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CapitalPress.com
August 31, 2018
People & Places
HARVESTER BOOSTS BROCCOLI
Ron Pearmine
hopes mechanical
harvester will help
growers, crop
Western
Innovator
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
GERVAIS, Ore. — Ron
Pearmine describes himself as
a “broccoli ambassador” for
the Willamette Valley.
This year, Pearmine is
growing 175 acres of broc-
coli at his family’s farm in
Gervais, Ore. But the crop,
while desirable, has declined
significantly in the area due
to labor shortages and rising
production costs.
Broccoli is harvested today
almost exclusively by hand,
with crews of about 20 people
going over fields two or three
times to maximize yields.
Without enough workers, lo-
cal farmers are growing just
half as much broccoli as they
were six years ago, according
to NORPAC Foods, a farmers’
cooperative and food proces-
sor based in Salem.
Ever the engineer — he
has a bachelor’s degree in
computer science engineering
— Pearmine began tinkering
with machinery to come up
with a solution. He created a
mechanical harvester out of
a 1976 Chisholm-Ryder bean
picker that he believes could
promote increased acreage,
while replacing hand crews
entirely.
“I’m excited about it,”
Pearmine said. “It does create
a new opportunity for brocco-
li here in the valley.”
Pearmine’s goal is to
machine-harvest 80 acres
of broccoli at his farm this
season. Other growers have
also shown interest, allowing
Pearmine to harvest several
smaller plots in their fields.
On Aug. 2, Pearmine
mounted the harvester and
began a trial run at Obersin-
ner Farms on Howell Prairie
Ron Pearmine
Age: 68
Occupation: Farmer,
Pearmine Farms
Hometown: Gervais, Ore.
Family: Wife, Pat, and kids
Ernie, Molly, Alli and Grey
George Plaven/Capital Press
Ron Pearmine, of Pearmine Farms, tries out his mechanical broccoli harvester at Obersinner Farms
near Silverton, Ore., filling large crates with broccoli bound for NORPAC Foods.
between Salem and Silverton.
It took 20 minutes to make
one pass down a quarter-acre
row, filling four large wooden
crates with broccoli bound for
NORPAC.
“It works. It’s effective,”
Pearmine said. “We could
pick our broccoli mechanical-
ly if we choose to. It’s a viable
option.”
‘The big fail’
Pearmine is not the first
to conceive of a mechanical
broccoli harvester — though
nothing has been developed
so far that’s widely used com-
mercially.
Pearmine was inspired to
come up with his own design
after a trip to Case Equipment
Manufacturing in North Da-
kota, where he saw robots
welding parts for machinery.
If robots can weld, then he
figured they can also pick
broccoli.
The first attempt came in
2013, or what Pearmine calls
“the big fail.” Nothing about
that system worked right,
he said, and the setback lin-
gered for several years before
he went back to the drawing
board.
“I have an engineering
brain, I guess you could say,”
Pearmine said with a chuckle.
By sheer innovation — or
insanity, as Pearmine jokes
— he assembled a working
prototype last year by rigging
the old bean picker with three
rows of spinning blades in
front, similar to a corn har-
vester. Once cut, the broccoli
is carried up a conveyor belt
over a series of metal rollers
that pinch off the leaves and
dropped into bins on a flat
trailer.
Pearmine gave a presen-
tation on the harvester at a
NORPAC grower meeting
in December 2017, where he
caught the attention of fellow
growers like Tom Fessler, of
Fessler Farms in Woodburn,
who agreed to participate in
field trials.
“There’s been talk we need
to move in that direction,”
Fessler said. “Ron took the
bull by the horns, and devel-
oped a machine.”
Crop uniformity
From a technical stand-
point, Fessler said the harvest-
er works well. The problem:
It cuts everything at once,
though broccoli often does
not mature at the same rate.
That means potentially
sacrificing yield with machine
harvesting, for the sake of ef-
ficiency.
“You’re going to have
some (plants) that are slight-
ly over-mature, some that are
just right and quite a few that
are on the small side, based
on our experience right now,”
Fessler said.
Pearmine acknowledges
that, unless broccoli fields are
uniform in maturity, the har-
vester has its drawbacks.
“That’s part of the reason
why I want to get it out, so
guys can have that experi-
ence,” Pearmine said. “How
much do you want to give up
on yield? If you don’t want to
give up anything, you’ll con-
tinue picking by hand.”
Pearmine is nonetheless
bullish that mechanical har-
vesting will eventually prove
to be a boon for the industry,
reversing the trend of lost
acreage brought on by mount-
ing labor shortages.
Labor costs
Randy Lyons, vice presi-
dent of agriculture services for
NORPAC, said fewer work-
ers combined with Oregon’s
rising minimum wage have
Education: Bachelor’s
degree in computer science
engineering, Oregon State
University, 1972
ing expenses related to her
treatment. Her mother, Jen-
ny Thomas, said she doesn’t
have words to describe how
grateful she is for the “unbe-
lievable” show of support.
“Anyone who has had a
sick child knows the kind of
bills that come, and I’ve had
to miss a lot of work,” she
said.
The lamb didn’t start out
as a fundraising idea. Maddy
just wanted to participate in a
“normal” activity after finally
finding a cancer treatment that
was working and she was re-
gaining some of her strength.
She got Henry in May and
began walking, feeding and
grooming him.
“I liked him because he
liked to head butt me and he
was always playful,” Maddy
said. “I liked walking him
around the house.”
Jenny said the exercise
was so good for Maddy — us-
ing muscles she hadn’t used
in months and giving her an
incentive to stay outdoors
— that doctors told her she
could drop her occupation-
al and physical therapy. She
lost some of the weight that
steroids in her treatment had
caused her to gain, and color
returned to her cheeks.
“He gave her a purpose,”
Jenny said.
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Fair & Trade Show. Holiday Inn,
Portland Airport, 8439 NE Colum-
bia Blvd. Portland, Ore. The world’s
largest trade show in the Christmas
tree industry. Members have market
exposure at the Tree Fair and Trade
Show, where buyers and sellers
meet. It also features industry equip-
ment and supplies on display. Cost:
$19-$29 Website: www.pnwcta.org
Tuesday-Wednesday
Sept. 18-19
Through Monday
Sept. 3
Tuesday, Sept. 11
EO Media Group
HERMISTON, Ore. —
Henry the lamb might just
be the most valuable lamb in
history.
When Maddy Thomas,
an 11-year-old 4-H student
from Echo, showed him at the
Umatilla County Fair his sale
brought in $23,200 — total-
ing about $162 per pound at
an auction where lambs were
averaging $7 per pound.
The auction marked the
one-year anniversary of Mad-
dy’s diagnosis of a brain tu-
mor, and the money will go to
help her family cover continu-
driven the decline in broccoli
production from 2,000 acres
in 2012 to just 1,000 acres
this year.
To make up the difference,
Lyons said the co-op is buying
twice as much broccoli from
Mexico to use in its line of
soups and frozen vegetables.
NORPAC is excited about the
potential of Pearmine’s har-
vester, Lyons added, though
crop quality will be the ulti-
mate test.
“We’re working with him
real closely to make sure what
he’s bringing into the plant,
we can make the best use of,”
Lyons said. “It has to be as
good as what’s in the market-
place, or better.”
In addition to NORPAC,
Pearmine said he has received
support from Wilco and Mar-
ion Ag Services. After har-
vest, he intends to compare
machine-harvested yields to
those of hand crews, and con-
tinue working with partners to
fine-tune the system.
“People are interested.
They’re supportive, and
they’re excited,” Pearmine
said. “It creates a new future, I
think, for NORPAC and broc-
coli.”
Oregon State Fair. Oregon State
Fair and Exposition Center, 2330
17th St. NE, Salem, Ore. https://or-
egonstatefair.org/
Through Saturday
Sept. 8
Eastern Idaho State Fair. Eastern
Idaho State Fairgrounds, 97 Park St.,
Blackfoot, Idaho. Website: https://fun
atthefair.com/
Through Sunday
Sept. 23
Washington State Fair. 110 Ninth
Ave. SW, Puyallup, Wash. Website:
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Tuesday, Thursday
Sept. 4, 6
Meat School 2018. 5:30-9
p.m. OSU Southern Oregon Research
& Extension Center, Auditorium, 569
Hanley Road, Central Point, Ore.
Friday-Saturday
Sept. 7-8
60th Annual Pacific Northwest
Christmas Tree Association Tree
Meat School 2018. 5:30-9 p.m.
OSU Southern Oregon Research &
Extension Center, Auditorium, 569
Hanley Road, Central Point, Ore.
The fourth session of a series on
producing and marketing grass-fed
and grass-finished meat animals.
The program covers cattle, sheep
and goats. Details: https://exten-
sion.oregonstate.edu/sorec/events/
grass-finished-meat-school-class-
1-5-part-series. Class 5, Sept. 18.
Each class is 5:30 to 9 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 18
Oregon Farm Bureau Classic
Golf Tourney. 1 p.m. Stone Creek
Golf Club, 14603 S. Stoneridge
Drive, Oregon City, Ore. Contact:
tiffany@oregonfb.org
Meat School 2018. 5:30-9 p.m.
OSU Southern Oregon Research &
Extension Center, Auditorium, 569
Hanley Road, Central Point, Ore.
The fifth session of a five-evening
class series on producing and mar-
keting grass-fed and grass-finished
meat animals. Details: https://exten-
sion.oregonstate.edu/sorec/events/
grass-finished-meat-school-class-1-
5-part-series.
Saturday, Sept. 22
Hood River Hops Fest. Noon-8
p.m. Columbia Lot, Fifth and Co-
lumbia, Hood River, Ore. The Hood
River Hops Fest is an annual cele-
bration of beer’s bitter friend, freshly
harvested hops. Hood River County
is surrounded by world-renowned
hop growing regions, and since 2003
brewers have gathered each Sep-
tember in downtown Hood River to
share their fresh-hop beer creations.
The family-friendly event features
more than 50 breweries with more
than 60 fresh-hop beers, plus a va-
riety of food vendors, live music, and
an awesome collectible mug. Web-
site: http://hoodriver.org/hops-fest/
Friday-Sunday
Oct. 12-14
Hood River Valley Harvest Fest.
1-6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat-
urday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Hood
River Event Site, North of Exit 63
off Interstate 84, Hood River, Ore.
Celebrate Hood River’s harvest
season. Presented by Pacific Pow-
er and produced by the Hood River
County Chamber of Commerce.
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Courtesy of Marie Linnell
Maddy Thomas, 11, with her market lamb, Henry, during the Uma-
tilla County Fair Livestock Auction. The lamb brought in $23.200.
Calendar
Safety and Health in the Can-
nabis Industry. Riverhouse, 3075
N. Highway 97, Bend, Ore. Topics
for growers include OLCC require-
ments, grow operations, extraction
methods, fire regulations, worker
protection and Oregon OSHA con-
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Auction of lamb raises $23,200 for special 11-year-old
By JADE MCDOWELL
Capital Press
This old-fashioned fall festival brings
together more than 120 vendors of-
fering local produce and food prod-
ucts, plus arts and crafts, wine, cider
and beer tastings. Held along the
scenic Hood River waterfront, this is
the Columbia River Gorge’s biggest
celebration of the region’s incredible
fall bounty. Website: http://hoodriver.
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Oct. 23-24
Nutrient Management Con-
ference. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Embassy
Suites, 1441 Canyon Del Rey, Sea-
side, Calif. The agenda will focus on
the latest FREP-funded research
results and practical applications of
fertilizing materials for agricultural
production in the state of California.
Grower, CCA, and PCA credits will
be requested. Website: https://www.
cdfa.ca.gov/Is/ffldrs/frep/FREPCon-
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Tilth Conference. Davenport
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and food system professionals for a
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The speakers will include Mai Nguy-
en, who grows heirloom, ethnic
grains in Sonoma, Calif., and is the
California Organizer for the National
Young Farmers Coalition, and Audra
Mulkern, the founder of “The Female
Farmer Project,” a documentary
project chronicling the rise of wom-
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www.tilthalliance.org
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er and telling ag’s story. This event
serves to recognize those who have
gone above and beyond in advocat-
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the economic, environmental and
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gon. Website: http://www.aglink.org/
event/denim-diamonds/
Wednesday-Friday
Nov. 28-30
Washington Small Fruit Confer-
ence & Lynden Ag Show. NW Wash-
ington Fairgrounds, 1775 Front St.,
Lynden, Wash. The Washington
Small Fruit Conference is a three-
day conference with the latest rele-
vant research information delivered
by the scientists performing the re-
search. Lunches each day are pro-
vided. This conference is presented
in association with the Lynden Ag
Show, a trade show featuring ven-
dors serving the small fruit commu-
nity. Website: www.wasmallfruit.com
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