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District WinsGoodyear
Enjoy Trip
Award; Two
By RAYMOND FRENCH
Agriculture, weather, and hos
pitality at its best.
This about describes my trip
to Goodyear Farms at Litchfield
Park, Ariz., in mid-December.
My stay at the Wiswam. and the
tour of the farm provided a week
that I shall never forget. A sleak
fry on the desert plus food fit
ior a King plus an outstanding
cnei ail combined to make "Op
eration Waistline" a success.
After seeing the Goodyear
rarm, my original idea ot an
experimental farm used as a
possiDie tax deduction by a
large corporation had to be re
vised. The farm is operated as
a profit-making enterprise
making its own way.
Goodyear started the farm in
1916 and has progressed to an
outstanding farming operation.
ioaay me iarm produces over
2000 acres of cotton, 220 acres
of citrus, and 2000 acres of al
falfa, which produces 65 tons
per acre. All this, in addition to
row crops, small grains and a
feedlot of 6500 head capacity.
On this farm, as well as most
others in the Southwest, in spite
of their high producing ability,
a major problem is appearing on
the horizon and this problem is
water, or, rather, its lack. Good
year Farm is irrigated from 53
wells with an average depth of
780 feet. This provides adequate
water for the land now under
cultivation, but the water taole
in these wells is dropping from
8 to 10 feet per year.
Goodyear officials expect this
source to last about another 20
years, and they frankly admit
they don't know what will be
come of the operation after that.
We were treated to a free
afternoon in Phoenix. Gar Swan
son and I caught a taxicab and
toured the city. We were fort
unate to have a very affable
driver who informed us that he
had watched Phoenix grow from
56,000 people in 1946 to over
600,000 today. All this new con
struction, combined with palm
trees and orange trees, makes
Phoenix a very beautiful city
indeed.
Our flight home on a perfectly
clear day took us directly over
the Grand Canyon. This awe
some sight alone was worth the
whole trip to me. Words cannot
describe the beautiful scenic
panorama except that the Grand
Canyon is indeed one of the
great natural wonders of the
world.
Conservation Makes
Money for Farmers
A study conducted recently by
me university ot Illinois show
ed that farms using intensive
conservation practices through
out the farm had much higher
net incomes when compared to
other non-conservation farms of
like size, quality and crops. Im
mediate production and income
was increased.
Any conservation practice DUt
into use is an investment. Inten
sive practices may take longer
to return the investment iust
like buying good farmland. How
ever, it has been proven and
concluded that conservation re
pays itself on a short term ba
sis. In some cases the next gen
eration won't have this manage
ment decision to make. It will
be too late.
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L-..h4v Of Urn. Wiitt:i?-n5 :
64 Adds Long List
Of Achievements
i' '
...
HIS COMPLETE strip-cropping operation brought Gar Swanson (right) of lone the title of 1963
Conservation Man of the Year in Morrow county. He is shown in his field here with County
Agent Nels Anderson. Strip cropping is visible in the background. Stubble mulching and silt
retaining dams are other notable conservation practices followed on this 1200-acre place.
HEPPNER SPEECH
ENTRANTS MAKE
EXCELLENT MARK
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WATER CONSERVATION brings added recreation as this picture
at the Don Greenup pond shows. By the care and concentration
these fishermen are giving their gear, there must be some big
ones to be caught In the pond. Even though this pond is used
for all kinds of recreation, several mallards nested by it for
the past several years.
How Districts are Financed
As is usually necessary in most
ventures, some form of finances
must be available in order to
operate and perform the duties
of the organization. In order to
raise the money, the board of
supervisors of the Heppner
S.W.C.D. has for a number of
years furnished various pieces of
special equipment on a rental
basis to the cooperators of the
district.
The equipment and rental fees
are as follows: Grass seeding
drill, .50 per acre; Noble sweep
plow, .50 per acre; Packer,
25 per acre; Terracer, (ff 1.25
per hour; Gopher Getter, .35
per acre.
The Gopher Getter machine
was purchased early in 1963 and
is proving very popular with
farmers for clearing their irri
gated ground of gophers.
Also, a nominal fee is charged
for staking material furnished
by the district and used for stak
ing for land leveling or for di
version terraces, strip cropping,
etc.
The receipts from these ser
vices are used for repair and re
placement of the machines and
for purchase of supplies, stamps,
envelopes, stakes, trophies, schol
arships, desk pen set for County
Conservation Man of the Year,
co-sponsorship of Farm-City ban
quet, and many other activities.
Receipts for 1963 were $815.20
and expenses amounted to
$992.62 which included purchase
of the Gopher Getter machine.
We are going into 1964 with
about $1500.00 in the bank and
a good slate of activities on
schedule for the coming year.
AMONG HONORS won by the
Heppner Soil Conservation dis
trict are those in state soil
Judging. Mr. and Mrs. Elmer
Palmer are shown here with
the knives they won as prizes
for getting third place in the
Oregon Association of Soil Con
servation Districts' soil Judg
ing in November, 1962, at
Eugene. Mr. Palmer was third
for men and Mrs. Palmer was
third for women.
This Page Sponsored By-
MORROW COUNTY GRAIN GROWERS
BANK OF EASTERN OREGON
COLUMBIA BASIN ELEC. CO-OP
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF OREGON
HEPPNER BRANCH
HEPPNER SOIL CONSERVATION
DISTRICT
The Heppner Soil and Water
Conservation district is proud of
having organizde a speech con
test for young people of high
school age. This is a contest that
starts from the local districts,
then goes to a group of districts
(known as an area), and from
there goes into competition with
one other area. The winner of
these two areas will enter state
competition. This state contest is
held during the annual fall con
servation convention of the soil
and water districts.
The Heppner district has been
very grateful to the Morrow
County Grain Growers for spon
soring the awards given to the
top three contestants for the past
three years. These awards have
been trophies which the win
ning contestants get to keep. The
contestants have told us that
these trophies give them quite
an incentive and a challenge to
i enter the contest.
In the past three years the
district has had a contestant
win the area contests, enter the
state finals, and come out victor
of one of the top three spots.
There are approximately 60
other districts in Oregon,
all eligible to enter the con
test. This has been a very com
petitive contest and we are very
proud of our winners.
Three years ago Beverly Da
vidson of Heppner high school
brought us honor by capturing
third place trophy in the state
competition. In 1962 Martha Do
herty of Heppner high school
brought home the first place
trophy. In 1963 we again had a
winner with Marcia Rand of
Heppner high school who won
third place in the state com
petition. As was mentioned earlier, all
of these girls had won three
speech contests before they en
tered state competition. In each
of all three contestants they won
a first place trophy or a plaque.
We are grateful to Mrs.
Maurice Groves, the speech
teacher at Heppner High school
for working so diligently with
the contestants and cooperating
with the district. We who have
worked with her know the effort
and time she has put into these
contests, and we know that these
efforts and the time have been
far beyond her regular duties as
a teacher.
We need your support in atten
dance at these contests. We need
the sponsors' support and the
support of the schools to make
the 1964 contest a success. If as
much interest is shown this year
as has been in the past we will
have another contest and poss
ibly another contestant from the
Heppner district will win his or
her way to the state competition.
Annual Soil Loss
In U. S. Astounding
A 1963 statistic shows that the
total volume of erosion silt re
moved or dredged annually from
U. S. ports and harbors exceeded
the cubic yardage excavated
from the Panama Canal.
Last year in one productive
area of Umatilla county, 190
tons of soil eroded away on a
single day. (One acre inch of
soil weighes 150 tons). It's less
than 30 inches to solid basalt
rock in this area. Similar losses
occurred in Morrow county on
highly valued farm land. These
losses occur so frequently that
some lands are becoming unpro
ductive already.
Soil depth, fertility and struc
ture (including organic matter
and humus) contribute more to
wards yield potential than all
other production factors. When
water and wind erosion remove
these resources from a field,
yields are reduced permanently.
Future erosion problems are increased.
Man of Year Demonstrates
Interest in Conservation
By Good Farm Practices
Stopping soil erosion is a No.
1 goal of the Heppner Soil Con
servation District. Farmers who
earnestly use tillage and con
servation practices that control
soil and water losses are recog
nized. s
The district co-sponsors with
the Oreon Wheat Grower's
League, the Conservation Man of
the Year contest.
Selected for 1963 was Gar
Swanson. Gar has always used a
stubble-mulch plow, leaving as
much protective trash on the sur
face as possible. Recently he es
tablished 200 foot wide field
strips on 1600 acres of his crop
land. An additional 320 acres
are sodded down with crested
wheat grass in the conservation
reserve program. Also construc
ted on his farm are eight large
silt dams, which are located and
spaced in draws to enable the
strip cropping to run continuous
ly and stop gullies from form
ing. Sub-soiling is done where
needed. A mold-board plow has
never been used on his farm.
Gar designed and built a hy
draulic operated drill hitch
which allows his deep-furrow
drills to be used on the con
tour on hillsides. This is be
lieved to be the first hydraulic
drill hitch used in the North
west. Four bird guzzlers and one
feeder has been established for
game birds.
Gar's philosophy towards soil
conservation is not only con
tributing to his own use but for
future generations as well. Stim
ulating this attitude and encour
aging all farmers to practice ser
ious conservation is the primary
purpose of the district.
Heppner District has 302 cooperators with conservation
plans on 710,619 acres.
3000 acres soil -surveyed making a total surveyed to
891,011 acres.
Signed 14 new cooperators on 52,127 acres.
14 basic conservation plans written on 31,818 acres and
1 plan revised.
4'46 acres of contour strip cropping now totalling 12,467
acres.
1219 acres of field strip cropping now totalling 3251 acres.
1654 acres of wind strip cropping now totalling 4137 acres.
A total of 19,855 acres strip cropped in the district. 9 new
cooperators stubble mulched for the first time for 5084
acres. Checked 3329 acres of subsoiling.
60 farmers did 1586 acres of seedings hay, pasture and
range, and 46 acres renovated to hay or pasture.
76,110 linear feet of diversions established.
190 acres of land leveling bring the total in the District
to 4572 acres.
35 acres of land smoothing.
7200 feet of permanent irrigation ditch.
20,661 linear feet of stream channel improved or changed.
1710 feet of outlet ditch built.
One large irrigation structure built.
Two farm ponds with 15 erosion dams and six stock ponds.
One acre of grassed waterway and 2338 feet surveyed for
4 inch tile.
In January the Heppner Soil and Water Conservation
District made a Memorandum of understanding with the
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Worked out the conservation planning with the Future
Farmers of America.
In February the district sponsored and held its annual
meeting.
In May the district sent in the Goodyear report that won
the district the coveted Goodyear award.
The district sponsored a conservation tour for adults.
The district sponsored a conservation tour for the 5th
grade school children.
The district worked with the churches in furnishing them
with material for soil Stewardship Week, May 27 to June 3.
The district sent a high school boy to Range Camp In
August.
The district sponsored a forestry tour in September.
The district made application for the Rhea Creek small
watershed project in October.
The district sent a committee on a tour of the Hood River
small water shed project on October 17.
Sponsored the Soil and Water Conservation speech contest.
Winning first in the district, first in the semi-finals and
third in the state contest.
Sponsored the local soil judging contest.
The district was co-sponsor of the farm and city banquet.
The district sent representatives to the state convention for
Soil and Water Conservation Districts at Grants Pass.
Raymond French, chairman, and Garland Swanson, Con
servation Man of the Year made the Goodyear tour in
Arizona in December.
The district bought a Gopher Getter in 1963 and added
it to its conservation equipment. The Heppner Soil and
Water Conservation equipment was used by 56 farmers
during the year.
YOU
are invite
d to
of fh
SOIL
the annual meeting
e HIPPN
VATI0M
uesday, Feb. 4
Lexington Grange Hall
7:30 P. M.
FILM
SPEAKERS
Refresh
PROGRAM
on
7:30 -Report and Slides
Goodyear Awards Trip By Ray
mond French and Gar Swanson
8:30 -Business Meeting
Election of Supervisors
and
9:00-Discussion on "Water
sheds and Their Development
10:00 - Refreshments Court
esy of Lexington Implement
and Bristow's Market