Page 8A
AG TODAY
East Oregonian
Thursday, April 30, 2015
OSU researching alternative crops,
organics at Ontario extension center
Bill Buhrig adds local
knowledge of ag to
OSU Extension work
By SEAN ELLIS
EO Media Group
ONTARIO
—
Oregon
State University researcher
Bill Buhrig wants to help local
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to plug into their rotations and
establish a blueprint for growing
organic crops in Eastern Oregon.
Buhrig was born and raised
on a farm in the area, so he has
an intimate understanding of
the local agricultural production
system and its challenges.
Buhrig, 39, says he “never
really left home” when he
accepted the job as a crop agent
with OSU’s Malheur County
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ago.
Even while working for
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University of Idaho’s Parma
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he commuted to work from his
farm in Vale, Ore.
Fellow OSU researcher
Stuart Reitz said Buhrig’s
knowledge of the local agri-
cultural industry, as well as
his familiarity with the world-
leading research on onions and
potatoes being conducted at the
Parma station, make him a valu-
able addition to the Malheur
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Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Oregon State University crop agent Bill Buhrig is a
researcher at OSU’s Ontario research station.
“We learned just enough to want to
learn more. It’s piqued my curiosity.”
— Bill Buhrig,
OSU researcher on pumpkin seed growth in Eastern Oregon.
“He knows a lot of farmers
in this area, they know him and
he has a very good relation-
ship with growers around the
community,” Reitz said. “He’s a
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One of Buhrig’s main goals
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alternative crops they can plug
in to their traditional four- or
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In 2014, he began exploring
whether pumpkin seed for
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ably in the valley.
After a local economic
development agency informed
researchers that some buyers
wanted to know whether it was
plausible to grow pumpkin
seeds in the valley, Buhrig and
other researchers planted 200
row feet of the crop.
“We learned just enough to
want to learn more,” he said.
“It’s piqued my curiosity.”
Buhrig will replicate the
trial this year, and if the results
are successful, researchers will
start working with a handful of
growers to continue exploring
the idea.
“From
an
agronomic
perspective, it seems plausible,”
he said. “From a logistics
perspective, we still have some
work to do.”
Potatoes and onions, two of
the region’s main cash crops,
are grown on 4- or 5-year
rotations. A pumpkin seed crop
also requires that same type of
rotation, Buhrig said.
“This is something that could
be dropped right into a crop
rotation in this valley,” he said.
Buhrig also wants to
develop a blueprint for organic
production in the valley. A lot
of farmers in the area want to
explore the organic market but
there is no real agronomic game
plan for growing organic crops
in the area, he said.
Buhrig is applying for grants
that would enable him to set up
a 30-acre trial on a full-circle
pivot. Multiple crops would be
grown on half the acres under
conventional methods used
in the valley and those same
crops would be grown on the
other side using no-till organic
methods.
“I would like to blueprint
out reduced or no-till organic
production in this area,” Buhrig
said. “That’s a big goal of mine.”
Tyson Foods hopes to rid U.S. chicken
of antibiotics by 2017, others to follow
By KELLY P. KISSEL
Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Tyson
Foods intends to stop using human
antibiotics in its domestic chicken
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said Tuesday, and will explore doing
the same for its beef, pork and turkey
operations.
The move comes as restaurants
demand more natural, unaltered food
and amid concerns that widespread
antibiotic use can lead to drug-resistant
germs. An animal welfare group said
if antibiotics are to be taken away,
other steps were needed to ensure birds
remain healthy.
McDonald’s said in March it wants
suppliers to stop using human antibi-
otics in poultry within two years and the
Panera and Chipotle restaurant chains
say chicken they currently serve is
antibiotic-free.
Donnie Smith, Tyson’s president
and CEO, said the 2017 target wasn’t
intended to match any customer’s
timetable.
“As we worked with our animal
pharmaceutical partners and with
researchers and with others ... it’s just
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would be in a position to totally elim-
inated the human-used antibiotics,” he
said on a conference call.
Christine Daugherty, Tyson’s vice
president of sustainable food produc-
tion, said discussions would begin in
the summer about additional antibiotic
restrictions, though the company made
no pledge.
“For other proteins, the animals in
the cattle, hog and turkey supply chain,
we want to get to reducing human-use
Chickens
gather
around a
feeder in
a Tyson
Foods
Inc., poul-
try house
near
Farming-
ton, Ark.
AP file photo
antibiotics on the farm as well but we
don’t have a time frame,” she said.
She said human-used antibiotics
would still be used in poultry if it was
the best course of treatment.
“We will not compromise the well-
being of the animals,” she said.
The American Society for the Preven-
tion of Cruelty to Animals cautioned
that if antibiotics are taken away, the
industry must take other steps to keep
birds healthy, such as giving chickens
room to roam, improving sanitation and
addressing poor genetics.
“If animal welfare is not addressed in
conjunction with pulling back the drugs,
this could actually be a very dangerous
move for birds and ultimately for
consumers,” said Suzanne McMillan,
content director for the Farm Animal
Welfare Campaign of the ASPCA.
Oregon House
committee OKs
$2M pesticide
measure
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Farm regulators would
receive an additional $2 million for regu-
lating pesticides in Oregon under legislation
passed by a key legislative committee.
The House Committee on Agriculture and
Natural Resources approved House Bill 3434,
which funds increased pesticide rule enforce-
ment, despite concerns by some lawmakers
over how the money will be spent.
Numerous pesticide bills were consid-
ered by the committee this year, including
bans on neonicotinoids and aerial spraying,
before a work group narrowed down several
concepts, including:
• Initiating a review of no-spray buffers
by the Oregon Department of Forestry.
• Establishing standard operating proce-
dures for investigating pesticide complaints
by the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
• Increasing the maximum civil penalties
for pesticide violations by two-fold.
During an April 21 work session,
Committee Chair Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie,
said these concepts would by taken up in a
new bill before the House Rules Committee.
However, the funding component —
House Bill 3434 — remained before the
House Committee on Agriculture and
Natural Resources.
Rep. Greg Barreto, R-Cove, said he
was uncomfortable with approving $2
million in funding for pesticide programs
that may be changed by the House Rules
Committee.
“They can take your ideas and chose to
do whatever they want to do,” he said.
Rep. Gail Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls,
said she also planned to vote against HB
3434 for the same reason.
“I don’t know what might happen down
there,” she said.
Witt said he was assured the upcoming
bill before the Rules Committee would
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members and the pesticide work group.
Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach, and
Rep. Sal Esquivel, R-Medford, said they
would give HB 3434 “courtesy votes” but
may change their positions depending on
what happens with the remaining pesticide
legislation.
The committee voted 6-2 to refer the bill
to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means
with a “do pass” recommendation.
———
The Capital Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Tyson said while it already has a
premium, antibiotic-free line of poultry,
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biotics is not expected to increase costs
to consumers. Smith said only a small
percentage of birds are treated with anti-
biotics and are cleared of any residuals
before being sent to a processing plant.
Dr. Bill Hewat, the director of
Tyson’s international veterinary and live
operations services, said the company
has strict guidelines on who can enter
poultry houses, which can help reduce
the risk of contamination.
“We either prevent or contain diseases
with our practices of entering houses
and transportation and movement of
people around the farms,” Hewat said.
“Part of this ability for us to reduce these
antibiotics has to do with the biosecurity
program as well.”
Chileans brace for volcano’s toll on livestock, farming
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP)
— The eruption of Chile’s
Calbuco volcano threatens to
cause widespread and lasting
economic damage, turning
cattle pastures barren and
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ash in one of the world’s top
salmon-producing countries.
Thousands of cattle and
sheep in danger of dying
have been evacuated in Los
Lagos. The region produced
about 950 million liters of
milk last year worth about
$346 million, said Ema
Budinich of the National
Agriculture Society.
“About 50 percent of
Chile’s milk production is
located in Los Lagos, so
this is affecting the whole
industry,” Budinich said
Tuesday.
Emir Jadue of the
Chamber of Commerce in
the nearby city of Puerto
Varas estimated the costs at
about $600 million and a 50
percent drop in the region’s
hotel industry.
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are not available yet, but
Eduardo Aguilera of the
AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo
Dead fish lie in a tank at a salmon farm, destroyed by
volcanic mudflows from the Calbuco volcano, in an
area along the Rio Blanco in Puerto Montt, Chile, Sat-
urday.
National Fishing Service
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have died.
Calbuco roared back to
life Wednesday after lying
dormant since 1972. It
billowed ash about 11 miles
high in the initial blast, then
several hours later produced
a
second,
spectacular
outburst that turned the
nighttime sky reddish orange
and caused huge lightning
bolts to crackle through its
ash plume.
Some 4,500 people have
been evacuated. But the Los
Lagos agricultural service
said more than 45,000
animals remain at risk from
eating plants and drinking
water contaminated by
volcanic ash. Experts say
the soil in the area may not
recover for over a year.
The animals “are practi-
cally without food because
the pasture ceased to exist.
They’re roaming on volcanic
rock,” said Rodrigo Lavin,
head of a farming group in
Llanquihue, a province of
Los Lagos.
The mighty blasts left
Ensenada, about 10 miles
from Calbuco’s peak, a ghost
town, abandoned by most of
its 1,500 residents. Military
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residents have been clearing
the thick soot that covers the
town.
“Our three horses, which
had been missing since
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back yesterday gaunt and
thirsty,” said Daniel Patricio
Gonzalez who left town with
his wife and children.
“But many other people
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sheep because packs of
hungry wild dogs have been
eating them,” Gonzalez
said. “The losses from this
eruption are huge, but the
animals are the ones who are
suffering the most.”
PENDLETON GRAIN GROWERS, INC.
Your member owned, agricultural cooperative
serving the communities of eastern Oregon.
PGG is a member owned cooperative, focused on
providing quality services and products to our
members and communities. Contact us for more
information about how we can answer any
questions about our marketing or supply services.
1 (800) 422-7611
www.pggcountry.com
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