A Quarterly Newsletter for Friends of North Willamette Research and Extension Center
Tractor Training Coming Spring Break
WINTER 2014
Nursery Research
Position to be
Refilled
NWREC’s Nursery Research position
has been vacant since August, 2011
when Jim Owen departed for Virginia
Tech University. Tight budgets have
stalled the refilling of this position—
focused mostly on nursery crop production research and outreach to the
industry.
However, we are excited to announce
that this position will be filled during
2014.
NWREC Advisory Council Member, Ron Oberg, working with youth during tractor training program in
2013.
Sign up NOW if you have a youth ages 14
to 17 for the Tractor Safety Training and
Certification program. The next session
will be during Spring Break on
Wednesday, March 27 through Friday,
March 29 at NWREC. Tractor training and
certification is necessary for young people who wish to be employed on area
farms and operating equipment.
The OSU training includes approximately
24 hours of classroom and field training.
Written and driving skills testing are both
parts of this program. Local farm equipment dealers and businesses have provid-
ed great support for this program including loaner tractors and food and beverages for the kids.
The Clackamas County 4-H program and
the North Willamette Research and
Extension Center began cooperating for
these youth trainings in 2012. Since then,
four trainings have been offered reaching
over 80 youth. The class size for the trainings is limited to 20. The registration cost
is $75 and includes all training materials.
To sign up, contact the Clackamas County
4-H program in Oregon City at 503-6558631.
oregonstate.edu/dept/NWREC
According to Bill Braunworth, OSU’s
newly appointed Head of the
Department of Horticulture, the nursery research position at NWREC is a
high priority for the university. “We
know the importance of the nursery
industry in the state and the North
Valley region. It’s great to see the nursery sector rebounding after several
very difficult years during the recession. We need to be in there to help
support and grow with the industry for
the future.”
The North Willamette Research and
Extension Center is the only agricultural research center and experiment station in the state that works on nursery
crops. Ornamental nursery research
and development has been an integral
part of research and Extension programs in Aurora since the 1960s.
Solar Project Goes On Line—beam us up!
panels each 400’ long.” The entire project
occupies about one acre of land at the
Research Center.
The solar array is designed to generate
about 80-85% of the electrical needs of
the Center. When the array generates
more power than being utilized, excess
power will be “reverse metered” back into
the power utility grid. A contract
between OSU and the local power utility
will allow the university to purchase
needed power—when not able to produce for their own needs—at a lower rate
than current levels, too.
Solar Array at NWREC—construction completed in mid-December 2013.
NWREC’s new solar array project has now
been completed. Installation on the
ground (i.e., from opening a gate on Miley
Road and building a construction
road/landing area, to driving posts,
assembling framing, hanging the solar
panels, and all the internal wiring) took
about six weeks—from early November
through mid-December. Following the
holidays, the power transformer and connection to the utility grid was completed.
Power generation began in late
January—about one month ahead of
schedule.
“We are anxious to see how the array performs,” said Mike Bondi, NWREC Director.
Oregon State University completed five
solar array installations during the past 18
months—three in the Corvallis area and
supporting campus and farm locations
there. The other two arrays are located at
off-campus agricultural research centers,
including NWREC.
“It was amazing to see how quickly the
construction phase of this project went,”
said Bondi. “This was a huge project
when you see its size—four rows of solar
Marion County Looking at
Extension District Support
Friends of Extension in Marion County are busy trying to drum up support for the
establishment of an Extension and 4-H Service District in that county. Within the
seven-county region served by agriculture programs at the North Willamette
Research and Extension Center, Polk, Yamhill, Clackamas and Columbia County voters have already established service districts to support Extension programs in their
counties. Marion and Washington Counties provide general fund budget support
for Extension. Multnomah County terminated their funding for Extension more
than a decade ago.
Derek Godwin, OSU’s Regional Extension Administrator for the Central Willamette
Valley (Polk, Yamhill, Marion, Linn and Benton Counties), said,“Our goal is to have a
stable and adequate funding level for Extension programs in Marion County. We
have lost a large number of agents, especially in agriculture, due to declines in state
and federal funding. We have the largest agriculture county in the state and we
need to provide more support for our programs in agricultural Extension and
research.”
Derek and local Extension volunteers have the support of the Marion County
Commissioners and Marion County Farm Bureau, and they have started visits to
incorporated cities in the region to gain their support.
Anyone interested in knowing more about and contributing to the Marion County
Extension Service District effort should contact Derek at [email protected].
• PA G E 2 •
Bondi says,“We have been criticized for
taking the land occupied by the solar
array out of agricultural production. I certainly understand this feeling. But, if we
can provide for the majority of our electrical needs at the Center by using one acre
of the 160 we have here, then I believe
this is a good plan. Even if our annual
electrical costs are reduced only 1/2 for
the Center, that total savings could be
$12,000-15,000. That’s more than we can
make growing any farm crops on that
acre. This project is part of making our
farm a sustainable unit that supports our
mission of research and education.”
Also, Bondi says neighbors have complained about the solar array’s unsightly
look. Arborvitae hedge plantings have
been established to provide a visual screen
along property lines, Miley Road, and other
key sight lines. “This is another tough issue
for us. We have definitely changed the
landscape for our neighbors and those
passing along Miley Road. But, we hope
the plantings will provide a nice visual
screen over time. When NWREC was created in 1962, we had no neighbors. There
was no Charbonneau or any other houses
around. It’s a very different place, now.”
The next steps for the solar array project
at NWREC will be monitoring performance to see if the design targets are met.
Also, Bondi is considering options for the
one acre of land under the array panels
and looking for ways to best utilize this
space. Finally, educational outreach for
the solar array project is planned, too,
including tours. Currently, information
about the project is located on the NWREC
website at http://oregonstate.edu/dept/
NWREC/solar-array-project.
Farmers Gather to Get Ready for Coming Year
For the past 59 years, farmers in the local
area meet for three days of education and
networking during the dark days of winter—and, before everything gets busy in
the spring. Their annual event is known
as the North Willamette Horticulture
Society meeting and is held at the
Clackamas County Event Center in Canby.
OSU Extension works closely with the farming community to organize the educational
presentations for the meetings and faculty
from OSU—both on campus and off campus—do much of the teaching and updating. Extension Agents Nick Andrews (Metro
Small Farms),Wei Yang (Berry Crops), and
Chip Bubl (Agriculture/Vegetable Crops)
did most of the organization for this winter’s program. All three support Extension
programs based at OSU’s North Willamette
Research and Extension Center. Also,
NWREC’s Jan Egli manages the registration
for the event and provides all the clerical
support.
Nick Andrews, overall coordinator for the
education programs, said,“This is always a
great event. We appreciate everyone
working together to make the program a
success. It’s especially gratifying to see
the interest in education, research and
our industries making it a priority to keep
NWREC’s Joe DeFrancesco updating berry growers about the latest pesticide registration changes during
the North Willamette Horticulture Society meetings at the Clackamas County Event Center in Canby.
up-to-date with the latest information.”
The first day of the Hort Society meetings
each year is for farmers working with
organic production of fruits and vegetables. Nearly 160 farmers attended. The
second day is devoted to commercial
vegetable production and those doing
traditional farming. About 120 farmers
attended. The final day focused on berry
production and attracted the biggest
crowd—180 participants.
During 2013, the North Willamette Hort
Society developed its own website as a
storehouse for information about the
organization and the annual meeting in
Canby, educational presentations, and
other important information. Their site is:
http://nwhortsoc.com/.
Calendar of Events
February 20: Maximizing Pesticide Use Efficiency in Nurseries
Workshop—reduce waste and save money.
J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co., Boring (10:00am3:00pm). Contact: Robin Rosetta at 503-678-1264
(X-133)
February 22: OSU Small Farms Conference. OSU CH2MHill
Alumni Center, Corvallis (9:00am-5:00pm). Contact:
Benton County Extension office at 541-766-3556.
February 26: Oregon Fresh Market Grower’s Association
Annual Meeting. Food Safety Update. 5:008:00pm at Wilbur Ellis in Woodburn. Contact: Matt
Battilega, OFMGA President at mattbattilega@
gmail.com.
February 26: Growing Farms—successful whole farm
management workshop. NWREC, Aurora (4:309:00pm). Contact: Heidi Noordijk at 503-678-1264
(X-141). Note: this is a six-evening workshop series
every Wednesday from February 26 through April 2.
Also, included in the program are two Saturday
sessions on March 22 and April 5.
March 3:
Farmer Chef Connection. World Forestry Center,
Portland. http://www.farmerchefconnection.org/.
March 8:
Spring into Gardening—growing fruit in the
home garden. McMinnville High School, McMinnville
(9:00am-4:00pm). Contact Neil Bell at 503-361-2671.
March 22:
Clackamas Tree School—for woodland owners,
Christmas tree growers, and tree enthusiasts.
Clackamas Community College, Oregon City
(8:15am-5:15pm). Contact Clackamas County
Extension office at 503-655-8631.
March 27-29: Youth Farm Tractor Safety Training and
Certification. NWREC, Aurora (8:30am-4:30pm
each day). Contact Clackamas County Extension
office at 503-655-8631.
April 24:
Agricultural Composting—Day 1. NWREC, Aurora
(8:30am-5:00pm). Contact Heidi Noordijk at 503678-1264 (X-141).
May 1:
Agricultural Composting—Day 2. NWREC, Aurora
(8:30am-5:00pm). Contact Heidi Noordijk at 503678-1264 (X-141).
• PA G E 3 •
Equipment Designed
for Small Scale Farms
Charles Mohler, a Cornell University weed
scientist, visited Oregon and presented
his work at the North Willamette
Horticulture Society annual meeting in
January. His presentations at the organic
and vegetable sections are posted on
their website (http://nwhortsoc.com).
Following the meeting, Mohler led a
hands-on workshop on weed management at the North Willamette Research
and Extension Center.
Despite nasty and cold weather, thirty
farmers, Extension Agents, and equipment
dealers participated in workshop using
biological and ecological information to
develop strategies for managing specific
weeds. Besides lively conversations, control strategies centered around appropriate equipment for managing small farm
properties. Several participants brought
equipment they’ve designed for small
farm use.
Josh Volk from Slow Hand Farm and Our
Table Farm (both in the Portland area)
described his farm hand cart which serves
many purposes on diverse small-scale
farms. Farm hand carts are primarily used
for carrying loads around the farm. Loads
vary from light and bulky to more than
400 pounds. The carts are designed with
high (20”) clearance. They straddle beds
with the two wheels running in walking
OSU Small Farm
Conference Feb. 22
As a rite of Spring, it’s time for OSU
Small Farm Conference in Corvallis on
Saturday, February 22.
pathways, not
on bed tops. The
deck can be easily removed to
make room for a
drip winder or
bed marker
which he also
builds. With the
rolling bed
marker attachment, wheels on
the cart can
mark pathways
while the rolling
marker marks
planting lines
and in row spacing for transplanted or direct
seeded crops.
Josh Volk describes some of the features on his rugged farm hand cart.The attachment in the photo marks beds so that transplants can be planted accurately.
Ed Peachey (OSU weed scientist) brought
a tractor mounted in-row weed flamer
that he built with colleagues in Corvallis.
He uses it in his weed management
research. The long shields retain the heat
from the propane and allow for quicker
driving speed. Automatic lighters make
sure the flame stays lit during operation.
The weed flamer was designed by Charles
Merfield (Merf ) from Physical Weeding (a
New Zealand company). His website has
photos of several other pieces of equipment he designs and builds with his business partner Tim Chamerlin. The website
includes designs for a 4-wheel hoe with
precision depth control.
Marc Anderson and Derek Wells (NWREC
farm managers) have built a 4-wheel hoe
using Merf’s design. They also designed
and built a larger 4-wheel hoe with higher
clearance and a fertilizer side-dresser.
Brian Dickerson (Dancing Roots Farm) inspects
the 4-wheel hoe and drop spreader built by
NWREC farm staff while others look on.
These tools will be used at the NWREC
learning farm this summer. Over the next
few years we hope to work together to
design, build and try out more equipment
for small-scale farms.
The event has grown to attract a
huge attendance. Nearly 800 are
expected from all around the state.
24 classes are offered across three
concurrent sessions scheduled
throughout the day.
A keynote presentation starts the day.
For conference details, including class
titles, descriptions, instructors and registration information...see http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sfc.
Ed Peachey discusses the weed flamer and stale-seedbed strategies.
• PA G E 4 •
Food Safety Train-the-Trainer Workshops Available
For the third year, the OSU Extension Service—in collaboration with the berry
industry in the state—will be teaching a series of workshops about food safety.
The purpose of the program has been to provide berry industry growers and
managers with training materials that can be used to teach basic food safety
and handling principles to their harvest field workers. Training materials come
from the California Strawberry Commission. The Oregon Strawberry
Commission, Oregon Blueberry Commission, and the Oregon Raspberry and
Blackberry Commissions sponsor the workshops and have provided the funding
for the free trainings each year.
This project is a direct result of an E. coli outbreak occurring from contamination during harvest in a strawberry field in 2011. According to Phillip Gutt,
Executive Director for the Oregon Strawberry and the Oregon Raspberry and
Blackberry Commissions,“Our goal is to minimize the chances of future contaminations by upgrading basic field handling of our products. We just can’t
be too careful when handling fresh produce.”
Food Safety Workshops
Feb. 26: Scenic Fruit Co.–7510 SE Altman Rd., Gresham
Feb. 28: NWREC–15210 NE Miley Rd., Aurora
March 5: Willamette Valley Fruit Co.–2994 82nd Ave NE, Salem
March 12: Woodburn Fertilizer/Wilbur-Ellis–868 N Front St.,
Woodburn
March 14: Riverbend Organic Farm–35711 Helms Dr.,
Jefferson
March 19: HBF International–310 NE Kirby St., McMinnville
March 21: FOOD for Lane County–770 Bailey Hill Rd., Eugene
March 27: Columbia Gorge Community College–400 E
Scenic Dr.. The Dalles (Bldg 2, Floor 3 “Lecture Hall”)
Luisa Santamaria, NWREC’s Nursery Pathologist and Bilingual Educator, teaches the three-hour long workshops. She utilizes California’s training materials
and resource kits that each participant receives to use with workers on their
farms. Also, she demonstrates teaching methods and hands-on activities that
can be used by the trainers when working with their employees.
March 28: Pine Grove Grange–2850 Van Horn Dr., Hood
River
“Food safety is job number one for our fresh fruit and produce industries. We all
need to take responsibility for ensuring the food products that come from our
fields and farms enter the market free of any contamination,” said Santamaria.
April 16: OSU Seafood Research & Education Center–2001
Marine Dr. #210, Astoria
This year’s workshop schedule has expanded to 14 locations with more sites to be
added. Each location will include an English workshop in the morning and a
Spanish workshop in the afternoon. Advance registration for these free workshops and additional details can be found at http://oregonfarmsfoodsafety.com.
April 3: Fairview Grange #273–5520 E. 3rd St., Tillamook
April 4: Lincoln City Cultural Center–540 NE Hwy 101,
Lincoln City
April 23: Unger Farm Store–34880 SW Johnson School Rd.,
Cornelius
April 25: Santo Community Center–701 N. Columbia Ave.,
Medford
ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED for these
FREE workshops at: http://oregonfarmsfoodsafety.com
Become a Friend of NWREC Today!
Membership—Friends of North Willamette Research and Extension Center
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Membership Category (circle one):
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Make checks payable to: OSU Foundation–NWREC
Mail to: North Willamette Research and Extension Center, 15210 NE Miley Road, Aurora, OR 97002
Membership forms for the Friends of North Willamette Research and Extension Center are also available by contacting the
NWREC office at 503-678-1264 or downloading from the website at http://oregonstate.edu/dept/NWREC.
Contact Director, Mike Bondi, for more information or to discuss life or deferred gifts options.
Phone: 503-678-1264 • Fax: 503-678-5986 • E-mail: [email protected] • Cell. 503-705-2434
• PA G E 5 •
Innovative Funds Support New, Creative Work
For the past two years, the Clackamas
Extension Innovative Fund Program has
offered grants to Extension faculty and
staff working in the region who want to try
their next creative idea—but need financial help to get the concept off the ground.
Each year the Clackamas County Extension
and 4-H Service District has provided
$100,000 of Innovative Fund Program dollars to support this new work. Eligible faculty and staff include those located at the
Clackamas County Extension office in
Oregon City and the North Willamette
Research and Extension Center.
In 2008, voters in Clackamas County passed
a ballot initiative forming and funding a
service district to support the OSU Extension
Service in that county. Funds for Extension
programs and activities now come from a
property tax assessment levied each year by
the County Commissioners. Adequate funding for Extension has allowed programs to
grow and serve broader needs throughout
the county, plus support new opportunities
like the Extension Innovative Fund Program.
and a Russian language workshop on
caneberry nutrition was taught in 2013.
• Degree Day Modeling for Vegetable
Crops (Nick Andrews, Small Farms
Extension Agent—NWREC): Understanding
growth cycles in plants—triggered by temperatures throughout the growing season,
will help farmers become better managers
by improving timing for cultural practices
like fertilization and pest management—
and be able to better predict harvesting for
market timing. Twelve Clackamas County
farmers participated to gather on-farm data
for their crops that will go into sophisticated computer models to be used by vegetable farmers.
Nick Andrews measuring cucumber growth and
development in his vegetable degree day project.
According to Extension Regional Director,
Mike Bondi, and creator of the program,
“We are very fortunate to have the
resources to support this new work in the
county. Our goal is to catalyze new work
that encourages our faculty and staff to
take an idea and test it out or get it into
practice. We see ourselves as a place to
launch a new idea, or get experience, collect useful data, and use these pilot projects to be more competitive when searching for additional external sources of
funding to sustain successful, high-impact
programs, and longer term projects.”
During 2013, the Clackamas Innovative
Fund Program sponsored four projects
led by faculty at NWREC. Here’s a quick
summary of these projects:
• Caneberry Management Outreach to
the Russian Community (Bernadine Strik,
Berry Crops Specialist—NWREC): The
Russian community grows about 10-15%
of the caneberry production in Oregon.
But, many of these growers aren’t fully literate in English and rarely attend
Extension education programs due to language and cultural reasons. New Russian
language publications were developed
The new Russian language caneberry nutrition management publication completed in 2013 by
Bernadine Strik.
• PA G E 6 •
• Christmas Tree Seed Orchard
Development (Chal Landgren, Christmas
Tree Specialist—NWREC): A new tree seed
orchard has been established at the North
Willamette Research and Extension
Center for noble fir and Turkish fir
Christmas trees. Controlled tree breeding
Blueberry field using mistigation method for insecticide injection to control Spotted Wing Drosophila.
and seed production will now be possible
and will help the industry find the next
“perfect” Christmas tree—through genetic improvement.
OSU Extension Christmas Tree Specialist Chal
Landgren with a newly grafted noble fir for the
NWREC Seed Orchard.
• Mistigation—a novel technique for
Spotted Wing Drosophila control (Wei
Yang, Berry Crops Extension AgentNWREC): Injecting insecticides into irrigation lines in berry crop production fields
is a new concept for controlling the grow-
ing infestations in the region by Spotted
Wing Drosophila. Currently, growers have
to use ground-based airblast sprayers and
helicopters for pesticide applications.
Mistigation is being evaluated to provide
a more effective control program that will
use significantly less pesticide, plus
reduce fruit loss and costs to the farmer.
A special focus of this project was collecting maximum residue levels in the mistigation system.
Tours Keep Coming to NWREC—even in winter!
On a cold winter day in December, the Western Native Plant
Society brought nearly 40 tour goers to the North Willamette
Research and Extension Center to learn about the work we do
and connect on projects related to their interests. Participants
from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and
California joined local Oregon native plant professionals for the
tour and three day meeting in the Portland area.
During the tour NWREC Director, Mike Bondi, provided an
overview of OSU’s Agricultural Experiment Station network in
the state and the focus of programming and staff at the
Center. Robin Rosetta, Nursery Integrated Pest Management
Extension Agent at NWREC, shared about her program and the
resources available of interest to the native plant professionals. Also, Rosetta described two newly introduced pests that may have significant impact on
native plant populations—azalea lace bug and the
brown marmorated stink bug.
and secure location for the propagation of plant material
needed for their projects.
The tour’s second stop viewed Neil Bell’s work at NWREC evaluating native manzanitas for potential landscape use. Bell, an
OSU Horticulture Extension Agent working in Marion and Polk
Counties, has been examining different groups of plants for
many years looking for unique and interesting specimen characteristics that might be brought into the nursery and landscape industries. Nearly 75 species of manzanitas are being
evaluated at this time. NWREC Bio-Tech Assistant, Judy
Kowalski working with Bell, led the tour stop.
A tour followed to the City of Portland’s native plant
production area. The City’s Bureau of Environmental
Services has leased one acre of land at NWREC for the
past 15 years. They use the land to produce plant
material and seeds for habitat and watershed restoration projects in the City. Toby Query, Natural
Resources Ecologist with the City, led the discussion of
his project at NWREC and the work he is doing. Query Toby Query, Portland’s Natural Resources Ecologist, explains his native plant propagation work at NWREC.
shared that the City’s plot at NWREC provides a safe
• PA G E 7 •
North Willamette Research
and Extension Center
Faculty & Staff
Administration & Support Staff
Mike Bondi
Director
Shelley Hughes
Administrative Assistant
Jan Egli
Office Specialist
Marc Anderson
Farm and Facilities Manager
Geoff Lewis
Building Trades and Maintenance
Derek Wells
Farm Management (3/4 time)
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Oregon State University
North Willamette Research & Extension Center
15210 NE Miley Road
Aurora, Oregon 97002-9543
SIPRINT
Extension & Research Faculty
Bernadine Strik
Berry Research Leader
Wei Yang
Berry Crops Extension Agent
Rich Regan
District Nursery Extension Agent
Robin Rosetta
Nursery IPM Extension Agent
Luisa Santamaria
Nursery Pathologist/Bilingual
Extension Agent
Chal Landgren
Christmas Tree Extension Specialist
Nick Andrews
Metro Small Farms Extension Agent
Chip Bubl
Extension Agriculture Agent
Joe DeFrancesco
Pesticide Registration Research
Research and Program Staff
Gil Buller
Berry Research
Amanda Vance
Berry Research
Heather Andrews
Berry Research
Gina Koskela
Pesticide Registration Research
Peter Sturman
Pesticide Registration Research
Heather Stoven
Nursery Research
Judy Kowalski
Nursery, Christmas Tree, and
Pesticide Research
Derek Wells
Nursery Research (1/4 time)
Gilberto Uribe
Nursery Program Assistant
Heidi Noordijk
Small Farms Program Assistant
2014 Friends Campaign Open—
Join the Growing Group
The Friends of North Willamette Research and Extension Center is our support group of
interested farmers, neighbors, family, elected officials and the public who care about agriculture
in the region—and, NWREC, in particular. The group formed to give all of us an opportunity to
provide financial and in-kind support that helps NWREC achieve our core mission of research,
education and outreach in the community.
Financial and in-kind gifts have been a huge help to NWREC that help improve and grow
programs not normally possible with state-funded budgets. Since inception in the fall of 2011,
the Friends of NWREC have raised more than $35,000 of cash and in-kind contributions used to
make needed repairs and upgrades at the Center and develop community outreach programs.
The Friends of NWREC 2014 Campaign is underway. Our goal this year is to raise $25,000—that’s
1,000 $25 donors or 500 $50 donors or 250 $100 donors, etc. Can you help? Our Friends of
NWREC membership brochure is available on our website at http://oregonstate.edu/dept/
NWREC/friends or on page 5 of this newsletter. Sign up TODAY and please share with someone
you know.
Agriculture is everyone’s business!
Oregon State University–North Willamette Research & Extension Center
15210 NE Miley Road, Aurora, OR 97002 • Phone: 503-678-1264 • Website: oregonstate.edu/dept/NWREC
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm