2022 West Coast Agriculture Program

  We spent majority of the day in the vehicle.   Leaving at 8:30 from Medford, Oregon we drove to an almond farm.   The farm was located in California and we drove along a beautiful highway with mountains.   We learned that in order to use bathrooms in California you have to buy something from that business.   Finally, we arrived in Arbuckle to tour Henderson Farms.   We drove through their almond orchard and to a little pond and camping area, where one of the daughter and her kids prepared lunch for us.   Several members of the group even went out canoeing on their pond.   It was a very pretty area and our hosts served burgers for dinner.   The weather was in the 90’s all day.   After we ate we went to look at all the harvesting equipment used in the almond and walnut industries.   There are several different varieties of almonds that need to be planted in alternating rows in order to cross pollinate to grow the almonds.   T...

  Today, we had to wake up earlier than normal to make it to the first stop by 6:30. Our first stop was Saddle Butte Ag. They were kind enough to serve us breakfast burritos, fruit, and coffee cake for breakfast. They grow cover crops and grass for seed to sell. Some crops that they grow include rye, chickpeas, chicory, buckhorn plantain, hairy vetch, and many others. We were given a tour of their farm and many fields by Don Wirth and his grandsons. Don stressed the importance of cover crops, crop rotations, drain tile in wet fields, and that larger profits are better than larger yields. The cattle and sheep on their operation are all on pasture. The pastures consist of different grasses and cover crops. You can find out more information about them on their website: www.saddlebutte.com .  We then went to Oregon State University, where we learned about wine production, hemp production, lamb grazing, met with some OSU students and had lunch with them.  We had the opp...

The group woke up this morning in McMinnville, Oregon where we hit the road for an hour and a half for our first visit of the day in Tillamook, Oregon where we got to visit the Tillamook creamery, and got an ice cream experience! The ice cream experience consisted of learning about the history of the company along with the many flavors of ice cream that was made there. We also got to learn about the other products made which were butter, cream cheese, sour cream, cheese, yogurt and custard. All their milk comes from 75,000 dairy cattle just in Tillamook County. Along with learning the types and flavors we got the opportunity to guess the attributes of the Marionberry pie ice cream before we tasted it. Those different qualities consisted of the creaminess, sweetness and different berries and pie crust that it consisted of. To wrap up that visit we got to taste test a flight of their ice creams which were, cookies and cream, mudslide and huckleberry. After that visit on a full stomach,...