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CapitalPress.com
Friday, December 6, 2019
People & Places
Aiding the fight against pink rot
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Research by Jeff Miller
and other scientists is pro-
viding potato growers with
more tools to use in con-
trolling pink rot.
The soil-borne disease is
caused mainly by the patho-
gen Phytophthora eryth-
roseptica. It infects potato
roots, stolons and tubers,
and if not controlled can
lead to significant losses in
potato fields and in storage.
Miller, principal in Miller
Research near Rupert,
Idaho, worked as a potato
pathologist for two years at
the University of Minnesota
before serving in a similar
position with the University
of Idaho from 2001 to 2006.
The next year, he took over
the field and lab enterprise
his father, Terry, also a sci-
entist, founded in 1975.
“When I came to UI, it
was a huge problem in the
state,” Jeff Miller said of
pink rot, “primarily because
growers had had great suc-
cess using a certain chemi-
cal to manage the disease.”
But the pathogen was
developing resistance to the
fungicide, known generi-
cally as Mefenoxam.
“During my time at UI,
I worked on trying to find
alternative chemicals or
even better farming prac-
tices to manage the dis-
ease,” Miller said. “When
I left UI to come to Miller
Research,
I
basically
brought that with me. …
It has been a great collab-
orative project through the
years.”
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JEFF MILLER
Title: President and prin-
cipal field investigator,
Miller Research, Rupert,
Idaho
Education: Ph.D., M.S.,
in plant pathology,
Washington State Univer-
sity. B.S., Brigham Young
University, botany with
emphasis in biotechnol-
ogy.
Capital Press File
Jeff Miller, of Miller Research in Rupert, Idaho, holds potato leaves with symptoms of
early blight during a field day.
Finding a new treatment
for pink rot proved difficult.
Miller kept working on it
with scientists from UI, and
Washington State, Oregon
State and North Dakota
State universities.
Researchers
experi-
mented with a common,
phosphorous-acid-based
fungicide that was safe
but relatively weak. They
found that it, too, was inef-
fective at controlling pink
rot — until once mistak-
enly applying about twice
as much as intended.
“We found that we were
achieving control,” Miller
said. “Typically, twofold
use would cause problems.
But the difference was that
these phosphorous acids or
phosphites are very safe.”
The discovery meant
growers
who
found
the pathogen resisting
Mefenoxam in their fields
could instead use a phos-
phite. Researchers would
go on to determine ideal
application rates and meth-
ods — and to also find
phosphites effective at
reducing pink rot and late
blight while potatoes are
stored, if applied when
they are going into storage.
Recent work, funded
by the Northwest Potato
Research
Consortium,
addresses location-specific
treatment.
“So far, we are find-
ing most of the pink rot in
the Columbia Basin is still
sensitive to Mefenoxam,
and in Idaho it is a mixed
bag; we have both fungi-
cide-sensitive and fungi-
cide-resistant
isolates,”
Miller said. “Once growers
know they have Mefenox-
am-resistant isolates in the
field, then they can switch
to the phosphites.”
Other new research
looks at pink rot suscepti-
bility by potato variety.
“We are evaluating new
varieties, and looking at
in-season and post-harvest
management, to try to see
what is the most effective
management package to
give you the most complete
pink rot control approach
from planting to storage,”
Miller said.
Age: 49
Family: Wife Shaura, four
boys
Hobbies: Reading,
mountain biking, hiking,
climbing, camping, Boy
Scouts leadership, church
activities
SEATTLE (AP) — Wil-
liam Ruckelshaus, who
served as the first administra-
tor of the U.S. Environmen-
tal Protection Agency under
President Richard Nixon, has
died. He was 87.
It was also Ruckelshaus
who famously quit his job in
the U.S. Justice Department
rather than carry out Nixon’s
order to fire the special prose-
cutor investigating the Water-
gate scandal.
The EPA confirmed
his death in a statement
Wednesday.
The lifelong Republican
also served as acting director
of the FBI. But his moment of
fame came in 1973, when he
was a deputy attorney general
and joined his boss, Attorney
General Elliot Richardson, in
resigning rather than carrying
out Nixon’s unlawful order to
fire Watergate special prose-
cutor Archibald Cox.
After Richardson and
Ruckelshaus resigned, Solic-
itor General Robert Bork car-
ried out the firing in what
became known as the “Sat-
urday Night Massacre” —
prompting protests and out-
rage around the country.
“He was incorruptible,”
longtime friend and Seattle
philanthro-
pist Martha
Kongsgaard
said Wednes-
day of Ruck-
elshaus. “It
was very dis-
William
appointing
Ruckelshaus for him to
see this hap-
pening again in our country,
and maybe on a larger scale.
Deep decency in the face of
corruption is needed now
more than ever.”
Ruckelshaus’ civic ser-
vice and business career
spanned decades and U.S.
coasts, marked by stints at
the EPA under Nixon and
Ronald Reagan, a lost bid for
the U.S. Senate in 1968 and
top positions at Weyerhae-
user Co. and Browning Fer-
ris Industries.
Ruckelshaus spent much
of his life focused on air and
water pollution and other
environmental issues. As a
young Indiana state attor-
ney general, he sought court
orders to prevent indus-
tries and cities from pollut-
ing waters, and in his later
years, he was the Pacific
Northwest’s most high-pro-
file advocate for cleaning up
Puget Sound in Washington
state.
As the first EPA admin-
istrator from 1970 to 1973,
he won praise for pushing
automakers to tighten con-
trols on air pollution. Shortly
after taking over the agency,
he ordered the mayors of
Detroit, Atlanta and Cleve-
land to stop polluting waters
and took actions against U.S.
Steel and dozens of other
water polluters.
Reagan asked him back
to the EPA in 1983 to help
restore public trust to the
scandal-plagued agency. His
wife, Jill, likened his return
to a “self-inflicted Heim-
lich maneuver,” but Ruck-
elshaus said he accepted
the job because he thought
he could right the ship, help
staff refocus on their work
and re-establish the EPA’s
credibility.
Several thousand EPA
employees greeted his return
with thunderous applause.
One sign read, “How do you
spell relief? Ruckelshaus.”
Reflecting on his long
career of public service and
private enterprise in 2001,
Ruckelshaus ranked his time
at the EPA as one of the most
fulfilling and challenging.
“At EPA, you worked for
a cause that is beyond self-in-
terest and larger than the
goals people normally pur-
sue,” he said in an EPA oral
history interview. “You’re
not there for the money,
you’re there for something
beyond yourself.”
Ruckelshaus was born in
1932 in Indianapolis to a line
of politically active lawyers.
His grandfather had been
the Indiana chairman of the
Republican Party in 1900,
and his father was the plat-
form committee chairman at
five Republican conventions.
He told The Los Angeles
Times in 1971 that his per-
sonal interest in nature and
conservation was rooted in
his childhood when his father
took him fishing in northern
Michigan.
Between his stints at the
EPA, Ruckelshaus moved
his family and five children
to the Seattle area, where he
had spent two years out of
high school as an army drill
sergeant at the Fort Lewis.
He graduated from Princeton
University and Harvard Law
School. He met his wife on a
blind date set up by her Sun-
day school teacher. It took
place at his aunt and uncle’s
house in Indianapolis, where
they both grew up.
In the Northwest, Ruck-
elshaus led federal efforts to
recover Chinook salmon and
steered an ambitious state ini-
tiative to clean up and restore
Puget Sound, where salmon
and orcas are in danger.
His focus on a collabora-
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Some growers recently
have asked if they must
wait 48 hours to resume
irrigation after applying
phosphites.
“We are still doing the
research, but so far that
does not appear to be the
case,” Miller said. “It prob-
ably needs about six hours
(to absorb). This research
is ongoing, so we may
refine this recommenda-
tion. But they don’t have
to worry about having to
keep the pivots off for too
long.”
William Ruckelshaus, first head of EPA, dies at 87
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press
Carl Sampson .................. Managing Editor
tive science-based process
helped set the course for the
Puget Sound Partnership, the
state agency charged with
cleaning up the inland waters
by 2020.
His daughter, Mary Ruck-
elshaus, served as the agen-
cy’s chief scientist at the
same time her father led the
leadership council that over-
saw it.
Denis Hayes, who coor-
dinated the first Earth Day
in 1970, once called Ruck-
elshaus “a Republican envi-
ronmental hero,” and for-
mer Washington Gov. Chris
Gregoire described him as
“big as the great outdoors.”
Ruckelshaus served on the
boards of directors of sev-
eral major corporations. He
was senior vice president for
law and corporate affairs at
the Weyerhaeuser Co., before
returning to the EPA for his
second term. At the time,
some environmentalists crit-
icized his close ties to some
of the industries that the EPA
regulated.
He was CEO of Brown-
ing-Ferris Industries Inc.
from 1988 to 1995 and served
as chairman from 1995 to
1999. He was also a strategic
director of Madrona Venture
Group in Seattle, an early
backer of companies such as
Amazon.
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Submit upcoming ag-related
events on www.capitalpress.com
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press.com.
SUNDAY-
WEDNESDAY
DEC. 8-11
California Farm Bureau Fed-
eration 101st Annual Meeting:
Portola Hotel and Spa, Two Portola
Plaza, Monterey, Calif. Join fellow
farmers and ranchers as we discuss
and develop policy, recognize the
county Farm Bureaus at the core of
our grassroots structure and indi-
vidual members who have demon-
strated that working together
during this past year is how we will
continue “Building Our Future.” Con-
tact: https://cfbf.com/am2019
TUESDAY, DEC. 10
Changing Hands: A Free Suc-
cession Planning Workshop.
1-4 p.m. at Salishan Resort in
Gleneden Beach, in conjunction
with the Oregon Farm Bureau Con-
vention. RSVP to Nellie McAdams,
nellie@oregonagtrust.org, 971-409-
6806. Happy hour to follow.
University of Idaho Snake
River Sugar Beet Conference: Best
Western Plus Burley Inn & Conven-
tion Center, 800 N. Overland Ave.,
Burley, Idaho. This is the annual
sugar beet growers’ conference.
Contact: Erick Wenninger, 208 423-
6677, erikw@uidaho.edu
TUESDAY-THURSDAY
DEC. 10-12
Oregon Farm Bureau Annual
Meeting: Salishan Resort, 7760
North Highway 101, Gleneden
Beach, Ore. Members of the Ore-
gon Farm Bureau meet once a year
for grassroots discussions on issues
important to agriculture. Contact:
tiffany@oregonfb.org, https://ore-
gonfb.org/
THURSDAY-FRIDAY
JAN. 9-10
Oregon Mint Growers Annual
Meeting: 8 a.m. Salishan Resort,
7760 North Highway 101, Gleneden
Beach, Ore. Make your plans to
attend the 71st annual meeting,
where you’ll hear the latest on the
mint industry. Contact: http://ore-
gonmint.org, 503-364-2944
WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY
JAN. 15-17
Northwest Agricultural
Show: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednes-
day, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday and
9 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday. Oregon State
Fair and Expo Center, 2330 17th St.
NE, Salem, Ore. The 50th edition of
the Northwest Ag Show will feature
over 120 exhibitors and partners
and seminars and workshops cov-
ering a variety of topics important
to farmers and ranchers. Admis-
sion on Wednesday and Thursday
is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, and
free for children 12 and under.
Admission on Friday is free, cour-
tesy of the Oregon Ag in the
Classroom Foundation. Contact:
503-364-4431 http://northwestag-
show.com
FRIDAY, JAN. 17
SAIF Agri-Business Banquet:
6 p.m. Salem Convention Cen-
ter, 200 Commercial St. SE, Salem,
Ore. The SAIF Agri-Business Ban-
quet is a celebration of the agricul-
tural community and its impact on
the mid-Willamette Valley. This year,
Jim Bernau of Willamette Valley
Vineyards is the featured speaker.
https://salemchamber.org/events/
saif-agribusiness-banquet/
SATURDAY, JAN. 18
Oregon Dairy Princess Ambas-
sador Contest: 5:30 p.m. Salem
Convention Center, 200 Commercial
St. SE, Salem, Ore. Join the excite-
ment as the county dairy princess
ambassadors demonstrate their
dairy knowledge and public speak-
ing and communications skills.
Online: https://oregondairywomen.
com/events/
FRIDAY-WEDNESDAY
JAN. 17-22
American Farm Bureau Annual
Convention and Trade Show: Aus-
tin Convention Center, 500 E. Cesar
Chavez St., Austin, Texas. This is your
opportunity to help set the agenda
for the leading voice of agriculture.
Participate in educational work-
shops to advance your leadership
skills, expand your business acu-
men and gain deep insight into the
trends and realities impacting food
production. Contact: https://annual-
convention.fb.org/
SUNDAY-TUESDAY
JAN. 19-21
NFU Women’s Conference: Cat-
amaran Resort Hotel and Spa, 3999
Mission Blvd., San Diego, Calif. This
conference will not only prepare
attendees for success in agriculture,
but it will also provide them with
their own network of women farm-
ers and ranchers they can reach
out to throughout the year. Con-
tact: Hannah Packman, hpackman@
nfudc.org, 202-554-1600. https://
nfu.org/womensconference/
MONDAY, FEB. 3
Oregon Blueberry Confer-
ence: 8 a.m. Salem Convention Cen-
ter, 200 Commercial St. SE, Salem,
Ore. This is the Oregon blueberry
industry’s annual meeting and fea-
tures a variety of presentations and
other informational sessions. Con-
tact: http://oregonblueberry.com
503-364-2944
TUESDAY-
THURSDAY, FEB. 4-6
Spokane Ag Expo and North-
west Farm Forum: 9 a.m., Spokane
Convention Center, 334 W Spo-
kane Falls Blvd., Spokane, Wash.
Spokane’s annual celebration of all
things agricultural, with a large ag
equipment show and full sched-
ule of presentations that will be of
interest to all ranchers and farmers.
Online: www.agshow.org
TUESDAY-
THURSDAY,
FEB. 11-13
World Ag Expo: 9 a.m., Interna-
tional Agri-Center, 4500 S. Laspina
St., Tulare, Calif. World Ag Expo is
the world’s largest annual agricul-
tural exposition. More than 1,500
exhibitors display the latest in farm
equipment, communications and
technology on 2.6 million square
feet of exhibit space. Free semi-
nars focus on a variety of topics
important to dairy producers, farm-
ers, ranchers and agribusiness pro-
fessionals. Online: www.worldag-
expo.com
mail your letter to “Opinion,” c/o Capital
Press. Letters should be limited to
300 words. Deadline: Noon Monday.
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Index
Dairy .......................................................9
Markets .................................................13
Opinion ...................................................6
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