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OREGON: HAZELNUT GROWERS DIGGING OUT FROM SEVERE ICE STORM Page 3 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2016 VOLUME 89, NUMBER 52 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 Kyle Peterson, production manager at Fessler Nursery near Woodburn, Ore., shows off a large poinsettia. The company produces a variety of nursery stock grown in greenhouses. From poinsettias to holly, unique plants provide a niche market for NW farms and nurseries The other Christmas crops By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press T en years ago, the market for the Northwest’s signature Christmas tree crop was depressed by an oversup- ply, sending prices into the gutter. The Hupp family, which farms near Silverton, Ore., had an abundance of fully-grown trees that nobody had bought, so they decided to get rid of them. But not all of them. After removing roughly every other tree in some of their fi elds, the Hup- ps allowed the remaining Noble fi rs to develop longer, wider and thicker branches, which were then cut and sold for boughs used in Christmas decora- tions. “A lot of it is spacing,” said Ja- son Hupp, whose family owns Hupp Farms. These days, wreaths, garlands and boughs are a steady business line for the Hupps, who also continue to grow Christmas trees and nursery seedlings. A major advantage of the bough market is that large buyers send their own crews to harvest the crop. “We don’t have the manpower to cut everything people want,” Hupp said. “The nice thing is we don’t have to harvest it.” Boughs also play a useful role giv- en the varying conditions across the Hupps’ property. Their best fi elds with access to ir- rigation water are devoted to nursery conifers. Marginal land without water is planted to Christmas trees. Steep and less accessible parcels are dedicated to boughs. Rocky fi elds are committed to timber. Turn to CROPS, Page 12 Christmas trees grow at Hupp Farms near Silverton, Ore. The Hupp family grows nursery conifer seedlings, Christmas trees, boughs and timber. “We don’t have the manpower to cut everything people want. The nice thing is we don’t have to harvest it.” Photos by Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press Jason Hupp, Hupp Farms Don Harteloo, owner of Mill Creek Holly Farms near Stayton, Ore., examines holly growing on his property. Jason Hupp, whose family owns Hupp Farms near Silverton, Ore., examines a Noble fi r grown for boughs. The Hupp family also grows nursery conifer seedlings, Christmas trees and timber. EPA delays release of What’s Upstream records Due date pushed back to June By DON JENKINS Capital Press Courtesy of Save Family Farming An advertising sign on a Whatcom County, Wash., transit bus promotes an Environmental Protection Agency-funded campaign to get the state Legislature to mandate 100-foot buffers between all farm fi elds and waterways. The Environmental Pro- tection Agency has pushed back by six months its self-imposed deadline for releasing records related to the What’s Upstream advo- cacy campaign, frustrating a farm group that requested the documents more than seven months ago. Save Family Farming di- rector Gerald Baron said the group will consider taking le- gal action and asking federal lawmakers to prod the EPA to move faster. “This is outrageous and inexcusable,” he said. “We’re not going to take this lying down.” Save Family Farming fi led a Freedom of Information Act request April 27, ask- ing for records related to the EPA-funded lobbying cam- paign for new restrictions on farming near waterways in Washington. The EPA esti- mated in June that it would fulfi ll the request by Dec. 15. Instead, the EPA that day notifi ed Save Family Farm- ing that while it may provide some records Jan. 31, the agency doesn’t anticipate pro- viding all the documents until June 30. The EPA in a letter offered several reasons for the delay. The agency cited the “volu- minous amount of records” it must search for and examine. Baron questioned whether the delay can be attributed to the volume of records. “The documents are in the hun- dreds, not the thousands and tens of thousands,” he said. An EPA spokesman said the agency was commit- ted to complying with the Turn to DELAY, Page 12 In Europe, GMOs rejected by consumers, embraced by farmers Capital Press European consumers don’t approve of genetically engineered crops, but Eu- ropean farmers are eager to feed them to their livestock, according to a USDA report. As a result, Europe pos- es an economic opportunity for U.S. farmers while the 800.764.7473 BISONPIPE.COM threat of a consumer-driven trade disruption looms over exports of biotech crops, ex- perts say. “As the global cultiva- tion of GE crops expands, it is increasingly diffi cult for European importers to source non-biotech soybean products. Their availabil- ity is declining and prices are on the rise,” according to the new report from US- DA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Soybeans are a common livestock feed in the Euro- pean Union, which is trying to boost its production of conventional and organic va- rieties of the crop, the report said. Turn to GMO, Page 12 • Commercial Grade • Heavy Duty • 4’ to 20’ • Custom Sizes Available Courtesy U.S. Department of Agriculture For Irrigation, Road Bore, Hydro-Electric Piling, Road Crossing 1 ⁄ 2 ” to 120” Pipe Available A new USDA report says that while European consumers reject genetically mod- ifi ed food products, European farmers are eager to feed GMO corn and soybeans to their livestock because it’s cheaper and more readily available than non-GMO feed. 52-4/#16 By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI