Hermiston ag center turns 100

Ingrid Stegemoeller, Herald staff writer

HERMISTON -- Bite into a juicy watermelon that has become a hallmark of the Hermiston area and you'll be chewing on 100 years of history.

A century of research and education was cause for celebration Tuesday at Oregon State University's Hermiston Agricultural Research & Extension Center, which opened in 1909 and now serves nearly 500,000 acres of irrigated agriculture in the Columbia Basin.

Visitors were invited to the center for a day of lab and field tours, exhibits, history lessons and entertainment.

In a slideshow detailing the work of the center since its inception, watchers got to see a picture of the famous melons from 1910, as well as photos of the progression of irrigation technology, field days, other crops researched -- such as eggplants, onions and potatoes -- and more.

"Research has switched rather dramatically as the decades have rolled along," said Mat Kolding, a crop breeder and emeritus professor.

The advent of center pivot irrigation systems in the 1970s shifted the center's focus from livestock to crops, said Phil Hamm, superintendent of the center, as he pointed out campus buildings that used to house animals.

"That really changed the whole lay of the land," he said. "It gave us the opportunity to revolutionize what was grown in the area."

The melons remain a research area, too.

During a tour of the plant pathology lab, lab manager Jordan Eggers answered a question about the weirdest sample the lab had received all year: A strangely-colored watermelon vine.

At first researchers thought the problem was a virus, but now it seems the issue is a genetic disorder, he said.

Diagnosing samples for disease is one of the lab's main responsibilities, Eggers said. Researchers also provide support for the center and companies, as well as working with researchers throughout the OSU system and those at Washington State University.

Bob and Gloria Daniel are longtime Hermiston residents who found information about the lab and other displays interesting.

They came to the event to hear singer John Wambeke, who was scheduled to perform after the family-style dinner provided for a crowd planned to number about 700.

But they also thought it was important to celebrate the big milestone.

"You only get to do it once every 100 years," Bob Daniel said with a smile.

Ron Ingle, another longtime Hermiston resident and author of two books about the area, also attended out of interest in the center's work.

One of his books, The Taming of the Desert, contains several pages about the history of the center, he said.

"I'm interested in what's going on," Ingle said. "One hundred years -- that's a lot of service to the community."

Hamm gave credit to the community for supporting the center over the years. Much of its resources, including five center pivot irrigation systems, are a result of donations, he said.

The Columbia Basin is a "food basket of the U.S.," he said, and many people don't realize the role agriculture plays in the region's economy.

"(Urban residents) are more and more thinking their food comes from the back of Safeway," Hamm said.

When asked what the center would be up to in another 100 years, he said the mission of providing research-based information would be the same, even if the location of the center and the nature of the crops changed.

Kolding, while providing narration for the slideshow, said he didn't know what agriculture would look like in the next 100 years, but that it's important for people to know about the industry's major effect on the area.

"We want people to understand this is a part of the growth of the area," he said.

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Wednesday, Jul. 01, 2009

Hermiston ag center turns 100

Ingrid Stegemoeller, Herald staff writer