22 CapitalPress.com
January 26, 2018
Growers follow wheat from farm to market
Annual field trip
organized by
Oregon Wheat
Commission
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington Cattlemen’s Association President Tyler Cox, right,
walks with state Farm Bureau associate director of government
relations Mark Streuli on Jan. 23 on the Capitol Campus in
Olympia. Cox told a House committee that wolves are a growing
problem for ranchers in southeast Washington.
Southeast Washington ranchers
warn of increasing wolf conflicts
predators are affecting
Lawmakers hear the
their operations in an area
where the Department of
cattlemen’s
Fish and Wildlife has so far
documented relatively few
worries
wolves.
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Southeast
Washington ranchers told
state lawmakers Tuesday
that they have problems with
wolves, too.
Cattleman Sam Ledger-
wood, who ranches in Asotin
and Garfield counties, said
wolves attacked a cow and
calf this summer, a first for
his operation. He said that
he’s heard from northeast
ranchers to brace for depre-
dations to get worse.
“We are dealing directly
with wolves — the finan-
cial burden of that ... and the
safety of it,” Ledgerwood
told the House Agriculture
and Natural Resources Com-
mittee. “Having our family
work with us in a stressful
and dangerous situation is
always a concern of any fa-
ther, for sure.”
The committee heard
from the Washington Cat-
tlemen’s Association about
industry issues, including
wolves. The association’s
president, Walla Walla
rancher Tyler Cox, thanked
legislators for passing a Hirst
bill to reopen rural Washing-
ton to new wells. “That was
on top of our list,” he said,
before moving turning to
issues he called “perennial
favorites.”
“Wolves will be a peren-
nial favorite,” he said.
There is no bill advancing
in the Legislature to alter the
state’s wolf policies.
Wolves are on the state’s
protected-species list, though
WDFW culls packs to stop
chronic attacks on livestock.
The department has resort-
ed to killing wolves several
times in northeast Washing-
ton, but never in southeast
Washington. Attacks on live-
stock there have not reached
the threshold for WDFW to
consider lethal removal.
Nevertheless, southeast
Washington ranchers said
Most Washington wolves
roam in 17 packs in four
northeast counties, accord-
ing to WDFW. Southeast
Washington has two docu-
mented packs. The Tucan-
non pack had four members
and the Touchet pack had
two members as of the end
of 2016, the last official
count by WDFW. By com-
parison, the Dirty Shirt pack
alone, then the state’s larg-
est, had 13 wolves in Ste-
vens County.
Southeast Washington,
however, borders northeast
Oregon. The Oregon De-
partment of Fish and Wild-
life counted 16 known wolf
territories in the region at the
end of 2016.
“We’re sharing wolves
with Oregon,” Cox said.
“It’s on the rise. We’re get-
ting more attention from the
game department.”
WDFW reported last
summer that it had agree-
ments with 16 ranchers in
the Blue Mountains to share
the costs of using non-lethal
measures to stop wolves
from attacking livestock.
WDFW confirmed that
wolves attacked Ledger-
wood’s cattle. He said he’s
employed range riders and
other non-lethal measures.
“I’m absolutely concerned
for the safety of the crew,”
he said.
Wolves in the eastern
one-third of Washington are
not on the federal endan-
gered or threatened species
list. Wolves are numer-
ous enough in the eastern
one-third of Washington to
meet the state’s population
goals. Under the current
policy, wolves will remain
a state-protected species un-
til they at least colonize the
Cascades.
WDFW projects that
could happen as early as
2021 and has indicated it
has started thinking about
how to manage wolves after
that.
PORTLAND — The end
of harvest is just the beginning
of the story for Oregon wheat,
as farmers from around the
state learned Jan. 18-19 at the
Oregon Wheat Commission’s
2018 grower workshop in
Portland.
A group of 15 people gath-
ered at the commission offic-
es in the historic Albers Mill
overlooking the Willamette
River. From there, they met
with experts and toured facil-
ities to witness firsthand what
happens to their crop once it
leaves the farm.
Oregon farmers typically
grow 50 million to 70 million
bushels of wheat every year,
with a total economic output
averaging more than $815
million. Tana Simpson, OWC
associate administrator, said
the commission assesses 5
cents per bushel, which pays
for programs such as export
market development, grower
services and university re-
search.
The annual workshop is
intended to show farmers the
value they get in return for
their investment, Simpson
said.
“These are your dollars
that you’re going to see over
the next few days,” she said.
The group made its first
stop at the nonprofit Wheat
Marketing Center, which does
quality and product testing
using wheat samples from
across the Northwest. Janice
Cooper, managing director at
the center, said they also do
George Plaven/Capital Press
Gary Hou, technical director and wheat foods specialist at the
Wheat Marketing Center, makes crackers in the nonprofit center’s
food innovation kitchen.
hands-on training for overseas
customers making products
such as crackers, noodles and
tortillas.
“Most of the work we do
is with Asian and Latin Amer-
ican trade teams that come
here,” Cooper said.
Laboratory supervisor Bon
Lee demonstrated some of
the high-tech equipment he
uses to measure things such
as gluten and starch content
in dough. Lee explained in
depth how he performs what
is known as the “falling num-
bers” test, which checks for
sprout damage in grain.
Low falling numbers has
plagued parts of Washington
and Idaho in recent years due
to pre-harvest rains, Lee said.
“When it rains before har-
vest ... the sprouting process
starts,” Lee said. “Even if you
dry it, it’s too late.”
The vast majority of Or-
egon wheat — 85 to 90 per-
cent — is shipped overseas.
The U.S. Wheat Associates is
the industry’s promotion arm,
developing export markets in
more than 100 countries.
Shawn Campbell, deputy
director of the organization
in Portland, said the most
important thing farmers can
do is maintain high quality,
especially as the global mar-
ketplace for wheat becomes
more competitive.
Countries such as Japan
are particularly interested in
buying high-quality soft white
wheat from the Pacific North-
west, Campbell said, and con-
sumers there have the income
to pay for it.
“If we didn’t give our
overseas customers what they
wanted, they’d go elsewhere
and find it there,” Campbell
said.
Next, the group traveled to
the Pacific Export Terminal
at the Port of Portland, where
employees work around the
clock loading and unloading
wheat shipments from around
the region. The terminal is
capable of moving 900 met-
ric tons of wheat per hour,
while also providing another
layer of quality testing on site
through the USDA.
Kim Harper, quality assur-
ance specialist, showed how
he pulls samples from wheat
shipments and combs over
each individual grain looking
for things such as mold, insect
and sprout damage.
“We’re seeing wheat come
from across the West and
Midwest,” Harper said. “We
have to keep up on all that.”
The group wrapped up day
one with a stop at a downtown
Portland bakery, and spent
day two aboard a river tugboat
and chatting about the latest
wheat research with Oregon
State University scientists.
Blake Rowe, CEO of both
the Oregon Wheat Com-
mission and Oregon Wheat
Growers League, said the
workshops are designed to
give farmers a feel for what
happens off their farm.
“They’ll actually get an ap-
preciation of what a customer
is looking for,” Rowe said. “I
think that is something that is
helpful to them.”
New hazelnut variety named for industry official
PollyO cultivar’s
early maturing nuts
are suitable for
kernel market
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
CORVALLIS, Ore. — A
new hazelnut cultivar geared
toward the kernel market will
soon be released by Oregon
State University and named
in honor of longtime industry
official Polly Owen.
The variety, to be dubbed
PollyO, is the latest hazelnut
tree developed by OSU breed-
er Shawn Mehlenbacher that
is resistant to Eastern Filbert
Blight, a fungal pathogen.
“We’ve had a lot of dis-
ease pressure in our field
with no cankers on these
trees,” Mehlenbacher said
during the Nut Growers So-
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Polly Owen, a longtime hazel-
nut industry official, will have
a new hazelnut tree variety
named after her. The PollyO
variety is resistant to Eastern
Filbert Blight and suitable for
the kernel market.
ciety’s annual meeting.
Polly Owen became the di-
rector of the Hazelnut Indus-
try Office in 1995 after previ-
ously working for the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association and
the National Livestock and
Meat Board.
She also raised sheep and
cattle after graduating from
OSU with a bachelor’s degree
in food science and technolo-
gy in 1970.
Geoff Horning, formerly
the head of Oregon Aglink,
replaced Owen as the hazel-
nut organization’s chief last
year, but she remains involved
in the group.
PollyO hazelnuts mature
up to two weeks earlier than
Barcelona, the popular variety
grown in Oregon’s Willamette
Valley. The nuts blanch well,
meaning they easily shed the
skin or pellicle around the
kernel that’s undesirable due
to bitter compounds.
With an average of about
64.8 pounds of nuts per tree,
the PollyO variety is higher
yielding than the popular cul-
tivar Jefferson, which produc-
es 54.7 pounds per tree, and
Yamhill, which produces 58.4
pounds per tree.
However, PollyO trees are
larger than those other variet-
ies, which means the variety
produces fewer tons per acre.
The new cultivar is com-
patible with the McDonald,
Wepster and York varieties for
pollinization.
Typically, farmers tried to
minimize the number of “pol-
linizer” varieties in an orchard
because they weren’t as high
yielding, Mehlenbacher said.
Now, many new varieties
are sexually compatible and
generate decent yields and
high-quality nuts, allowing
growers to plant multiple cul-
tivars in an orchard, he said.
Farmers who don’t like
the small, spreading trees
of the Yamhill variety can
choose PollyO as an alter-
native, as both varieties are
suited to the kernel market,
Mehlenbacher said. Varieties
such as Barcelona and Jeffer-
son are typically sold in the
in-shell market.
Winter wheat seedings up slightly Oregon cattlemen urge changes to
in NW, down slightly across U.S. BLM sage grouse management plan
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Winter wheat seedings
are up slightly in the North-
west, but down slightly across
the country, according to the
USDA National Agricultural
Statistics Service.
Northwest wheat farmers
seeded 3.14 million acres of
winter wheat for the 2018 crop,
up 0.64 percent from 3.12 mil-
lion acres in 2017, and down
1.6 percent from 3.19 million
acres in 2016.
Idaho wheat farmers seeded
730,000 acres of winter wheat
for the 2018 crop, up 1 percent
from 720,000 acres in 2017, but
down 5 percent from 770,000
acres in 2016.
Oregon farmers planted
710,000 acres, up 1 percent
from 700,000 acres for the
2017 crop and down 1 percent
from 720,000 acres 2016.
Washington farmers seeded
an estimated 1.7 million acres
of winter wheat, unchanged
from the area seeded in 2017
and 2016, according to the re-
port.
Farmers are keeping wheat
in their rotations despite low
prices, said Glen Squires, CEO
of the Washington Grain Com-
mission.
“Prices certainly need to
strengthen,” he said.
Nationally, the planted win-
ter wheat acreage for 2018 is
32.6 million acres, down 0.27
percent from 32.7 million in
2017 and down 9.8 percent
from 36.2 million acres in 2016.
According to NASS, this is
the second-lowest U.S. acreage
on record.
According to the NASS an-
nual crop summary:
• All wheat planted in Ida-
ho in 2017 totaled 1.17 million
acres, down 2 percent from
2016. Wheat production totaled
90.7 million bushels, down
12 percent from 102.8 million
bushels the previous year. Yield
was estimated at 82.2 bushels
per acre, down 10.1 percent
from 91.4 bushels per acre in
2016.
• All wheat planted in Or-
egon in 2017 totaled 775,000
acres, down 4 percent from the
previous year. Wheat produc-
tion totaled 48.1 million bush-
els, up 20 percent from the pre-
vious year. Yield is estimated
at 63 bushels per acre, up 25.7
percent from 50.1 bushels per
acre in 2016.
• All wheat planted in Wash-
ington in 2017 totaled 2.2 mil-
lion acres, down 2 percent from
2016. Production totaled 143
million bushels, down 9 percent
from 2016. Yield is estimated at
66.6 bushels per acre, down 6.9
percent from 71.5 bushels per
acre in 2016.
• All wheat planted in the
U.S. totaled 46 million acres,
down 8.19 percent from 50.1
million acres in 2016. Produc-
tion totaled 1.74 billion bushels,
down from 2.31 billion bushels.
Yield is estimated at 46.3 bush-
els per acre, down 12.1 percent
from 52.7 bushels per acre.
• White winter wheat seed-
ing in 2018 totals 3.56 million
acres, up 1 percent from 2017.
Planting in the Pacific North-
west got off to a normal start,
but progress was behind the
five-year average pace through-
out the planting season. Seed-
ing was virtually complete by
Nov. 5.
• Hard red winter wheat
seeding is expected to total 23.1
million acres, down 2 percent
from 2017. The largest declines
are estimated in Colorado,
Montana, Nebraska and Okla-
homa. Record low acreage was
seeded in Nebraska and Utah.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
While the Trump ad-
ministration has reopened
western sage protections for
further review, the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association is
renewing its call for more
grazing and rancher-friendly
provisions on the range.
In a letter sent Jan. 10 to
Secretary of the Interior Ryan
Zinke, OCA President Na-
than Jackson and Executive
Director Jerome Rosa said
the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment ignored key local find-
ings when it approved the
2015 Oregon Greater Sage
Grouse Resource Manage-
ment Plan.
Specifically, they argue
the BLM eliminated grazing
from many research natu-
ral areas and neglected how
grazing can actually improve
the landscape for sage grouse
— namely reducing wildfire
fuels and controlling inva-
sive weeds.
Rosa said the letter also
reiterates that Oregonians
want to see changes in the
plan, despite seemingly con-
trary public comments from
USFWS
A greater sage grouse struts
for a female at a lek, or mating
ground. The Oregon Cattle-
men’s Association is asking
the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment to include in its plan
how grazing can improve the
landscape for sage grouse.
Gov. Kate Brown.
“There is some confusion
in Washington, D.C., that
Oregon is the only western
state that is not supportive
of amendments to the sage
grouse plan, which is tre-
mendously
worrisome,”
Rosa said.
Brown has said in a state-
ment last October that the
decision to reconsider sage
grouse plans last year was
“reckless,” adding the ad-
ministration “is playing fast
and loose with two things
that make Oregon special —
proud rural communities and
diverse wildlife.”
The OCA speculates,
however, whether Brown un-
derstands that the BLM did
not adopt Oregon’s own sage
grouse assessment, which
was adopted by the Depart-
ment of Fish & Wildlife in
2011.
“With all due respect to
our governor, unfortunate-
ly, she appears to have been
misinformed that the BLM
(plan) adopted the ODFW
Oregon sage grouse strategy.
It did not,” the OCA states in
its letter to Zinke.
The BLM plan needs to
be amended to harmonize
with the state strategy, the
letter continues.
“The ODFW Oregon sage
grouse strategy was state
driven, Oregon-based, and
was an outgrowth of collab-
oration that considered the
unique conditions in Ore-
gon,” the OCA writes.
According to the ODFW
strategy, “ranching as a land
use generally supported
greater biodiversity as mea-
sured by native plant species
and shrub/grassland nesting
birds than exurban develop-
ments or reserves.”