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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 30, 2015)
AG TODAY Thursday, April 30, 2015 East Oregonian Questions persist on urban farm tax relief laws will effectively exclude their properties from residential construction within cities. The group wants local governments to consider the effect of agriculture incentive zones when deciding whether By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI to expand their urban growth Capital Bureau boundaries, but the Oregon SALEM — Legislation Farm Bureau fears this will providing tax relief for urban put development pressure on farmers has progressed in the farmland in rural areas. The bureau also wants Oregon House but concerns lawmakers to impose a sunset about unintended land use on the program so that it can effects continue to shadow eventually be re-evaluated, the proposal. House Bill 2723, which said Katie Fast, OFB’s vice allows local governments president of public policy. to impose lower property “We feel the need to have a taxes on urban farms, was check-back with the legisla- recently referred for a vote ture.” Lawmakers have RQWKH+RXVHÀRRUE\DNH\ attempted to resolve the legislative committee. FRQÀLFW ZLWK DQ DPHQGPHQW Despite voting 6-1 for a “do pass” recommen- WKDW VSHFL¿HV DJULFXOWXUH dation, members of the incentive zones are a factor House Committee on Rural in evaluating a city’s poten- Communities, Land Use and tial for future development. However, state regulators Water said questions must think the provision may clash still be resolved about the with other language in the bill impact of “agriculture incen- that says these zones have no tive zones” on urban growth effect on a city’s inventory boundaries. Under HB 2723, urban of buildable lands, said Rep. farmers in these zones would Brian Clem, D-Salem. Rep. Mike McLane, be subject to lower property R-Powell Butte, said he gave tax rates as long as they use HB 2723 a “courtesy no” so their properties for agricul- that the bill would not appear WXUHIRU¿YH\HDUV to have unanimous support, The Oregon Home Builders Association is thereby signaling to the concerned that landowners Senate that revisions are still who make such commitments necessary. Page 7A Inmates Truett Watts, left, and Frank Ochoa load bagged potatoes into boxes for shipping at the East- ern Oregon Correctional Institution on Monday in Pendleton. The potatoes will be distributed to food pan- tries via CAPECO throughout Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam and Wheeler counties. Lawmakers must UHVROYHFRQÀLFW over urban growth boundaries Staff photo by E.J. Harris POTATOES: Hale Farms donated 10 tons from its 2014 harvest Continued from 1A “The Department of Corrections has a lot of capacity to do this kind of stuff,” Burt said. “I think there’s more we can do with them.” Burt recommended Peck get in touch with Craig Reeder, vice president of Hale Farms, who has been involved in Farmers Ending Hunger since the organiza- tion formed a decade ago. Hale Farms already donates an acre of corn, peas and carrots to the food bank every year, while River Point Farms — part of the Hale Companies — was recently named “Hunger Buster of the Year” for its regular donation of onions. “I think they knew it was for a good cause. There were a lot of smiles. They seemed to be enjoying it.” — Jackie Peck, assistant to the prison superintendent Reeder said he had a extra line on potatoes, which are always needed by the food bank as a staple item in emergency food boxes. With the blessing of their major customer ConAgra Foods, Reeder came through with a whopping 10 tons from the farm’s 2014 harvest. “That’s probably our largest single donation,” Reeder said. “To have it run through the prison and have them package and put it together in a form that’s deliverable, I thought that was a cool piece to that.” Eastern Oregon farmers owe their land and their living to community support, Reeder said. For that reason, it’s important for them to give back. “That’s a real important part of what we do,” he said. Packaging fresh produce for the food bank is also a meaningful job for inmates at EOCI, Peck said. “I think they knew it was for a good cause,” Peck said. “There were a lot of smiles. They seemed to be enjoying it.” Diana Quezada, food programs coordinator for CAPECO, said their rela- tionship with the prison will continue and could possibly expand to include more packaging in future years. “If we have the prison rebagging our foods, I can work with more farmers,” Quezada said. “I think it can grow to be an even better partnership.” CAPECO food banks serve about 800 families on a monthly basis, and bring in approximately 200,000- 250,000 pounds of locally grown food per year. ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian. com or 541-564-4547. OSU uses UAVs to take temperatures from the Hermiston sky National Science Founda- tion, John Selker is buying CORVALLIS — For two new unmanned aerial WKH ¿UVW WLPH VFLHQWLVWV DW vehicles to loft sophisticated Oregon State University measuring instruments of his this month began measuring own design into an atmo- atmospheric temperatures spheric zone that’s been hard ZLWK¿EHURSWLFWKHUPRPHWHUV to study until now. “These two technologies suspended from unmanned aircraft — combining two together will add orders of emerging technologies to magnitude to the precision probe a poorly understood and resolution of our atmo- swath of Earth’s atmosphere. spheric measurements,” said With funding from the Selker, a hydrologist and Oregon State University professor in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences. “We’ll be able to take a continuous slice of data through space and time, getting information that no one has been able to capture before.” The high-powered ther- mometers use a down-to-earth WHFKQRORJ\¿EHURSWLFFDEOH similar to that used for tele- phone and Internet commu- nication. By measuring tiny pulses of light zipping along VSXQJODVV VWUDQGV WKH ¿EHU cables capture thousands of temperature readings along their length, detecting differ- ences as slight as 0.01 degree Celsius. In early-morning test ÀLJKWVQHDU+HUPLVWRQ6HON- er’s OSU colleagues Michael Wing and Chad Higgins suspended a 400-foot sensing cable — not much thicker than a kite string — from an OSU-owned quad copter. 7KH\ ÀHZ WKH DLUFUDIW DW miles an hour, sending it high enough that the tip of the cable just touched the ground. The cable reported tempera- tures every 13 centimeters. The researchers started WKHLU ÀLJKWV DW VXQULVH because they wanted to see how the atmosphere develops in the boundary layer, the lowest portion of Earth’s atmosphere, as the sun’s heat begins to move the air. The Earth’s surface and near atmosphere — up to about 1,000 meters above the ground — is a critical zone of feedbacks between air, water and earth, Selker said. “It’s where processes interact, where synergies occur. And temperature is a critical driver of these interactions.” Until now, he said, scientists have had a hard time taking comprehensive measurements of the lower atmosphere. INSURANCE Striving to remain a positive force in Morrow and Umatilla County Communities Specializing in • Farm & Ranch • Crop • Home • Auto • Business 121 S. Main Street • Pendleton 541.276.1418 Locations also in Lake Oswego, John Day, Hood River, Milton-Freewater, Baker City, Ketchum, ID & Scottsdale, AZ 75906 Threemile Rd, Boardman OR 97818 www.threemilecanyonfarms.com Castle Rock Farming Columbia River Dairy Six Mile Land & Cattle W HEN E VERY D ROP C OUNTS Irrigation Specialists have served the Oregon and Washington markets since 1970 - over 40 years of quality service and support. 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