Friday, August 6, 2021
Pulse yields
could be down by
as much as 60%
due to drought
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Tim McGreevy remembers how
drought affected the 1977 pulse
harvest.
He was a high school senior.
“It was pretty grim,” he recalled.
Today, McGreevy is the chief
executive officer of the USA Dry
Pea and Lentil Council, and the
drought conditions are reminiscent
of the 1977 harvest, he said.
“Fifty to 60%
below average is
a pretty common
report right now,
and
sometimes
even greater than
that,” he said.
Peas typically
Tim
average
2,000
McGreevy
pounds per acre;
lentils average 1,400-1,600 pounds
per acre; and chickpeas, or gar-
banzo beans, range from 1,100 to
1,500 pounds per acre.
“We won’t really know the
extent until all the harvest numbers
actually come in,” McGreevy said.
“A lot of the old-timers are saying,
‘Man, this looks a lot like 1977.
That was a pretty tough year.’ ... If
it is, you’re looking at 250 pounds
an acre lentils and 500-pound peas.
My God, we could be there.”
Pea harvest is underway, and is
finished in some spots. Lentil har-
vest will be in full swing the first
week of August.
“It’s going to be a pretty tight
year,” McGreevy said. “If you take
production down 50%, we have
some carryover stocks, but not that
much.”
However, pulse prices are up.
“Markets are starting to
respond,” McGreevy said.
Last year, lentils were $16 per
hundredweight last year. This year,
according to the council, they are
$33 per hundredweight, a 106%
increase.
Dry peas were $8.93 per hun-
dredweight last year and are now
$16 per hundredweight, a 79%
increase.
Large chickpeas were $20.30
per hundredweight last year and
are now $33 per hundredweight,
an increase of 63%.
Small chickpeas were $18.40
per hundredweight last year and
are now $23 per hundredweight, a
25% increase.
The 2020 prices are the annual
prices reported by the USDA
National Agricultural Statistics
Service.
The 2021 prices are an aver-
age price as reported by USDA
Bean market news and aver-
aged by the council, McGreevy
said.
Crop insurance will help farm-
ers this year, McGreevy said.
CapitalPress.com 9
Drought in Central Oregon
could impact global seed supply
By MICHAEL KOHN
EO Media Group
Drought in Jefferson County, Ore., is put-
ting a heavy burden on the area’s farming com-
munity, affecting everything from crop pro-
duction to equipment sales. But the drought is
now having wider implications, causing price
hikes for some varieties of seed. And the situ-
ation could worsen next year.
Troy Kuenzie, president of Pratum Co-op,
which markets Jefferson County grass seed in
the U.S. and overseas markets, said the price
for some grass seed grown in Jefferson County
has surged more than 50% over the past year.
Jefferson County farmers specialize in veg-
etable and grass-seed production and are glob-
ally dominant for some varieties. But most of
the county is now in exceptional or extreme
drought, forcing farmers to cut back their crop
production. For some farmers, the water that
was planned for the autumn watering of next
year’s crop has already been exhausted.
The price hikes in the grass-seed market
are felt mainly by buyers who sell seed to golf
courses.
Marketplace prices have increased 50
cents to $1 per pound for perennial grasses,
said Kuenzie, who is based in Salem and has
worked with Pratum since 1998.
“Last year bluegrass was $1.20 in the mar-
ket. Now it’s $2, ... because of demand and
also drought in the whole Pacific Northwest.”
Global player
Around 12,600 acres of Kentucky Blue-
grass and poa trivialis grass are in production
in Jefferson County, which produces 16 mil-
lion pounds of seed, raising $40 million for
growers, seed producers and seed companies
in Madras, said Kuenzie.
That amount of crop makes Jefferson
County a global player in the seed market.
Roughly 20% of the U.S. supply of Kentucky
bluegrass and 80% of the supply of poa trivia-
lis seed comes from Jefferson County.
Poa trivialis is primarily used by golf
course maintenance crews to keep fairways
green in winter. Golf courses in Las Vegas,
Palm Springs and Arizona rely on this type of
grass to keep their fairways playable through-
out the year. Kentucky bluegrass is also used
on golf courses, as well as lawns and athletic
fields.
U.S. buyers are not alone in paying higher
prices. The market is also affecting seed buy-
ers in China, Japan, Europe, Saudi Arabia,
Turkey and other countries.
“It is a devastating situation for Jefferson
County farmers and businesses and for our
customers nationally and internationally,” said
Dean Boyle, the Madras Pratum Co-op site
manager.
Pratum Co-op has buyers spanning the
globe. Its grass seeds, sold under the names
Mountain View Seeds and Landmark Seeds,
are sold in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan,
Israel and parts of Europe. Not only are costs
going up for the seeds, but it’s also getting
harder to source them as availability dwindles.
Abandoning fields
Jefferson County also produces huge vol-
umes of vegetable seed for farmers in the U.S.
and overseas markets including Europe, Asia,
Dean Guernsey/EO Media Group
Chris Aylett unloads a truckload of grass seed at Pratum Co-op in Madras, Ore.
South America and the Middle East. The Neth-
erlands, Japan, and Russia are a few of the big-
gest buyers.
Roughly 40% of the world’s carrot seeds
are also produced in Jefferson County, accord-
ing to Ken Stout, chief executive officer for
Central Oregon Seeds Inc., a seed processor
in Madras. That amounts to $20 million to $30
million in annual sales.
Stout said the water allotment cuts have
forced some farmers to abandon fields. Wick-
iup Reservoir, which supplies most of the
water to Jefferson County farmers, is just 8%
full and is expected to run dry in less than four
weeks, leaving little prospect for fall planting.
Despite the disruption, Stout said it’s too
soon to know if lower seed production will
translate into higher prices for next year’s
contracts.
“We have been able to meet our custom-
er’s demand to this point, but this year we
will not place some acreage that we have been
requested to place because of water restric-
tions,” said Stout. “I would go as far as to say
this is the first time in a long time we have had
to do that.”
It’s possible, he said, that buyers could sim-
ply turn to other markets.
“Companies will see that production else-
where,” said Stout. “That erodes our market
and our ability to bounce back from this.”
Future benefits dwindling
For Central Oregon farmers, the price
increases, at least for grass seed, do not com-
pensate for the lack of volume, said North Unit
farmer Marty Richards.
Price increases “will help in a small way
for this year, but we are unable to plant more
this year due to a lack of water, so are unable
to benefit in the future,” said Richards, who
grows carrot seed, Kentucky bluegrass seed,
peppermint and wheat.
Mylen Bohle, an agronomist for Oregon
State University Extension, described the cur-
rent situation as an “economic disaster” for
Central Oregon. Some growers have dried up
three-fourths of their farmland, he said. It’s
not just the seed farmers that are affected. Hay
growers are being hit, too.
“There will be much less hay available this
year,” said Bohle. “Hay prices have gone up a
bunch already, which will make it tougher for
those buying hay to feed hungry animals until
next late spring and early summer.”
Until now, the impacts have been less harsh
for growers who focus on seeds, said Boyle,
as these higher profit crops have helped them
weather the storm. These farmers are cutting
back on less-profitable crops such as wheat
and alfalfa.
Water is being used instead for the seed
crops. But with less water available this year,
many farmers won’t have enough to prepare
their fields for winter.
“Without water, the fields will be very
stressed, and won’t set them up well to survive
the winter,” said Boyle. “Some of the fields
will be abandoned.”
Heat waves, water cuts
The problem for farmers in Jefferson
County became sharper earlier this month
when the North Unit board cut the annual
water allotment to farmers from 1 acre-foot
to 0.8 acre-foot. The sudden loss of 20% of
their water meant that some seed farmers have
already exhausted their supply, ending for
them any chance of watering in the fall for the
2022 crop.
The allotment cuts weren’t the only bad
news for farmers. The heat wave that started in
late June also had a devastating impact.
John Spring, an assistant professor with
OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences,
said when the temperatures soared past 100
degrees, farmers had to apply more water than
normal to keep their crops from failing.
“For the bluegrass crop, seed quality and
seed yield were both likely reduced, but by
a currently unknown amount,” said Spring.
“Losses in the carrot crop from the heat are
probably mostly reduced from reduced polli-
nation efficiency.”
Boyle from Pratum Co-op is already antic-
ipating lower production for his grass-seed
business in 2022. But this era of lower pro-
duction comes at a time of increased demand.
“Our contractors call us up and want us to
grow more, but we are unable to,” said Boyle.
“We just can’t do it because we don’t have the
water.”
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