Friday, May 13, 2022
CapitalPress.com 7
Using wood waste to generate carbon-sequestering biochar
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
LYONS, Ore. — Tech giant
Microsoft is investing in carbon
credits generated by an Oregon
wood products company to help
reduce, and eventually erase, its
carbon footprint.
The off sets come from biochar
produced at Freres
Engineered Wood,
which manufac-
tures plywood and
veneer in the San-
tiam Canyon east
of Salem.
Biochar is a
carbon-rich mate- Kyle Freres
rial created when
organic biomass, such as wood,
is roasted at high temperatures in
a low oxygen environment. It is
essentially a fi nely grained char-
coal, and can be used as a soil
amendment to improve fertility.
Because it also sequesters car-
bon, biochar is marketed as a tool
to mitigate the eff ects of climate
change.
Biochar from Freres was certi-
fi ed last year by Puro.earth, a mar-
ketplace on which companies can
buy or trade carbon credits to off -
set their emissions from other
sources. Microsoft has agreed to
purchase these credits as part of a
sweeping program to become car-
bon negative by 2030.
Carbon negative means Micro-
soft aims to sequester more carbon
than it emits each year.
ACT Commodities, a fi nancial
institution that backs climate proj-
ects around the world, brokered
the deal for Freres, a family-run
business founded in 1922.
“As part of the path to our car-
bon-negative goal by 2030, we are
glad to purchase biochar-based
carbon removal credits via ACT
from the Pacifi c Northwest-based
supplier Freres,” said Elizabeth
Wilmott, carbon program director
for Microsoft.
Freres Engineered Wood — for-
merly Freres Lumber Co. — has
long made biochar as a byproduct
of its cogeneration plant in Lyons,
said Kyle Freres, the company’s
vice president.
Built in 2007, the plant runs
around the clock burning ground
up tree bark, limbs and other
woody debris to create the steam
that powers a massive turbine gen-
George Plaven/Capital Press
The cogeneration plant at Freres Engineered Wood in Lyons, Ore.
erator, creating enough electricity
for about 5,000 homes.
Portland General Electric, a
regional utility, buys the electric-
ity. Meanwhile, what’s left over is
a combination of ash and biochar
that Freres previously sold to farm-
ers. Not only is biochar more than
70% carbon, but its porous nature
allows soil to retain more water,
growing more robust crops.
In recent years, however, Freres
said it has become increasingly
diffi cult to manage such large vol-
umes of biochar. “Farmers are sea-
sonal, and our business isn’t,” he
Longtime Idaho agriculture
advocate heading to Montana
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Leah Clark, an Idaho
agriculture advocate for
more than 30 years, is
headed to Billings, Mont.,
where she will take over
as general manager of the
Northern International Live-
stock Exposition.
She starts her new job
June 6.
“I will miss a lot of peo-
ple in Idaho, but this is kind
of a return to my roots,” said
Clark, a native of Chinook,
Mont. She looks forward to
meeting new friends in the
area, where her mother and
sister live.
“She will be really
missed,” said Rick Waitley,
who directs Food Producers
of Idaho, Leadership Idaho
Agriculture and the state’s
Agriculture in the Class-
room organization. “Leah
is very tal-
ented and
has many
great con-
nections
all over the
state.”
Leah Clark
C l a r k
will leave
board positions with the Ada
County Farm Bureau, where
she is promotion and edu-
cation chair, and Idaho Ag
in the Classroom. She is an
LIA graduate and previously
chaired the annual Idaho Ag
Summit.
In Montana, she plans
to explore opportunities to
serve with Ag in the Class-
room as well as Farm to
School, which connects
school meal programs with
local producers.
Agriculture and particu-
larly livestock are longtime
passions and “in my blood,”
Clark said. Both of her sets
of grandparents ranched.
Her parents ranched in
Montana’s Missouri River
Breaks when she was young.
Her mother taught school
in Arizona. Leah cemented
her passion for agriculture as
an FFA student and offi cer in
Chandler, Ariz., returning to
Montana during summers.
Clark earned a bachelor’s
degree in agribusiness man-
agement at Arizona State
University and a master’s
degree in agriculture mar-
keting and fi nance at Okla-
homa State.
She became executive
director of the Idaho Beef
Council immediately fol-
lowing graduate school.
She worked for the coun-
cil for about 15 years, until
the Idaho State Department
of Agriculture in 2004 hired
her to manage its Idaho Pre-
ferred program that pro-
motes local food.
AGCO ransomware attack disrupts
its production of farm equipment
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
U.S. agricultural equipment
giant AGCO was the victim of
a ransomware attack last week
that has impacted production.
The Georgia-based com-
pany said in a statement May
6 it expects its business oper-
ations will be “adversely
aff ected for several days and
potentially longer” depending
on how quickly the company
is able to repair its systems.
The production slowdown
comes during a crucial plant-
ing season for agriculture and
at a time when the pandemic
and supply chain problems
have already created a massive
backlog in production of agri-
cultural equipment.
Although AGCO said the
attack “has impacted some of
its production facilities,” it did
not specify how many produc-
tion facilities or what percent-
age of total production volume
was aff ected. Whatever the
scale of the attack, it was tar-
geted at a big company.
AGCO has 42 manufac-
turing locations worldwide
and 1,810 dealerships in North
America. The company sells
tractors, foragers, combines,
smart farming technologies
and other equipment. Several
major brands are in AGCO’s
brand portfolio, including
Massey Ferguson. In 2021,
JEWETT
the company had net sales of
$11.1 billion.
AGCO has not yet named
a suspect in the attack or dis-
closed whether any data was
stolen, but the company said it
is investigating.
“AGCO is still investigat-
ing the extent of the attack,”
said Greg Peterson, vice pres-
ident of investor relations for
the company.
Peterson told the Capital
Press he doesn’t have any fur-
ther detail to share at this time.
“We will give updates
when we have new informa-
tion,” Peterson wrote in an
email.
This isn’t the fi rst time a
major agricultural business
has been the target of a ran-
somware attack. cyber attacks
on ag-related businesses have
increased in recent years,
according to offi cials. Last
year alone, JBS USA, a sub-
sidiary of the world’s largest
meat processor, was hit by an
organized cyber attack, fol-
lowed by ransomware attacks
on at least three Midwest grain
handlers along with other
farming-related companies.
After the JBS hack, USDA
Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack acknowledged that
disruptive cyber attacks are
likely a “new reality” for the
food system.
USDA isn’t the only agency
that has noticed the uptick in
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ag-targeted cyber crimes.
The FBI last month issued
a statement warning that ran-
somware attacks on agricul-
tural businesses such as coop-
eratives have intensifi ed and
may be more likely during
planting and harvest seasons,
when cyber actors can strategi-
cally cause the most fi nancial
loss and negatively impact the
food supply chain.
explained.
The company opted to send
the excess carbon-rich material
to a landfi ll 45 miles away near
Corvallis.
By selling carbon credits to
Microsoft, Freres said the added
revenue will off set their disposal
costs in the short term while pro-
viding an incentive for them to
research and develop new com-
mercial products. He envisions
marketing a proprietary blend of
topsoil and biochar to farmers and
home gardeners.
“I think the agricultural markets
could be a big opportunity for us,”
Freres said.
The company is now experi-
menting with techniques to sep-
arate benefi cial biochar from the
non-combustible ash. Once that
process is refi ned, Freres said they
hope to start product development
in the next year or two.
A portion of the feedstock used
in the cogeneration plant comes
from Freres’ timber operations,
though a majority is collected from
outside the company, including
urban manufacturers in the Port-
land area.
All of the unsalable wood is
mulched and fed into the plant,
where it is burned at between 1,400
and 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
“These are materials that are
really not useful for anything else,”
Freres said. “We don’t let anything
go to waste.”
Freres said he believes wood
products play a key role in seques-
tering carbon and combating cli-
mate change.
“Frankly, we feel like our
industry is one of the greenest on
the planet,” Freres said. “It’s prod-
ucts like this that really burnish our
environmental credentials.”
Beef exports set record,
pork exports improve
Capital Press
U.S. beef exports soared to
another new value record in
March and lamb exports con-
tinued to gain momentum.
Pork exports, however,
were well below the record
totals posted in March 2021,
according to the latest data
from U.S. Meat Export
Federation.
Beef exports totaled
126,285 metric tons in
March, up 1% from a year
ago and the third largest on
record, while value climbed
33% to a record $1.07 billion.
First quarter exports were up
6% in volume and 41% in
value.
“Global demand for U.S.
beef has eclipsed anything
I have seen in many years
in the meat business,” Dan
Halstrom, USMEF presi-
dent and CEO, said in a press
release accompanying the
data.
“While this momentum is
fueled by mainstay markets
such as South Korea, Japan
and Taiwan, demand is also
very strong in China/Hong
Kong and key Latin Amer-
ican markets, while exports
to the Middle East have
rebounded impressively,” he
said.
He did, however, cau-
tion that fi rst-quarter results
don’t fully refl ect the
impact of recent COVID-
19 lockdowns in China that
have slowed product move-
ment and forced many
Ahn Young-joon/Associated Press File
South Korean shoppers buy beef at a grocery store.
U.S. beef exports set a value record in March.
restaurants to suspend or
limit service. These obsta-
cles are likely to have a
greater impact on April and
May export data.
He also noted that while
beef demand has been resil-
ient, infl ation represents a
potential headwind.
“Consumers throughout
the world have shown how
much they value the qual-
ity of U.S. beef, but dispos-
able income is under increas-
ing pressure as they pay more
for energy and other daily
needs,” he said.
March beef exports rep-
resented $472.73 per head
of U.S. fed cattle slaugh-
tered and 14.7% of total beef
production.
On the pork side, March
exports were 222,581 metric
tons, the largest since Novem-
ber but nearly 25% below the
record volume achieved a
year ago. Export value was
$615.3 million, also the high-
est since November but down
23% year-over-year.
Pork exports to Mexico
and the Dominican Republic
raced to a record pace in the
fi rst quarter and South Korea
posted a strong increase in
export value, but shipments
to most destinations were
below last year.
“While pork exports were
down signifi cantly from last
year’s record, we saw some
encouraging trends in the
March results,” he said.
“U.S. pork commanded a
higher price per pound than
a year ago, with outstanding
demand from Mexico and
value growth in key markets
such as South Korea and
the Dominican Republic, he
said.
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