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August 31, 2018 CapitalPress.com 7 OSU research fights squash-killing fungi Soil-borne diseases are hampering production By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press Pumpkin seeds and pump- kin pie are synonymous with autumn, but as the season draws closer, researchers at Oregon State University are targeting a complex of diseas- es that have hampered winter squash in recent years. Winter squash is a $7 mil- lion industry in Oregon, with 4,000 acres grown in the Wil- lamette Valley near Corvallis. The crop is a close pumpkin relative used for making fall favorites like “pumpkin” soup, seeds and pie filling. But farmers began noticing something was infecting their plants, and in some severe cases causing entire fields to wilt and die. Oregon State re- ceived a grant from the USDA Western Sustainable Agricul- ture and Research Education program to study the problem in 2014. Hannah Rivedal, lead re- searcher and graduate student studying botany and plant Oregon State University Pink root rot is caused by a soil-borne fungus known as Setophoma terrestris, which can hamper plant productivity and yields. Oregon State University Winter squash is a $7 million industry in Oregon, grown for soup, seed and pie filling. pathology at OSU, said they have homed in on five distinct soil-borne fungi at the root of the trouble — literally — including one species never before found in cucurbits in Oregon. “We’ve had a couple of years where there have been more significant reductions in yield, and more instances of this disease problem occur- ring,” Rivedal said. “This is a really complicated problem with multiple pathogens and multiple different environ- mental factors.” Between 2014 and 2016, Rivedal surveyed around 60 fields, randomly sampling both healthy and diseased plants. She took thousands of disease cultures, with five spe- cies of soil-borne fungus con- sistently showing up — Fu- sarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Fusarium culmorum, Plectosphaerella cucumerina and Setophoma terrestris. Setophoma terrestris was unexpected, Rivedal said, since it has never been seen before in squash in Oregon. It’s more widely known in other crops such as onions and garlic. The fungus can cause a disease known as pink root rot, which attacks the roots and turns them an unhealthy shade of pink. Rivedal, along with OSU faculty Alexandra Stone and Ken Johnson, have published their findings in the journal Plant Disease. The next step, Rivedal said, is to develop a set of recommendations and best practices to help farmers break the disease cycle. First off, Rivedal said growers should rotate their fields out of squash for at least four years, if possible. As for which rotation crops will work best, she said that has yet to be determined. “If they plant onions right before squash, the next year they have really bad pink root rot in their field,” Rive- dal said. “We’ve been looking into management strategies.” Another tip is irrigating less at the beginning of the growing season, since damp soil is more conducive to fungi. Because the pathogens are soil-borne, Rivedal said applying chemicals will not help. Any fungicide would need to fumigated. “All of these things are acting really interestingly here,” she said. “And we think it has a lot to do with the en- vironmental factors and the rotation practices ahead of the squash that we (grow).” Organic lawsuit against Feds change cover crop policy for wildfire victims USDA can proceed RMA decision will allow farmers to protect land from wind, rain erosion in wake of massive devastation By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press By MITCH LIES For the Capital Press The USDA Risk Manage- ment Agency has agreed to temporarily change its policy to allow farmers in Wasco and Sherman counties that were affected by wildfire to plant cover crops without affecting their crop insurance. “We will make changes where we modify the defini- tion of summer fallow in a way that will not invalidate their summer-fallow designa- tion, even though they plant- ed a cover crop in the fallow year,” said Ben Thiel, director of the Spokane Regional Of- fice of the agency, in a phone interview on Aug. 22. The agency changed its policy after hearing concerns from farmers about leaving ground exposed to the ele- ments in the 2019 fallow year and checking with agricultur- al experts, Thiel said. “Pretty much the consen- sus was, yes, this would be a good farming practice and that you would help reduce yield loss for 2020 by plant- ing a cover crop, as long as it is terminated in the spring and doesn’t continue to grow later in the spring and through the summer where it would de- plete moisture,” Thiel said. Normally, growers are re- stricted from planting cover crops in a fallow year under the USDA summer-fallow crop insurance program. The provision is in place to ensure farmers are optimizing yield potential in crop years, Thiel said. “Generally, you get bet- ter moisture retention if you leave a field fallow every oth- er year, and that will produce a better crop in low rainfall areas, such as Sherman and Wasco counties,” Thiel said. Brian Tuck, field crops extension agent for Wasco and Sherman counties, said RMA’s decision could be crit- ical in helping protect soil left bare by wildfire from wind and rain erosion. Typically, wheat stubble protects ground in fallow years, he said. “The stubble is a big deal,” Tuck said. “Having that sur- face stubble on there provides biomass to the soil for nutrient cycling and is a huge factor in Associated Press File The USDA Risk Management Agency will allow farmers in Wasco and Sherman counties to plant cover crops on land burned by wildfires without impacting their crop insurance. keeping the soil cooler and protecting it from both wind and rain erosion.” “Now we just have to hope we get some fall rains here” to help establish the cover crops, he said. He advised growers to check with the Natural Re- sources Conservation Ser- vice and their local Soil and Water Conservation District for cost-sharing opportunities potentially available to help offset the cost of purchasing and planting cover crop seeds. Three wildfires, the Sub- station, South Valley and Long Hollow fires, burned approxi- mately 135,000 acres in the two counties in a two-week span beginning in mid-July, just when wheat harvest was kicking off. The fires cost growers mil- lions of dollars in lost crop, particularly given that grow- ers were looking at above-av- erage yields. “This was look- ing to be a pretty good year,” Tuck said. “We had some re- ally good rains in some plac- es, so the yields were looking very good.” Growers with crop insur- ance are eligible to recoup losses based on average yields. Also, while prices “hav- en’t been the greatest,” Tuck said, they are up from the pre- vious three years, with wheat at $5.92 a bushel in Portland on Aug. 23. Many growers also lost equipment, fencing, structures, pasture and rangeland to the fire, Tuck said, and the fire cost the life of Wasco County farm- er John Ruby, 64, who died digging a firebreak to protect a neighbor’s property. A U.S. district judge has ruled a lawsuit against USDA over its withdrawal of the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule can proceed. The rule included new standards for raising, transporting and slaughter- ing organic animals. The lawsuit, brought by seven nonprofit organiza- tions led by the Center for Food Safety, seeks to rein- state the rule on the grounds USDA’s action violates the Organic Food Production Act and failed to comply with the Administrative Pro- cedure Act. USDA moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing plaintiffs do not have legal standing. U.S. District Judge Rich- ard Seeborg last week ruled the plaintiffs do have legal standing, but sided with USDA on two other issues. He dismissed, without leave to amend, the plain- tiffs’ claim that USDA did not have the authority to withdraw the rule based on alleged costs to producers. He also dismissed their claim that withdrawing the rule without involving the National Organic Standards Board exceeded USDA’s statutory authority. He did, however, give plaintiffs leave to amend that claim. USDA’s motion to dis- miss did not address two other claims by the plaintiffs, regarding the agency’s two main rationales for the with- drawal. Those claims will pro- ceed, Amy Van Saun, a staff attorney with the center, told Capital Press. Those rationales are that USDA doesn’t have author- ity to set organic standards that relate to animal welfare beyond the substances used and that there must be signif- icant market failure in order to change the organic stan- dards and justify the associ- ated costs, she said. The center will challenge the withdrawal based on those rationales, she said. The lawsuit, which was filed in March, also includes plaintiffs Center for Envi- ronmental Health, Cultivate Oregon, International Center for Technology Assessment, National Organic, Coalition, Humane Society of the U.S. and the Animal Legal De- fense Fund. The Organic Trade Asso- ciation filed a lawsuit against USDA in September 2017. It originally targeted USDA’s failure to implement the rule finalized in the waning days of the Obama administra- tion. OTA amended its orig- inal complaint in February to reflect USDA’s announced intention to withdraw the fi- nal rule. In a statement to Capi- tal Press, OTA said: “The Organic Trade Association welcomes the decision of the Northern District of Califor- nia U.S. District Court that recognizes our colleagues’ standing to challenge the USDA’s handling of the Or- ganic Livestock and Poultry Practices final regulation.” Conventional livestock and poultry groups have fiercely opposed the rule, cit- ing health threats to animals and the public. They have argued the animal-welfare standards aren’t based on science and are outside the scope of the OFPA, which limits organic to feeding and medication practices. They have also argued that it would vilify conven- tional livestock practices, open the door to activists’ lawsuits and create barriers for existing and new organic producers. SAGE Fact #147 25,000 dairy cows milked twice a day equals 1.4 million pounds of milk a day which fills 18 milk tanker trucks a day WE SPECIALIZE IN BULK BAGS! 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