OSU University–  CORVALLIS, Ore. – Hal Schudel changed the shape of the Christmas tree – and the entire industry. Founder of Holiday Tree Farms Inc., the largest Christmas tree grower in the world, Schudel popularized the lush, triangle-shaped, plantation-grown conifers that decorate many homes and offices during the holiday season. […]

SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Department of Agriculture says that federal conservation payments to Oregon farmers and ranchers have more than tripled since 2000. The payments by the U.S. Department of Agriculture fund various conservation programs, including compensation to take environmentally sensitive land out of agricultural production. Other projects are […]

Guest Submission Oregon’s largest dairy will test a new generation of technology that captures methane from cow manure–tapping an underused energy source and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. NW Natural and Bonneville Environmental Foundation are building the $1 million methane digester at Threemile Canyon Farms in Boardman. Methane digesters are not […]

By Helen Moore, Water for Life, Return Flows Newsletter The question of the day is can irrigated agriculture survive in the current political climate? Everyone has heard expressed that “water is the oil of the 21st century” and “whiskey’s for drinkin, water’s for fightin”.  Truer words have never been spoken. […]

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture presented its second annual “Book of the Year” award to Leon Hesser for The Man Who Fed the World, his biography of Dr. Norman Borlaug. Terry Gilbert presents Leon Hesser with the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture’s 2008 “Book of the Year” […]

Oregon Department of Forestry — A newly developed economic development strategy for Oregon’s forest cluster will be presented on Dec. 10, from 1-4 p.m., at the World Forestry Center in Portland. Members of the public and interested stakeholders are invited to attend.  Oregon’s forest cluster includes firms and organizations that […]

Submitted by: Gienie Assink, Springfield, OR  Oregon counties find themselves in a budget dilemma as a result of the inability to use our O&C Lands to provide funding for public safety and federal Forest Service timberlands to provide funding for vital public services like road maintenance and schools. The reality […]

Closed Rail Line Purchased COQUILLE, Ore. – The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay has agreed to buy a rail line that was closed for safety reasons in September 2007. The port’s purchase should help coastal businesses that have been using costly alternatives to ship goods such as timber and […]

By Oregon Farm Bureau, The delight of gazing at a light-strewn, decorated live Christmas tree and the festive feeling its evergreen aroma inspires does not need to be accompanied by a nagging sense of guilt.  The Oregon Farm Bureau wants to inform consumers that despite what they may have heard […]

By Pacific Fishery Management Council, Portland, OR. – At its meeting in San Diego last week, the Pacific Fishery Management Council revamped West Coast commercial groundfish fishery management by adopting a system of individual fishing quotas, or IFQs, for the shoreside trawl fishery, and a system of structured harvest co?operatives […]