NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
New Oregon lab, seed
certifi cation bring
standards to hemp
Christmas tree
checkoff supporters
prevail in referendum
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
vidual growers can spend
their marketing dollars more
effectively.
Farmers voted on the
checkoff in 2018 after it had
been operating for three
full years. While the USDA
didn’t explain why another
referendum was held in 2019,
supporters and detractors
assumed it was because the
fi rst vote was so close.
Supporters tried to “fl ood
the zone with information”
to clinch another victory this
year, sending regular emails
to farmers and speaking to
state Christmas tree organi-
zations, said Blake Rafeld,
an Ohio farmer who led
the pro-checkoff campaign
committee.
“You never know how a
vote is going to come out, and
we had an organized opposi-
tion,” Rafeld said. “My gut
told me based on anecdotal
information that we would
be successful.”
Real Christmas trees have
steadily lost market share to
plastic imports from China,
necessitating a concerted
approach to winning over
younger consumers, accord-
ing to checkoff supporters.
The Christmas Tree Pro-
motion Board has focused
on creating online videos
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Supporters
of a national checkoff pro-
gram aimed at promoting
real Christmas trees have
prevailed in another hard-
fought referendum against
opponents who believe it’s
ineffectual.
About 55% of farmers
and importers voted in favor
of the checkoff, which gener-
ates about $1.8 million a year
in mandatory fees of 15 cents
per tree.
“I’m
just
delighted
our industry will get the
chance to help itself,” said
Betty Malone, an Oregon
Christmas tree farmer who
spearheaded the checkoff
idea.
The program survived by
a narrower margin of 1% in
a previous election adminis-
tered last year by the USDA,
which oversees research and
promotion boards for 22
crops.
Proponents of the Christ-
mas Tree Promotion Board
argue
that
collectively
investing in advertising and
research helps the industry
compete against artifi cial
trees, but critics claim indi-
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Capital Press Photo/Mateusz Perkowski, File
Workers load Christmas trees onto a conveyor in prepa-
ration for shipping at Sunrise Tree Farm near Philomath,
which is owned by Pat and Betty Malone. The Christmas
tree industry has voted for the second time in favor of con-
tinuing a research and promotion program.
meant to be shared through
social media, highlighting
the family memories created
by real trees as well as their
economic and environmental
benefi ts.
The board is also direct-
ing money toward agronomic
research, such as battling
insect pests and diseases.
“So many of the funding
streams for research are dry-
ing up,” Malone said.
Farmers Against Christ-
mas Tree Taxation, an orga-
nization that opposes the
checkoff, alleges that con-
sumer preferences are largely
driven by demographic
trends, with artifi cial trees
favored by older people with-
out young children at home.
Farmers are more likely
to reap gains from targeted
advertising in their local
area than from a generic
national campaign, which
hasn’t proven effective with
commodities such as milk,
according to opponents.
Sales were strong in 2018
due to a healthy economy but
the Christmas Tree Promo-
tion Board likely got some of
the credit, potentially help-
ing checkoff supporters in
the referendum, said Frans
Kok, a Virginia farmer who
organized the anti-checkoff
campaign.
“I think it’s completely
erroneous but the economy
did what the economy did,”
Kok said.
It’s possible for checkoff
opponents to trigger another
referendum if at least 10%
of eligible farmers request it,
but Kok said he’d like more
information about the most
recent vote before starting
a petition.
AURORA — A unit of
wheat is a called a bushel, and
a standard weight of potatoes
is called a century. But hemp
as a fully legal U.S. agricul-
tural commodity is so new that
a unit of hemp seed doesn’t yet
have a universal name or an
agreed-upon quantity.
That’s one example of the
startling lack of uniformity
— and accountability — in
an industry that’s sprung up
almost overnight since the
U.S. late last year removed
hemp from the controlled sub-
stances list.
A global hemp research lab
announced Thursday in Ore-
gon, coupled with a nascent
national review board for
hemp varieties and a handful
of seed certifi cation programs
nationwide, are the fi rst stabs
at addressing those concerns
— and at creating accountabil-
ity by standardizing U.S. hemp
for a global market.
“If you look at a lot of fi nan-
cial markets, they’re all saying,
‘People are investing in this,
and we have no idea what to
divide it by,” said Jay Noller,
head of Oregon State Univer-
sity’s new Global Hemp Inno-
vation Center. “We have hemp
fi ber. What is it? What’s the
standard length?”
Oregon State’s research
hub will be the United States’
largest and will offer a certifi -
cation for hemp seed that guar-
antees farmers the seed they’re
buying is legitimate and legal.
That’s a critical need when
individual hemp seeds are
currently selling for between
$1.20 and $1.40 per seed —
and an acre of crop takes up to
2,000 seeds, Noller said.
Licensed hemp acreage in
Oregon, which has an ideal
climate for growing the crop,
has increased six-fold since
last year, earning Oregon the
No. 3 spot for hemp cultiva-
tion after Montana and Colo-
rado, according to Vote Hemp,
which advocates for and tracks
the industry in the U.S.
Four other states — North
Dakota, Colorado, Tennessee
and North Carolina — also
have hemp seed certifi cation
programs. Other U.S. uni-
versities, such as Cornell in
Ithaca, New York, have hemp
research programs, but Ore-
gon State’s will be the largest,
built on years of hemp research
done in test fi elds in China,
Bosnia and Serbia and now at
10 research stations sprinkled
across the state. On Thurs-
day, Oregon State researchers
began to sow their third crop in
a fi eld in Aurora.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Nice with plenty of
sunshine
Partly sunny
85° 56°
89° 59°
TUESDAY
Partly sunny and
pleasant
OREGON IN BRIEF
WEDNESDAY
Partly sunny;
breezy, pleasant
Pleasant with
plenty of sun
Bend man presumed
drowned after canoe
overturns in reservoir
Grand Ronde tribes to
purchase Blue Heron paper
mill
BEND (AP) — Authorities say a
29-year-old Bend man is presumed
drowned after a canoe he was in with
a friend tipped over in Wickiup Reser-
voir southwest of Bend.
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s
Offi ce says deputies were sent to the
Davis arm of Wickiup Reservoir Thurs-
day morning after receiving a drown-
ing report.
The sheriff’s offi ce says the two men
were camping and went out in a canoe
with a dog.
The sheriff’s offi ce says the canoe
overturned at about 2 a.m. and that
a 24-year-old Bend man and the dog
swam to shore. The other man remained
missing Thursday evening.
The sheriff’s offi ce says searchers
found gear from the canoe on the lake
fl oor and that a search will continue.
The sheriff’s offi ce said alcohol is
believed to have been a factor and that
neither were wearing lifejackets.
PORTLAND (AP) — The Confed-
erated Tribes of Grand Ronde plan to
purchase the shuttered Blue Heron
paper mill and more than 1 mile of land
along the Willamette River upstream.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reported
purchasing the lands would give the
tribes easy access to the river for cer-
emonial fi shing and room for potential
commercial development.
Grand Ronde Chairwoman Cheryle
A. Kennedy says they were not far
enough in the process to say if the land
would be used for commercial develop-
ment, but have aspirations to develop
the land.
Kennedy told Willamette Week
Grand Ronde has no plans to build a
casino in Oregon City if the land pur-
chase is completed.
Kennedy said the tribes are midway
through the purchase process but did
not specify when the actual purchase
would be made.
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
87° 59°
77° 45°
85° 54°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
90° 59°
95° 64°
93° 64°
82° 51°
90° 57°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
66/53
80/55
90/56
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
85/63
Lewiston
76/53
91/58
Astoria
66/54
Pullman
Yakima 90/58
78/49
88/61
Portland
Hermiston
81/56
The Dalles 90/59
Salem
Corvallis
79/51
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
81/51
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
81/51
84/49
82/55
Ontario
89/59
Caldwell
Burns
84°
62°
79°
53°
102° (1933) 37° (1930)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
80/52
0.00"
Trace
0.33"
4.42"
5.00"
5.44"
WINDS (in mph)
86/55
82/46
0.00"
0.05"
0.72"
9.33"
6.33"
7.23"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 78/49
81/52
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
85/56
86/60
80°
54°
78°
52°
103° (1933) 37° (1930)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
78/53
Aberdeen
84/60
89/64
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
77/57
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
93/56
Sun.
SW 4-8
WNW 4-8
SW 4-8
WNW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
86/48
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:05 a.m.
8:46 p.m.
7:14 p.m.
4:09 a.m.
Full
Last
New
First
June 17
June 25
July 2
July 9
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 104° in Needles, Calif. Low 29° in Embarrass, Minn.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
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