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CapitalPress.com
Friday, May 28, 2021
Hub: Small-scale ranches face challenge getting meat to market
Continued from Page 1
Lack of infrastructure
Gardner and his wife, Hil-
ary Foote, started ranching in
Nehalem, 40 miles south of
Astoria, in 2014. They raise
grass-fed beef and pastured
pork.
As small-scale ranchers,
Gardner said they face chal-
lenges getting their meat
to market. Nehalem River
Ranch processes about 35
cows and 90 hogs per year.
The closest cold storage space
they can rent is 80 miles away
in Portland — a three-hour
drive round-trip.
The food hub aims to
address that lack of infra-
structure, providing the facil-
ities necessary to get locally
produced food from farm to
plate.
“We’re trying to solve
those market gaps,” Gardner
said.
According to a USDA
directory, there are 219 local
food hubs across the coun-
try, including five in Oregon.
As demand for fresh, local
food increases, the role of
food hubs is to help aggregate
and distribute products from
small-scale farms, allowing
them to access markets they
otherwise couldn’t reach on
their own — such as restau-
rants and grocery stores.
Before Johnson turned
to organic farming, he ran
a restaurant for nearly four
years in Vashon Island,
Wash., called Fred’s Home-
grown Cafe. His goal was
to cook as much as possible
with local ingredients, though
he said it was difficult to find
farmers who could keep pace.
Restaurants need suppli-
ers who can reliably deliver
products each week, John-
son said. That’s where tradi-
tional wholesale food distrib-
utors such as Sysco typically
come in.
“I had some success get-
ting local products on the
plate, but for the most part I
was just as tethered to stan-
dard purveyors as anyone,”
he said.
But Johnson said he
always preferred farm fresh
produce. “Sysco cannot
deliver a tomato like I can
grow and pick right off the
vine,” he explained.
Customers at Fred’s
Homegrown Cafe particu-
larly craved local eggs, and
pancakes made with fresh
Marionberries.
“The public is just hungry
George Plaven/Capital Press
Corey Omey, left, of EMA Architecture, looks over blueprints for the Astoria Food Hub
with Jason Stegner, the project’s general contractor, and Jared Gardner of Nehalem
River Ranch.
for this,” Johnson said. “And
so, if you can offer it, they just
gobble it up.”
Nehalem Provisions
Gardner believes Oregon’s
North Coast is one of the best
food regions in the world.
Farmers grow a variety of
cool-season crops, from leafy
greens to berries. The climate
is ideal for lush green pas-
tures where cattle graze, pro-
ducing meat and milk. Then,
of course, there’s the seafood,
delivered fresh off the fishing
boats.
“You got your meats, your
cheeses, your fish, your salads
... what else is there, right?”
Gardner said.
Small farms dominate
the agricultural scene on the
North Coast. As of the latest
USDA Census of Agricul-
ture, Clatsop and Tillamook
counties had a combined 519
farms, of which 212 farms —
roughly 40% — sell less than
$2,500 worth of products
each year.
The idea for the Astoria
Food Hub started percolating
several years ago as Gardner
was working to supply local
beef to the Fort George Brew-
pub, a popular spot in the city.
Looking at the numbers,
the demand was more than
anybody he knew could pro-
duce by themselves, Gard-
ner said. Rather than forming
a co-op, Gardner established
Nehalem Provisions in 2018,
buying beef and pork from
other ranchers along the North
Coast to sell to Fort George.
A local food hub could
provide a similar boost for
farms of all types, Gardner
realized.
“It really was seeing the
demand from the local mar-
ketplace, the chefs that want
good products and their cus-
tomers, that kind of got us
thinking about a physical
space to have a larger cold
storage, the distribution hub
and more retail space,” Gard-
ner said. “That’s where this
idea was born.”
Historic building
Gardner and his team of
partners have spent the bet-
ter part of the last two years
searching for a home for the
food hub.
In December, they found
the Mason, Ehrman & Co.
building. The spacious Art
Deco facility began life in the
1930s as a wholesale grocer
that shipped goods along the
Pacific Coast from Northern
California to Alaska.
Most recently, the building
was used as a Sears Home-
town store before it closed
last year. A few remnants of
Sears shelving and inventory
lie scattered on the wooden
floor of the back loading
dock, facing the waterfront.
The Astoria Food Hub
raised $700,000 to buy the
building, returning it to its
food-based roots. The sale
closed on April 26.
Funding for the purchase
came through Steward, an
online lender specializing
in agricultural projects that
allows members of the com-
munity to invest in the loan
and earn interest.
“We were blown away by
all the support from the com-
Klamath: Drought emergency declared in Oregon counties
Continued from Page 1
The Klamath Project
Drought Response Agency
has said it will focus pri-
marily on compensating
farmers for idling ground-
water this year, unless sig-
nificantly more funding is
made available. Applications
will likely be open in the first
half of June, according to the
agency.
On May 6 — one week
before the A Canal was shut
down — the KWUA, Oregon
Farm Bureau and Oregon
Water Resources Congress
sent a letter to Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown, seeking mil-
lions of dollars of additional
drought aid from the state.
In part, the groups
requested:
• $6 million in funding for
farmers impacted by drought,
administered through Busi-
ness Oregon.
• $9 million for the Klam-
ath Project Drought Response
Agency to cover increased
groundwater pumping costs,
improving domestic wells
and other Project mainte-
nance work.
• $1 million for long-term
drought resiliency projects,
administered through the
Oregon Watershed Enhance-
ment Board.
• $500,000 toward estab-
lishing a cost-share program
to help irrigators install flow
measuring devices aimed at
conserving water.
“While some amount of
federal resources have been
identified for the Project,
those funds do not match the
scope of the problem, leav-
ing major impacts and unmet
needs,” the groups stated in
their letter.
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
The Klamath Basin.
Charles Boyle, a spokes-
man for Brown, did not
address
these
specific
requests but said the gover-
nor is committed to work-
ing with Oregon’s congres-
sional delegation, “in pursuit
of all avenues of relief for the
Klamath Basin.”
Brown has declared a
drought emergency in Klam-
ath County, along with seven
others in Oregon includ-
ing Wheeler, Morrow, Lake,
Jackson, Gilliam, Douglas
and Baker counties.
U.S. Reps. Doug LaMalfa,
R-Calif., and Cliff Bentz,
R-Ore., have also intro-
duced a $57 million disas-
ter aid proposal to assist the
Klamath Basin. Within that
package, $40 million would
go directly to agricultural
producers through USDA
programs.
Another $2.5 million
would go to families whose
residential wells have run
dry, and $4 million to irriga-
tion districts to repair canals
damaged by the lack of water.
The proposal would allo-
cate $3 million in aid for
commercial fishermen, and
$5 million to tribes and
tribal governments in food
aid through the USDA and
Bureau of Indian Affairs.
“Last week’s decision by
the Bureau of Reclamation to
eliminate water deliveries to
farmers and wildlife is abso-
lutely crippling to the Klam-
ath Basin,” LaMalfa said.
“The federal government has
failed to properly manage the
water in the basin, and Con-
gress must take action to help
prevent further damage to the
area’s residents, crops and
wildlife.”
Meanwhile, the USDA
Natural Resources Conser-
vation Service in Oregon
and California announced
$1.8 million in funding on
Tuesday for Klamath Basin
drought assistance through
its Environmental Quality
Incentives Program.
NRCS funding covers a
variety of practices to reduce
soil erosion and health, such
as no-till, reduced till, mulch-
ing, cover crops and wind
barriers. Farmers can apply at
their local NRCS field office.
Applications are due June 16.
Ben DuVal, a Klamath
Project irrigator who grows
alfalfa hay and raises cat-
tle near Tulelake, Calif., said
farmers are still adapting to
this year’s harsh reality.
“Plans are changing by the
minute,” DuVal said. “We’re
trying to get the maximum
use out of a very limited sup-
ply of well water.”
DuVal, who serves as
president of the KWUA, said
he has been impressed with
the community, watching as
neighbors help neighbors to
get the most out of every last
drop of water.
“If there’s a bright spot in
all of this, that’s got to be it,”
he said. “This is a good com-
munity, full of good people.”
munity for investing in this,” the project. The North Coast
Food Web, an Astoria-based
Gardner said.
Corey Omey, the architect nonprofit, works with approx-
behind the food hub and one imately 40 local producers in
of its co-owners, said the plan Clatsop and Tillamook coun-
is to promote the building’s ties, providing educational
history, coming full circle programs and running a
as a local and regional food weekly farmers market.
Jessika Tantisook, the
distributor.
“I think it’s a perfect his- group’s executive direc-
torical backdrop,” said Omey, tor and a former cranberry
who owns EMA Architecture farmer, said the market was
in Portland. “It’s really fun to forced to pivot to online sales
bring that character and qual- this year amid the corona-
virus pandemic. She started
ity back into a space.”
Omey was introduced to working with Gardner at
Gardner last spring, and the Nehalem Provisions to pick
two became fast friends upon up and deliver produce that
realizing they had a shared was sold online, since he was
vision for local food. Grow- already on the road.
ing up in Western Michigan,
At the food hub, Tantisook
Omey was raised in a food said they would have more
co-op, and said local food is space for their retail store to
part of his DNA.
sell local food products, and a
“We have the same ethos,” demonstration kitchen where
Omey said. “When you meet they can teach community
someone who is so passionate members about healthful eat-
about food systems, health ing and sustainability.
The group’s board of
and equity within farming,
fishing and ranching … that’s directors is now considering a
exciting. It’s fun to be part of letter of intent to join the food
hub.
things like that.”
“I hope that, in 5 to 10
As currently envisioned,
the 13,500-square-foot build- years, we see the North Coast
ing will have two to four office as a great place to be a pro-
and retail spaces in the front ducer,” Tantisook said. “Clat-
of the building, facing Marine sop County has a rich history
Drive. The back warehouse of agriculture, fishing and
area will be reserved for a ranching. But I think that in
cold storage, kitchen space the last few decades, a lot of
that has gone away
and later a restaurant
because there isn’t
serving local food.
the support services
The building also
for it. I hope that the
has a 13,500-square-
food hub can be that
foot basement that
entry point.”
will be retrofitted in
Johnson,
the
future phases of the
Washington farmer,
project for additional
Jessika
said the food hub is
storage and process-
Tantisook
ing space.
“absolutely” some-
thing he would be
Benjamin Ariff,
owner of Straw to Gold Pro- interested in joining.
ductions in Portland, is
“There are a lot of logis-
another partner on the project, tical issues going on (with
helping to envision its interior small farmers),” he said.
design. He said their approach “That’s what I find fascinat-
is to create a hub that’s genu- ing with this place, because
inely built for everyone.
they’re actually focusing on
“I think it is important for those issues.”
If all goes according to
us as consumers to be more
in touch with the food system plan and the project continues
and pay more respect to those to attract investment, Gardner
people,” Ariff said. “We’re said the restaurant could be
going to make some steps in operation by next spring,
in the right direction toward and the basement completed
by next summer. More than
that.”
100 people have already reg-
istered their intent to invest in
Attracting tenants
While design and con- the next phase of the project
struction work gets under- on Steward.
way, Gardner said the next
“To me, it’s clear that peo-
step is to find tenants who ple want healthy, good-tast-
in turn will become the heart ing local food, and they’re
willing to invest in it with
and soul of the food hub.
At least one tenant is their pocketbooks,” Gardner
already interested in joining said.
Water: Shrinkage of alfalfa
acreage has been dramatic
Continued from Page 1
Alfalfa, an irrigated
crop, is also impacted.
Over the past 10 years,
as water shortages have
become more common,
experts say the shrinkage
in alfalfa acreage has been
“dramatic.”
According to USDA’s
National Agricultural Sta-
tistics Service, Califor-
nia farmers in 2020 har-
vested just 515,000 acres
of alfalfa, down from
more than 1 million acres
in 2010. Oregon’s alfalfa
acreage also shrank during
that timeframe — by
nearly 14%.
“Drought has been a
huge contributor to the
decline in alfalfa acreage,”
said Daniel Putnam, Exten-
sion agronomist and forage
specialist at the Univer-
sity of California-Davis.
“Water uncertainty, labor,
and economics, I think,
have driven the shift to dif-
ferent crops.”
Although the West
exports hay, Putnam said
it’s actually a “hay defi-
cient region.” With shrink-
ing alfalfa acreage, Putnam
said he expects higher hay
prices this year — good for
hay growers, bad for live-
stock producers.
But Putnam said he
thinks farmers are too
quick to throw in the towel
on alfalfa when drought
hits. Putnam said that
based on his research, he
thinks alfalfa is a great crop
to grow during drought.
“It’s counter-intuitive,”
he said.
The secret to growing
alfalfa with water short-
ages, he said, is partially
irrigating.
Based on Putnam’s
studies, when a grower
cuts back to 50% of full
watering, alfalfa still pro-
duces 80% to 85% of full
yield. When a grower
cuts to 75% of full water-
ing, 95% of full yield is
obtained.
Putnam’s advice is to
water the crop as fully as
possible for as long as pos-
sible, harvesting early cut-
tings and foregoing late
cuttings.
The water shortage is also
impacting almond growers.
In
the
best
almond-growing regions,
most growers are continu-
ing as-is or even scaling
up production. In contrast,
some growers across drier
areas are pulling out hun-
dreds of almond acres and
either planting other crops,
like pistachios, or finding
other uses for land, like
leasing to solar facilities.
Overall, however, the
almond industry contin-
ues to grow by acreage
and production, according
to Richard Waycott, the
Almond Board’s CEO and
president.
Farmers growing other
crops, including vegeta-
bles and fruits, are also
suffering.
Industry leaders across
commodities are push-
ing legislators to have
more conversations about
groundwater
recharge,
stormwater and recycling
of municipal wastewater.