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Focusing on breast cancer AWARENESS, awareness, EDUCATION education and throughout October FOCUSING ON BREAST CANCER AND prevention PREVENTION THROUGHOUT OCTOBER FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2018 VOLUME 91, NUMBER 42 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 UP IN FLAMES Northwest farmers, ranchers endure intense 2018 fire season By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press T he gusty winds of October howled across fire-scarred Gordon Ridge overlooking the Deschutes River, prompting Molly Belshe to shield her face from swirling dirt and de- bris. It was here last July that the 78,425-acre Substation Fire raced out of control across north-central Oregon through tinder dry grass and standing wheat. Farm- ers like Molly Belshe and her husband, Marty, lost an estimated 2 million bushels of what was expected to be a bumper crop of wheat in Wasco and Sherman counties. They watched helplessly as months of hard work went up in flames in just minutes. “It would have been one of the better years we ever cut on that property,” Marty Belshe said. “Now, it’s just the cleanup process.” The Substation fire was one of several large blaz- es that scorched Central Oregon in 2018. Statewide, wildfires had burned more than 811,357 acres as of Oct. 12, as well as 392,652 acres in Washington, 588,980 acres in Idaho and a staggering 1.5 million acres in California. Courtesy of Molly Belshe ABOVE: The Substation Fire burns through standing wheat in Sherman County, Ore. Courtesy of Molly Belshe Marty Belshe, a wheat farmer in Sherman County, Ore., uses a tractor and disc plow to create a fire break around one of his fields in anticipation of the Substation Fire that burned 78,425 acres in July. BELOW: Molly Belshe stands atop Gordon Ridge near Wasco, Ore., where high winds kicked up soil erosion from fields burned by the Substation Fire. George Plaven/Capital Press Report: Precision ag faces security threats ‘Malicious actors’ could disrupt key systems By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Precision agriculture systems are vulnerable to numerous threats that could harm national securi- ty, according to a report commis- sioned by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The new report, “Threats to Pre- cision Agriculture,” was co-writ- ten by a group of analysts from the government and private sector who found the potential hazards “were often not fully understood or were not being treated seriously enough by the front-line agriculture produc- ers.” Connecting the traditionally “highly mechanical” agriculture industry to the internet through yield-tracking software and other tools has greatly increased “the at- tack space available to threat actors,” the report said. For example, there has been a recent “explosion” in “decision sup- port system” applications for mobile devices that were often created by start-up companies and university staff who may not properly update security patches for the programs, leaving them prone to exploitation. Such weaknesses could lead to the “unintentional leakage” of confi- dential farmer information, but some applications may also “be malicious by design to steal data,” the report said. An attack may focus on injuring the reputation of a farm supplier or related agribusiness company by re- leasing confidential data to the pub- lic, similar to the 2014 Sony Pictures hack that revealed salaries, gossip and other embarrassing information. “There is no such thing as 100 percent protection. We see data breaches at all levels,” said RJ Kar- ney, director of congressional rela- tions with the American Farm Bu- reau Federation. State slaps Lost Valley Farm with $187,000 fine Record CAFO fine stems from alleged wastewater violations By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Oregon farm regulators have issued a fine of more than $187,000 to a contro- versial Oregon dairy, citing more than 220 violations of its wastewater permit be- tween last December and late August. Among the alleged viola- tions by Lost Valley Farm of Boardman, Ore., are unau- thorized manure discharges, storing too much manure in lagoons, repeatedly apply- ing manure to fields without first installing required soil moisture sensors and keep- ing excessive numbers of mature cattle. The dairy has until early November to challenge the civil penalties issued by the Oregon Department of Ag- riculture’s confined animal feeding program before an administrative judge. “It is the largest CAFO penalty we’ve ever issued,” said Wym Matthews, the pro- gram manager. None of the violations were that severe on their own, but they added up over time, he said. “The same thing happened continually without repair.” Lost Valley Farm was re- cently put under new man- agement after its owner, Greg te Velde, lost control of the facility’s operations in bank- ruptcy proceedings and the reins were handed to a feder- al trustee. Two other dairies, both in California, were also put under the trustee’s control. ODA expects to proceed with its revocation of the dairy’s confined animal feed- ing operation permit even if the trustee, accountant Randy Sugarman, cleans up the facil- ity’s act, said Matthews. “Our unwavering aim is to revoke this permit. Whoever’s name is on it, we’re going to revoke it,” Matthews said at Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press Wym Matthews, center, manager of the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s confined animal feeding operation program, said the state will revoke Lost Valley Farm’s CAFO permit.
