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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:
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St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 or emailed to
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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
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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
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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
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