Ag Day is here

It's just about time for Ag Day at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, Ore. Saturday, Sept. 2, is the big day. Several members of the Capital Press staff will be on the grounds to honor Oregon's agriculture industry and the people who grow food and fiber in the Beaver State.

Stop by one of our booths to talk about agriculture, learn more about the Capital Press or just say hello. We have one booth located in Columbia Hall for the course of the fair, which runs through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4. On Ag Day we will also have a booth in the center of the grounds all day. If you want to see one of the bloggers behind Blogriculture (namely me), I will be at the booth in the center of the grounds, north of the food court, from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

I'll be one of the people in the bright, neon-green Ag Day T-shirts. It will be getting dark, but keep your sunglasses handy. Those shirts are bright!

Happy Ag Day!

Agriculture
Ag Day
Oregon State Fair
Capital Press

Going once... going twice....going Saturday?

Anyone who loves to hear the chant of a good auctioneer will love to attend the Oregon Auctioneer Championship being held at the Oregon State Fair on Saturday night in Salem.

The event takes place from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the 4-H/FFA Judging Tent as the competitors hold a live public auction and are judged on several different criteria.

Being a good auctioneer involves a lot of things. It’s not just what they say but how they say it, what are their showmanship skills like, how successful are they interacting with the crowd and influencing them to buy.

And for anyone who hires these auctioneers, such as at farm auctions, one of the most important things is how high can they raise the bids so the bottom line will be successful.

For people who attend this event each year, they’ll hear some familiar voices competing. Often it’s the same group of auctioneers, with a few exceptions, and it’s enjoyable to witness their recognizable styles but also to see what they change from year to year.

Holding these types of competitions are great because the auctioneers do learn from each other and often support each other. They will sometimes bid on each other’s items. Sometimes it’s because they really want to go home with a good deal, but sometimes it’s to help out their competitors.

Stay tuned to Capital Press (and this blog space) to find out who the winners are this year.


Agriculture

No holiday for those who labor to bring food to the table

While many in America will be taking Monday off for the annual Labor Day holiday, for many farmers and ranchers it will be just another working day.

Taking a day off to celebrate and honor those workers who make America work is a great thing. But for many in agriculture, it's peak season for harvest, or there are cows to milk or livestock to feed or crops to irrigate. Some things just can't wait for one day off, let alone a long three-day weekend, particularly not in early September.

So, for those who will be toiling and tilling and treating and feeding on Monday, America should salute you most this Labor Day.

Agriculture
Labor Day

Speaking of beer...

I read this item in today's Salem Statesman Journal. If you don't want to follow the link, it is a brief that was on the Business section about how much money the beer industry contributes to the Oregon economy.

The source is a study done for the National Beer Wholesalers Association and Beer Institute, which reports that beer supports more than 26,000 jobs in the state. It also says that beer generates $732 million in annual wages and benefits for workers and contributes more than $2.2 billion for the state economy.

The full report is available from BeerServesAmerica.org. If you dig a little deeper into the report, the study indicates the direct "supplier impact" on agriculture is 661 jobs, with $7.1 million in wages and an economic contribution of $33 million. The "induced impact" on ag is listed as 272 jobs, $4.4 million in wages and an economic contribution of $15.7 million.

The value of Oregon's hop crop alone in 2005 was $20.7 million, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. NASS reports that 5,153 acres of hops were harvested, producing 8 million pounds.

According to the study done for the bear folks, the overall economic impact in Washington state is smaller, only $1.2 billion, but the impact on agriculture is greater. The report lists a supplier impact on ag of 896 jobs, $11.2 million in wages and $46.3 million in economic contributions. The induced impact on agriculture in Washington is 91 jobs with $7.1 million in wages and $26 million in economic contributions.

However, Washington's hop crop was valued at $73.8 million in 2005, according to NASS. Nearly 39.5 million pounds of hops where harvested in Washington, from 21,094 acres.

Idaho reportedly receives a supplier impact on agriculture of 210 jobs, a little less than $3.7 million in wages and almost $12.8 million in economic contributions. Induced impact on ag is listed as 79 jobs, about $1.9 million in wages and $6.23 million in economic contribution.

Washington state's Yakima Valley grows about 75 of all hops grown in the United States, according to an alternative field crops manual from the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension and the University of Minnesota's Center for Alternative Plant and Animal Products and that university's Cooperative Extension Service. Washington, Oregon and Idaho are the major producing states for hops and grow more than 50 million pounds of the crop each year.

So, I'm not sure how valuable, or accurate, the beer study is, because it seem to focus more on the brewery and retail angle, without looking at the ag impacts. In Oregon and Washington the hop crop alone was valued higher than the so-called economic impact on agriculture.

Maybe someone drank too much beer and couldn't do the math.

Agriculture
Beer
Hops
Pacific Northwest

Technology brings back an extinct Northwest species

Sooner or later, everything makes it online.

A few weeks back I met a couple of old friends after work. Both are professional photographers and we were photo colleagues back in college at Oregon State. We were doing our own version of VH1's "I love the '80s," reminiscing about people, places and things we once knew.

Perhaps since we were in a bar, the subject of beer came up. Now, beer is often a favorite topic in the Northwest, which has long been reknowned as a hop growing region. Of course Portland and the Northwest led the microbrew revolution, which introduced so many people to beer that actually had flavor -- not that American-style pilsner that mass market breweries spit out by the oceanful.

But before the microbrew revolution hit, the Northwest had several regional breweries known mostly for making inexpensive versions of an American pilsner. These were the original Northwest microbreweries before the macrobreweries swallowed them up and in most cased killed them off. Names like Henry Weinhard's, Blitz and Olympia were some of the more popular brands.

One of the cheapest -- in price as well as taste -- was Rainier. But their advertising campaign was pure quirky gold. Everyone in the region knew the RainBeers, large Rainier bottles with legs that were chased all over the Northwest by men equipped with oversized bottle openers.

And, of course, there was the one with the motorcycle.

My friends and I, somehow got on the topic of Nothwest beers from back then and someone says: Remember Rainier. One of my old friends and I break into the tagline in unison, doing our best talking-motorcycle impersonations, winding up through the gears.

"Raaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiii-nnnnneeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr-beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer."

It was worth a smile and a laugh and one of those "those were the days"-type coments.

Well, tonight, while cruising around the Internet, what did I find, but that very commercial, posted on YouTube.com. Thanks to The Brew Site and Beervana for showing the way.



Fun commercials, but bad, bad beer.

Yep, sooner or later everything ends up posted online.

Agriculture
Pacific Northwest
Hops
Breweries

The big day

It's D-Day here at Capital Press. Deadline Day. Our editors will soon be gathering to share information about what's going where in the four regional editions we produce this week.

Sometimes we find out something in one of the other regions is a big story and needs to run in more than one editions. Some times we hear about late breaking developments on stories we had been anticipating.

By the end of day today production work will be wrapped up on the Sept. 1 editions of Capital Press and their fates will be turned over to the press crew and the U.S. Postal Service, to get those editions to readers all over the West, and beyond.

Oops, Managing Editor Carl Sampson is calling the troops together. Got to run for now.

Agriculture
Capital Press