NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Changing an industry
and set up a fixed margin
with them every year, so
they knew what we made
per pound.
“Every year we ended
up selling the hazelnuts
for more than our target
price and growers started
receiving secondary bonus
checks,” George said. “It
completely changed the
way the hazelnut industry
worked.
“Previously, the proces-
sor and the grower were
always fighting with each
other over who would get
what margin, and we turned
around and said, ‘You know
our margins; farmers get
everything to the upside; we
just need the volume, and
we can focus on efficien-
cies and developing unique
niche markets for Oregon
hazelnuts.’”
By 2002 the Georges had
quadrupled in size. Then,
in 2013, they purchased
Northwest Hazelnut Co.
from Jeff Kenagy and the
Gingerich family. North-
west Hazelnut Co. already
had built strong, high-
end niche domestic kernel
markets that complemented
the large North American
industrial customers and
specialty export markets
that were the backbone of
George Packing.
Today, George Pack-
At that point, George
George Packing Co.,
turned to buying nuts from
Northwest Hazelnut
local farmers and selling
Co. process more than them wholesale.
half of U.S. hazelnuts
He incorporated George
Packing Co. in 1994,
bringing in brother Shaun
George, 10 years his junior,
once he turned 18.
They leased space from
their parents on the family
farm and constructed a
processing plant for in-shell
and kernel products to go
along with the existing
drying facility.
“At the time there were
18-20 hazelnut processors
in the industry,” George
said. “There weren’t enough
hazelnuts for so many
processors and as a result
the processors worked off
a high-margin model to
support their operations.”
The processor margin
left little return for the
family far ms growing
hazelnuts at the time. As
farm kids, the George
brothers wanted to find a
way to fix that and secure a
greater financial return for
farm families like theirs.
“In the 1990s you had
the emergence of compa-
nies like Walmart that
work off a narrow, fixed
margi n and focus on
moving volume,” George
said. “We decided to work
closely with our growers
By BRENNA
WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
H U BBA R D — I n
1986 Larry George, with
the encouragement of his
Newberg High School ag
instructors, started an FFA
project that not only helped
put him through Oregon
State University, it also
spawned the business that
has changed the face of the
hazelnut industry.
“I would take hazelnuts
from my parents’ farm in
Newberg, dry them and
have them shelled by the
Herring family nearby,”
George said. “Then I’d have
them roasted and either
chocolate-coated or salted
and put them in small retail
packages that I sold during
college.”
By the time he gradu-
ated, George realized that,
because hazelnuts were
much more expensive than
competing products such
as almonds, the margins
on those small retail pack-
ages were not scalable for
industry and insufficient
to support much more than
one or two families.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
ing Co. and Northwest
Hazelnut Co., both based
in Hubbard, process a little
more than half the U.S.
hazelnuts, a crop almost
entirely produced in the
Willamette Valley.
“G rowers love ou r
model,” George said. “We
have aligned our interests
with our growers’ inter-
ests, and they know they’re
going to get all this upside
as long as the market stays
strong. Our job is to maxi-
mize efficiency and to be
constantly developing new
specialized niche markets
that bring Oregon farmers
the highest returns.”
T he George brot h-
ers worked closely with
the Hazelnut Growers
Bargaining Association
as the rest of the industry
migrated to this new busi-
ness model.
“It adds a ton of trans-
parency to the market,”
George said. “A big part of
what we do is give the grow-
ers as much information
as we can; once the farm-
ers understand the market,
they understand why we’re
making certain expendi-
tures and asking for certain
quality improvements.
“By k nowing what
happens on the sales side,
our growers become very
committed to the supply
chain and the impact they
have on the product getting
to the end users,” George
said.
| Go to AccuWeather.com
Friday, December 31, 2021
George Packing Co./Contributed Photo
Larry and Shaun George at the George Family Orchard in New-
berg. The siblings own George Packing Co. and Northwest Ha-
zelnut Co. and revamped hazelnut processing in the U.S.
John Day Christmas bird
count tallies 66 species
TODAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
Frigid; a little
morning snow
Very cold with low
clouds
High clouds and
chilly
A little a.m. snow,
then showers
Rain and sleet in
the afternoon
By BENNETT HALL
Blue Mountain Eagle
18° 4°
22° 12°
36° 30°
JOHN DAY — One of
the joys of bird-watching is
you never know what you’re
going to see when you head
out with your binoculars
and field guide.
This year’s John Day
Ch r ist mas bird cou nt,
which has been conducted
each December since 1981
by the John Day Bird Club,
included two f irst-time
sightings: a ferruginous
hawk and a Swainson’s
t h r ush. Ot her ra r it ies
included Harris’ sparrow,
last spotted during the local
Christmas count in 2006,
and the first Lincoln’s spar-
row since 2013.
The local count, part of a
data-gathering effort spon-
sored by the Audubon Soci-
ety since 1900, attempts to
record all the bird species
and total number of each
seen on a single day in
a roughly circular area
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
35° 30°
43° 32°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
23°
0°
20° 15°
26° 24°
39° 30°
39° 32°
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
34/20
11/0
24/6
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
17/2
Lewiston
35/17
21/5
Astoria
38/25
Pullman
Yakima 19/-4
33/18
20/4
Portland
Hermiston
37/21
The Dalles 23/0
Salem
Corvallis
42/24
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
22/-7
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
42/26
29/9
26/5
Ontario
29/-2
Caldwell
Burns
32°
16°
42°
28°
66° (1949) -13° (1990)
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
41/22
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
39/22
0.09"
1.73"
1.08"
6.80"
4.57"
8.60"
WINDS (in mph)
27/2
26/-7
0.23"
1.94"
1.45"
9.32"
13.27"
13.18"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 20/-4
40/23
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
18/-4
29/12
33°
9°
41°
28°
63° (1920) -12° (1968)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
32/15
Aberdeen
11/-5
15/2
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
31/19
Today
Sat.
NE 4-8
NNW 4-8
SSW 3-6
SW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
30/7
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
New
7:36 a.m.
4:21 p.m.
5:23 a.m.
2:17 p.m.
First
Full
centered on the stoplight in
John Day.
Ac c o r d i n g t o To m
Winters, the bird club’s
president, a dozen volun-
teers took par t in this
year’s count on Dec. 18,
spending a combined 37
hours in the field, travel-
ing 5 miles on foot and 208
miles by car, and spotting
66 species.
No clear trends were
discerned in this year’s
Ch r ist ma s bi rd cou nt
other than indications that
climate change may be
causing some birds to alter
their ranges, Winters said.
“We have seen some
species moving in that
didn’t use to be here,” he
noted, citing the California
scrub jay and lesser gold-
finch as examples.
A mong his favor ite
sightings this year was a
small group of bushtits.
“They always move
in groups,” Winters said.
“They’re really tiny little
grayish birds, but they’re
cute.”
He was also excited to
have spied an adult golden
eagle perched high on the
rimrock above the John
Day Valley and an Ameri-
can dipper on the riverbank
near the John Day sewage
ponds.
T he mo st c om mon
species sighted this year
was the dark-eyed junco,
w it h 630 i nd iv idu a l s
counted, followed by the
California quail (492 indi-
viduals), house sparrow
(342), Canada goose (338),
European starling (333),
pine siskin (193), Eurasian
collared dove (169) and
common raven (149).
At the other end of the
spectrum, birders spot-
ted just a single example
of these species: Wilson’s
snipe, ferruginous hawk,
barn owl, Pacific wren,
Swainson’s thrush, Harris’
sparrow, Lincoln’s sparrow
and spotted towhee.
Last
NATIONAL EXTREMES
IN BRIEF
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 91° in Cotulla, Texas Low -33° in Rolla, N.D.
Jan 2
Jan 9
Jan 17
Jan 25
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Oregon State Parks offer free
parking, guided hikes Saturday
SALEM — The Oregon Parks and Recre-
ation Department is set to host guided first-
day hikes across the state on Saturday, Jan. 1.
The usual $5 parking that is being waived
on the first day of the year for the 25 parks in
Oregon that typically require a permit.
“Whatever your choice — a guided hike,
exploring a park trail on your own, or enjoy-
ing everything a state park offers — starting
out the year in the outdoors can begin a new
tradition or keep a longstanding family tradi-
tion alive,” Oregon State Parks Director Lisa
Sumption said in a press release. “Jan. 1 also
marks the beginning of the yearlong Oregon
State Parks centennial commemoration.”
Wallowa Lake State Park is taking part in
the first-day hike events, hosting a first-day
disc golf event at the park’s winter course.
Rangers will be on site from 1-4 p.m. on Jan.
1 to help first-time players with the basics of
the game as well as free equipment to borrow.
Warming stations will be set up at the
beginning and midway through the nine-hole
course. Participants can meet at the parking
lot next to the group camp B in the camp-
ground’s D loop.
For those looking to travel, the Oregon
Parks and Recreation press release noted
that late December is an ideal time for whale
watching at the state parks on the west side
of the state.
The events and free parking offers are
a kickoff to the department’s 100th year of
operation. The state park system includes 254
properties and more than 100,000 acres.
— EO Media Gorup
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
ice
50s
60s
cold front
E AST O REGONIAN
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