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August 18, 2017 CapitalPress.com 3 ‘It’s been a good run:’ OSU ag dean looks to retirement By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press Dan Arp, whose belief that “food is the handshake be- tween urban and rural” was reflected during his tenure as dean of Oregon State Univer- sity’s College of Agricultural Sciences, will retire next June. Oregon State announced the move in an Aug. 10 news release. Arp was appointed dean in 2012 after his pre- decessor, the colorful Sonny Ramaswamy, was picked by President Obama to head the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture in Washington, D.C. Under Arp’s direction, OSU continued broadening its agricultural offerings beyond conventional crop and live- stock production. Students have a Fermentation Science program at their disposal, and can learn how to make beer, Eric Mortenson/Capital Press File Dan Arp, dean of OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences, speaks at the dedication of the college’s restored Strand Hall. He has announced his plans to retire next summer. wine, cheese, yogurt and oth- er kinds of food. A Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems within OSU Ex- tension reaches producers and processors who might have been overlooked before. The Oregon Wine Research Institute is a partnership be- tween OSU and the state’s celebrated industry. OSU’s Food Innovation Center in Portland is a rare ag exper- iment station in an urban setting. College of ag enroll- ment is at a record of about 2,600 students, and OSU’s agriculture and forestry pro- grams were rated 13th best among world universities. During Arp’s time, Or- egon’s economy recovered and the Legislature provided funding for 25 new positions. Fundraising and private gifts brought in $40 million. Ramaswamy said his suc- cessor brought a sense of “scholarly enterprise” to the College of Ag. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to have top notch science to help agricul- ture,” he said. To top it off, Arp also was the beneficiary of a $25 mil- lion restoration of Strand Hall, home of OSU’s ag program for the past century. The work, planned and funded before he was named dean, nonetheless returned the 115,000-square- foot building to its place as a campus centerpiece. “It’s been a good run,” Arp said. He said he’s proud of his Berry farm defends response to worker’s illness Fired pickers had walked out work and the timing of re- tirement feels right. Looking back, he hopes his OSU col- leagues and the state’s pro- ducers and other stakeholders will remember him as a good collaborator, someone they enjoyed working with. Arp said OSU has devel- oped a broad “soil to shelf” approach in its agricultural programs. “That’s something I’ve continued to try to foster,” he said. “We are an incredibly di- verse college, and part of that is a reflection of the diversi- ty of food, ag and natural re- sources in the state.” He praised the ag college’s faculty and researchers, say- ing they understand the im- portance of engaging the pub- lic in what they do. “These folks would be stars at any university,” Arp said. “The students, too,” he said. “They’re really quite amazing. They are passionate about what they do; they’re here for all the right reasons.” Arp started at OSU in a botany and plant pathology position in 1990 and later headed the department and was named a “distinguished professor.” In 2008 he was named dean of the Universi- ty Honors College, and four years later returned to the College of Agriculture. SAGE Fact #144 To boost development in the region, Congress authorized a massive Umatilla River irrigation project in December 1905. The Boardman area finally received irrigation water with the completion of the West Extension Main Canal in 1916. By DON JENKINS Capital Press A Western Washington blueberry farm Aug. 11 of- fered its version of events sur- rounding the death of a work- er from Mexico and the firing of more than 70 other foreign workers who walked off the job in protest. Sarbanand Farms’ chief administrative officer, Cliff Woolley, said the worker, Honesto Silva Ibarra, was immediately taken from the Whatcom County farm by ambulance to the nearest hospital when management learned Aug. 2 he was sick. Silva died four days later in a Seattle hospital. Woolley said there was “no truth” to reports that Sil- va was ordered back to work. Woolley said ambulance and hospital records, not yet pub- licly available, will confirm the farm’s account. “Over time, the facts I’ve told you will be verified,” he said in an interview with the Capital Press. Silva was flown to Harbor- view Medical Center on Aug. 4 and died two days later of what King County officials have called natural causes. The farm says it learned from Silva’s nephew, who also worked on the farm, that Silva was diabetic. Silva’s death has led to an investigation by the state Department of Labor and In- dustries and claims by farm- worker advocates that he was mistreated. Some 65 workers on H-2A visas walked off the job the day after Silva was taken away for treatment. The workers were an- gry that Silva hadn’t gotten Courtesy of Community to Community Farmworkers who walked out and were then fired from a Western Washington blueberry farm march in protest in Whatcom County. A farm executive says there’s no truth to claims a worker who died was mistreated and that medical records eventually will confirm the farm’s version of events. treatment sooner, said Edgar Franks, an organizer with Community to Community, a farmworker advocacy group. “They were upset it had to reach that level,” he said. “We want to make sure the truth gets out there.” The dismissed workers, now numbering more than 70, were camping Aug. 11 on a supporter’s lawn near Sumas and about a mile from the 600-acre farm, which is owned by a California farm family. Woolley said the compa- ny will pay for the workers to go home. Franks said the workers are conferring with lawyers and concerned about their ability to find work again in the U.S. “They feel that by speak- ing out for Honesto and call- ing attention to the situation, they’re going to be blacklist- ed.” he said. Labor and Industries spokesman Tim Church said that the agency has met with farm managers and started to interview workers. The agency will investi- gate whether workplace con- ditions contributed to Silva’s death. The investigation could take up to six months, Church said. Also, the department will conduct a separate investiga- tion into whether the farm was complying with employment standards related to such mat- ters as meals, rest breaks and pay statements, Church said. He said the agency re- ceived information from sev- eral sources, prompting the in- vestigation unrelated to Silva’s death. “We follow Facebook, and there were posts on Face- book,” Church said. “We want to get to the bottom of it.” Woolley said he was con- fident state investigators will find working conditions at the farm are good. “I don’t feel there is real merit to those complaints, and if there were we would look into it,” he said. According to Sarbanand Farms, Silva, who was report- edly 28 years old, was brought into the office around lunch- time Aug. 2. Farm management learned from the nephew, who is about the same age as his uncle, that Silva was diabetic. A farm manager immediately called 911, according to Sarbanand. Woolley said Silva had worked 3 1/2 hours that morn- ing. He said the company pulls workers in from the field if temperatures are judged too hot, though the company has no definite cut-off temperature. The high temperature that day at the farm was 90 degrees, ac- cording to the company. 33-3#6 Biotech company studies GMO clover Field trial linked to forage digestibility By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr A biotech company is conducting a field study of genetically engineered white clover to find ways of im- proving forage digestibility for livestock. Forage Genetics, which is best known for alfalfa that’s genetically modified to with- stand glyphosate herbicides, began field testing the trans- genic clover in Wisconsin this year under a USDA permit that expires in 2020. The clover contains a gene that’s important for the company’s efforts to engi- neer “condensed tannins” into alfalfa forage, said Ste- phen Temple, the company’s biotechnology director, in an email. Incorporating condensed tannins into forage crops would improve “protein use efficiency” while reducing “nitrogen loss to the environ- ment” and providing “bloat safe grazing options,” Temple said. The field trial involves growing a “small number” of white clover plants in an Forage Genetics, a biotech developer, is conducting a field test of genetically modified white clover. “isolation cage” to prevent cross-pollination, he said. It’s too early to determine whether the gene from the biotech white clover variety will be transferred to alfalfa, as the research and develop- ment program may last a de- cade or longer, Temple said. “A lot of testing and ana- lytical work will need to be completed successfully before decisions are made on how best to deploy the technolo- gy,” he said. Condensed tannins bind to proteins, preventing them from being digested too quickly and improving the cow’s protein absorption, said John Grabber, a dairy forage researcher with USDA’s Agri- cultural Research Service. However, if the cow in- gests too many condensed tannins, the binding mecha- nism will actually impede di- gestion of protein, he said. “We don’t want to protect it too much so the protein goes right through the cow and comes out the other end,” Grabber said. While one study has shown that birdsfoot trefoil — a plant that naturally contains condensed tannins — boosts milk production, other studies haven’t found this correlation, he said. Building Healthy Soils 33-3/#5 COMPOST: • Adds valuable organic matter • Improves soil structure • Increases water penetration and holding capacity • Stabilizes pH and helps store nutrients Call Scott: 509-590-0437 Authorized Dealer of Pik Rite Manure & Compost Spreaders www.Barr-Tech.net Sprague, WA 33-3/#6