Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1959)
Farm Production Headed for Higher Levels Oregon Agriculture Seen As One Giant Supermarket Draw a line through Oregon ag riculture and you come up with something resembling a modern supermarket. From the rain-soaked cranberry bogs of the coastal belt to the high.dry rangelands of eastern Ore gon, farmers produce more than 100 commodities on a commercial scale. As Oregon reaches the century mark, this giant "supermarket" is pumping more than a half bil lion dollars of purchasing power ir.to the state's economy each year. And experts say we haven't begun to reach full potential. "Where are Oregon's key reser voirs for such future expansion? A prime example is the sprawling eastern Oregon range. Income from the more than 20 million acres of open range-roughly a dollar an j'crc from grazing-may double in the next quarter century, believes E. R. Jackman, veteran range crop management specialist at Oregon Slate college. New chemicals to kill brush, and machines to seed the range are now available. Ranchers and CSC researchers are teaming up ti give the range a badly-needed face-lifting. Closely linked to the rangeland potential is stepped-up interest in livestock feeding in Oregon. Inc rcased local production of feed grains and hay may reverse the practice of shipping large numbers of Oregon beef cattle out of state for finishing. $1 Billion More Meat Needed Men close to the livestock pic ture estimate that farm sale of livestock in the Pacific Northwest will have to increase by more than $1 billion by 1975 to meet fully West Coast consumer demands for meat. Value of production at the wholesale processing level is forecast at nearly JIVa billion, ad ding millions in new payrolls for Oregon. An even greater challenge in the livestock field is the need for local pork production. Oregon now ships in about two-thirds of its pork supplies, with the Portland market commanding the highest prices in the; nation as a result of trans portation costs. A major step toward more Oregon-produced pork was taken re cently with plans for an industry sponsored swine-testing station near llermiston. Designed to upgrade Oregon swine-breeding stock, the program has been approved by swine-growers, the Oregon Wheat Commission, and Oregon State CWlege agricultural experiment sta tion. The station will be financed by the commission and will test about 250 hogs annually. OSC scientists will measure performance of ani mals consigned to the station by local swine breeders. More Irrigation Essential Another big potential for the state's agriculture is more and bet ter irrigation. Oregon now has IVi million acres of irrigated land. Another IVi million could be irri gated if available water resources were fully developed, say leading resource-planners. Irrigation not only increases out put per acre, it also helps the farmer raise different crops with a hifher market value. The area of land irrigated in Ore gon increased 130,000 acres between 11)49 and 1954. About half the in crease was in the Willamette Val ley. Statewide, most of the land lhat can be developed by indivi dual or local irrigation enterprises has now been placed under irri gation, according to authorities. They add that any extensive fut ure development must of necessity hy keyed to multi-use water dev elopment projects. Other major changes on the farm front point to increased efficiency to keep on top in a highly com petitive industry. The picture, in dairying for example-fewer but lar ger dairy farms and plants. The time may be close at hand when a dairy plant in one area may supply markets all over Ore gon, predicts Dr. S. Kent Christ iansen, Oregon State college ag ricultural economist. Fewer, Bigger Dairies Economic forces in years ahead may trim Oregon's present 5.000 commercial dairy farms to less than 1,000 farms supplying all dairy products needed in the state, dairy plants appear headed the same direction. Ab'Jt one-fourth of the state's dairy plants went out of existence between 1945 and 1K5 and the trend continues. Such casualties of competition, efficiency, and capital have been hastened by new developments in transportation and marketing. This has helped uairy plants expand into 12 markets outside their immediate locality, Christiansen explains. Modern agriculture is also bring ing the farmer into closer linkage with the total food marketing pro cess. The future points to farm production to meet specifications of giant supermarkets operating on lower "per unit profit" than the most efficient U S. corporations o! today. Dr. G. Burton Wood, OSC ag ricultural economics department head, says supermarkets operating on the slim "unit mark-up" will be closely tuned to needs and pre ferences of food buyers. In turn,' the markets will make rigid de mands on farmers to produce what the market demands. Farmers who make the adjust ment and use the most efficient technology and research findings have a bright future, believe ag ricultural leaders. Such adjustment may mean, for example, that a fanner concentrate entirely upon raising pullets for poultrymen or heifers for large super-efficient dairy farms. This increased efficiency not only benefits the farmer, but enables those living off the farm to live better. Today, it takes only 20 minutes of labor to earn the money to buy a pound of rib roast-it took about 48 minutes a genera tion ago. Other off-farm benefits of mod ern agriculture are the increases in related industries such as farm equipment, chemicals, fertilizers, containers, transportation, public services, and power. Meat Packing To Expand Even more allied industries, of he processing type, are needed if Oregon is to share fully in its increased farm efficiency, say the experts. More livestock feeding in he state could mean expansion of the meat packing and processing industry for distribution to rapidly-growing West Coast markets. Canning and freezing of fruits and vegetables from more irrigated acres is another Oregon industry being eyed for expansion. Produc tion of potato starch-used in pulp, paper and fibreboard manufacture is another possibility. Oregon farmers now spend $200 million a year-one-third more than they did 10 years ago-for hired help, gas and oil, fertilizer, feed, seed, machinery repairs and simi lar expenses, Fortunately, these new allied industries and other off-farm job opportunities are providing employ ment for man-and-woman power no longer needed on the farm. There are now four million fewer jobs on U. S. farms than 20 years ago, but there are 20 million more jobs off farms. These trends of expanded agri culture and associated industries promise to pump still more farm money into the Oregon economy this Centennial year. FOCAL COMMUNITY Redmond Spokesman: ''Red mond like many of Oregon's small er cities and towns, bases its econ omy on farming and lumbering. It serves as a focal community for agriculturists, through its business houses, its schools, its churches, its civic and service groups. There is a friendliness, a neighborliness, iti the small Oregon town which the metropolitan center never can offer." 3J v V FROM THE WIDE OPEN RANGE to the fertile valleys of Oregon will be found the beef cattle and dairy herds which have been important to the state's agricultural economy for over 100 years. City-Built Line Netting Neat Profit Oregon's history is dotted with attempts of communities to get themselves selected as a terminus of some important railroad line or to get the rail service that would build up industry. Portland is the onlj city that succeeded in such aims in anything like a big way; but Prineville, seat of Crook County government, has a proud, distinctive record of its own. Left out of the plans of Col. T. Egerton Hogg's Oregon Pacific with its western end at r.ow-forgot-ten Yaquina City, and by-passed by the Hill and Harriman interests in theii fight for a route through cen tral Oregon, Prineville built its own railroad to develop its own industries lumbering ar.d farm ing. Even the construction of such a municipally owned line is less impressive than the fact that Prineville went on to make the road financially profitable as well as a developer of industry. The line is 18 miles long. To build it the city issued bonds to the extent of $385,000 in 1916, after a local cor poration had asked in vain to be subsidized with terminal grounds, right-of-way and $75,000 in cash. Altogether the city invested about half a million dollars in the line, a siandard-gauge road with steel rails and second-hand rolling stock purchased at reasonable figures from other railroads. The road had its ups and downs, what with the wearing out of old engines, cars, and track, damage by flood, and poor business in per iods of depression. But, under the management of C. C. McGlenn, it has moved up into the black. The Central Oregonian, Prineville paper, was able, a few weeks ago, to note the setting up of a reserve fund of $100,000 to permit the line to operate after this year on a cash basis. From a deficit of $67,847 in 1945, the City of Prine villfc Railway in the last year re ported a net profit of $167,000, the largest to date. Since June 30, 1949. hie line has paid to the city $792,000 to reduce taxes. This, the manager indicated, has meant an average tax reduction of 28 per cent to the business mer. of Prine ville. In 1958 the sum paid in to effset taxes was reported at $80, 000. The City of Prineville Rail way is a going concern. FARM FLOCKS OF SHEEP are a familiar sight in the Wil lamette valley, and Douglas county tops the state in sheep num bers. Total sheep population is fairly well divided between east ern and western Oregon in recent years. Sixty-Five Years of Progress For sixty-five years the Oregon Mutual Insurance Company has occupied a prominent place in the business development of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. From a small be ginning in 1894, Oregon Mutual has grown to man's stature and ranks today as one of the leading financial institutions of its kind on the Pacific Coast. Oregon Mutual, conserva tively managed, soundly financed, is an outstanding insur ance factor throughout the Western states. Oregon Mutual Ins. Co. McMinnville, Oregon
