COVID-19 AND ITS IMPACT
ON AGRICULTURE | PAGES 4, 5
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
CapitalPress.com
Friday, March 27, 2020
Volume 93, Number 13
$2.00
IT’S MINT TO BE
Northwest mint farmers endure deadly fungi and
foreign competition to keep regional tradition alive
By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
J
UNCTION CITY, Ore. — John Reerslev, 65, a second-gener-
ation mint farmer, bent and plucked a young mint sprig from
the soil. He rubbed it between leathery fingertips and held it
to his nose. A breeze rippled his graying hair.
“When harvest comes, everything smells like peppermint,” he
said. “It fills the air.”
Reerslev and his family grow mint and distill mint oil in the
Willamette Valley, heartland of America’s mint industry.
The Reerslev farm near Junction City is part of a colossal
domestic industry impacting how millions of Americans brush
their teeth, chew gum, suck cough drops, swallow medications,
inhale essential oils and flavor their ice cream.
See Mint, Page 10
Peppermint
versus
spearmint
Of the mint oil produced, roughly 45% is used to flavor oral hygiene
products like toothpaste and mouthwash. Thus, the demand for
peppermint is much greater than other varieties, such as spearmint.
30,000 acres
23,000
Peppermint oil acres harvested
19,000: Down 17.4% from 2010
20,000
16,000
17,000
10,000
15,500
Oregon
Idaho
Washington
Source: USDA NASS
0
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Oregon mint grower John Reerslev stands in his distillery beside a boiler, built in 1944, which he
still uses.
2010
’13
10,000
’16
2019
Peppermint
Spearmint
~Menthol content: 40%
~Menthol content: 0.5%
~Scent: Pungent
~Scent: Delicate
~Flavor: Spicy, cool, refreshing
~Flavor: Savory, sweet, herbal
~Popular uses: Holiday treats,
medicinal purposes,
toothpaste and mouthwash
~Popular uses: Savory recipes
like tzatziki sauce over lamb,
mint-flavored gums
‘MINT IS A REALLY INTERESTING SPECIALTY CROP TO
GROW. BUT IT’S NOT EASY. YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE A SENSE
OF HUMOR TO GROW MINT.’
Source: American Culinary Federation
John Reerslev, Oregon mint grower
Sierra Dawn McClain and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Western farm water use data to go online
NASA, Google, environmental groups to make water
management data more accessible to public in 2021
By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
OpenET developers claim it will
help expand irrigation practices
that maximize “crop per drop,”
reducing costs for fertilizer and
water.
Irrigation data has historically
been limited in scope and expen-
sive to access. A new project seeks to
change that.
Researchers from NASA, the Des-
ert Research Institute and the Envi-
ronmental Defense Fund, with sup-
port from Google Earth Engine
technology, are working to create an
online platform with free, accessi-
ble, satellite-based water data open to
anyone.
Farmers have expressed both
excitement and concern about the
prospect. Industry leaders and water
experts say the project will have a pro-
found impact on water management in
the West.
“The implications are tremen-
dous,” said Andrew McElrone, pro-
fessor and research plant physiologist
at the University of California-Davis.
“This will impact growing decisions,
water usage, water rights and trading.”
The project, called OpenET, will
launch in 2021.
OpenET’s leaders say its purpose
is to improve “sustainable water man-
agement” for communities, rivers,
wildlife and agriculture. It is funded
by environmental organizations and
charitable foundations.
OpenET is so named because it
measures evapotranspiration, or ET,
the process by which water moves
from ground to atmosphere through
both evaporation from the land and
transpiration from plants.
Forrest Melton, a senior research
scientist at NASA, said consistent
information on evapotranspiration
“is probably the biggest data gap for
water management.”
ET technology isn’t new. Accord-
ing to Maurice Hall, who leads EDF’s
Western Water program, universities
and other groups have used ET data
for years, but the existing approach is
“piecemeal at best.”
“Given the importance of water,
it’s surprising how archaic many of
See Water, Page 10
Agriculture still open for business during virus outbreak
Oregon governor orders ‘nonessential’ businesses to close; agriculture marches on
By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown issued an executive order
Monday
establishing
legally
enforceable restrictions on public
activity and ordering “non-essen-
tial” businesses to close.
Meanwhile, agriculture is open
for business. Farmers and farm-
workers across the West are doing
field work, planting crops and get-
ting ready for another growing sea-
son, and suppliers are staying busy
keeping up with their needs for seed,
fertilizer and equipment.
“For agriculture itself — that is,
the farmers producing the crops —
it’s mostly business as usual,” said
Jeff Freeman, sales and marketing
director for Marion Ag Services, a
supplier of fertilizer and other agri-
cultural products. “Food is import-
ant, so farming will go on.”
For some farm industries, the
COVID-19 virus outbreak has actu-
ally increased revenue.
Wheat, for example, is in high
demand. Shoppers stockpiling sta-
ples such as flour have triggered an
“unprecedented” demand, according
to the Wheat Foods Council.
Potato prices have also skyrock-
eted as consumers stocked up. The
price of 10-pound bags of Idaho Bur-
banks and Norkotahs has increased
from $11 to $17 in the past week —
a 54% jump, according to data col-
lected by United Potato Growers of
Idaho.
“We see so many foods selling
at unheard-of amounts,” said Bryan
Ostlund, administrator of the Ore-
gon Blueberry Commission. “Berry
processing alone — it’s crazy. Just
crazy. It’s hard to find enough Grade
A fruit out there to meet the demand.
Costco alone looks like the apoca-
lypse hit.”
Some farmers are yet to see any
major changes.
Helle Ruddenklau, a farmer near
Amity, Ore., and former president of
Oregon Women for Agriculture, said
she and her husband, Bruce, grow
See Outbreak, Page 10
Helle Ruddenklau
Helle Ruddenklau, left, and hus-
band, Bruce, inspect grass seed
on their farm near Amity, Ore.