Friday, April 29, 2022
CapitalPress.com 7
Cost overruns hit Treasure Valley Reload Center
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Building the Treasure Valley
Reload Center to original design
specifi cations would cost almost
one-third more than originally esti-
mated, prompting proponents to
scale back the project.
The truck-to-train loading facil-
ity to be built north of Nyssa, Ore.,
would ship onions and other com-
modities east to major markets.
Southeast Oregon and southwest
Idaho produce about one-quarter of
the country’s fall storage onions.
The 2017 Legislature approved
a $26 million ConnectOregon grant
from lottery-backed bonds. Legis-
lators this year approved a $3 mil-
lion grant, from federal coronavi-
rus recovery funds, to the City of
Nyssa, for a water line extension for
the reload center and future indus-
trial development.
Greg Smith, Malheur County
Economic Development direc-
tor and offi cer of the separate Mal-
heur County Development Corp.,
said the project is about $9.8 mil-
lion over the original $35 million
budget. The original plan called for
opening nearly 290 acres of indus-
trially zoned land for development.
He said an overarching solution
is to reduce the budget and features
Courtesy of Anderson Perry
An artist’s rendering of Treasure Valley Reload Center as originally designed. It is under construction
near Nyssa, Ore.
“from a Cadillac to a Chevrolet”
including eliminating “unnecessary
wants.”
Cost overruns include about $5
million in unexpected excavation
to deal with excess groundwater, a
price from lone building-construc-
tion bidder TCG Construction of
Meridian, Idaho, that was about
$2.9 million above expectations,
and higher steel and asphalt costs
driven by infl ation.
Smith said construction bidding
interest has dropped due to devel-
opment in southwest Idaho and
high transportation costs. The cor-
poration will solicit new bids.
About $3 million could be saved
by delaying construction of one of
the three rail spurs for three years,
he said. And $1 million could be
saved by using a septic waste sys-
tem instead of a lagoon system
serving several companies.
Smith said $2 million could be
saved by eliminating all access
roads except the one to the reload
center. Industrial park roads could
be added later as funding becomes
available.
Substantial excess groundwa-
ter lies in the path of planned rail
spurs. An engineering solution
that uses riprap rock to displace
water and add support strength is
expected to reduce remediation cost
by about $1 million, he said.
Another $300,000 could be
saved by reducing offi ce square
footage.
“We don’t need $10 million, we
need $3 million,” Smith said.
The development corporation
is inquiring with legislators and
state economic development unit
Business Oregon about potential
solutions.
Smith said potential funding
sources are the Legislative Emer-
gency Board, which meets between
sessions, and the state Special Pub-
lic Works Fund that provides low-
cost fi nancing to municipalities.
A Special Public Works loan
would be repaid by Malheur County
or the City of Nyssa, depending on
which applies. He said it would be
backed by the development corpo-
ration, either through the 65 acres it
has acquired or future sale of indus-
trial park lots.
Malheur County Judge Dan
Joyce, who heads the commis-
sion-like County Court, said com-
missioners likely would be hesitant
to borrow. The county at the outset
did not plan to spend money on the
project but ended up doing so to help
the corporation purchase the site.
But the county supports the eco-
nomic development project “and
would like to see it come to fruition,”
he said.
Nyssa City Manager Jim Maret
could not be reached immediately.
Site work started in October, trig-
gering state funding. Steel for the
building is on-site. Smith said rail
will be placed starting by late this
month or in early May.
“Our goal is to ship onions by
Oct. 1, and as of right now we are
within that schedule,” he said.
A less expensive building is an
option, though capacity to place and
briefl y store onions is important to
handling effi ciency, Smith said.
Reload center features would be
added as funding becomes available,
he said.
Northwest wheat crop tours back to full schedule
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
The Pacific Northwest
wheat crop tour schedule
is back in full force this
summer as farmers face
another challenging year.
“There will be more
(events) this year than last
year,” said Clark Neely,
lead of Washington State
University’s cereal vari-
ety testing program. “Last
year was almost a full
schedule.”
This year includes the
return of the annual field
day in Lind and revival of
a program at WSU’s Spill-
man Farm in Pullman after
several years hiatus. The
schedule also includes
O r e g o n
State Uni-
versity and
University
of
Idaho
wheat-re-
lated fi eld
Clark Neely days.
T h e r e
are currently no COVID
requirements for atten-
dance, Neely said.
“I think it’s going to be
more or less normal,” he
said.
He provides data on
variety performance to
farmers during the field
days. “They should keep
in mind the context in
which the data was gener-
ated,” he said.
Neely recently toured
WSU CROP TOUR
SCHEDULE 2022
https://bit.ly/3OF6gut
variety trial sites.
So far, new wheat vari-
eties from the McGre-
gor Co. and AgriPro look
“vigorous,” Neeley said.
“There’s more loca-
tions this year than normal
probably that are in a lit-
tle bit rougher shape than
I’d like to see,” he said.
“I suspect it’s going to be
another rough year, espe-
cially in our low rainfall
sites.”
Even if there’s more
moisture in-season, farms
Wheat Marketing Center
Mike Moran joined the Wheat Marketing Center as its new executive director on April
1. From left to right are Liman Liu, assistant operations manager; Kin Wong, labora-
tory assistant; Andrew Mense, food scientist; Jayne Bock, technical director; Moran;
Brent Haugen, offi ce administrator; and Bon Lee, operations manager.
Wheat Marketing Center
gets new executive director
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
PORTLAND — Mike
Moran, a veteran of the
Northwest wheat industry,
took over as executive direc-
tor of the Wheat Marketing
Center April 1.
He previously operated
bakeries in the Northwest and
was manager of Shepherd’s
Grain, a farmer-owned wheat
marketing cooperative.
“That’s exactly what
the Wheat Marketing Cen-
ter does, build those bridges
between farmers and the peo-
ple that consume the food
they grow,” he told the Capi-
tal Press.
The center is a nonprofi t
research and teaching institu-
tion. Its technical staff works
with domestic and overseas
customers to test U.S.-grown
wheat and its performance in
a variety of products.
As manager of the Grand
Central Bakery in Portland
and Seattle, Moran became
interested in farm-direct rela-
tionships. The marketing cen-
ter helped Moran connect
with Eastern Washington
farmers, working to get their
wheat into his bread.
“If you’re in the baking
industry, your No. 1 ingredi-
ent is fl our, and that comes
from wheat,” he said. “Wheat
is a product of the soil and the
farming methods that go into
it and the breeding selection.
If, as a baker, you’re focused
on delivering the highest qual-
ity you can, it is in your best
interest to have a direct com-
munication with the farmer,
so that you can give them
feedback on what you’re see-
ing in your food.”
The center conducted
a national search, said Bill
Flory, board chairman and an
Idaho wheat farmer.
“Mike has executive expe-
rience, industry experience
and baking experience,” Flory
said. He has a “great person-
ality, high energy. ... This will
be a great transition.”
Moran replaces Janice
Cooper, who will retire June
30. Cooper joined the center
in 2015.
“You can’t ask for a better
situation than to be moving
into a fully functional orga-
nization with a two-month-
plus overlap with the existing
director to do a clean knowl-
edge hand-off ,” Moran said.
Moran credits Cooper
and the center’s staff for their
work.
“It’s a blessing not to have
to come in and fi x something
that’s broken,” he said. “How
do you take something that’s
really successful and continue
to lead in wheat quality and
testing?”
His focus will be build-
ing overseas markets for U.S.
wheat, particularly meeting
the growing demand in South
and Central America.
“We do everything from
noodles to tortillas to pan
breads to sponge cakes to
crackers — there are always
new and emerging consumer
trends, and we want to stay
ahead of those,” he said.
“My focus is building a team
that’s focused on the future.
Continue doing what we do
well, and refi ne it for future
needs.”
Moran pointed to uncer-
tainty caused by the war
between Russia and Ukraine,
two large wheat exporters.
“I’d like to see us play a
big role in steadying people’s
nerves, assuring them that
U.S. wheat is still going to be
focused on quality and we’re
still going to be there for them
when they need it,” he said.
Moran’s message to
growers?
“We’re here for you,” he
said. “We understand that
the world is an ever-chang-
ing landscape, both politi-
cally but also with climate
variability. Mother Nature is
throwing wild cards to farm-
ers left and right, and we’re
here to help them navigate
the hand they’re dealt and
continue to produce some of
the highest quality wheat in
the world.”
have less stored soil mois-
ture this year compared to
last year, Neely said.
Moisture levels depend
on location, he said. Farm-
ers in high rainfall areas
feel that they’re in decent
shape, but growers in dry-
land Lind and Ritzville are
“really limited.”
“This moisture that
we’re getting, even though
it’s in the form of snow, is
good (but) I don’t know
that it will be enough,”
Neely said.
The next two months
will be critical for a spring
crop in dry country, he
said.
“It will very much be
dependent on how much
comes out of the sky,
because there’s hardly any-
thing in the soil,” he said.
Researchers last year
were “chasing moisture,”
seeding deeply with a
no-till drill at trials in Fair-
fi eld, Creston and Almira,
and the plants didn’t
emerge as well as Neely
hoped.
“A lot of that I attri-
bute to, it was just so dry
last fall, we were planting
deeper than we normally
do,” he said.
Neely’s team ended up
re-planting at low-rain-
fall sites in Ritzville, St.
Andrews and Connell
because they had planted
so deeply in August.
The results made for
good emergence data, he
said, but wouldn’t work
for yield trials.
“The re-plant only
worked well at Con-
nell. We did not get good
stands at Ritzville or St.
Andrews,” he said.
Neely thinks switching
from a deep furrow drill
to a conventional dou-
ble-disk drill led to uneven
moisture and soil density.
He estimates that spring
seeding is 50% done,
despite pauses due to snow
and cold on the Palouse, in
areas south of Rockford.
“A week ago, we were
thinking maybe we would
be done planting this
week,” he said. “We would
have been, if it hadn’t
turned back to winter.”