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4 CapitalPress.com June 22, 2018 WSU to break ground for new plant science building By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Washington State University will break ground next week for a new plant science building that will help researchers investigate the issues farmers face in the crops they grow. The June 27 ceremony is invi- tation-only. Construction of the building is slated to be completed in January 2020. It’s the fifth building in WSU’s Research and Education Complex and will house plant science researchers, primarily from the Institute of Biological Chemistry. The institute’s researchers are Washington State University Washington State University officials will break ground June 27 on a new plant sciences building. WSU received $52 million in state funding for the building, which is slated to be complet- ed in January 2020. trying to gain a better understand- ing of basic plant processes, which form the basis for plant breeding to help increase crop yields or im- prove disease resistance, said Rich Koenig, associate dean of WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences. The institute is now in an aging facility. Koenig said the new build- ing will have space configured for state-of-the-art plant science re- search. One institute researcher is cur- rently studying the biochemistry of starch and starch degradation in wheat, an important issue for the region’s farmers. Other researchers are studying potato and wine grape physiology. The building will house 15 to 18 faculty programs, including tech- nical and support staff and gradu- ate students. There will be 15 “wet labs,” and three “dry labs” to study data and statistics. Koenig said the $52 million in state funding is a little short of the total cost of construction. “The building has been long in the planning, and it’s taken a while to get it funded,” he said. “The costs of the construction have gone up in the interim.” The university is waiting for fi- nal numbers. Koenig said the uni- versity can tap contingency funds. Some labs in the building could also be phased in over time, he said. The plant science building bud- get request was linked to funding for the second phase of a global animal health building, to support the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. The university received $23 million in partial funding for it. The remaining $15.1 million re- quested by WSU is still pending, Koenig said. Both buildings have received support from the agricultural in- dustries, Koenig said. Growers will have opportunities to tour the new facility when it’s completed, he said. “I think farmers will be re- ally excited to see what’s go- ing on in this facility, and how it ties in with some real-life prob- lems they’re dealing with,” he said. Barn fire kills more than 25,000 chickens By DON JENKINS Capital Press Brad Carlson/Capital Press John Nalivka, left, with Sterling Marketing Inc. of Vale, Ore., speaks with Jerald Raymond, past president of the Idaho Cattle Association, in Boise on June 19. Cattle analyst expects decent market conditions despite volatility By BRAD CARLSON Capital Press BOISE — Cattle industry players can expect a con- tinuation of decent market conditions through this year despite volatility, market analyst John Nalivka told an Idaho Cattle Association audience June 19. Nalivka, with Sterling Marketing Inc. in Vale, Ore., said continued strong demand is cutting into re- cently higher beef supplies. That demand is helped by a growing economy and the industry’s ability to in- troduce products that keep consumers coming back for more, he said. The amount of beef coming out of packing houses and ready for con- sumption will be up by about 4 percent this year, he said. Competing pro- teins also will be up on continued strong demand — pork by about 4 percent and chicken by 2 to 3 per- cent. The total number of cat- tle on feed was up by about 7 percent in the U.S. year- to-year as of April 1, but that pace won’t hold up through year’s end, Naliv- ka said in an interview. Drought in Texas and Oklahoma prompted many producers in those states to move animals from grazing sites to feedlots earlier than they would have under nor- mal conditions, boosting total on-feed populations, he said. As these cattle head to slaughter and are replaced in feedlots by a current population of graz- ing animals that’s fewer in number, processors should see a reduced incoming headcount late in the year, which would support prices. A steer fetched about $111 per hundredweight during the week of June 11- 15, down 14.6 percent from $130 a year earlier. Nalivka said feedlot margins have been strong most of the year but have been narrowing in recent weeks. Demand is good, and processors are earning high profits. “We saw all these cattle coming at us, because of the number in the feedlots,” he said. “But generally speak- ing, it’s not that bad and it’s because of demand. It has held up pretty well.” Cow-calf producers have some opportunities to do well this year depending on their individual operations, Nalivka said. Increased in- put costs over the past two- plus years challenge pro- ducers. A portion of recently strong demand comes from exports. U.S. beef exports are up about 13 percent year-to-date including a 16 percent rise from April 2017 to April 2018, he said. Recent conflicts over trade policy “are there and should be a concern, but are not going to affect the bot- tom line,” at least in the near term, Nalivka said. “Just manage the things that are manageable,” he said. Nalivka spoke as part of ICA’s annual summer meet- ings June 18-20. SAGE Fact #147 Each day a cow eats 75-100 pounds of food and drink 25-50 gallons of water. That is equivalent to 3 large bags of dog food and a bathtub of water. More than 25,000 chickens died as a barn burned down Monday at Draper Valley Farms in Tenino, Wash., com- pany spokesman Joe Forsthof- fer said. The 35-day-old chickens were being reared at the poul- try farm 15 miles south of Olympia, he said. Firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading to five other barns with the same number of chickens in each one, he said. “Thanks to the firefighters, there was no damage to the other barns,” Forsthoffer said. The company and fire of- ficials did not have a cause or total dollar loss for the fire Tuesday. Draper Valley, a subsidiary of Perdue Farms, raises chick- ens at farms in Washington for processing in Mount Vernon. The loss will not disrupt the company’s supply chain, Forsthoffer said. The compa- ny likely will rebuild the barn, he said. The fire was reported shortly after 5 p.m., accord- ing to Thurston County Fire District 12. The blaze spread to grass in the surrounding area, but that fire was stopped by Department of Natural Re- sources firefighters. Timber Innovation Act gains backing in Senate Bill would aid development of mass timber for construction By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry is including provi- sions in its latest release of the 2018 Farm Bill to support research and development of mass timber products used in building construction. A bipartisan group of sen- ators recently wrote to com- mittee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., urging them to adopt the Timber Innovation Act, which would create a new research and development program under the USDA for mass timber. U.S. building codes cur- rently do not recognize mass timber as official construc- tion materials, leaving the products without a standard rating system for fire and earthquake resistance, quali- ty and other safety standards. The bill also calls for studying the environmental footprint of wood building construction, from timber harvest through manufactur- ing, while analyzing poten- tial impacts on wildlife. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Or- egon Democrat, co-wrote the letter with Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. Merkley said he is working to establish Oregon as an industry hub for mass timber products to boost the rural economy, using locally sourced wood. “This bill supports inno- vative manufacturing that creates jobs in the rural part of the state, and encourages more sustainable tall wood building construction in ur- ban parts of the state,” Merk- LEGAL CHERRY AVENUE STORAGE 2680 Cherry Ave. NE Salem, OR 97301 (503) 399-7454 AUCTION SAT., JULY 7, 2018 • 10 A.M. Unit 4: Bryan/ Jeremy VanDyke Unit 48: Jacqueline Maguren Unit 53: Jessica Hernandez Unit 161: Jaime/Taunya Newman Unit 180: Cody Ford Unit AS-68 Stephanie Steeley 25-1/101 South Thurston Fire & EMS A fire burns June 18 at Draper Valley Farms in Tenino, Wash. More than 25,000 chickens died in the blaze, a company spokesman said. CherryAvenue Storage reserves the right to refuse any and all bids. legal-25-2-3/999 Capital Press File A worker guides a glulam beam into place Oct. 3, 2017, during construction of the First Tech Credit Union headquarters building in Hillsboro, Ore. The federal Timber Innovation Act would establish a research and development program under the USDA for mass timber products in building construction. ley said in a statement. Other senators who signed the letter include Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; James Risch, R-Idaho; Amy Klobu- char, D-Minn.; Steve Daines, R-Mont.; Roger Wick- er, R-Miss.; Gary Peters, D-Mich.; and Angus King, I-Maine. Supporters of the bill say it will not only create jobs, but establish a new market for small-diameter trees and branches, encouraging more active forest management at a time of increasingly large and destructive wildfires. “There’s a lot of forests throughout the West that are in need of restoration,” said Timm Locke, director of for- est products for the Oregon Forest Resources Institute. “If we don’t remove the timber, those forests are going to go up in flames.” Mass timber construction LEGAL PUBLIC LIEN SALE U-STORE SELF STORAGE SAT, June 23, 2018 10AM 1501 Hawthorne Ave NE Salem, Oregon Socorro Bravo Bravo, 2C26; Steven Fernandez, 2B09; JohnsonConcept LLC, RF16; Joshua Kampstra, 2C06; Renee Martinez, 2G04; Joshua McCoy, 2B62; Allexa Miller, 1E41; Chiloris Morgan, Y1-7; Kimberly Munz, Y217; Shane Neal, 1C06; Michelle Pedersen, 2E11; Dallas Sadler, 2A14; Jackie Weasel, 2E24; Kimberly Wollin, 2B25; Cash or Card only. Legal-23-3-3/999 is relatively new in the U.S., though it has been popular since the mid-’90s in Europe. In Oregon, the first com- mercial-size building to use cross-laminated timber came in 2015 at the Oregon Zoo’s Elephant Lands habitat. Cross-laminated timber, or CLT, is made from planks of wood layered perpendicular to one another in large sheets. Mass timber also includes nail laminated timber, glue lam- inated beams and laminated veneer lumber. “It’s a new way to build commercial buildings, which harkens back to the old days, when almost all buildings were made out of wood,” Locke said. “The bill would put money toward product re- search and development and product performance work, so we can meet the need of code officials to show this stuff ac- tually works.” Locke pointed to a 2017 study by Oregon BEST, an economic development non- profit for clean technology startups, measuring the eco- nomic impacts of cross-lami- nated timber. According to the study, the market potential for mass timber nationwide could result in an additional demand of up to 6.1 billion board-feet of lumber. About 15 percent of wood consumed in the U.S. comes from Oregon, Locke said. With another 6.1 billion board-feet, at 15 percent mar- ket share, he estimated that would result in 17,000 new jobs, including 6,000 direct jobs. “It’s all very interesting where this is headed,” he said. “The Timber Innovation Act is only going to help that.” Arran Robertson, a spokes- man for the Portland-based environmental group Oregon Wild, said he is encouraged the bill will take environmen- tal and wildlife impacts into account, offering the chance to source wood differently from the forests, rather than industrial clear-cuts. “This is an opportunity to create a marketplace to reward the people who are doing things a little bit differ- ent,” Robertson said. Thomas Maness, dean of the College of Forestry at Oregon State University, said there are “significant new market opportunities” for mass timber. Product testing, research and profes- sional training will be key moving forward, Maness said, as the wood products and construction industries transition to using mass tim- ber in taller and more com- plex structures. Rob Freres, executive vice president of Freres Lumber in Lyons, Ore., said his business has already staked its future in mass timber. “New product develop- ment provides the means to compete worldwide and gives rural communities the oppor- tunity to prosper,” Freres said.
