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FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2016
VOLUME 89, NUMBER 30
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
THE BOOM IN
HAZELNUTS
$2.00
Bill prevents
a Malheur
County
national
monument
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
‘Renaissance’ turns around
fortunes of popular nut
By JANAE SARGENT
Capital Press
C
ANBY, Ore. — Nurseryman
Rich Birkemeier can’t keep up
with the demand for hazelnut
trees.
The owner of Birkemeier
Nursery supplies farmers with young hazel-
nut trees, but the demand has been so great
that his 300-acre hazelnut farm and nursery
is sold out for 2016 and has sold out of some
varieties for 2017. Birkemeier has been
forced to start a waiting list for new growers
who want to plant the popular nut tree.
Birkemeier called the last four years a
“renaissance in the hazelnut industry” and
sees a bright future for Oregon hazelnuts.
“A lot of things have come together at
the same time that have really pushed the
hazelnut industry forward,” Birkemeier
said. “There’s a gaining realization in the
agricultural com-
munity that ha-
zelnuts are the
things to grow in
Oregon.”
Willamette
Valley growers
have planted be-
Courtesy of Willamette tween 3,000 and
Hazelnut Growers 4,000 acres of
Hazelnuts have become hazelnuts a year
one of Oregon’s fast-
since 2014, ac-
est-growing crops, with cording to Pacifi c
3,000-4,000 new acres Agricultural Sur-
planted each year.
vey. Owner Mike
McDaniel said he
expects even more new acreage to be added
this year.
New growers with no agricultural ex-
perience, farmers looking to diversify their
crops and long-time hazelnut producers are
among those planting trees, with this year’s
statewide acreage blossoming to about
46,000 acres.
Hazelnuts have been grown in the Wil-
lamette Valley since the fi rst tree was plant-
ed in 1858 because of the region’s unique
rich soil and mild climate. Today Oregon
produces 99 percent of U.S. hazelnuts and
4 percent of the world’s supply.
Photos by Janae Sargent/Capital Press
Rich Birkemeier explains the difference between Jefferson and Yamhill hazelnut cultivars, two eastern fi lbert
blight-resistant cultivars Oregon State University released in 2009.
Oregon hazelnut acres, 2015
Of approximately
45,500 Oregon
hazelnut acres in
2015, more than
15,000 acres, roughly
34 percent, were
planted within the last
10 years, according
to Pacific Agricultural
Survey statistics.
Total: 45,471 acres
1-5 years old:
11,407 or 25.1%
5-10 years old:
3,977 or 8.7%
Fully mature:
30,087 or 66.2%
Source: Pacific Agricultural Survey LLC
Janae Sergent and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Shawn Mehlenbach-
er evaluates hun-
dreds of hazelnuts
for eastern fi lbert
blight-resistant qual-
ities at the Oregon
State University fi eld
lab.
‘God moments’
Oregon State University hazelnut breed-
er Shawn Mehlenbacher said he could have
never anticipated the growth in hazelnut
acreage he has seen during the last few
years.
“This industry is growing faster than I
ever imagined,” Mehlenbacher said, adding
that “we don’t have any problem selling
what we can grow.”
The picture wasn’t always so rosy. In
a 2012 survey, the National Agricultural
Turn to HAZELNUTS, Page 12
“This industry is growing faster than I ever imagined. We don’t have any problem selling what we can grow.”
Shawn Mehlenbacher, Oregon State University hazelnut breeder
ONTARIO, Ore. — An
Interior Department funding
bill passed by the U.S. House
of Representatives includes a
provision that blocks a pro-
posed national monument in
Malheur County, Ore., that
is strongly opposed by local
ranchers and farmers.
The bill passed 231-196
July 14 and is headed to the
Senate.
It includes a propos-
al by Rep.
Greg Walden,
R-Ore.,
that
prevents funds
from
being
used to create
a national mon-
ument in Mal-
Walden
heur County.
Oregon
Natural Desert Association,
a Bend, Ore.-based environ-
mental group, has proposed
creating a national monument
on 2.5 million acres in an area
of the county known as the
Owyhee Canyonlands.
It would cover 40 percent
of the county and encompass
about 33 percent of the coun-
ty’s total grazing land. County
residents voted 9-1 against the
idea during a special election
in March.
Walden said in a news
release that the House vote
sends “a strong message to the
president that the overwhelm-
ing majority of local residents
and the People’s House op-
pose a monument.”
“The people of Malheur
County have already spo-
ken on this issue and they’ve
come out adamantly opposed
to a proposed unilateral na-
tional monument declaration
on the Owyhee River can-
yon,” Walden said. “Now the
U.S. House has also voted on
my proposal to block a monu-
ment in Malheur County.”
Walden’s communication
director, Andrew Malcolm,
said Walden will do every-
thing he can to stop the pro-
posal.
“We’re going to continue
to speak out against it and use
every tool available to try to
stop this monument,” he said.
The vote was applauded by
Jordan Valley rancher Mark
Mackenzie, vice president of
the Owyhee Basin Steward-
ship Coalition, which was
formed this year to represent
ranchers, farmers and others
who oppose a national monu-
ment designation.
Regardless of what happens
to the bill in the Senate, “it’s
sending a loud message ... that,
hey, we’re not happy with this
proposal,” Mackenzie said.
Turn to MONUMENT,
Page 12
Washington projects pollution-control costs for dairies
Industry: Estimate far too low
Capital Press
The Washington Depart-
ment of Ecology projects
that hundreds of dairies will
each spend between $11,407
and $25,695 over fi ve years
to comply with new pollu-
tion-control rules, an estimate
that an industry representative
said “massively” understates
the full cost to farmers.
Ecology’s analysis pro-
vides the fi rst offi cial estimate
of expenses associated with
its proposed Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operation
permit.
The agency anticipates up
to 300 of the state’s 400 dair-
ies will need a CAFO permit
under rules the department
A cow looks out onto
fi elds at a dairy in north-
western Washington.
The state Department of
Ecology has projected
how much complying with
new pollution-control rules
will cost dairies, though
an industry group calls
the estimate incomplete
and far short of the true
costs to farmers.
Turn to DAIRIES, Page 12
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expects to fi nalize by the end
of the year.
About 100 dairies with
fewer than 200 mature cows
will be exempt because of the
fi nancial hardship the rules
would pose for small opera-
tions, according to Ecology.
Large and mid-sized dair-
ies, however, that discharge
pollutants to groundwater or
surface water will be required