FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2017
VOLUME 90, NUMBER 34
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
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F
THAT RUN THEMSELVES
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Some day, robots and drones will operate autonomously
By ERIC MORTENSON
Echo, Ore., vineyard
owner Lloyd Piercy host-
ed fi eld demonstrations of
drone technology during
the Future Farm Expo.
Piercy said the develop-
ment and deployment of
technology is an “absolute
sea change” for agricul-
ture. “This is it,” he said.
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
A six-rotor, cam-
era-equipped drone
hovers at a vineyard and
blueberry farm during a
fi eld demonstration held in
conjunction with the Future
Farm Expo in Pendleton,
Ore. Advocates believe
drones, robots and fi eld
sensors are revolutionizing
agriculture in a way that
will reduce labor needs and
drastically increase water
and input effi ciency.
Capital Press
P
ENDLETON, Ore. — Where is it taking us,
all this technology? Where is it taking ag-
riculture?
If the presentations and demonstra-
tions at the recent Future Farm Expo are an indi-
cation, it’s taking us to Jaw Drop City.
Some of this is already in place:
A network of fi eld sensors and software pro-
duces a three-dimensional soil map to help with
crop selection, tillage and drainage decisions,
and variable rate prescriptions for seeding, fertil-
izer and irrigation.
Activated and directed by the system, unmanned
equipment rolls to the fi eld to carry out the farming
plan. The machines weed, prune, spray, measure, mon-
itor and harvest, sharing information among themselves
and working at any hour. One sensor, derived from mili-
tary technology used to detect roadside bombs, sniffs the
orchard for signs of disease.
Out on the range, a rancher pulls a small drone from
his saddlebag and sends it aloft to fi nd and count his cat-
tle. It reads solar-powered RFID ear tags from the air and
The Yamaha unmanned helicopter
fl ies over a vineyard during the Future
Farm Expo at Echo West Ranch and
Vineyard outside Echo, Ore.
E.J. Harris/EO Media Group
Turn to FUTURE, Page 12
“ In the future, all farm equipment and vehicles will be connected to the
internet. They will have a sense of their environment and some form of artifi cial
intelligence. (Farm equipment) will look at the environment and act on its own.”
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
George Kellerman, chief operating offi ce of Yamaha Motor Ventures and Laboratory
Washington Farm Bureau’s D.C. trip cited in pesticide furor
WFB CEO agrees:
It’s a ‘new day’
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The head of the Washington Farm
Bureau said Tuesday that he left a
March meeting with the Environ-
mental Protection Agency without
twisting arms and without knowing
whether the agen-
cy would prohibit
chlorpyrifos, though
The New York Times
recently reported the
meeting as a sign that
sympathetic Trump
Scott Pruitt appointees collabo-
rated with agriculture
to save the pesticide from being
banned.
“There was no undue infl uence,”
the bureau’s CEO, John Stuhlmill-
er, said. “It’s what you would hope
would happen with good govern-
ment. People affected by regulations
talked about the regulations with
the regulators, and the director said,
‘We’ll look into it.’”
The Times highlighted the March
1 meeting in Washington, D.C., in
a story posted Aug. 18 about the
EPA’s contacts with farm groups
in the weeks before rejecting a de-
cade-old petition to ban chlorpyri-
fos, the most widely used pesticide
in U.S. agriculture.
The Times reported obtaining
more than 700 pages of EPA cor-
respondence through a Freedom of
Information Act request. The EPA
redacted many pages, citing attor-
ney-client privilege. The records did
include EPA notes from the meeting
at EPA headquarters with the Wash-
ington Farm Bureau’s 10-person
delegation. According to The Times,
“agriculture industry executives
pushed” Pruitt to not remove any
more pesticides from the market.
The Times story was picked up
by environmental websites and oth-
er news outlets. CNN posted a story
Tuesday under the headline: “EPA
documents fuel criticism that politics
played part in pesticide decision.”
Turn to TRIP, Page 12
Cattle ranchers press for elimination of entire Harl Butte wolf pack
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Both sides of Oregon’s
wolf management issue asked
Gov. Kate Brown to intervene
in ODFW’s handling of con-
tinued livestock attacks by the
Harl Butte pack in Wallowa
County.
ODFW staff shot three of
the wolves this month and in-
tends to kill a fourth as part
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of its “incremental” approach
to controlling the pack. The
pack, thought now to include
at least seven adults and three
pups, is blamed for eight con-
fi rmed livestock attacks since
July 15, 2016, all within 9
miles of each other. The most
recent was Aug. 16, when a
range rider found a dead 450
pound calf on private graz-
ing land leased by rancher
Todd Nash, who is a Wal-
lowa County commissioner
and longtime wolf committee
chair for the Oregon Cattle-
men’s Association.
Tracking collar data
showed that OR-50, the pack’s
alpha male, was at the carcass
15 minutes before the range
rider found it. The calf prob-
ably had been killed an hour
or two earlier, according to
an ODFW report. It had more
than 100 bites and portions of
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its upper back legs had been
torn away. Nash provided a
photo to the Capital Press.
Nash and OCA Executive
Director Jerome Rosa spoke
this week with Jason Minor,
the governor’s natural re-
sources adviser. Rosa said he
was encouraged by the con-
versation; Minor seemed well
informed on wolf depredation
Turn to WOLF, Page 12
Courtesy of Todd Nash
This calf was killed by Harl
Butte wolves on Aug. 16.
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