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2 CapitalPress.com October 27, 2017 People & Places Breeder aims to restore markets Ryan Contreras seeks sterile, disease-resistant ornamental plants Western Innovator Capital Press Seeking sterility Sterility can theoretically be achieved in maples with the same method that was used to create seedless bananas and watermelons — developing a plant with three sets of chro- mosomes instead of two. In such plants, called trip- loids, the odd number of chro- mosomes prevents them from evenly splitting and pairing off during sexual reproduc- tion, often preventing the for- Ryan Contreras Occupation: Ornamental plant breeder Hometown: Corvallis, Ore. Age: 39 Family: Wife, Megan, and two young children Education: Bachelor’s de- gree in horticultural science from North Carolina State University in 2002, mas- ter’s degree in horticultural science from North Carolina State University in 2006, doctorate in horticulture from the University of Georgia in 2009. Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press Ryan Contreras, associate professor of ornamental plant breeding at Oregon State University, exam- ines field trials of new varieties near Corvallis. Among his projects are sterile maples, intended to avoid becoming invasive, and cotoneaster that’s resistant to fire blight, a bacterial disease. mation of viable seed. The process of creating triploids is time-consuming, though. Contreras first used chemical agents to create ma- ples with four chromosome sets, then crossed them with maples with two chromosome sets. “It renders them highly in- fertile but we don’t know yet to what degree,” he said. “We won’t know until these plants start flowering.” In Contreras’ view, it’s easier to repopularize a once-common variety, such as Norway and Amur maples, than to educate landscapers and other plant buyers about an entirely new one. This philosophy has also spurred his breeding of coto- neaster, a flowering plant in the rose family, to withstand fire blight. While it’s not a major problem in Oregon, pressure from the bacterial pathogen is strong in the Eastern U.S., where cotoneaster was once a prevalent landscape plant. Due to their susceptibility to fire blight, demand for co- toneasters has dried up, Con- treras said. “It’s completely fallen out of favor.” Even so, nursery growers still know how to cultivate the plant and landscapers remain familiar with it, he said. Contreras is hoping to re- store the cotoneaster’s mar- ketability with three cultivars that have been virtually symp- tom-free when exposed to the disease. “The testing is ongoing,” Contreras said. “We want to confirm that under many en- vironments and disease pres- sures, they’re going to contin- ue to perform as we’ve seen them perform.” To that end, Contreras is cooperating with researchers at Kansas State University and Virginia Tech to see if his cotoneasters will thrive in other regions. The Universi- ty of California-Davis is also analyzing their disease re- sistance and evaluating their drought tolerance. Filling a niche By focusing on long-term research that confers bene- ficial agronomic traits, Con- treras is trying to fill a niche that’s largely unoccupied by private breeders. His goal isn’t to compete with private companies that release new branded varieties every year. “To make a splash, there needs to be lots of marketing behind it,” he said. Even when his ultimate goal is breeding a cultivar that’s sterile or disease resis- tant, he must still select for plants that are attractive. “We throw away thou- sands of plants because they don’t look good. They’ve got to look good,” he said. A successful cultivar must be appealing to consumers, adaptable to production agri- culture and easy to propagate, Contreras said. “If it doesn’t have those three things, then it’s pointless.” Contreras grew up on a farm in eastern North Caroli- By ALIYA HALL Capital Press Calendar Aliya Hall/For the Capital Press Butchery teacher Cody Wood starts to break down a lamb as student Mike Giroux and intern Elijah Iles watch. The Eugene Meat Collective offers a variety of meat processing classes. “I think Jonathan’s class is brilliant,” Wood said. “Peo- ple would start out with sau- sage-making, which is pretty disconnected from a whole lamb carcass, which feels pret- ty real. I think that’s a brilliant system.” Tepperman said there’s a squeamishness around meat that doesn’t have to exist. “I want to do a chicken class because people think if you touch a raw chicken you’ll die within 30 seconds if you don’t wash your hands. Yes, you’re not going to want to lick your fingers after, but you can touch it and you can cook with it; as long as you follow the right procedures it’s Sponsored by: To submit an event go to the Community Events calendar on the home page of our website at www. capitalpress.com and click on “Submit an Event.” Calendar items can also be mailed to Capital Press, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 or emailed to newsroom@capitalpress.com. Through Saturday Oct. 28 90th National FFA Convention and Expo. Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Ind. Website: https://www.ffa.org/ Washington State Sheep Producers Annual meeting and convention. Hilltop Inn, 928 NW Olsen St., Pullman, Wash. Among the many events on the agenda are presentations by the Wash- ington State University Depart- ment of Animal Sciences, the University of Idaho Department of Animal and Veterinary Sci- ences and by Dr. Brian Joseph, Washington State Veterinarian. Website: www.wssp.org Wednesday, Nov. 1 Sustainable Community Stew- ards Volunteer Training. 6-9:15 p.m. McCollum Park, 600 128th St. SE, Everett, Wash. Cost: $30 Website: http://bit.ly/2hjyXC4 very safe, and there’s nothing wrong with touching it.” One of the students, Steve Davey, said he heard about the collective from the local news- paper and he was glad that he took this class. “I learned to break an an- imal down and the different cuts of the meat,” he said. “It’s a different appreciation to know what I’m looking for. It’s hard work and tricky to not injure yourself.” Davey, who works in the roofing industry and is more familiar with fish and prepar- ing sushi, said he will continue to hone his butchery skills un- til he gains proficiency. The Eugene Meat Collec- tive was formed by Tepper- man in February 2016, and launched through a nonprofit called the Meat Collective Alliance, which has helped communities across the U.S. start collectives. Camas Davis founded the nonprofit as well as the country’s first meat col- lective in Portland, Ore. The collectives have ex- tended beyond Oregon. Washington has collectives in Olympia and Seattle, and California has collectives in El Dorado County, San Diego and Southern California. Flor- ida also opened a collective in Gainesville. “I felt there was a need; I felt there was a general inter- est in connecting with meat differently,” Tepperman said. “And also for my own selfish reasons, I wanted to learn and deepen my own skills.” Tepperman, a former veg- etarian, wanted to find what he believes is a more sustain- able way to eat animals. On his website biography, he said he should be able to hunt, kill, process and cook the meat himself. The classes include sau- sage-making and lamb, deer and pig butchering. The stu- dents take home a portion of the meat they helped butcher. Although he said that he’s still on a learning curve, Tep- perman wasn’t surprised by the level of interest in the na, raising hay, hogs and lay- ing hens, then pursued a high- er education in horticulture. “For a while, I wanted to have a nursery, but I cured myself of that,” said Contre- ras. While working at a nursery in college, the potential for fi- nancial calamity steered him toward a career in academia. During his college years, Contreras took a deep dive into peanut breeding, but end- ed up returning to ornamental plants. The genetics of peanuts and other major field crops have already been extensive- ly researched, but the nursery industry still has a vast unex- plored territory. “Landscape plants are my passion. There’s very lit- tle known about the genetics of woody plants,” Contreras said. “Everything we’re learn- ing is new.” classes because “people from all socio-economic levels and parts of society are interested in eating more sustainable.” He said students from all walks of life, such as farmers, students, hobbyists, chefs and “back-to-earthers,” have taken the classes. “A lot of what we’re trying to do is connect farmers with people who would want to buy their animals. My goal is to help the farmers out and the consumers, so they can see a transparent version of what is happening,” Tepperman said. “The third part is working with the butchers in town. To get someone who’s doing it and highlight what they’re doing. I want to showcase what goes into local meat and why there’s value in that.” Tepperman said he wants the Eugene Meat Collective to develop an interconnected cul- ture and community to create more demand for local meat from local farmers and butch- ers. “I’m hoping (the collective) is a bridge bringing in urban people who are disconnected. Surprisingly, a lot of rural peo- ple are becoming disconnected from their food as well. Often I get, ‘My father can slaugh- ter or butcher an animal, but I don’t know how to do it,’ so even in rural areas those skills are being lost,” he said. “I feel like I’m here on a mission.” GASES / WELDING / SAFETY / FIRE www.oxarc.com Wednesday-Friday Nov. 1-3 Weed Conference. Wenatchee Convention Center, 121 N Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee, Wash. The conference will feature more than 40 topics and speakers, trade shows, state license and cer- tified crop adviser credits. Website: info@weedconference.org Thursday, Nov. 2 Four-Part Farm and Ranch Succession Workshop 6-8:30 p.m. Online or Clackamas Community College Harmony Campus, 7738 SE Harmon Road, Milwaukie, Ore. Learn from an attorney, an accoun- 20 Northwest Locations 1-800-765-9055 tant, an appraiser, a banker, the di- rector of Oregon State University’s Austin Family Business Program and farmers who’ve been through the process. Receive free one-on- one succession counseling ses- sions between each event. Part one of four parts. Cost: Free. Website: http://bit.ly/2elYcPx Dairy Women will host their scholar- ship auction. Both the Dairy Federa- tion and the Dairy Women will hold annual membership meetings. The Dairy Farmers of Washington will hold their board meeting. Website: http:// wastatedairy.com/ Monday-Tuesday Nov. 6-7 Sustainable Community Stew- ards Volunteer Training. 6-9:15 p.m. McCollum Park, 600 128th St. SE, Everett, Wash. Cost: $30 Website: http://extension.wsu.edu/ snohomish/wp-content/uploads/ sites/7/2012/11/2017-SCS-Applica- tion-form.doc Washington Dairy Conference & Trade Show. Yakima Convention Center, 10 N. Eighth St., Yakima, Wash. Annual meeting activities, plus time to catch up with fellow produc- ers, sponsors and exhibitors. The Capital Press Managers Joe Beach ..................Editor & Publisher Elizabeth Yutzie Sell .... Advertising Director Carl Sampson ................Managing Editor Jessica Boone ........ Production Manager Samantha McLaren .... Circulation Manager Entire contents copyright © 2017 EO Media Group dba Capital Press An independent newspaper published every Friday. Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is published weekly by EO Media Group, 1400 Broadway St. NE, Salem OR 97301. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Capital Press, P.O. Box 2048 Salem, OR 97308-2048. To Reach Us Meat class teaches butchery skills EUGENE, Ore. — Sawing through lamb carcasses isn’t how most people typically spend their Monday nights, but three students recently did just that as part of a class on butchering livestock. The class was sponsored by the Eugene Meat Collec- tive, whose stated mission is to bring local meat to the public, impact the way people think about their food and build new connections within the com- munity. The most recent class fo- cused on lamb butchery and was taught by Cody Wood, owner of Willamette Valley Lamb, who contributed his animals to the class. Wood reached out to the local collec- tive’s founder, Jonathan Tep- perman, to teach after reading about it. “I thought it was cool what he was doing. I love it when people come out to my farm and I show them how to butch- er,” Wood said. “It’s fun to see people connect with food.” He said butchering is a skill most people don’t have and the classes make for a better-edu- cated consumer. Along with learning the technical skills, the collective also provides recipes to help students learn that there’s a lot they can do with the meat. Established 1928 Board of directors Mike Forrester Steve Forrester Kathryn Brown Susan Rana Mike Omeg Corporate Officer Heidi Wright Chief Operating Officer By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI CORVALLIS, Ore. — Certain species of maple have earned a nasty reputation that plant breeder Ryan Contreras aims to change. Norway and Amur maples are known to “escape culti- vation” — a euphemism for becoming invasive — leading to restrictions in some parts of the U.S. The problem has caused demand for these species to drop steeply over the past decade, with some nurseries reporting declines of up to 90 percent, said Contreras, asso- ciate professor of ornamen- tal plant breeding at Oregon State University. Creating sterile cultivars of these maples may allow them to regain their former pop- ularity in New England and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Contreras is also breeding for sterility in other maple varieties com- monly grown in Oregon to save them from a similar fate. “We want to restore one market while maintaining the other,” he said. Capital Press Wednesday, Nov. 8 Circulation ......................... 800-882-6789 Email ........ Circulation@capitalpress.com Main line ........................... 503-364-4431 Fax ................................... 503-370-4383 Advertising Fax ................ 503-364-2692 News Staff N. California Tim Hearden .................... 530-605-3072 E Idaho John O’Connell ................. 208-421-4347 Idaho Carol Ryan Dumas .......... 208-860-3898 Boise Sean Ellis .......................... 208-914-8264 Cent. Washington Dan Wheat ........................ 509-699-9099 W. 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