June 30, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Farmers, ODA clear air for eclipse viewers
Growers agree
not to burn fi elds
around the eclipse
By ALIYA HALL
Capital Press
With hundreds of thou-
sands of eclipse watchers con-
verging on Oregon’s Willa-
mette Valley on Aug. 21, grass
seed growers and the state De-
partment of Agriculture have
agreed to do their part in keep-
ing the air clear.
To keep from obscuring the
view of the rare phenomenon
and avoid possible impacts on
traffi c, farmers have agreed not
to burn their fi elds either the
weekend before the eclipse or
on Monday, Aug. 21, said John
Byers, manager of the Oregon
Department of Agriculture
Smoke Management Program.
Burning is also “not ex-
pected to be occurring on
Tuesday, Aug. 22,” Byers said
in an email.
“We will monitor burning
conditions on the 22nd; it
will be an option, but mon-
itored closely to make sure
any traffi c issues won’t be a
problem,” said Roger Beyer,
executive director of Oregon
Seed Council.
The decision was reached
at the most recent meeting
between the Seed Council and
ODA smoke management of-
fi cials.
According to Beyer, there
was unanimous agreement be-
tween the growers and ODA
not to burn.
Field burning helps farm-
ers rid their fi elds of weeds,
pests and debris without using
chemicals. It is allowed only
in certain parts of the valley,
mainly in the eastern hills of
Farmers won’t burn during eclipse
Willamette Valley farmers that normally do so have agreed not
to burn their fields during the total solar eclipse. About 1 million
visitors are expected statewide for the event, according to the
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
Pendleton
La Grande
Newport
Prairie
City
Ontario
Eugene
Salem, Oregon:
totality starts at
10:17 a.m. and lasts
1 min., 54 sec.
Path of total eclipse,
August 21, 2017
Sources: www.eclipse2017.org;
www.greatamericaneclipse.com
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Marion County. Some is also
allowed in Clackamas and
Linn counties, according to
a state Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality fact sheet.
Farmers must obtain a permit
from ODA to burn their fi elds.
The no-burn decision is
good news for Daniel Ada-
mo, an Oregon astrodynamics
consultant who initially had
concerns about how the fi eld
burning might obscure the
view of the eclipse from the
valley.
“Although the sun will
be about 40 degrees above
the east-southeast horizon
during total eclipse, its ex-
tended atmosphere can easily
be masked from view by thin
clouds, smoke from forest
fi res or agricultural activity,”
Adamo said. “Particularly at
risk from smoke obscuration
are lower elevations such as
the Willamette Valley fl oor.”
Oregonians will have the
fi rst opportunity to witness
the event because the path of
the eclipse is expected to run
from west to east and about 62
miles wide through Salem and
Albany.
A total eclipse won’t hap-
pen again in this region for
601 years.
According to Adamo, the
eclipse will start at 10:17 a.m.
Pacifi c time at the Oregon
Coast. Its path will cross a
huge swath of the continental
U.S.
The eclipse will attract
groups from Japan, Germany
and Australia in addition to
watchers from neighboring
states, according to Maricela
Guerrero, Travel Salem des-
tination development man-
ager. Hotels are at 95 percent
capacity for the weekend, she
said.
While the exact number of
people expected to visit for
the eclipse is unknown, Guer-
rero said that the Oregon Mu-
seum of Science and Industry
is estimating about 1 million
statewide, increasing the
state’s population by about 25
percent.
U.S. apple crop
UI reports light potato psyllid pressure
forecast up slightly
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
The fi rst forecast of this
fall’s U.S. apple crop is up
just 2 percent from the 2016
crop which should be man-
ageable, according to a top
Michigan apple producer.
Total U.S. fresh and
processed production was
estimated at 255.6 million,
42-pound boxes at the Pre-
mier Apple Cooperative
meeting in Syracuse, N.Y.,
June 27.
The USDA adjusted fi g-
ure for 2016 is 249.7 mil-
lion boxes and the large
2014 crop was 272.2 million
boxes while the record was
277.3 million in 1998.
“Overall this crop is pret-
ty manageable. If our size
profi les match up with what
customers want, it will be
manageable,” said Don Ar-
mock, president of Riveridge
Produce, Sparta, Mich., who
attended the New York meet-
ing.
Last year, Washington
state, the national leader,
had larger fruit than it likes
to have while Michigan and
New York had smaller fruit
than they like, Armock said.
Large fruit and a strong
dollar compared with for-
eign currency held down
Washington apples exports,
he said.
Quality, largely driven by
weather, is a big unknown
factor, at this point, in mar-
keting the 2017 crop, he said.
Mark Seetin, director
of regulatory and industry
affairs of the U.S. Apple
Association, Vienna, Va.,
said more than 140 indus-
try members from all major
apple producing regions of
the country discussed 2017
crop prospects at the Pre-
mier meeting. It’s the fi rst
national estimate that will be
updated at U.S. Apple Asso-
ciation’s Outlook conference
in Chicago, Aug. 24-25.
The Michigan Frozen
Food Packers Association
usually conducts its annual
Fruit Crop Guesstimate prior
to the Premier meeting but
did not do so this year. The
Washington State Tree Fruit
Association will forecast the
Washington crop in early
August.
Of the 255.6 million box
Premier estimate: Washing-
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
A crew prunes Kanzi apple
trees in Mountain View
Orchard, East Wenatchee,
Wash., May 25. The 2017 na-
tional apple crop is estimated
up 2 percent from 2016.
ton is 165 million, up 5 per-
cent; New York, 29 million,
up 13.7 percent; Michigan,
20 million, down 30 percent;
Pennsylvania, 12 million, up
2.9 percent; California, 5.5
million, up 10 percent; and
Virginia, 5.2 million, up 19.2
percent.
Oregon is 4.2 million, up
6.9 percent and Idaho is 1.5
million, up 5 percent.
USDA adjusted, but not
fi nal, fi gures for 2016, show
Michigan surpassing New
York for the fi rst time for the
No. 2 spot at 28.5 million
boxes compared with New
York’s 25.5 million.
However, Armock said
neither state had a full crop
in 2016 and if they did, New
York would still lead.
Neither state will have
full crops in 2017, he said, as
Western New York is down
25 percent from poor polli-
nation. May 8 and 9 frosts in
Michigan cut the crop in half
in the southern part of the
state along Lake Michigan,
he said. The northern region
along the lake is light to full
and the vast majority of the
fresh crop in the Ridge coun-
try to Belding is 75 to 80 per-
cent of full, he said.
“Damage is variety and
location specifi c with Gala
and Honeycrisp in relatively
good shape and McIntosh,
Jonagold and Fuji taking
harder hits,” Armock said.
There has been signifi cant
frost damage to the 2017 ap-
ple crop in Europe, particu-
larly Poland and Italy which
are leading apple exporters,
Armock said. That makes
the U.S. more competitive in
exports to the Middle East,
he said.
KIMBERLY, Idaho —
Pressure from the tiny, winged
insects that spread zebra chip
disease in potatoes has been
light this season, embolden-
ing some Idaho farmers to
scale back on their pesticide
programs.
Zebra chip, which is
caused by the Liberibacter
bacterium and spread by po-
tato psyllids, fi rst arrived in
the Pacifi c Northwest in 2011.
The disease creates bands in
tuber fl esh that darken during
frying, rendering spuds un-
marketable.
University of Idaho Exten-
sion entomologist Erik Wen-
ninger, who runs an extensive
fi eld monitoring program to
gauge psyllid populations,
said the fi rst psyllid of this
season was captured in late
May — about the same tim-
ing as last season. However,
a single psyllid, captured at
UI’s Kimberly Research and
Extension Center, has tested
positive for Liberibacter this
season.
Furthermore, Wenninger
said, the scouting network,
which includes yellow sticky
traps surrounding 96 potato
fi elds throughout the state,
has captured fi ve to seven
psyllids per week, compared
with more than 50 psyllids per
week last season.
Wenninger said zebra chip
was found in a few fi elds last
season, but the incidence of
the disease was relatively
low, especially given the high
psyllid densities.
“We had a lot more psyl-
lids at this time last year,”
said Wenninger, who has also
noticed lighter pressure from
Submitted by Oregon State University
Potato psyllids, like the insect pictured above, can spread the Liberibacter bacterium that causes ze-
bra chip disease in potatoes. Some Idaho farmers are saving a bit of money on insecticidal sprays
due to light potato psyllid pressure.
aphids and Colorado potato
beetles.
Wilder grower Doug Gross
estimates he spent $230 per
acre spraying insecticides
to protect his crops last sea-
son. Based on the light pres-
sure from both psyllids and
aphids this season, he’s al-
ready skipped two insecticidal
sprays that he’d made by this
time last season.
“As a cost-saving measure,
we are cutting back our insec-
ticide program,” Gross said.
“We will still start spraying at
some point in time when we
reach a threshold, especially
if we see any (Liberibacter)
positive psyllids.”
Declo grower Mark Dar-
rington acknowledges psyl-
lid pressure is down, but
he’s continued with his usual
spraying program, believing
it would be too risky to scale
back. Darrington said early
season sprays are more af-
fordable because they can be
mixed in the same tank as fun-
gicides, he can use chemicals
that are prohibited as harvest
approaches and he doesn’t
have to switch to products
that might cost more to avoid
chemical resistance.
“Later in the season, if
they’re not fi nding enough
hot psyllids, I won’t make ad-
ditional sprays of the more ex-
pensive products,” Darrington
said.
Jeff Miller, with Ru-
pert-based Miller Research,
recently captured a psyllid on
a sticky trap near a research
fi eld, but it didn’t test posi-
tive for zebra chip. He’s pro-
longed spraying insecticides
on fi elds in which he used an
insecticidal seed treatment at
planting.
“I think you would be wise
to wait (on applying insecti-
cides), and part of that is driv-
en by the economy,” Miller
said. “I don’t think it’s time
to worry about zebra chip just
yet. Keep watching the results
(of the monitoring program)
and see what we fi nd.”
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