BUSINESS
Wednesday, OctOber 28, 2020
HerMIstOnHeraLd.cOM • A7
Hermiston Farm Fair goes virtual during pandemic
By GEORGE PLAVEN
caPItaL Press
Like many events in
2020, the annual Herm-
iston Farm Fair is going
virtual.
Now in its 47th year,
the farm fair is a signa-
ture showcase for Oregon
State University’s Hermis-
ton Agricultural Research
and Extension Center, or
HAREC, which serves
nearly 500,000 acres of
irrigated agriculture across
the Columbia Basin in
northeast Oregon and
southeast Washington.
The three-day exposi-
tion and trade show typ-
ically draws hundreds of
people to the Eastern Ore-
gon Trade and Event Cen-
ter in Hermiston.
This year, however,
with statewide restric-
tions on large indoor gath-
Hermiston Herald, File
Juan Salamanca, left, and Antonio Echeverria, both of
Hermiston, look at the front bucket on a Case tractor in 2017
at the Hermiston Farm Fair. This year’s farm fair will be held
online.
erings to slow the spread
of COVID-19, research-
ers will instead present
their latest findings during
a series of webinars sched-
uled for Dec. 2-4.
“Our goal is to try
to reach the same audi-
ence, and maybe many
more,” said Silvia Ron-
don, extension entomol-
ogist at HAREC and one
of the farm fair’s main
organizers. “People are
going to be able to listen
to our seminars from any-
where in the world. I think
that’s going to be a cool
experience.”
The Hermiston Cham-
ber of Commerce normally
partners with OSU on the
farm fair, helping to pro-
vide a venue and spon-
sorships. The chamber
announced in September it
would not be participating
this year to focus on serv-
ing its member businesses
affected by the coronavirus
pandemic.
That left HAREC to
organize virtual sessions
largely on its own, which
Rondon said has been a
difficult transition.
“All of us are learning
about how to move from
in-person to the virtual
venue,” she said. “I am
confident we are going to
pull it off.”
The virtual farm fair
will feature talks from
8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each
morning over the Zoom
video conferencing app.
Each speaker will have 30
minutes, covering a vari-
ety of topics spanning the
region’s diverse irrigated
crops, Rondon said.
Day 1, on Wednesday,
Dec. 2, will kick off with
the potato seminar pro-
viding updates on breed-
ing, diseases, pest man-
agement and crop nutrition
programs.
HAREC is regarded
as the flagship potato
research station for OSU,
and figures prominently
in the Tri-State Potato
Research and Breeding
Program with Washington
and Idaho.
Day 2, on Thursday,
Dec. 3, will cover soil
health and modern preci-
sion irrigation technology.
Rondon said soil health
has been one of the hot
research topics at HAREC
over the last several years.
Day 3 on Dec. 4 will
focus on hemp and other
horticultural programs.
Rondon said she expects
the hemp session will be
well-attended, as 2020 was
the first full growing sea-
son for OSU researchers to
study the crop after it was
decriminalized in the 2018
Farm Bill.
Pesticide applicator cer-
tification credits will also
be offered online during
the farm fair.
There will be a fee for
the Pesticide CORE Pro-
gram presentations, but all
other sessions are free.
New subdivision planned for Boardman; Heppner complex gets upgrade
By JADE MCDOWELL
neWs edItOr
A new housing develop-
ment in Boardman will add
30 new stick-built homes to
the city’s housing inventory.
George Hale, CEO of
Woodhill Homes based in
Bend, said the development
will be the third phase of the
River Ridge subdivision off
Wilson Lane, but the first
for Woodhill Homes.
“What drew us to Board-
man was the abundance of
jobs. ... What we heard is a
lot of people who work in
Boardman live in Hermis-
ton,” he said.
He described the new
subdivision as 1,200-square-
foot homes with three bed-
rooms and two bathrooms,
priced at about $229,000.
He said after the 30-home
phase is added, they have
enough land there to build
approximately 70 more in
future phases.
Woodhill Homes is cur-
rently in the process of lay-
ing roads and utilities for
the project.
For more information,
visit
woodhillhomes.net/
river-ridge-estates.
In recent years Boardman
has used a number of strat-
egies to try to attract more
housing to keep up with the
booming workforce growth
at the Port of Morrow. Those
have included cash incen-
tives, such as waiving sys-
tem development charges
for the first four homes a
developer builds, or provid-
ing gap lending for housing
development through the
Boardman Housing Devel-
opment Fund.
Heppner housing
Boardman isn’t the
only Morrow County city
that could use more hous-
ing. Heppner City Man-
ager Kraig Cutsforth said
like many Eastern Oregon
communities, Heppner has
a housing shortage that can
make it difficult to attract
people to the community.
“I don’t think our
vacancy rate is even 1%,”
U.S. Cellular expands
5G to Umatilla County
HerMIstOn HeraLd
U.S. Cellular announced
an expansion of 5G cover-
age to Hermiston, Board-
man, Irrigon and Umatilla.
5G — which stands for “fifth
generation” — is the fastest
data transmission technology
housing units added, but
the Mountain Glen Apart-
ments in Heppner are get-
ting a complete makeover
thanks to a $7.2 million
grant from the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture to sup-
port affordable housing in
four rural counties.
The money will support
a project by Glenhaven Park
LLC to purchase four aging
low-income apartment com-
plexes, including Mountain
Glen, and complete a top-
to-bottom renovation. The
project will include new
siding, roofs, landscaping,
windows, doors, lighting,
floors, appliances and more.
Shelly Cullin, develop-
ment director for Chris-
he said. “We have trouble
finding a place for people
coming in.”
Cutsforth said current
conditions — from lumber
prices to the commute for
construction firms — dis-
courage housing developers
from coming to Heppner.
“The rents don’t cover
the cost of construction,” he
said.
He said the Willow
Creek Valley Economic
Development Group is
working on solutions. One
of the volunteer organiza-
tion’s goals is encourag-
ing economic development
through improved housing
opportunities.
It won’t result in any new
man Development Inc., said
Chrisman will complete the
renovations of the 24 units
in Mountain Glen, a proj-
ect with a $4.7 million total
cost.
She said the renovation
will start in May 2021. A
few tenants at a time will
be moved out of their apart-
ments for about three to five
days to complete the inte-
rior portion of their apart-
ment, but Cullin said con-
tractors can usually move
furniture from room to
room instead of requiring
the apartment to be emp-
tied, and the developer will
pay for a place for the ten-
ants to stay during their
remodel.
DRIVE-THRU
FLU SHOTS
mobile companies currently
offer. According to a map at
uscellular.com/coveragemap,
the new speeds cover most
of Hermiston and Boardman,
part of Umatilla (excluding
McNary), and part of south-
ern Irrigon. It does not extend
to Stanfield or Echo yet.
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