July 28, 2017
CapitalPress.com
9
Nurseryman ventures into hemp
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Hiroshi Morihara believes
briquettes made from woody
biomass or crop residue can
replace coal used to power
electrical plants. His firm has
developed technology to pro-
duce the briquettes.
Solution to
a burning
problem
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
GRESHAM, Ore. — Hi-
roshi Morihara jokes that his
current project — finding a
clean-fuel replacement for coal
— was his wife’s fault.
“Hiroshi,” his wife, Mary
McSwain, told him several
years ago, “you look bored.
Why don’t you invent some-
thing again?”
On Oct. 18, Morihara’s
company announced it has re-
fined a process for turning log-
ging slash or other biomass into
briquettes that can be burned
in coal-fired electrical plants
such as the one in Boardman,
Ore. His company, HM3 En-
ergy Inc., has built a $4 million
demonstration plant in Trout-
dale, Ore., just east of Portland.
It plans to license the technol-
ogy and sell it worldwide. A
Japanese firm, New Energy De-
velopment Co., has invested $2
million in HM3 and said it will
build a production plant at an
undisclosed location in Oregon.
The fuel is produced through
a method called torrefaction, in
which woody debris, crop resi-
due or other plant material is es-
sentially roasted in the absence
of oxygen. The end product is
a brittle, briquette-looking ma-
terial that can be crushed and
burned.
This story was first pub-
lished Oct. 24, 2016.
Western
Innovator
Hiroshi Morihara
Occupation: Founder,
president and CEO of HM3
Energy Inc., Gresham, Ore.
Age: 79, but “Age is rela-
tive,” he said.
Personal: Married to Mary
McSwain. He’s an expert
skier and still teaches skiing
at Mount Hood Meadow. He
also runs, and has complet-
ed more than 50 marathons.
Barry Cook doesn’t want
passersby to get too excited
about the new crop he’s got
growing at his nursery in Bor-
ing, Ore.
The distinctive palm-like,
serrated leaves that identify the
plants as cannabis are bound
to attract some unwanted at-
tention, which is why Cook
has posted his fields with signs
that identify them as industrial
hemp, marijuana’s non-psycho-
active relative.
The signs clarify that hemp
contains zero THC, the psycho-
active compound, and will pro-
duce no mind-altering effects if
smoked, so stealing the plants
is “not worth the headache.”
“If we get robbed, we’ll
probably only get robbed
once,” Cook said.
The name of Cook’s new
venture — Boring Hemp Co.
— is a double entendre refer-
ring to its physical location and
the crop’s lack of psychoactive
properties.
While the legalization
of marijuana in Oregon has
spawned a multitude of new
businesses seeking to capital-
ize on the crop, Cook believes
hemp also presents big oppor-
tunities with fewer risks.
“I don’t have the same se-
curity concerns as medical and
recreational growers have,” he
said.
For now, the Boring Hemp
Co. is focusing on producing
hemp seeds, which have been
Western
Innovator
Barry Cook
Occupation: Business
owner, nursery producer,
hemp grower
Hometown: Boring, Ore.
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Barry Cook, left, speaks with his son, Bo, in a field of hemp growing at his nursery in Boring, Ore.
Cook, his wife and three sons are growing hemp as a way of diversifying the company.
in short supply as the nascent
industry finds its legs in the
state.
Next year, Cook plans to be-
gin segregating male plants, al-
lowing the females to produce
seedless flowers from which
one can extract cannabidiol, or
CBD, a medicinal compound
used to treat pain, seizures and
inflammation.
The stems and stalks of the
plant will be dried and stored
until Oregon’s hemp industry
becomes more mature, in the
hopes that processing facili-
ties will be built to turn these
byproducts into textiles, paper,
rope, building materials or oth-
er goods.
“The plant has multiple
income opportunities,” said
Cook.
At this point, Cook is tak-
ing a conservative approach by
growing hemp on land that’s
resting fallow between rota-
tions of nursery stock.
This strategy will allow
Boring Hemp Co. to get a
sense of how much money can
be earned from the crop and
whether it’s worth expanding.
“We’re not quitting the
nursery industry, but here is an
annual crop that has a potential
up side not only financially but
environmentally,” he said.
Research has shown that
hemp’s deep roots are valuable
for soil structure and reduce the
presence of undesirable nema-
todes and fungi. They’re also
used in “phytoremediation” of
land by drawing heavy metals
from the soil.
Hemp is already grown on
a large scale in Canada for oil-
seed and fiber, but Cook thinks
Oregon growers can establish
a niche industry on a smaller
scale because the plant’s flow-
ers are the primary product.
“We’re doing it for different
reasons,” he said.
Boring Hemp Co. is starting
as a family affair, with Cook’s
wife, Lee Ann, and three grown
sons, Bo, Sam and Ty, involved
in different aspects of the oper-
ation.
Bo is in charge of growing
the plants, Sam will be devel-
oping a business plan and Ty
will work with vendors and
customers.
“They all communicate
really well with each other,”
Cook said.
Venturing into hemp isn’t
the first time Cook has rein-
vented his agricultural enter-
prise.
In the early 1980s, upon
buying his property, Cook
raised raspberries, strawberries
and blackberries but eventually
grew tired of insufficient labor
Age: 58
Education: Attended the
University of Montana
Family: Wife, Lee Ann, and
three grown sons, Bo, Sam
and Ty
and weather fluctuations that
damaged the crops.
In 1996, he switched to
growing various types of or-
namental nursery stock while
operating a hydro-seeding
and erosion control company,
Northwest Hydro-Mulchers,
that continues to be the family’s
primary business.
Now, he’s aiming to put
his plant knowledge to use
while exploring new territory
by breeding hemp to maxi-
mize CBD while minimizing
THC.
“We’re hoping we can be-
come more refined and accu-
rate,” Cook said.
This story was first pub-
lished Sept. 26, 2016.
A glass of bubbly, Oregon-style: Davis adds sparkle to wine production
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
McMINNVILLE, Ore. —
Oregon wine is already a big
deal, especially the interna-
tionally acclaimed Pinot noir
coming from the Willamette
Valley and other regions, but
the next big thing may be bub-
bling up.
Industry observers say
sparkling wine is on the verge
of breakout production and
could become the American
version of high-quality bub-
bly associated with the Cham-
pagne region of France. And if
that happens, the industry will
raise a glass to Andrew Davis,
whose Radiant Sparkling Wine
Co. is making it possible for
even small wineries to produce
what they’ve long known was
possible but didn’t pencil out.
Making sparkling wine
takes more time, equipment
and storage space than most
wineries can afford. Davis,
a veteran of Oregon’s wine
scene, provides a mobile unit
that bottles on-site for the criti-
cal secondary fermentation pe-
riod. He also prepares a yeast
culture specific to his client’s
wine and provides consulta-
tion on the harvest.
Since start-
ing in 2013,
Radiant Spar-
kling
Wine
has grown its
client list to
34 vineyards.
Sparkling
Andrew
wine sits three
Davis
to five years
before it’s ready to drink, and
much of what Davis and his
clients have produced is just
beginning to trickle out. Early
reviews indicate the reception
is “astounding,” Davis said.
Davis previously worked
10 years at Argyle Winery in
Dundee, which was an Oregon
pioneer in making sparkling
wine. Given that experience, “I
knew the promise of sparkling
in the Willamette Valley,” he
said.
He also knew the vintners
interested in making sparkling
wine would be shooting for
the same quality — and spen-
dy price range — as their Pinot
noir. They wouldn’t want to
produce simple wine with big
bubbles, “Big gushy wines that
want to gush out of the glass,”
as Davis puts it. “We will never
shoot for $15 to $20 for spar-
kling.”
Making sparkling wine by
Western Innovator
Andrew Davis
Position: Founder of Radiant Spar-
kling Wine Co., McMinnville, Ore.
What he does: Provides consulting
and a mobile bottling operation to
produce sparkling wine using “meth-
ode champenoise.”
Online: http://radiantsparkling.com/
what’s called the “méthode
champenoise,” or Champagne
method, is a lengthy, complex
process.
The wine, most often made
from slightly under-ripe Pinot
noir or Chardonnay grapes, is
fermented in a barrel first, then
bottled for the secondary fer-
mentation, which includes add-
ing the yeast and a bit of sugar.
The bottle is sealed with a tem-
porary “crown cap.” Next is the
“riddling” process, in which the
bottles are set at an angle, neck
down, so cloudy yeast particu-
lates settle at the opening. The
bottle necks are later frozen,
turned upright and the cap re-
moved. Pressure forces out the
frozen bits of yeast in a process
called “disgorging.”
Last comes the cork, foil
covering and the familiar wire
halter that holds everything in
place.
This story was first pub-
lished April 10, 2017.
Ag connection: Intrusive
Western juniper trees could
be a key feedstock for
briquette plants. Ranchers,
wildlife officials and land
managers say removing
junipers improves rangeland,
restores watersheds and
can improve habitat for sage
grouse.
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