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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2017)
A4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM Hermiston farmer places third in nation Kristen Corpus captured third place in the national and first place in Oregon for the state yield awards in the 2016 National Corn Growers Association Na- tional Corn Yield Contest. The Hermiston farmer achieved her winning yield of 339.623 bushels per acre in the No-Till/Strip- Till Irrigated category with DEKALB DKC62-08RIB Brand Blend corn. In all, 7,972 farmers from across the United States entered the 2016 yield contest. Corpus along with other DEKALB win- ners were honored at the 2017 Commodity Classic in March in San Antonio. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2017 BUSINESS Four data centers approved for Hermiston By GEORGE PLAVEN Staff Writer The awards banquet includ- ed a private concert featur- ing country music star Josh Turner. “It is exciting to see these farmers push the yield boundaries, and we con- gratulate them for their hard work and success,” said Jesse Hamonic, DEKALB Asgrow brand lead, who presented a trophy to Cor- pus at the banquet. In the 2016 contest, DEKALB farmers captured seven of the 18 national awards and 147 first, sec- ond and third place awards at the state level. The full list of DEKALB winners is available at www.dekalb. com/yieldcontest. A proposed data center campus near Hermiston took a big step forward Thursday during a land use hearings before the Umatilla County Planning Commission. E-commerce titan Am- azon — doing business through its subsidiary, Vadata — wants to build four new data centers along Westland and Cot- tonwood Bend roads, near interstates 82 and 84. The company already operates multiple data centers east of Umatilla, and two more campuses at Boardman. The commission vot- ed 7-1 to recommend the county rezone 120 acres of farmland to light industrial for Vadata. The Board of Commissioners will have final say on land use for the data centers. Gary Rhinhart, vice chairman of the planning commission, was the only one to vote against Vada- ta’s request, saying he was frustrated with eliminating more farm ground to ac- commodate another indus- trial development. “I have a problem with that,” Rhinhart said. Rhinhart also asked why the company did not consider locations on the east side of the county toward Pendleton, which has more available indus- trial land to sell. Jim Footh, real estate manager for Vadata, said all campuses need to be connected by fiber optic cable, and Pendleton is simply too far from their existing data centers. “The distance between the Pendleton and Herm- needed to create redun- dancy and avoid outages. Several neighbors ex- pressed concern about what the project will mean for their quality of life. Dan Burnam testified at the hearing, arguing the property could still be used as farmland if it had a water right. He also questioned what kind of buffer would be in place. Mary Buckallew, who testified after Burnam, said she was worried about what a large indus- trial campus would mean for the neighborhood. “It is a farming area,” Buckallew said. “It’s go- ing to change the whole lifestyle.” The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners will hold another public hearing on the matter at 9:30 a.m. April 13. iston areas is just too far for our connectivity,” Footh said. “Unfortunate- ly, that’s just the nature of our business.” The Hermiston site has other advantages, Footh added, such as access to nearby high-voltage pow- er lines. Amazon is also signed on to use Hermis- ton’s regional water sys- tem, which will provide the roughly 400 gallons per minute needed to keep the computer serv- ers cool. Footh said the compa- ny is considering options to recycle cooling water for local farms, but did not have a specific pro- posal. Each of the four data centers would run 24 hours per day and support up to 40 jobs. Footh said multiple campuses are .EW½-EMBERS½ Lost Valley Farm Willow Creek Dairy 67500 Taggares Lane Boardman, OR (541) 481-0900 4 Seasons PainƟng Co. LLC Hermiston, OR (541) 571-1885 Maryhill Winery Goldendale, WA (509) 773-1976 Sno Road Winery Echo, OR (541) 376-0421 TEK Systems ^ĞĂƩůĞ͕t;ϮϬϲͿϯϯϲ-4432 #HAMBER½%VENTS Chamber Business ConnecƟon Every Tuesday at 8:30am KOHU 1360am LaƟno Business Network Wednesday, April 12th 9:00am Chamber Ambassadors Wednesday, April 12th 7:15am Leadership Hermiston Class 20 Tuesday, April 11th Oregon State Capital, Salem OR Network Hermiston at BBSI Wednesday, April 12th 5:30pm AdministraƟve Professionals Day Luncheon Tuesday, April 25th 11:45am 541-567-6151 415 S. Hwy 395 Hermiston GIVE BACK TO YOUR COMMUNITY! 541-567-6562 182 E. Main • Hermiston AFFORDABLE FAMILY EYEWEAR 6LQFH Since 1985 541.567.8073 53 W Beebe Ave, Hermiston, OR Hermiston’s Best Value in all Eyewear 541-567-3790 • 541-567-3791 fax 1045 N. 1st • Hermiston, OR ~MARCIA LAMBERT~ www.affordablefamilyeyewear.com ELM ER'S IRRIG ATIO N , IN C. 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