INSIDE SPORTS
HERMISTON TRAP SHOOTING CLUB WINS SECOND STATE TITLE IN A ROW
PAGE A7
Hermiston
Herald
HermistonHerald.com
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017
$1.00
INSIDE
END OF THE LINE
NORPAC closing Hermiston Foods this year
Parent company will
shutter Hermiston
processing plant after
27th season
By JADE McDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Hermiston Foods, which is the city’s ninth largest employer,
will close sometime after the end of the current harvest
season.
The closure of Hermiston Foods will
‘help us drive effi ciencies and reduce
operational complexities as we invest
in continued growth and innovation
in our frozen product lines.’
Hermiston will lose one of its
top employers by the end of this
year.
Hermiston Foods Incorpo-
rated, a subsidiary of NORPAC
Foods, will close later this year
as its functions are consolidat-
ed into NORPAC’s facilities in
Brooks and Quincy, Washing-
ton. An exact timeline has not
been announced, but NORPAC
spokeswoman Amy Wood said
processing will proceed as nor-
mal through the end of the cur-
rent harvest season.
The
vegetable-processing
plant is Hermiston’s ninth-larg-
est employer, according to the
city’s 2016 fi nancial report.
NORPAC was not able to pro-
vide information about its num-
ber of employees and other
questions submitted on Monday,
but according to the city’s report
the plant employs 325 people,
most of which are seasonal.
The plant, however, is NOR-
PAC’s smallest operation, ac-
cording to the Statesman Jour-
nal.
The closure was listed as part
of a broader announcement by
NORPAC that it has sold off
its canning operations to Sene-
ca Foods Corporation and was
closing its beet-canning facility
in Salem as a result. New NOR-
PAC CEO Shawn Campbell said
in a statement that the sale of the
canning operations and the clo-
sure of Hermiston Foods will
“help us drive effi ciencies and
reduce operational complexities
as we invest in continued growth
and innovation in our frozen
product lines.”
Hermiston Foods opened in
April 1990, and the Hermiston
See NORPAC, A12
New NORPAC CEO Shawn Campbell
HERALD FILE PHOTO
Hermiston Foods General Manager Trent Waldern stands in front of the business on Highway 395 in Hermiston. New technology has made the
vegetable processing plant more effi cient since it opened 27 years ago, but did not save the plant from closure by its parent company NORPAC
Foods.
THREE MINUTES
WITH
MEET THAI IMMIGRANT ANN
ONPHIAN, WHO MOVED TO THE
AREA IN 1999.
PAGE 2
REV INTO
SUMMER FUN
THE HERMISTON CLASSICS
CAR CLUB PURRS INTO SUM-
MER WITH ITS 22ND ANNUAL
COOL RIDES CAR SHOW.
PAGE 4
IN TAMMY’S
SHOES
COMMUNITY EDITOR TAMMY
MALGESINI WARNS ABOUT
VISITORS COMING THROUGH
TOWN ON SOLAR ECLIPSE
TREK.
PAGE 6
BY THE WAY
City celebrates
anniversary next week
Next week, on Monday,
July 10, the city of Hermis-
ton will celebrate a birthday.
There are no offi cial events
currently on the docket to
mark the occasion, but it will
be the 110th anniversary of
the city’s incorporation on
July 10, 1907. Just what does
one get a city celebrating its
110th anniversary?
• • •
Five students from each
of Hermiston’s fi ve elemen-
tary schools pedaled into
summer with new bicycles
thanks to Hermiston Ma-
sonic Lodge #138.
The Bikes for Books pro-
gram encourages students in
third through fi fth grades to
improve their reading skills.
Students receive a chance to
win a bike by completing AR
Reading Goals.
Winners of the bicycles
and their grade level at each
school included:
Desert View: Jared
Crowther, Abby Goller,
Seth Reeve, all third grad-
ers, Sydney Slonker-Bowe,
fourth grade, and Guada-
lupe Esparza, fi fth grade.
Highland Hills: Sien-
na Harsteen, third grade;
Ashton Chairez and Lore-
lai Keefauver, both fourth
grade; and fi fth graders
See BTW, A12
Watermelon harvest to start next week
Wet spring slows growth
By GEORGE PLAVEN
STAFF WRITER
July Fourth has passed and that means
famous Hermiston watermelons — in all
their sweet, juicy glory — are almost back
in season.
This year’s melon crop may have got-
ten off to a slow start compared to recent
years, but growers say they are making up
ground quickly as temperatures have start-
ed rising above 90 degrees during the heat
of day.
Jack Bellinger, owner of Bellinger
Farms, said watermelons fell behind ear-
ly following a cool and wet spring, which
impacted both the timing of planting and
limited the number of hot days needed for
the plants to absorb energy.
A recent stretch of warmer weather, in-
cluding a record high of 101 degrees on
Monday, has helped to speed things up,
Bellinger said. Still, he is looking at begin-
ning harvest July 12-14, which is about a
week later than usual.
“The name of the game for all crops is
heat units,” Bellinger said. “They’ve been
pretty hit and miss.”
Patrick Walchli, of Walchli Farms, also
fi gures to push back harvest by a week to
10 days, though he is not alarmed. Weather
patterns like this aren’t unheard of for the
region, Walchli said, and he is not expect-
ing any problems with yield or quality.
“The crop, for the weather we’ve had
See MELONS, A12
STAFF PHOTO BY GEORGE PLAVEN
Scott Lukas, assistant professor of horticulture at Oregon
State University, checks on his watermelon trials Thursday
at the Hermiston Agricultural Research and Experiment
Station.