Oregon wines win against copycats

Federal regulators have cracked down on a Napa Valley winemaker for labeling his product with labels that might mislead buyers into thinking it was made in Oregon.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau ordered the owner of Copper Creek Wines & Provisions to change several wine labels, including the Willametter Journal and Elouan, according to a Portland Business Journal article. However, the agency stated that the company can sell its existing products already packaged under the misleading names.

I Never Thought I Couldn’t

Alec Oliver

WORDS : NAOMI INMAN & MITCH LIES
PHOTOS : LYNNPHOTO.COM

On a February morning at her Bear Valley home, Tinka Oliver puzzled at the whirring drone outside her kitchen window — tipping this way and that as if to wave.

Her son, Alec, had a new way of stopping by to say, “Hi mom!”

From that same kitchen window, on a dark July night in 2012, Tinka puzzled at the sight of Alec’s truck, stopped half a mile down the long gravel drive. It was an odd hour at night, and oddly positioned to the side of the bridge, headlights beaming into the evening mist.

Farm Stays Keeps Couple on the Farm

Scottie Jones, Greg Jones, Leaping Lamb Farm

WORDS: MITCH LIES

It didn’t take long for Scottie and Greg Jones of Leaping Lamb Farm in Alsea, Oregon, to encounter the difficulties of generating a profit on a small farm. New to farming in 2003, the couple realized by 2005 they needed more than the income from raising sheep to fulfill their dream of living off the land.

What Ever Happened To Pendleton Grain Growers?

Pay Attention to Your Co-Op

Pendleton Grain Growers

WORDS : ERIC FRUITS , PH.D.
Eric Fruits, Ph.D. is chief economist and president at Economics International Corp. and an adjunct professor at Portland State University.

Farmland Industries was once the largest farmer-owned co-op in the United States.  In 2001, it opened a new headquarters in Kansas City.  The glass-wrapped building and deluxe executive suites told the world that Farmland had become an agribusiness giant.  At the time, the co-op was racking up debt—building a big expensive fertilizer plant, upgrading older fertilizer plants, and spending nearly $100 million on new computer software.  In 2002, Farmland filed for bankruptcy. By 2004, its last big asset had been sold off.

80% of Marijuana Exported?

80 percent weed

WORDS : ERIC FRUITS , PH.D.

Much of Southern Oregon sits at the northern tip of the Emerald Triangle, one of the nation’s best marijuana growing regions.  The climate is ideal for growing cannabis. The growing season extends into fall and the long warm summers bring little or no rain.