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CapitalPress.com
Friday, August 7, 2020
People & Places
Washington farmer finds grass
seed more fruitful than berries
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Southwest Washington
farmer Kevin Dobbins pulls
out a contract to show a visi-
tor. It states how much grass
seed that meets the buyer’s
specifications will be worth.
That explains why Dob-
bins grows grass seed, rather
than berries. “With berries,
you don’t know what you’re
going to get paid,” he said. “I
couldn’t roll the dice on that.”
Dobbins, 35, owns Dob-
bins Farms, based in Clark
County. Under his grand-
father Jerry Dobbins, the
farm was known for berries,
though he also grew some
grass seed. Jerry Dobbins
died in 2018. Taking over as
the sole owner, the grandson
opted to lean heavily on grass
seed.
If prices are down, grass
seed can be stored, while ber-
ries can’t, Kevin Dobbins
said. If the seed doesn’t meet
the buyer’s specifications, it
can still be sold as “variety
not stated.”
“I couldn’t bet the farm on
berries,” he said. “The seed
end was more reliable.”
Blueberries, blackberries,
raspberries and strawberries
are grown commercially in
Clark County, but the acre-
age has trended downward,
according to the USDA’s
National Agricultural Statis-
tics Service.
The 2007 Census of Agri-
culture recorded 1,335 acres
of berries in Clark County.
By the 2017 census, the num-
Western
Innovator
KEVIN DOBBINS
Age: 35
Occupation: Clark Coun-
ty, Wash., farmer
Heritage: Grandfather
Jerry Dobbins started the
berry farm; Kevin Dob-
bins has made the farm’s
focus grass seed
Established 1928
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Southwest Washington grass seed grower Kevin Dobbins farms in fast-growing Clark
County. Note the housing development on horizon.
ber was down to 955 acres, a
28% drop in a decade.
Growers cite rising labor
costs, and low and uncer-
tain prices for the decline
in production. “The crop is
gone, out of your posses-
sion, before you even know a
price,” Dobbins said.
Another Clark County
berry
grower,
George
Thoeny, once had 144 acres
of raspberries. Now he has
a half-dozen. He also grows
strawberries and Marionber-
ries, mostly to sell at roadside
stands and farmers markets.
Fresh market sales have
been good this year, he said.
Apparently a lot of people
are staying home and can-
ning during the coronavirus
pandemic, he said. “I believe
there is a great opportunity
to raise berries on a small
basis.”
On a bigger scale, how-
ever, “the money just wasn’t
there,” Thoeny said. “There’s
not enough good years to
make up for the bad ones.”
Thoeny said he started
growing grass seed seven
years ago. “If I had to do it
over again, I would have
planted grass seed 20 years
ago,” he said.
“Kevin is doing a real
good job with it,” Thoeny
said. “For him to jump in by
himself, I got a lot of respect
for that.”
Dobbins, who has three
employees, said he aspires to
“plant as much as I possibly
can handle.”
He’s said he’s leased as
many as 300 acres and is now
at about 200 acres. He said he
loses about 50 acres a year to
development in fast-growing
Clark County. “It will push
me north,” he said.
To keep up the acreage, he
leases land across the Colum-
bia River in Scappoose, Ore.,
and as far north as Lewis
County, Wash.
Jerry Dobbins took up
farming in mid-life, after a
career selling, repairing and
racing motorcycles in Port-
land. Kevin Dobbins grew up
around the farm, but he too
didn’t go into farming as his
first career.
He tried his father’s occu-
pation, river pilot on the
Columbia, but found the
quarters too confining. He
worked in construction for
15 years. He then joined his
grandfather to manage the
farm’s grass seed business.
He said his grandfather
didn’t want him to make
farming a career. “It’s what
I decided to do. I enjoy it.
I hope to keep doing it,” he
said.
“It’s a product of your
labor and everything you do,”
he said. “You bear the risk
and also bear the rewards.”
Farmer returns prosthetic leg that skydiver lost during jump
WEST ADDISON, Vt.
(AP) — A Vermont skydiver
who lost his prosthetic leg
during a jump has it back,
thanks to a farmer who kept
an eye out for it and spotted
it in a soybean field.
Double amputee Chris
Marckres, of Hyde Park,
went for a jump Saturday at
Vermont Skydiving Adven-
tures in West Addison and
lost one of his prosthetic
legs after leaping from the
plane.
“I think my adrenaline
was so high and I was just
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Getty Images
A skydiver lost his prosthetic leg over the weekend —
and a farmer found it in his soybean field.
so excited, I didn’t realize I
had lost it,” Marckres told
CALENDAR
Submit upcoming ag-related events on
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FRIDAY, AUG. 7
Friends of Oregon Agriculture Golf
Tournament: 7 a.m. Chehalem Glenn Golf
Course, 4501 E. Fernwood Road, Newberg,
Ore. In a modified scramble format, teams of
four combine their skills to play 18 holes, buy-
ing mulligans, gimme string and a PGA Pro-
Shot to outscore the other teams and win
the tournament. For our Golf Ball Drop fund-
raiser, pre-numbered golf balls are sold to
the public. Each ball will be dropped from a
helicopter onto the driving range at the con-
clusion of the golf tournament. The ball that
lands in the hole first, or is closest to the hole,
wins a $1,000 Visa gift card. Website: https://
aglink.org/events/friends-of-oregon-agricul-
ture-golf-tournament/ Contact: info@aglink.
org, 971-600-0466
THURSDAY, AUG. 13
7th Annual Ag World Golf Classic:
11 a.m. The Links at Moses Pointe, 4524 West-
shore Drive NE, Moses Lake, Wash. Contact:
509-765-0698 Website: http://www.agworld-
golf.com/golf
WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY
AUG. 19-21
R-CALF USA annual convention: The
Lodge at Deadwood, 100 Pine Crest Lane,
Deadwood, SD. Topics will include antitrust
enforcement, trade reform, globalization
and animal welfare as well as an update on
R-CALF’s lawsuit against the four big pack-
ers. Contact: 406-252-2516 Website: http://
www.r-calfusa.com
TUESDAY, AUG. 25
WSTFA Annual Golf Tournament: 8 a.m.
Highlander Golf Course 2920 Eighth St. SE,
East Wenatchee, Wash. Join us for the 27th
Annual Washington State Tree Fruit Associ-
ation Golf Tournament. Your participation in
our tournament helps raise money to sup-
port scholarships that are awarded to stu-
dents in honor of past tree fruit industry lead-
ers. As part of our tournament, we are doing a
silent online auction of the Washington apple
No. 3 license plate. Website: https://wstfa.org/
golf-tournament/?
WEDNESDAY AUG. 26
Safety Lockout-Tagout (webinar): 1 p.m.
In this free one-hour webinar we will cover
the requirements of 29 CFR 1910.147 Con-
trol of Hazardous Energy, provide best prac-
tices that can be applied immediately, dis-
cuss some common issues and discuss some
methods to ensure your program is compli-
ant. Information: 208-426-3820, janehokan-
son@techhelp.org Website: https://techhelp.
regfox.com/lockouttagout
NECN and NBC10 Boston.
Marckres, who was har-
nessed to an instructor,
landed safely.
He then put out the
word on social media that
he’d lost his leg. Farmer
Joe Marszalkowski saw
the post before finding the
prosthetic on Sunday in
a soybean field. Beyond
a few scratches, it was
undamaged.
“You’ve always got
to keep an eye out,” said
Marszalkowski, who com-
pared the discovery to a
needle in a haystack. He
said he was grateful he
found the leg without run-
ning it over with a machine
during the fall harvest.
“Or, God forbid, the
combine sucked it up —
it would’ve destroyed it,”
Marszalkowski said.
Marckres said losing his
leg turned into a positive
experience.
“We kind of take for
granted sometimes how
many truly good people
there still are in the world,”
he said.
Young farmer takes his job seriously
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SATURDAY SEPT. 19
Small Farm School 2020: Clackamas
Community College, Clairmont Hall, 19600
S Molalla Ave., Oregon City, Ore. Small Farm
School is a full-day event with hands-on work-
shops and classroom sessions for beginning
and small-scale commercial farmers. Subscribe
to the mailing list for updates. Fee: $75 Contact:
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WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY SEPT.
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Public Lands Council Annual Meeting:
Nuggett Casino Resort, Sparks, Nev. The meet-
ing will include featured speakers, educational
webinars and legislative and agency updates.
Livestock producers can attend in-person or
online. Website: http://publiclandscouncil.org
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
SEPT. 25-26
Index
Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Asso-
ciation Trade Show: Sheraton Portland Airport
Hotel, 8235 NE Airport Way, Portland. This is the
annual meeting and trade show of the Pacific
Northwest Christmas Tree Association. Contact:
Angie Smith, 503-364-2942, smith@pacwest-
com.com Website: www.pnwcta.org
Dairy .....................................................11
Livestock ...............................................11
Markets .................................................13
Opinion ...................................................6
CORRECTION
SATURDAY, SEPT. 26
Women in Ranching WIRED Program:
7:30 a.m.. Yolo Land and Cattle Co., Woodland,
Calif. The Northern California Women in Ranch-
ing WIRED symposium will be held on Sept. 26
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. Several event sponsors have been
engaged in order to keep the participant’s reg-
istration fee low. Cost: $50 per person. Website:
http://www.ancw.org
An article in the July 31
edition of the Capital Press
included incorrect infor-
mation about blueberry
research at Oregon State
University’s North Willa-
mette Research and Exten-
sion Center. The eight-year
project has led to tighter in-
row spacing and trellises to
hold up blueberry bushes.
SATURDAY, OCT. 10
Rough Rider Roundup Special Needs
Western Day & Rodeo: 10 a.m. Roughout
Ranch, Redding, Calif. Rough Rider Roundup
is an inclusive, family-friendly outdoor event
designed for the special needs community
of Shasta County, Calif., and the surround-
ing area. Rough Rider Roundup incorporates
rodeo-, ranch- and western-themed events
into adaptable and accessible activities for chil-
dren and adults of all ages and abilities. The
inaugural event is free and hosted by Rough-
out Ranch Foundation Inc., a 501©3 nonprofit
public service organization. Registration is
required to participate or to volunteer. Con-
tact: Kathy ODonnell, 209-256-9640, skyland@
frontier.com.
Courtesy of Jeanine Norman
Two-year-old Wyatt Norman takes his job seriously when he’s helping
his parents, Jeanine and Cody Norman, on their Beavercreek, Ore., farm.
“Wyatt is our first and only child (for now) and he has done the farm
chores with us since he was born,” says his mother, Jeanine. “Started out
in a front pack, then to a back pack and now he is just running every-
where and wants to ride on all the tractors he can. As soon as he gets in
the tractor seat he says ‘vroom vroom.’” Do you have a young farmer at
your place? We’d like to know. Just email a photo and brief description
to newsroom@capitalpress.com and we’ll post it on our website and,
space available, in the print edition.
The Capital Press regrets the
error.
Correction policy
Accuracy is important to Capital Press
staff and to our readers.
If you see a misstatement, omission or
factual error in a headline, story or photo
caption, please call the Capital Press news
department at 503-364-4431, or send
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to set the record straight.