EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Friday, August 21, 2020
Volume 93, Number 34
CapitalPress.com
$2.00
LET THERE BE
L IGH T
Katie Berdan Wolden/Oregon Flowers
A row of Oregon Flowers’
greenhouses lit from the inside.
The rise of high-tech farming and the light revolution
By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
SOLARCULTURE
A
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Jeff Sharpe of STracker in Ash-
land, Ore., stands next to raised
solar panels. Raising them al-
lows room for farmers to plant
crops or run livestock in the
shade they create.
URORA, Ore. — Tyler Meskers poked his
Making better plants
Plants convert light into energy through pho-
finger into half-frozen soil. Dwarfed
tosynthesis. But there is much more to light
by towers of potted lily bulbs, he
than meets the eye.
stood in a giant freezer that
smelled like spring.
According to Andrew McAl-
lister, a University of Michigan
But it wasn’t spring. It was a
applied physicist, plants use light
95-degree summer day.
to “decide” which direction to
Meskers, vice president of Ore-
gon Flowers Inc., a cut flower
grow, what size to make leaves
business in Aurora, was trying to
and when to flower.
replicate the seasons in chilled
There are different kinds of
warehouses. And in his glass
light, McAllister explained in a
greenhouses — some of the larg-
study, meaning different wave-
lengths. To our eyes, longer wave-
est in the state — he and his fam-
lengths appear red and shorter wave-
ily were trying to harness and replicate
lengths violet. There is also light
the sun itself.
our eyes can’t see, that we only feel.
The Meskers family is among a
group of innovators pushing light to
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press Wavelengths longer than red, called
new levels in agriculture. Because The Meskers family. Left to infrared light, make us feel warm.
of advancements in knowledge and right are Martin, Helene, Me- Wavelengths shorter than violet,
technology, both indoor and outdoor gan, Kase, Tyler and Beckham. called ultraviolet, make us sunburn.
Christopher Currey, an associate
farmers are finding creative ways to
professor at Iowa State University, wrote in a report
manipulate light to increase yields, alter plant color
and flavor and make shade their ally.
See Light, Page 9
Farmers or landowners
interested in working with
Pine Gate Renewables on
a dual-use “solarculture”
project on their land can
submit an inquiry to:
https://pinegaterenew-
ables.com/landowners/
Claudia Weeks, site
operations manager for
Pine Gate Renewables,
said many factors are
considered for each
solar project – including
topography, soil condi-
tions, nearby electrical
infrastructure and if that
region is expecting solar
power – but farmers are
always invited to ask
about collaborating.
Farm credit quality remains solid Washington traps
another Asian
giant hornet
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Economic fallout from
the coronavirus outbreak
hasn’t yet severely hin-
dered farmers from getting
or repaying loans from a
major network of agricul-
tural lenders.
While the Farm Credit
System’s financial results
for the first half of 2020
reflect continued stability in
agriculture, experts say the
pandemic’s effects on agri-
cultural debt may still be
felt in the future.
“Nobody really knows
what the impact is going to
be. It’s still a volatile envi-
ronment,” said Hal John-
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Farm Credit
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, farmers have still been able to take out and repay
loans to the Farm Credit System of lenders, which hasn’t seen a severe deterioration
in credit quality.
son, senior financial ana-
lyst with the Farm Credit
Administration, which reg-
ulates system lenders.
“Certainly, we expect
credit stress to increase in
the portfolio,” he said. “It’s
just very difficult to under-
stand to what extent that’s
going to happen.”
The Farm Credit System,
which consists of 72 lend-
ing institutions, was cre-
ated by Congress more than
a century ago to provide
loans to farmers and agri-
cultural businesses across
the U.S.
The network’s total loan
volume has grown 3.5% to
$297 billion during the first
half of 2020, according to
the Federal Farm Credit
Banks Funding Corp.,
which raises money for sys-
tem lenders.
In that time, Farm Credit
System lenders have earned
a combined net income of
nearly $2.9 billion, up about
7.7% from the same point
last
year,
according to
FFCB.
T h e
increase in
loan volume
is “normal”
and driven
Todd
primarily
by
Van Hoose
real estate
mortgages, which have con-
tinued growing during the
pandemic, said Johnson.
Farmland values have
largely held firm so farmers
have kept buying proper-
ties, especially since inter-
est rates are attractive, he
said. “This is an opportu-
nity to lock in low rates for
a long period of time.”
Despite the disruption
caused by the coronavirus
outbreak, farmers still face
beneficial “economies of
scale” to spread their fixed
costs over a larger number
of acres, Johnson said.
Anecdotally, the desir-
ability of agricultural real
estate may also be spurred
by the isolation of such
properties, said Todd Van
Hoose, president and CEO
of the Farm Credit Council,
a trade association of sys-
tem lenders.
“There continues to be a
lot of people escaping from
cities and buying farm-
land,” he said.
Meanwhile,
grow-
ers have been financially
buoyed by assistance from
the federal government,
such as the USDA’s $19
billion Coronavirus Food
Assistance Program, which
provides direct support to
farmers and ranchers while
buying food that’s distrib-
uted to the needy.
“Even though crop
prices are low, there is a
flow to what someone can
earn from planting,” John-
son said.
Interest rates on the
loans made to growers have
dropped but Farm Credit
See Credit, Page 9
Another Asian giant
hornet has been trapped
by the Washington State
Department of Agriculture
in northwest Washington,
intensifying the search for
the nests of the invasive
species.
The hornet was col-
lected from a trap baited
with orange juice and rice
wine July 29 near Custer
in Whatcom County. Ento-
mologists confirmed the
specimen was a male hor-
net on Aug. 13, the depart-
ment announced Monday.
The hornet was the sec-
ond trapped by the depart-
ment and seventh detected
in Whatcom County since
late last year.
The Asian giant hor-
net, the largest hornet in
the world, had never before
been discovered in the U.S.
The hornets can wipe
out hives of pollinators,
such as honey bees, in mass
attacks.
The hornet was the first
male detected. It was found
near where a mated queen
was found dead and where
hornets are suspected to
have killed bees last year.
The department previ-
ously trapped an unmated
queen July 14.
More male hornets
should emerge this month
and September as colonies
Karla Salp/WSDA
An Asian giant hornet.
develop, agriculture depart-
ment entomologist Sven
Spechiger said.
The department has said
it will hang more traps in
hopes of capturing one
alive. The traps will have
screens to keep the hornet
from drowning.
If a live hornet is
secured, the department has
said it will try to attach an
electronic tracking device
to the hornet and follow it
back to its nest. To calm
the hornet, the department
will chill it and won’t take
chances with carbon diox-
ide, Spechiger said.
“We’re not going to risk
killing an Asian giant hor-
net,” he said. “We’ll go
simply with ice inside of a
cooler.”
Asian giant hornets nest
in the ground. The depart-
ment plans to eradicate
nests with pesticides.