Oregon’s FARM STAND 2017 ISSUE 2017 GUIDEBounty FRESH FOOD FROM THE FIELD TO YOU Hazelnut farmer reaches new heights Learn where to buy food directly from Oregon family farmers & ranchers! Guide inside and online at oregonfb.org. LOCALLY GROWN RETAIL PRICE $5 Our heritage is in protecting yours COUNTRY Financial® was founded by a group of farmers in 1925. Our roots lie in the values born of hard work, integrity, and compassion and we’ve been protecting farms like yours since the beginning. From farm vehicles and buildings, to apples and grapes, we’ve got you covered. We know that farming isn’t a business, it’s a way of life. Visit COUNTRYFinancial.com or talk to your local COUNTRY Financial® Representative. Let us put our experience to work for you. Policies issued by COUNTRY Mutual Insurance Company®, Bloomington, IL. This entity is an equal opportunity provider. Auto, Home, and Commercial policies issued by COUNTRY Mutual Insurance Company ®, COUNTRY Casualty Insurance Company®, or COUNTRY Preferred Insurance Company®. Life insurance policies issued by COUNTRY Life Insurance Company® and COUNTRY Investors Life Assurance Company®. Fixed Annuities issued by COUNTRY Investors Life Assurance Company®. All issuing companies are located in Bloomington, IL. 1115-569HO_0217 1115-569HO_0217 2017 ISSUE Volume 30, No. 1 Farmers, ranchers make Oregon special Contents When you think of what makes Oregon special, Farmer flies into the future 2 what comes to mind? Fast facts about Farm Bureau 8 Perhaps the majesty of Crater Lake, the lush green of our working forests, or the rugged cliffs Teacher passionate about ag education 11 along the coast. Learn about Summer Ag Institute 12 But if you’re like us, your thoughts jump straight Young farmers: Join YF&R! 13 to Oregon-specific items like “marionberries,” “hazelnuts,” “grass seed,” and “hops.” Century Farms & Ranches honored 14 Agriculture contributes immensely to Oregon’s Oregon ag by the numbers 15 unique identity, and is to thank in large part for Oregon’s Bounty guide to farm stands 16 the quality of life enjoyed by all its residents. Farm Bureau member benefits 20 One of the family farmers who raises hazel- What’s in season calendar 24 nuts — the official state nut, for which Oregon is known worldwide — is Bryan Harper, newly Call for 2018 calendar photos 45 elected president of Lane County Farm Bureau and recently appointed member of the Oregon Board of Agriculture. ON THE COVER: He’s busy raising hazelnuts on his family’s Newly elected Lane County 125-year-old farm, advocating for Oregon Farm Bureau President agriculture, and enjoying his favorite pastime: Bryan Harper combines flying an airplane. Read his story on p. 2. his lifelong passions for On p. 11, you’ll learn about Dawn Alexander, a farming and flying. Photo by Anne Marie Moss Photo by fifth grade teacher from Redmond and member of Deschutes County Farm Bureau, and her Editor: Anne Marie Moss passion for incorporating agriculture into her Graphic Designer: Cheryl McLean, ImPrint Services classrooms. Copyright © 2017. Oregon Farm Bureau Federation. The bulk of Oregon’s Bounty is dedicated to All rights reserved. No part of this publication may a listing of over 300 family farms and ranches be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or who sell their products directly to the public via transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, farm stands, u-picks, CSAs, on-farm events, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, and booths at farmers markets. without the prior written permission of the publisher. Peruse these pages to find out where to buy Advertising carried in the publication does not constitute an endorsement of the products by seasonal fruits, veggies, flowers, nuts, meat, Oregon Farm Bureau. Exceptions to this rule cheese, and more directly from family farm- are products and services sold by Farm Bureau ers — or use Oregon’s Bounty on the go at affiliate companies carrying the full backing and oregonfb.org to search specific ag products endorsement of the federation. and get driving directions. For advertising information, contact Anne Marie Since 1919, Farm Bureau has proudly worked Moss, [email protected], 503.399.1701. to protect and promote Oregon agriculture, ISSN 1040-5909 Published annually by Oregon Farm Bureau Federation, doing our best to keep family farms and 1320 Capitol St. NE, Suite 200, Salem, OR 97301, 503.399.1701, ranches viable, vital, and sustainable for [email protected]. Controlled circulation. Subscription included in annual dues. future generations. Searchable guide at oregonfb.org 11 Flying into the future LANE COUNTY FARM BUREAU PRESIDENT BRYAN HARPER REACHES NEW HEIGHTS ON THE FARM AND IN THE CLOUDS. By Anne Marie Moss s soon as you meet young, the south Willamette Valley. charismatic Bryan Harper, At a young age, Harper’s whatever preconceptions grandmother Janet Chase Harper you may have about “the introduced him to work on the farm, Astereotypical farmer” will vanish. which raised a variety of vegeta- Not only is Harper a fifth-genera- bles and peppermint at the time. tion farmer, newly elected president “Grandma was my first crew boss, of Lane County Farm Bureau, and giving me and my sister a hoe, recent appointee to the Oregon teaching us how to pull weeds to Board of Agriculture — he’s also a make sure they don’t come back,” pilot, owner of a rare World War II said Harper. “Some of my favorite airplane, and former sprinter for the memories were here, driving trac- University of Oregon track team. tors, riding 4-wheelers, waking up in “People are like, ‘You’re a the middle of the night to cook pep- farmer?’ They think you should permint oil. I learned that hard work have a pitchfork and overalls,” program and how to make good use laughed Harper. “I’ve never been of my time from the farm.” one of those people who likes to fit While getting an education in the mold.” agriculture, Harper was also “raised Harper was born in Nairobi, in an airplane” by his dad, an avid Kenya to mom Rose, who hailed pilot who made frequent use of the from a small Kenyan village, and grass airstrip on the property. dad Warren, a farmer from Junction Harper’s own passion for flying City, Oregon. When he was just 17 was soon ignited. days old, his family journeyed from Africa across oceans and conti- “It’s the closest thing to being a nents to begin a new life in bird. In an hour, you can be in a 2 OREGON FARM BUREAU whole new world. It’s my dad’s fault dice it, cream it, butter it. There’s I have this disease of needing to value added, where you can put fly,” he said. them in all types of food. I have a huge passion for filberts.” Harper was also good at running. His skill got him recruited by the Oregon’s hazelnut industry is University of Oregon track team, having a moment. With high inter- where he specialized in the 400 national demand and robust prices, meters, able to run a 46-second new orchards have been springing quarter mile. up across the Willamette Valley in recent years. Oregon raises 99% of “It was a good time, and I got to the hazelnuts grown in the United travel all over the country. Some of States, but only represents about my friends are the greatest athletes 4.5% of the global market; there’s in the world,” he said. lots of room to grow. But farming always remained a Part of the enthusiasm is due constant in Harper’s life. to the success of Jefferson trees, “I’d have 8 a.m. workouts at Hen- a newer variety developed by dricks Park in Eugene, then I’d go meet my dad in Harrisburg to have breakfast with all the farmers.” After he graduated with a degree in psychology in 2012, he sat down with the family to discuss the future of the farm. “I told them I wanted to do it and was serious about it. So I started being groomed to take the farm Harper looks at bud breaks in the first hazelnut orchard over,” he said. Harper began work- he planted three years ago. This piece of land was ing full-time with his dad, learning purchased by his grandfather Tom Harper, an army how to manage 470 acres of captain who served in World War II. hazelnut orchards. Oregon State University that’s Last year, he became vice presi- designed to be resistant to Eastern dent of Harper Farms Inc., preserv- Filbert Blight, which Harper calls ing a 125-year family tradition “cancer for hazelnuts.” The variety and positioning the business for a has also impressed farmers with its promising future. heartiness and high nut yield. Three years ago, Harper planted Happy with hazelnuts his first hazelnut orchard with Since its origins in 1891, the farm Jefferson trees. has raised a wide variety of crops. “This field is kind of sentimental However, the family decided in to me,” he said, scanning orderly 2015 to focus on filberts — aka rows of young trees festooned with hazelnuts, aka Oregon’s official small leaf buds. state nut. “It was the first piece of land my “Hazelnuts pack a punch,” said grandpa, Tom Harper, bought after Harper. “It’s a diverse, marketable he returned from World War II. He crop. You can eat it raw, roast it, was in his 20s and kind of a young, Searchable guide at oregonfb.org 3 the soil. You need to have things in balance,” said Harper. “It’s kind of fun, like a big chemistry experiment when you’re mixing all of these different nutrients and feeding them to the trees at the right time.” And the trees love it.