A2 Wednesday, January 22, 2020
HOOD RIVER NEWS | Hood River, Ore.
hoodrivernews.com
GREATER GORGE
Orbital ships UAV engine under agreement with Insitu
Orbital Corporation Ltd.
announced has started ship-
ping the second engine model
identified under its long-term
agreement with Insitu Inc., a
wholly-owned subsidiary of
The Boeing Company.
The engine, an Insitu de-
sign, is being assembled and
shipped from Orbital UAV’s
purpose-built production fa-
cility in Hood River, which
opened in 2018.
“This is another signifi-
cant milestone for Orbital
UAV, both in the delivery of
our commitments to
Insitu and our long
term UAV focused
strategy,” said Todd
Alder, CEO and man-
aging director of Orbital
UAV, in a press release. “I am
encouraged with our team’s
progress and the quality of
the product we are deliver-
ing. With our company now
in production of two world
class engines from our Aus-
tralia and USA facilities, our
development team now shift
their focus to the third en-
gine model under the LTA,”
he said.
The second engine under
the Long Term Agreement will
support Insitu’s Integrator UAS
platform.
The five-year agreement
with Insitu was announced in
October 2018. The agreement
covers the delivery of multi-
Photo courtesy of Insitu
INSITU INTEGRATOR from the Bingen-based company employs an Orbital-built engine. The Australian company opened its Hood River center in 2018.
ple propulsion systems and
services, to be applied across
the Boeing subsidiary’s entire
fleet of unmanned aircraft
system platforms. Orbital UAV
began production of the first
engine model under the LTA
in H1 2019. This initial model
was the first derivative of Or-
bital UAV’s Modular Propul-
sion Solution, featuring the
Company’s patented FlexDI
technology and offering in-
dustry leading performance.
“The two engine models
we have in production is fur-
ther demonstration of Orbital
UAV’s growing capabilities
and capacity,” Alder said.
“Whether we are taking our
own designs through research
and development and into
production or adding insight
and rigor to the designs of our
customers, Orbital UAV has
the know-how and expertise
to provide significant value
across the advanced manufac-
turing process,” he said.
Orbital UAV continues to
work closely with key custom-
er Insitu in the development
of additional engines identi-
fied under the LTA, the press
release stated.
The Dalles reaches top 5 in Small Business Revolution tally
The Dalles is one step closer
to being the featured town on
Season 5 of Small Business
Revolution, an online series
available on Hulu and Ama-
zon Prime and co-hosted by
Ty Pennington of Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition and
Trading Spaces. The city has
made the cut to the “Final 5”
and is now competing against
four other U.S. towns, Benicia,
Calif., Fredonia, N.Y., Living-
ston, Mont., and Spearfish, S.D.
To win, The Dalles must re-
ceive the most votes during the
public voting period, open now
through Jan. 21. People can
cast one vote per unique email
per device per day. Thus, if a
person has two email accounts
and three devices (phone,
computer, tablet), that individ-
ual can cast six votes per day.
To vote, go to smallbusiness-
revolution.org.
The Dalles hopes to garner at
least 1 million votes, which is
what the Season 4 town, Sear-
cy, Ark. (population: 22,000),
received. The Dalles’ popula-
tion is 15,600.
The show, whose tagline
is “on a mission to revitalize
small towns, one small busi-
ness at a time,” highlights why
small businesses are critical to
local economies, according to
a website from The Dalles Main
Street. The winning city will get
help to revitalize their main
street with a $500,000 invest-
ment for six local small busi-
nesses and the community.
“This is an incredible op-
portunity for The Dalles. Our
charming, historic downtown
area has made huge strides
in the past decade with a
variety of unique new busi-
nesses — from boutiques to
breweries — which have joined
longtime businesses such as
Klindt’s Booksellers, the oldest
bookstore in the West,” said
Don Warren, president of The
EQIP advanced payment
USDA reminds
historically
underserved
producers
of advance
payment option
USDA’s Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS)
reminds historically under-
served producers, who are par-
ticipating in the Environmental
Quality Incentives Program
(EQIP), of the advance pay-
ment option. This option al-
lows them to get conservation
practice payments in advance
of practice implementation.
“The advance payment op-
tion makes NRCS conservation
assistance more accessible to
underserved producers,” said
NRCS Chief Matthew Lohr. “It
enables them to participate
without having to worry about
covering upfront costs them-
selves or looking for a loan to
cover the costs. Some farmers
don’t have the financial abil-
ity to wait for the NRCS reim-
bursement to arrive.”
EQIP provides financial and
technical assistance to address
natural resource concerns and
to deliver environmental ben-
efits, such as improved water
and air quality, conserved
ground and surface water,
reduced soil erosion and sed-
imentation, and improved or
created wildlife habitat. In
fiscal 2019, NRCS invested $1.3
billion through EQIP to imple-
ment conservation practices
on more than 13 million acres.
A historically underserved
producer is described as one of
the below:
■ Beginning Farmer or
Rancher: Is new to farming
or ranching, or has operated
a farm or ranch for less than
10-consecutive years.
■ Socially Disadvantaged
Farmer or Rancher: Is a mem-
ber of a group whose members
have been subjected to racial
or ethnic prejudice because of
their identity as members of
that group without regard to
their individual qualities.
■ Veteran Farmer or Ranch-
er: Has served in the armed
forces and has not operated a
farm or ranch, has operated
a farm or ranch for less than
10-consecutive years, or first
obtained veteran status during
the last 10 years.
■ Limited Resource Farmer
or Rancher: Has a household
income at or below the nation-
al poverty level.
Under the advance payment
option, such producers may
request payments when they
have final designs and job
sheets and are ready to begin
their EQIP practices. Advance
payments provide at least 50
percent of the payment rate
for each practice. The funds
must be spent within 90 days of
receipt and practices must be
completed as agreed to in an
EQIP plan of operations. Pro-
ducers also may opt to have
NRCS pay the contractors or
vendors directly.
EQIP practices include veg-
etative practices, structural
practices, management prac-
tices and other improvements
that further program goals
such as conservation activity
plans.
More Information
For more information,
visit the advance payments
website www.nrcs.usda.gov,
where you can download
the EQIP Advance Payment
Fact Sheet and read the blog
#FridaysOnTheFarm: Advance
Payment Helps Extend the
Season blog.
For more information on
NRCS Farm Bill programs,
visit nrcs.usda.gov/farmbill or
contact your local NRCS field
office.
With “From Radical Idea to
Ratification: Women’s Voting
Rights,” the Old Courthouse
Regional History Forum
Series for 2020 starts Feb.
1 at the 1859 Courthouse
Building, 410 West 2nd Place,
The Dalles. Programs begin
at 1:30 p.m. in the upstairs
courtroom. The old court-
house is behind the Chamber
of Commerce and Visitors’
Center at the west side of
5:00 p.m.
to
6:00 p.m.
3405 WINE
COUNTRY AVENUE
HOOD
RIVER
HOOD RIVER
541-386-3940
Your
Mortgage
Lender
BUY ONE SALE ITEM,
GET SECOND
OF EQUAL
OR LESSER VALUE
FOR
downtown.
Speaker Janice Dilg is prin-
cipal of a historical consulting
firm. She is state coordinator
for an online resource for the
2020 centennial of the 19th
Amendment that extended
voting rights to women. She
will tell the story of Sylvia
Thompson (D-The Dalles) who
introduced the bill ratifying the
amendment in the 1920 special
session.
SUDOKU
This week’s Sudoku is presented by:
BRIEN D . GIBSON
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT
Don’t miss
our
Happy
Hour!
town every day. Please go to
LoveTheDalles.com for a link
to vote.”
“Small Business Revolu-
tion has recognized both The
Dalles’ charm and potential,
and it’s time to get us over
the finish line, so let’s all get
voting!” said Lisa Farquharson,
president/CEO of The Dalles
Area Chamber of Commerce.
The winning town will be
announced on Jan. 28.
Ratification talk
starts history series
1
Stonehedge
Gardens
Gardens
1/2 PRICE
1/22/20 - 1/31/2020
Call Bernie today
541-490-0167
3
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7
2
4 1
5
7 8
1 3
5
2
8
9
2
3
9
4
5 4
8
6 5
3
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4 5
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© 200 Hometown Content
Fill in all 81 squares on the puzzle with numbers 1 to 9. You can
use each number 1-9 only once in each nine square section, in each
horizontal line of nine squares, and in each vertical column of nine
squares. The puzzle is completed when you correctly fi ll every square.
BRIEN D . GIBSON
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT
Senior Loan Officer-Branch Manager
509 Cascade Ave, Suite F, Hood River
Company NMLS #2550 NMLS #114231
413 Oak St
413
541 Oak
308 St
0770
Mon-Sat
541
308 10-6,
0770 Sun 11-5
Apply at berniedittenhofer.mannmortgage.com
Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5
Bernie Dittenhofer
Dalles Main Street, an organi-
zation dedicated to the growth
and revitalization of the city’s
downtown. “We’re so proud of
our wonderful small business
owners, who are the heart of
The Dalles, and we would love
to have Small Business Revolu-
tion help bring our downtown
to the next level.”
Added Warren, “I hope ev-
eryone will show their love
for The Dalles and its small
businesses by voting for our
T: (541) 226-3503
F: (503) 331-3904
E: briencpa@gorge.net
L: 1814 BELMONT AVE.
HOOD RIVER, OR 97031