Central Oregon Ranch Supply: Trade show within a trade show

Central Oregon Ranch Supply
Central Oregon Ranch Supply

By BRENNA WIEGAND For the Capital Press Mar 9, 2023

Mark Malott of Central Oregon Ranch Supply is bringing a few friends to the Central Oregon Ag Show. In fact, Malott says he is putting on a “trade show within a trade show.”

Eight manufacturer’s representatives will have their own booths where visitors can ask questions, see and purchase their wares and even negotiate.

“Very rarely are those reps available to the general public,” Malott said. “Most of the time they’re running up and down the road calling on people like me.

“We just wanted to try something a little different,” he said. “The people from the Ag Show really liked the idea so we’re taking a run at it.”

Central Oregon Ranch Supply hosts its own trade shows in the fall and spring that are attended by thousands of people. In addition to their main store in Redmond, Ore., they have a satellite store at the Central Oregon Livestock Auction in Madras.

Mark’s parents, Ray and Claudia Malott, started Central Oregon Ranch Supply in 1976. Mark and Ann purchased the company from his parents in 2000, and in 2017 their daughter Michaeline joined the business.

“We’re a lot larger and cover a lot bigger territory than we did at the beginning,” Malott said. “We ship our animal health products to five states on a daily basis, and our larger products — salt, minerals and equipment — are shipped throughout the Pacific Northwest.”

Being in the cattle business himself, Malott can often bring a perspective to the business that a normal retail operation cannot.

Malott has maintained a cow herd for 40 years, running them all over Oregon on leased or deeded land. His son, Kahl, is part of the highly skilled crew operating Malott Livestock LLC.

“Being family owned, everybody cares just a little bit more than if you just worked for somebody; that gives us a little leg up as well,” Malott said. “We offer expert service, competitive prices and will have what you need in stock.”

At the show will be two large displays of cattle handling equipment, allowing people to operate it, see how it works and even purchase it on the spot.

“Technology in animal health products and cattle handling equipment are just like your iPhones and everything else — they’re ever-changing,” Malott said. “Some of these cattle equipment systems now available to producers are by far the safest for not only cattle but the producers handling them.”

An example is a portable corral system by Arrowquip that can be pulled behind a pickup truck and unloaded and set up to work cattle in 20 minutes.

“The vaccine and anthelmintic products and the antibiotics available today compared to when I started at 20 are just crazy,” Malott said. “You no longer have to live with the cattle losses that producers lived with 20 years ago.

“Every year something comes out in the research to help you improve your performance — get your cattle bred better or get them to perform better on pastures or increase feed efficiency on your hay or make your cattle handling safer,” he said. “It’s never boring in the ag industry.”

BBG Real Estate Services: Finding value in farmland

Sydni Nicolici of BBG Real Estate Services visits a client’s vineyard in Dundee, Ore. Nicolici is BBG’s director of agricultural valuation for the West Coast.
Sydni Nicolici of BBG Real Estate Services visits a client’s vineyard in Dundee, Ore. Nicolici is BBG’s director of agricultural valuation for the West Coast.

By BRENNA WIEGAND For the Capital Press Mar 9, 2023

The country’s leading independent valuation and assessment services firm, BBG Real Estate Services has built an expansive customer base and a deep understanding of diverse property types across major U.S. markets.

Though she’s been an appraiser for 10 years, Sydni Nicolici found her niche in agricultural appraising about five years ago and now serves as BBG’s director of agricultural valuation for the West Coast.

“I like to focus on specialized properties in the region and have helped value an equestrian center and custom hunting lodge,” Nicolici said. “However, I’ve met a wide variety of people and seen a lot of different things like where those cool scented pinecones come from and how they’re made, or I can talk your ear off about blueberries, from the varieties to the many ways they’re processed, including what it takes to get into the Starbucks syrup lineup.”

Though not a well-known industry, the independent appraiser plays a large role in commercial lending today, functioning largely as a check on value to make sure a loan makes sense.

BBG can also help with estate work. Representatives are frequently called on as expert witnesses in court.

Nicolici keeps her finger on the pulse of Oregon’s many crops and their markets and furthers her knowledge and networking as the Oregon Chapter Vice President of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.

In her leadership role, Nicolici recently arranged a continuing education event for agriculture appraisers focusing on water rights concerns and impacts for Deschutes and Crook counties.

“People either love appraising or they just kind of roll their eyes because it can be pretty technical,” Nicolici said. “I would say it’s a mix of art and data and at some point we have to interpret what we’re seeing and then make a judgment call at the end of it.”

It’s not always good news, as with the current real estate market.

“Unfortunately, we’re in the throes of a declining market right now, and I don’t think we’ve hit the bottom yet because I think the feds are going to keep raising interest rates,” Nicolici said. “With some caveats, Oregon’s peak of values was October 2021, and it has now reached a stagnant stage.

“Property values are declining because of the higher interest rates, so it’s not the ideal time if you’re trying to sell; if possible, it’s a time to wait and monitor where things go,” she said. “Meanwhile, our goal is to create a clear line of communication between us and people who own the property.”

 

Coastal Farm & Ranch: The right fit for Central Oregon

Coastal Farm & Ranch has everything a farmer or rancher needs.
Coastal Farm & Ranch has everything a farmer or rancher needs.

The company is West Coast owned and operated. In Central Oregon you can find Coastal Farm stores in Redmond and White City.

The atmosphere at a Coastal Farm Store changes with the seasons, moving from lawn, garden and grills into winter flannels, cozy socks and slippers and stoves.

Folks are often surprised by the vast selection of home heating stoves and outdoor grills. Stores feature fireplaces, stoves, fireplace inserts and gas logs across a range of fuel types, including wood, pellets, gas and electricity. It offers fireplaces and accessories from brands including Quadra-Fire, Heat & Glo, Heatilator, Harman, SimpliFire and Vermont Castings.

Coastal Farm & Ranch goes well beyond ag essentials such as cattle feed, panels and livestock managing equipment. Their apparel department features high-quality work clothing and shoes alongside the latest in Western fashion.

Central Oregon is an oasis for outdoor activities, and Coastal Farm has discovered that many people who live the rural lifestyle choose hunting, fishing or camping as ways to unplug and recharge from long days of work.

Coastal Farm prides itself on catering to such pastimes with a fully stocked sporting goods department to provide customers with the outdoor equipment they need to enjoy their leisure time to the fullest.

Coastal Farm provides low-cost veterinary care at several stores through Good Neighbor Vet, a mobile veterinary service in Oregon and Washington, where licensed veterinarians perform exams, pet microchipping and diagnostic testing and treatment for heartworm, feline HIV and leukemia.

The clinics run on a first-come, first-served basis, striving to see as many pets as possible in the allotted time frame. See the CoastalCountry.com website for mobile days and hours for each store.

In the last few years, Coastal Farm & Ranch has grown its online presence through its ecommerce website, CoastalCountry.com. Customers can shop Coastal “Your Way,” which incudes in-store, curbside and home delivery, a further way to serve those with busy lifestyles and an opportunity for Coastal Farm to extend its exceptional customer service across a wider range of clientele.

The website offers many resources to customers including the latest in ag news, a blog covering a wide range of topics, from preparing your herd for the winter to starting a home chicken flock to carving the perfect Thanksgiving turkey.

We look forward to seeing you at the Central Oregon Ag Show!

Thompson Pump & Irrigation: Making the most of available water

Thompson Pump & Irrigation: Making the most of available water

Andy High, owner of Thompson Pump & Irrigation in Bend, Madras and Powell Butte, Ore., knows firsthand the perils of farming and ranching where water is scarce.

As Andy came of age, his father and grandfather told him the water wars weren’t likely to end anytime soon and urged him to go to college.

High earned a degree in public policy and spent the next 15 years working for legislators, including state Sen. Tim Knopp and U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith.

“In 2016 I decided I didn’t necessarily want to farm full time but to get back in and give back to that community,” High said. “Coming in with Thompson Pumps was a golden opportunity; just a really great company, strong staff and strong community ties in Bend, where my wife Jennifer grew up.”

Ranch life for the High family revolved around hard work, 4-H and socializing at the Midland Grange Hall.

Vacations were 4-H Fair Week and the State Grange Convention. He has been a Grange member for nearly 30 years.

“It’s tough; with all the social media now and so many demands on people’s time there’s not a lot of that kind of community gathering happening anymore,” High said. “…Our ag roots are very important to our family.”

Giving farmers more time is a big motivator for High, who says being able to monitor and control pivots with a phone is a step in the right direction.

“That’s where our focus is and that’s what excites me about the industry; just the technology helping people,” High said. “We’re a Valley Pivot dealer and do a lot of center pivots in Central Oregon. The AgSense products we’ll have on display at the show allow you full access to what’s going on with your machine, wherever you are.”

Soil moisture monitoring provides farmers with a daily report showing where more coverage is needed; the farmer can choose where to slow down or speed up the pivot to equalize water absorption remotely.

“Our goal is to give our farmers and ranchers more time,” High said. “If I can give you another hour in the day that you can go to the football game and not have to run out to a crop, to me that’s a huge victory.

“Within the next year we’ll have a fair amount of drone technology coming to center pivots,” High said.

“They’ll be able to fly over your crop daily and within two years you’ll be getting down to which plants are struggling and be able to inject fertilizer from the center point to that section and then shut it off and continue going over other sections.

“Technology is coming to farming,” he said. “There are 7 billion people to feed and a small group that’s doing it.”

Such technology will allow farmers in Jefferson County, who must order water when they need it, to track the areas that still have water at the top level and plan how to stretch what they have.

“They may be able put off ordering water for another 6-7 days which, if you compound that over a season, can mean getting a second, third or fourth cutting, in some cases,” High said.

Last spring’s addition of a third Thompson Irrigation & Pump location in Powell Butte has High’s name written all over it.

“We have rehabbed the old Powell Butte Grange,” he said. “It’s a pretty cool building.”

Farmer-advocate: Derrick Josi stands up for agriculture

Derrick Josi Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Derrick Josi Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press

When Derrick Josi talks, people listen — more than 900,000 of them.

Josi is a Tillamook farmer who seven years ago took to social media to tell the world about how his dairy farm operates. Almost every day he posts short videos about his cows and the unvarnished truth about what it’s like to be a farmer.

He also occasionally offers his common-sense views on agriculture-related issues.

“All I do is talk about what I do on the farm,” he said. “If my cows get out, that’s what’s going to be shown.”

Many times, the videos are downright entertaining. Like the time he pointed out that his cows have acres of fresh green grass to lounge on, but they preferred the dirt.


Another video showed him cleaning sand out of the manure-handling system. He turned to the camera and deadpanned, “I didn’t choose the glamour life, the glamour life chose me.”

Josi will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Central Oregon Ag Show. His presentation starts at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 25, on the main stage.

“He will give people the opportunity to ask about dairy farming in particular and farming in general,” said Joe Beach, producer of the Central Oregon Ag Show and editor and publisher of the Capital Press.

Josi is not afraid to set the record straight when activists take a swipe at dairy farming. He patiently explains why he does something — or in some cases, doesn’t do something.

“If we want to keep the social license that we have to farm, we need to be able to talk about the hard topics,” he told a crowd at the recent Northwest Ag Show in Salem. “That’s what I do.”

During that appearance, Josi got a lot of questions from the crowd about farming and social media. He will also make time for questions at his Central Oregon Ag Show presentation.

He emphasized the importance of farmers and ranchers speaking out and countering the attacks against agriculture that often appear on social media.

“It takes thousands of us combatting (misinformation),” Josi said. “A lie will travel faster around the world than the truth gets out of bed.”

Central Oregon Ag Show returns for second big year

Vendors display their wares at the Central Oregon Ag Show, which returns March 24-25 to the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center in Redmond.
Vendors display their wares at the Central Oregon Ag Show, which returns March 24-25 to the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center in Redmond.

By CARL SAMPSON, Capital Press, Mar 9, 2023

REDMOND, Ore. — The second annual Central Oregon Ag Show promises to be even bigger and better when the doors open for its two-day run March 24-25 at the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center.

The show will offer more than 80 exhibitors demonstrating their wares and services and seminars and presentations on topics important to Central Oregon agriculture.

The hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, March 24, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, March 25. Admission and parking are free.

Whether you’re a farmer or are just curious about agriculture, there will be something for you at this year’s show. Seminars will laser focus on how-to topics for today’s farmers and ranchers.

The show is also family-friendly, with the Deschutes County Farm Bureau’s Kid Zone designed especially for the youngsters and an antique tractor display with working examples of the “big iron” that cultivated the West.

Clint Johnson will also be back with his amazing cattle dog demonstrations. With a signal from Johnson, these four-legged “cowboy assistants” move cattle and keep them in line.

“We received a lot of positive feedback from both the community and exhibitors after last year’s show, and we think this year’s show will be even better,” said Joe Beach, producer of the show for the EO Media Group. He is also editor and publisher of the Capital Press agricultural newspaper and website.

“We have new and exciting exhibitors and sponsors,” he said. “There’ll be something for commercial farmers to homeowners with acreage and horse properties.”

The keynote speaker at this year’s show is Derrick Josi, a Tillamook County dairyman and social media phenomenon who has more than 900,000 followers. He has opened the gates of his farm via the internet, showing how a working dairy operates.

Josi has also earned a reputation for telling it like he sees it, taking on activists and commenting on agriculture-related topics and the state of the industry.

He will top the line-up of speakers, which also includes sessions on water rights, saving energy and a variety of other topics.

This year’s show is sponsored by:

• Title sponsor: Coastal Farm & Ranch stores.

• Major sponsor: Central Oregon Ranch Supply.

• Major Sponsor: Thompson Pump and Irrigation.

• Major Sponsor: Ed Staub and Sons Petroleum.

• Seminar Sponsor: Energy Trust of Oregon.

• Seminar Sponsor: Pacific Power.

• Seminar Sponsor: BBG Real Estate Services.

• Bag Sponsor: Midstate Power Products.

This year’s partners are Oregon Aglink, Oregon FFA, CO Daily, and KSJJ 102.9.

Harvest Capital Company: Serving farmers’ financial needs

Harvest Capital Company: Serving farmers' financial needs

Harvest Capital Company: Serving farmers' financial needs

By BRENNA WIEGAND For the Capital Press | Mar 4, 2022

Harvest Capital Company of Canby, Ore., founded in 1992 by Brian Field, began as an idealist’s desire to serve agriculture and the business of real estate finance.

Since then, it has grown into one of the largest commercial agricultural real estate lenders in the Northwest.

“Harvest Capital is a boots-on-the-ground lender,” Field said. “We are intimately and integrally involved with each one of our borrowers through the experience of structuring their operation with long-term financing, from start to finish.”

“It’s not just about money to us; it’s an ingredient for the stabilization of balance sheet structure and success for our family farms and ranches scattered throughout the Northwest,” Field said. “We want to enhance and add to that picture, and we do that through very intense planning that involves our customer’s agricultural real estate finances and, quite often, their entire structure into the future.”

“We get involved in all aspects of assisting our customers with whatever their needs are, but at the base we are commercial agricultural real estate lenders,” Field said. “That’s the one thing we do, we do it with passion for our producers and our industry and we don’t miss very often.”

Field and his team frequently encounter farmers who have “all their financial eggs in one basket.”

“If you’ve got two farms and they’re 40 miles apart, throwing those farms into the same mortgage is not beneficial to the family operation,” Field said. “Separating them gives farmers leverage on their terms rather than on the dictated terms of their lender.”

“Farmers, ranchers and agribusiness people accept special risks and face very specialized challenges,” he said. “In order to meet those challenges, they will need the most advanced credit services and presentation techniques available, and we provide the tools, ability and experience today to help them finance tomorrow’s agriculture.”

“What happens if the neighbor’s place comes up for sale?” Field said. “You need to be structured appropriately to refinance and get that place bought rather than have a prepayment penalty in your face as you’re trying to take advantage of an opportunity.”

Establishing a level of liquidity makes farmers and ranchers nimble enough to take advantage of such opportunities while successfully navigating whatever Mother Nature dishes out that year.

The Harvest Capital team is familiar with the unique challenges of the ag industry, being primarily composed of people who grew up on farms or ranches, including many past FFA officers.

The National FFA honored Harvest Capital Company with its Distinguished Service Citation at the 94th National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis in October 2021.

“FFA students are part of the future of American agriculture, something the public should be aware of and be sure to support,” Field said. “Trades are what make this nation tick and agriculture and the FFA are the cream of the crop.”

FFA’s ag-based education, emphasizing leadership and personal growth skills, has produced some great Harvest Capital employees, he said.

In the coming year, Harvest Capital will be looking for a few new team members to join their ranks, and an agricultural background will be a key component in the search.

“We’re looking for people to join us,” Field said. “It’s not just a job; it is a choice to serve the industry of agriculture throughout your career.”

Harvest Capital’s leaders are excited to be the Title Sponsors of the first-ever Central Oregon Agricultural Show and look forward to meeting new producers and catching up with old friends and colleagues.

Coastal Farm & Ranch: Everything a farmer needs

Coastal Farm & Ranch: Everything a farmer needs

Coastal Farm & Ranch: Everything a farmer needs

By BRENNA WIEGAND For the Capital Press | Mar 4, 2022

Coastal Farm & Ranch added its 20th location last year in Corvallis, Ore., on the heels of a two-store expansion the year before.

“We’re just not slowing down,” Brand & Culture Coordinator Meg Walker said. “It was exciting to open stores in Monroe, Wash., and Salem, Ore., the year before.”

This year Coastal Farm and Ranch is a Major Sponsor of the brand-new Central Oregon Agricultural Show.

Coastal’s 20 locations include stores in Redmond, Roseburg, Klamath Falls and White City. Wherever they go, Coastal Farm and Ranch always looks for ways to be involved in the community, whether it be 4-H, FFA, local humane societies or other related causes or organizations.

“As a longtime sponsor of the Northwest Ag Show, we couldn’t be more excited to step into a sponsorship role at the Central Oregon Ag Show,” Walker said. “This is an excellent opportunity for agriculture in Central Oregon and we are excited to showcase a variety of products for farm and ranch life.”

The atmosphere at a Coastal Farm Store changes with the seasons, moving from lawn, garden and grills into winter flannels, cozy socks and slippers and stoves.

“People are surprised that we have such a fantastic stove department,” Walker said. “We have more than 20 working stoves of all types — wood, gas, pellet, electricity — which surprises some folks.

“A lot of people think ‘farm and ranch’ and assume we just sell cattle feed, panels and livestock managing equipment,” Walker said. “We’ve got everything from work clothes to Western fashion all the way to hunting and fishing supplies.

“We have everything that the people of Central Oregon need for ranch life and hard work, as well as all the things they need for outdoor recreation,” she said. “Central Oregon is an oasis for outdoor activities, and we are thrilled to have a fully stocked sporting goods department to supply our customers with the outdoor equipment they need.

“We have realized that many people who live the lifestyle we serve like to relax that way; hunting, fishing or camping is often what they do to unplug and recharge from their long days of work.”

In the last few years, Coastal Farm and Ranch has grown its online presence through its new e-commerce website, CoastalCountry.com. Customers can shop Coastal “Your Way,” which includes in-store, curbside and home delivery.

“We are adding new items to our website every day to truly allow our customers to shop in the way that serves them best,” Walker said. “We know life is busy and adding ‘Your Way’ allows us to continue to offer exceptional customer service to all of our customers.

“We’re just really excited to be a part of the ag show in general,” Walker said. “We are really looking forward to showing the Central Oregon attendees the wide variety Coastal has to offer.”

Perfect Balance USA: Seeking an even-handed view of agriculture

Perfect Balance USA: Seeking an even-handed view of agriculture

Perfect Balance USA: Seeking an even-handed view of agriculture

By BRENNA WIEGAND For the Capital Press | Mar 4, 2022

Perfect Balance USA will be the beneficiary of the annual Buckaroo Breakfast at 8 a.m. Saturday, March 26, at the Central Oregon Ag Show. The breakfast will continue as long as supplies last.

McDonald’s is donating the food, and between breakfast proceeds and charitable donations, the Perfect Balance USA nonprofit hopes to gain sufficient funds to continue with their plans.

Started in 2016 by Jeremy and JoHanna Symons of Madras, Perfect Balance is taking a multi-pronged approach to a complicated, dire situation related to the discovery of the endangered Oregon spotted frog along the banks of the Deschutes River, sole water supplier of the area’s farmers and ranchers.

A major effort is educating the public. The Symonses host tours of their operation to educate people about the importance of a common-sense approach to achieving balance between agriculture and government.

Guests are taken on wagon rides around the ranch’s 1,100 acres and the cattle feeding facility to give them an idea of their day — feeding and caring for the animals, growing and harvesting crops, composting manure for use as fertilizer.

“It’s a full-circle operation,” JoHanna Symons said. “The reason we’ve kept giving tours is because we’ve been 100% effective in reconnecting people with where their food comes from and what it takes to produce it. People are positively educated after a visit.

“In addition to large groups of students, we’ve had environmentalists, animal rights activists, and once a group of 48 college professors,” Symons said. “A professor from UC-Berkeley came to us in tears, saying, ‘I feel so bad because I’ve misled thousands of students over the years about the ag industry; I had no idea that small family farms were like this.’

Assuming the average person eats 60 pounds of beef a year for their protein needs, the Symonses raise enough beef to feed about 195,000 people each year.

“Everything is on this earth for a reason,” Symons said. “We need wildlife and all species, but we also must have farmers.

“At some point in your life you’ll need a doctor or an attorney, but three times a day you need a farmer,” she said.

“Keeping the balance where everything thrives is the key. The scale got tipped too far one way and the balance was catastrophically thrown off,” Symons said. “Fish & Wildlife Service got so focused on the water needs of the frog that farmers are now facing bankruptcy because their water allocation has been drastically reduced, for the use of the frog.”

A Habitat Conservation Plan, put into effect last year, requires Jefferson County farmers to release one-third of their stored irrigation water into the Deschutes River for the next seven years.

In year 8, farmers are required to release all their winter storage into the river.

Perfect Balance USA has hired a team of experts to come up with a plan to keep the species thriving but also keep farmers in business. Lake Billy Chinook is being looked at as an alternative water source for Jefferson County farmers.

Asking the Biden administration for water infrastructure money is the only way to get a pumping project of that magnitude off the ground. The downfall, Symons said, is that many farmers won’t be around to see it happen.

The nonprofit is also applying for grants to help in recovery implementation of the frog and hiring a biologist to do unbiased research on the frog.

“It’s human nature to not want to react to or tackle a challenge until it’s too late,” Symons said. “You enjoy going to the grocery store and filling your cart with food, but can you imagine going into the grocery store and finding the shelves empty?

“This will become a reality if the balance keeps getting thrown off and farmers continue to get forced out of business.”

Thompson Pump & Irrigation grows from ag roots

Thompson Pump & Irrigation grows from ag roots

Thompson Pump & Irrigation grows from ag roots

By BRENNA WIEGAND For the Capital Press | Mar 4, 2022

Andy High, owner of Thompson Pump & Irrigation in Bend and Madras, Ore., knows firsthand the perils of farming and ranching where water is scarce.

His grandfather, Taylor High, 97, lives on the remaining 300 acres of the Klamath Falls ranch his family settled in the 1860s, which at one point was nearly 5,000 acres.

As Andy came of age, his father and grandfather told him the water wars weren’t likely to end anytime soon and urged him to go to college.

High earned a degree in public policy and spent the next 15 years working for legislators, including state Sen. Tim Knopp and U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith.

“In 2016 I decided I didn’t necessarily want to farm full-time but to get back in and give back to that community,” High said. “Coming in with Thompson Pumps was a golden opportunity, just a really great company, strong staff and strong community ties in Bend, where my wife Jennifer grew up.”

Ranch life for the High family revolved around hard work, 4-H and socializing at the Midland Grange Hall. Vacations were 4-H Fair Week and the State Grange Convention. His grandfather is one of the oldest living Grange members in the country, with his 85-year pin.

“It’s tough; with all the social media now and so many demands on people’s time there’s not a lot of that kind of community gathering happening anymore,” High said. “…Our ag roots are very important to our family.”

Giving farmers more time is a big motivator for High, who says being able to monitor and control irrigation pivots with a phone is a step in the right direction.

“That’s where our focus is and that’s what excites me about the industry, just the technology helping people,” High said. “We’re a Valley pivot dealer and do a lot of center pivots in Central Oregon. The AgSense products we’ll have on display at the show allow you full access to what’s going on with your machine, wherever you are.”

Soil moisture monitoring provides farmers with a daily report showing where more coverage is needed. The farmer can choose where to slow down or speed up the pivot to equalize water absorption remotely.

“Our goal is to give our farmers and ranchers more time,” High said. “If I can give you another hour in the day that you can go to the football game and not have to run out to a crop, to me that’s a huge victory.

“Within the next year we’ll have a fair amount of drone technology coming to center pivots,” High said. “They’ll be able to fly over your crop daily and within two years you’ll be getting down to which plants are struggling and be able to inject fertilizer from the center point to that section and then shut it off and continue going over other sections.

“Technology in farming is coming,” he said. “There are 7 billion people to feed and a small group that’s doing it.”

Such technology will allow farmers in Jefferson County, who must order water when they need it, to track the areas that still have water at the top level and plan how to stretch what they have.

“They may be able put off ordering water for another 6-7 days which, if you compound that over a season, can mean getting a second, third or fourth cutting, in some cases,” High said.

This spring’s addition of a third Thompson Irrigation & Pump location in Powell Butte has High’s name written all over it.

“We’re rehabbing the old Powell Butte Grange,” he said. “It’s a pretty cool building.”