Wheat yields well
below county
average
50¢
VOL. 140
NO. 30
8 Pages
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Heppner seniors chosen to play in East
West Shrine game
Jackson Lehman
Blake Wolters
in the East-West Shrine
All-Star football game to be
held in Baker City on Au-
gust 7. The three Heppner
High School seniors were
honored by the Shriners at
a recent event.
Jayden Wilson will be
sporting the #13 during the
game. Jackson Lehman will
be #15 and Blake Wolters
Jayden Wilson
#26. All of the boys will be
Jayden Wilson, Jackson playing for the East team.
Lehman and Blake Wolters The game features senior
have been chosen to play football players from the
Pictured (L-R): Jackson Lehman, Coach Greg Grant, Blake
Wolters and Jayden Wilson. -Contributed photos.
1A to 4A high schools in the
state. Coaches chosen are
Vic Lease, Mazama; Josh
Gary, Sutherlin; Jake Co-
chran, Coquille and Mike
Baleztena, Pilot Rock.
The 69 th edition of the
All-Star game will begin
with pre-game pageantry
at 6 p.m. and the game
kick-off following at 7 p.m.
on August 7 at the Baker
Bulldog Stadium in Baker
City. Though the West won
the last game 43-10 in 2019,
the East leads the series
33-31-3.
Control of 1,872 acres new industrial land
topic of joint port-county meeting
A combine is busy harvesting the wheat in Morrow County.
By Bobbi Gordon
Winter wheat yields
were well-below the county
average due to unusually
dry conditions during the
previous two years, ac-
cording to Larry Lutcher
from the OSU Extension
Service. “Yields ranged
from 10 to 23 bushels per
acre, depending on location
and were 10 to 15 bushels
per acre in many fields,”
Lutcher told the Gazette.
“Spring wheat yields
were ridiculously low,”
he continued. “Grain test
weights were ‘all over the
board.’ Weights tended to
be low in most areas, and
some varieties of wheat
‘weighed-up’ at less than
57 pounds per bushel. Grain
protein content varied from
12.5 to 13.5 percent.”
Kevin Gray, general
manager for Morrow Coun-
ty Grain Growers, told the
Gazette that they are es-
timating harvest at about
75 percent complete right
now. He reported, “With
the extended drought this
year, dryland wheat yields
are down considerably
from previous years and
are showing some large
variability, but 20 – 30 BPA
seems to be catching a lot of
it. Test weights have been
better than expected. As
expected in a drought year,
soft white wheat proteins
are also higher than normal.
This year is a testament to
our great farmers that we’re
producing a crop of this size
and quality, considering
how little moisture Mother
Nature provided us this
year.”
“It’s an exceptionally
dry year,” continued Lutch-
er, adding, “It is too late for
most of the wheat in Mor-
row County.” He indicated
the crop-year precipitation
in Morrow County ranges
from roughly four to six
inches this year, which is
about half of the region’s
long-term average.
According to a press re-
lease from the USDA, com-
bined winter wheat produc-
tion for Idaho, Oregon and
Washington is down 26
percent from 2020. Oregon
winter wheat production
is forecast at 33.4 million
bushels, down 5 percent
from last month and down
28 percent from last year.
Harvested area, at 695,000
acres, is down 30,000 acres
from 2020. Yield is expect-
ed to be 48 bushels per acre,
down 16 bushels from the
previous year.
Members of the Port and the County Commission along with their staff, gathered for a joint meeting last week to discuss the future of economic development in Morrow County.
Army depot could finally change hands
By David Sykes
After 30 years of dis-
cussion and negotiations,
the federal government may
finally give up ownership of
the former Umatilla Army
Depot located along the
Columbia River at the Mor-
row-Umatilla County line.
In preparation for the
change, the Port of Morrow
and Morrow County held a
two-hour joint meeting last
week discussing the future
of the 1,872-acre parcel,
and more importantly who
will own and control this
valuable piece of industrial
land.
There has been friction
between the port and coun-
ty over the parcel, which
may change hands as early
as January. The Port of
Morrow had been working
for many years under the
assumption, based on a
verbal agreement with past
county commissioners, that
it would own and control
the land. However, two of
the three county commis-
sioners say ownership was
never officially decided,
and they should have a say
in future use of the property.
“We are getting close
to the transfer of this prop-
erty and there has been a
lot of history on this whole
thing,” Port Manager Ryan
Neal said in addressing the
group at the opening of the
meeting. “We want to make
sure we are all on the same
page developing this into
the future.” Neal said the
Port has already invested
close to $3.5 million in
preparation of taking own-
ership and developing the
property and that the port
“just needs to have some
assurances we have a sim-
ilar vision (as the county)
moving forward on devel-
opment to make sure we
are spending these dollars
wisely.” Neal added that
property access and future
infrastructure development
to prepare the property for
industrial development was
the main reason for the
meeting, and he welcomed
the opportunity to open the
conversation and have these
discussions. “It’s a great
asset for Morrow County,”
Neal said of the industrial
land. In making the case
for Port ownership and de-
velopment of the property
Port Commissioner Jerry
Healy also pointed out that
the port has spent $2.5 to
$3 million of “hard cash” to
date on the depot industrial
land prior to the port taking
ownership.
Some on the county
commission, however, were
not ready to let the Port
have total say on future
property usage. “This world
looks a lot different now
than it did 30 years ago,”
said Commissioner Jim
Doherty, who said 30 years
ago there was just sage
brush and nothing else on
other now developed port
property. He repeated a
recent theme saying the
port may have brought in
too much business and
now Morrow County has
“outrun our workforce.” He
said, as an example, the port
currently has a company
wanting to locate here that
needs 150 employees, and
the county doesn’t have
housing available for them.
“A notion that this is always
the way it was headed (with
the port owning and devel-
oping the property), I have
to look for what I see as best
for all the constituents in the
county,” Doherty said. He
said the port has the largest
amount of industrial land
now in Oregon and won-
dered if more was needed.
The port has attract-
ed a number of Amazon
server farms to the area,
and Doherty questioned if
more of them were needed
in Morrow County. “Is
there a value that we need
to partner with you to make
sure what we get out of it?”
he asked. “Maybe the value
is to just hand it over for
development. Maybe the
value is a 100 more widget
factories or a dozen widget
factories. We have already
outgrown the widget work-
ers. Maybe there is a better
use. I have not dug my heels
in and said you guys aren’t
the best ones to develop
it, because you have the
resources. We need to have
discussions,” Doherty said.
Port commissioner
Marv Padberg wanted to
know if the county wanted
input as to what businesses
the port sites on the new
industrial land. “You think
the county wants a say
on what industry we site
out there?” Padberg asked.
“I don’t want to say you
can site whatever. I think
siting something here and
Morrow County could soon gain over 1,800 acres of new industrial zoned property from the
former Umatilla Army Depot.
giving them an 85 percent
tax break when we can’t
fill those jobs, maybe we
need to pump the brakes a
little bit. I have no interest
in telling you what to site,”
Doherty said in mentioning
the tax breaks given to Am-
azon by the Columbia River
Enterprise Zone for build-
ing new server farms here.
“People are assuming that
the port is going to develop
it, and this is not settled,”
Doherty said. “And to hear
that is a little bit grating. I
am willing to sit down and
have these discussions, but
it has to be something that
is fair for everybody and
makes sense for everybody.
I’m wanting to do what
is best but in 30 years the
port has had their vision
headed that way and a bit
of tunnel vision and maybe
we should think outside
the box and do something
different.”
Padberg said he didn’t
agree. “I disagree with your
thought process on jobs.
You build it and they will
come. It works. With 500
homes that have been built
here lots of folks coming
here to work,” Padberg
pointed out of the port’s
success in creating jobs.
“Once you take the $300 a
week payment away (un-
employment) you are going
to find a lot more employees
wanting to come back to
work. It is not doom and
gloom as you put it,” he told
Doherty.
Port member Joe Tay-
lor said the job shortage is
-See COUNTY-PORT MEET-
ING/PAGE EIGHT