NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Food industry must adapt to long-term labor shortages
ers found pay rates are 14th
on their list of concerns,
while enjoying their job is the
top consideration, he said.
“Employees are becoming
the new customers. We have
to make them happy,” said
Steve Childs, a production
manager for Chaucer Foods
in Forest Grove. “Employees
aren’t something you do once
and then put on a shelf.”
Roughly 70 million work-
ers from the baby boomer
generation are projected to
retire during a time period
when only 40 million new
workers will enter the work-
force, said Brian LaPlante,
district account manager
with FANUC America Corp.,
a robotics company.
Ret i rements have
increased in the aftermath of
the coronavirus pandemic,
accelerating changes in the
workforce that were already
underway, LaPlante said.
“COVID has done auto-
mation a favor,” he said. “The
pandemic is continuing to
influence the reluctance to
return to work. People don’t
want to come back.”
Robots have a history in
food processing that dates
back to the 1980s, when they
started stacking boxes on
pallets, LaPlante said. Since
then, the machines have been
moving “upstream” to inter-
act directly with food.
“They are cleanable. They
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
PORTLAND — The
worker shortage isn’t a
temporary trend that farm-
ers and food processors can
hope will soon blow over,
experts say.
As insufficient labor
plagues the agriculture and
food industries, employers
must persistently compete
for workers while investing
in automation, according to
experts at Food Northwest’s
annual processing and pack-
aging expo Feb. 3 and 4 in
Portland.
“This is the new normal.
Things will not go back
to how they were before,”
said Osvaldo Granillo,
sales director with Redzone
Production Systems, which
helps companies with worker
productivity.
Retaining employees
is key — apart from the
expense of recruiting and
training workers, companies
face an “opportunity cost”
when they can’t fill orders
due to an insufficient work-
force, he said.
Employee ret ent ion
doesn’t just boil down to
spending more on wages,
especially with the new
generation of workers,
Granillo said.
A survey of young work-
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Participants examine food processing equipment in early
February 2022 at Food Northwest’s processing and packag-
ing expo in Portland.
keep things from coming
into them and keep things
from coming out of them,”
he said.
Some robots can learn
how to accomplish tasks
through physical train-
ing rather than traditional
programming, he said. “It
Forecast for Pendleton Area
| Go to AccuWeather.com
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Mostly sunny
Mostly sunny and
cooler
Mostly sunny
Mostly sunny
A couple of
showers
66° 33°
51° 29°
67° 32°
53° 31°
46° 33°
50° 41°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
51° 29°
52° 34°
53° 37°
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
50/39
49/29
54/30
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
60/32
Lewiston
49/37
61/31
Astoria
51/39
Pullman
Yakima 45/26
51/37
57/35
Portland
Hermiston
55/39
The Dalles 67/32
Salem
Corvallis
54/36
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
51/27
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
54/38
73/29
59/28
Ontario
41/30
Caldwell
Burns
66°
33°
47°
29°
70° (1996) -24° (1929)
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
53/37
Trace
Trace
0.31"
0.93"
0.71"
1.45"
Today
Medford
70/34
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Fri.
WSW 4-8
WSW 6-12
Boardman
Pendleton
63/23
NE 4-8
N 3-6
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
7:05 a.m.
5:14 p.m.
11:42 a.m.
3:00 a.m.
Last
New
NATIONAL EXTREMES
High 91° in Santa Ana, Calif. Low -10° in Angel Fire, N.M.
Feb 16
Feb 23
Mar 2
Mar 10
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
E AST O REGONIAN
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
70s
East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,
by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals
postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to
East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Copyright © 2022, EO Media Group
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
East Oregonian
110s
high
low
SALEM — The Oregon
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality in a recent press
release announced it has
new leadership in its Water
Quality Program and Eastern
Region offices.
Jennifer Wigal is the
new Water Quality Program
administrator, replacing
Justin Green, who left DEQ
to pursue other interests; and
Shannon Davis is the East-
ern Region administrator,
replacing Linda Hayes-Gor-
man, who is retiring from the
agency.
The two administrators
come from within the mana-
gerial ranks at DEQ and
bring a wealth of experience
to their new jobs.
Davis has led the Lifecy-
cle Programs Team in DEQ’s
Materials Management Divi-
sion for the past four years.
The program studies envi-
ronmental impact of the full
Circulation Dept.
For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops
or delivery concerns call 800-781-3214
lifespan of materials and
products, from manufacture
to disposal.
Davis has worked in the
materials management field
for 15 years. In addition to
her work at DEQ, she has
tackled environmental issues
for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the state
of Arizona and in the halls
of Congress. While at EPA,
she contributed to national
materials management policy
development and co-led the
West Coast Climate and
Materials Management
Forum.
As director of Arizona
DEQ’s waste programs and
Pima County’s air quality
program, Davis focused on
environmental policy devel-
opment and implementation.
She also served three elected
officials, including chief of
staff to a member of the U.S.
House of Representatives.
She also had the privilege
of supporting indigenous
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communities throughout the
Southwest in the stewardship
efforts of their land.
Wigal has more than 20
years’ experience working
in water quality programs
at the state and federal level.
She’s been at Oregon DEQ
since 2008, and most recently
served as Water Quality
deputy administrator.
In her tenure at DEQ,
she’s held several roles
within the Water Quality
Program, including manag-
ing Oregon’s Water Qual-
ity Standards Program and
the Water Quality Assess-
ments Program. Prior to
DEQ, she built her expertise
in water quality programs at
EPA headquarters, working
in water quality standards
and permitting. Wigal also
has held national leadership
positions, including serving
as the president (2017-18)
and vice president (2016-17)
of the Association of Clean
Water Administrators.
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In the App Store:
wrote WDFW enforcement
liaison Becky Elder in an
email.
Coyote hunting regula-
tions are some of the least
restrictive in Washing-
ton state, with no bag limit
and a year-round hunting
season. While a small game
or big game hunting license
is required to hunt coyotes,
coyotes are not classified as
game animals, which means
that existing laws against
wastage do not apply, Elder
said.
“Currently no statute
exists that would prohibit a
person from lawfully shoot-
ing a coyote and letting it
naturally degrade,” she wrote.
“The unlawful take of
a coyote would include
poisoned, trapped, or that
any other unlawful means of
harvest were used.”
DEQ announces new leadership in
Eastern Region, Water Quality Program
First
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
-10s
WALLA WALLA — A
Walla Walla man running
his dogs near Kibler Road
the morning of Friday, Feb. 4,
came across a startling scene:
four dead coyotes stacked on
top of each other in a ditch
between the road and an
adjoining field.
“It is sickening to say the
least,” said Steve Rusch. “I’ve
been running my dogs on that
road for 20 years; I have never
seen anything like this. It’s
barbaric.”
The coyotes appeared
to have been dumped rela-
tively recently, with one
showing signs of scaveng-
ing, and were along Kibler
Road, a dead-end country
road near a weigh station on
the side of U.S. Highway 12
east of Walla Walla.
Rusch said he was
distressed to see the carcasses
dropped on the side of a
remote road, calling it disre-
spectful to the animals and to
people in the area.
“They’re close to the
highway. Someone probably
just pulled in there to dump
them,” he said.
Not certain if any laws had
been broken, Rusch reached
out to federal agencies and the
Walla Walla County Sheriff’s
Office, where staff referred
him back to the Washington
Department of Fish and Wild-
life, he said.
That agency regulates
coyotes in Washington, but
until officers observe the site
to determine if the carcasses
were illegally dumped, it’s
not immediately clear that
anything criminal occurred,
WINDS (in mph)
47/29
58/24
Trace
0.04"
0.39"
1.57"
0.99"
1.93"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 49/22
56/38
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
66/33
67/39
64°
40°
45°
29°
73° (1996) -20° (1929)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
50/37
Aberdeen
44/28
42/31
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
51/40
a food industry group.
Workers are less likely to
jump ship if they see a future
at the company, he said.
“In this environment,
you’ve got to keep engag-
ing them and make them feel
important,” he said. “If they
feel like family, they will
stay.”
Bright employees can
act out and become “smart
alecks” when they’re bored,
so it helps to provide them
with a purpose and oppor-
tunities for advancement,
Damon said, so they “see a
career path where they didn’t
see one.”
Promoting people from
within the company ensures
that employees in leadership
roles know “every crack and
cranny” of the operation, said
Debbie Radie, vice president
of operations at Boardman
Foods.
“My top mechanic today
started on my trim line,”
Radie said.
Boardman Foods has a
generous paid time-off policy
and started an all-day child
daycare program to retain
female employees who’d
otherwise be compelled
to stay home during the
pandemic, she said.
“We find creative ways for
people to have that work-life
balance,” Radie said, “even
on the work floor trimming
onions.”
Discovery of coyote carcasses
distresses Walla Walla man
By EMRY DINMAN
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
49° 30°
streamlines the process,
makes it a lot easier.”
In agriculture, robots
already have been deployed
to harvest peppers, for exam-
ple, but the technology still
is at a relatively “infantile”
stage, LaPlante said.
The challenge is creat-
ing software for robots to
successfully interact with the
environment, he said. “The
robot can do what you tell it
to do, but you need someone
to tell it what to do.”
Robotics offer a way to
make up for the shortfall
in workers and automate
dull and unpleasant tasks,
LaPlante said. Existing
employees then can engage
in more productive and
rewarding duties.
“It’s not our enemy. Auto-
mation is our friend,” he said.
“It’s more of a tool to use than
a threat to people’s jobs.”
Workplace culture is a
crucial consideration for
employers who are compet-
ing against other companies
whose workers perform simi-
lar tasks, said Matt Crabtree,
sales director with Redzone.
Given a choice between
filling boxes with products
or peeling onions, for exam-
ple, a worker may choose
the company “where people
want to go and spend their
time,” he said.
“Retention is the cheapest
thing you can do to maintain
productivity,” Crabtree said.
It’s worth spending the
time to continuously educate
and train employees, focus-
ing on communication and
soliciting feedback on work
processes, said John Damon,
workforce development
manager for Food Northwest,
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