2
CapitalPress.com
November 30, 2018
People & Places
From one sweet job to another
good,” McCord said. “A lot of
it is genetics but it’s also how
you grow it, the horticultural
side.”
It’s generally best to breed
for your environment, he said.
In other words, breeding in the
Pacific Northwest should be
for varieties suited for the re-
gion.
He’s also interested in
working on apricots.
Per McCord will spread
out cherry harvest
with new varieties
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
PROSSER, Wash. — Per
McCord was a bit of an in-
novator in expanding use of
DNA markers to breed new
sugarcane varieties in Florida.
Now he plans to do the same
sort of thing in sweet cherries
in Washington.
McCord joined the Wash-
ington State University Irrigat-
ed Agriculture Research and
Extension Center in Prosser
last April as an associate pro-
fessor of horticulture and stone
fruit breeder.
He quickly noticed the
cherry industry was eager for
his arrival. A key part of the job
is breeding new cherry variet-
ies, and the position had been
vacant for two years.
Sweet cherries are a highly
perishable crop. The North-
west crop is harvested in June,
July and August and has been
at 20 million, 20-pound boxes
or more in seven of the last 10
years. Prices tend to tank in
July at the highest sustained
volume.
Growers commonly call it
the “Gebbers glut” for the large
production of Gebbers Farms
in Brewster, Wash., the state’s
largest cherry grower.
New varieties
The solution, industry lead-
ers say, is better early and late
season varieties to spread out
harvest.
“The industry wants earli-
er and better cherries than the
Chelan variety and later and
better cherries than Sweet-
heart,” says Norm Gutzwiler, a
Wenatchee cherry grower and
commissioner on the Washing-
ton State Fruit Commission.
He’s also on the Washington
Exciting work
WSU
Per McCord, Washington State University cherry breeder, plants
seeds from this year’s cherry crosses at the Irrigated Agriculture
Research and Extension Center in Prosser, Wash., on Nov. 16.
Tree Fruit Research Commis-
sion’s cherry research advisory
committee.
The industry wants an early
variety more rain resistant than
Chelan and cherries of large
size, good firmness and sugar
content at both ends to “spread
harvest so we don’t have a
huge amount in three weeks
in July not being sold at pref-
erable margins for growers,”
Gutzwiler said.
He said he thinks McCord
understands that and will move
in the right direction.
McCord said he has no
problem working with the in-
dustry.
Being responsive
“I think you’ve got to be re-
sponsive to your stakeholders,
especially if they are provid-
ing funding for some of your
work,” McCord said. “You
have to meet their expectations
but at the same time you have
a responsibility to all taxpayers
and your own research inter-
ests but they are not mutually
exclusive. It doesn’t put you in
a corner,” he said.
A top goal, he said, is to
develop new blush and mahog-
any cherry varieties to extend
the front and back ends of the
crop. He’s already done some
targeted crosses and is work-
ing to improve a data base for
breeding management. He
wants to organize it to more
easily see how a potential new
variety is performing, look at
how often the same parents
are used and evaluate existing
crosses.
There was a three- to four-
year break in crosses being
made and it takes years to de-
velop new varieties, he said.
“Everyone understands it
takes time, but we have to be
moving forward,” Gutzwiler
said.
“I don’t want to say it’s
easy, but it’s possible to breed
for large, firm fruit that tastes
McCord was one of eight
children and when he was
about 6 years old gained a love
of plants from his grandmother.
“She always had a garden
and lived close by. She made it
seem like an exciting thing to
work with plants,” he said. She
died in October at age 94.
He was drawn to genetics in
high school and college.
“It breaks the biology down
into parts that have a name and
you can understand. And when
you put it together it’s a won-
derful creative process but un-
derneath it are distinct fits,” he
said. “There is a gene or group
of genes driving what you see.”
His work at the USDA
Agriculture Research Service
sugarcane field station in Ca-
nal Point, Fla., was developing
new disease resistant, higher
yielding varieties.
“The life of a sugarcane
variety is not all that long. It
depends, but it can be 10 to 20
years and yields decline due
to disease pressure,” McCord
said. “It’s a high-value crop,
but the margins are not as great
as they are for tree fruit.”
His work with DNA mark-
ers in breeding sugarcane, al-
falfa and potatoes gives him a
broader perspective, he said,
more ability to look at things
from more angles.
“By using DNA markers to
chose your parents, you have a
higher proportion of offspring
that will have the desired gene
or trait. It increases the chances
of getting what you are looking
Western
Innovator
Per McCord
Born: Portland, raised in
Seaside, Ore.
Occupation: Associate
professor of horticulture
and stone fruit breeder at
WSU Irrigated Agriculture
Research and Extension
Center since April 1.
Family: A wife and five
children.
Education: Bachelor’s
degree in plant genetics and
breeding, Brigham Young
University, 2000. Master’s in
2005 and doctorate in 2009,
both in horticulture, North
Carolina State University.
Work History: Research ge-
neticist with USDA ARS sug-
arcane field station in Canal
Point, Fla., 2012-2018.
Post-doctorate researcher
USDA ARS in Prosser,
alfalfa genetics, 2010 to
2012; potato breeding and
genetics, 2009-2010.
for,” McCord said.
“Breeding is a numbers
game and you are basically
stacking the deck when you do
that,” he said.
He was looking to get back
to the Northwest when he saw
the job opening in Prosser.
“I liked working in sug-
arcane. I like to say it was a
sweet job, but it was really far
from our family and expensive
to travel,” he said. “I wasn’t
expecting a job opening back
in Prosser, but when I saw it I
saw it as an answer to prayer
and went for it.”
Sugarcane. Sweet cherries.
Sweet jobs.
OSU Extension’s poultry specialist sees 31 years of change
By JAN JACKSON
For the Capital Press
SALEM, Ore. — When
James Hermes came to Ore-
gon State University’s poultry
department 31 years ago, big
company buyouts, cage-free
egg production and stringent
antibiotic restrictions were
not issues.
Today, as enters his last
full academic year as Oregon
State University Extension’s
poultry specialist, Hermes is
dealing with all three.
Born in North Carolina,
Hermes earned an associate’s
degree in science from Palo-
mar Community College and
bachelor’s and master’s de-
grees in avian sciences and
a Ph.D. in genetics in 1988
from the University of Cali-
fornia-Davis.
“I was originally interest-
ed in hawks and then game
birds instead of chickens but
I couldn’t get into graduate
school with hawks and there
was no significant employ-
ment (related to) game birds,”
Hermes said. “Because of
that, I got involved in what
Jan Jackson/For the Capital Press
After 30-plus years, Oregon State University Extension poultry spe-
cialist James Hermes has seen a lot of changes in the industry.
at the time was called poul-
try husbandry. I changed my
major from zoology to avi-
an science, got my degree in
hatchery work and incubation
and came to Oregon State as
an extension agent and then
specialist.”
He spends 80 percent
of his time teaching and 20
percent advising growers,
judging contests and leading
workshops on the OSU Ex-
tension side. He is currently
participating in a three-year
pastured poultry program
with UC-Davis.
As fewer, larger compa-
nies raise chickens in Oregon,
the business has changed, he
said.
“My ties with the chicken
business are reduced, partly
because of my job and part-
ly because the chicken peo-
ple don’t meet any more,”
Hermes said.
The switch to cage-free
operations by 2025 will also
be challenging, he said.
“The cage-free deadline
is going to be a tough one to
meet because it is very expen-
sive to changeover,” he said.
Current cage facilities can’t be
modified, he said, so existing
buildings are going to have to
be pushed down and rebuilt.
“Each company has its
own schedule and everyone
is doing a little bit — 10 per-
cent the first year, 20 percent
the second year and so on,” he
said. “At a cost of $40 to $50
a bird and you have a million
birds, we obviously are going
to be paying more for eggs.”
Restrictions on antibiot-
ics is another change poultry
farmers face, he said.
“As to what’s going to hap-
pen now with new restrictions
on the use of pharmaceuticals,
is anybody’s guess. We don’t
know what will happen when
these egg layers are put on the
floor and/or outside where they
will be subjected to parasites
and bacteria that have never
challenged their immune sys-
tems before,” he said. “We are
definitely in a transition period
and we’re going to have to do
things differently. My veteri-
narian friends tell me the new
learning curve is going to be
steep.”
It remains to be seen who
will take over Hermes’ OSU
Extension duties and work
with 4-H and FFA students
and judge contests at the state
fair when he retires with plans
to raise his beloved game birds
at the end of 2019.
“I have a small farm out-
side of Philomath where I
can build pens for up to 1,000
pheasants, chuckers and other
games birds if I decide to do
that,” Hermes said. “My wife
may shoot me because she’s
not looking forward to spend-
ing our retirement tied to the
farm. Hopefully, I can hire
some willing students to pitch
in so we can get away. Af-
ter that, it will be helping my
daughters get over not being
on duty in the chicken booth
when Ag Fest rolls around.”
For more information, con-
tact OSU Department of An-
imal Rangeland Sciences at
541-737-2254 or email james.
hermes@oregonstate.edu
Tuesday-Thursday
Dec. 4-6
86th Oregon Farm Bureau Annual
Meeting. Salem Convention Center,
200 Commercial St. SE, Salem, Ore.
All voting and supporting members
of Farm Bureau are welcome and
encouraged to attend. Besides the
grassroots OFB policymaking pro-
cess, the convention offers a chance
to learn about Farm Bureau’s pro-
grams and priority issues, network,
and socialize with farmers and ranch-
ers from across the state. Website:
https://oregonfb.org/convention/
Idaho Farm Bureau Annual Meet-
ing. Boise. Idaho Farm Bureau mem-
bers gather to learn about and discuss
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items pertaining to agriculture. A ses-
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Tuesday-Friday
Dec. 4-7
California Farm Bureau Annual
Meeting. Hilton San Diego Bayfront,
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site: http://cfbf.com/storage/app/me-
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Wednesday, Dec. 12
Mid-Columbia CORE Pesticide
Training. 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Columbia
Gorge Community College Lecture
Hall, Building 2, The Dalles, Ore.
Morning topics include glyphosate,
triclopyr and risk assessments. Af-
ternoon topics include an update on
laws and regulations and case stud-
ies and lessons learned. 4 pesticide
credits are available. The class will
satisfy CORE requirements or can be
taken for 4 additional credits. Lunch
will not be provided. Pre-registration
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extension.oregonstate.edu/wasco
Thursday-Friday
Jan. 10-11
69th Annual Oregon Mint Growers
Meeting. Salishan Resort, 7760 US-
101, Gleneden Beach, Ore. Attendees
will hear the latest on the mint industry.
Pesticide recertification credits have
been applied for. Website: oregon-
mint.org
Friday-Wednesday
Jan. 11-16
2019 American Farm Bureau Fed-
eration Convention and IDEA Trade
Show. Ernest N. Morial Convention
Center, 900 Convention Center Blvd.,
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annual national meeting. Website:
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Wednesday-Friday
Jan. 16-18
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events
Northwest Ag Show. Oregon State
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St. NE, Salem, Ore. The 49th edition
will focus on the emerging trends in
the ag industry such as small farming,
technology and education. It will pro-
vide useful information to attendees
regarding equipment, best practices,
job training and state-sanctioned certi-
fications as well as legal and financial
issues facing all farmers. Cost: $5; $3
for seniors; free for children under 12.
Website: northwestagshow.com
Wednesday-Saturday
Jan. 23-26
Thursday, Jan. 17
Oregon
Seed
Association
Mid-Winter Meeting. 7 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Best Western Premier Boulder Falls
Inn, 505/605 Mullins Drive, Lebanon,
Ore. The one-day event consists
of committee and general member
meetings, workshops and includes
lunch. Scholarship awards are pre-
sented to eligible applicants. The day
concludes with an evening reception
to honor past association presidents.
39th Annual EcoFarm Confer-
ence. Asilomar Conference Grounds,
800 Asilomar Ave., Pacific Grove, Ca-
lif. The Ecological Farming Association
(EcoFarm) presents the 39th annual
EcoFarm Conference, featuring over
70 workshops, intensives, keynote
speakers, an exhibitor marketplace,
seed swap, live entertainment, mix-
ers and organic culinary fare. Work-
shops cover practical information on
crop production, livestock, soil health,
marketing and distribution, social jus-
tice and cutting-edge information to
help farmers succeed. As the oldest
and largest organic farming event in
the West, EcoFarm Conference is
a prime networking and educational
hub for farmers, ranchers, distributors,
retailers, activists, researchers, and
educators. Website: www.eco-farm.
org/conference.
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Markets ............................... 10
Opinion .................................. 6
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