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August 18, 2017 CapitalPress.com 9 Native seed business takes root By ALIYA HALL Capital Press ALBANY, Ore. — Sarah Stutzman and Michele San- toyo didn’t realize how hard their dad, Craig Edminster, worked until they joined him at Pacific NW Naturals a few years ago. “You have to be a glutton for punishment,” Stutzman said about their native seed produc- tion enterprise. “My dad works his a-- off, always has.” Edminster started Pacific NW Naturals in 1996 after working as a research scien- tist for a cooperative of West- ern farmers. It was there that Edmin- ster’s interest in native plant species began. “Natives are quite unique. I didn’t switch 100 percent; I needed a day job,” he said. “The native seed business Aliya Hall/Capital Press Craig Edminster with his daughters, Michele Santoyo, left, and Sarah Stutzman. Although Michele and Sarah helped in the fields growing up, it was only in the past couple of years that they decid- ed to work full-time for the company. was strong east of the Cas- cades because it was funded by (Bureau of Land Manage- ment) money. But I saw it was a growth market with not a lot of competitors.” The Albany, Ore., business struggled for the first cou- ple of years, and most of the seed was taken to the dump, he said. However, Edminster continued to contract with organizations such as the Calapooia Watershed Coun- cil, FFA and 4-H. Eventually they also contracted with the BLM for a program based on indefinite delivery and indef- inite quantity, which funded Edminster because his seeds were good for forest resto- ration. “That’s what really put us on the map. Private dollars aren’t going to make this in- dustry grow over a couple of years; public dollars are the way to get this thing going,” Edminster said. The biggest learning curve, Edminster said, was not knowing when to cut the grass, how to fertilize it, and if it needed irrigation or re- quired a combine. “Every population is dif- ferent; even in the same gene of species,” he said. Stutzman and Santoyo said it was the same with cleaning the seed. As children, they cleaned each seed by hand because the company couldn’t afford a seed cleaner. “We had a 50-pound bag of dirty seed and a tweezer to pinch the seed out onto white paper,” Stutzman said. Edminster estimates that no more than 30 or 50 grow- ers have ever tried local na- tives in their production fields because of the risk of not making money. “When I was in the field it was all worked by hand with species that were too delicate to be put through the com- bine. We had to have a group of people going down aisles with scissors or taking seed off with their hands,” Stutz- man said. “It’s very time-consuming, and makes it more expensive and difficult to handle. Peo- ple want them, but they don’t want to invest that time and effort,” she said. Stutzman said she’s vacu- umed seeds off the ground to save them. Santoyo added that Improve your soil and protect your investment with Cover Crops Custom Mixes Available, Call for a Quote FEATURED BLENDS Winter Cover Crop Build biomass • Fix nitrogen • Suppress weeds Drive Row Fast establishment • Low growing Drought tolerant • Strong wear resistance Biofumigant Mix Pest & Disease Control • Build biomass Suppress weeds • Promote Water percolation & Nutrient Cycling Annual Ryegrass • Barley •Oats •Wheat Brassicas & Mustards • Buckwheat • Clover Faba Beans • Peas • Plantain • Ryegrain Sorghum Sudan • Specialty Grasses • Vetch Lindsay@iokamarketing.com N17-3/#7 SUPER SOIL BUILDERS 503-873-6498 iokamarketing.com Silverton, OR N17-3\#6 those few seeds were worth $30. “Most of what we do is as difficult as you can get,” Ed- minster said. Stutzman and Santoyo knew that their father worked a lot, but they didn’t realize how hard until they commit- ted to the company. “It’s constant and doesn’t stop. When you participate in it, you see how hard it is,” Stutzman said. “I worked in the field with my now hus- band, and harvesting stuff is really difficult. You’re laying it out on tarps and drying it, then pitchforking it into a thrasher and then to the seed cleaner. It’s much more diffi- cult than commercial grass- es.” Although Edminster joked about retiring as soon as he can, his daughters say they don’t see that happening.
