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April 13, 2018 CapitalPress.com 9 New leaders emerge from REAL Oregon First-ever class in the books By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press Just two weeks after com- pleting the first Resource Education and Agricultural Leadership Program, other- wise known as REAL Ore- gon, Matt Mattioda was able to put his newly refined skills to the test. Mattioda, who works as the chief forester for Miller Timber Services in Philo- math, Ore., was informed by a client that Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read was interested in touring a project site to better understand how trees are har- vested on the landscape. “I had a chance to show him what we’re doing,” Mat- tioda said of the visit. “If we don’t reach out and engage folks ... then whatever comes our way, we’re just going to have to deal with it.” Thanks to REAL Oregon, Mattioda said he is comfort- able advocating for his in- dustry to a high-ranking state official. The program was Brazilian firm acquires control of National Beef By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Brazil’s Marfrig Global Foods has reached an agree- ment to acquire 51 percent of National Beef Packing Co. for $959 million, the company announced on Monday. National Beef is the fourth-largest beef processor in the U.S., and the acquisition will make Marfrig the world’s second-largest beef processor, with anticipated consolidated sales of $13 billion. “The acquisition of Na- tional Beef represents the realization of a unique oppor- tunity,” Martín Secco, CEO of Marfrig, said in a press re- lease. “With the transaction, we will have operations in the world’s two largest beef markets, will gain access to extremely sophisticated con- sumer countries and will be able to grow while maintain- ing rigorous financial disci- pline,” he said. The acquisition consol- idates Marfrig’s strong po- sition in the beef industry, which is the Marfrig’s original core business. A leader in the U.S. beef industry, National Beef exports to 40 countries, including Japan, a market cur- rently closed to beef exports from Brazil. The transaction will be fi- nanced by a loan from Rabo- bank. Founded in 1992, Nation- al Beef reported sales of $7.3 billion in 2017 and, since 2011, has been controlled by Leucadia National Corp., which currently holds a 79 percent interest. National Beef has a slaughter capacity of 12,000 head of cattle per day and is headquartered in Kansas City. It has two slaughterhouses, in Dodge City and Liberal, Kan., and accounts for about 13 percent of total U.S. cattle slaughter capacity. Once the transaction clos- es, Leucadia will transfer control to Marfrig and remain a minority shareholder in Na- tional Beef with a 31 percent interest. U.S. Premium Beef, an association of 2,100 U.S. producers, will hold a 15 per- cent interest. Other sharehold- ers hold 3 percent interest. Leucadia and the other in- vestors have agreed not to sell their shares of National Beef for at least five years. The key executives of Na- tional Beef, including CEO Tim Klein, will continue to manage and remain at the company. The board of managers of National Beef will consist of nine members, of which five will be nominated by Marfrig, two by Leucadia and two by the other minority members. Courtesy of Greg Addington/REAL Oregon The first REAL Oregon class meets at an orchard in southern Oregon. conceived by businesses to engage natural resources pro- fessionals in career and lead- ership training — everything from government relations and conflict resolution to pub- lic speaking and presentation. Over the course of five months, Mattioda and 29 others attended two-day sessions around the state, each with a local focus. The first class graduated March 8, which included 10 agricultural producers, three forestry workers, four government employees and 13 people from natural re- source support industries. In addition to leadership training, Mattioda said REAL Oregon provided an oppor- tunity to network and build bridges across industries. “I have really grown to ap- preciate what other folks do in natural resources, whether you’re a rancher or a farm- er,” Mattioda said. “We’re all in this together. Even if some folks have differences in opin- ion, let’s rally around and fo- cus on those things we have in common.” REAL Oregon was estab- lished in 2017 and is similar to programs in 34 other states around the country, including neighboring Washington and Idaho. Greg Addington, pro- gram director, said the ses- sions are meant to break peo- ple out of their “silos,” and understand the bigger picture for natural resources. In hindsight, Addington said the first year could not have gone any better. “I think we’re on to some- thing here,” he said. “There’s a big need for it in the state.” Addington, who owns a consulting company in Klam- ath Falls, Ore., and is the for- mer executive director of the Klamath Water Users Associ- ation, said he already has a list of more than 200 names rec- ommended for future classes. He is now working on the ap- plications and curriculum for the class of 2018-19. Last year’s program kicked off in November with a trip to Ontario, Ore., where participants learned about production agriculture. The group then traveled to New- port in December for a ses- sion on commercial fisheries; Medford in January for tim- ber; Salem in February for the legislative session; and Pend- leton and Boardman in March for irrigated farming and live- stock. “The networking that oc- curs with such a diverse group of people is just awesome to watch,” Addington said. Megan Thompson, direc- tor of field services for Cas- cade Cherry Growers and Sage Fruit Co. in The Dalles, Ore., said the networking was especially valuable for her. “At some point, we’re all fighting a very similar fight,” Thompson said. “We all have similar causes, and similar drives, and we all need to work together for those caus- es.” Thompson added the field trips they took on location fur- ther drove home the point. “It was a great experi- ence,” she said. “I think it’s made 30 new advocates for agriculture.” More information about REAL Oregon, including an application form, is available online at www.realoregon. net. The program costs $5,000 per person, though half of the funding is covered by busi- ness sponsors. State Wheat Commission announces $2 million gift to University of Idaho By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — A $2 million gift to the University of Ida- ho from the Idaho Wheat Commission will be used to expand educational opportu- nities focused on managing agricultural market risks. The $2 million will be used to establish an endowed chair of risk management at UI’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. CALS and the College of Business and Economics collaborate on a capital man- agement and trading program that provides students the op- portunity to learn about risk management strategies using money. Students in the program manage commodity margins and trade in agricultural com- modities and use a wide vari- ety of tools, including futures and options trading and the use of securities markets to counterbalance agricultural risks. The endowment will sig- nificantly expand the scope of the program, university and commission officials said during a press conference. One of the most important parts of any agricultural busi- ness is the marketing of prod- ucts, said Clark Hamilton, a Ririe, Idaho, farmer and IWC chairman. “It’s money well-spent,” he said about the endowment. “I think this will come back to (benefit) the farms and I think it’s a great investment for the future. It’s a big shot in the arm for Idaho agricul- ture.” “It will give the wheat growers of Idaho an addition- al resource in the marketing of their grain,” said IWC Executive Director Blaine Jacobson. A UI news release said the endowment will enable the university to attract a chair with “considerable depth of experience in conducting re- search related to agricultural commodity and financial se- curity markets on a global, national and regional scale.” “The endowed chair will also provide outreach to com- modity groups, agribusiness- es, producers, financial insti- tutions, market participants, policy makers and others who use active risk management practices,” the release said. The wheat commission gift “is profound and will have a lasting impact,” said CALS Dean Michael Parrel- la. “What they are doing is literally transformational.” Jacobson said the state’s wheat growers should be thanked because their assess- ment dollars made the en- dowment possible. “That’s who really de- serves the credit for this gift,” he said. The commission will give UI $1 million now, and the other $1 million will be provided over the next five years. Jacobson said the gift is being funded out of surplus funds generated by the state’s wheat assessment over the past several years, and the commission does not antici- pate having to raise the grow- er assessment to pay for it. The endowment will not affect the amount of mon- ey the commission has in its annual budgets in support of research, market development and information and commu- nications, said Cathy Wilson, the IWC’s director of research collaboration. John Deere Dealers See one of these dealers for a demonstration 15-1/102
