2016 Ag Journal - Summer

Ag Journal

Daily Record Summer 2016

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Cattlemen’s Field Day ■ KRD irrigation 401 N. Main Street Ellensburg, WA 98926

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Early hay cutting

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Table of contents

Ag Journal Editor Joanna Markell

First hay cutting comes early

Publisher Heather Hernandez

Page 4

Advertising Contact us: Ag Journal 401 N. Main Street Ellensburg, WA 98926 509-925-1414

Exporters: early cutting looks good

The Ag Journal is published three times a year by Kittitas County Publishing LLC. Contents copyrighted 2015 unless otherwise noted.

Page 10

McGregor puts down roots in Kittitas County Page 16

On the cover: Mike Johnston photo

A field application vehicle, from The McGregor Company of Ellensburg, lays down fertilizer on a timothy grass field northwest of Thorp in mid-June after the first cutting of timothy hay was taken off the field.

Early irrigation helped timothy crop

Cattlemen’s Field Day Page 22

Page 14

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Dale Mickelsen photo

Three balers, with a swather cutting in the background, take advantage of great weather June 4 to put up the early first cutting of timothy hay grown by the Bland family off Manastash Road in the Kittitas Valley. The Bland family that day had nine pieces of equipment operating in the field.

First hay cutting comes early High hopes for good export quality, concern about rain

By MIKE JOHNSTON For the Daily Record Longtime Kittitas Valley timothy hay grower Bart Bland started baling the first cutting of his 2016 timothy crop June 4 off Manastash Road, a good 10 days to two weeks earlier than normal.

Like other local growers, he’s anxious to discover how his hay rates in quality and price when finally put up in bales.

He’ll have to wait a bit. Prices for various grades of hay won’t be known until after international buyers inspect the valley’s baled first-cutting hay, with some buyers arriving in late

June and through the first half of July.

“That’s when you really see the quality of your hay close up through the buyer’s eyes, when it’s baled; you want to know whether what you saw in your fields pans out in the stack,” Bland said. “That’s what most buyers see, your final product right there in front of them, right in your hay barn.

4 | Summer 2016 Ag Journal

That’s how decisions are made on the price the farmer gets.”

Overseas buyers get in between stacks of hay and give them a thorough visual inspection, looking for that consistent, as-green-aspossible color.

See Hay, Page 6

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HAY Continued from Page 4 They’re also keeping an eye out for stray grass that’s not timothy.

They often pull out handfuls of hay to feel its texture, and smell hay in cupped hands up to their nose to check for a fresh aroma.

Sometimes representative bales are split open to make sure there is consistency throughout an entire bale.

They’re looking for the best.

Bland has raised timothy west of Ellensburg off Manastash Road and at other valley sites fulltime for 36 years. He hopes his baled product is high quality for overseas buyers.

He’s also hoping for good prices, even more important, no rain during harvest.

While growers who cut early escaped rain, some with hay down in mid-June weren’t so lucky.

Cut hay in windrows caught by rain on the ground can become

discolored and sustain other damage that can seriously hurt quality and significantly reduce the price farmers get for their bales.

Bland’s early first cutting and baling escaped the rain that hit the valley June 16 and 18. Thundershowers June 16 ranged at different locations from where there was none, to light sprinkles and others that had a quarter to more than a half inch of precipitation.

More widespread rain on June 18 ranged from .24 of an inch to .36 of an inch at scattered sites.

Many growers who had cut hay on the ground those days didn’t fare so well. One estimate is that around 30 percent of the entire first cutting was caught on the ground when the rains came.

Starting June 19 growers were back in their fields fluffing up their windrows of cut hay to speed up drying before baling. Others hurried to finish cutting before their plants become too mature.

The heavier rains of June 16 and June 18 may set up some growers

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to definitely have lowered quality from rain damage. Growers and local hay exporters said this may be a factor creating more lowerquality hay and, in turn, reduce even further the prices farmers get for their bales, on top of overall lowered prices expected this summer.

How badly cut hay was damaged by rain won’t be known until the international buyers get up close and personal with bales in local barns.

Quality sells Kittitas Valley growers and export companies realize that whatever market challenges they face in this uncertain 2016 season, high-quality hay will continue to sell for export.

Carl Jensvold, president of the Organization of Kittitas County Timothy Hay Growers and Suppliers, said a multitude of factors can affect quality, growth and harvest. They include the state of irrigation water supplies, weather patterns including

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temperatures, rain and winds, timing of cutting and drying in relation to plant maturity, keeping up fields with younger plants, when to fertilize and much more.

“It’s a complicated mix of situations that are always changing, always variable. You can plan the best you can, but then you have to respond to changes and the unexpected the best you can. The weather is always the big factor, the unknown component that’s always out there, it’s always a crap shoot.”

Jensvold, who farms in the Badger Pocket area, said thankfully there’s adequate irrigation water this year and growing weather, despite periods of unseasonably warm weather in March, April and May, has been generally good (as of the first week in June).

Rain while hay is being cut into rows for a five-day drying period isn’t good for quality. In May, many valley growers who are raising alfalfa on some of their fields as a rotation crop got their first cutting of alfalfa rained on, resulting in

ber

lowering its quality for export.

If there’s rain in the forecast at harvest time or field conditions indicate it’s time to cut with hot weather threatening to over-ripen hay, “you may face a very hard time with a much narrower window to get your bales up, a really hectic, hard time.”

Light rain at locations scattered around the valley fell June 9-10, but it’s believed possible discoloration from the moisture was not significant.

“You end up looking at every weather report,” Jensvold said.

“You’re watching every bank of clouds coming in and wonder ‘where is it headed?,’ ‘will it let loose?,’ ‘will it just pass by?,’ ‘will it rain?’”

See Hay, Page 8

Mike Johnston / For the Daily Record

Heavy rain clouds loom over a hay field in Kittitas County on June 16.

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HAY Continued from Page 7

Legacy of the drought

Mike Johnston photo

One of the crew operating a bale wagon on June 4 checks his load of bales of first cutting timothy hay before taking them to the Bland family hay barns for stacking.

The value of timothy hay in Kittitas County The value to growers of all hay produced in Kittitas County is estimated at more than $50 million annually, with timothy estimated to value $45 million or more of that total. These estimates are for a typical good harvest year and reflect years with strong pricing.

Recent softening of hay prices likely has reduced the overall estimate.

Timothy and alfalfa hay grown for the export market is the single-largest

agricultural product raised in Kittitas County. Many timothy growers raise alfalfa as a rotation crop, which makes up a small percentage of the export hay grown in the county.

In a good harvest and market year, about 90 percent of the timothy hay crop is exported overseas to Japan, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, other Middle Eastern countries, Vietnam and other Pacific Rim countries, with

Japan being the single largest export customer. Several Ellensburg-area commercial hay companies buy hay in the Kittitas Valley and the Columbia Basin from growers, and the hay is later exported in agreements with overseas customers. The local firms process the hay, transport it and export it through the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.

— Federal Census of Agriculture, online information, local exporters

8 | Summer 2016 Ag Journal

Pricing decisions for this season’s first cutting won’t be made until later in the summer after overseas buyers visit fields and hay barns.

Much is riding on the final prices for several grades of timothy: the sale of farmers’ first cutting for export can reflect 75 percent to 80 percent or more of their income for the year, and determine whether they can adequately cover production costs.

Record high prices for export timothy in 2014 and in the few years before is estimated by some to have generated $45 million or more annually in farm gate value in the Kittitas Valley, a major economic factor in Kittitas County.

Those prices, though, have fallen. Higher-quality dairy hay going to Japan was hitting around $240 to $280 a ton in 2014’s first cutting. The 2015 first cutting had higher-quality dairy going for $180 to $200 or so a ton.

More than a few anxious growers are watching the quality of their first cutting closely as the harvest continues, especially after the mid-June rain. They know factors in the mix for this season’s price decisions include an outlook of oversupply of hay and other forage for the world market.

On top of that, many timothy fields are coming out of the 2015 drought year with damaged plants from an early cutoff of irrigation water last year. Damage can include stunted or weak plants, thin stems and significantly reduced yields, or places in a field where the timothy didn’t grow for a second cutting because there was no water available.

Some areas in fields have dead plants.

Many growers who had to halt irrigation early in the 2015 season couldn’t follow through with plans to reseed a field to raise younger, higher-quality plants because

they ran out of water.

This damage can greatly reduce yield and quality for three or four years after the drought disrupted growers’ plans for field rotation. The rotation plans aim at keeping a field of timothy plants as productive and vigorous as possible. This means the damaged fields likely will require more maintenance in coming few years along with the resulting higher production costs to bring them back into quality production.

Jensvold said many growers who had to halt irrigation early last August quickly found out the impact of the drought this spring.

Some fields struggled to grow with farmers having to control more weeds, invasive grasses, mites, aphids and voles, a type of burrowing field rodent.

It adds up to monetary losses for the grower who had no second cutting in 2015, and will continue having losses for the next few years while bringing damaged

fields back into good condition.

The currency factor Another factor affecting pricing is the Japanese yen.

Japan continues to be the single-largest buyer of hay exported from the Kittitas Valley and the Columbia Basin. The value of the yen, compared to the U.S. dollar, has dropped in the past few years, reducing the buying power of Japanese buyers seeking hay for Japan’s dairies and horses. Buyers are extremely wary of high prices and are on the lookout for good deals on cheaper forage from countries that grow hay and compete with the valley and basin.

In the first week of June the yen hovered around 110 for each $1.

Jensvold said the U.S. dollar at that time was still stronger over the yen, but not as challenging as it was last year about this time when it was 125 yen to the dollar.

Competition from other forage

growing areas came into play as a bigger factor in fall 2014 through early spring 2015 when a labor dispute at West Coast ports slowed hay exports from western United States by more than half of normal. This caused many Japanese and other Pacific Rim customers to go to other countries for sometimes cheaper hay when timely shipments weren’t possible from the West Coast.

Hay from local and regional processors/exporters accumulated at their facilities or at the ports despite Kittitas Valley and Columbia Basin producing quality hay last year.

The competing growing areas continued to have good forage crops that pulled some overseas buyers away from Pacific Northwest hay.

This adds up to market pressure to continue the downward trend in the prices farmers receive for their hay.

Bland said his fields of younger

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timothy plants that got adequate water last year, and are now being cut and baled, look average or a little higher than average in export quality to him, but the proof will be in the bales. He’s also got fields with obvious drought damage.

“We’ve been through other drought years when water was cut off early; I’m not sure how the damage from last year’s drought rates compared to other drought years, but they’re all bad,” Bland said. “This one was bad, one of the worst.”

He estimated he’ll be cutting, drying and baling hay for another two weeks, after starting harvest Memorial Day weekend.

“Everyone’s hoping for a nice crop, at least on the fields with no drought damage,” Bland said. “It’s a tough market this year and hard to tell where it’s going. Some think the prices are going continue to be weak. We all just have to wait and see, and we need all the good weather we can get.”

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Japanese import hay buyers join with Anderson Hay and Grain Co. Inc. staff, center, to inspect the first cutting timothy hay in a Kittitas Valley hay farmer’s field.

Exporters: early cutting looks good Optimistic that overseas buyers will come

By MIKE JOHNSTON For the DAILY RECORD Kittitas Valley hay exporters contacted in early June say the

start of first cutting of timothy hay is exhibiting what looks like export quality, although as usual weather through the remainder of the harvest will determine if

that quality holds and gets the attention of international buyers.

The hope is for no rains, and certainly no soaking rains on cut hay that can discolor it to a

10 | Summer 2016 Ag Journal

yellowish-brown and seriously knock it down in value to overseas buyers. This was the case nearly three years in a row before the 2014 season.

But rains did come to the Kittitas Valley during the first cutting on June 9-10 and again

June 16-18. The hope now is that the rain damage isn’t as extensive as it was in the few years before the 2014 crop, but that won’t be known until bales are examined closely by overseas buyers. Some estimate 30 percent of the 2016 first cutting might have suffered some level of rain damage.

The export of timothy hay raised in the Kittitas Valley to Pacific Rim and other countries is estimated to have a more than $45 million farm-gate value to growers in Kittitas County. Rain on cut hay threatens to significantly lower the economic value of the crop.

Some say they’re optimistic: if the early first-cutting quality continues now after the rains, import buyers will be attracted to the Kittitas Valley’s fresh, new and consistently green crop that may be in their estimation more reasonably priced. This could pan out despite an international oversupply of lower-grade hay not yet sold and what’s expected to

be a continued descent in prices farmers are receiving.

Silver lining Mark Anderson, president of Anderson Hay and Grain Co. Inc., said there likely is a positive element developing for Kittitas Valley and Columbia Basin timothy growers and exporters in the midst of present market uncertainties. Those challenging factors creating uncertainty include not only the oversupply but a continuing stronger dollar over the Japanese yen (weakening Japanese hay buying power) and stiff competition from other hay-growing countries with cheaper forage prices.

These countries, including Australia and its oat hay crop, California’s Sudan grass and Canadian timothy, in late 2014-early 2015 attracted Pacific Rim customers who usually want Kittitas Valley hay.

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A Japanese import hay buyer, left, inspects first cutting timothy hay from the Kittitas Valley with an Anderson Hay and Grain Co. Inc. staff member in 2014.

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EXPORT Continued from Page 11 This occurred when valley and basin hay orders couldn’t get to buyers on time due to the West Coast port slowdown. The slowed shipments were caused by an unsettled labor contract between those operating ports and the longshoremen’s union.

“If there’s any silver lining in all this right now, in this tough market situation, is having good harvest weather from here on out could keep the quality as high as possible, better quality than other growing areas,” said Anderson, including Australia, Canada, southwest U.S. and others. “With a good harvest now and more competitive pricing, customers will be attracted, especially those who bought hay elsewhere (during the port slowdown). The highest quality will bring them back.”

(Sporadic light rain fell June 9-10 at scattered locations around the Kittitas Valley, with some sprinkling on cut hay. So far reports are that any damage done by that rain was minimal. Significantly heavier rains fell June 16-18 at different locations, raising

uncertainty about how much cut hay was damaged and to what extent.)

Anderson said the recent reduction in hay pricing has likely changed the trend in which Kittitas Valley’s quality timothy is viewed as too expensive or being available only at record-high prices. He said harvest weather now is the big factor in whether prices for the 2016 first cutting will drop further than the reduced pricing for summer 2015’s first-cutting.

“Winter and spring pricing fell, especially for lower-grade dairy hay; pricing is really soft,” Anderson said June 9. “It’s too early to tell where prices for this season’s crop are going. I think weather and the quality of this year’s crop seen by buyers is going to be the main thing.”

Most of the international buyers have adequate supplies right now for what they immediately need, Anderson said, and they are waiting to see what levels of quality finally come out of the first cutting.

“The international market’s demand for

higher quality feed rations is always there, they’re really looking for that quality,” Anderson said. “That’s where the valley and basin can excel if we have good harvest weather.”

Another positive factor is that ocean freight shipping rates have dropped somewhat through the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, helping to buffer the usual higher cost to ship out of Puget Sound ports compared to Southern California.

Hopes for dairy hay Rollie Bernth, president of Ward Rugh Inc., said what he’s seen of the first bales of this season’s first cutting of timothy is “some really nice looking hay.”

“That’s what we really need right now, great quality hay that will give everyone a real plus when buyers come around,” Bernth said in the first week of June. “Buyers we have contact with are very anxious for a new crop that’s of excellent quality.”

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processors/exporters continue to have significant amounts of unsold inventories of 2014 and 2015 hay, and the hope is that most gets sold before prices are firmly set for this year’s first cutting and orders taken from overseas buyers.

“Having that unsold inventory affects all of us, everyone in the valley’s hay industry,” said Bernth, by exerting economic pressure to lower prices even further. He said his company is “in good shape” in regard to inventories.

Of particular concern among some exporters are large inventories of unsold lower-grade dairy hay. Since only about 10 percent of the valley’s export market involves the very top quality hay for the horse market, dairy-grade hay makes up the rest and needs to be of high quality.

“Our hay industry here lives and dies on the overseas dairy markets and its demands for quality,” Bernth said.

A concern last year was the presence of brown leaf, or discolored lower leaves on timothy stems, found in baled timothy.

Bernth said the amount of brown leaf was noticeable in every grade of timothy hay from last year’s first cutting. Brown leaf can lower the grade of the baled hay and reduce the price growers and exporters receive for their hay.

Overseas buyers are looking for a consistently green color, thick stems and firm, rod-like heads that haven’t bloomed.

Brown leaf can occur when dense stands of timothy plants

get too mature and heavy in a field and begin to bend over or lay down in an action called lodging.

It’s believed the lower stem leaves don’t get enough light when they are bent over or bent down, causing leaves to turn brown.

Some growers believe too much fertilizer combined with growth spurts brought on by sustained hot weather can lead to lodging, in addition to heavy rains and high winds and ample overhead sprinkling of crops.

Some timothy growers, looking back on the 2015 first cutting, are cutting a bit earlier this season to steer clear of over-mature plants and the possibility of lodging.

“It’s an interesting and challenging year,” Bernth said.

“Each year presents its own set of different concerns.”

Lower prices coming Don Schilling, president of Wesco International Inc., said in early June he was optimistic about this year’s new timothy crop in the valley and basin, although it is too early to talk about specific pricing.

“But I know it’s going to be lower, prices are going to go down,” said Schilling noting the current world market challenges.

“There’s no question they’ll go down.”

He said the prices for a variety of agricultural commodities have been going down, and this downward movement is another factor that affects export hay prices.

As far as quality and meeting the demand for quality, Schil-

ling said there was no reason to be pessimistic about this year’s valley and basin hay crop unless weather patterns drastically change and long periods of heavy rain hit the region during harvest.

“Demand for forage around the world is growing each year,” Schilling said. “But the demand is for quality, and this area always has the potential to provide a superior product.”

After these comments, rain hit some of the valley’s first cutting in mid-June, and Schilling said the rain on cut hay shows how unpredictable and how much of a gamble farming can be. But there’s still rising interest in the valley’s first cutting.

Schilling said his hay processing and export sales firm has received a lot of inquiries from overseas buyers on how the first cutting is going as far as quality is concerned.

“They are highly interested in what’s coming out of the first cutting,” he said.

Most overseas buyers first travel to California to inspect the large Sudan grass crop, then come to the Kittitas Valley and the Columbia Basin to view the timothy first cutting, and later go to Canada to see that country’s timothy crop. They are comparing quality and pricing. Come fall and winter the Australian oat hay also will attract buyers.

“We are always in competition with other areas, always,” Schilling said.

Reports are that California’s Sudan grass is of overall acceptable quality and its pricing is

“very competitive,” Schilling said.

As for the Columbia Basin, Schilling said early timothy first cutting is exhibiting good quality.

Struggling Bill Haberman Jr., general manager of Stone Wings II Import-Export, said several hay export firms are facing an unsold inventory of hay from the previous two seasons at a time when the 2016 crop is on its way.

“I’m not sure there is hope that all that unsold hay will eventually find markets,” Haberman said.

“A lot of firms are struggling with over supplies of lower-grade hay.

It’s a real hard market for that hay.”

The price dairy farmers get for their milk is down in some countries that import U.S. hay, causing dairies to seek less costly feed, he said, adding another factor making it hard to sell off hay inventories.

Haberman’s firm has as its main market Middle East countries where demand is growing. The company also sells alfalfa to China and forage to South Korea and Japan.

As far as this year’s timothy crop in the valley and the basin, Haberman said good harvest weather and fields with little or no brown leaf or straw grasses and weeds should do well in attracting customers with high quality hay.

“Pricing will be lower,” Haberman said about the new crop, “but having that consistent quality will make it much easier to market.”

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Early KRD irrigation helped timothy crop Aided fields hit by 2015 water cutoff

By MIKE JOHNSTON For the DAILY RECORD

T

he early turn-on of irrigation service by the Kittitas Reclamation District this spring definitely helped some timothy growers with fields that were cut short on water last fall.

Drought conditions last year cut irrigation supplies and caused most of the 2,600 customers of the 59,000-acre countywide district to halt water use in early August. The district, the largest irrigation entity in Kittitas County, usually runs when water supplies are

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adequate until Oct. 15.

Some timothy hay growers had to forego putting fall water on their second-cutting fields or on fields, water needed for fields with new seeding that would need a jump-start in growth to get through the winter.

Drought damage to timothy grass plants has been noticeable this spring and into summer’s first cutting in many fields that had water halted for a second cutting.

Kittitas Reclamation District Manager Urban Eberhart said the KRD Board decided this year to begin diversions of Yakima

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Officials of the Kittitas Reclamation District and the Kittitas County Conservation District meet in July 2015 along Manastash Creek west of Ellensburg.

The officials checked the flow of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoir water through the creek in an effort to keep the stream, and others, viable during last year's drought and not go dry. When a small amount of irrigation water was available to farmers in October the water was able to be transported efficiently because bureau water was already flowing in the KRD system in aid of the drought-threatened streams.

14 | Summer 2016 Ag Journal

River water early into the KRD system of 330 miles of canals and laterals, starting April 1 instead of April 20.

The KRD used water associated with early snowmelt and runoff that isn’t counted towards the KRD’s annual allotment by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

It’s water that runs through the KRD system early in the year and isn’t captured by the federal government’s system of Cascade Mountain reservoirs.

The change allowed growers to get water onto drought parched fields with hard soils sooner this spring, possibly lessening plant damage as the plants began growing.

Eberhart said the hope was that the early irrigation water might help growers get their timothy fields back into a healthier condition sooner, helping them to return to planned crop and field rotation plans.

When a stretch of unseason-

ably hot weather hit the county in April, having the water running and available to growers was an aid to protect fields from the early heat and give plants an early growth spurt, Eberhart said.

Another hot spell in May came when some of those fields had good growth and were hardier to take heat and brought another growth spurt.

“This (earlier access to irrigation water), we believe, helped the system ease into meeting the high demands for water, especially in this season when the KRD’s allotment of water is 86 percent (of a full allotment),” Eberhart said.

For those growers in the KRD system, the aim was to also give farmers a chance to, perhaps, grow a better quality first cutting of timothy hay after coming off a drought year.

Water running in canals and into ditches and onto fields also starts up the cycle of groundwater seeping through the

underground aquifer passing through other farmlands on its way back to the Yakima River.

Water already flowing Also assisting some growers in the KRD system was last year’s approval by the bureau to allow districts like the KRD to receive in early October about 47 percent of the water they would normally receive in that month’s allotment.

The KRD earlier had joined with the bureau and other agencies to put reservoir water into parts of the KRD system that could get water to abnormally dry creeks, most of which were in Upper Kittitas County.

Running the water in parts of the KRD system through Upper County didn’t count towards KRD usage, or against its limited allotment.

When the bureau later OK’d the small amount of October water to be available for irrigation, water already in the system for the Upper County stream

drought relief helped carry the small irrigation allotment with minimal loss from seepage. Some growers (depending on their location in the KRD system), who had been hit with water cutoff in early August, were able to access this fall water for wetting down some second-cutting fields or fields with new timothy seedings.

This water prepared the plants to better survive through the winter and have better start of growth in early spring.

A least one grower contacted KRD officials and thanked the irrigation district for its water management strategies that helped get his 2016 crop come up relatively healthy, especially in saving fields that had sensitive new seedings.

He said the new seeding field wouldn’t have made it through late fall and winter, and then through early hot weather without the October water and the early system turn-on.

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✓ 6NLOOHG 6HUYLFH 6XSSRUW The McGregor Company is a family-owned enterprise where ‘neighbors helping neighbors’ is valued as highly today as it was when we started this business in 1948. The Kittitas Valley Team is ready to show you the professional nature of their local Certified Crop Advisers, Service Technicians, Custom Operators, and support staff.

The McGregor Company

Kittitas Valley Team

PO Box 774 . 200 S Railroad Ave Ellensburg WA

Phone: 509.925.5977 1473864.AGSum16.cnr

15 | Summer 2016 Ag Journal

Mike Johnston photo

A field application vehicle from the McGregor Company of Ellensburg lays down fertilizer on a timothy grass field northwest of Thorp in mid-June after the first cutting of timothy hay was taken off the field. The fertilizer will give a boost to the field’s second growth of timothy hay.

McGregor puts down roots Continues Smith-Kem’s tradition of service in Kittitas County For THE DAILY RECORD The McGregor Company, a regional agricultural crop protection and field service business, in early 2015 purchased Smith-Kem of Ellensburg, and Kittitas County’s farm families began to see a name change at the firm’s Railroad Avenue facility in January this year.

The two longtime, family-owned fertilizing, seeding and pestcontrol companies share the same commitment to serve farm families in their respective communities, McGregor Company officials said in a news release. They added that the McGregor Company is continuing the two companies’ shared mission of attentive, personal service

and fair dealings with customers through its newly acquired office and service facility in Ellensburg.

“Both The McGregor Company and Smith-Kem were pioneers in the fertilizer business,” said Alex McGregor of Colfax, president of the McGregor Company, in the release.

“The McGregor Company got its start in the field in 1948 as did

16 | Summer 2016 Ag Journal

Smith-Kem. Both family enterprises had a history of providing top quality products, service and equipment to growers. We are honored to continue that tradition and will go all out to help farm families succeed today, tomorrow, and for generations to come.”

The McGregor Company has 370 employees working from facilities

in Eastern Washington and adjacent communities in Eastern Oregon and northern Idaho. It provides field-service technicians using a variety of up-to-date application equipment, agronomists and office staff to serve farm families, the release said, including consulting and advice to pass on the latest in farm research.

The company also has large distribution facilities, including two river terminals, to provide products when they are needed.

Employees hold the positions of account managers, service technicians, and the service manager.

Added to the McGregor Company facility in Ellensburg, called by the company the Kittitas Valley Team, is Kerry Clift, a longtime valley resident who came on in November 2015 as the business unit manager.

At the peak of the agricultural application season, the local firm has 11 full and part-time employees.

The McGregor Company’s Ellensburg office, serving Kittitas County and nearby areas, will be part of the company’s Columbia Basin Division that assists family farms growing more than 50 types of irrigated crops, including the Kittitas Valley’s timothy hay and other forage and rotation crops.

“Our family enterprise serves several irrigated regions — from orchards in Milton Freewater to potatoes and other crops in the Tri-Cities and Quincy regions as well as across the dryland wheat belt,” said Jex Biorn of Kennewick, McGregor’s regional manager of retail operations, in the release.

“Our strengths are in dedicated people, on board for careers, and

Mike Johnston photo

Josh Quilici, a service technician with the McGregor Company in Ellensburg, reloads fertilizer into an applicator machine northwest of Thorp in mid-June. Fertilizer was going on a timothy hay field in the Kittitas Valley that had its first cutting and was now growing what would be its second cutting of timothy grass. in close working relationships with the farm families we are proud to serve.”

Biorn added that the company assists each service office with extra personnel, when needed, and with a

strong research program. Research program leaders work closely with land grant schools and private firms in trying out innovative practices and tools for McGregor customers, the release said.

He said the company also has a commitment to speak out on behalf of farm families on issues important to them.

See McGregor, Page 18

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More information Awards

The McGregor Company has earned 20 state, regional, and national Environmental Respect Awards and has been recognized many times for the active role its employees play in the communities they serve. In the past three years the firm has been honored with the Community Service Award from the Association of Washington Business, the Excellence in Agriculture Award from Agri-Business Council of Greater Spokane Inc., Honorary Quincy Valley Farmer of the Year, hall of fame honors from both the Mid-Columbia Agricultural Hall of Fame and Inland Northwest Partners, which serves cities and towns across our region, and the highest civic award from the Washington Secretary of State,

“Corporations for Communities” award. Earlier the company was selected as Washington Family Business of the Year and subsequently the National Family Business of the Year.

member of the Ellensburg Rodeo Association Board of Directors.

MCGREGOR

Scholarships

Continued from Page 17

The McGregor Company this year reached the 100th mark in the number of scholarships given in the New employee past 14 years to those graduating Kerry Clift began work with The from high school and preparing McGregor Co. as its business unit to do further agricultural studies manager at the company’s Ellensat four-year schools, universities burg facility in November 2015. He and community colleges—two has lived in the Kittitas Valley since of them recently going to two 1997. He grew up in the White Swan outstanding Ellensburg area young area of Yakima County. He has a people—Alexis Andrews and Washington State University degree Sydney Johnson. in agricultural economics and animal science and worked for many One of three years in the ag industry of the valley The McGregor Co.’s Ellensburg in support of local farmers. facility is one of three long-time His wife, Brigid, is a regional companies providing similar services archivist with the state archives to county agricultural producers: agency and serves at the state others are Mid-State Co-op in archives office at CWU. The couple’s Ellensburg and Kern Company in daughter, Cora, is 13. Kerry is a Kittitas.

Smith-Kem history The late Jimmy and Jean Smith started Smith-Kem when the couple decided to expand their mostly residential pest spraying business to include serving commercial agricultural producers.

Joel Smith, son of Jimmy and Jean, grew up helping and working for the family business after school and on weekends. After military service and earning a Central Washington University degree in business administration, Joel began a full-time position with his family’s operation.

About that same time Andy Erickson also began working for the Smiths. He later met and married the Smiths’ daughter, Laurie, and also received a business administration degree from CWU. The Ericksons, after work in Seattle, came back to the Kittitas Valley and went to work with Smith-Kem. Later, Joel and his wife, Marie, and Andy and Laurie, became partners in owning and operating the growing business. Joel and Marie

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sold their half of the business to the Ericksons in 2000 when Joel wanted a slower pace and to focus more on his volunteer activities.

Laurie and Andy continued as co-owners.

“We’re excited to have the added resources of the McGregor Company behind our team in Ellensburg,” said Andy Erickson in a news release. “Our business is one that is built on trust, and we know the McGregor Company will continue that.”

The McGregor Co. history The McGregor family came to the Palouse country more than 100 years ago as sheep raisers, according to company online information.

In 1901, the McGregors added wheat to their farming enterprise.

Promising nutrient research work done on the McGregor Ranch

by Washington State College agronomist Harley Jacquot led to further experimentation. Sherman McGregor, a second generation

family member, and Jacquot began experimenting with commercial fertilizers in 1948.

Farmers from throughout the Inland Northwest traveled to take part in tours of test plots conducted each summer on the McGregor Ranch reflecting the McGregor’s interest in promoting agricultural research and development.

The McGregors also began to develop an equipment manufacturing business in the early 1950s, including applicators and sprayers.

What started as a sideline of the family’s general store at the ranch headquarters in Hooper, Wash., grew steadily under Sherman McGregor’s leadership. By 1956, the McGregor Company was set up as a separate company to handle the family’s fertilizer, agrichemical, and equipment activities. The McGregor Company grew to 17 retail outlets by its centennial year of 1982.

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What we Do Best

MCGREGOR Continued from Page 19

Celebrating 35 Years of Service in the Kittitas Valley JOE SHANNON

Today, more than 35 communities in three Pacific Northwest states are served by The McGregor Company.

Ag’s role is big “Agriculture is a big and important part of our state and regional economy and, with the businesses like ours that serve farmers, and with those who transport, process, and produce products made from our crops, agriculture is the largest employer in our state,” said Alex McGregor in the news release.

The McGregor brothers, in getting a bank loan in 1885 to buy sheep, later said the values that helped them get that loan included “industry, work, character, honesty and fair

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dealings.” Alex McGregor said these are the same values that make family farming special today in Kittitas County, the region, the state and around the nation.

“Agriculture and agricultural towns and cities are places where a handshake means something, where your word counts for something, and where hard work, honesty and fair dealings are what matters,” McGregor said in the news release. “Those five values drive us today, 131 years after our predecessors predicted that integrity and hard work were crucial to success in agriculture.

Those, mixed with a passion for making a difference for the finest people we know — the farm families of the Inland Northwest.”

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Mike Johnston photo

Brian Page, operator of an applicator vehicle for The McGregor Company of Ellensburg, checks fertilizer going into his machine in mid-June prior to applying it to a timothy hay field that's begun to grow its second cutting northwest of Thorp in the Kittitas Valley.

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Field day held in June at Schmidt family ranch For THE DAILY RECORD The Kittitas County Cattlemen’s Association had its annual field day on June 3 at the Schmidt family ranch east of Ellensburg.

The Schmidt family earned the Cattlemen Family of the Year award this year.

The Kittitas County CattleWomen worked in cooperation with Cascade Mountain Grilling to provide barbecue beef sandwiches, homemade pies, baked beans, chips, hot dogs, lemonade and coffee.

Spirit Therapeutic Riding Center asked ranchers to bring their electric brands to use on a wooden table which will be auctioned off in September to help children with special needs.

Alexis Andrews won the “guess the weight” contest. Attendees were asked to guess the weight of a block used in the family blacksmith business. Andrews will be the Washington Cattlewoman's Beef Ambassador this year.

Rollie and Marla Bernth, accepted the Supporting Business of the Year on behalf of Ward Rugh Hay Co. The award recognizes those businesses that support the agriculture and cattle businesses.

The Schmidt Family poses for a photo at their ranch east of Ellensburg.

Marty Stingley Photography

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Marty Stingley Photography

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Marty Stingley Photography

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ABOVE: Alexis Orcutt, 2016 Ellensburg Rodeo Princess, manned the table greeting guests to the field day. RIGHT: Charlotte Frey, local cattlewoman, signs in to have her brand applied to the table top.

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