March 31, 2017
CapitalPress.com
9
Springtime is key time for winter wheat
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
An almond orchard near
Orland, Calif., blooms in early
March. Fierce storms in Feb-
ruary apparently caused only
a moderate disruption in the
almond blossom in California,
while the cool weather extend-
ed the blossom and gave bees
more time to work.
Almond
blossom
‘variable’
after storms
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
PALO CEDRO, Calif.
— Almond growers in some
areas say they had a decent
blossom despite several fierce
storms in February, as cool
weather prolonged the bloom
and enabled the bees to finish
their work.
The almond blossom was
a “variable picture,” with or-
chards that peaked before or
after the big Presidents’ Day
storm setting the best crops,
said Bob Curtis, director of
agricultural affairs for the Al-
mond Board of California.
Some growers reported
variations in crop set within
their operations, as some trees
fared better than others, he
said.
“We definitely do have a
crop out there,” Curtis said.
“The beekeepers have been
pleasantly surprised. They
thought with all this rain, the
pollen and nectar that bees
are collecting would be down.
Actually as they’ve gone in
and started pulling their hives
out of almonds … they had
plenty of pollen and nectar
stores. Obviously something
was going on out there.”
The Palo Cedro, Ca-
lif.-based Wooten’s Queens
and Bees found that their
hives were in good shape at
the end of the bloom, co-own-
er Robert Wooten said.
“You could probably
say the cold did prolong the
bloom,” Wooten said. Because
the trees did not all bloom at
once it was prolonged five or
six days, he said.
“If you had a late-bloom-
ing variety in my opinion you
did well,” he said, adding that
some of the early varieties
also had good pollination.
Almond board to
spend $4.7M for
grower efficiency
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
MODESTO, Calif. — The
Almond Board of California is
continuing an effort to show
that growers are good envi-
ronmental stewards by setting
aside $4.7 million for research
into irrigation efficiency, dust
reduction and other innova-
tions.
The board plans to fund
82 independently conducted
studies into such ideas as im-
proved irrigation systems and
catch basins for harvest to re-
duce dust, said Bob Curtis, the
board’s director of agricultural
affairs.
Many of the grants will go
to University of California sci-
entists, who will research such
topics as whole-orchard recy-
cling, groundwater recharge
in almond orchards and leaf
monitoring to assess water
stress.
“We’re upping our game,
so to speak,” Curtis told the
Capital Press. One key area
is investment in irrigation ef-
ficiency, he said. About $1.3
million is going into irrigation
management research.
“There’s a lot of new tech-
nology coming on line and we
want to vet those and get them
out to growers,” he said, adding
that the new machinery would
make growers more efficient
while being easier to use.
PENDLETON, Ore. —
Morning dew gleamed in the
sun Thursday along Duff Road
north of Pendleton, where
James Harri prepared to scout
one of several large wheat
fields on his Honda 4-wheeler.
The vehicle is essentially
his second office, Harri joked,
as he scanned for weeds hidden
among rows of young green
wheat. It will take him rough-
ly an hour to ride all 314 acres,
noting potential trouble spots
on a map loaded to his comput-
er tablet.
Winter wheat is finally com-
ing out of dormancy, and the
decisions farmers make now
will determine the health of
the crop leading up to harvest.
As a certified crop adviser for
the McGregor Co. in Adams, it
is Harri’s job to be the eyes on
the ground and figure out what
kind of fertilizer and chemicals
are needed for clients to maxi-
mize their yield.
High yields are especially
important this year, given the
global downturn in wheat pric-
es. The crop is currently fetch-
ing less than $5 per bushel in
Portland.
Kathy Aney/EO Media Group
James Harri, a certified crop adviser with the MacGregor Co. in
Adams, talks with wheat farmers Tom and Don Lieuallen Thursday
as they stand near 314 acres of wheat along Duff Road north of
Pendleton, Ore.
Diseases like stripe rust and
snow mold can easily thwart
yields if they are not managed
properly, along with invasive
weeds that rob moisture and
nutrients from the field. That is
why springtime is so crucial for
growers, Harri said.
“The healthier we can keep
these plants earlier in the sea-
son, and the cleaner we can
keep the field from invasive
weeds robbing moisture and
nutrients, the better,” Harri said.
Unlike the past few years,
drought will not be an issue.
Harri said Adams recently ex-
perienced its second-wettest
February on record, and has
received a whopping 15 inches
of precipitation since August.
Normally, the area receives
16.5 inches during the entire
water year.
All that moisture is a bless-
ing for dryland farms, Harri
said, but isn’t without its own
set of challenges. Stripe rust, for
example, thrives in cool, soggy
environments, and the fungus
can cut into wheat yields by 40-
80 percent if left untreated.
Harri said he is expecting
heavy rust pressure this year,
as well as snow mold, another
fungal disease that can flatten
wheat stands with sickly patch-
es that resemble spider webs.
“It just feeds on that plant
tissue,” he said.
As the name suggests, snow
mold develops under extensive
snow cover that prevents the
plant from getting enough air
and sunlight. Harri said he ex-
pects farmers will start apply-
ing fungicide to treat the prob-
lem within a week or two.
Farmers like Don and Tom
Lieuallen depend on people
like Harri to help identify issues
early and come up with a quick
management plan. By the time
they see stripe rust in the field,
it is already too late.
“We’re talking a potential
train wreck,” said Don Lieual-
len, who runs the farm on Duff
Road with Tom, his son.
That being said, Lieuallen
added he would rather deal
with too much moisture than
not enough.
Don Wysocki, an extension
soil scientist for Oregon State
University in Pendleton, said
wheat stands were already well
established going into fall and
most are still looking good.
“The water year is well
above what we’ve been see-
ing,” Wysocki said. “That, to
me, is an optimistic outlook.”
Tim Watts, regional com-
mercial manager for Monsan-
to WestBred, said he has also
been busy with wheat stand as-
sessments across the Columbia
Basin. His clients range from
Pendleton and La Grande to
Wasco and Madras.
The snow cover isn’t all
bad, Watts said. Snow can act
as an insulator against the cold
air and shield from debris in
high winds. But like Harri, he
advises growers to keep a close
watch for diseases early this
season.
“Anytime we have a heavy
winter, those disease issues
tend to be a little more prev-
alent,” Watts said.
In addition, Harri said the
abundant moisture has also
flushed many nutrients deeper
into the soil — in some cases
as much as 4 feet down, where
the roots of young wheat
plants cannot reach them.
Harri recommended the
Lieuallens spread additional
fertilizer over the topsoil to
make up for that deficiency. It
may still take a while before
things are dry enough to start
bringing heavy machinery
onto the fields.
Tech company gearing up for harvest interest
Device pays pickers
by weight
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — Agriculture
tech company 2nd Sight Bio-
science has sold 50 of its au-
tomated harvest weighing sta-
tions for the coming season.
The Spokane business
will build 50 more units next
month, some of which are in-
cluded in that sale, said Mon-
ika Cetnarowski, director of
business development.
Growers have tested the
company’s FairPick system in
recent seasons. The product
is designed to improve labor
efficiency, paying pickers by
weight and recording the data
electronically.
After testing it last year,
Mike Omeg, owner of Omeg
Family Orchards in The
Dalles, Ore., plans to add the
equipment to his cherry op-
eration. He previously paid
harvesters by the bucket, but
challenges arose when moni-
toring staff would ask for fuller
buckets and pickers would say
the bucket was full.
“If we move to pay by
the pound, it takes all of the
tension out of the equation,
it keeps the harvest staff do-
ing the picking honest, and it
keeps me, doing the paying,
honest,” Omeg said. “I really
like that concept. It’s better for
everyone involved in the har-
vest process.”
The system records each
employee’s work in real time,
which helps protect Omeg
against possible wage com-
plaints. As the technology is
proven in various fruit opera-
tions, he expects it to be widely
adopted.
Omeg is a member of the
Capital Press board of direc-
tors.
John Raap, chief finan-
cial officer for Olsen Brothers
Ranches Inc. in Prosser, Wash.,
will also use 2nd Sight Biosci-
ences Systems.
“There’s going to be more
technology and efforts toward
automating and becoming
more efficient,” Raap said.
“This is certainly a way to do
that, bringing technology out to
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Monika Cetnarowski, director of business development for 2nd Sight Bioscience, demonstrates the InstaCaliper, used to help measure
and count nursery stock, March 22 in the company’s office in Spokane.
Online
http://www.2ndsightbio.com/
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Monika Cetnarowski, director of business development for 2nd Sight Bioscience, demonstrates the
FairPick automated weighing system March 22 in the company’s Spokane office. Roughly 50 of the
units were sold for the upcoming harvest season, Cetnarowski said.
the farm, out in the fields. For
payroll, it’s a beautiful thing.”
2nd Sight offers a labor
tracking application, FairTrak,
which comes on a “rugge-
dized” hand-held device.
“You can beat it up a little
bit,” Cetnarowski said. “We’ve
pushed to have it on a rugged
piece of equipment, just be-
cause we know in farming
environments, you have direct
sunlight, heat, moisture, you’re
going to drop this thing, it’s go-
ing to be beaten up.”
Growers can use the app to
track their labor all year, with
data going to the same account,
Cetnarowski said.
2nd Sight also offers an
electronic calipering device
for counting and measuring
nursery stock, and is working
on yield tracking with me-
chanical harvesters.
The company is work-
ing with a California tomato
grower to design an electronic
application to meet that spe-
cific harvest process.
Also in the pipeline, 2nd
Sight CEO Kevin Olden-
burg has discussed a back-
pack-style blueberry harvest-
er that picks berries gently
enough for them to be sold in
the fresh market, Cetnarowski
said.
The company is also work-
ing to adapt its calipering de-
vice for rootstock growers.
The company has custom-
ers in Washington, Oregon,
British Columbia, Ontario,
Georgia and Florida.
“We’re kind of finding
these pockets of growers
that are interested and then
of course the word spreads
from there,” Cetnarowski
said.
Farmworker housing operations tax credit progresses
Bill moves to
Joint Committee
on Tax Credits
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — A proposed tax
credit to compensate farmers
for half the operational costs
of providing worker housing
has made some headway in the
Oregon Legislature.
Senate Bill 1, which is sup-
ported by a coalition of agri-
culture and housing groups,
has moved out of the Senate
Committee on Finance and
Revenue. The impacts on Or-
egon’s revenues and budget
from SB 1 have yet to be de-
termined.
While the bill will now
move to the Joint Committee
on Tax Credits, which includes
members of both the House
and Senate, it was referred out
of the committee without rec-
ommendation as to its passage.
It’s common for the Senate
Committee on Finance and
Revenue to move bills with-
out a recommendation at this
stage, since various tax credit
proposals must still be prior-
itized, said Sen. Mark Hass,
D-Beaverton, the committee’s
chairman.
“We don’t want to bias the
situation,” he said.
The Senate Committee on
Finance and Revenue initial-
ly voted to move the bill di-
rectly to the Joint Committee
on Ways and Means, but that
recommendation was overrid-
den by Senate President Peter
Courtney, D-Salem, who re-
ferred it to the Joint Commit-
tee on Tax Credits.
If approved by that com-
mittee, the bill would move
directly to the House floor for
a vote.
Bills that reduce state reve-
nues — whether due to expen-
ditures or tax credits — face a
particularly tough road during
the 2017 legislative session,
as Oregon faces a $1.6 billion
budget deficit in the upcoming
biennium.
Under Senate Bill 1, farm-
ers would be able to obtain tax
credits for half the amount of
repairs, maintenance, insur-
ance and other costs associat-
ed with farmworker housing
during the year.
Utility expenses are also
included in these operational
costs unless they’re paid by
workers.
Oregon already has a tax
credit for half the costs of
building farmworker housing,
with an annual cap of $7.25
million.