Capital press., December 13, 2019, Page 7, Image 7

Friday, December 13, 2019
CapitalPress.com
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New WSU Extension director: ‘I intend to listen a lot’
McCracken aims to link
with new medical school
in rural communities
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Vicki McCracken, the new direc-
tor of Washington State University
Extension, promises to improve the
connection between the university
and the farmers it serves.
“I intend to listen a lot and help
provide leadership and guidance
that will help farmers of all scales,”
McCracken told the Capital Press.
“I want farmers to think extension
links them to resources within the
university, but is also a resource on
its own.”
Many extension faculty mem-
bers are conducting
their own research,
as well as provid-
ing a direct link
between farmers
and other WSU
researchers,
she
Vicki
said.
McCracken
“I’ve
always
been
passion-
ate about applications of knowl-
edge,” McCracken said. “To me,
extension is, what’s even applied
research without the ability of get-
ting it effectively in the hands of
the individuals who can use that
information?”
McCracken begins her new posi-
tion Jan. 1. She will be an associate
dean in WSU’s College of Agricul-
tural, Human and Natural Resource
Sciences.
“I was thinking about, ‘What
had I not done in my career that
I was truly passionate about?’”
McCracken said of what drew her
to the position. “I am excited about
the ability to have extension as not
separate from the college, but fully
integrated and a full player in the
university’s view.”
McCracken said her initial prior-
ities are filling vacant positions and
finding places to eliminate possi-
ble duplication. She sees opportuni-
ties to connect with other CAHNRS
agriculture and natural resources,
youth and family and commu-
nity and economic development
programs.
McCracken and CAHNRS Dean
André Wright’s goals include con-
necting extension and CAHNRS
with WSU’s new Elson Floyd Col-
lege of Medicine. McCracken
points to existing agricultural
research, such as how management
of soil nutrients impacts the health-
fulness of a food product.
Part of the medical school’s
“big picture” goal is to train stu-
dents who will do their residencies
or work in small communities, she
said.
“These communities are for the
most part rural, agricultural-based
communities,” McCracken said.
McCracken has worked at WSU
since 1984. Her previous positions
include working as associate direc-
tor of WSU’s Agricultural Research
Center from 1994 to 1998. She
received her master’s and Ph.D.
degrees in agricultural economics
at Purdue University. She studied
economics and human nutrition as
an undergraduate.
“I don’t come from an agricul-
tural background, but my last 35
years has truly been in agricul-
ture,” she said. “I’ve always been
interested in doing something that
helped solve problems.”
She and her husband, WSU soil
science professor Bill Pan, own 20
acres in Pullman and work with a
local farmer to raise canola, chick-
peas and wheat.
McCracken will work half-time
in the extension position at first,
maintaining a half-time position
as chair of WSU’s Department of
Apparel, Merchandising, Design
and Textiles, also in CAHNRS,
to allow the department to find a
replacement. She will move to the
Extension position full-time June
1. Currently, she splits her time
between the apparel department and
as a professor in WSU’s School of
Economic Sciences. She will leave
the economics position in January.
Borton opens new apple packing plant
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
UNION GAP, Wash.
— The latest totally new
world-class apple packing
plant in the Pacific North-
west opened this fall on the
southwestern edge of Union
Gap, just south of Yakima.
Borton Fruit Co. is
operating a 500,000-plus
square-foot facility that
cost well over $40 million
on property less than 10
miles from where Byron
Sarver Borton began with a
20-acre orchard in 1912.
“This is the platform for
our growth and success out
into the future with food
safety features, innovative
technology and efficien-
cies that enable us to run
three times the apple vol-
ume with the same amount
of labor,” said Eric Borton,
the company’s director of
business development and
a fourth-generation family
member.
That’s about 200 people
in packing, shipping and
inventory control at the new
plant when it’s in full pro-
duction, he said.
While some companies
lack sufficient apple vol-
ume to service their debt on
recently constructed pack-
ing lines, he said Borton
Fruit Co. is carefully avoid-
ing that by having the vol-
ume to maximize the new
plant’s capacity.
Production has been
gradually shifting this fall
from the company’s old
main plant near the original
family orchard to the new
facility.
While the new facility
is not significantly larger
than the old one in square
footage, added storage,
increased packing speed,
new technology and auto-
mation provide efficiencies
for notable cost savings,
Borton said.
Using ozone for sanita-
tion will cut chemical use
25%, radiant heating will
save 15% on energy and a
centralized chemical deliv-
ery system will cut sanita-
tion program costs by 35%,
he said.
The new plant is capable
of packing 150 to 180 bins
of apples per hour, which is
about triple the speed of the
old plant.
The old plant received
some notoriety after a 1979
fire when it was rebuilt with
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Forty-pound packing boxes, assembled on the mezza-
nine, slide down to each station for loading with trays
of apples at Borton Fruit Co.’s new plant in Union Gap,
Wash., on Oct. 23.
the first computerized elec-
tronic apple sizer in the
nation.
The new apple lines
are operated with Nether-
lands-built Aweta Hyper-
spectral Vision 3D comput-
erized sizer-sorter-graders.
They detect external and
internal defects.
Old apple packing lines
typically ran 30 to 50 bins
per hour while today’s
norm is about 100 bins per
hour.
The 150 to 180 bins per
hour at the new Borton
plant includes 50 to 60 bins
per hour on a small 6-lane,
commit-to-pack line and
100 to 120 bins per hour on
a 16-lane main line that can
run a water pre-size portion
and commit-to-pack por-
tion simultaneously.
“It’s a true hybrid pack-
ing line,” Borton said.
Pre-size means fruit is
sorted and stored by size
and grade for later pack-
ing and shipping. Commit-
to-pack means fruit is being
packed for short-term stor-
age and shipment.
The new plant has:
• 128,000 square feet
of controlled atmosphere
storage.
• 200,000 square feet
for packed fruit storage and
shipping.
• 200,000 square feet for
packing lines, shops and
offices.
The 18-truck-bay ship-
ping portion has a partial
Automated Storage and
Retrieval System to maxi-
mize first-in-first-out flow.
ASRS involves move-
ment, storage and retrieval
for shipping of packed
boxes of tree fruit with
robotic cranes, automated
dollies and computer-
ized tracking for efficient
flow and significant labor
savings.
“We have self-driving,
semi-autonomous,
high-
mast forklifts, not a full-
crane-type system,” Borton
said. “Full ASRS is the next
step that we can convert to
in the future once the eco-
nomics make sense.”
Packed fruit storage is
more vertical than hori-
zontal with pallets stacked
seven high and all with
front-facing accessibility.
None are hidden behind
other pallets.
The entire system is
driven by a custom inte-
grated warehouse manage-
ment software.
Other areas of the plant
have been built for future
evolution of automation
and when costs can be justi-
fied, Borton said.
“A huge aspect of all
of this is food safety. We
built the production lines
from the ground up with
food safety in the fore-
front of what we’re trying
to achieve,” Borton said.
“It’s stainless steel con-
struction throughout. San-
itation friendly food con-
tact surfaces. Automated
clean-in-place applications
and a centralized sanitation
system.”
The centralized sanita-
tion system is one of the
first of its kind in tree fruit
packing. Floors are slightly
sloped, drains are U-shaped
and heating and cooling is
plumbed under floors so
there’s no blowing air or
dust.
The company packs
between 7 million and 8
million boxes of apples,
pears and cherries annually.
Pears and some apples
are packed at the compa-
ny’s West Chestnut Avenue
plant in Yakima and cher-
ries are packed at a state-of-
the-art Zillah, Wash., facil-
ity with separate lines for
red and Rainier cherries.
The majority of the fruit
comes from the company’s
own orchards totaling more
than 6,000 acres. Some fruit
is packed for other growers.
Borton Fruit merged its
marketing program with
Chelan Fresh Marketing, in
Chelan, Wash., in 2017.
PTO GENERATORS
Capital Press File
The Japanese parliament has approved a new agricul-
tural trade agreement with the U.S.
U.S. wheat growers
welcome Japan’s passage
of trade agreement
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Japan’s parliament Dec.
4 approved the new agri-
cultural trade agreement
with the U.S., a move that
was welcomed by American
wheat farmers, who say the
deal will put them on a level
playing field with competi-
tors in Canada and Australia.
“It keeps our exports on
par with Australia and Can-
ada, which is what we asked
for,” said Darren Padget,
vice chairman of U.S. Wheat
Associates and an Oregon
Wheat Commission board
member. Padget farms in
Grass Valley, Ore.
Japan represents roughly
10% of U.S. wheat exports,
Padget said.
The agreement is slated
to go into effect Jan. 1,
following
its
publica-
tion in the Federal Regis-
ter, said Steve Mercer, U.S.
Wheat vice president of
communications.
“Approval of the U.S.-Ja-
pan Trade Agreement is one
of the most important trade
policy victories in many
years for U.S. wheat farm-
ers and their customers in
Japan,” said Vince Peter-
son, U.S. Wheat president,
in a press release. “U.S.
Wheat Associates appreci-
ates the swift consideration
of the agreement by Japan’s
National Diet (parliament)
and offers its thanks again
to our trade negotiators and
USDA officials who under-
stand why it was so vital to
see U.S. wheat exports gain
equal footing again with
competing supplies from
Canada and Australia.”
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Plant the Garlic: Leasing to Landownership,
Red Dog Farm – A Changing Hands Story
As she put out feelers to buy,
Jefferson Land Trust stepped
Leasing land proved essential up as a partner. “I wouldn’t
By Ashley Rood,
to providing both the
have been able to purchase
Rogue Farm Corps
experience and community
my farm without Jefferson
“I fell in love with growing
Williams needed to build a
Land Trust,” says Williams.
food as a way to make money thriving farm business on
Williams had her eye on
and bring people together,”
the Olympic Peninsula in
23 acres of a former dairy.
says Karyn Williams of
Washington.
It was prime farmland, but
Red Dog Farm. “But I had
“I had a great time and
also, a blank slate—it would
no idea if farming is what I
take a lot of money just to
should do. I needed to try it.” made tons of mistakes. I
found such a supportive
build up operations for the
farm. As part of Jefferson
LandWorks collaborative, the
Land Trust provided a bridge
for Red Dog Farm—they
purchased the farm, with a
loan from Craft 3, and leased
to Williams. The intent
was to put a conservation
easement on the farm,
permanently preserving the
land and reducing the cost, so
Williams could purchase the
land within five years.
It was a ground lease
agreement. Williams could
put in infrastructure like
irrigation and, if she left,
she could get the value
of that investment out.
Williams built up three years
of good credit to secure a
low interest loan through
the Farm Service Agency’s
Beginning Farmer program
and purchased the land ahead
of schedule.
Sarah Spaeth from the Land
Trust says, “it was critical
for our land trust to ensure
generational transfer of land.
Easements set the elder
generation up for retirement
and make it more affordable
for the next generation.”
Red Dog now sells 150
different varieties of
vegetables, berries, and cut
flowers to her community.
Williams took time off this
year to be with her newborn
and let the farm manager
run the farm. Williams says,
“it’s been inspiring for me
to know that the systems are
working.”
Red Dog Farm will soon
expand to new Land Trust
farmland—as part of a
Williams works with other
mixed-use development
providers like the local Small that may ultimately provide
Business Development
the next piece of a thriving
Center and NWFCS Ag
local agricultural economy:
Vision program on business
affordable farmworker
planning and financing to
housing.
create a steady business with
More of this story online...
16 employees.
S159267-1
community,” she said. While
leasing was a great trial,
Williams wasn’t able to care
for the land like she wanted,
she could never take care
of weeds for example. An
annual lease was also nerve
wracking: “Do I plant the
garlic or not?”