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NURSERY SPECIAL SECTION: INSIDE
Capital Press
A g
The West’s
FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2018
VOLUME 91, NUMBER 33
Weekly
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
Photos by Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
From left, Sterling Colley, Anthony Buck and Easton Thompson wait at Norris Blueberry Farms with electric pallet jacks to load a semi-truck trailer with blueberries.
The farm that has been hiring local young people to work in the packing barn for the last 20 years.
Y outh M oveMent
A 550-acre blueberry farm near Umpqua, Ore., hires 180 high
school and college students to sort, pack and ship its crop.
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
Area in
detail
U
an
LINN
Pacific Oce
5
20
Approximate site of
Norris Blueberry Farms
101
LANE
Umpqua
138
COOS
Roseburg
42
DOUGLAS
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JACKSON
JOSEPHINE
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Medford
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20 miles
Capital Press graphic
MPQUA, Ore. — Twenty years ago when the blueberry bushes began to
bear fruit, Paul and Sandy Norris gave their daughters and their friends
some summer work.
One of the reasons the Norrises established the blueberry farm was to
expose their daughters — Amy, Carrie and Ellie — to agriculture and the
different aspects of farming. The teenage girls and their friends helped with harvesting,
packing and shipping the crop.
The farm has since grown to 550 acres of mature blueberry bushes, and hundreds
of young people of high school and college age from the area have worked in Norris
Blueberry Farms’ fields and the packing and shipping facility. This year the business
employed 180 seasonal workers during the busiest of weeks from mid-June through
July. Their work helped the farm package and ship blueberries bound for the United
Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and West Coast distribution centers for dif-
ferent U.S. companies.
“We enjoy working with the youth,” Paul Norris said. “It is what we want to do. We
wouldn’t want it any other way. Some day we may have to change it, but it’s working
very well right now.”
Turn to YOUTH, Page 10
Paul and Sandy Norris started a blueberry farm 20
years ago. One goal they had was to give their three
daughters and their friends summer work. The Norrises
have continued to hire high school- and college-aged
youth from the area to work in the field and in the
packing and shipping facility, making it a tradition the
owners take pride in.
Chinese, Turkish turmoil worries hazelnut industry
Higher Chinese tariffs, devalued Turkish currency create uncertainty
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Oregon’s hazelnut industry is
facing trade anxiety on two fronts:
Restricted access to a major custom-
er and low prices offered by a major
competitor.
With the annual harvest quickly
approaching, there’s not much time
left for the looming problems to be
resolved.
Hazelnuts are caught in the broader
trade dispute with China, which has
raised tariffs on the crop while limit-
ing opportunities to avoid duties by
trans-shipping through neighboring
countries.
Meanwhile, political and econom-
ic issues have severely devalued the
national currency of Turkey, the pre-
dominant global hazelnut producer,
potentially reducing the global price of
hazelnut kernels.
“This year, both markets are un-
der geopolitical pressure,” said Larry
George, president of the hazelnut pro-
cessor George Packing.
Before 2014, one U.S. dollar was
worth about two Turkish lire. Today,
it’s worth more than six. Though the
lire’s value had already been dropping
steadily, newly announced U.S. tariffs
on Turkish metal have caused a partic-
ularly steep plunge in August.
“It’s moving in the wrong direction
rapidly,” said Terry Ross, executive
director of the Hazelnut Industry Bar-
gaining Association. “We assumed it
would slow down, but it hasn’t yet.”
Turn to HAZELNUTS, Page 10
USDA to spend $50 million on milk for food aid
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
USDA will spend up to $50 mil-
lion on fluid milk in half-gallon con-
tainers for distribution to the Emer-
gency Food Assistance Program.
The purchases, announced Tues-
day, will be made under Section 32
of the Agricultural Adjustment Act to
encourage consumption of domestic
“We don’t quite yet know what food banks will request.
The cost will vary depending on the product.”
Bailey Wood, IDFA vice president of communications
agricultural products and are separate
from possible purchases through the
$12 billion in farm aid planned to off-
set retaliatory trade tariffs.
The agency did not disclose the
level of purchases it will make in the
pre-solicitation notice, but industry
groups say they have verified with
USDA the intent to spend $50 mil-
lion on pasteurized fat-free, low fat,
reduced fat and whole milk.
A public affairs officer with USDA
told Capital Press in an email on
Wednesday the agency will purchase
up to $50 million in fresh milk over
several months.
Recent increases in milk produc-
tion and lower demand are providing
a timely opportunity for USDA to
Turn to AID, Page 10