The Other Oregon - Summer 2019 by designstudio.eomg

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 | Summer 2019

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON

KEEPING

PORTLAND

FED IS A BIG JOB COVER STORY » PAGE 16

INSIDE THIS ISSUE »

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High speed internet: a game changer » 4 Local flavor drives coastal tourism » 8 Coos Bay responds to mill closure » 22 Hemp takes off » 26

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EDITOR’S NOTE

t’s finally summer, a time when tourists flock in earnest to the coast, the mountains and the high desert to enjoy all that rural Oregon has to offer. Who can blame them? Summer was made for a walk on the beach, fishing in the Metolious River, a hike on the South Sister Trail, windsurfing on the Columbia, and any of the hundreds of other adventures that await around every bend. But there’s more to rural Oregon than spectacular scenery and outdoor recreation. If you drop by Maupin for some rafting or fishing, you’ll also find some of the fastest internet in the Pacific Northwest. Dick Hughes reports that after years of work this small Wasco County community can offer visitors uninterrupted streaming video. Great for tourists, but a real gamechanger for local businesses and year-round residents. Wander down the coast to Coos Bay and you’ll find a town still reeling from the closure of a lumber mill that put 111 relatively high-paid employees out of their jobs. In this edition George Plaven writes about how the community is working to land on its feet. High in the Wallowas in Enterprise they’re celebrating the centennial of the OK Theatre, a community treasure that has been reborn. The farmers of the Willamette Valley are embracing hemp, a new cash crop that is becoming one of the state’s hottest commodities. And throughout rural Oregon you’ll find families struggling to find and pay for end-of-life care for their loved ones. Take a closer look beyond the scenery and you’ll see real people living in real places and dealing with the real issues and opportunities life throws their way. We hope this and every issue of The Other Oregon provides an insight into their world. — Joe Beach, editor The Other Oregon is distributed in print to 5,000 influential Oregonians — including elected officials, leaders of state agencies, business owners, directors of nonprofits and foundations, economic development groups and to anyone who has an interest in understanding rural challenges and connecting urban and rural Oregon. As we strive to close the urban-rural divide and to create strong connections all over the state, please help us by spreading the word. If you are a business owner or head of an organization, please consider supporting our efforts by advertising to our unique audience. To subscribe: theotheroregon.com/subscribe For advertising information: theotheroregon.com/advertise Publisher Kathryn B. Brown, kbbrown@eomediagroup.com, 541-278-2667 Editor Joe Beach, jbeach@eomediagroup.com, 503-506-0905 On the cover: Oregon farmer Larry Thompson hustles newly-picked strawberries to his fruit and vegetable stand in Damascus. ERIC MORTENSON

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

SUMMER 2019 Publisher Kathryn B. Brown Editor Joe Beach Contributors Dick Hughes Aliya Hall Edward Stratton Mateusz Perkowski Eric Mortenson George Plaven Holly Dillemuth Katy Nesbitt Designer Adam Drey Copy editor Martha Allen Graphic artist Alan Kenaga Advertising designer John Bruijn

CONTENTS COVER STORY » 16

FEATURES

High-speed internet: a game changer » 4 Rural hospice faces challenges » 6 Local flavor drives tourism » 8

MAKING A LIVING

Working off the farm » 10 Coos Bay moves forward » 22

THE LAND

Hemp takes off » 26 Dan Keppen keeps water flowing » 30

THE CULTURE

Historic OK Theatre turns 100 » 32 Commentary: Rural roots, urban flowers » 34 Wallowa County facts and figures » 36 Midwest-Oregon connection » 37

THANKS TO OUR STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS, WHO MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO DISTRIBUTE THE OTHER OREGON TO 5,000 INFLUENTIAL OREGONIANS AT NO CHARGE

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 3

FEATURES The city of Maupin in Wasco County. COURTESY CITY OF MAUPIN

HIGH-SPEED

INTERNET A GAME CHANGER OUT IN MAUPIN

By DICK HUGHES

his is more than a story of “the little city that could.” It is a story of persistence, serendipity and a public-private partnership that works. Maupin, a small town on the lower Deschutes River in Central Oregon, now has the fastest internet speeds commercially available in the Pacific Northwest. Two companies provide businesses and households with blazing-fast 1 gigabyte-per-second service, although most folks have opted for the 100 mbs service that is more than sufficient for general uploading and downloading.

4 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

No longer must Maupin mostly rely on slow DSL — with a waiting list to sign up for the service — or the slightly faster wi-fi bounced dish-to-dish from The Dalles, 45 minutes away. High-speed internet has been a game-changer. Rob Miles of the Imperial River Co. in Maupin calls it “another step in the right direction for keeping a small town viable.” “With the proliferation of everyone having a wireless device, the need has increased exponentially over the years,” said Miles, who runs a lodge, restaurant and whitewater rafting business. “If you don’t have a robust wireless system, guests are not happy. It’s a common complaint.” No more.

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

COURTESY CITY OF MAUPIN

Maupin Mayor Lynn Ewing

Hood Ore. River

Mt. Hood 11,239 ft.

Area in detail

Wash.

C olu m b ia R.

ORE.

The Dalles 197

MT. HOOD NATIONAL FOREST

Government Camp

216

WARM SPRINGS RESERVATION

197

schute s River De

Thanks to Maupin’s fiber optic network, businesses no longer kick folks off the internet in order to have enough bandwidth to process credit card transactions. Urban tech workers, who can live anywhere and telecommute via broadband, are starting to buy homes in Maupin. The school district now offers online college classes. Anglers who arrive for salmon and steelhead season can camp at Maupin City Park for a month instead of going home every few days to access faster internet. Outdoors companies may sell more videos and photos of their clients’ adventures, because uploading takes mere seconds instead of hours. Ideally, said Mayor Lynn Ewing, a few small companies — ones that employ five or 10 people at reasonable wages — will locate in Maupin after seeing the community as an attractive place for their employees. Ewing does not expect the town’s character to change as it draws new residents. “They want to be in Maupin because of the small-town feel. They like knowing their neighbors. They like to be able to get outside and go fishing and hiking and rafting and all the things that people do out here,” Ewing said. After the timber mill closed in 1992, the local economy relied on tourism and vacation homes. Maupin’s population dropped from nearly 600 to fewer than 400 but has since grown back to about 430 residents. Broadband access was a longtime economic, social and educational need. Google financed a feasibility study in 2014. The state and others followed with more funding. Because the Bonneville Power Administration uses fiber optic to connect its substations, the original idea was to tie into the BPA substation a couple of miles outside of town. That meant the city would have only enough funding left to bring broadband to the school and city buildings. A chance meeting at a conference led to collaboration with LS Networks, which

Maupin, Ore.

Warm Springs

Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group

already was bringing fiber from the BPA substation to Maupin cell towers. The city was able to tie into that fiber and use its funding to create a citywide broadband system.

The city owns the network, having partnered with QLife — a public consortium in The Dalles — to handle the network design and development. LS Networks built the network. Both that company and Gorge.Net offer broadband to subscribing households and businesses. Also helping with the three-year, $2.16 million broadband project were the Gorge Health Council, Wasco Electric Co-Op, legislators, the governor’s staff and others. Residential prices for broadband are about $40 for 100 mbs and $70 for 1 gbps. The prices for businesses are about $60 and $90. Internet phone service also is available for $10 or $15 per line. Residents appreciate leaving slowspeed internet behind. “If you wanted to watch Netflix, you could watch it and maybe halfway through the show it would be about to start buffering, and it might catch up and it might not,” Mayor Ewing said. “Of course, these things are not an issue anymore with the high-speed.”

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 5

FEATURES

Hospice care faces challenges in rural Oregon By ALIYA HALL

hen Tom Hottman’s father was dying of cancer, he said that his mother vehemently opposed the idea of bringing in hospice care — a service she called “death watch.” Hospice care is supportive care, focused on providing comfort and quality of life — rather than treatment or a cure — for people in the last days, weeks or months of a terminal illnesses. It can be provided in a home, a hospice facility, a nursing home or hospital. Tom Hottman Once misconceptions about end-of-life care are put aside, patients in rural Oregon find that it’s difficult to find providers, whether in home or in a facility, and that services are more expensive than they would be in more heavily populated areas. “(Patients) can’t access hospice or they don’t know what it is and what it can do for them,” said Hottman, public information officer at Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls. “They don’t get to have the service that can bring them comfort. It wouldn’t change the outcome, but it might have made the days more comfortable for everyone.” Barb Hansen, chief executive officer of Oregon Hospice and Palliative Care Association, said the availability and use of hospice services varies throughout the state. “Oregon overall has high utilization statistics, usually we’re in the top 10,” she said. “But then within our own state we have counties that are high utilization and other counties that are lower.”

6 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

Rachel Throne, executive director of Klamath Hospice, added that a big part of the problem is economic. She said people in rural areas are generally lower income and can’t pay for additional support services. To make matters worse, hospice care in rural areas is more expensive than in the city. Geography drives costs. People providing in-home services in rural areas have to drive farther, so they can see fewer patients in a day than they could in urban areas. “A nurse may be able to provide four to five visits per day in town, but only two to three in rural areas,” she said. “Klamath Hospice covers 3,600 square miles requiring travel time as much as one hour one way.” At the same time, Medicare reimbursements for services in rural are less than for urban providers even though operational costs are higher.

Those economics also are forcing hospitals to end or limit their hospice services. In 2018, Pendleton’s St. Anthony Hospital closed its hospice center and transitioned it to home hospice care. To counteract these challenges, four nonprofit providers merged to form the Oregon Non-Profit Alliance to provide better service and compete against for-profit hospice providers that have a larger economy of scale that a smaller nonprofit won’t have. Kelly Beard, the chief executive officer of the Alliance, has worked in hospice care for 16 years. Her goal is to make sure that non-profit hospices survive and that clients have a choice. “That’s our main thing,” Beard said. “We want to not just survive, but thrive, and providing the highest quality care and the best care possible to all the communities that we serve.”

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FEATURES

The Festival of the Dark Arts draws hundreds of people to Astoria every year. COLIN MURPHEY

LOCAL FLAVOR DRIVES

COASTAL TOURISM By EDWARD STRATTON

Davidson said. “So, where one time you have vacation driving demand for the product, now you’ve got the product, once they’re back home, becoming the promotion, that chance to try Oregon seafood or Oregon craft beer.”

ourists who visit the coast and other summer destinations often want to leave with a taste of Oregon. Travel Oregon surveyed people who visited Oregon in the past year to see if they were purchasing more of the state’s products, said Todd Davidson, CEO of the travel promotion group. More than half had gone out of their way to buy products made in the state, from chocolate and cheese to wine, beer and seafood. More than 40 percent had shared the products with friends and relatives back home. “A similar number believed these products would now be encouraging their friends and relatives to now consider Oregon for a future vacation destination,”

8 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

Sharing local flavor

THE ASTORIAN

Julio Layola loads wine maple-marinated Atlantic salmon fillets for cold-smoking into lox at Josephson’s Smokehouse in Astoria.

Michael Josephson is the third-generation owner of Josephson’s Smokehouse in Astoria, started in 1920. The smokehouse offers distinctive smoked and canned seafood, from oysters to salmon jerky to lox. “Every day, we get people who’ve tried our product then ended up coming here,” he said. Aside from his historic storefront, Josephson sells his products in local hotels and gets one-third of his sales online. Josephson sees his product as an accoutrement to the region.

JOSHUA BESSEX

The Astoria Rotary Club prepares plates of food during the Crab, Seafood & Wine Festival.

“I think the craft beer is just huge right now,” he said. “It’s by far the biggest draw. You have so many microbrews and good products. They have good food as well, good dining places as well.” The Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce’s single biggest fundraiser is the Crab, Seafood & Wine Festival. The event draws thousands to sample regional wines and enjoy crab dinners prepared by the Astoria Rotary Club and crab melts from the Astoria Clowns. “The Crab, Seafood & Wine festival is still very much a Portland and people coming up the coast event,” said David Reid, the chamber’s executive director. There’s “a little bit more rise in people coming from Seattle.” Fort George Brewery, Astoria’s largest, only distributes beer in the Pacific Northwest. But the brewery, like others in Astoria, draws visitors from around the world. When it held the seventh-annual Festival of the Dark Arts in the dead of winter in February, attendees flocked from as far away as East Asia. About one-third came from the Portland area. “People like to visit the home base,” Jack Harris, the co-owner of Fort

George, said of the pilgrimage. Oregon doesn’t have the monopoly on the beer scene it once had, Harris said, but is still far ahead of California. “Astoria’s kind of a microcosm of that,” he said. “Having a couple breweries in Astoria gives it some momentum. Astoria’s got so much to offer.”

Destination development Few things feel and taste more local than catching a fish from the Columbia River, pulling up a pot of crabs or digging a clam on the region’s beaches. Harvesting local seafood by hook, pot and clam gun draws thousands of tourists each year, from razor clam digs to the famous Buoy 10 summer salmon fishery. They are some of the outdoor recreation opportunities that Arica Sears, destination development coordinator for the Oregon Coast Visitors Association, said she focuses on. “People can be a part of that, and it’s part of our cultural heritage,” she said. “They can go crabbing. They can go fishing and be a part of our traditional industries and also enjoy eating it and understanding how that works.”

Matthew Hunter, who works in the marine resources program for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said Clatsop County’s beaches draw on average 90,000 diggers a year who extract 900,000 clams. “Razor clamming is a very popular family activity since it doesn’t take a lot of gear expense to get into it,” he said. Promoting the local flavor is big business in Clatsop County. An economic impact study for Travel Oregon estimated spending on restaurants and food stores has increased by nearly 60% over the past decade to more than $227 million last year. Spending on restaurants and food stores outstripped the amount spent on lodging and comprised nearly 40% of the $574 million in visitor spending, a 40% jump over the past decade. The tourism industry has grown continuously over the past decade, surpassing $12 billion in economic impact and 115,000 jobs statewide, Davidson said. The growth has been about 4% or 5% percent in all regions of Oregon except the east. “It is the rising tide that is raising all ships,” he said.

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 9

MAKING A LIVING

WORKING OFF THE FARM Matt Brechwald of Kuna, Idaho, left his job as a police officer after his gopher control business took off. He also supplements his farm income by hosting a podcast. BRAD CARLSON

Most U.S. farm operators hold other jobs By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI

orking off the farm can have many upsides but the underlying motivation is usually simple: Making ends meet. A reality of life in the countryside is that most agricultural operations often don’t generate enough steady revenue for a farmer to survive without holding another job. “There are a lot of challenges that come with farming, and stability of income definitely is one of them,” said Angi Bailey, an Oregon nursery owner who also works for an agribusiness group. “There comes a point where you just can’t pay the bills.” Of the 2 million primary producers in the U.S. — those in charge of major decisions and day-to-day management of the farm — more than 60% work at least part of the year for another employer, according to the USDA’s recently published 2017 Census of Agriculture. About 63% of those growers devote more than 200 days a year to off-farm work, nearly full-time employment.

10 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

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MAKING A LIVING Larry and Angi Bailey, owners of Verna Jean Nursery near Gresham. He works off-farm as a patent agent for a law firm, and she is grass roots coordinator for an agribusiness group. MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI

“It’s tough making a living just raising cows and making mortgage payments and putting kids through school,” said Matt McElligott, an Eastern Oregon rancher who also sells livestock feed across the Northwest. Since feed dealerships are generally separated by long stretches of rural highway, McElligott is often traveling. Though his wife and family help juggle the responsibilities, McElligott’s two jobs do clash on occasion, such as the time 100 calves got loose when he was four hours away from his home near North Powder. Even when things are going smoothly, there’s seldom any downtime. “It’s early mornings and late nights and taking vacation days working on the ranch,” McElligott said. “There’s sacrifices there, but that’s what I like to do, so for me it’s not a sacrifice.”

Young and old Not surprisingly, off-farm work is most common among young farmers

12 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

who’ve yet to find their financial footing: About 80% of principal producers under 35 hold other jobs. At age 30, Dylan Wells qualifies as a young producer, but he’s no novice at farming. He’s been operating a miniature ornamental pumpkin business, Autumn Harvest, with his family for the past 15 years. Changed circumstances in recent years — including marriage, his father’s chronic illness and new business regulations — have prompted Wells to branch out into doing home renovations and real estate. Wells plans to stick with farming because he relishes the hustle and bustle of running the agricultural business, which is now based near Woodburn. However, he enjoys the variety of “flipping” homes, which also lets him work as his own boss. “It’s something new every day, it’s not the same,” Wells said. “I love problem solving.” Off-farm work isn’t solely the province of growers who are young, begin-

ning or small-scale. Nearly one-third of producers with farms earning more than $1 million in annual revenues also work elsewhere, as do more than one-third of those whose farms encompass 2,000 acres or more. Apart from money, off-farm jobs can provide other forms of security, such as health insurance and retirement plans.

Outside experience Some professionals who’ve devoted years to an outside career may also be reluctant to switch their focus entirely to agriculture, said Jon Paul Driver, an industry analyst with Northwest Farm Credit Services. “They may not want to give up some of the work they’ve been doing. It brings a diversity back to agriculture as well,” he said. “There’s room for innovation for someone who’s worked in other sectors of the economy and can bring something back to the farm.” While off-farm work is a familiar component of rural life, USDA’s statis-

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

tics don’t indicate it has become more widespread. Between 2007 and 2017, the proportion of primary producers who work off-farm has actually decreased from nearly 65% to 58%. The decline could be a facet of the rising age of U.S. primary farm producers, which went from 57.1 years to 59.4 years during that decade. “Baby boomers are still a significant portion of producers, and that’s what’s driving your off-farm income discussion,” said Driver. Some growers may have retired from their offfarm jobs while still working in agriculture, possibly driven by the particular economic fluctuations seen during that decade, he said. The overall U.S. economy suffered a severe recession after 2007, followed by years of a lackluster employment picture, while commodity crop prices were often solid, Driver said. “Off-farm opportunities were not as strong, which may have contributed to fewer off-farm jobs,” he said. Despite this shift, off-farm income has remained vital to most U.S. farm operations, many of which earn negligible revenues or lose money. Though the average net cash income per farm is $43,000, more than half of U.S. farms are unprofitable, with an average loss of $22,000.

Lifestyle matters Lifestyle may account for part of the reason that growers are willing to work off-farm to subsidize their agricultural operations, though they’re probably motivated by more tangible reasons as well, said Carrie Litkowski, senior economist with USDA’s Economic Research Service. The average value of agricultural land and buildings was $1.3 million per farm in 2017, up from $790,000 in 2007. From the grower’s perspective, hanging onto increasingly valuable farmland may be worthwhile even if the operation is barely self-sustaining, said Litkowski. “I may be breaking even, but I have this land as an asset,” she said. “They might even see that as a net gain.” For Matt Brechwald, working as a police officer was necessary to support his livestock and hay operation near Kuna, Idaho, but the off-farm job ultimately felt too distracting. “The things you need to be there for, a fulltime job will keep you from being there for,” he

Producers reporting off-farm work days, 2017 (All U.S. producers ) *

200-plus days: 1.39 million or 40.3%

No off-farm work days: 1.3 million or 38.5%

Total producers: 3.4 million

*A producer is defined as a person who is involved in making decisions for the farm/ranch operation.

1-49 days: 285,477 or 8.4%

100-199 days: 282,056 or 8.3%

50-99 days: 151,972 or 4.5%

Off-farm work days by producer gross income Of the 977,767 producers reporting less than $1,000 of farm income, 66% reported off-farm work days. Producers reporting at least one day or more of off-farm work for the remaining income ranges: Total producers per income range Range of income

Percent reporting any off-farm work days Producers

71%

$1000-2,499

69%

$2500-4,999 $5,000-9,999

304,759

67%

342,898

65%

$10,000-24,999 $25,000-49,999

62%

$50,000-99,999

198,979

51% 42%

$500,000-999,999 37% $1 million or more 33%

376,790 239,428

59%

$100,000-249,999 $250,000-499,999

310,717

219,566 151,554 125,344 152,032

Sources: 2017 Ag Census; USDA NASS Alan Kenaga/ EO Media Group

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 13

MAKING A LIVING Custom work* and farm income

said. “The con for me is I was living two different lives.” To supplement his income, Brechwald started a side business in gopher control that eventually became successful enough for him to quit law enforcement. As an entrepreneur, he could be flexible enough with his schedule to pivot to farm duties when necessary. “I didn’t have to ask for time off or a vacation day and possibly be denied,” Brechwald said.

While the number of U.S. farms reporting custom work declined 1.4% between 2007 and 2017, the value of that work increased by more than 40%. ($ millions of dollars)

$2,645

$2,301.7

Up 41% from 2007

2012

2017

$1,875.7

Nuanced question Whether such agricultural businesses are considered off-farm work by USDA is a nuanced question — the census counts revenue as farm-related income unless it’s a completely separate business. Exactly where the line is drawn depends on the perspective of the survey respondent. “It’s counting on the farm operator to make that distinction,” said Litkowski. The number of farms engaging in custom work and agricultural services has dropped slightly, from about 121,900 in 2007 to 120,000 in 2017, even as their total revenues have increased in that time from $1.875 billion to $2.65 billion. Farmers can expand into entrepreneurial ventures with assets they already own, as long as they find the right niche, Brechwald said. “Are there people I can help with this equipment?” he said. “If you need it, that means somebody else needs it, too.” Brechwald’s experience with offfarm income inspired him to begin an online podcast about the subject, which has earned money through advertising and has led to opportunities to produce broadcasts for agricultural companies and organizations. Spending time in the studio continues to supplement his farm income, though it’s more than just a cash-gener-

14 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

2007 MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI

Dylan Wells grows miniature ornamental pumpkins at his farm near Woodburn, and works in home renovation and real estate.

ating enterprise. “I enjoy doing it enough that I think I would continue doing it,” Brechwald said. For Angi Bailey and her husband, Larry, running their nursery near Gresham wasn’t so much the fulfillment of a lifelong dream as an unexpected development when her mother suddenly died in 2005. “I hadn’t had my sights set on going back to the nursery,” she said. “I didn’t know where we were headed but I didn’t think it was going to be here.” Even so, farming suited the couple and Larry left his job at a major technology company to operate the nursery full-time. Unfortunately, the nursery industry hit tough times soon after they inherited the operation, eventually forcing Larry to return to off-farm work as a patent agent for a law firm. “He would much rather be building a greenhouse or driving a tractor,” she said. “If he could be out in the dirt every day, he would.”

* Includes gross receipts received for providing services for others such as planting, plowing, spraying and harvesting. Sources: 2017 Ag Census; USDA NASS Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group

Angi has taken a second job as a grass roots coordinator for Oregonians for Food and Shelter, an agribusiness group that educates the public about the safe use of pesticides, fertilizers and biotechnology. “Even off-farm, I’m still working with farmers and foresters,” she said. The couple’s off-farm jobs are in line with those of other farmers: Nearly 36% of farm operators and their spouses held “management and professional” occupations, which is a higher percentage than any other category of work, including sales, service, natural resources or transportation, according to a USDA study. Between the two of them, Angi and Larry Bailey share day-to-day management responsibilities at the nursery, which has been easier than expected because they both work from home some days. “We were able to coordinate well enough that things got done and got done well,” she said.

COVER STORY

KEEPING PORTLAND

FED IS A BIG JOB By ERIC MORTENSON

et’s pick a sweet, bright-red strawberry — make it a venerable Hood variety, Oregon’s most beloved — and pop it into Portland’s mouth. The berry comes from Liepold Farms, a family operation outside the wonderfully named town of Boring, east and a bit south of Portland. Chances are Portland gobbles up the berry without much thought to how it got there. “Some do,” strawberry grower Jeff Liepold said. “But I don’t think they actually understand what it takes to put a hallock of strawberries on the table.”

16 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

Farmer Jeff Liepold checks a row of Hood strawberries at his family’s farm outside of Boring, southeast of the Portland metro area. Liepold Farms contracts with the Burgerville restaurant chain to supply the strawberries, raspberries and Marionberries it uses in its milkshakes and desserts. Having a dedicated buyer provides the farm a stable financial base as road stand sales slip and farmers market competition increases. PHOTOS BY ERIC MORTENSEN

Volunteer Patsy Kohout bags greens for sale at the weekly Moreland Farmers Market in Southeast Portland. Many vegetable, fruit and berry farmers in rural Oregon sell part of their harvest at one or more of the two dozen farmers markets in the Portland area.

Or what a hallock is, for that matter. (FYI: It’s a rectangular wood berry box.) But it’s understandable, to a point. In America, in Oregon, food is everywhere. Stacks of boxed and canned food, mounds of fruit and vegetables and slabs of meat and fish from all over the world fill all the stores all the time. Load up your shopping cart; there’s always more coming. Joe Gilliam, president of the Northwest Grocery Association, said every box, can, carton, jug, bag and package of food in a store turns over, completely, in two weeks. Jana Jarvis, president of the Oregon Trucking Associations, said if deliveries stopped today the grocery stores would be out of food in about five days. Robert King, an instructor of applied economics at Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, said the typical grocery store takes in at least a semi-truck load of food each day, plus

multiple delivery vans from specialty vendors. He describes it as a remarkably efficient, competitive system. Stores aren’t the only place to find food. Portland’s local restaurants, tasting rooms and brew pubs don’t lack for customers. The fast-food burger and pizza chains are busy, too. The Portland school district serves students 30,000 meals a day, and Oregon Health & Science University serves 1,200 meals to patients daily. Country Natural Beef, a relatively small producer based in Burns, sends about 80,000 pounds of beef to Portland per week. The city does love to eat. Portland supports more than 50 community gardens, in which residents can rent space and grow food. There are 22 neighborhood farmers markets in Multnomah County alone. It’s not uncommon to hear chickens clucking from backyard coops in upscale neighborhoods, and many Portland residents grow

some vegetables, tree fruit or berries at home. Food is a massive economic engine, too. A study by Ecotrust, a nonprofit involved in public policy research and advocacy, estimated the Portland food market churns $4 billion a year. That’s the amount of money estimated to change hands between producers, processors, distributors and eaters. The market in Seattle is estimated at $6 billion annually. King said it’s not unusual for grocery stores to register $500,000 to $1 million in sales per week, although with slim profit margins. And the dollar figures barely describe the constant flow into what analysts, activists and researchers call the urban “foodshed.” The Other Oregon asked several people and organizations what it takes to feed

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 17

COVER STORY Portland. They all agreed it’s an interesting question. But Steve Cohen, a retired food policy director for the city, said it is “unknowable.” But there are other things to learn. Let’s pick that juicy Hood strawberry and pop it into Portland’s mouth.

Rows upon the land It’s late May, and Jeff Liepold steers a bouncing farm utility vehicle past rows of ripening strawberries and adjacent rows of blooming raspberries and Marionberries. Other types of blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries and black caps are here and there, along with rotational fields of wheat and clover. Liepold is 44, bearded, built like a wrestler and laconically plain-spoken. His grandparents farmed here and so did his parents, Rod and Marcia. His older sister, Michelle, a licensed clinical social worker with a psychology degree, returned to the family business with a slew of ideas. Jeff and his wife, Jen, have two sons and two daughters. They work the berries, like he did when he was their age. In season, depending on what needs to be done, Liepold’s day begins between 4:30 and 6 a.m. The Clackamas County farm is a patchwork of about 400 acres of owned and leased land outside Boring. Berries take up about 250 acres this summer. Berry rows hug the gentle roll of the land, stretching hundreds of yards over rich, dark soil. It is marvelous farmland, and for generations it and similarly situated land has fed Portland. Most of Portland’s major east-west thoroughfares began as “farm to market” roads, with Washington County, Clackamas County and east Multnomah County feeding the city. A 1926 USDA soil survey of Clackamas County summarized the situation in terms that still hold true: “Portland consumes most of the berries, vegetables, and dairy and poultry produced in the county and the rest usually finds a ready sale in the local markets,” the report said. “Portland also supplies a ready market for

18 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

Farmer Jeff Liepold drives past rows of blooming Marionberries at his family’s farm outside of Boring. Liepold Farms grows strawberries, raspberries, Marion and other blackberries, blueberries, black caps and boysenberries, along with rotations of wheat and clover.

A range of early-season produce, soon to be joined by a seasonal rotation of local berries, cherries, apples, plums, peaches and more, attracts buyers to metro area stands such as Thompson Farms in Damascus, southeast of Portland.

grain, hay and livestock.” But the population then was one-tenth of what it is now. The Portland metro area now counts 2.4 million people, more than half the state’s population. The metro area’s urban growth boundary, the line that restricts development under the state’s land-use planning rules, borders Liepold Farms property. Oregon adopted statewide planning chiefly to protect productive farmland from urban sprawl. With all its with faults and frustrations, especially with prop-

erty development rights in the balance, the system has slowed land conversion. But the urban growth boundary, or UGB, is adjustable. Fast-growing Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, which contain the Portland metro area, lost more than 40,000 acres of farmland between the 2012 and 2017, according to the USDA Census of Agriculture. “It’s coming,” Jeff Liepold said of urbanization. Liepold has worked the farm full-time about 20 years. He’s taking over operational control from his parents; it’s one of those emotional, complicated successions happening all over the state as farmers retire and their grown children assume control. The Liepolds attend a farm succession class at Clackamas Community College for three hours, one day a month, to learn how to do it. “We are planning for the transition this year and we’ll see how it goes,” Jeff Liepold said. “It’s not that easy.” Many farmers who want to hang on, as Liepold and his family have chosen to do, find a way to partner with Portland. In their case, the partner is Burgerville, a Vancouver, Wash.-based restaurant chain that has 42 restaurants in Oregon and southwest Washington. The company makes a priority of using Pacific Northwest ingredients, and heavily advertises

Forklift driver Mike Cha lowers a pallet of Bob’s Red Mill flour boxes in preparation for loading a truck at the company’s World Distribution Center in Clackamas, a suburb southeast of Portland. Each bay, three pallets high and up to nine deep, represents a truck load. The palleted inventory shown here turns over in one to three days.

its local and seasonal offerings and the specific farms that supply them. In 2018, Burgerville bought about 135,000 pounds of berries from Liepold Farms. The farm is Burgerville’s sole provider of raspberries and Marionberries used in the company’s milkshakes, sundaes and shortcakes. The same holds for strawberries, except for some early-season strawberries the company buys from California until the Oregon berries come on.

Overflowing bowls and empty plates Oregon doesn’t produce all it consumes and doesn’t consume anywhere near what it produces. The state is an export point for $968 million worth of

food annually, most of it produced in Oregon, according to the state Department of Agriculture. And that doesn’t include Oregon wheat, 90 percent of which is exported to Asia. For scale, the state’s growers annually produce enough for each of the 2.4 million people in the Portland metro area to take home about 1,000 pounds of wheat, about 56 pounds of blueberries and about 40 pounds of hazelnuts. Economic reality makes Oregon agriculture seem skewed sometimes — we produce a lot of grass and vegetable seed for people to grow elsewhere, for example. In 2011, earnest Willamette University researchers wondered what would happen if the Willamette Valley’s grass seed growers grew wheat instead. They

determined the growers would produce 16 billion servings of wheat for the valley’s population, or 244 percent of what the USDA recommends. Blake Rowe, CEO of the Oregon Wheat Commission and Oregon Wheat Growers League, pointed out that most Oregon farmers don’t grow bread wheat. Instead, they grow soft white winter wheat more suitable for such things as Asian noodles, crackers and pastries. “They’d have to eat a lot of cake,” he said of Portlanders. Seed it is, then. Pride aside, the state’s growers, processors and eaters are a miniscule side channel of the international foodshed flow. Sysco Corporation, the world’s largest food distribution company, reported

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 19

COVER STORY $58.7 billion in food sales to restaurants, schools, hospitals and hotels worldwide last year. One of its 332 international distribution facilities is in Wilsonville, 20 miles south of Portland. Lamb Weston, the Idaho-based potato company, says on its website that it sells 80 million servings of french fries every day, worldwide. River Point Farms, with headquarters in Hermiston, harvests 450 million pounds of onions annually, and among other things provides 70 percent of the red onions used in Subway sandwich shops nationwide. Yet the Boring berries bound for Burgerville, and other similar arrangements, are an important part of the food system. “I think farmers benefit quite a lot if they sell wholesale in the small chains,” said King, the applied economics instructor. Stores and restaurants are able to place a farmer’s face with what they’re selling, which is important to consumers who want to know where their food comes from, he said. “Those relationships are unique,” King said. “It works out well for farmers.”

Freshly-harvested onions, grown in Corvallis, end up for sale at the Moreland Farmers Market in southeast Portland, 85 miles away.

Into the food system swirl About 10 years ago, Jeff Liepold’s mother and sister attended a chef and vendor meeting and struck up a conversation with a chef from Burgerville who was looking to diversify the company’s roster of berry suppliers. After three years, the farm became a contracted provider. Burgerville has similar arrangements with other producers. In addition to the 135,000 pounds of berries Burgerville bought from Liepold Farms in 2018, the company bought 465,000 pounds of Walla Walla sweet onions, 64,000 pounds of asparagus and 9,300 pounds of pumpkin puree. All came from single providers; each in turn was featured on Burgerville signboards and other advertising. “We’re proud of that,” said Hillary Barbour, Burgerville’s director of strategic initiatives. It’s fair to say the company is more transparent about its business than most. Barbour said that’s what Burger-

20 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

Grocery shelves would soon be bare without constant deliveries.

ville’s food-savvy Northwest customers expect. As that Hood strawberry heads off to become a Burgerville milkshake, farmer Jeff Liepold and his family spin through many of the thick issues of modern agriculture, rural economics and urban sensibilities. Many of the berries they raise can be machine-picked, but not strawberries. Extra care of hand-picking means extra value, and Liepold needs a crew of about 60 to get the job done. They arrive each year from California, he said, and live in a labor camp on the farm during harvest. A crew of 60 is fewer than Liepold would like to have, but he has to keep a grip on labor cost. He speaks a little bit of Spanish.

Having a dedicated buyer in Burgerville provides revenue stability, which means peace of mind, he said. Burgerville pays within 15 days of delivery, Liepold said, whereas other buyers can be inconsistent. The arrangement is bringing change to the farm, however. Burgerville wants him to transition to organic production because that’s so popular with consumers, so he’s starting that this year. Meanwhile, price competition from other growers, some of whom he describes as practically hobbyists who don’t need to make a living with berries, has pushed him out of some farmers markets in Portland. He sticks with the bigger ones. Sales at the family’s roadside stand have dropped over the years, in part because berries are available at so many neighborhood markets that buyers don’t have to travel to Boring. The stand formerly made up 15% to 20% of sales, now it’s down to about 5%. Then there are the farmer’s usual worries: plant disease, bugs and the uncertain performance of berry varieties. Hoods, the old strawberry favorite, have to be replanted every two or three years to maintain production. Still, the life fits Jeff Liepold. He doesn’t like to sit around much, he said, and farming keeps you hopping. And he’s out in the fresh air. Burgerville is a good partner. “It’s good, you know,” he said.

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Also available from local booksellers or call 800-621-2736 books.eomediagroup.com/grit-ink The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 21

MAKING A LIVING

community keeps moving forward after mill closure

Jeff Geier, 41, was a 17-year employee of Georgia-Pacific Wood Products, working at the company’s lumber mill in Coos Bay. “I thought I would retire from them,” Geier said of his time prior to the mill closing. GEORGE PLAVEN

111

COOS BAY LOSES HIGH-PAYING JOBS

By GEORGE PLAVEN

OOS BAY — Jeff Geier heard the rumors spreading for weeks all over town that Georgia-Pacific Wood Products planned to close its lumber mill in Coos Bay, where he spent the past 17 years working his way up the professional ladder. But when the official announcement finally came on April 11, Geier was still less shocked and dismayed. “That job is what supported my family,” Geier said. Geier, 41, lives in nearby North Bend with his wife and four kids — ages 18, 13, 6 and 3. They bought a custom

22 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

T-shirt design and printing shop in November 2018, though Geier said the business was never meant to pay the bills. It was his position at the mill, which produced dimensional lumber from 2-by-4 up to 2-by-12 boards, that made ends meet. He started out on the graveyard cleanup shift before learning how to operate nearly every piece of machinery as a handyman. Most recently, Geier was a journeyman saw filer in charge of maintaining and repairing each individual saw blade at the mill and planer facility. “I enjoyed working at that mill,” Geier said. “I thought I would retire from them.”

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

GEORGE PLAVEN

Georgia-Pacific Wood Products announced on April 11 that it was closing its lumber mill in Coos Bay, laying off all 111 employees. The loss of those jobs has an economic ripple effect in the area because wood products manufacturing pays higher-than-average annual wages in the county, at $53,035 a year.

High-paying jobs While the industry is a shell of its former self, lumber production remains relatively prominent in Coos County compared to the rest of Oregon. According to figures from the Oregon Employment Department, wood products manufacturing accounted for 893 jobs in Coos County in 2018 — roughly 4% of employment, versus 1.2% statewide. The jobs also pay higher-than-average annual wages, at $53,035 a year. The county average for all industries is $39,560.

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The abrupt closure left Geier and 110 other employees without jobs, though they remained on the company payroll through June 11 as part of their severance package. A spokesman for Georgia-Pacific LLC, based in Atlanta, blamed unfavorable market conditions and “historically unreliable” local rail service for the decision. Losing 111 high-paying jobs was an immediate blow to the coastal community. However, state and local officials have moved quickly to help the workers land on their feet. Geier said he is still job searching while balancing managerial duties at his store, Teeshirt Express. “It’s a lot of stress,” he said. “I have a lot on my plate.”

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Guy Tauer, a regional economist for the state covering southwest Oregon, said he could not speak directly about the Georgia-Pacific mill closure. But, he said, it is undeniably difficult to replace jobs locally within the wood products sector. “We haven’t seen a lot of growth in other industries that pay commensurate to those average wages,” Tauer said. Not only does that hurt the employees themselves, but has a real impact to the area as a whole, Tauer said. Housing, car dealerships, restaurants and retail could all

suffer hits with fewer high-paying, family-wage jobs. “It affects spending,” Tauer said. “It multiplies and ripples through the economy.” Shaun Gibbs, economic development specialist with the South Coast Development Council — a regional nonprofit focused on business retention and expansion — said the organization spent nearly a year trying to meet with Georgia-Pacific to discuss how things were going at the mill, but were unable to connect. Gibbs said it is possible they could have connected the company with state programs or other incentives to provide additional support. “Any time you lose a major employer in the community, it’s disappointing,” Gibbs said. “It’s a major hit to the local and state economy.”

Diversified economy Decades ago, lumber and wood products dominated the manufacturing landscape in Coos and Curry counties, with more than 8,000 jobs in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By 2001, the total dropped to 832 jobs in Coos County and 478 in Curry County, where the industry has mostly stabilized — save for losses during the Great Recession from 2009 to 2012.

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 23

MAKING A LIVING Officials point to a number of factors for the decline. State Rep. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford, criticized the lack of available timber harvest from federally owned forests. A 2017 report from the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis shows that, since the 1970s, harvest dropped from more than 8 billion board feet to less than 4 billion board feet, including a 90% reduction on federal land. “The lack of management on the federal lands and subsequent lack of supply continues to have devastating impacts to our rural economies,” Brock Smith said following the Georgia-Pacific mill closure. Coos County has 750,000 acres of public and private forestland. The International Port of Coos Bay was, at one time, known as the world’s largest lumber shipping port. Timm Slater, executive director of the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, said public timber supply has been restricted by increased environmental regulations such as the listing of the northern spotted owl under the Endangered Species Act in 1990. But Slater, who used to work as a timberland manager for wood products manufacturer Weyerhaeuser, said operations have also changed in the mills themselves with increased automation, requiring fewer workers. “Therefore, we had a drastic change in the number of jobs that were available in that sector,” Slater said. “Since that time, we’ve been looking to diversify, looking to come up with new manufacturing opportunities and new retail opportunities.” Slater said the community is building toward a diversified economy that combines 21st century manufacturing, regional services, tourism and recreation. He pointed to Bay Area Hospital, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort and The Mill Casino — owned by the Coquille Indian Tribe — as successful major employers. Unemployment in Coos County stands at 5.6%, which is slightly higher than the state unemployment rate of 4.3%.

24 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

GEORGE PLAVEN

After losing his job at the Georgia-Pacific Wood Products, Jeff Geier and his wife run a T-shirt design and printing store in nearby North Bend, though he said it is not enough by itself to support the family.

Todd Goergen, who owns the Boxcar Hill Campground and serves as president-elect of the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Georgia-Pacific closure was a setback, but he believes the area is positioned to bounce back quickly. “Coos Bay is resilient. We’re innovative,” said Goergen, who is also a member of the Coos County Planning Commission and Urban Renewal Agency. “We’re still a growing community.”

Rapid response Gibbs, with the South Coast Development Council, said multiple buyers are interested in purchasing the Georgia-Pacific mill site, though details are confidential. “We are confident that a new user will be found within the next three to six months,” Gibbs said. “It’s just about finding the right fit.” Until then, state and local agencies are reaching out to help the former Georgia-Pacific employees as part of the Oregon Dislocated Worker Program. A “rapid response” team held its first meeting on April 14, providing the workers with information about unemployment insurance, job training programs and other workforce services. Chelsea Corliss, workforce program manager for the South Coast Business Employment Corporation, or SCBEC, said 35 people attended the first meeting.

A second session was scheduled June 13. In addition to SCBEC, other members of the team included representatives from the Southern Oregon Workforce Investment Board, the Oregon Department of Human Services, the state Employment Department and local trade unions. Corliss said the team also arranged for an impromptu job fair on May 18 with lumber companies including Roseburg Forest Products, which runs a plant in nearby Coquille, as well as the Swanson and Seneca companies that run mills in nearby Douglas and Lane counties. Finally, SCBEC hired Geier to work on the team as a “peer navigator,” reaching out directly to his former peers at Georgia-Pacific and informing them about the rapid response. On his desk at Teeshirt Express, Geier has a list of all the names and phone numbers for the employees. Most of the folks he talks to are just scrambling to find work, he said, and worrying about how they will be able to support their families. “They just want to go back to work,” he said. “That’s it. They want to work.” So far, Geier estimates about 50 of the workers have found new jobs. As for the rest of them, including himself, Geier said he hopes someone will buy the Georgia-Pacific mill and reopen it. He does not know yet what the future will hold. “I know I’m going to miss it,” Geier said. “I truthfully enjoyed going in there every day.”

Finished degree gives others a strong start By Katy Nesbitt

hen Angelica Fuentes,

anthropology classes with her early

’18, enrolled at EOU,

childhood coursework and experience,

she found an institution

Fuentes designed her individualized

that invested in her career and suc-

Integrative Studies major through

cess as an individual.

EOU’s Ontario Regional Center.

An early childhood education pro-

reer, an aggregate of disciplines itself.

Valley Community College and EOU in

The center she runs works with both

a variety of non-traditional ways – on-

migrant and non-migrant farm working

line from home and by taking intensive

families, preparing their children for

weekend classes on the TVCC cam-

school holistically.

“When I started, it was after I had

“I’ve always worked with kids and I felt like something was missing,”

kids – I needed to work and still attend

Fuentes said. “The relationship with

school,” Fuentes said.

parents and the child allows me to

In 2008 Fuentes enrolled in EOU’s online program and continued to work

help the whole picture.” Serving children from six weeks

full time. For nine years she took

to five-years old, the Center provides

classes when she could fit them into

family services geared to meeting par-

her schedule. Meanwhile her career

ents’ education goals for their children,

was evolving.

the Coalition’s standards, and Head

She was hired as an early home visitor for the Oregon Child Develop-

Start requirements. The staff is bilingual, Fuentes said,

ment Coalition in Ontario in 2011.

so the children can speak their home

Within two years she became the

language in the classroom while learn-

home visitor coordinator at the Coali-

ing English.

tion’s center in Nyssa. After years of taking classes sporadically, Fuentes said the trigger to finishing school was an opportunity

“We try to make it less stressful so they learn and feel comfortable in their environment,” Fuentes said. The Center also helps families con-

to be the Nyssa center’s education

nect with basic services like dentist

coordinator. A bachelor’s degree was

and doctor visits and keeping up with

required for the job.

immunizations. Fuentes said she

“I met with an advisor and devel-

sees a benefit in offering wrap-around

oped a game plan to fast track a de-

services along with early childhood

gree that would incorporate what I do,”

education.

Fuentes said. “It was a good move and about time to finish school.”

eou.edu

Fuentes’ degree advanced her ca-

fessional, Fuentes attended Treasure

pus in Ontario.

SEE WHAT’S POSSIBLE THE EASTERN EDGE

“It’s more about helping as a whole instead of just one aspect,” she said. ◆

By integrating her sociology and

Angelica Fuentes, ’18, received the education she needed to move up in her career through EOU Online. Now the Site Manager at the Nyssa Early Learning Center, she inspires others to do the same.

OREGON’S RURAL UNIVERSITY

THE LAND

HEMP FOR CBD OIL TAKES OFF More than 50,000 acres are in the ground despite unanswered regulatory questions By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI

or a crop facing unprecedented uncertainties — agricultural, regulatory and economic — hemp is finding its legs remarkably fast in Oregon. Growers have embraced the plant

despite a continually shifting legal landscape and a relatively fledgling knowledge of the most effective cultivation practices. “It’s an interesting puzzle because there is no road map and you have to figure it out on your own,” said Ken Iverson, who began growing hemp about three

years ago near Woodburn. More than 50,000 acres of hemp are expected to be planted in Oregon in 2019, up from 11,500 acres last year and 105 acres in 2015, when the state government began licensing the crop’s production. Oregon is now the second-largest hemp-producing state behind Kentucky.

Ken Iverson checks on his hemp plants. He says he enjoys the challenge of learning how to grow hemp well. SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN

26 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

Workers on Ken Iverson’s farm plant hemp in rows. IVERSON FAMILY FARMS

“I don’t think anyone expected it to grow as much as it did or as quickly as it did,” said Sunny Summers, cannabis policy coordinator for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. “We didn’t think we’d see conventional agriculture adopt it as a rotation crop as quickly as we have.” Farmers concerned about producing something that was until recently a federally prohibited drug have a powerful incentive to overcome those qualms: Consumer demand for cannabidiol, or CBD, a plant chemical that’s touted for reducing pain and inflammation, among other health benefits. The compound, which is extracted from hemp flowers, is being added to a multitude of products from fast food to cosmetics to pet food. “It’s in everything,” Summers said. While hemp has traditionally been grown for its fibrous stalks and oilseeds, Oregon’s farm industry has largely focused on CBD as the processing capacity for those other components still remains lacking. “I know very few growers who are growing for anything but CBD oil,” said Gary McAninch, manager of ODA’s hemp program. Oregon’s status as a leader in CBD-specific hemp is partly the result of its history with illicit cultivation of marijuana, which is also a cannabis plant but has mind-altering effects. Marijuana crosses that would be considered “duds” due to low psychoactive properties nonetheless contained high levels of CBD, which proved useful in breeding, said Jay Noller, hemp leader at Oregon State University.

Hemp facts Revenue

Industrial hemp recently has generated $20,000 to $40,000 per acre and up, according to recent testimony to Idaho legislators.

Definition (Source: USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture)

Includes the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part or derivative, including seeds, used exclusively for industrial purposes with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of not more than 0.3%.

Industries (Source: Hemp Industries Association)

• Foods/body care • Cannabinoids • Industrial fiber • Textiles • Building materials

Product range (Source: Hemp Business Journal)

• Ethanol • Nutraceuticals • Clothing • Food products • Bioplastics • Building materials • Nutritional products • Soil remediation, reclamation • Animal bedding • Sunglasses, ski goggles • Paper products • Automotive composites • Nanomaterials • 3-D printing filament and bioplastics

EO Media Group graphic

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 27

THE LAND Hemp plants bred in Oregon are bushier and shorter, rendering them less useful for fiber, but have gained international renown for CBD content, he said. “As I meet people, they say they want to get their hands on Oregon genetics.” Growing hemp was inspired by personal experience for Ken Iverson, whose family owns the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. When his father, Ross, was dying of cancer, the extract proved successful in alleviating pain without the opioid-induced “mental fog” that inhibited communication with friends and family, Iverson said. “It turned into a much more positive process than when he was drugged and out of it.” Since then, Iverson has jumped into the hemp market with both feet. Not only is his family growing about 200 acres of the crop this year, but they also extract CBD to sell to wholesalers and through their own retail brand, Red Barn Hemp Products. As a new industry, it’s filled with “dreamers, schemers and a few honest people,” so finding reliable clients for CBD extract has felt precarious at times, he said. Even so, technologies for harvest and extraction are improving while the banking industry is becoming more amenable to working with hemp companies, Iverson said. The popularity of CBD has given rise to “a bit of a gold rush” but Iverson expects to stay in the hemp industry in the long run. “Nobody has any idea how big the market actually is,” he said. On the legal front, the hemp industry has stabilized as Congress has gradually lifted criminal sanctions for growing the crop — first with the 2014 Farm Bill, which permitted state-sanctioned research of the plant, and more recently with the 2018 Farm Bill, which has essentially decriminalized it at the federal level. Though the prospect of getting thrown in federal prison for planting hemp has faded, major questions still loom about

28 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

IVERSON FAMILY FARMS

Taylor Gage, left, and Mike Riveness process the harvested hemp. At left, CBD oil.

federal regulations for marketing CBD by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “It depends a lot on what the FDA will do,” Iverson said. A key unknown is whether CBD will be treated more like a food supplement, allowing the compound to be widely sold without heavy oversight, or more like a pharmaceutical, which would subject it to close federal scrutiny. It’s possible the agency won’t take an “either/or” approach and instead regulate CBD products on a spectrum, depending on how much of the extract they contain, said Courtney Moran, an attorney and president of the Oregon Industrial Hemp Farmers Association. “It could be different pathways depending on concentration,” she said. Another crucial regulatory question is the threshold at which hemp contains enough tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, to

be legally treated as marijuana, its psychoactive cousin. The standard is commonly set at 0.3%, but it’s unclear whether the USDA will require testing for the total level of THC or the type known as “Delta-9,” which is intoxicating. Varieties that contain 0.3% or less of Delta-9 THC could test as high as 0.4% to 0.7% in total THC, said Moran. If the USDA decides to test for total THC, hemp cultivars that are desirable to farmers could be rendered off-limits. “That would mean a lot of the genetics being grown now would not necessarily be compliant anymore,” Moran said. Breeders could cross-pollinate varieties to lower the total THC content of hemp, but that takes time and could have unwanted side effects. “They wouldn’t have the CBD percentages that we see currently,” she said. In anticipation of the USDA’s decision, the Oregon Department of Agriculture will be requiring hemp to test below 0.3% in total THC beginning in 2020. However, that rule may be changed if USDA goes in a different direction, said Summers. Until then, uncertainty about the THC limit will be another regulatory factor that makes hemp cultivation a unique challenge among Oregon crops. “You don’t need to read the law as much to plant corn,” she said.

LET THE SAVINGS SOAK IN Energy upgrades to irrigation systems and equipment can yield more than energy savings. They can earn rebates and cash incentives from Energy Trust of Oregon, too.

Talk to your irrigation vendor, or visit www.energytrust.org/ag for more information. Serving customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural, Cascade Natural Gas and Avista.

THE LAND

Dan Keppen

DAN KEPPEN: KEEPING THE WATER FLOWING By HOLLY DILLEMUTH

an Keppen has established himself as a man to know for officials dealing with water policy and problem-solving for solutions in the West. Keppen, based outside Klamath Falls, is the executive director of the Family Farm Alliance, an organization seen as a resource for policy makers in Washington, D.C., on western water resources. The organization has testified before Congress 75 times since 2005, bridging partisan lines to try to make water work for irrigated agriculture. “If water gets taken out,” Keppen said, “people are going to feel it.” Keppen has testified before Congress 20 times, on issues ranging from western drought legislation, climate change, and the Farm Bill to western water infrastructure. “We’re seen as problem-solvers, by both Democrats and Republicans,” he added. “Part of it is the way our organization is structured.” The organization is operated by a board of directors made up of agriculture producers. The board is aided by an advisory committee made up of irrigation district professionals. Congressional aides seek the organization’s advice in the nation’s capital. “A committee staff or an agency person will call somebody in the organization and say, ‘Hey, we’re thinking about doing this bill or this policy. Can you guys give us a reality check?’” Keppen said. Keppen can act as a liaison between the organization and policy aides, having

30 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

HOLLY DILLEMUTH

a direct line of communication for people making decisions on water policy. “We’re seen as a resource,” he adds. “I’m lucky to have this amazing conduit to these amazing minds in the west.” Political party affiliation doesn’t matter to the organization as much as a willingness to solve problems.

“It’s really trying to protect where you can, and enhance if you can the available water for farmers and ranchers.” “Right now, the Democrats control the House. We’ve been invited twice to testify before the House Resources Committee,” Keppen said. The Family Farm Alliance started 25 years ago after a need arose among California and Arizona agriculture producers for farmers to get in front of policymakers. “We made a focused effort to do that and it works,” Keppen said. “I would like to see more tours being done bringing Salem and Portland representatives and senators down here to see what we’re doing.” Keppen thinks lawmakers have more to learn about water resources in the rural West.

“I think people in rural areas for the most part really recognize the importance of agriculture in their communities. It’s trying to teach the urban folks, and especially urban folks on the East Coast and policymakers in Washington. “It’s really trying to protect where you can, and enhance if you can the available water for farmers and ranchers,” Keppen said. “That’s the challenge, and it’s dealing with competing interests from urban areas and on the West Coast. I would say the primary driver is how the Endangered Species Act is being implemented.” Keppen has built a solid water resources management resume. He’s served as executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, worked for the Bureau of Reclamation in Sacramento and has managed a flood control district in rural California. He has a master’s degree in civil engineering with a water resources emphasis from Oregon State University in Corvallis, but was first interested in petroleum engineering. Water was a natural fit and something he still enjoys. Pursuing solutions to problems is key in this industry. “Farmers and ranchers are the best problem-solvers I’ve ever worked with,” Keppen said.

Oregon family farmers and ranchers are less than 1% of the population but contribute $50 billion to Oregon’s economy. Please consider talking to us before making decisions that impact our livelihoods.

Oregon Women for Agriculture Working together to communicate the story of today’s agriculture 630 NW Hickory Street Suite 120, PMB50, Albany, OR 97321 owaonline.org • info@owaonline.org

THE CULTURE

Enterprise’s historic OK Theatre turns 100 By KATY NESBITT

NTERPRISE – The Historic OK Theatre in Enterprise celebrates its centennial this July with Grammy-winning artists, live theater, local food and libations. Headlining the event is rhythm and blues musician Jon Cleary. Born in England, Cleary lives in New Orleans where he’s infused the city’s culture into

his music for more than 20 years. In 2016 his band, The Absolute Monster Gentlemen, won a Grammy for Best Regional Roots Music Album. Grammy winner Dom Flemons, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, returns to Eastern Oregon with music from his latest album, “Black Cowboy” a tribute to the African-Americans of the frontier West. From Portland, Ural Thomas and the Pain, a rhythm and blues band, and the Caleb Klauder Band, with its alt country

sound, are in the lineup as is Enterprise’s own Bart Budwig Band whose sound ranges from folk to funk, rock to country. Owner Darrell Brann said he wants to celebrate the theater’s 100th birthday with a bang and hopes to get a couple thousand people to show up for the twoday event. “The theater has long been the heart of Enterprise’s downtown and we want to celebrate its birthday with fantastic music and a really fun weekend for locals and visitors alike,” Brann said.

ANGELIKA DIETRICH

32 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

CONTRIBUTED

After successfully hosting the Infamous Stringdusters at the OK in 2011 and 2012, Brann and his wife, Christy, bought the movie theater in late 2013 and began featuring premier acts such as Del McCoury and Mark O’Connor as well as up and coming bands from the Northwest — Shook Twins, Fruition and Joseph. Following a long-running tradition by previous theater owners, the Branns have hosted community fundraisers, school and church music events and theatrical performances. Budwig, a sound engineer as well as musician, singer and songwriter, has recorded several albums on the OK Theatre stage and recently started the “OK Records” label. While the theater’s use has been transformed over the past few years so has its structure with the assistance of a $100,000 grant from the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office and local donations. The stage has been completely rebuilt, complete with a new proscenium and opera boxes. New furnaces were installed and two ADA-accessible bathrooms were added to the theater’s main floor. Brann said the grant helped pay for

100 YEAR PARTY The centennial celebration begins July 12 with dinner at a community table stretching down Main Street followed by a melodrama performed by Lisa Closners’s Merry Heart Theatre with a cast of local performers on the theater’s main stage. Saturday, July 13, starting at 10 a.m., donuts from Vali’s Alpine Restaurant of Wallowa Lake will be for sale while film curator Dennis Nyback shows classic cartoons and vintage movies on the theater’s new screen. At noon the music starts on an outdoor stage at the corner of Main and Second streets and continues until 10 p.m. Food vendors will line the street and beer and wine will be served in Enterprise’s Warde Park. For more information, follow the OK Theatre on Facebook.

demolition work done by local contractors, the Sinclair Brothers, but support from the community has been crucial to completing the renovation in time for the July celebration. “The outpouring of support from Wal-

lowa County has been incredible,” Brann said. “Not only have we received money to rehabilitate the building and assistance with grant writing, but more than 100,000 pounds of debris has been removed from the theater by volunteers.” Diane Daggett, a long-time supporter of the arts in Wallowa County, wrote the grants seeking funding for much of the renovation. “Hats off to the Brann family and the Enterprise merchants,” Daggett said. “Their foresight in reviving the theater as well as all the investment of passion, time and energy will benefit our local economy, community and culture.” Vicky Searles, executive director of the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce, is helping with the preparations for the centennial. She said she is excited to see the theater restored to its former grandeur. “When the theater opened in January 1919 one of Wallowa County’s pioneers, J.A. Burleigh, said, ‘Nothing more superior exists in all of Eastern Oregon and its only possible rival was a theater in Baker.’ It looks like Darrell Brann of the OK Theater has the same aspiration,” Searles said.

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 33

THE CULTURE

RURAL ROOTS AND URBAN FLOWERS

ERIC MORTENSON

wo years ago I was I had to think for a minute, because I covering an ag technolknew he was serious. ogy conference I told him this: Oregon’s in Pendleton farmers and ranchers are the and was surfirst line of defense against prised to run into the pubenvironmental degradation. lisher of Willamette Week, a And I’ll add this now: Portland alternative paper. Most of them take soil and WW wouldn’t normally be water protection more sericonsidered an ally of conously than people in Portland, ventional agriculture, but Eugene and Salem might ERIC the publisher was there with assume. They take it seriously MORTENSON Commentary eyes open, and I was glad to because they live there. see him. I would tell him this, too: He asked me an interesting question: Oregon’s farmers and ranchers also What was the most important thing people are the first line of defense against the should know about Oregon agriculture? land-use mistakes – urban sprawl – we’ve

34 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

seen ruin wonderful rural areas and farmground elsewhere. And this: Oregon’s rural people most commonly and most closely interact with the wildlife we all cherish. They have wolves, cougars, deer, elk, bears, birds, fish and more on their land. Some of those animals damage crops or kill livestock. Public policy regarding wildlife management must take rural landowners’ economic interest into balance. The people out there aren’t hayseeds. As a group, people involved in Oregon agriculture are the smartest and most capable I covered in 37 years of Oregon journalism. Among other things, they are early adopters of technology.

A VOICE FOR RURAL OREGON TheOtherOregon.com

And finally this: Rural areas feed us. Food security should be a matter of national security. Of course we are part of a global food chain. That’s why we enjoy oranges and bananas in our Oregon grocery stores all year long. You know that. But in a volatile world, a nation that cannot feed itself seems vulnerable. There is something unsettling, not to mention unsustainable, about relying on others far away to grow, process and ship the food we eat. You can go to the grocery store and pick up a can of tuna that says Bumble Bee but came from Poland. You can pick up a can of mandarin oranges that says Del Monte but came from China. That plastic wrapped beef pack is from New Zealand. The fish is from Thailand. All of it is cheap. Is that what we want? Is that who we trust to feed us?

It goes both ways. You know what millions of people in other countries trust? Food from Oregon. Our reputation for quality and safety gives us an edge. Here’s the thing: The people who grow our food, host our wildlife and inhabit our stunning landscape must be allowed to prosper. They deserve educational, water, energy, medical, transportation and technology infrastructure that is cutting edge. There should not be, in 2019, a spot in this state where cell service dies. I grew up amid the orchards, creeks, pastures and meandering country roads of Hood River and Mosier, but I jumped to Eugene, then Portland, to make a living. I don’t look back too often. For my family, Portland has been a great place to live and work. I believe having rural roots and urban flowers provides valuable perspective. Over the latter part of my journalism career, I often told people that I saw my

job as explaining Oregon agriculture to a Portland audience. I tell people now that a healthy rural economy is critical if we want to maintain the Oregon many of us grew up with and that still draws visitors and seekers. The people who choose to live outside of the Willamette Valley’s cities have to be able to make a living. It is in everyone’s interest that the people living and working on the state’s farming, ranching, natural resource, wildlife and recreation land are allowed to thrive. That’s what I tell people in Portland these days. If rural areas thrive, we’re all better off. Eric Mortenson is a Portland writer. He retired from daily journalism in 2017 after working 37 years at Oregon newspapers, including the Capital Press, The Oregonian, and the Eugene Register-Guard. Contact him at ecmortenson@ gmail.com

Learn how to identify child sexual abuse and protect kids in your community. Athletic coaches and others who work with children can help prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. Train your staff and volunteers how to protect children. Learn more about free or minimal-cost trainings at www.ChampionForKids.us

fu nded by

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 35

THE CULTURE

Wallowa County

Total land area: 3,152 sq. mi. Percent public land: 59

Facts and figures Population

Multnomah: 813,300 or 19.4%

Other: 1.44 million or 34.3% Total statewide: 4.2 million

Source: Population Research Center, PSU (Estimate as of July 1, 2018.)

Washington: 606,280 or 14.5%

Deschutes: 188,980 or 4.5%

Clackamas: 419,425 or 10%

Marion: 344,035 or 8.2%

Agriculture

Communities

Wallowa: 7,175 or 0.2%

Lane: 375,120 or 8.9%

City/town

Population

Enterprise

1,985

Joseph

1,120

Wallowa

805

Lostine

215

Unincorporated

3,050

Source: 2018 estimates from Population Research Center, PSU

Sworn law enforcement officers

Source: State of Oregon Annual Report of Criminal Offenses and Arrests, 2016

Health

Source: USDA Census of Agriculture, 2017

Major production in Wallowa County includes ranching, lumber, and field crops like hay, wheat and other grains.

Wallowa rank on health outcomes .... 13 out of 36 Oregon counties

Item

Wallowa rank on health factors ............ 8 out of 36 Oregon counties

Number of farms Land in farms (acres) Average size farm (acres) Total market value of products sold

Quantity

539 520,213 965 $38.9 million

(Based on length and quality of life.)

(Based on weighted scores for health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and the physical environment.)

Item

Wallowa

Statewide

Number of people per physician

587

353

Number of people per psychiatrist

N/A

6,280

Number of people per registered nurse

114

101

Average market value per farm

$72, 217

Net cash farm income, average per farm

$10,030

Interesting fact

Tourist attractions • Wallowa Lake Tramway to the top of

Wallowa County’s health rankings are excellent when compared with other rural Oregon counties, thanks in part to Wallowa Memorial Hospital’s designation as a “Blue Zones” worksite. Blue Zones Project-Oregon focuses on the wellbeing of communities to help people live better and longer lives, by applying principles from the people who have lived long, healthy lives. 36 | The Other Oregon • Summer 2019

Sources: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, County Health Rankings for Oregon, 2019; Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Health Professions-Occupational and County Profiles, 2014

Mt. Howard.

• Ride the rails with Joseph Branch Railriders.

• See wildflowers, wildlife and birds at

the Nature Conservancy’s preserve on the Zumwalt Prairie.

State Representatives

• Greg Barreto (R), District 58 State Senators

• Bill Hansell (R), District 29 U.S. Representative

• Greg Walden (R)

You may not know Chief Joseph Days, held the last weekend in July, is six days of Western action, with a rodeo, two parades and the Nez Perce Friendship Feast. Vendors selling food, art and Western regalia line the streets of Joseph. chief josephdays.com

OREGON / GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

The MidwestOregon connection Many Oregon pioneers hailed from states in the Midwest, and brought their place names with them. Here is a sampling: 1. Cleveland — A community northwest of Roseburg in Douglas County, along the Umpqua River. A settler in the 1850s started a sawmill and flour mill there, and called his brand of flour “Cleveland” after the Cleveland flour mill in Ohio. 2. Dayton — This town in Yamhill County was first settled in 1848, founded by Andrew Smith and Joel Palmer. It was named for Smith’s hometown of Dayton, Ohio.

5 2 7

6 1 4

3. Detroit — Many Michiganders settled in this Marion County town. When it came time to name the post office in 1891, it was named after Detroit, Michigan. The original townsite was flooded by the backwaters of Detroit Dam in 1952, and the town was relocated on higher ground, about half a mile to the northwest. 4. Illinois River — The Illinois River is a 56-mile tributary of the Rogue River, flowing through Josephine and Curry counties in southwestern Oregon. The three Althouse brothers, originally from Peoria, Illinois, named the river and mined for gold there starting in about 1850. 5. Kansas City — A community near Forest Grove in Washington County, probably named by settlers from Kansas City, Missouri. 6. Saginaw — This unincorporated community in Lane County was named for Saginaw, Michigan. Like its namesake, Saginaw is a timber town. Lumber mills have operated there under various ownerships since the 1890s. 7. Toledo — John Graham emigrated from Ohio and established a homestead in Lincoln County, along the Yaquina River. When the first post office in the area was established in 1868, his son Joseph was feeling homesick for Ohio, and decided that it should be named Toledo. Source: Oregon Geographic Names, 7th edition (2003), by Lewis A. McArthur & Lewis L. McArthur. Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland.

The Other Oregon • Summer 2019 | 37

Community newspapers

are the backbone of American democracy

Get to know your community by subscribing to your local newspaper EO Media Group has been family-owned since E.B. Aldrich became an owner of the East Oregonian in 1908. Today, his grandsons and great-grandchildren publish newspapers, magazines, real estate guides and websites covering much of Eastern Oregon, the northern Oregon Coast and agriculture in the West.

EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER

Every Friday Agriculture in the West CapitalPress.com 800-882-6789

Tuesday through Saturday Umatilla Co. & Morrow Co. EastOregonian.com 800-522-0255

Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday Clatsop Co. DailyAstorian.com 800-781-3211

Every Wednesday Hermiston area HermistonHerald.com 800-522-0255

Every Wednesday Wallowa Co. Wallowa.com 541-416-4567

Every Friday Seaside SeasideSignal.com 503-738-5561

The

Blue Mountain

EAGLE

oregon coast

Grant CountyÂˇs newspaper since 1868

Every Wednesday Grant Co. BlueMountainEagle.com 541-575-0710

Monthly Columbia-Pacific Region crbizjournal.com 800-643-3703

Every Friday Lincoln City OregonCoastToday.com 503-921-0413

EO Media Group is committed to reporting and distributing local news and information because a well-informed public keeps our communities strong.

At Umatilla Electric Cooperative, we continue to grow because the communities we serve continue to grow. We look forward to new opportunities coming our way, including the wise and productive use of the water that powers our communities. We continue to explore investments in solar or wind generation on behalf of our members, and we are helping our region plan for a “green energy corridor” that will connect renewable projects in southern Morrow County to the Northwest grid. Our access to public preference power helps keep our electric bills among the nation’s lowest, and our carbon-free energy sources protect the environment today and for future generations. We are public power. We are MORE POWERFUL TOGETHER.

Learn how supporting economic development makes us #MorePowerfulTogether at www.UmatillaElectric.com.

Farm Bureau keeps Oregon agriculture viable & sustainable Established at the county level in 1919 and the state level in 1932, Farm Bureau is a grassroots, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization representing the depth and breadth of Oregon’s diverse agricultural community. We give a voice to farm and ranch families at the capitol, in the courts, and within regulatory agencies at the local, state, and national levels. We help these hard-working Oregonians stay in business and keep doing the job they love.



Farmers are dependent upon affordable inputs, like fuel, crop nutrients, and production tools. Oregon’s world-class ag products are successful because we can compete in the marketplace, which in turn strengthens our viability and the economy. A lighter touch and a streamlined regulatory system would help us keep our farms in the family.



Jason Flowers, Klamath-Lake County Farm Bureau

Visit

OregonFB.org to learn more or call us at 800.334.6323

   