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CapitalPress.com
Friday, September 13, 2019
People & Places
Sensors ‘sniff’ plant diseases
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
PULLMAN, Wash. — If
potato farmers worry about
storage losses, they might
want to call “Rotbusters.”
That’s the name Sind-
huja Sankaran uses to
explain her work using
sensors to detect storage
diseases like pythium and
soft rot at early stages,
even before their symp-
toms become visible.
Sankaran is an associ-
ate professor in the Wash-
ington State University
Department of Biological
Systems Engineering.
She says the sensors
“sniff” differences in pota-
toes that a disease emits.
For example, a farmer
might use a portable sensor
to scan different areas of his
potato storage. If the sen-
sor detects a certain marker
compound produced by rot
or another disease, it trig-
gers an alarm. That allows
farmers to address the prob-
lem before it grows.
The stakes are large.
Every year storage diseases
can damage up to 6% of the
potato crop, according to
WSU researchers.
The sniffer system can
be used in manual or auto-
matic mode.
Sankaran is now looking
for processors to field-test
the sensors.
As part of the project,
Sankaran plans to inoculate
potatoes in a storage facility
to determine how sensitive
the sensor is.
“The goal is a threshold
much less than our human
nose,” she said. “Maybe if
we can know early enough,
we can stop the spread of the
infection.”
The special olfactory
sensors can “sniff” differ-
ences more quantitatively,
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Established 1928
Board of Directors
Western
Innovator
SINDHUJA
SANKARAN
Age: 39
Born: Kumbakonam,
India.
Raised: Nagpur and
Chennai, India.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Sindhuja Sankaran, a Washington State University researcher, talks about her work
using sensors to “sniff” differences in plants July 22 in her lab.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Sindhuja Sankaran, an associate professor in agricultural automation engineering at
Washington State University, second from left, stands with her team of agricultural
automation engineering graduate students. For left are Worasit Sangjan; Sankaran;
Afef Marzougi; Changyuan Zhang and Milton Valencia.
enabling farmers to make
early decisions on how to
handle the problem.
Sankaran also uses the
sensors to help measure
qualities not visible to the
human eye, such as disease
resistance. Her team stud-
ies whether a potato releases
certain compounds as a way
to determine its disease
resistance.
Sankaran and her stu-
dents are incorporating the
sensor systems to create reli-
able applications that will
help farmers monitor their
crops and storage facilities.
“Any sensor can give you
a bunch of numbers,” she
said. “We just want to make
sure the numbers make
sense and provide some
useful information that can
assist in our decisions.”
Sankaran’s research also
includes potato nematode
damage.
Use of such technology
is becoming more common,
Sankaran said.
She joined WSU in June
2013. The position at WSU
was one of the first in phe-
nomics, the study of the
interaction of genes and the
environment.
Sankaran said she was
excited about the wide diver-
sity of crops in the state. She
works on wheat, legumes,
tree fruits, grapes, potatoes,
onions and forage crops.
Sankaran also wants to
adapt existing tools to help
growers, said Mark Pavek,
WSU potato specialist.
Sankaran’s work is “the
next step in a lot of things
that we do,” Pavek said.
“Once the tools are avail-
Current location: Pull-
man, Wash.
Title: Associate professor
Education: Bachelor’s
degree in zoology,
University of Madras;
master’s degree in
environmental science,
Anna University; master’s
degree in environmen-
tal engineering, Iowa
State University; Ph.D. in
agricultural and biosys-
tems engineering, North
Dakota State University.
LAKEVIEW, Ore. — It’s
back to normal in Lakeview
after a weekend of capacity
crowds at the Lake County
Round-Up and Fair.
Record crowds attended
the rodeo, destruction derby
and concert while streams of
people with Lakeview con-
nections gathered for fam-
ily reunions and lined down-
town streets for Monday
morning’s parade that fea-
tured more than 100 horses,
most of them carrying past
and present Lake County
Round-Up Royalty.
The occasion for the cele-
brating was the 100th annual
Lake County Round-Up.
While most communi-
ties throughout the Pacific
Northwest have hosted
rodeos, Lakeview’s two-day
Round-Up on Sept. 1-2 was
the 100th consecutive.
Despite some ups and
downs over the years,
Lakeview, a town of about
2,300 people and Lake
County with less than 8,000
people, have been able to
keep the rodeo going. The
Labor Day Weekend’s rodeo
and fair were no exception.
“It was a win-win deal,”
said John Flynn, a third gen-
eration Lake County rancher
who is a past parade grand
marshal and past president
of the Round-Up Associa-
tion. “The attendance for all
Lee Juillerat/For the Capital Press
Queens and princesses from the 1950s rode aboard a
horse-driven float in the Sept. 2 parade marking the
centennial of the Lake County, Ore., Round-Up.
the activities was fantastic.”
As usual, crowds lined
downtown Lakeview streets
to cheer on parade entrants,
including more than a hun-
dred former Round-Up
Queens and Princesses and a
cavalcade of past Round-Up
presidents and grand mar-
shals. Some families rode
on floats. Young kids trav-
eled the parade route on
small horses while queens
and princesses from Grant,
Harney and other rodeos
rode horseback with sad-
dles laden with bouquets of
flowers.
“That was the larg-
est crowd I’ve ever seen,”
Flynn said of the numbers of
people he passed who were
watching the parade. “They
were wall-to-wall.”
Among those riding in
the parade, and visible all
weekend, were this year’s
Round-Up royalty, Queen
Alena Vickerman and Prin-
cess Rebecca Warner. Both
have deep family ties. Vick-
erman’s sister, Mattee, was
the queen in 2015 and 2016,
and her grandmother Teresa
was a princess in 1964. War-
ner also has a family history.
Her aunt Kristy Reese was
the 1984 Queen while her
cousin Ashley Reese was the
2012 Queen.
Uniquely, there was
no grand marshal for the
100th
celebration.
As
Flynn explained, no one
was selected, “Because we
felt nobody should get the
notoriety. We’re all in this
together.”
Past and present pres-
idents, grand marshals
and queens and princesses
were among those filling
the grandstands at the Lake
County Fairgrounds for the
10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Hollinshead
Barn, 1235 NE Jones Road, Bend,
Ore. Restore Oregon will host its
annual 2019 Heritage Barn Work-
shop, where barn owners will learn
practical solutions from experts on
how to maintain, rehabilitate, and
adapt old barns for today’s needs.
Attendees will learn about the his-
tory and construction of barns as
well as maintenance, stabilization,
funding opportunities and preser-
vation. Cost includes snacks, lunch
with choice of sandwich and side,
and beverages. $40 www.restoreo-
regon.org
shop focusing on safety and
health for the cannabis industry.
Deschutes County Farm Bureau,
the Oregon Farm Bureau Health
& Safety Committee, in part-
nership with Oregon’s Occupa-
tional Safety & Health Division,
will present. http://bit.ly/2jVhoKe
503-947-7411
Spokane County Interstate
Fair: Spokane County Fair & Expo
Center, 404 N. Havana St., Spo-
kane, Wash. Spokane County,
Wash., invites people from around
the region to celebrate. https://
www.spokanecounty.org/1077/
General-Information
THROUGH SEPT. 22
Washington State Fair: Wash-
ington State Fairgrounds, 110 9th
Ave. SW, Puyallup, Wash. Washing-
ton’s statewide celebration opens
at 9:30 a.m. on weekends and
10:30 a.m. on weekdays. It will be
closed Sept. 3-4, 10 and 17. www.
thefair.com
SATURDAY, SEPT. 14
Heritage Barn Workshop:
MONDAY, SEPT. 16
Cannabis Safety Workshop:
Riverhouse on the Deschutes,
3075 N. Business 97, Bend, Ore.
Cannabis growers, extractors and
processors are invited to a work-
MONDAY, SEPT. 23
Fall Cover Crop Workshop:
6-7:30 p.m. Southern Oregon
Research and Extension Center, 569
Hanley Road, Central Point, Ore. In
this class, we will discuss the bene-
fits of using fall-planted cover crops,
learn about the species and mix-
tures well suited to southern Ore-
gon, and detail the process of grow-
ing and managing cover crops for
multiple benefits to your farm{/
span}. $10 per person http://bit.ly/
Pastries and coffee provided. http://
www.aglink.org
Oregon Aglink Open House:
9 a.m.-noon. Oregon Aglink’s new
office, 2195 Hyacinth St. NE, No.
105, Salem, Ore. Join the staff and
members of Oregon Aglink at the
organization’s new Salem office.
Joe Beach ..................... Editor & Publisher
Kevin Blodgett ........... Advertising Director
Carl Sampson .................. Managing Editor
Jessica Boone ............ Production Manager
Samantha McLaren ....Circulation Manager
Entire contents copyright © 2019
EO Media Group
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An independent newspaper
published every Friday.
Capital Press (ISSN 0740-3704) is
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To Reach Us
able, people will say, ‘What
did we do without it?’” he
said. “Any tools that give a
grower more information so
they can help market their
product is going to be very
useful.”
Sankaran loves apply-
ing the things she learns to
what’s needed by farmers.
“Farming is a lot of hard
work,” she said. “If we can
use technology to make it
more efficient, why not?”
JacksonExtAgriculture
THURSDAY, SEPT. 26
Capital Press Managers
POSTMASTER: send address changes to
Capital Press, P.O. Box 2048 Salem, OR
97308-2048.
Janson, who ignited the audi-
ence — some seated in the
stands and others crowded
and standing in front of the
stage — for more than hour
with music, including his hit
singles.
Different sounds, those
of cars colliding, were heard
Sunday night at the annual
Destruction Derby, in front
of an overflow audience.
The extended week-
end, which officially began
Thursday with a series
of 4-H and FFA exhib-
its, judging, other activi-
ties and Saturday’s 4-H-
FFA Fat Stock Sale, also
included exhibit building
displays, a ranch rodeo,
food stands, vendors, 100th
anniversary merchandise,
and book sales. The car-
nival offered a variety of
rides and activities, includ-
ing bumper cars, a super
slide, children’s games,
balloon creations to a tradi-
tional Ferris wheel.
“I think for the most
part everything went super-
smooth,” said Lake County
Fairgrounds Manager Ronne
Lindsay, adding, “We have
to have at least one broken
pipe in the grandstands bath-
room or it isn’t a fair.” Lind-
say had no figures yet on
attendance, but said the food
concessions all reported
increases in sales. “I know
when the figures are in we’ll
see a significant increase in
attendance.”
Public Lands Council Annual
Meeting: Great Falls Civic Center, 2
Park Drive S, Great Falls, Mont. The
agenda includes federal agency
updates, an Endangered Species
Act panel discussion, a public lands
ranching panel discussion, a PLC
business meeting and a predator
tour. http://publiclandscouncil.org
Rick Hansen
Chief Financial Officer
Website: https://labs.
wsu.edu/sankaran-phe-
nomics/
Sunday and Monday rodeos.
Both days, Jere Barry, a
former grand marshal and
Round-Up president, was
honored during the Empty
Saddle presentation. Barry,
84, died in March. The
Empty Saddle ceremony has
been held the past 30 years to
remember people who have
been highly involved with
the Round-Up. As in past
years, a horse with a sad-
dle but no rider was escorted
in front of the grandstands
while Barry’s accomplish-
ments were read over the
loud speaker to the hushed
crowd.
The grandstands were
loud for both days of the
rodeo, with Sunday’s atten-
dance a record 2,365. PRCA
(Professional Rodeo Cow-
boys Association) cowboys
competed for prize money
and a chance at qualifying
for the PRCA finals in Las
Vegas later this year. Events
includes saddle bronc rid-
ing, bull riding, steer wres-
tling, tie down roping, team
roping and bareback rid-
ing while local cowboys
and cowgirls from South-
ern Oregon and far Northern
California competed in var-
ious events, including calf
riding, goat tying, barrel rac-
ing, and men’s and women’s
team roping.
The grandstands were
also packed for Saturday
night’s dynamic concert fea-
turing country singer Chris
WEDNESDAY-
SATURDAY
SEPT. 25-28
Heidi Wright
Chief Operating Officer
Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR,
and at additional mailing offices.
CALENDAR
THROUGH SEPT. 15
Corporate Officers
Family: Husband Lav
Khot; son Madhav, 8;
daughter Mukta, 3.
Rodeo’s 100th celebration draws record crowds
By LEE JUILLERAT
For the Capital Press
Mike Forrester
Steve Forrester
Kathryn Brown
Susan Rana
Harrison Forrester
Mike Omeg
Cory Bollinger
Jeff Rogers
SATURDAY, SEPT. 28
Goat Education Day:
8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Auditorium,
Southern Oregon Research and
Extension Center (SOREC), 429-
569 Hanley Road, Central Point,
Ore. Adults $35, Youths (18
and younger) $20 http://bit.ly/
JacksonGoatEdDay2019
Sauvie Island Jubilee:
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Howell Territorial
Park, 13901 NW Howell Park Road,
Portland, Ore. The event is free and
open to all. Celebrate Sauvie Island
history and culture, and the West
Multnomah Soil and Water Conser-
vation District’s 75th anniversary. It
will be a fun-filled day of activities
for all ages. https://www.sauvieis-
landjubilee.org/main
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Dairy .......................................................9
Markets .................................................12
Opinion ...................................................6
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