Topics ranged from the informative to eye-opening, with an additional highlight tossed in for those in attendance at the Union County Crops and Conservation Tour.

Wednesday marked the 40th year for the annual county event. Don Sands, a retired Crop Productions Services, Inc. manager who is an instrumental figure in organizing the event, was one of the estimated 140 participants on hand to see the innovations Union County had to offer.

The tour provided information on agricultural research, technology production methods and conservation efforts being utilized by growers and producers in local agriculture systems, as well as an opportunity to interact with those producers to learn more about the local industry.

Three buses and a caravan of cars embarked from the CPS building to several sites all over the area. One of the highlights was TRICO Farms, south of Booth Lane, which has been conducting a malt barley research project for the crop’s use in craft beer brewing. It’s part of the Building the Oregon (Craft) Malting Barley Brand, which has a goal to add value to local barley by helping producers create a product the craft brewing industry is interested in. The project helps producers learn how to grow and manage the barley agronomically while determining Oregon’s potential for producing high-quality malting barley.

“Most of the Oregon craft brewing industry sources it’s malt from outside the state, which is ironic,” Darrin Walenta, agronomist at the Union County OSU Extension, said. “Oregon growers have the expertise in growing small grains, so it makes sense we should be able to grow a quality malt barley that the growing industry needs.”

Walenta said one of the biggest issues is nitrogen management. The desired grain protein range for malt barley is eight to 12 percent. He said too much nitrogen in the system creates too high of a grain protein content, resulting in feed barley, so different varieties and rows of barley were being tested with incrementally added nitrogen treatments.

Tom Hutchison, the founder and owner of Gold Rush Malt in Baker City, which is one of just three craft malting facilities in Oregon, detailed the malting process and how crucial it is to beer.

“Everybody’s concentrated on hops, but really, barley is the soul of beer,” he said.

The tour also visited Grande Ronde Dairy farm north of Union. The owners, Stephanie and Byron Rovey, operate the only Grade A certified dairy operation in Union County, one Walenta said is the first in over 30 years.

The farm grows crops including sunflower, alfalfa, sugar beets and wheat, and there’s a commercial cow/calf angus operation. But the most notable feature, and the one showcased in the tour, was the goat milking operation in a barn. That milk, derived from 250 does milked twice a day, is shipped every three days to Sonoma, California, for the production of Laura Chenel’s goat cheese, which can be purchased at the grocery store. Attendees were given the opportunity to taste the different types of Laura Chenel cheese during the tour, see the goat milking operation firsthand and interact with some of the younger goats.

Stephanie Rovey said she employs an all-woman staff for the goats. One reason was the relationship with the female goats.

“I feel like women sympathize with the physiology of milking something twice a day (and) the giving-birth process that is pretty year-round here,” she said.

Another stop was the Conservation Farm of the Year of 2015 on Pumpkin Ridge, recognized by the Union County Chamber of Commerce. That farm is operated by the Arnoldus family, and the honor was given for progress in techniques, upgrading equipment and maintaining good yields.

While the family has several farms in the area, Todd Arnoldus spoke about how challenging the steep ground is at this specific farm.

“It’s obviously dry land (and) very steep,” he said. “There’s just certain things you do on Pumpkin Ridge and certain things you don’t. It’s all about angles.”

Kate Frenyea, district manager for the Union County Soil and Water Conservation District, spoke about the district’s 70th anniversary, with the majority of its funding coming from grants.

“This district has never had a tax base,” she said. “Without the support of various state and federal grant programs and the landowners, we never would have made it 70 years.”

Frenyea said a major event was the recently awarded Regional Conservation Partnership Program grant through the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

NRCS Union County District Conservationist Mike Burton said the Union County application ranked 23rd nationally out of hundreds of applications for its collaboration with a number of partners and its ability to help producers improve irrigation systems that use Grande Ronde River surface water. Frenyea said other uses for the grant include forestry projects and any upland practices.

Other stops on the tour included the new Hines Meat Company in La Grande, which opened for meat process service for custom processing at the beginning of the month, updates on OSU-Extension projects for livestock and range management and a visit to an English Pea seed production on the Grande Ronde Seed Farm, which is used in the Snap Pea Crisp snack manufactured by Calbee, Inc., a major Japanese snack food maker.

The tour ended with a steak lunch at the Bingaman’s Shop on the south edge of Imbler. About 40 sponsors helped put the event together, along with the tour committee.

Contact Josh Benham at 541-786-4230 or jbenham@lagrandeobserver.com. Follow Josh on Twitter @lgoBenham.