Friday, August 5, 2022
CapitalPress.com 3
Wet spring brings pros, cons to grass seed harvest
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
A wetter-than-usual spring in
Oregon’s Willamette Valley is prov-
ing to be a mixed bag for farmers
growing the region’s signature grass
seed crops.
Harvest is underway in the region
dubbed the “grass seed capital of the
world,” with most fields swathed
and combines slowly moving from
field to field.
Roger Beyer, executive director
of the Oregon Seed Council, said
this year’s growing season was a far
cry from 2021, when extreme heat
and drought took a significant toll
on farms. Instead, the region was
drenched by steady rain that lasted
from April into early and mid-June.
“Certainly, the weather condi-
tions were much more favorable
than last year,” Beyer said. “I’m
expecting closer to an average crop.”
However, that doesn’t appear
to be the case everywhere and for
all varieties of grass. Some farmers
George Plaven/Capital Press File
Grass seed is harvested in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
say they are experiencing low yields
because of all that moisture.
Beyer said the issue stems from
bouts of prolonged rain overlapping
with the period when grasses typi-
cally pollinate, making it harder for
the plants to release their pollen into
the air. Lower pollination rates mean
less seed come harvest.
Heavy rain can also cause lodg-
ing, when the crop falls over and dis-
rupts pollination.
“What I’m hearing now is (the
effects) are very localized,” Beyer
said. “When it’s raining constantly,
it’s hard for that pollen to flow.”
Oregon grows approximately
400,000 acres of grass seed, with
about 85% produced in the Willa-
mette Valley. Beyer said the state pro-
duces 60% of the world’s cool-sea-
son grass seed, which is exported to
more than 60 countries and used in
turf, forage and cover crops.
Grass seed was Oregon’s fifth
most valuable agricultural com-
modity in 2020, valued at more than
$458 million.
Nicole Anderson, an extension
seed production specialist for Ore-
gon State University, said last year’s
grass seed crop was down 30-50%
amid a region-wide drought and heat
wave packing temperatures in June
as high as 117 degrees.
By contrast, the weather station
at OSU in Corvallis recorded one of
the wettest springs in 2022 on record
dating back to 1875, Anderson said.
Anderson reiterated concerns
about lower pollination rates in
some grass varieties, though lat-
er-maturing types such as tall fescue
and perennial ryegrass may be less
affected, she said.
Across the board, Anderson said
the increased precipitation should be
a boon to seed quality.
“Usually, having access to soil
moisture when the seed is filling
means you have heavier seed,” she
said, adding that with so much rain,
there was little to no need for irriga-
tion. “Almost every acre was like
being in an irrigated field.”
Denver Pugh, of Pugh Seed Farm
in Shedd, Ore., said he is about half-
way through harvesting his grass
seed crops, and has observed lower
yields tied to reduced pollination.
“A lot of it has come in subpar,”
Pugh said. “It looked like it was
going to be a good year. We had a lot
of moisture, the plants looked good
and healthy. ... I just don’t think we
had the best weather for pollination.”
In the case of tall fescue, which
he grows for forage, Pugh said yields
were even less than a year ago in
the heat and drought. Orchardgrass
was similarly impacted, and he just
began combining his annual rye-
grass on July 27.
Pugh said pollen is normally so
thick from his grass seed fields that
he can see the dust collecting on the
road. He did not see that this year.
Between the last year’s drought
and this year’s rain, Pugh said the
two seasons could not have been
more different, yet they produced the
same result.
“It will pan out to be just as bad as
last year, if not worse,” he said.
Federal grant will help Oregon ranchers study non-lethal wolf deterrents
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
The USDA has awarded a
$100,000 grant to the nonprofit
Western Landowners Alliance to
test new non-lethal tools ranch-
ers can use to protect their live-
stock from wolves.
Funding comes from the Nat-
ural Resources Conservation
Service through its Conserva-
tion Innovation Grants program,
which supports the development
of new management strategies
to improve natural resource con-
servation on private lands.
The alliance will work with
four ranchers and three county
wolf committees in Oregon,
evaluating different approaches
to minimize wolf-livestock con-
flicts — including range riders,
high-tech cameras and compost-
ing dead animal carcasses.
“My goal, or my biggest
hope, is that this project is going
to help working lands remain
viable,” said Ellie Gage, who is
administering the NRCS grant.
“The deck is already stacked
Steve Tool/EO Media Group
An Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife biologist uses
shears on the carcass of a calf
that was killed by a wolf. Using
an NRCS grant, ranchers will
be testing non-lethal means of
keeping wolves away from live-
stock.
against these producers.”
Gage and her husband, Mark,
ranch in Central Oregon, where
they run a small herd of cattle
near Prineville and Powell Butte.
She is also chairwoman of the
Crook County wolf committee.
For the last several years,
Gage said she has been involved
in the alliance, participating in
the group’s Women in Ranch-
ing program. In May, she was
asked to do outreach for the
NRCS grant proposal, recruiting
partners interested in studying
non-lethal deterrents.
“The response was really
overwhelming,” she said.
Four livestock producers
signed up — two in Wallowa
County, one in Baker County and
one in southwest Oregon.
Wolf committees in Wallowa,
Baker and Grant counties agreed
to collaborate, as well as Prairie
City in Grant County, which has
a site for composting roadkill and
dead livestock.
The grant was awarded July
15, and will reimburse ranchers
for half their costs as they imple-
ment non-lethal methods aimed
at keeping wolves away from
sheep and cattle.
Gage said two producers will
experiment with high-frequency
radio ear tags on their cattle. The
idea is that will allow range rid-
ers to locate herds more quickly
and efficiently in large pastures,
lowering costs and maintaining a
more consistent human presence
among herds to scare off wolves.
“Some of these allotments
might be several thousand
acres,” Gage said. “If you can
spend less time looking for your
cows, and locate them quickly
with the help of ear tags, then
you can get to them ... more
efficiently.”
Another piece of technology
that Gage said she is excited to
try is a new game camera being
developed with artificial intelli-
gence that can be programmed
to identify specific animals and
notify producers.
“There is a huge need for
the producer to have real-time
information on where the pred-
ators are, and when they are
there,” she said. “They can go
and incorporate their non-lethal
tools and human presence when
they need to be there. Hopefully,
it will make non-lethal tools that
much more effective.”
In Prairie City, Gage said
composting dead livestock may
prove to be an effective tech-
nique for ridding ranches of
carcasses that might otherwise
attract wolves.
“If we can minimize those
attractants, everybody wins,”
she said.
The NRCS grant is meant to
build on similar livestock-pred-
ator conflict prevention work
the alliance is undertaking in
other states, including Washing-
ton, Idaho, Montana, California,
New Mexico and Arizona.
By proving which tools are
most effective in different areas
and terrain, Gage said it could
lead to a more permanent source
of funding to assist ranchers.
“The end goal of this proj-
ect is to provide durable funding
for producers who are facing the
challenges of sharing working
lands with wildlife,” she said.
“The work that they’re putting
into preventing conflict with
their livestock is not sustainable
financially.”
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