individ- ual animals at auction to lo- cal landowners, he said. With fewer locals raising beef, the demand for local slaughter fa- cilities decreased as well. As the price of cattle has weakened recently, though, more cow-calf producers are again willing to sell “oddball calves” to backyard farmers, Haun said. Interest in organic, grass- fed and farm-to-table beef also indicates that the local slaughter industry will remain viable, he said. “They’re not just catch-words, it’s reality. It’s something we’ve been doing for decades but it’s now the hip thing.” Not all types of meat fa- cilities in Oregon are on the decline. The number of custom meat processors that don’t kill animals but cut up car- casses has stabilized at above 80 operations in recent years, though it’s still down from roughly 100 operations in the early 2000s, according to ODA data. WENATCHEE, Wash. — A light but stellar Wash- ington cherry crop has been damaged by heavy rain, and while some fruit was ru- ined overall industry losses may not be as large as ﬁ rst thought. What previously was esti- mated as a crop of 18.3 mil- lion, 20-pound boxes now is probably a 17-million-box crop, said B.J. Thurlby, pres- ident of Northwest Cherry Growers, the industry pro- motional organization. A total of 7.3 million box- es had been shipped from the start of the season, May 18, through June 20. Virtually all were picked before the June 18 rain, Thurlby said. “It wasn’t a horrible rain storm. It could have been worse. It stayed cool and the wind blew,” he said. Wind helps dry cherries and cool weather afterward reduces crop-ruining crack- ing. Two weeks of cool weath- er before the rain is push- ing the production peak of 500,000-plus boxes per day out to the Fourth of July, he said. The Fourth is a traditional marketing target, and there still will be plenty of fruit for promotions and ad-prices remaining in place, Thurlby said. Heavy rain struck throughout Central Wash- ington from Oregon to Can- ada. Picking mostly ceased through Monday as growers and packers analyzed how much fruit could be salvaged. “Cracks in the stembel are legal to pack if they are small and heal,” said Norm 12-month waiver Dan Wheat/Capital Press Andy Handley shows stembel cracking, ruining his Sweetheart cherries in East Wenatchee, Wash., on June 20. Heavy rain June 18 split a lot of cherries in Central Washington. Gutzwiler, a Wenatchee grower. “If prices are right, it can be sorted and make money for the grower. If not, they go to the processor (for brin- ing) or you leave them on the tree,” Gutzwiler said. It’s a matter of economics when it comes to high-tech packing house sorting and if prices are too low growers shouldn’t be picking, he said. “Frankly, prices will have to go higher than they are,” Gutzwiler said, adding pro- duction and marketing will be in limbo a few days. Gutzwiler, Thurlby and others said fruit size and quality had been exceptional until the rain. Damage ranges up to 45 percent but will clean up in a week and later fruit will mature with no damage, said Roger Pepperl, marketing director at Stemilt Growers LLC in Wenatchee, the na- tion’s largest sweet cherry producer. “We are extremely opti- mistic with good fruit size, lots of Skeenas (variety) coming on with great ﬂ avor and good demand,” Pepperl said. Fourth of July cherries will be “awesome” and Stemilt will offer a special Kyle’s Pick brand, named for Stemilt co-owner Kyle Mathison, with high sugars and ﬁ rmness and large size, he said. Thurlby said two large Skeena growers in the Ba- sin lost 20 percent. Skeena, a Canadian variety, is more susceptible to cracking. Wenatchee’s Stemilt Hill orchards sustained up to 40 percent damage and a larg- er grower in the Okanogan about 5 percent, he said. Rain was less in The Dalles, Ore., said Brenda Thomas, president of Or- chard View Farms Inc., Ore- gon’s largest cherry grower. Damage is manageable with the company’s new high- tech cherry sorter a huge help, she said. Normal 10 percent cul- lage has risen to 20 to 30 percent, she said. 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