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CapitalPress.com
August 19, 2016
People & Places
Ex-hatchery provides cash crop
Jan Denlinger
‘harvests’ fish
waste as ingredient
for unique fertilizer
Western
Innovator
Capital Press
Jan Denlinger
Family: Wife, Loretta
Age: 55
Innovation: Developing
a liquid fertilizer known as
Shot, made with ish waste,
worm castings and biochar.
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Jan Denlinger stands by a hatchery raceway that’s illed in with cattails and silt, where trout were
formerly raised near Pingree, Idaho. Denlinger harvests the rich silt as a major ingredient for fertilizer
concentrate.
drums to commercial buyers —
including a California medical
marijuana farm, Amish grow-
ers in Kentucky, Hagerman
watermelon growers and a few
golf courses — and in 2-gallon
jugs for home gardeners, who
buy the product from retailers
in Pocatello, Blackfoot and Ida-
ho Falls.
Though the product hasn’t
been evaluated for the list
of approved certiied organ-
ic products, it’s a good it at
Swore Farms in Tyhee, where
the growers seek to use as few
synthetic products as possible.
Owner Wendy Swore said Shot
has performed comparably
with conventional fertilizer on
her sweet corn.
“It’s nice knowing you have
something on your crops that
has organic properties to it that
don’t leave residues,” Swore
said.
Denlinger’s
great-great-
grandfather bought the prop-
erty along the Snake River in
southeast Idaho, home to one
of the state’s largest springs,
in 1907. The land was initially
used for raising cattle, but in
about 1950, the family leased it
for ish production. It grew into
a major supplier of ish illets,
run by the predecessor of Clear
Springs Foods.
In the late 1990s, after Den-
linger became caretaker of the
property, he intended to con-
tinue raising ish to support a
sportsman’s club. Those plans
never materialized. However, a
friend familiar with the impres-
sive produce Denlinger raised
in his home garden using pond
silt as fertilizer convinced him
of the commercial value of ish
waste.
“I showed him pictures of
radishes the size of soft balls,”
Denlinger said. “Other people
wanted some (silt) because it
was doing so well.”
Denlinger perfected a recipe
he boasts is packed with micro-
organisms and volcanic miner-
als, and he’s sold Shot for about
18 years.
John Toberna, a crop re-
searcher with Western Labora-
tories in Parma, tested Shot
for pathogens to comply with
an audit requested by a client of
Denlinger’s. Toberna said the
product was clean, and he was
impressed by the broad diversi-
ty of beneicial microorganisms
he found.
Toberna, who has used Shot
in his home garden, believes the
product is a good it for small
producers of high-value crops.
Denlinger hopes to even-
tually return the hatchery to
production, but he also sees a
bright future for Shot, which
he anticipates will see broader
sales once he perfects a dry for-
mulation.
By JANAE SARGENT
Oregon Century
Farm & Ranch
Program
Capital Press
Calendar
The Oregon Century Farm
& Century Ranch Program
honors farmers and ranchers
who have worked the same
land for at least 100 years.
The program is administered
through the Oregon Farm Bu-
reau Foundation for Education
and is partially funded through
a partnership of the Oregon
Farm Bureau, Wilco, Oregon
State Historic Preservation
Ofice and OSU Libraries’
University Archives. Since its
start in 1958, 1,175 farms and
ranches across the state have
been registered.
searching the history of his
family farm was a fun family
project.
Grossen’s wife, Jackie,
their two children and sister
were heavily involved in re-
searching the history of the
farm — from when Peter Fred
Grossen immigrated to the
United States in the 1880s to
when their grandfather ran a
dairy business to get his fam-
ily through the Depression to
now, with David and his son
Hank starting an artisan cheese
operation.
The Peter Fred Grossen
Farm started as a dairy farm
and creamery with Brown
Swiss cows. The Grossens also
To submit an event go to the
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1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR
97301.
Western Idaho Fair, 5610 Glen-
wood, Boise, 208-287-5650, http://
sharemyfair.com/
Friday, Aug. 19
Organic Hispanic Farmer Eve-
ning, 6-7 p.m. Oregon State Uni-
versity Organic Growers Club Berry
Project Parcel, 34306 NE Electric
Road, Corvallis, Ore. Attendees will
see demonstrations of production
techniques and taste berry products
and fruit from the certiied organic
teaching parcel. 503-373-3766 javi-
er.f-s@oregonstate.edu
Western Idaho Fair, 5610 Glen-
wood, Boise, 208-287-5650, http://
sharemyfair.com/
Saturday, Aug. 20
Oregon Aglink Barn Dance,
6:30-10:30 p.m. Celebrating Ore-
gon Aglink’s 50th anniversary. Victor
Point Farms, Silverton, Ore. Cost:
$50 www.aglink.org
Sunday, Aug. 21
Western Idaho Fair, 5610 Glen-
wood, Boise, 208-287-5650, http://
sharemyfair.com/
Monday, Aug. 22
Western Idaho Fair, 5610 Glen-
wood, Boise, 208-287-5650, http://
sharemyfair.com/
Monday-Wednesday
Aug. 22-24
Biochar 2016, The Synergy of
Science and Industry: Biochar’s Con-
sold wheat, oats, barley, hay
and Swiss cheese. The farm’s
main crops currently are hay,
wheat, Brown Swiss cattle and
Swiss cheese.
“The Grossens are very
connected to their history and
to each other,” Jackie Grossen
said.
Other farms being award-
ed with Century status are:
Omeg Family Orchards, Al-
ley Ranch, Carman Ranch, M.
Christensen Family Farm and
Alder Glade Farm.
Farms being awarded with
Sesquicentennial status are:
Mosby Century Farm, Jesse
& Ruby Looney Farm, Maple
Hill Farm, Gordon Zimmer-
man Farm and Smith Bros.
Farm LLC.
The Oregon Century Farm
& Ranch Program Awards
Program will have an awards
ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday,
Aug. 27, at the Oregon State
Fair. Award winners receive a
certiicate signed by Gov. Kate
Brown and Katy Coba, direc-
tor of the Oregon Department
of Agriculture. Roadside
signs are imprinted with the
founder’s name and the year
the ranch or farm was estab-
lished.
“It’s so neat to see the
families document their history
and the history of Oregon agri-
culture and make it available to
nection to Ecology, Soil, Food, and
Energy. 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Oregon State
University CH2M Hill Alumni Center,
725 SW 26th St., Corvallis, Ore. http://
usbi2016.org/
the public,” Kuenzi said.
2016 will be the irst year
all of the information about
the historic farms will be
available in electronic form
for the public to see. Kuen-
zi said the records were kept
since 1958 as hard copies at
Oregon State University. The
Oregon Century Farm and
Ranch Awards Program re-
ceived a grant to digitize all of
its records.
For the Grossens, re-
searching their history was a
way of growing even closer as
a family.
“It was so cool to look
through all of the old photos,”
said Maria Grossen, David
Grossen’s daughter. “I really
love learning about our his-
tory.”
Tuesday, Aug. 23
20 Northwest Locations
sharemyfair.com/
Friday, Aug. 26
Oregon State Fair, 10 a.m.-11
p.m., Oregon State Fairgrounds,
2330 17th St. NE, Salem, 971-701-
6573, http://oregonstatefair.org/
Western Idaho Fair, 5610 Glen-
wood, Boise, 208-287-5650, http://
sharemyfair.com/
Western Idaho Fair, 5610 Glen-
wood, Boise, 208-287-5650, http://
sharemyfair.com/
Wednesday, Aug. 24
Saturday, Aug. 27
Eastern Oregon Farm Bureau
Trap Shoot, 9 a.m.-noon. Hermiston
Gun Club 75772 Gun Club Road,
Hermiston, Ore. The entry fee in-
cludes a morning of trap shooting,
refreshments, an awards presenta-
tion and lunch. Top shooters will win
prizes. oregonfb.org/
Western Idaho Fair, 5610 Glen-
wood, Boise, 208-287-5650, http://
sharemyfair.com/
Thursday, Aug. 25
Western Idaho Fair, 5610 Glen-
wood, Boise, 208-287-5650, http://
Oregon State Fair, 10 a.m.-11
p.m., Oregon State Fairgrounds,
2330 17th St. NE, Salem, 971-701-
6573, http://oregonstatefair.org/
Century Farm and Ranch In-
duction Ceremony, 11 a.m. Oregon
State Fairgrounds, 2330 17th St. NE
Salem, Ore. Oregonfb.org
Western Idaho Fair, 5610 Glen-
wood, Boise, 208-287-5650, http://
sharemyfair.com/
Sunday, Aug. 28
Oregon State Fair, 10 a.m.-10
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Three generations of the Grossen Family sit around a picnic table on their 170-acre farm. From left
to right are David Grossen, Jackie Grossen, Maria Grossen, Hank Grossen, Alice Grossen and Ben
Grossen. The Peter Fred Grossen Farm is one of 11 farms and ranches that are being awarded Cen-
tury status or Sesquicentennial status Aug. 27 at the Oregon State Fair.
Sponsored by:
8th Annual Friends of Oregon
Agriculture Golf Tournament. This an-
nual fund-raiser for Oregon Aglink’s
Adopt-a-Farmer program includes
the popular golf ball drop. Chehalem
Glenn Golf Course, Newberg, Ore.
www.aglink.org
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
Hometown: Pingree, Idaho
11 family farms honored for longevity
HILLSBORO, Ore. —
Three generations of the Gros-
sen family sat around a picnic
table on a recent Thursday and
talked about their family and
their 112-year-old dairy farm.
The Peter Fred Grossen
Farm is in Hillsboro, Ore.
Peter Fred Grossen founded
it in 1904, after he immigrat-
ed from Switzerland with his
family. More than a century
later, his great-great grandson
David Grossen and his family
will receive a Century Farm
Award from the Oregon Cen-
tury Farm and Ranch Program
honoring the farm for its histo-
ry in Oregon.
The Grossens are one of
11 families being honored for
longstanding farms at the Or-
egon Century Farm and Ranch
Program Awards.
Six farms from six counties
are being awarded Century
status, meaning they have been
in continuous operation at least
100 years.
Five farms from four coun-
ties are being awarded Ses-
quicentennial status, meaning
they have been in continuous
operation at least 150 years.
Andrea Kuenzi, program
coordinator, said families must
follow a formal application
process in which they docu-
ment the history of the opera-
tion of their farm with photos,
original deeds, personal stories
and other historic records.
David Grossen said re-
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
PINGREE, Idaho — Some
of the concrete raceways at Jan
Denlinger’s old ish hatchery
have become marshes, where
spring water bubbles through
dark silt, supporting dense
stands of cattails.
A few hundred trout still
occupy one of the Pingree
businessman’s earthen ponds,
but aquaculture has long since
been abandoned at the 174-acre
property.
On this trout farm, ish don’t
pay the bills. Rather, Denlinger
is after what they left behind
— nutrient-rich excrement ac-
cumulated over decades, which
he uses as the key ingredient in
a unique liquid fertilizer called
Shot.
Denlinger, 55, is the own-
er of Idaho Organic Fertilizer
and Compost. He also raises
nightcrawlers for their cast-
ings, blending them with liquid
charcoal — known as biochar
— spring water and silt sucked
with a trash pump from his 30
raceways and ponds. He mar-
kets his dark-brown cocktail
as a natural concentrate, which
he suggests mixing at 4 ounces
per gallon of water to stimulate
plant root growth.
Shot is sold in 175-gallon
Capital Press
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6573, http://oregonstatefair.org/
Young Farmers and Ranchers
FFA Tractor Driving Contest, Oregon
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Salem, Ore. oregonfb.org
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Index
Dairy ...................................... 9
Markets ............................... 13
Opinion .................................. 6
Monday, Aug. 29
Oregon State Fair, 10 a.m.-10
p.m., Oregon State Fairgrounds,
2330 17th St. NE, Salem, 971-701-
6573, http://oregonstatefair.org/
Tuesday, Aug. 30
Oregon State Fair, 10 a.m.-10
p.m., Oregon State Fairgrounds,
2330 17th St. NE, Salem, 971-701-
6573, http://oregonstatefair.org/
Wednesday, Aug. 31
Rice Field Day, 7:30 a.m.-noon.
Rice Experiment Station, Biggs, Calif.
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