January 6, 2017
CapitalPress.com
International contest promotes
plant-based fish feed
Industry rates International Year
of Pulses promotion a success
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Courtesy of Steve Ausmus/USDA-ARS
Rick Barrows, a former fish
feed researcher with the
USDA’s Aberdeen, Idaho,
Agricultural Research Service,
has left the agency to start a
consulting firm. He’s now serv-
ing as technical adviser for an
international competition aiming
to raise awareness of plant-
based, seafood-free fish feed.
rows said. “This group is pro-
viding a platform to try to com-
mercialize innovation.”
Barrows will help judges
analyze feed to make certain it’s
seafood-free. He’ll also make
handouts on fish oil alternatives
and give a lecture on trends in
seafood-free feed during an in-
vitation-only meeting planned
for Jan. 9-11 in Monterey, Ca-
lif., to kick off the competition.
Kevin Fitzsimmons, a Uni-
versity of Arizona professor
specializing in aquaculture
who has taken a lead role in
the challenge, said the guest
list includes some large feed
manufacturers that developed
plant-based feeds for the com-
petition but missed the regis-
tration deadline, along with all
of the participants. Investment
companies interested in sus-
tainable aquaculture have also
registered.
Fitzsimmons noted the goal
of the challenge is especially
worthwhile to teams from Bur-
ma and Pakistan, where fishing
industries have already col-
lapsed under excessive ocean
pressure.
It’s likely a second contest
will be organized because of
the high interest, he said.
Courtesy of USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council
USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council Executive Assistant Sarah White helps attendees of the 2016 Food and
Nutrition Conference and Expo take the “Pulse Pledge,” a commitment to eat pulses once a week for
10 weeks to improve health. Over 56,000 people have taken the pledge at www.pulsepledge.com.
The FNCE was Oct. 15 in Boston, Mass.
Courtesy of USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council
Growers and pulse industry representatives celebrate the 2016
Global Pulse Day. The USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council’s “Pulse
Feast” was at the Black Cyprus restaurant in Pullman, Wash., last
January. From left to right are Washington growers Tim and Greg
Schultz, Jacob Gisler, Jerry Mraz and Mike Devoe of the PNW
Farmers Cooperative and Idaho grower Todd Wittman.
Pacific Northwest Farmers
Cooperative in Genesee, Ida-
ho, said his organization saw
more demand for pulses than it
could supply.
“The industry is going
to plant more chickpeas this
year,” he said. “I don’t know
if we’re going to meet the de-
mand, but we’re going to try.”
Colton, Wash., farmer Al-
len Druffel expects more farm-
ers to consider more pulses in
their crop rotations.
“It’s a pretty easy first step
with lower water use and nitro-
gen,” he said. “We need some-
thing to make money, and on
my particular farm, I’m put-
ting in more pulse crops than
ever before.”
Druffel said the campaign
had a broader scope than he
anticipated.
“Going into it, we were
thinking local, not global,”
he said. “We’re seeing it with
prices. Pea prices are tough,
but our bean prices are pretty
good. Demand for beans and
lentils is way up, and I really
think awareness is up.”
Results of the campaign in-
clude:
• Development of a 10-year
international research plan.
• A new social media cam-
paign focused on millennials
and baby boomers.
• A logo to designate that a
product contains pulses as one of
the top five ingredients and con-
tains at least 5 percent pulses.
• World Pulse Day was es-
tablished on the third Wednes-
day of January.
Scholz estimates the U.S.
industry contributed $1 mil-
lion to $2 million to the inter-
national campaign.
“I think we’ll see over the
next five years a definite re-
turn on investment,” he said.
“I think we’re going to expand
acres, products and uses.”
New CCA president a veteran of beef industry advocacy
13th Annual
Cattleman’s Workshop
By TIM HEARDEN
Navigating the Future
in the Cow/Calf Industry
Capital Press
Saturday, January 21 ST , 2017
BLUE MOUNTAIN CONFERENCE CENTER
404 12th STREET, LA GRANDE, OR
9:00 - 9:15 Workshop Introductions & Overview
Kevin Ochsner, Host Cattlemen to Cattlemen TV - Kersey, CO
9:15 - 10:00 Cattle Market Challenges and
ROP-1-2-4/#6
Opportunities in 2017
Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University - Stillwater, OK
10:00 - 10:45 Genetic Technologies in the Poultry
Industry, The Other Protein
Dr. Mitch Abrahamsen, Senior VP Research & Development;
Cobb-Vantress - Siloam Springs, AR
10:45 - 11:15 Break (provided by sponsors)
11:15 - 12:00 Ethics, Values & Science. Finding the
Right Mix For Building Consumer Trust
Donna Moenning, Center For Food Integrity - Gladstone, MO
12:00 - 1:15 Lunch (provided by sponsors)
1:15 - 2:00 Keys to a Successful Heifer
Development Program
Dr. Che Trejo, Zoetis Beef Technical Services Veterinarian -
Malad, ID
2:00 - 3:00 Navigation Tools for the Cow/Calf
Producer
Kevin Ochsner, Host Cattlemen to Cattlemen TV - Kersey, CO
Note: For more information, please contact
Kim McKague at (541) 562-5129
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/eoarcunion
The USA Dry Pea and Len-
til Council wanted as many
people as they could get to
check out the industry’s inter-
national marketing campaign
for pulses in 2016.
They got their wish.
The United Nations Inter-
national Year of Pulses ended
last week.
“Our goal was to reach 500
million impressions on social
media,” said Todd Scholz,
vice president of research and
member services for the coun-
cil in Moscow, Idaho. “In fact,
we’re at 3 billion.”
The American Pulse Asso-
ciation asked people to take a
“Pulse Pledge,” and promise
to serve one pulse dish a week
for 10 weeks. The goal was
50,000 people, Scholz said,
and 54,000 participants took
the pledge.
“Everything we sought for,
we far exceeded, and we had
to change some of the targets
because they weren’t high
enough,” he said. “We just are
extremely pleased.”
The campaign was aimed
at consumers in the millennial
generation, typically consid-
ered those born in the early
1980s to mid 1990s. Pulses
appeal to that target age group,
Scholz said.
“It’s about a nutritious
product that’s versatile, rela-
tively inexpensive, is sustain-
able and tastes good,” he said.
Pulses include dried peas,
edible beans, lentils and chick-
peas. New products containing
pulses increased from roughly
25 in 2004 to more than 325 in
2016.
The demand for pulses is
growing in whole, canned and
snack products, Scholz said.
“Generally, growth of 1
percent is considered exciting,
and we have double digits, 10
to 20 percent,” he said.
Shawn O’Connell, spe-
cialty foods manager for the
CHICO, Calif. — The Cal-
ifornia Cattlemen’s Associ-
ation’s new president comes
in with plenty of experience
representing the beef industry
to a curious and sometimes
skeptical public.
David Daley, a fifth-gen-
eration rancher and associ-
ate dean at California State
University-Chico, is already
nationally known for speak-
ing out on several high-pro-
file issues that can be touchy
subjects for ranchers, such as
animal welfare and the use of
antibiotics in livestock.
Daley says he’ll draw from
the wisdom of the CCA’s
previous “great, visionary
leaders” in shepherding the
industry through the challeng-
es of increased regulation on
land and water use and other
issues.
“California has changed
and we all know that,” Daley,
58, said. “It’s just a matter of
how we adapt to a changing
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
David Daley, a rancher and
associate dean of the California
State University-Chico College
of Agriculture, is beginning a
two-year term as president
of the California Cattlemen’s
Association.
world, and ... really continue
to get our message out that
cattlemen are stewards of the
land.
“We really need to give
credit to how we have been
resilient and sustainable for
generations,” he said. “We
still have a huge impact on
private-property watersheds
in a positive way.”
Daley was set to take the
reins of CCA after serving
terms as second and first vice
president. He was formally
named to the two-year post
during the organization’s
Centennial Celebration Dec.
1-3 in Sparks, Nev.
He says he approaches his
work with CCA as a ranch-
er more than as an educator.
His family has raised cattle in
Butte County since the 1850s,
and he runs several hundred
mother cows in the rolling
hills near Oroville, Calif., and
on U.S. Forest Service land in
Plumas County. His children
are involved in the operation
as sixth-generation ranchers.
Still, Daley has said his
dual role as educator and
CCA officer gives him plenty
of exposure to both the private
sector and academia. He has
taught at Chico State for 26
years and was the College of
Agriculture’s interim dean for
two years before the current
dean, John Unruh, took over
in August.
In 2012, Daley gained na-
tional attention for speaking
on behalf of the National Cat-
tlemen’s Beef Association to
denounce a Central California
slaughterhouse that had been
caught on video mistreating
animals and reassure con-
sumers that most cattlemen
adhere to best-animal-care
guidelines.
On the issue of antibiotics,
Daley has said the onus is on
livestock producers to show
the public they’re concerned
about the issue and that they
know what they’re doing
when dispensing the drugs to
their animals.
As CCA president, Daley
said he will encourage the
organization to remain active
at the county level on issues
such as water and land use
and predator management.
“One of the things I really
like about Cattlemen is it truly
is a grass-roots organization,
from the county level to the
state level,” he said. “That’s
an important thing to main-
tain.”
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BOZEMAN, Mont. — Rick
Barrows is the technical advis-
er supporting an international
race among fish feed manufac-
tures, offering a $200,000 prize
to the company that sells the
most sustainable product, made
without fish meal or fish oil.
Over 14 years with USDA’s
Aberdeen, Idaho, Agricultural
Research Service, Barrows es-
timates he formulated at least
500 plant-based fish feeds —
including one used by the San
Francisco-area trout company
TwoXSea, which has partnered
with Star Milling to compete
in the race, called the F3 (Fish-
Free Feed) Challenge.
Barrows, who worked at the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
aquaculture laboratory in Boze-
man, left his position on Aug. 6
to start a consulting service. In
his capacity with the F3 Chal-
lenge, he’s now part of an effort
to commercialize feeds he and
his peers believe will maintain
their industry’s viability.
Barrows explained the cur-
rent aquaculture model can’t
persist, as prices of fish oil and
fish meal continue to escalate
due to rampant over-fishing
of “feeder” species from the
oceans. But there’s a growing
effort to meet the nutritional
needs of farm-raised fish with
formulations using bacteria,
algae, soy, barley, corn, flax,
canola, camelina, off-grade
nuts and other crops.
“My main goal is to help
establish a safe, sustainable
seafood supply,” Barrows said.
The competition — recog-
nizing the team that sells the
most seafood-free feed by Sept.
15, 2017, or the first team to sell
100,000 metric tons — is a col-
laboration of the Monterey Bay
and New England aquariums,
the University of Arizona and
various environmental groups,
which invested seed money
for the prize and raised the rest
through online crowd funding.
“Most (nongovernmental
organizations) in the past have
gone after aquaculture,” Bar-
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