Capital press., March 10, 2017, Page 15, Image 47

March 10, 2017
CapitalPress.com
15
Small-scale farmer faces variety of challenges
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
With 140 acres near Sa-
lem, Ore., Don Mantie says
his farm is one of the smallest
around.
He and son, Kurt, grow
wheat, grass seed, blueberries,
pea seed and maintain old and
new hazelnut orchards. It’s a
confusing time that calls for
resourcefulness, he said.
“I don’t know what’s go-
ing to happen,” Mantie said.
“Blueberries have tanked due
to low prices and higher labor.
The 38-year-old hazelnut or-
chard has blight and I’ve been
up cutting the blight out of it;
it’s a tedious and time-con-
suming job. You can spray all
you want but it’s still taking
over. I suspect in another 5 to
7 years they’ll be gone.”
Mantie said he is looking
forward to the fruits of a cold
winter. Unlike the Portland
area with lots of snow, which
acts more like insulation for
pests, his area had less than a
half-inch of the white stuff.
“I’m glad we got a cold
Brenna Wiegand/For the Capital Press
Don Mantie pays a morning
visit to his 38-year-old hazelnut
orchard. Mantie also grows blue-
berries and seed and row crops
at Mantie Farms near Salem.
winter and I am looking for-
ward to it killing some slugs
and bugs,” he said.
Mantie retired from Farm
Credit Service in 2007, where
he worked more than 30 years,
spending the last 15 as a farm
real estate appraiser.
“That was fun,” he said. “I
finally let my appraisal cer-
tificate go this year. I hated
to because it’s like getting a
master’s degree, or even more
like a doctorate.”
While working full-time
Mantie farmed a couple hun-
dred acres.
“I had a lot of nights on the
tractor until 1 o’clock in the
morning and then got up and
went to work,” Mantie said.
“The best thing was when I
got a tractor with a cab on it.”
Mantie never met his
grandparents; they both died
in a flu epidemic when his fa-
ther was 11. His great-grand-
parents started the farm and
during that time donated the
land for a local church cem-
etery. Deeds go clear back to
the land claim.
Meanwhile, the small fam-
ily farm is becoming outnum-
bered by larger operations.
“When I was a kid ev-
erybody used to have a few
cows, pigs and chickens;
we used to send milk to the
creamery in Mount Angel,”
he said. “Farms have general-
ly gotten bigger. … I’m about
as small as it gets. You’ve got
to have enough acres to af-
ford some of the specialized
machinery; the only reason I
do is because I was working
and did not rely on the farm
for a living.”
Mantie strives to do every-
thing he can with machinery;
blueberry picking and pruning
is a challenge due to labor costs.
“You try not to prune as
heavy and not spend as much
but sometimes that doesn’t
work,” said Mantie, who
plans to farm until he is no
longer able.
“It’s just part of me,” he
said. “A lot of people who
retire end up sitting around;
they don’t last long. You’ve
got to keep busy and there’s
always something that needs
to be done on the farm.
“It’s not all muscle and
brawn,” he added. “If you
want to get much done you’ve
got to be inventive and you’ve
got to be efficient because
there’s not a lot of profit in a
lot of things. You also hope
the weather is with you.”
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