Organic should be banned?

Organic is out.

So say the word watchers at Lake Superior State University.

The school released its annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness today (read the AP story here).

Organic was nominated for inclusion on the list because it is "overused and misused to describe not only food, but computer products or human behavior, and often used when describing something as 'natural,'" according to Crystal Giordano of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Rick DeVan of Willoughby, Ohio, called organic "another advertising gimmick to make things sound better than they really are."

Or how about this one: "The possibility of a food item being inorganic, i.e., not being composed of carbon atoms, is nil." – John Gomila, New Orleans, La.

Or this: "You see the word 'organic' written on everything from cereal to dog food." – Michael, Sacramento, Calif.

Or this: "I'm tired of health food stores selling products that they say are organic. All the food we eat is organic!" – Chad Jacobson, Park Falls, Wisconsin.

Hey, we don't make up the news here at Blogriculture and the Capital Press, we just bring it to you.

You can find the full list of banned words and phrases here, and remember, "it is what it is."

Oh, wait, I can't say that, phrase was banned too. So much for my "wordsmithing" skills.

More storms coming...

It looks like another round of storms are targeting the Pacific Northwest and California later this week. While wintry weather is expected to be challenging this time year, it’s always good to let people in agriculture know as much in advance as possible when bad weather is coming.

Heavy rains, high winds, low temperatures: Farmers need to know what might affect their land, livestock and even greenhouses.

Check our Capital Press website for updates and how big are the storms being predicted.

We also invite people to let us know how weather affects them — send us anecdotes and pictures, and we’ll post them online.

Technorati tags: Agriculture, weather

Look, I is on the News!

Whenever my local town of Maupin makes the Portland news, it is because something bad has happened. Whether it’s a flood, fire, river drowning, earthquake, or a piano falling from the sky, it’s never a good thing.

They say the best thing about living in a small town is how everyone knows everyone. They also say the worst thing about living in a small town is how everyone knows everyone. With those two statements, I would agree.

What amazes me is how the television media, during a local crisis, can manage to find the most obscure, spooky, backwoods hermit of a person to interview. Even more amazing is how nobody in town will know the person they are interviewing. How do they find these people?

“When the rain started tinklin on the window I knew right den and der we was gonna have a flood. Back in ’81 we had a 8- foot wall a water come down the river and I watched four deer get picked up out of the meadow and swept out to sea. That’s how the mule deer got bred to the blacktails from the valley, because of that der flood. Funny thing was that my great aunt Ethel was at the coast when she saw four deer walking down the beach. It had to be them four I seen in the flood.”

My town is not the only small town to face the phenomenon of the media’s mysterious interviewees. I asked a friend from a neighboring town who the funny buck-tooth guy was on the news and he had never seen the man. These people seem to just show up during the crisis long enough to be caught by the media.

I’ve always wanted to know what the media hoped to gain by finding people like that. It would seem simple to find anyone even remotely normal to interview, but seldom is that the case.

I was reminded how badly the media can distort things when the man wanting to put a natural gas pipeline through our place was astounded we had e-mail out here. My response to that statement went something like this:

“Yep, we do have e-mail, and I also heard there is this big truck with a large crane on top that spins which can dig down hundreds of feet enabling us to maybe get running water someday soon. Just think, we might not have to run outside to go in the middle of the night much longer and I won’t have to bathe in the creek anymore.” He wasn’t thrilled with my response, as I wasn’t thrilled with his elitist attitude either.

A second so-called infraction was when the federal auditors were sent to investigate our new buildings for the fire department. The fire chief received a phone call asking if the investigators would require an SUV to successfully navigate to the fire station. Keep in mind this was June, and snowy roads were unavailable.

The chief’s response had something to do with a horse-and-buggy and how an SUV would be the first automobile to come by since the Model T was introduced. It appears the disconnect between urban and rural centers always involves ignorance and mistaken preconceptions.

I suppose this is true with anything. Taking the media’s word for something and developing an idea based solely on that information would be dangerous. As for the pipeline guy and the federal auditors with their SUV, perhaps the fault does not lie completely with them; however I am shocked they haven’t made it out to rural areas at least once in their lifetimes.

Today there is a television crew wanting to do a story on the recent earthquakes in the area. The news lady is waving at me to do an interview. Perhaps they want to interview a normal person in the area; or, maybe I’m the nearest obscure, spooky, backwoods hermit.

Kevin Duling is a wheat farmer from Maupin, Ore. His stories will be posted on the Capital Press blog every Friday. Comments are welcomed at kevinddul@aol.com.

Copyright, December 2007, Kevin Duling.

A burning question

Some news stories just don't answer the real burning questions behind the story. Take, for instance, this story from the Idaho Statesman about firefighters in a firehouse in Boise, Idaho, catching their own kitchen on fire with a pan of tater tots.

Aren't you just dying to know if the tater tots were made with genuine Idaho potatoes? Or is it just me?

Time for top lists

You always know it must be near the end of the year when all the lists come out.

Top 10 news stories. Top 10 weather disasters. Who died. Who won awards. Who were the best dressed, worst dressed, best movies, worst movies, which celebrity marriages fell apart, which famous people got married.

In this week's Capital Press, we give the top ag stories. You can see them online at www.capitalpress.com on Dec. 28, or check out this week's issue of the newspaper. We also have 12 editorial cartoons, done by Rik Dalvit, that reflect some of the biggest ag stories.

In our case, we published a list of stories and asked our readers to rank them so we got our top list. Other publications have also asked their readers to help figure out which stories were the most important.

Other places use their own staff, or outside experts, to select the top stories of the year.

As someone who pays attention to the news — whether online, in newspapers, on the radio, or on television — how do you want your news to be ranked for the year? Do you want to have a chance to vote, or do you prefer the news organization (or its experts) do the ranking? Which lists would you trust more — the ones decided by the media, or the ones decided by the public?

And perhaps the biggest question of all: Do you even pay attention to these lists? What do you think of them? Are they meaningful or amusing to you, or a waste of time?

Perhaps one of the lessons to be learned is that lists can be influenced by so many things. For example, what a farmer thinks should be in the top 10 might most important events of the year might not make a list for someone who lives in a city. Or what we in America think is big news might be ignored in other parts of the world.

And sometimes some of the biggest stories might happen at the last moment during the year, and not make the list just because of deadlines, a voting process held earlier, or other reasons.

In the case of our newspaper, we were already voting on our top stories at the time the big winds, heavy rains, and resulting floods were creating havoc in Washington and Oregon — so we didn't have it in our list of choices.

Or look at today's political assassination in Pakistan — it might have huge ramifications internationally, but how many lists will it make in this weekend's special Sunday editions of newspapers? And where?

We're curious to hear your thoughts — whether or not you voted on our news list or any other one out there.


Technorati tags: Agriculture

Want to get better at ag trivia?

As you begin to search for calendars for the new year, why not support a good cause and have fun learning agriculture facts when getting your next calendar.

Oregon’s Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation is selling its school-year calendar that shows artwork by students from around the state. The calendar is great for several reasons: It showcases some terrific artwork, it supports important ongoing activities of the AITC organization, but most importantly it educates and promotes agriculture.

The artwork shows images of agriculture, but also each day of the month includes some facts or trivia about agriculture in Oregon and the rest of the country. Anyone getting one of these calendars will be intrigued by the information, and not just to be better prepared for the next game of Trivial Pursuit.

Some of the facts in the calendar (one for each month):

• 100 percent of all U.S. grown hazelnuts come from Oregon.
• The average American eats 21 lbs. of onions per year.
• Turkeys have 3,500 features at maturity.
• Pig fat is used to make crayons, cosmetics and chalk.
• Bees must fly 55,000 miles to produce a pound of honey.
• FFA Officer teams may travel 30,000 miles during the year.
• Rhubarb is a vegetable.
• Earthworms have five hearts.
• Americans spend 7.1 percent of the income on food.
• Dairy cows can produce 125 lbs of saliva a day.
• The first ice cream parlor in the U.S. was opened in 1776.
• An acre will produce enough wheat for 2,500 loaves of bread.

The calendar contest is one of the most popular events held by the AITC Foundation. This year, more than 1,500 students in 24 counties entered the competition. During the State Fair in Salem, the winners of the contest are recognized for their accomplishments and given a chance to talk about the pictures they submitted. Their parents and teachers are also invited to speak.

The students talk about why they like to do art, but also what agriculture means to them. For some students, they’re inspired as they look out their house window — and see family members operating farm machinery in the field. For others, their teachers have given them lessons about agriculture that help.

One of the young artists who really made an impression during the awards ceremony this past fall was Tyler S., who attended Grade 6 at Brooklyn Elementary in Baker City, Ore. His entry, published for December in the calendar, showx a logging operation with the machinery used to extract the trees and place them on the truck. On the side of the truck, a sign says Baker County Logging.

Tyler did more than just talk about his art when he accepted his award. He explained how important logging is to his county, and how it gave jobs to people in the community. He also talked about the impact of what happens when environmentalists or others shut down logging operations, and how it can hurt families who depend on logging.

It was clear that this was more than just an art contest to Tyler: To him, this calendar contest was a chance to explain to others why logging is such an important economic activity to his area of the state.

To see Tyler’s art as well as the work of other students that appears in the calendar, see: http://AITC.oregonstate.edu.

To order a calendar for $5 each, contact Oregon Ag in the Classroom at AITC@oregonstate.edu or Phone: (541) 737-8629.

Here are links to websites for the national Agriculture in the Classroom program and programs in other Western states:

• California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom
• Idaho Ag in the Classroom
• Washington Ag in the Classroom

(Elaine Shein is executive editor of Capital Press, and also the president of Oregon Ag in the Classroom Foundation).

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Snow is a matter of perspective

When Salem and some other parts of Oregon received snow yesterday, it was a rare occurrence. While other parts of the country may be used to a “white Christmas,” the last time it snowed here for Christmas was 17 years ago — and the last time it received more than an inch of snow was 70 years ago.

For any of us who have grown up in more wintry climates, it was a reminder of what winter is like in other places.

For those who grew up in the Willamette Valley, or other places with similar mild winter temperatures, the snow seemed more like a miracle.

When I had moved here in 2003, my neighbors had laughed when I unpacked snow shovels from the moving truck. They explained those wouldn’t be needed, and few people owned a shovel around here.

A few months later, after Christmas, we received a big snowstorm and an ice storm that toppled trees. I was one of the rare people on the block that could dig out the neighbors’ sidewalks, driveways and the street as various vehicles and even a UPS truck with chains on its tires got stuck that time.

No matter where you live in the country, one thing is for certain. Whenever there is unusual weather, it brings neighbors together — we meet in the street to talk about the odd weather and we support each other if needed.

In the countryside, after big storms, neighbors would check on each other and offer to help. A lot of the farmers — included my family — always wanted to go for a drive to see how everyone else had fared.

While we were under a snow advisory from the weather office, we didn’t have enough snow here yesterday to trigger the need for emergency help; in fact, most of us didn’t even have enough snow on the ground to roll up a snowman.

But at least it was enough snow to create a few fond memories for people, especially kids experiencing their first white Christmas.

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Aren’t you glad you’re not in Iowa?

A television report this morning showed how much Iowans are being bombarded with political messages during this holiday season.

As Jan. 3 nears for presidential caucus voting in that state, people are receiving more candidate literature than Christmas cards. Phones are buzzing with calls from volunteers urging people to support their leaders.

For example, one of the television networks visited a home where the guy showed he had received 20 pieces of mail in two days — and his phone showed 60 calls since Dec. 1. All of these were attempts to sway his vote.

As the victim — I mean, potential voter — noted, this is the time of year when people are more interested in the Christmas cards than the political flyers, and you think more about Christmas than elections.

Unfortunately, political campaigns are influenced by polls, and obviously the polls have shown politicians they need to do more to sway people to support them.

Perhaps the date for that caucus meeting needs to be changed, or politicians need to come to some sort of joint agreement to “cease fire” and give people a break from politics for at least two weeks around the holiday season.

Wouldn’t that be refreshing?

Technorati tags: Agriculture
Christmas
election
Iowa caucus

Christmas past

I consider myself blessed when I think of my childhood Christmas memories. I remember the many sleepless Christmas Eves when I would lie awake wondering what gifts might be under the tree. I remember the arguments between us (the kids) and my folks determining when the waking hour would be.

We would always push for 6:30 at the latest, while the folks would try to make us stay in bed until at least 7:30. A compromise of 6:38 was usually the result. After the gift opening ceremony, a large feast of fry bread, scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit would satisfy the body, as well as the soul.

For my siblings and I, there were two events that never failed to prep our spirits for the Christmas season. One was gathering around the television to watch the annual showing of A Charlie Brown Christmas. The other was the Christmas production the grade school would put on.

Each class, consisting of 15 to 30 students, would either sing, play instruments, dance, or perform a play for the crowd of teachers, students, parents, grandparents, and family friends. With the stage lit only with black lighting, the evening was topped with a mass song of Silent Night.

I attended grade school in the 1980s. I am saddened how today’s generation, only 20+ years later, is not allowed to have Christmas specials like that. They can have a holiday special, but not one that represents Christmas. Having the group sing a song like Silent Night together would result in someone getting fired, or perhaps end in a lawsuit.

As an adult, Christmas has evolved somewhat since my earlier years. I’ve found myself trying to bargain with my nieces and nephews hoping to get to sleep until 7:30, though usually receiving a rude phone call at about 6:38 telling me to hurry up and get to my folks house. I’ve also found myself excited about my gift to someone, not from someone.

We still gather around the television and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, eat a low-fat fry bread breakfast (you mean fry bread isn’t low fat? Even with canola oil?), and go on a long walk with everybody to help the food settle.

As my fiancée and I gear up to be married, one area of concern is the Christmas tree. Last year, I pushed her into the pickup on an 18-degree day and made her search the forest with me looking for the perfect tree. She thought the tree was too vacant and needed to be much fuller.

Her idea of a great Christmas tree is to go purchase one from the nearest tree-lot. I explained how I didn’t want to spend $30 on a dried up, dead piece of shrubbery. Also, the romanticism of going to a tree-lot is just not there.

“Kevin, last year you lost the Thermos of hot chocolate, you got the pickup stuck in the snow, and the Forest Service guy gave you a warning because of the size of tree you cut down,” she argued.

“It wasn’t all my fault. You were the one who wanted the top 8 feet of that 50-foot tree, and then you had the nerve to complain about it once we brought it home!”

After a compromise this year, we agreed to have her store-bought tree (shrubbery) put in the house. I got to decorate the little pine tree in the corner of my yard. I’ve never been too fond of the compromising process.

Remember, the spirit of Christmas is about giving. If you’ve been given something freely, freely give back. If you know of someone who needs comfort, give them comfort. If you know an elderly person who would just like to visit, give them a visit.

The world may try to take Christ out of Christmas, but the world cannot take Christ out of us. Merry Christmas to all.

Kevin Duling is a wheat farmer from Maupin, Ore. His stories will be posted on the Capital Press blog every Friday. Comments are welcomed at kevinddul@aol.com.

Copyright, December 2007, Kevin Duling

Political ads at Christmas

Yesterday morning, Fox TV showed some of the advertisements created by the political frontrunners that have been airing in different places across the country. The ads were tied to the holiday season and ranged from just the politician, to showing the politician's family and including them in saying greetings to the public.

What really jumped out was which ones were saying Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to the public, or thanks for supporting them, and which ones thought this was a good hook to just push more of their election platform. There was an attempt to include some humor, too — in some cases it worked, in some it didn't.

Has anyone seen any of these ads? If so, what did you think? Did it influence you in any way? Or did it turn you off any of the political contenders?

Bonus question: Which person promised to send fruitcake to everyone?

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Missing mail

This time of year, sometimes our luggage and mail travel a great distance more than we do — and not necessarily to the destination intended.

For example, this week our batch of paychecks didn't go from point A to B within the state of Oregon. Instead they went to point L — as in Louisville, Kentucky.

One can imagine the reaction here and how everyone felt about a certain courier company.

But one has to feel sorry for the post office, the courier companies, and everyone else being trusted to deliver our goods — as well as us — during this holiday season.

It's extremely busy, and mistakes do happen.

Too bad us customers can't get extra frequent flyer points for our travelling luggage when the bags does extra trips without us, or maybe get some postcards that show us where our mail temporarily diverted its journey along the way.


Technorati tags: Agriculture

Looser media ownership rules would impact public

Should there be looser media ownership rules in the country?
On Dec. 18, after a 32-year ban, the Federal Communications Commission voted to loosen the rules, and will allow media companies to own a newspaper and a radio or television station within the same market.
This will apply to the top 20 markets in the country.
According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, “in order to do so, there must be at least eight media outlets in the market, and if the transaction involves a television station, it can’t be one of the four largest stations in that market.
“In smaller markets, firms can apply for a waiver from the rule, although they will have to prove under a new test that it would be in the public interest,” said the WSJ article.
Large media companies such as Gannett Inc. and Media General Inc. are expected to benefit from the changes.
While 25 members of the U.S. Senate, including Sen. Barack Obama have threatened to block changes, it’s up to the public to make their voices heard.
So where does your small local newspaper or niche publication fit in to this changing media world, and why should you care what the FCC decides?
Be prepared — it doesn’t matter what community you live in, you’ll see the impact of these FCC changes if they go through.
Whether it’s big markets or rural areas, the move by FCC opens the doors to how media will serve communities as a whole.
Newspaper companies emphasize their profits have fallen as advertising has dropped, and may point to the Internet and broadcast stations as having more profit potential.
It will probably be bigger companies with deep financial pockets that can afford to have the cross-ownership in these desirable markets.
If the same company owns newspaper and broadcast facilities within a community, expect changes.
If anyone wanted to see an example of what can happen, just look north to Canada. After so much consolidation and cross-ownership was allowed there, Canadians now have one company — CanWest Global Communications Corp. — that controls the largest newspaper chain in the country, as well as the No. 2 private television network, and it is still hungry for more ownership.
An example of how such power could be bad is that the company has at times directed what editorials could run in its major newspapers across the country — and what stories can’t.
So what can be expected here?
It is the right of the owner to cut expenses, and what better way to do it than to start to consolidate the news departments.
Expect to see more cross-use of what’s in the newspaper and what’s being broadcast, so fewer stories or reporters may be needed; expect fewer hard news stories on the front page of the papers and probably more entertainment news as newspapers will be the vehicle to promote what is happening on the television station’s primetime television programs; and for those in the rural areas who depend on the nearest big city to supply their television news or newspaper, there will probably be less interest in covering news outside of the city’s boundaries.
After all, the news budgets can only go so far — and the media owner will be most interested in suburban audience and getting the maximum exposure for each inch of newsprint and minute on air.
Also, when the same company has television and newspaper ownership in the same market, there can be censorship on certain news: If a company doesn’t want certain political, financial or other stories to run, it now can cover a wider swath of shutting down that story so it doesn’t reach the public.
Then there is the advertising aspect. When an owner has a newspaper as well as broadcast stations, this can be a mixed impact on advertisers depending on how the rate structure is set up. There may be packages that allow advertisers to cross-advertise their products in newspapers as well as on the air; however, there might be fewer opportunities to get a break if there isn’t the competition anymore and the company can set whatever rate it wants and can expect to get it.
In places where cross-ownership could be allowed, the big companies can come into the market and apply pressure against any of their competitors, whether a small company or family-owned operation, and played hardball. The big companies can reduce rates far below what the smaller companies can afford to give up from their profit margin, and eventually the smaller companies give up. This leads back to the bigger companies doing then whatever they want with rates — and the community suffers.
Having the cross-ownership in the media can also affect who reports the news. No longer will the best print journalists be desirable to hire unless they also have a good voice, nice face and good broadcast presence. After all, today’s writers might be tomorrow’s television commentators as they discuss the stories they did for the newspapers, or they might be summarizing their stories for radio, television or even Internet podcasts.
When a reporter is expected to do so much more with a story, it could impact how well the story is done if the reporter has less time to research or write it, and needs to rush to get the story broadcast in this increasingly interactive, info-hungry, multi-channel, Web-connected universe.
Is this fear-mongering? No. These are just some of the actual examples of what happened in Canada — and could happen here.
True, even smaller newspapers have already been making changes. The newspapers have their print product, their online version, their ventures into audio, video and other multimedia options. They might even work with other newspapers, radio or TV stations, offering news feeds or have their staff serve as commentators on stories.
But the difference is the staff at these smaller newspapers or local broadcast companies have roots in their communities.
They’re not run by some giant corporation with offices across the nation.
They’re not being influenced to run entertainment news to support the programs created by a television network.
They care about what happens and is important to their audiences.
They know how important a local rodeo is, report extensively on a local weather catastrophe, and will cover subjects like agriculture, town meetings, or local school politics when no big media company would think twice on that news.
They try to avoid sensationalism, and pride themselves on serving their customers.
In these smaller communities, it’s not just another reader, or viewer, or potential Nielsen Ratings triumph.
For these reasons, people should be aware what these media ownership changes could mean — and fight to protect the independent and smaller media companies that still exist in this country.

(Elaine Shein, executive editor of Capital Press, spent several years on the Canadian Association of Journalists board of directors during the time it was reacting to Canadian media going through considerable media concentration and cross-ownership.)

Technorati tags: Agriculture
Federal Communications Commission
media ownership

Beware of unfamiliar foods

As my esteemed colleague Gary West ventured forth from our office to search for a hamburger for lunch, I decided I should also hunt down some nourishment.

I went to the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant for lunch. First time. Didn't trust it since I heard about E.Coli in that restaurant chain years ago...

Anyway, I learned a valuable lesson. When ordering food for the first time in a new place, be careful. I wasn't. I was adventurous. I thought I would try the "Sample Trio" of some sort of battered food mix. I didn't even ask what might possibly be in the box. Sometimes I think I am too trusting. Or an idiot.

I got back to the office and carefully glanced at the various blobs of battered foods in the container. Different shapes, but with so much batter it was difficult to guess if it was even meat, vegetable or some inedible object a disgruntled employee might have tossed in there for first-time customers like me.

Without thinking, I popped one of the food blobs into my mouth.

Two things then struck me.

First, my tongue was suffering from burns. (I glanced at the box, and in small letters near the bottom it stated, "Careful, the food you are about to enjoy is very hot!")

Note the exclamation mark. Ah, a warning. Ah, a great revelation. Ah, ah, ah.... where's water????

For the second thing that struck me, the second great revelation, was that there might be a dual meaning to the word hot.

I realized my mouth was now on fire from ... the battered jalapeno I had chomped down on.

I swear flames were shooting out my ears as I grabbed quickly for something to extinguish the burning sensation in my mouth. Water. Pop. Fire extinguisher. NOW I understand why the restaurant employee tried to convince me to order the extra-mega-monster-grande sized drink instead of my pathetic medium size pop.

As I write this, I believe my body temperature has returned to normal.

As someone who usually steers clear of any food that ventures past "mild" on the spices, I silently vowed to next time be more wary of new foods and restaurants — or at least drag along someone else as an official "taste tester" to sample the foods first.

I wonder what Gary is doing for lunch tomorrow...

Technorati tags: Agriculture

PETA protesters: They're what's for dinner

So, do you think it's a requirement to be a protester with the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that you be willing to bare all for your beliefs?

Check out this video from the Associated Press while I go grab a hamburger for lunch.

And I wonder what would happen to all the livestock of the world if PETA was to be successful in its effort to make everyone a vegetarian? Maybe every PETA member could take home cows, chickens, pigs and turkeys as pets. I can't imagine keeping a cow in an urban apartment would be very ethical treatment though. But thinking about such things isn't nearly as sexy as half-naked, or full-nude protests.

Bloggers sound off on farm bill

The final details of the 2007 Farm Bill are not going to be hammered out until early 2008, but at least now the House and Senate have passed their individual version of the bill. The final version of the bill will be worked out in conference committee after the holidays.

But based on what we know now, is it a good bill?

Wheat growers, who are currently enjoying a record price for their crop due to low global supplies, like the bill because it include price supports for those down years. Karl Scronce, a Klamath Falls, Ore., wheat rancher and second vice president for the National Association of Wheat Growers, put it this way:

"If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times – the direct payment is essential for wheat growers and other agricultural producers. It is predicable from year to year, which provides essential stability for growers, their bankers and their communities; reliable in times of disasters that affect an individual operation or spread to the larger economy and raise prices; and the most World Trade Organization-friendly program we’ve got, which is vital for an industry that exports half its product."

You can read Scronce's full statement by clicking here. And click this link for more from the National Association of Wheat Growers.

Since the Senate passed the bill late last week, some commentary on the bill and its myriad provision have been posted online on blogs and other websites. For example, Jordan J. Ballor on the Acton Institute's PowerBlog, refers to it as "A Fruity Farm Bill" in the headline of a post. I'm quite sure if the reference to funds for specialty crop growers is intended as a good thing or not.

Betsy Newmark, a teacher in North Carolina, is not a fan of the bill. On her blog, Betsy's page, she inclues a post with the headline "Let's give money to the really rich! As long as they're farmers."

Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel points out that the bill passed in the Senate by the largest margin in more than three decades in a post on the NewWest site. That a bit ironic, given that a couple of weeks ago, it wasn't even certain the Senate would vote on the bill at all this year.

Whether or not it is a good bill depends on what you grow and where you grow it.

If you are interested on more farm bill comments from the blogosphere, you may (or may not) find these links via Technorati and Google's blog search helpful.

Feel free to share your comments on the bill here in our post comments or let folks know where your comments may be posted elsewhere. Also look for additional commentary and news coverage on the farm bill in upcoming editions of the Capital Press and online at www.capitalpress.com.

Getting caught up on odds and ends

I've been on vacation and haven't posted anything for a while, so I wanted to mention a few things to get myself back in a posting mode and share information that may be of interest to Capital Press and Blogriculture readers.

***

Kudos to fellow Capital Press staffer Steve Brown (and fellow Blogriculture blogger too I might add) for getting his recent video story about Christmas tree harvesting by helicopter mentioned in a post on the Oregonian newspaper's Oregonlive.com website earlier this month.

The boost in traffic to his YouTube video from that post has made it the most popular of the videos we've posted at Capital Press in our short video-posting history.

***

Speaking of Christmas tree video stories, the Associated Press recently posted a video about the debate over whether real or artificial trees may be better for the environment. You can check out the video here.

Or read a recent guest commentary piece published in the Capital Press on that issue by Joseph Sharp, president of Yule Tree Farms at Aurora, Ore., and chairman of the Coalition of Environmentally Responsible Growers.

Staff writer Elizabeth Larson also did a story on this issue in the Nov. 23 edition.

***

And, on a more personal note, the reason I was playing hooky last week was because I was down in Las Vegas for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Last year, when I went to the NFR I took a laptop along and posted some blog updates from Las Vegas on the rodeo.

We don't really cover rodeo at the Capital Press, but there is an obvious link between the sport and agriculture, and farming and ranching news in the West is what the Capital Press. Rodeo grew out of the skills needed in ranching and working with livestock. The people who compete in rodeo largely come from ranching backgrounds and maintain farms or ranches in addition to their competitive lives. The stock contractors are specialized ranchers. And I would be willing to wager that the core of the rodeo fan base comes from the greater agriculture community. Rodeo is not only part of the Western lifestyle it is also a part of the agribusiness economy.

So, needless to say, it was difficult not to think about work when I was surrounded by farmers and ranchers from Umatilla County who make the annual trek to Vegas for the NFR.

But if you are craving some Wrangler National Finals Rodeo news, check out columnist Butch Thurman's dispatch from Las Vegas. Capital Press print readers will get the column in their paper Friday, but you can read it online now on the Capital Press website. You can even read more of Butch's columns there.

Postal ponderings

At times like this, I really miss my small town post office from the past.

Mind you, my hometown was so small it technically wasn’t a town: it only has 11 people when I was growing up, and even fewer people reside there today.

The post office was connected to a general store that handled mostly groceries. The family that operated the store would occasionally excuse themselves from adding up or packing groceries so they could get the mail quickly for people who might have popped into the post office.

On the day the farm newspaper arrived, that was always the busiest day. Farmers couldn’t wait to get their favorite paper to read the news and classifieds. Sometimes the farmers sat in their half-ton trucks later outside the post office, faces already buried into the newspapers.

Yet no matter what the season, how close was the biggest holiday of the year, there was never a long line-up at this rural post office. If there was more than one person waiting, it just meant there would be a conversation opportunity with one of the neighbors. Everyone knew each other. They even knew each other’s box numbers since there were so few there.

The post office is now closed back home, replaced by a large metal contraption of mail boxes for the community. It stands forlornly across the street from where the other post office once stood.

Instead of having chats with the post office workers about family, weather, roads, crops and anything else that came to mind, farmers instead drive up — dig their little keys out of the truck glove compartments — and take a few seconds to unlock the boxes and retrieve their mail.

It all seems so … sterile.

Today I visited the post office in the city to mail off Christmas packages to friends and family across the country and internationally.

My first clue that this wouldn’t be easy was the 40 minutes it took to make the turn into the post office parking lot and find a parking space.

In small towns, we never have that problem — unless the snowdrifts were too deep.

I managed to get into the post office and started to figure out which way the line-up weaved to fit in the maximum amount of people from protect them from the rain outside.

Inside the main post office room, people were tighter than sardines in a can. The rest of us were in the lobby, hallway, extending past the mail boxes and almost out the back of the building. And still more people kept coming. And coming.

We all came bearing gifts for loved ones. Most of us who work during the day came the only time we could — lunchtime. The line-up barely moved. Snails could have set a faster pace. As the time kept ticking, and minutes began to be measured into quarter-hours and beyond, I realized I had moved … less than a yard.

Counting the amount of people in line, the number of staff at the counter, and the number of packages per customer, I realized the shocking fact that it would take another hour and a half minimum for me to reach the counter. That is in a line-up of increasingly frustrated, agitated people who worried about missing work and were torn with the desire to still try to meet family expectations of gifts for the holidays somewhere far away. Very few of the strangers talked to each other. Usually they just grunted as someone new entered and queried where was the end of the line. Cavemen probably had longer dialogues.

I glanced at my watch. My lunch hour had already passed. I now was up to a yard and a half of moving from my original spot. The victory of slam-dunking my packages on the postal scales and demanding postage still seemed a distant goal.

Gathering my packages, I finally gave up and headed out the door, deciding to return to the post office after the line-ups finally die down.

I hope everyone who knows me will enjoy the pleasant surprise of receiving their holiday gifts — in March.

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Oregon pitches strong examples of what baseball should be

When George Mitchell came out swinging with his 409-page report on performance-enhancing drugs used in professional baseball, he struck out on the most important point that should be made.

He did not recommend punishment for the 85 past and present players named as guilty.

If he's going to name that many players who have ties with teams from coast to coast, and so many past Cy Young and Most Valuable Player winners (15 out of 36 from between 1996 and 2004), then he needed to sternly declare they must be punished.

Instead, he leaves the choice to Commissioner Bud Selig who deserves blame himself for doing so little to clean up baseball in the last few years, even as evidence grew there was a problem.

Sadly, even if something is done it appears players will not be disciplined for their actions prior to Sept. 30, 2002. That was when baseball's management and union drug policy was introduced. Also, Human Growth Hormone wasn't banned until January 2005.

Perhaps the biggest blow to baseball will be what happens to its image among fans and more importantly, the next generation of potential players.

Mitchell's report listed Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada, Andy Pettitte and so many others who have been seen as heroes for their accomplishments in batting, pitching and overall performance. Will people, especially kids, become disenchanted with baseball? Or worse, will these young players believe the only way they can compete and become stars some day is by finding ways to cheat in the future?

At a time when committees in Washington, D.C., and the baseball organizations themselves will be going through Mitchell's recommendations and attempting to deal with controversy, Oregon will stand out as a place of hope for others across the country.

Here we have some great examples of what baseball players can accomplish with hard work, solid skills, good sportsmanship, pride and most of all love of the game.

We have the Oregon State University Beavers baseball team which earned back-to-back national championships, with players from all over the state. They didn't do it for multi-million dollar contracts: Anyone watching the games could see these players love baseball and they played as a team supporting each other.

Then there's a brighter example of what Oregon can offer baseball's future: Jacoby Ellsbury of Madras.

Ellsbury, Navajo in ancestry, played with OSU's baseball team and was drafted No. 23 in 2005.

This past season, he became a World Series hero as he played for the Boston Red Sox. He fought with heart, determination and amazing skills as he became only one of three rookies in World Series history to smack four hits in a single game.

Forget Clemens, Bonds and others who have cheated their fans, shamed their teams and hurt the image of baseball forever.

We have heroes among us who will continue to show up on ball diamonds each season and demonstrate to the world why baseball deserves to be one of America's most popular sports - and earn back fans' respect and trust.


Technorati tags: Agriculture
Mitchell
baseball
Oregon
Madras
Boston Red Sox
Oregon State University
Jacoby Ellsbury
Bud+Selig
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
baseball drugs
Human Growth Hormone

The Purse Caper

By Kevin Duling

Certain things in life have to be done, regardless of a man’s will or needs. One of the things a man has to do is keep his woman happy. We’ve all heard the equation that a happy wife means a happy life.

A short time ago, my fiancée found an opportunity to purchase some blingy purses from a wholesale dealership. My fiancée has one of these blingy purses and she always receives many compliments and inquiries about it. To her, it made sense to introduce these purses to north-central Oregon.

What better place to start selling purses than the county fair. She was the first in the vendor line to purchase the perfect booth where everyone attending the fair would have to walk by her large, shiny display of women’s accessories.

Not expecting much of a sales impact right away, I was pleased to hear she had sold 25% of her inventory the first day. She was correct in her assessment; north-central Oregon was ready for the world of blingy purses.

Friday morning of the fair, my day started with the normal phone call from my fiancée to check in and plan the day.

“Kevin, I guess I have to ride my horse in the rodeo tonight, so there won’t be anyone able to sit in the booth. Also, tomorrow from 9 a.m. till about 2 or 3 pm, my mom and I will both be gone, so I really don’t know what to do with my purses. You aren’t busy, would you mind sitting in for me during those times?”

Long pause.

“So, you are saying that you want me to go and sell your purses for you?”

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but it’s your slow time and there is no way I can make it and I have about twenty ladies who are really close to buying purses. Please?”

“Well…I…”

“Oh, thanks Kevin! I will owe you for this and don’t worry; mornings have been really slow so you probably won’t even see anybody.”

After the first ten minutes of sitting in the purse booth, I realized it takes a big man to sit in front of thirty blingy purses. At least that is what I told myself to make me feel better. On Friday night, I only had to look tough a few times as people walked by glancing at the man and his purses.

As the door opened on Saturday morning, I was met with fifteen women wanting to finalize the deal on their purses. Some of the ladies had questions. My fiancée had warned me to keep my mouth shut if someone asked me an apparel question.

One brave lady asked if her purse went with her blouse. I told her she should probably find someone a little more knowledgeable than me for the answer. I tried to just sit in my lawn chair and focus on my book about staying alive in avalanche country.

As the morning moved on, the people just kept coming. The people I knew would always stop and laugh at me with statements like, “What happened Kevin, did the wheat market fall apart so you have to sell purses now?” It takes a big man to sell purses.

With record purse sales at hand, I began to understand what the women were looking for in a purse. I found myself rearranging the display, in hopes of having a better curb appeal. I thought it would be better to have the pink and green purses intertwined with the brown and black ones, creating a broader, brighter display.

As my fiancée arrived back at the booth, she was shocked to find record sales and a rearranged display.

“Did my mother come in and do all this?” she asked.

“No, I just thought it would look better this way.”

“I have good news. I got accepted for a booth next weekend at an even larger rodeo!” she gleamed.

“Great! What time do we leave?”

Kevin Duling is a wheat farmer from Maupin, Ore. His stories will be posted on the Capital Press blog every Friday. Comments are welcomed at kevinddul@aol.com

Copyright, September 2007, Kevin Duling

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Hot-button cotton

In other "subsidies are bad" news, former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter has an op-ed column in the Washington Post today decrying the current state of U.S. agriculture protections:

Tragically, in its current form [the Farm Bill] does not fulfill its original purposes [of sustaining family farms] but instead encourages excess production while channeling enormous government payments to the biggest producers. This product of powerful lobbyists now punishes small-scale farmers in the United States and is devastating to families in many of the world's least affluent countries.

Referring to an Oxfam report, Carter says the U.S. spends more to subsidize domestic cotton production than it does to fund development in all of sub-Saharan Africa, then dumps the excess cotton at below-market rates that further depress world cotton prices, adding injury to insult to small poor farmers in that region.

But after making a case for how freer trade could improve the lot of the world's poor, he does an abrupt about face and reaffirms the need for protection:

Cotton production costs 73 cents per pound in the United States and only 21 cents per pound in West Africa, so American farmers do need protection in the international marketplace.

Perhaps, as much of America faces dire water shortages, U.S. farmers might be better off planting other crops and letting better-watered lands raise thirsty crops like cotton. Cheaper T-shirts might not be the only payoff.

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Today's vocab word: Agflation

The Economist takes an in-depth look at the rising costs of key agricultural products (wheat, corn, beef and the like) and what it means for the world economy. As for causes, the magazine — never a big fan of subsidies or trade barriers — doesn't hesitate to take U.S. policy to task:

With agflation, policy has reached a new level of self-parody. Take America's supposedly verdant ethanol subsidies. It is not just that they are supporting a relatively dirty version of ethanol (far better to import Brazil's sugar-based liquor); they are also offsetting older grain subsidies that lowered prices by encouraging overproduction. Intervention multiplies like lies. Now countries such as Russia and Venezuela have imposed price controls—an aid to consumers—to offset America's aid to ethanol producers.

The surge in income for farmers is good, the magazine reports, and is the perfect time to end subsidies and price supports in America and Europe, for the benefit of all:

Cutting rich-world subsidies and trade barriers would help taxpayers; it could revive the stalled Doha round of world trade talks, boosting the world economy; and, most important, it would directly help many of the world's poor. In terms of economic policy, it is hard to think of a greater good.

What do you think?

Dwindling value of home owner's insurance continues

Insurance Companies Dropping Dry Rot Coverage

It is common knowledge that most private home insurers do not offer homeowners flood insurance, relegating them to expensive Federal insurance programs. However, my wife and I were notified today by State Farm that starting this month they and many other insurance companies are no longer insuring homes for dry rot. This will cause an increased demand for building inspectors, as they are in limited supply already.

Homeowners will no longer be able to rest on their laurels and would be well advised to pay for a home dry rot inspection every 3 years to prevent very expensive home repairs. I can see the mortgage industry already wrapping that cost of regular inspections into the annualized cost of the of the mortgage, much like they due property taxes to assure continued value.

Home inspection services will be a very busy industry in coming years, not so much because of impending home sales but of that of personal assurances that structural status of any home will not cause financial nightmare.

The Tasmanian dancer

Prior to the era of corporate farms and recreational ranches, rural communities would get together for many different functions. There were fund-raising dinners, local theatrical performances, potluck socials, sporting events, and who knows what else. Our community would have an annual dance at the fire hall.

As a youngster, I was always excited to go to the dance. I was not a dancer, but I loved to visit with my friends, plus laugh at some of the dances those old farmers and ranchers would do. My favorite passage was: “Better to sit, watch, and be presumed an idiot then go out, dance, and remove all doubt.”

I can remember my mother and two sisters being very nervous on the day of the dance. Their greatest fear was that Bullet would ask them to dance. Bullet was a man who believed in doing things as quickly as possible. His style of western swing dancing most closely resembled the cartoon character The Tasmanian Devil.

Community involvement was very high at these functions, so the women in my family found peace with safety in numbers. If Bullet asked each girl to dance once, the burden would not be hard to bear.

As a musician, I am forced to use tempo as the basis for each dance step. I assume that is the rule for dancing. With Bullet, the song tempo doesn't matter. He has one speed; Lightning.

It became apparent that one day I would have to learn to dance. My sideline spectating was not resulting in dates with the girls. Finding a dance that came naturally would be the key for not looking like the idiot on the dance floor. As in poker, if you can't spot the moron on the dance floor in the first five minutes, you are the moron.

While shoveling a grain bin, I noticed many repetitive motions that could be incorporated into a dance move. During the bin cleaning process, you have to put your left foot on the sweep auger while shoveling from your left to your right.

With your left foot out, move your arms from left to right with the rhythm of the music. This dance is called the “Bin Cleaner”. To spice up the dance, you can add the “Combine Cleaner” at various intervals.

To do the Combine Cleaner, just pretend a pile of chaff just went down the back of your neck. This forces your head to come up with a sudden forward thrust from your shoulders, while gritting your teeth for effect. Make sure your arms are down at your sides, or you will bear a slight resemblance to a chicken.

The “Hay Baler” is the next move every farmer can use in his dance arsenal. With the understanding that all balers will expectedly break down with two hours to go and rain clouds imminent, simply practice the motion of kicking the side of the baler with your outside foot. This dance can be used with the Combine Cleaner also.

I would go through the Rock Picker, the Electrical Glitch, the Tractor Stretcher, and the Panicking Wheat Marketer, but those dances have to remain as my own trademark dance moves. Bullet is still alive and well and I don't want him learning my secrets.

Having a large assortment of dances to choose from is a great way to make every community gathering a memorable and enjoyable one. I'm sure there are a few teenagers who would love to learn to dance like me. I can almost guarantee them success with the opposite sex if they will just watch my moves carefully.

If I can manage to get this community together, which is made up of three farmers, two ranchers, four retired couples, a few self-employed entrepreneurs, and fifteen recreational home owners, perhaps I can show them I am really not the moron on the dance floor, despite what the all the rumors say.

Kevin Duling is a wheat farmer from Maupin, Ore. His stories will be posted on the Capital Press blog every Friday. Comments are welcomed at kevinddul@aol.com.

Copyright, November 2007, Kevin Duling.

Flying Christmas trees

Steve Brown of the Capital Press has posted a video story about Christmas tree harvest using helicopters on a tree farm in Turner, Ore. The video will also be available soon on the Capital Press website, but for now the Blogriculture site and YouTube are the only ways to find it.

High-tech school report on farm chemicals

I came across a video today that was done as part of a high school project at High Tech High School charter school in San Diego. Given it's title, "Earth Watch — Agriculture Chemicals," I expected it to contain a pro-environment (i.e. anti-agriculture) message. But I was impressed that the student(s) who produced the video report put together a video that recognizes there are benefits to using agriculture chemical, like fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, as well as dangers if they are misused.

The information contained in the report may not contain information unknown to people working day-to-day in the ag industry, but I thought it was worth sharing anyway. If nothing else, is shows how the process of doing a school report has changed. Apparently writing a report isn't enough anymore and school reports have gone multimedia, at least at this Souther California charter school. Note the long list of credits at the end of the report (although I challenge anyone to actually read them and decipher what they say in this YouTube format).

When I watch such things, I always wonder what my dad's reaction to it would be. My father owns an agriculture aviation operation that applies agriculture fertilizers and chemicals by air. I'm sure he would have field day with the part of the report where the narrator is talking about pesticides over video images of an airplane using a spreader to apply some sort of granular material, which I'm assuming is fertilizer. Maybe it's a good thing Dad isn't part of the YouTube generation.

Hunters and gatherers

By Kevin Duling

Back in college, my crop science teacher spent many days of class telling us how we need to approach society and relationships using the “hunter and gatherer” mentality we were born with. He added that women were usually the gatherer type while men preferred to go out and kill something, drag it home, and show their women how great they were at the hunt.

I have witnessed both the hunting and gathering instinct at work in society, like a woman urging her husband to stop at the clothing or fabric store so she can browse through the aisles, hoping to find a great deal. Most men, unhappy because there is nothing to hunt and drag home, fall asleep in the car, dreaming of the day when their newly trained bird dog will make its first successful point.

There is one very important exception to the rule that men are hunters and women are gatherers. That would be the day after Thanksgiving. A typical Thanksgiving for my extended family is to rent a large house on the Oregon coast and spend the week playing cards and arguing over whose turn it is to do the dishes. The day after Thanksgiving usually involves the men going for a long hike while the women run to the outlet mall at 5 a.m. to begin to gather.

I remember one Thanksgiving when I caved in to the urging of the women and agreed to accompany them on this annual Friday shopping ritual. I figured it would be good to get a head start on the Christmas shopping and I would surely find some good deals. The older men in our house warned me about what was in store for me, with a couple of them using an evil giggle I hadn’t heard before.

At 4:30 a.m., the day after Thanksgiving, I was rudely awakened by a pack of giddy ladies all discussing which stores they would go to first. Not wanting to make them late, I skipped taking a shower and just jumped into the vehicle. Typically, these women always wanted me to drive, but not today. I sat back and watched as eight ladies who were all known for their kindness transformed into aggressively mean, scowling monsters letting nothing get in their way.

I hunched down in the back of the suburban when the driver crashed through a large mud puddle, completely soaking a couple unfortunate pedestrians on the sidewalk. The driver, whom I no longer recognized, laughed out loud as the lady in the passenger seat yelled “Go! Go! Go!” with her fist pointing onward.

At 4:50 a.m. we arrived on scene of the outlet mall. I was shocked to see the parking lot was nearly full with lines beginning to form at the entrances to some of the stores. There was no turning back now, so I grabbed my Christmas list and tried to find a store that was not so popular.

At 6 a.m. I had managed to pick a few things off the list and I felt it was time for a doughnut and a nap. I struggled through the crowd, being pushed and shoved like a pinball as these monsters, oh, I mean ladies, glared at me with their red, glowing eyes. Finally, I found the driver of our vehicle, who used to be my sister, and asked for the keys so I could take a nap.

At roughly 8 a.m. I was getting restless, so I managed to get back out into the chaos to see if I could pick some more things off my list. Entering a large department store, I grabbed a cart, hoping it would give me support and balance just in case the monsters should attack again.

I found a few really good deals. I made it to the sock section and there were three pairs of socks left for an incredible price. I grabbed all three! Meandering through the aisles I witnessed a man at the end of the aisle being scolded by a couple of monsters. Apparently he was trying to get into the express lane with 10 items when the limit was 9. People say a picture is worth a thousand words and when his eyes caught mine, well, let’s just say that there was an understanding between us.

As I was bent over looking at some items I noticed a lady with a cart moving very fast away from me. She glanced over her shoulder and her glowing eyes looked right at me. Fear then turned to rage inside me. “Did she just swipe something out of my cart?” I asked myself. “She did; she stole my three pair of socks!” It wasn’t worth the chase as I watched that five foot tall, 100 pound creature roar around the corner.

At 8:50 a.m., with the sale ending in 10 minutes, there was pushing and shoving. One lady was in tears behind me knowing that she wouldn’t make the checkout counter by 9 sharp. Through all the chaos, the manager yelled through the intercom: “Please ladies and the one gentleman, everyone in line at 9 a.m. will get the sale prices!”

While attending Thanksgiving this year at a friend’s house for a change of pace, a woman I have known for years to be one of the most kind, soft-hearted ladies around was planning her shopping trip for Friday. I remember her saying, “It’s time for me to put my nasty hat on, Kevin; we are pulling out the nasty hat!”

There is one day per year where gatherers turn into hunters and the typical hunter needs to disappear, or he will indeed be hunted.

Kevin Duling is a wheat farmer from Maupin, Ore. His stories will be posted on the Capital Press blog every Friday. Comments are welcomed at kevinddul@aol.com
Copyright, November 2007, Kevin Duling

Bay spill shuts down oyster farm

Capital Press reporter Elizabeth Larson visited an oyster farm that's been shut down temporarily by an oil spill in California's Bay Area. This video accompanies a story she will have in the Nov. 23 California edition of Capital Press.

The Hangbelly Ranch

By Kevin Duling

Country life is usually slow to change. For example, the small service station downtown which fixes our flat tires and welds our machinery is still in operation. It has been in operation for nearly 75 years. Every once in a while, something will happen in a small town to give people something to chatter about.

About five years ago, a widely traveled doctor purchased some acreage nearby, which we had been farming. He wanted to keep us as his tenants and continue farming as we had been. Occasionally, he would ask for help with something simple, such as moving a little dirt for his patio. Every time we would help, he would always be grilling us steak dinners and offering drinks. These little chores became wonderful excuses for family social functions.

One day, he decided to purchase livestock. I received a phone call from him letting me know of his new purchase and he was excited. He let me know it was his dream to have a small ranch with livestock roaming through it. Roaming through it they did, as the fences were nonexistent at best.

A couple years ago, I received another phone call alerting me to not shoot the strange creatures grazing his place. The service station was alive with talk of these small, black critters that look like a cross between a buffalo and a gazelle. Some small town folk don’t get out much, so something like this can create quite a stir.

A friend of mine, who takes care of the Hangbelly Ranch when the doctor is absent, wanted me to help her feed the animals one wintry day. She told me to throw the hay off the back of the pickup while she drove through the field. As I sat atop the hay waiting to start throwing bales, a little blonde head poked out of the sliding windows with the following disclaimer: “When we get to the yaks, be aware. They are athletic and sometimes quite friendly. Whatever happens, don’t panic and just keep throwing hay.”

With a slightly devilish grin and a twinkle in her eye, she drove us into the field. The cattle were eager to have breakfast on that snowy day, as they all followed while the hay was being dumped. About a quarter mile from the cattle was a group of yaks.

As we approached, all heads and horns were attentive to us. I started throwing as fast as I could hoping nothing strange would happen. While focusing on the hay bales I didn’t even notice that two yaks were now in the pickup with me. “I have to throw faster!” I screeched.

The pit of my stomach grew sickly as all the hay was out of the pickup, leaving the two yaks and myself. From the corner of my eye I saw my friend giggling, as the sight must have been entertaining. The yaks were coming with me, whether I liked it or not.

Today, the Hangbelly Ranch has yaks, cattle, zebu, llamas, chickens, pigs, goats, horses, guinea hens, geese, homing pigeons, peacocks, and a duck. This spring will be time to take the offspring to the auction. There is one small problem with that. The zebu bull bred a few of the cattle, the yak bull bred the zebu cows, and the beef bull bred the neighbor’s cows.

The auctioneer will have his work cut out for him that day. “Hey, look here folks, we have a great set of (pause)…….. zeebaks with a pen of 10 cowzus next up. Anyone have any idea what these are worth and where the bidding should start?”

Every small town has a story or two to tell. The story of the Hangbelly Ranch has been off the radar for some time. While waiting at the service station for a tire to be fixed, I still find myself answering the question, “Hey, what’s that place up there have out in the field? It looks like a cross between a buffalo, a cow, and a gazelle.”

Kevin Duling is a wheat farmer from Maupin, Ore. His stories will be posted on the Capital Press blog every Friday. Comments are welcomed at kevinddul@aol.com.

Copyright, November 2007, Kevin Duling

Farm bill falters

Congress will adjourn for its Thanksgiving holiday recess without passing a farm bill. A vote this morning to end debate on the bill failed. Now the political rhetoric coming out of the Senate hints that maybe the 2007 Farm Bill will have to wait until after the 2008 elections. Click here for more on the story.

No pictures, please

When various Capital Press employees headed to the Willamette Valley Ag Expo in Albany, Ore. this week, they were asked to share their impressions of the expo or a few anecdotes of their experiences there.

Photographer Mark Rozin said when he went on Tuesday to get pictures for this week’s newspaper, he found one of the expo visitors was a bit camera-shy, to say the least.

The guy declined any photos, as he pointed out that if his wife saw a picture of him in our newspaper this week, we probably would see his obituary in the newspaper not long after.

It seems the guy didn’t tell his wife he was headed to the expo that day … and he wasn’t keen on her finding out.

Technorati tags: Agriculture
Willamette Valley Ag Expo

Chile earthquake triggers memories

The news that a major earthquake of magnitude 7.7 has hit Chile triggered memories of a visit I had there in 1996, as part of a Rotary Group Study Exchange.

My group of four other people and I had visited several of the places mentioned by the media, including Calama, Antofagasta, Santiago, and even the Chuquicamata copper mine, the largest open pit copper mine in the world.

We visited several other places, and I recall people talking about past earthquakes. At one farmyard near Vina del Mar, the owner of the house showed me several places where the house had huge patched cracks down the exterior of the house. He shrugged as he explained that whenever the house shook from an earthquake, they patched the walls, and continued on. It was considered a part of life.

In the area close to today’s earthquake, it’s a barren landscape. The world’s driest desert, the Atacama desert, is near the area. Rain falls in some areas there once every 400 years or so; grass and trees are almost nonexistent in yards, and many people there have never enjoyed the fresh scent of rain. High up in the mountains and among the sleeping volcanoes, glistens sand dunes that shift and grow, instead of snow and glaciers.

So why do people live there? In places like Calama, the majority of the people have ties to the large copper mine, which produces more than five percent of the total world copper production. Antofagasta is an important port city that also has a lot of connections to the mines in the northern part of Chile.

Statistics are still being gathered about how many people died in today’s earthquake, but I’ve always been wary about numbers in these cases.

In one of the Chilean cities we visited, one of the Rotarians took a few of our group higher up the hills looking over his city. He explained the poorer you are, usually the higher you lived up in the hills.

Cautiously he drove us to one place in particular. He stopped the car along the shoulder of the road, and turned towards us, gesturing to his left and right. He wanted us to see here was clearly a dividing line between the middle class residents and the very poorest of the city’s inhabitants.

On the left, there were dusty, dirt roads; homes were made of whatever people could find — sheets of tin, plywood, cardboard. Some didn’t have roofs since it rained so seldom there. Most of the homes had no utilities.

Meanwhile, on the right side of the road was the beginning of the middle class and even upper class neighborhoods. Paved roads, better structured homes, vehicles, better-dressed people: it was like night and day on the two sides of the street.

On the right side there was another thing that stood out: A high wall ran for quite a distance. A dividing line.

As our host explained, the wall had a purpose even more sinister than to divide the classes. The wall was also supposed to separate the two classes when disasters hit.

Rain came very seldom in that area, but when it came there usually were flash floods of tumbling mud that swept from the mountains and quickly hit the first people in its path: the poor people.

During one particularly bad flood, the mess of the slums and its trapped inhabitants were pushed into the nicer neighborhoods and caused an even greater toll of life and property damage.

The people in the city decided the wall would serve as a barricade, to protect the richer people from floods hitting them. Rather than try to protect the slums from the mud and rushing water, the wall was built to stop future muddy floods of poor people and their meager possessions from slamming into the nicer homes.

If that wasn’t enough to make a person question priorities in society, there was another fact that was even more sobering.

We were told that when the disaster had hit and swept the slums into the other neighborhoods, the government statistics that were given to the outside world did not count the poor people. Only the richer people, those to the right of where the wall now stood, were considered worth counting. So, untold numbers of poor people died but no one was certain how many — and the world never heard about them.

Surely within the last decade things have changed. Surely life is more treasured there now and even the poor are counted in those official, horrible statistics about tragedies.

But deep down inside, I realize that even if the propaganda wall has been dismantled, the physical wall probably still stands there — and unfortunately, it probably isn’t the only city building such walls to separate the unwanted in society.

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Our first official video story

Freelancer Jacqui Krizo was kind enough to shoot some video for a story she is working on for Capital Press and send it along. She did such a good job with it that we rushed to get it posted. We'll add more details, but check it out.

CP will be at Willamette Valley Ag Expo

The Willamette Valley Ag Expo starts today in Albany, Ore. and during the next few days several of our staff will be visiting the show.

We have people from our editorial, advertising and circulation departments, as well as our publisher Mike O’Brien, spending some time there. People are invited to visit our booth and chat with any of our friendly staff there or if you see us wandering through the buildings.

Anyone who wishes to learn more about the show can check out stories in our special section (go to www.capitalpress.com and click on the Willamette Valley Ag Expo link on the left side menu or click here).

The organizers of the show are optimistic that there will be a good turnout of farmers, they’ll find the machinery they want, and a lot of business will be done with dealers. Fortunately, the weather has decided to cooperate today for the opening day of the show — yesterday’s storm has blown through, leaving some people in Washington and Oregon cleaning up fallen tree branches and still waiting for power to be restored.

If any of our blog readers attend the WVAE show within the next three days, let us know what you thought of it. We welcome your feedback.

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Winds whip West

It was a dark and stormy night. And next day.

Wind advisories and warnings, and now some storm warnings, have been issued here in the West, especially along the coast, where meteorologists have warned estimated winds could reach gusts of 60-85 mph.

Our freelance cartoonist Rik Dalvit, up in Bellingham, Wash., phoned early this morning to let us know the power was already out in his area before the worst of the storm was supposed to hit.

Dalvit estimated the winds were already gusting up to 85 mph there, and described the wild ocean view he saw outside his window, with the huge ocean waves and high spray. He said he felt it was like being in a hurricane, and no wonder: Category One hurricanes have sustained winds of 74-95 mph, so his area could possibly be experiencing wind gusts in that range.

The National Weather Office has also warned that waves up to 31 feet high could be experienced along some areas of the coast between Cape Lookout and Point St. George.

Dalvit apologized that his cartoons would be later than usual because of the storm. With the power outage, his office is too dark to work in.

There are probably others who are facing similar challenges of not being able to do their jobs because of electricity failures or other wind-related problems.

If you or someone you know has been affected by the adverse weather, please let us know so we can share your story.

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Do you read the numbers?

Some members for the Capital Press staff, mostly some of us who work in the newsroom, are going to be calling on our readers to help us figure out how to tailor what we do to fit them best.

So we will literally be picking up the phones talk to subscribers in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California to talk turkey — and hay, cattle, milk, grains, etc. Specifically we are going to be asking them questions about our Markets pages, where we print information about various commodity prices each week. (Read more about what's behind this effort in this week's column by Managing Editor Carl Sampson.) If you are a Capital Press reader, you can help us out too if you like. Here are the questions we will be asking. If you want to participate, you can do so by answering the questions below and sending them to me via e-mail.

Capital Press Market Reports Survey

Are you a subscriber to the Capital Press? (If not, how often do you read Capital Press?)

Do you read the Market reports in the Capital Press?

Which ones?

Do you get Market reports from our website, capitalpress.com, or other Internet sources?

Which ones?

Do you use them in addition to the market reports printed in the Capital Press or instead of them?

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most important and 1 being not important at all, how important to you are the Market reports printed in the Capital Press?

Do you have any suggestions for improving the Capital Press?

Steer clear of Fed inflation forecast

According to the Fed, inflation was minimal in the first quarter of the year. One financial analyst was a bit worried about the price of commodities. He stated how food prices could rise in relation to the demand pull for ethanol, relating to the cost of finishing an animal.

Many rural families have the luxury of growing their own beef for their own consumption. The price to raise your own animal, plus the quality of food which is achievable, are two of the advantages these families can enjoy. Nothing spells happiness to a man like having a freezer full of beef.

Out of curiosity, I decided to figure out the price of beef per pound in raising our own. We do not have our own mother cows, so the purchase price of a steer is our first cost, at roughly $500. We will typically have to feed at least half a ton of hay during the winter, so let’s add $75 to that.

Fly spray, salt, minerals, and various small vet items will maybe add another $25, bringing your total to $600 for a finished beef. There are some hidden expenses, I’ve noticed, that can add up really fast.

First, to purchase a steer, one has to visit an auction. This can get expensive. To get the accurate cost of beef per pound, I believe I would have to add the cost of the goat, the pig, and the donkey I felt sorry for and also purchased. Had I not been shopping for a steer, these three critters would still be at the auction and not in my yard.

Secondly, I do not own a trailer, so I had to hire someone to bring these to my house. For some reason, the steers I pick out always seem to be really good deals until I get them home. I believe elk would struggle keeping up with these bovines, so we can add the cost of fixing the corral to that list too.

Having your ranch next to a bird farm is not necessarily a good thing. The lure of irrigated corn patches in a desert is more than an average steer can bear, so we’ll add the price of a corn patch or two.

Lastly, corn can make a steer feel really energetic, so let’s add the cost of a satellite dish, a water faucet, my yard fence, and a septic tank, all found in my yard. Whatever the price, it will be nice having this steer in the freezer.

After cutting and wrapping, the total price per pound on a home-raised beef steer is only $10.50 per pound. Who in their right mind would ever buy beef at a supermarket?

I did a similar exercise on the cost of elk meat per pound. Hunting and fishing is a sure bet at keeping your food costs down. Why, a hunting license only runs $43.50. Add some ammo, a tag, and maybe a few camping supplies and the cost couldn’t be too bad could it?

We do tend to eat a little more than normal while elk camping. The price of fuel is higher now and you can’t just use cheap bullets. New water proof boots and clothing must be purchased at least every other year, toilet paper is a large necessity, and the new tax deductible chainsaw is a must for any elk hunter.

Let us not forget the trailer we have to buy to camp in, plus the full size gas grill every elk camp should have. Sometimes it rains or snows while elk hunting, so a wall tent must be purchased to allow more room for drying clothes. Lastly, a winch to haul the elk out of the canyon is needed.

The running total on a pound of elk meat is now at $150.75 per pound in the event that we actually get one. The Fed seems to be off a bit. I think inflation is becoming a bit of a problem. Who can afford to eat with these kinds of prices?

I think I will take up fishing. All I need is a pole and some bait, right?

Kevin Duling is a wheat farmer from Maupin, Ore. His stories will be posted every Friday on the Capital Press blog. Comments are welcomed at kevinddul@aol.com.

Copyright, November 2007, Kevin Duling

Country Music Association performances were refreshing

So … what did people think of the Country Music Association winners last night?

Anyone from a farm background has to appreciate the lyrics of some of the country music songs being recorded each year. There are songs that make us laugh, cry, reminisce or be proud of who we are and what we do.

One of the things that stood out during the evening is the incredible amount of talent there is in the country music industry:

There are the familiar faces who have performed for several decades, like Country Music Hall of Fame member George Strait, 55, still winning awards … and new stars such as Taylor Swift — born in 1989, and playing since she was 12 —who won the Horizon award.

Perhaps some of the most stunning performances were the simplest ones last night, where the performers stood on stage with perhaps only a microphone and one guitar player, allowing the voice and passion of the singer to hold the audience spellbound.

In an age where many performers like loud noise, gimmicks and wild lighting to capture attention of their fans, it’s refreshing and very effective to return to the roots of good music.

* * * *

Does it bug anyone else that anytime there’s some national entertainment show that is supposed to have suspense, people from the rest of the country forget us in the West and our time zone?

A couple of examples: the Country Music Association awards last night, and the Next Great American Band competition.

If you don’t want to know who the winners are in the CMAs and which bands lost in the band competition, then you better not go on their websites until after you finished watching your television shows on the West coast.

Because … whoever does the websites for those shows decided to post the results an hour or more before we find out the final results here.

Mind you, this works great if you wish to annoy friends and family.

“Hey, want to know who wins that category…?”


Technorati tags: Agriculture

Capital Press website trouble

We're still experiencing technical difficulties with our website www.capitalpress.com, thanks to problems originating with our Website provider. The problem is being worked on, but we're not sure exactly when our website will be trouble-free.

However, we're crossing our fingers and hoping that the problem can still be resolved later today.

On the bright side, tomorrow people should have our latest newspaper in their mailboxes so they can get their latest dose of ag news and ads from the West.

Thanks, everyone, for your patience.


Technorati tags: Agriculture
Capital Press

Don’t have a (falling) cow, man

It behooves me to milk this story for bad puns ... stop me if you herd this cliffhanger (well, jumper…)

I guess you could say this couple in an AP story was hit by a mooooooooving target.
It's too bad the couple weren't able to steer away from trouble.

It’s grate they weren’t injured, but they were a bit cheesed off that this happened on their anniversary.

Guess the lesson is a cow may have jumped over the moon ... but it sure can't clear a minivan.

* * * * *

(The above has been my humble contributions to the comedy world since I realize many people are going through withdrawal symptoms because their favorite sitcoms and late night talk shows are on reruns because of the Hollywood writers’ strike.)

Which leads me to … the top 10 reasons why people are concerned about how long the strike might go on …

10) They might find out the judges and hosts of shows like Dancing with the Stars are reduced to Stumbling with Words.

9) Television commercials about personal hygiene products start to appear wittier than sitcom dialogues.

8) What is introduced as the precious lost episodes of various late night talk shows look suspiciously like C-Span recordings from 2002.

7) Stephen Colbert might decide he needs a day job and announces a run for presidency in states other than South Carolina. This time, the political parties decide to accept his offer and earnestly begin fundraising.

6) After shock and denial during the first few days of the strike, avid television fans decide they must be brave — they seek life beyond their sofas and remotes. They stumble into the streets and discover they have neighbors that are three-dimensional. Who knew?

5) Radio talk shows enjoy a sudden spike in “first time callers, first time listeners” who wish to discuss their passionate dislike of the new plots of daytime soap operas and how they think the new plot writers should mysteriously disappear (stay tuned for details.)

4) Without the distraction of their favorite television shows, Americans begin to pay more serious attention to Iraq and learn that Osama hasn’t been caught yet. Neighborhood vigilante groups are formed to tackle the problem, as well as clean up their local parks.

3) Without late night talk show comedians giving them their political commentaries of the day’s events, people actually begin to watch the news to hear firsthand what the politicians say in Washington, D.C. Long-term therapy will be later needed.

2) The food industry reports a catastrophic drop in junk food consumption by consumers; fortunately, beer sales remain healthy thanks to people attempting to numb themselves to the sports show anchors … who continue their endless banter on players giving 110 percent, the team scoring the most will win the game, and how everyone is in a win-win situation except those who lose.

1) And finally … People desperate for humor turn to our humble blog, and Blogriculture develops a cult following … Or, on days we write about falling cows, a cowlt following.

Technorati tags: Agriculture
humor
Hollywood writers' strike
cows
television
puns

Please stand by ... for Capital Press website

In the old days of television, if there was a problem there would be flashed on the screen something about "technical difficulties, please stand by."

Diligently we'd stand by, unless, of course, we were sitting on our cozy sofas waiting for the television station to resume service. In the days of not many channels, we didn't really have a choice at times.

Unfortunately, in the fast, exciting world of the Internet when we as an information provider have problems, it can be aggravating to us as well as our customers when something affects our Website.

The challenge is how to let people know there's a problem, and how to encourage them to be patient with us — and hopefully return to surfing our site later.

We want to post breaking news and news updates, especially the day after elections have been held in several states and as the 2007 Farm Bill continues to be debated in Washington, D.C.

However, anyone trying to access our website today (and perhaps yesterday) may have had delays or been unable to open our site pages.

We weren't the only newspaper to experience this. It ends up being a problem with our website provider, who handles our newspaper and other clients. Seems we've been hit by those awful "bots" again ... automatic search engine programs that crawl through the Internet and pop in and out of sites so they can create an index of what they found on sites.

They can sometimes overwhelm the sites and not allow other traffic through. Occasionally companies get hit with these, despite best efforts to block the sometimes malicious attacks.

Anyway, out internet provider is working on the problem and hopes to have it resolved perhaps later today.

Until then, please stand (sit) by...

Technorati tags: Agriculture