agriculture fall 2010

FALL 2010

S U N D A Y , A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 1 0

AGRICULTURESTUDY: BEEF INDUSTRY HAS IMPROVED ITS LOT [2G]

GROWER: ‘WE’RE THE TRUE CONSERVATIONISTS’ [3G]

BEEF SPECIALIST EXPLORING A LIFE BEYOND CRP [5G]

UI ENTOMOLOGIST PUTS OUT A SPIDER PRIMER [12G]

CONTROLLING MITES IS KEY TO SAVING BEES [14G]

The search for perennial grainsWSU scientists try to answera life-and-death question

[ PAGE 3G ]

SECTION [G]

a g r i c u l t u r e : f a l l 2 0 1 0 l e W i S t O N t r i B u N e2G S u N D a Y, a u g u S t 2 2 , 2 0 1 0

By ELAINE WILLIAMSof the tribune

A study paid for by beef pro-ducers has found the practices of ranchers and feedlots have reduced the environmental impact of the industry while productivity has increased in the last 30 years.

In 2007, 13 percent fewer cattle were slaughtered than in 1977, but those animals yielded 13 percent more beef, according to research done by Jude Capper, an assistant pro-fessor of animal sciences at Washington State University in Pullman.

At the same time, produc-ers used 20 percent less food, 30 percent less land, 14 per-cent less water and 9 percent less fossil fuel than 30 years ago while decreasing carbon emissions by 18 percent.

Capper’s work may have been in response to questions that are being raised about the beef industry in places such

as an advertisement spon-sored by People for the Ethi-cal Treatment of Animals.

It shows a person eating what appears to be a hamburg-er with the caption “Feeding kids meat is child abuse. Fight

the fat. GoVeg.com.” Capper included the ad in a presen-tation on her study in Denver earlier this summer.

The way that the United States will meet its require-ments for nutrient-rich pro-

tein and improve environ-mental stewardship will be through using contemporary agricultural technologies, Capper said in a prepared statement. “These findings challenge the common mis-conception that historical methods of livestock produc-tion are more environmen-tally sustainable than modern beef production.”

Capper didn’t examine the nutritional content of beef. The diet of cattle is basically the same now as it was in the 1970s, Capper wrote in an e-mail.

They live in pastures before being taken to feedlots where they consume corn products along with some hay and soy, Capper wrote. “As nutritional content is largely determined by diet, no significant differ-ences would have been ex-pected.”

———Williams may be contacted at

[email protected] or (208) 848-2261.

Photo courtesy WSUJude Capper is an assistant professor of animal sciences at Washington State University.

WSU study finds beef industry has lessened its impact while improving its productivity GeneSee — White Spring

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the award is being presented today by earl bennett, a trustee of the state historical society.

the Lorangs are third-genera-tion ranchers whose grandpar-ents, John Lorang and Mary Ge-sellchen Lorang, established the ranch in 1886. the grandparents came to idaho from Johnsburn and Mount Calvary, Wis., after having just married and hearing encouraging news of the Palouse.

they added rooms to an existing house on the property and raised wheat and barley. the Lorangs also sold goldfish, made shoes, built wooden washing ma-chines and operated a small col-lectors and taxidermist museum.

the Lorangs will be awarded a certificate and a steel sign to display on their ranch.

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Spring Ranch in Genesee earns Idaho state award

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By KERRI SANDAINEof the tribune

WINCHESTER — Eric Has-selstrom says farmers, ranchers, loggers and miners are the real environmentalists in this country.

“We are stewards of the land,” said the fourth-generation farm-er. “We live off the land and want to leave it better off than when we started. We are the true conserva-tionists.”

What he doesn’t want is a grow-ing number of government rules and policies telling him how to do his job, the 40-year-old grain grower said. And that’s exactly what happens when bureaucrats back East glom onto a theory,

such as climate change or global warming, he said.

“The people in Washington, D.C., are making rules for the real environmentalists. Their rules re-strict productivity. We grow the cheapest and healthiest food in the world and they just keep raising the bar beyond what’s realistic.”

Hasselstrom, past president of Idaho Grain Producers Associa-tion, is chairman of the National Association of Wheat Growers Environment and Renewable Re-sources committee. Over the years, he has made about 15 trips to the nation’s capital to discuss agricul-tural issues with policy-makers and various government officials.

“What’s scary is the people in

the Beltway don’t even listen to us. It’s gotten worse in the last two or three years. We do have good relationships with our Idaho del-egation, and we appreciate that.”

The latest issue is a national cli-mate change policy to stem man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Hasselstrom said he is advocating for legislation that makes sense and provides a net benefit to producers, but realizes energy policies are typ-ically not good for agriculture.

Many Idaho growers have told Hasselstrom they do not believe in climate change theory and there is a growing concern that the added costs of any legislation or government program will out-weigh the benefits.

“You have theory and you have reality, and they don’t match,”

Tribune/Barry KoughEric Hasselstrom of Winchester thinks farmers do well growing the large quantities of high-quality grains that they do, despite too much government intervention and regulation.

‘We are the true conservationists’Winchester wheat grower contends that u.S. energy policies throw up roadblocks for the nation’s farmers

See energy, page 4G>

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Hasselstrom said. “The initial idea may be great. Then they turn it over to a government entity and it all goes out the win-dow. The government regulates everything. It hogties you until you can’t do your job.”

Hasselstrom plans to attend a National Asso-ciation of Wheat Grow-

ers meeting in Minne-apolis this fall to discuss climate change and oth-er hot agriculture topics with farmers throughout the country.

“I am hoping the voice of reason will be heard in D.C. and nothing drastic is done in climate change legislation.”

When he’s not on the road, Hasselstrom keeps busy raising 110 head of beef, 600 acres of hay, 1,200 acres of wheat and 500 acres of barley. He said the biggest head-ache of his multifaceted

job is trying to influence agriculture policy.

But he’s not giving up. He believes it is im-portant to be involved and help represent Ida-ho farmers rather than complain and do nothing about the policies that could threaten his liveli-hood.

“I’d rather pick rocks or build fence than put on a suit, but somebody’s got to do it.”

———Sandaine may be contacted at


energyContinued from Page 3g>

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says wheat production should reach 2.26 billion bushels, up 2 percent from 2009. Yields are expected to rise to 46.9 bushels per acre, which would be the highest result ever for U.S. wheat producers.

However, the rising estimate didn’t stop wheat futures from jumping recently on the Chicago Board of Trade. The USDA has low-ered its global production forecast for 2010-2011 because of severe drought in Russia and bad weather in northern Europe. Wheat futures have been rising since the hottest summer in 130 years sparked massive fires

in Russia, costing that country more than a third of its wheat crop and prompting the government to ban wheat exports.

The soaring prices are good news for farmers in the U.S., the world’s largest wheat exporter. Analysts say the U.S. and other ex-porters, principally Argentina and Australia, are set to be big gainers on Russia’s export ban, while Canada and the European Union are not looking at their best harvests.

The government’s forecasts are based on a survey of 27,000 producers between July 25 and Aug. 6.

AssociAted Press

USDA: Wheat production up 2 percent from ’09

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WSU professor Donald Nelson says controlled cattle grazing can help rejuvenate grasslands

By ERIC BARKERof the tribUNe

Donald Nelson wants to find alternatives to the Conserva-tion Reserve Program that are not dependent on govern-ment support but still yield environmental benefits and landowners’ profits.

The Washington State Uni-versity extension beef spe-cialist thinks well-managed grazing of perennial grass-lands is the answer. Nelson and a team of other WSU ex-tension agents worked with a group of landowners in cen-tral and eastern Washington to see if CRP-type lands could be used to feed cattle while also rejuvenating decadent grasslands. Known as Beefing Up the Palouse, the two-year pilot was carried out in 2007,

and 2008, and will be extend-ed this year through 2012.

“We are looking for alterna-tives that will produce reve-nue equal to or greater to what the CRP did and at the same time improve the resource in the standpoint of ecoystem processes,” Nelson said.

The Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers who

qualify to leave marginal and highly erodible land out of crop production. Instead, it is planted with grass, trees and other plants. The soil is stabi-lized, wildlife habitat is cre-ated and in many cases water quality is improved.

But the federal government is reducing the number of acres of CRP land from about

39 million acres today to 32 million. Nelson said that, giv-en economic constraints and efforts to reduce federal defi-cits, the acres eligible could decline further in the future.

“There are some situations where the ground won’t be re-enrolled and where people, for some reason or another want alternatives to the gov-

ernment program.”Through carefully managed

grazing, he and his coopera-tors showed it is possible to turn a profit and achieve the same conservation objectives. The pilot project showed land-owners were able to make $38 to $48 per acre. They leased grazing rights and were paid based on the amount of weight cattle gained. Their profits compare to about $50 to $55 an acre that landowners can make by participating in the CRP program.

Although profits were less than the government pay-ments, Nelson said they could be boosted in the future if the grasslands can be rejuve-nated so they produce forage that is more nutritious than the tall and decadent grass often found on CRP ground. He also said things like leas-ing hunting rights, negotiat-ing better weight-gain prices from livestock owners who graze their animals on the


Tribune/Barry KoughResearch by WSU beef specialist Stephen Nelson has found that controlled grazing on ground that might once have been put in CRP can help rejuvenate perennial grasslands.

Beef specialist seeks life beyond CRP

See CRP, page 6G>

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lands and perhaps even getting paid to seques-ter carbon could bring in more revenue. Or landowners could own the cattle themselves rather than leasing grazing rights. That would increase their risk but could double or triple their profits.

If landowners left the CRP program and used managed grazing, they would be able to get their fields certified as organic. Most CRP lands have not been treated with chemicals for 10 to 15 years.

“That is a value-add-ed product,” he said.

The key to the whole idea is grazing the land and then leaving it free of animals long enough for the grass and other plants to recover. He envisions better biodi-versity, improved soil stability, water infiltra-

tion and water-holding capacity. That in turn could recharge aquifers and keep more water in streams that otherwise may go dry.

“We have a lot of side benefits in terms of get-ting good, healthy pe-rennial grass stands, soil stability, (reduced) wind and water erosion improved fertilization and water infiltration.”

The planned grazing does take some infra-structure, such as elec-tric fences to keep cattle and other livestock in the right places and pip-ing or pumping water to the sites. It also takes more intensive moni-toring to make sure the land is not overgrazed.

“When a plant is bit-ten, the goal is to have it bitten once and not have it bitten again un-til it recovers from the initial grazing, and the recovery period is go-ing to vary,” he said. “You can’t do it by the calendar; you have to be on the ground and see what is happening. It takes a level of manage-

ment higher than what people are used to.”

He said grazing can stimulate plants. For example, before Eu-ropean settlement of western North America, he said in some places there were huge herds of buffalo. They tended to stay on one place and in tight groups to avoid predators. When grasses in those places were eaten down, they would move on and might not return for a year. But when they did return, the grasses had regrown.

“Plants need an op-portunity to regrow their roots or you will have a weak plant that will die.”

During the next phase of the experiment, Nel-son hopes to document the environmental ben-efits he envisions and perhaps see landowners make more money.

———Barker may be contacted at

[email protected] or at (208) 848-2273.

CRPContinued from PAGE 5G>

By JOSH FARLEYOF THE KITSAP SUN

BREMERTON, Wash. — It doesn’t always start right away.

But when Carl and Jean Neitzel’s nearly 90-year-old Avery tractor finally cranks up, its insides put out a sound that “only its mother could love,” Jean says.

Most astounding, of course, is that a machine built circa 1921 in all its

steel and cast-iron glory (tires in-cluded) can still rattle to life at all.

“The ease of starting it is inversely proportional to the number of people watching,” Carl Neitzel quipped on Aug. 15.

But at the 11th annual Olympic Peninsula Antique Tractor & Engine Show, hundreds of preservers of such engines came to the Port Orchard

Celebrating the humble tractorImplements of antique vintage feted at Port Orchard show

Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap SunJerry Vargo of Silverdale, Wash., drives his McCormick Farmall tractor onto the scale to be weighed prior to the tractor pull competition at the Olympic Peninsula Antique Tractor & Engine Show in Port Orchard, Wash.

See TRACTOR, page 8G>

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airport to show off decades of American ingenuity, mostly in the form of the machines that plowed the fields that fed — and continue to feed — this nation.

As Richard Hay, a Puget Sound Naval Shipyard man-ager who was born and raised on 80 acres of corn and cattle in Burley, Idaho, points out: “It’s a bunch of people getting together to preserve farming history.”

While, of course, compet-ing to see whose tractor can pull the farthest.

The weekend was all about engines, from “one-lungers” — small one-cylinder engines from the early part of the 20th century used to run household appliances — to Tacoma resi-dent Eddie Hadaller’s 1961 6-cylinder, 80-horsepower International Harvester, a shiny red beast that weighs about 10,000 pounds.

Hadaller, who runs a farm in Eatonville, brings old trac-tors to events similar to Port

Orchard’s all summer long. Like many there who bring the mostly red and green machines to compete in the time-honored tractor pull, he wants to see such history live

on in an area where farming is “disappearing fast,” he said.

“It’s an important part of our heritage,” Hadaller said.

Most tractors are restored with as little alteration as

possible, said Pete Britton of Bremerton, head of the penin-sula tractor and engine club.

“All these tractors have only a new coat of paint and tires,” Britton said.

The tractor-pull event is somewhat similar to wres-tling, as the tractors and their drivers compete in different weight classes ranging from 3,000 to 17,000-plus pounds. Winners got a ribbon and bragging rights.


tractorContinued from Page 6g>

Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap SunA youngster learns how to drive a tractor at the Olympic Peninsula Antique Tractor and Engine Association’s tractor pull and swap meet held Aug. 14-15 in Port Orchard, Wash.

GRANGEVILLE — Ted Bil-lups of Grangeville, a long-time collector and repairer of antique tractors, engines and equipment, recently was inducted into the Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor As-sociation Hall of Fame.

The association was established in 1998 to honor those who have made sig-nificant contributions to the collection, presentation and exhibition of antique trac-tors, engines and equipment.

Billups was presented with a plaque during a meeting in July of the Lewis Clark Antique Power Club in Grangeville.

grangeville tractor restorer to be inducted

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By WILLIAM L. SPENCEOF THE TRIBUNE

To be or not to be?That is the question that

intrigues Stephen Jones and other agricultural scientists at Washington State University: How do plants decide to live or die — and once that hurdle is past, how do they go on living?

“To us, it’s a beautiful ques-tion,” said Jones, director of WSU’s Research and Extension Center at Mount Vernon. “There’s been so little work done on it, very little is known.”

This life-or-death issue lies at the heart of the university’s research on perennial grains.

Unlike annual crops such as wheat, rice, corn, peas or sorghum — which

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amount of fuel farmers need to grow food. Perennials require less fertilizer and herbicides as well, and by some estimates use up to five times less wa-ter than annuals. With substantially deeper and larger root systems, they also control erosion more effectively

Researchers at WSU’s Mount Vernon center are working to develop grain varieties that would rebound year after year

Stephen Jones

The mystery of perennials

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and help add biomass and nu-trients back to depleted soils.

This list of potential bene-fits is why some scientists say the development of perennial grains would rank among the greatest innovations since the dawn of agriculture 10,000 years ago.

Jones isn’t willing to go quite that far, but he does think perennials would give farmers more options — par-ticularly on marginal lands that have steep slopes, lower precipitation or other charac-teristics that make them un-suitable for annuals.

“The goal isn’t to beat annu-als in a head-to-head competi-tion,” Jones said. “Perennial grains aren’t the solution to everything. They’re one more tool in the large, complex sys-tem of agriculture.”

Understanding why plants decide to be or not to be is an important step in developing that tool.

From a biological stand-point, Jones said, it turns out

to be a pretty straightforward issue. In wheat, for example, one narrow section of genetic code controls annualization. It can be switched on or off by crossing with a perennial wheat grass.

That’s the easy part. The hard part comes in breeding plants that know how to live.

“To continue to live, (peren-nials) have to do a few things,” Jones said. “They have to go dormant in the winter. They need to resist the cold. They need to be ‘smart enough’ to not start growing again in Jan-uary. They need to grow and flower in the spring. That’s where the complexity comes in — knowing how to live.”

In this effort to breed pe-rennial grains, researchers are essentially trying to re-verse one of the first agricul-tural decisions ever made.

Historically, all annual grains were developed from perennial stock, Jones said. They were natural mutations that the earliest farmers se-lectively bred over time. By favoring such attributes as high yield, ease of threshing and uniform ripening, they created the amber waves of grain that now cover the Palouse.

“You can see once a field starts to (turn gold), it goes all at once,” he said. “The plants still have moisture, nutrients, everything they need to keep going — but they all die. Over the last 10,000 years, we’ve

selected annual wheats that die very efficiently.”

How to bring them back from that without losing all the benefits of an annual — that’s Jones’s beautiful question.

Scientists on five conti-nents are currently investi-gating perennial grains, he said. The hope is to develop varieties that can be mixed in with annual grains — so that farmers in the Palouse, for ex-ample, could plant perennials on steeper slopes but harvest them at the same time as their annual wheat.

How long that will take is an open question. WSU soil sci-entist John Reganold recently co-authored a paper in the journal Science that estimated commercial varieties could be available within 20 years — if more research and funding is directed at the problem.

“We’re saying there should be a push for perennials simi-lar to the push for biofuels,” Reganold said. “And even at that, it would take a very small percentage of the USDA’s re-search budget.”

Roughly half the world’s population lives on the type of marginal lands where pe-rennial grains would be most advantageous, he said. Given

the lower input requirements and improved erosion con-trol, even someplace like the Palouse could benefit.

The overall wind and soil erosion in this region aver-ages about nine to 10 tons of topsoil per acre, per year, Re-ganold said, although with no-till practices and other mea-sures that can be reduced to almost nothing. On bare soil, some individual rain events could strip as much as 50 tons per acre.

The root system on peren-nial wheat grass is two or three times as long as the root system on an annual grain. It’s much thicker as well. Be-sides holding the soil better, it reaches minerals and water that are unavailable to the an-nuals, helping bring them to the upper layers.

“The best soils in the world were under the native grass-lands (in the Midwest),” Re-ganold said. “Those were all perennial grasses. That’s what we’d be mimicking with perennial grains.”

———Spence may be contacted at



Tribune/Barry KoughScientists are trying to figure out how to create a peren-nial version of grain plants, so annual planting isn’t re-quired in some areas.

mysteryContinued from Page 9g>

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By JOEL MILLSof the tribune

As many feedlot and dairy owners now know, cow poop isn’t waste, it’s energy.

But researchers at Wash-ington State University think they can use the increasingly common process of anaerobic digestion to reduce the green-house effect.

“A lot of people look at an anaerobic digester as an en-ergy technology, or an elec-tricity technology,” said Chad Kruger, the interim director of the WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Re-sources. “And we’ve said that, yes, it’s a waste management technology that can produce electricity. But what it really is, is a fertilizer plant.”

A digester at a Lynden, Wash., dairy has been produc-ing methane gas that is burned in a large Caterpillar engine

to produce electricity. But the vast majority of Kruger’s re-search there has been focused on the recovery of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus to use as sustainable fertilizer.

Most nitrogen fertilizers are made from fossil fuels, and therefore contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change. But biologically derived ni-trogen fertilizers can displace traditionally produced fertil-izers, Kruger said.

Plus, if they’re produced on the farm, they could dramati-cally reduce production costs.

“It’s a very significant emissions reducer, significant energy producer, and in quite a few cases, they’re very com-pelling projects from an eco-nomic standpoint,” Kruger said of anaerobic digesters.

Over the last seven years, WSU photoThis anaerobic digester at the Vander Haak Dairy in Lynden, Wash., is converting manure into both fuel and nutrient-rich fertilizer that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Cow poop: not just for fertilizer anymoreScientists say anaerobic digestion can help reduce greenhouse effect by conserving energy

See cow poop, page 12G>

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the center has been studying other technologies and strategies that could reduce agricultural green-house gas emissions. One is using smarter tilling methods that keep carbon in the soil where it can help feed plants, and out of the air where it can trap heat and warm the planet.

Over the last 500 years, but before the advent of the internal combustion engine, tilling of soils ac-counted for half of human-caused carbon emissions, accord-ing to one study. The burning of fossil fuels has pushed the propor-tion down, but turning the soil still accounts for a significant amount of carbon that is released into the atmosphere, Kruger said.

No-till or reduced-till farming can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that is released through oxidation, he said, and can in-crease the amount of carbon that is held in the soil.

“The more organic matter you have in the soil, the more fertile the soil is,” Kruger said. “Organic mat-

ter works like a sponge. It contains nutrients, and those nutrients are then released for plant growth.”

So-called conservation tilling practices also have the side effect of reducing direct emissions of greenhouse gases simply because farmers don’t have to drive their tractors as often.

Kruger’s research team also looked at ways to use ni-trogen fertilizers more effi-ciently, no matter how they are produced. According to their study, the combination of direct nitrous oxide emis-sions and indirect carbon dioxide emissions from fer-tilizer manufacturing rep-resents a substantial source of greenhouse gases.

“We know we’re not very good at managing our ni-trogen because it doesn’t tend to stay where we put it,” Kruger said. “It’s an essential nutrient, and a pollutant at the same time, depending on where it’s at.”

Options to replace fossil-fuel-de-rived fertilizer include the cultiva-tion of legumes like peas and lentils, which naturally fix nitrogen in the soil, and the use of different manures and organic additives to the soil.

Kruger and other WSU re-searchers hope to continue their work through two proposals sub-mitted to the U.S. Department of

Agriculture, including one that would form a partnership between Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

The center’s entire study is available online at http://csanr.wsu.edu/CFF/.

———Mills may be contacted at jmills@

lmtribune.com or (208) 883-0564.

cow poopContinued from Page 11g>

Chad Kruger

By Kevin GaBouryof The Tribune

Their eight eyes peer at us from under rotting wood or dark corners.

They’re creepy. They’re craw-ly. Eight-legged, furry creatures of the night.

Most, however, are simply misunderstood. They aren’t out to crawl in your nose and ear canal or bite you while you sleep. For the most part, they’re content to catch and eat the insects that really bug us.

With his new publication, “Homeowner Guide to Spiders Around the Home and Yard,” Univer-sity of Idaho entomologist Ed Bechinski hopes to clear up some of the common misconceptions

Spiders often get a bum rapui entomologist writes primer to help humans better understand the arachnids that are living among them

See sPiders, page 13G>

WsU gets $1.5 million grant to study dairy digesters Washington State university

will receive more that $1.5 million in funding through the u.S. De-partment of Agriculture’s conser-vation innovation grants program to study three projects relating to processing dairy manure.

The projects include:l Studying the effect of an-

aerobic digestion on air quality; l Developing a tool to enhance

feed management and nutrient management economics. l Coming up with a process

that works with dairy manure anaerobic digesters.

The grants program invests in innovative, on-the-ground conser-vation technology that addresses water and air quality, energy conservation and other natural resource issues.

Ed Bechinski

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surrounding arachnids.“At certain times

of the year, the phone rings off the hook with people asking ques-tions about spiders,” he said. “People line up outside my door with mason and pickle jars containing suspect hobo spiders.”

The 28-page, full-color guide, distrib-uted through the University of Idaho Extension Service, provides detailed rundowns of the 10 most common spider families in Idaho divided into two ecological groupings: those that spin webs to capture their prey and those that don’t. Photos snapped by the author himself are included throughout the guide for easy reference.

There’s also a spider primer in case you’re wondering if the creature that just ran across your living room carpet is really a spider or a small dog. Part three of the guide outlines the three poisonous spiders found in Idaho — the western black widow, the hobo spider and the yellow sac spider. The venerable brown recluse “DOES NOT OCCUR” in Idaho, the guide proclaims.

“Even the two potentially most harmful spiders — the black widow and the hobo spider — rarely injure people in Idaho,” Bechinski writes.

With his spider guide in the books, Bechinski is now working on a guide to beneficial insects, such as lady beetles and parasitic wasps. The pro-fessor is also the author of homeown-er guides to yellowjackets, bald-faced hornets and paper wasps; bees; minor stinging insects; scorpions and their relatives; centipedes and millipedes; and pillbugs and sowbugs.

His works can be downloaded and printed for free at: http://www.uidaho.edu/cals/news/feature/arachnid/spiders.

They can also be purchased at any University of Idaho Extension office.

———Gaboury may be contacted at kgaboury@

lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2275.

A G R I C U L T U R E : F A L L 2 0 1 0 S U N D A Y, A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 13GL E W I S T O N T R I B U N E

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WSU entomologist contends unchecked parasite invasion is leading cause of die-offs

By BRAD W. GARYof the tribUne

Beekeepers continue to face strug-gles in keeping their colonies buzzing, but controlling a small mite may be the biggest challenge.

Pesticides and Colony Collapse Dis-order continue to be factors that are kill-ing honeybees, though keeping control of the varroa mite may be among the more important factors for beekeepers.

Steve Sheppard, a professor of ento-mology at Washington State Universi-ty in Pullman, said the mites can lead to a colony’s kill-off if left untreated over a number of years.

“The biggest problem for beekeep-ers remains controlling the mite. If you control the mite, a lot of other problems the bees are able to deal with them,” he said.

Bee colonies continue to see higher die-off numbers. Beekeepers who lost 5 to 10 percent of their colonies a quar-ter-century ago are now losing more like 20 to 30 percent in the wintertime.

The mites, which were introduced to the U.S. in the 1980s, can greatly harm a colony if beekeepers aren’t paying attention, Sheppard said. Dubbed through its scientific name as Varroa Destructor, the mites have

a short lifespan and have developed a quick resistance to pesticides.

Sheppard notes another challenge for beekeepers, Colony Collapse Disor-der, continues to be a concern. But he said the worst-case scenarios described

when the disorder popped up four years ago haven’t materialized. Sheppard pointed to a recent paper that named 61 different causes for the disorder.

Entomologists have been watching Colony Collapse Disorder since Octo-ber 2006, when beekeepers across the country reported losing 30 to 90 per-cent of their hives, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

At WSU, Sheppard said researchers have also been working on the lethal ef-fects of pesticides in bee colonies. Over-exposure to pesticides is also causing death of some hives, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Pesticides may not be immediately lethal, Sheppard said, but they can subject the insects to sublethal doses that can affect their lifespan and sus-ceptibility to diseases.

Some beekeepers are attempting to make up losses by dividing their colo-nies in the spring, a task that Shep-pard said can affect their ability to of-fer their pollination services.

“Beekeepers now need to be much more aware to the health of their col-ony,” he said.

———Gary may be contacted at [email protected]

or (208) 848-2262.

Researcher: Controlling mites is key to saving bees

Tribune/Barry KoughA bee works to gather pollen from a flower.

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AssociAted Press

CORVALLIS, Ore. — An Oregon farmer is shipping trainloads of his wheat on his own railroad.

Larry Venell said it’s much more efficient to ship his grain from his fam-ily’s farm south of Corvallis to the Port of Portland than having it trucked.

Venell told the Gazette-Times that grain elevator truck bays can become chokepoints, creating a backlog for growers.

“It’s hard (to ship by truck) at har-vest,” he said. “You’ve got to ship in October or November. You can’t take advantage of the market.”

The Venells spent almost $1 million in 1996 to build a covered loading facility, but the family wasn’t able to use it until June 2007. That’s when the Portland & Western Railroad halt-ed service on a branch line running through the family’s property.

Now the trains are running to the property again — and this time it’s Venell who’s calling the shots as man-ager of a 5.3-mile railroad linking his farm to the branch line.

The 2007 shutdown was a turning point for rail customers on the Bailey Branch, a 23-mile freight line run-ning south from Corvallis to Monroe and west to Dawson.

About a dozen shippers that used the line — including Venell Farms and the Hull-Oakes Lumber Mill — want-ed Portland & Western to fix up the line, whose tracks were in such bad shape that train speeds were cut to a crawl and derailments were common.

The railroad had said freight volume was so low it couldn’t afford to replace all the worn-out ties and regrade the line.

Following the shutdown, a coali-tion of shippers sued the railroad, its parent company and Union Pacific, which owned the tracks and was leas-ing them out.

Union Pacific indicated a willing-ness to sell the line, prompting the law-suit to be dropped. Negotiations, how-ever, stalled and the shippers walked away one by one. The sole exception was Venell, who was among the closest to the P&W terminus in Corvallis.

It took Venell more than two years to close the deal. On Aug. 6, after a $750,000 repair project was completed, the Venell Farms Railroad Co. shipped its first load of wheat to Portland.

Venell’s partner in the venture is the Albany & Eastern, a Lebanon-based shortline operator. The com-pany supplies the crews and engines to haul rail cars to and from the farm, handing them off at the Western Bou-levard switching yard.

Venell, who won’t say how much he paid for his five miles of track, also is starting to rebuild his livestock feed business, which faltered when he lost rail access three years ago. He also provides freight service to some of his neighbors.

Among them is Doug Warden, who hopes to move eight to 10 carloads of wheat this year.

“I used to ship by rail, so starting it back up is going to be a good thing,” he said.

Scobel Wiggins/Corvallis Gazette-TimesLarry Venell hops abroad the train for its first trip down the rebuilt tracks to his farm in this photo taken Aug. 6.

Oregon farmer opts to ship grain on his own railroad

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