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CapitalPress.com
Friday, April 3, 2020
People & Places
Machine learning aids irrigation
By PADMA NAGAPPAN
For the Capital Press
As a cooperative exten-
sion specialist with the Uni-
versity of California-Davis,
Sahap Kaan Kurtural lever-
ages artificial intelligence to
enable vineyard managers to
optimize irrigation without
huge capital investments.
During his doctoral
coursework at Southern Illi-
nois University, the native
of Turkey picked up skills
in statistical analysis and
machine learning algorithms.
He now uses those skills to
help wine grape growers
achieve efficiencies in irriga-
tion by setting up micro soil
management zones.
“Different sections of
plants ripen at different
times, so the first challenge
was to understand the sys-
tems and why certain parts
of a vineyard were on a dif-
ferent schedule than others,”
Kurtural said. “It could be
due to topography, but also
due to texture and make up
of the soil.”
He has studied this in
broad swaths of California’s
wine grape region, including
Napa Valley, Lodi, Sonoma
and Paso Robles.
“We used machine learn-
ing algorithms to understand
why these areas were behav-
ing differently despite being
given the same amount of
water and fertilizers,” Kur-
tural said. “So there was
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SAHAP KAAN
KURTURAL
Title: Cooperative
extension specialist in vi-
ticulture at the University
of California-Davis
UC-Davis
Sahap Kaan Kurtural, a cooperative extension specialist in viticulture with the Univer-
sity of California-Davis, uses sensors and artificial intelligence to manage irrigation.
physiological
imbalance,
and some portions were
going into stress earlier than
others.”
Manufacturers
have
sprinklers on the market
that promise to adapt to
variable conditions, but not
many deliver that since it
requires a lot of investment
in sensors.
Farmers need to take the
time to adapt the sensors
to different crops and soil
conditions.
“We have some 400 crops
in California, which ones are
you going to test them for?
You have to be realistic at
some point,” Kurtural said.
His machine learning
algorithms can bridge the
gap between the promises
and reality.
His work is quite straight-
forward. He uses mobile
sensors that can be mounted
on tractors or ATVs. The
sensors “float” on top of the
soil and send signals into it
to produce data on the con-
ditions below the surface of
the ground. That raw data is
converted into soil moisture
data and modeled for the
entire season. It helps map
the field into sections cate-
gorized by stress levels.
“We typically have two
to three management zones
with varying soil metabo-
lism and moisture condi-
tions,” he said.
He has developed dig-
ital soil maps for several
well-known wineries. The
maps enable them to pro-
gram mechanical harvesters
for segregated lots within a
vineyard without spending
huge sums of money. At the
same time, they save money
on energy.
The fundamental work
is done at the cooperative
extension Oakville station in
Napa County.
“For those who don’t
have the technology to use
our maps, we’ve developed
a kit to identify biomark-
ers that will tip owners off,”
Kurtural said.
From: Izmir, Turkey, has
lived in the U.S. since
1994, when he came to
attend college but also
came previously as an ex-
change student in 1990
Education: B.S. and M.S.
in plant sciences and
Ph.D. in plant physiol-
ogy, Southern Illinois
University.
Family: Raises rai-
sin grapes in Turkey;
married with two young
boys. Wife, Carrie, is an
attorney for the state of
California
Research focus: Irriga-
tion for viticulture using
artificial intelligence
Website: https://www.
facebook.com/OakvilleS-
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Montana ranchers learn to live with grizzly bears
By AARON BOLTON
Montana Public Radio
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP)
— Grizzly bears are repopu-
lating areas of Montana that
haven’t seen them for decades,
creating more conflict between
livestock, people and bears.
Some ranchers are learning
they need to do something
that doesn’t come naturally —
change how they live on the
land.
As bears were hibernat-
ing in their dens this winter,
the Blackfeet Stockgrowers
Association held a meeting
in Choteau to provide a space
for ranchers like Mark Hitch-
cock to talk about working
alongside the growing num-
ber of grizzly bears on the
Rocky Mountain Front.
“If the animals aren’t
there, my cattle aren’t getting
killed. If we can deal with the
problem, we don’t have to be
refunded.” Hitchcock said.
The number of sheep, cat-
tle and other livestock killed
by grizzlies in Montana is
going up. And even though
the state pays for some of
those losses, ranchers say
they face unseen costs such
as stressed cattle with lower
pregnancy rates and end-of-
season weights. Because of
that, ranchers like Hitchcock
can get fixated on how to
reduce the number of bears.
His daughter hopes to
slightly change that view.
Driving on her ranch near
Valier in early February,
Trina Bradley says she’s seen
bears on the front since she
was a kid, but there are more
of them now.
“But most of the time, we
just see where they’ve been.
Those are the bears we like to
have out here. The other ones
are just in my yard, in my
File Photo
Montana ranchers are trying to live with the influx of
grizzly bears.
face,” Bradley says.
Bradley steps out to open
a gate to her calving pas-
ture, where the soon-to-be-
born calves will be at risk
as bears come out of their
dens in March and April. You
wouldn’t call Bradley a fan
of grizzly bears, but she does
hold a slightly different opin-
ion than her dad and others
on the front when it comes
to what will happen when the
threatened species is delisted
from federal protections.
“I think another part of the
challenge is convincing these
people that even if they’re
delisted, they’re not going to
go away. They’re not going
to disappear from the land-
scape,” Bradley says.
Bradley says ranchers
need to learn to live with that.
She’s trying to have more of
that education come from a
group of people ranchers may
be more willing to listen to —
other ranchers.
Mike Madel is a grizzly
biologist with Montana Fish,
Wildlife and Parks and he
says bears can now be seen
past Interstate 15, which is
40 miles from the mountains.
And he says they’re not just
traveling there in the spring,
summer and fall.
“Most bears do return to
the Rocky Mountain Front
and excavate a den up high.
There are some female griz-
zly bears that are starting to
hibernate, dig dens and hiber-
nate out in those wild, remote
high-plains and riverbottom
habitats,” Madel says.
Madel says there’s a larger
diversity of food sources on
the plains and because of that,
this new generation of cubs
will likely be more repro-
ductive, accelerating the pop-
ulation’s growth. Madel has
worked to write grants to fund
conflict mitigation tools for
ranchers and farmers closer
to the mountains for years,
but he says the need is grow-
ing in outlying ranching and
farm communities.
“And it’s really becoming
part of an issue for us. And I
didn’t have to deal with a lot
like providing farmers with
bear proof grain bin doors,”
Madel says.
That’s why FWP recently
hired a grizzly bear conflict
specialist to help Madel with
the workload. He adds that
rancher-led efforts like Trina
Bradley’s will help get people
reluctant to work with gov-
ernment agencies on board.
Bradley agrees and says
ranchers need to feel sup-
ported with education but
also with the cost of reducing
bear conflicts.
“Funding is always a
huge barrier. Electric fenc-
ing costs money, dogs cost
money, everything costs a lot
of money, not just for the ini-
tial set-up, but for the mainte-
nance,” Bradley says.
Bradley and the Blackfeet
Stockgrowers
Association
have been holding meetings
across the Rocky Moun-
tain Front trying to convince
ranchers focused on delist-
ing to turn their attention to
finding ways to reduce run-
ins with bears. But tools to do
that are expensive. A trained
guard dog could run $5,000
or more and an electric fence
around a calving lot can eas-
ily cost over $10,000 depend-
ing on the size. That price
tag can be a huge turnoff to
ranchers already having a
hard time staying in the black.
Bradley hopes the meet-
ings will catapult efforts
within the stockgrowers asso-
ciation to compete for grant
dollars from state and fed-
eral agencies and nonprofits.
She’s also asking ranchers to
get out there and tell their sto-
ries in order to let the pub-
lic know what they’re deal-
ing with.
“Ranchers are very pri-
vate people and we don’t want
to talk about what’s going on
out here because it’s nobody’s
business. But it’s to the point
where we need to talk about it
and to tell our story,” Bradley
says.
The private land trust group
Heart of the Rockies Initia-
tive works to fund several
local ranching and farm groups
working on living with bears.
Garry Burnett is the group’s
executive director.
“So let’s move into how to
maintain grizzly bear popu-
lations, and how to maintain
these livestock operations. I’ve
heard landowners says this: we
can do both,” Burnett says.
He says there are success
stories of ranchers and bears
coexisting, it’s been happen-
ing in the Blackfoot Valley for
years.
On the Two Creek Ranch
east of Ovando, members of
local conservation groups and
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service are working together
to unwind and set up about a
mile of fladry. It’s an electrified
wire with red flags attached to
it meant to scare wolves away,
which ranch manager Wayne
Slaght says is one of his main
issues these days.
But he hasn’t had a grizzly
kill one of his cows for about
20 years.
“When you get your first
depredation, emotions are very
high, you’re upset with the
world and want to go kill all
the bears and that can’t hap-
pen. You gotta get over that and
move onto the fact of what you
can get done,” Slaght says.
After the first time a bear
killed one of his livestock,
Slaght received funding from
various nonprofits and govern-
ment agencies for a roughly
$17,000 six-wire electric fence
around his calving lot. He’s
funded more electric fencing
himself and installed shipping
containers to lock up grain and
minerals.
“The bears did tear all the
wooden doors off of all of our
storage bins,” Slaght says.
Slaght was an early adopter
of some of these tools and over
time, his neighbors took notice.
He says local conservation
group Blackfoot Challenge has
been key in getting ranchers to
the table.
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CALENDAR
Submit upcoming ag-related
events on www.capitalpress.com
or by email to newsroom@capital-
press.com.
FRIDAY, APRIL 3
Biodiversity Conservation
Practices Conference: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
LaSells Stewart Center, 875 SW 26th
St., Corvallis, Ore. A conference on
practices that conserve agricul-
tural biodiversity and their bene-
fits in western farming systems for
conservationists, farmers and other
agricultural professionals. Website:
https://bit.ly/2OIDtYW
SATURDAY, APRIL 4
Farm Fest and Plowing Com-
petition: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Yamhill
Valley Heritage Center, 11275 SW
Durham Lane, McMinnville, Ore.
Yamhill County Historical Society
and the Oregon Draft Horse Breed-
ers Association present Farm Fest
and Plowing Competition, the larg-
est plowing competition with draft
animals on the West Coast. Con-
tact: Raylinda Price, 503-472-2842,
events@yamhillcountyhistory.org
FRIDAY, APRIL 10
AgForestry Class 41 Grad-
uation Postponed: The cele-
bration the AgForestry Leader-
ship Program’s 41st Class will be
rescheduled. Contact: Melissa
Skomer-Kafton, 509-926-9113,
melissa@agforestry.org Web-
site: http://agforestry.org/
graduation-class-41/
THURSDAY-SUNDAY,
APRIL 16-19
Shepherd’s Extravaganza: All
day, Spring Fair, Washington State
Fairgrounds, 110 9th Ave. SW, Puyal-
lup, Wash. There will be top quality
fleeces and sheep for sale, demon-
strations, classes, fiber vendors, and
sale of used equipment. Contact:
Lin Schwider, 425-432-3455. Email:
lin@shepherds-extravaganza
THURSDAY-SUNDAY,
APRIL 23-26
California FFA State Conven-
tion Canceled: Anaheim Conven-
tion Center, 800 W Katella Ave.,
Anaheim, Calif. California’s FFA
members will meet and compete
and demonstrate their knowledge
of agriculture. Website: http://www.
calaged.org/stateconvention
FRIDAY, APRIL 24
Women in Ranching WIRED
Program: Yolo Land and Cattle Co.,
Woodland, Calif. The Northern Cal-
ifornia Women in Ranching WIRED
symposium will be held on April
24 at Yolo Land and Cattle Co. in
Woodland, Calif. Speakers who are
experts in their field have agreed
to share their knowledge with par-
ticipants. Contact: Leanne Brown,
530-598-4444, sisqbrown@gmail.
com
SATURDAY-SUNDAY,
APRIL 25-26
Oregon Ag Fest Canceled: A
family-oriented weekend full of fun-
filled activities that will help chil-
dren — and their parents — learn
about Oregon agriculture. See
you next year — April 24-25, 2021.
Online: http://oragfest.com/
THURSDAY-
SATURDAY
MAY 14-16
Washington FFA State Con-
vention: Washington State Uni-
versity, Pullman. Washington FFA
members will meet and compete,
displaying their knowledge of agri-
culture. Website: http://www.wash-
ingtonffa.org
SUNDAY-TUESDAY
MAY 17-19
The Alltech Ideas Conference:
Central Bank Center, 430 W. Vine
St., Lexington, Ky. The 36th Alltech
Ideas Conference will explore inno-
vative solutions within the global
food-supply chain. More than 40
topics are slated for discussion.
Website: http://one.alltech.com
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Index
COVID-19 .................................................4
WEDNESDAY-
THURSDAY JUNE 3-4
Dairy .......................................................8
Stockmanship Clinic: 8 a.m.
Pendleton Convention Center, 1601
Westgate, Pendleton, Ore. This
hands-on clinic will focus on prac-
tical applications of various live-
stock handling techniques, why low
stress handling is important and
helping to design a livestock han-
dling facility for a local ranch. Spon-
sored by Roots of Resilience and
Oregon State University Extension.
Contact: Andrea Mann at 509-670-
7743 or mannandrea@aol.com, or
Beth Robinette at beth@lazyrbeef.
com
Markets .................................................12
Livestock .................................................8
Opinion ...................................................6
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