Gold Dust & Walker Farms

Looking Back at Harvest 2017

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A combine operated by Walker Farms cutting grain at the Running Y near Klamath Falls, Oregon.
That combine makes grain harvest look easy

About the time we feel like we’re getting our feet under us, we realize it’s almost the end of the year. What feels like a short few weeks ago actually turns out to be months, and we realize just how busy it’s been around Gold Dust and Walker Farms.

While we constantly talk about how busy it is around our sheds and farm, the reality is that it is always busy! Regardless of the time of year, there’s always something going on. However, when summer turns into fall, and we’re in the midst of harvest, shipping, organizing labor and doing whatever it takes to get potatoes to our customers, our campus feels more like a beehive than a farm.

Plant Manager Salvador Vera watches an employee unload a spud truck at Gold Dust's Malin, Oregon campus.
Salvador is keeping an eye on this load

Looking back at this harvest, we started digging chipping potatoes on August 15th. But potato harvest wasn’t the only thing going on in the fields – we were cutting alfalfa hay and grain. In the sheds, our crews were getting the potato processing plant ready for our annual Open House Field Day as well as shipping season, which started in August as well. As for the offices, our staff was coordinating loads, running expanded payrolls, recruiting labor, getting organized for the Open House Field Day and providing support to the farm and shed crews. And all of this is just the beginning of harvest!

 

As August rolled into September, potato harvest and grain harvest rolled on and we were getting our fourth cutting of hay. Our packing shed was running at full tilt, as were our offices.

Jennifer White with Gold Dust and Walker Farms sponsored Destruction Derby car at the 2017 Tulelake Butte Valley Fair.
Jennifer’s Derby Car – Moxie (photo credit Lexi Crawford)

While there was plenty of action on our campus and in our fields, there was also quite a bit going on in the community. The Tulelake Butte Valley Fair took place from the 7th through the 10th. Along with the regular fair activities, a member of our hay crew, Kelly Cole, participated in the Dash for Cash hay squeeze competition while our agronomist, Jennifer White, thrashed around in the Destruction Derby. The fair also gave Gold Dust an opportunity to support local FFA and 4H

Katrina Lee, Gold Dust Human Resources administrator, at Klamath Community College's 1st Annual Ag Career Fair.
Katrina educated visitors about opportunities in ag and at Gold Dust and Walker Farms

kids at the auction. Speaking of fairs, we also participated in the first annual Ag Career Fair at Klamath Community College. All of that combined made for a busy September!

The employees and children of Gold Dust and Walker Farms at the 2017 Potato Festival in Merill, Oregon
The Gold Dust & Walker Farms Potato Festival Crew!

When October arrived – you guessed – more potato harvest! With grain harvest over and our swathers and balers finally put away, it was now time to start fall farming. Meanwhile, back at the shed trucks lined up waiting to get loaded while our office staff started working on inventory, preparing for the Leadership Dinner and basically doing whatever it takes so we can keep farming and shipping potatoes. We also participated in the Klamath Basin Potato Festival in Merrill, and this year instead of being in the parade we handed out hot chocolate, hot apple cider and small bags of potato chips to anyone who braved the cold rain to watch the tractors, marching bands and floats make their way down the main drag. In years past we’ve had potato harvest wrapped up before the Potato Festival, but this year we weren’t out of the fields until the 25th.

Gold Dust and Walker Farms employees enjoying dinner at Bigoni's Pizza Barn in Malin, Oregon after potato harvest.
Everyone relaxing at the Harvest Party at the end of digging potatoes (photo credit Lexi Crawford)

 

And now we’re deep into November. We just had our annual Leadership Dinner on the 10th which gave our partners an opportunity to share how our businesses have been doing and brainstorm with our employees with what can help Gold Dust and Walker Farms to continue succeeding. At the dinner we also recognized one of our long-term employees, Salvador Vera. Salvador has been with Gold Dust and Walker Farms for 20 years. In that 20 years, he has become an integral part of our businesses, helping with everything from laying out pipe in the spring to helping with harvest and keeping the shed running. As a thank you, Weston presented Salvador with a watch.

Looking back at the last four months, the thing that stands out to us isn’t how much we’ve accomplished or how busy it’s been. What stands out is how many people, working together, can get so much accomplished. Not only does it take an extraordinary number of people to keep our farm and shed running, it takes extraordinary people. We’ve been blessed with loyal, hard-working employees who work as a team. In the offices, the shed or out in the fields, our crews pull together everyday to help make Gold Dust and Walker Farms successful.

Gold Dust and Walker Farms partners at the 2017 Leadership Dinner.
Thank you, Salvador, and thank you Gold Dust and Walker Farms employees!

With that said, thank you to everyone for putting in the dedication it takes to make us successful. As we’ve said before, the modern farm is more than just a guy on a tractor – it’s a small army of dedicated people in the office, fields, and in our case, packing sheds that make it so we can keep doing what we do. Thank you.

It’s Harvest Time!

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Chipping potatoes being unloaded and going into a storage shed at Gold Dust Potatoes' Malin, Oregon facility.
It’s Harvest Time!

Summer is over.  While the roads fill with school buses, around the Klamath Basin they also fill with farm equipment.  The school yards fill with kids at recess while the fields fill with farm crews, swathers, bailers, combines and bulkers.  The warm days, green leaves clinging to the trees and calendar might say we’re all still in summer.  However, if you ask any kid what time of year it is, they’ll likely reply it’s fall.  And if a farmer doesn’t say it’s autumn, they’ll tell you it’s harvest time!

Walker Brothers started harvesting grain in the beginning of August.  Despite the smoky skies all summer long and the drought, the yields have been good.  The only real obstacle to wrapping up grain cutting has been waiting for a few fields to finish ripening.  So far our crews have been doing an excellent job of getting the grain cut and into storage, making it as streamlined a process as possible.

On Monday of last week (September 8th), as grain harvest worked nearer towards  ending, the first official day of potato harvest began.  Due to the nature of chipping potatoes, we often have some of the first potato bulkers in the field.  This year, along with the chippers, we’re also harvesting some beautiful organic table potatoes.  Again, despite the drought, our spuds are looking pretty good so far and with a week under our belt things are going smoothly in the field and at our storage sheds!  And as of the publishing of this post, we’re already a third of the way done.

As if we didn’t have enough going on, if you listen closely, you can hear our potato processing plant running.  Semis with refrigerated trailers are idling outside, waiting for the crews to get potatoes loaded.  While it’s not running at full tilt just yet, the number of loads being shipped and the number of hours our shed crew will only increase from here on out.  And if you ask the office staff, one look at payroll will tell you we’re busy!

Did we forget to mention we’re getting our fourth cutting of alfalfa wrapped up as well as get our straw put away?

Even though harvest is one of our busiest times of year, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a little time for fun.  This year at the Tulelake Butte Valley Fair, some of our employees competed in the Hay Squeeze driving contest and the demolition derby.  Operating our trademark white with a red stripe squeeze was Toby Turner.  Though Toby mostly handles big bales, he did an excellent job managing the small bales and managed to earn 7th place.  In the demolition derby, the white and red theme was carried on to a beat up Lincoln that our farm mechanics, Don Sconce, Mark Smith and Tristen Wilson put together.  Don thrashed around the infield in the white and red beast, taking home 4th place.  Well done, gentlemen!

 

As we’ve said in past posts about potato harvest, every year is a different adventure and this year will be another.  With any luck, it will end as smoothly as it’s started and everyone will finish safely and sanely.  Good luck to our crews in the fields, in the sheds  and in the offices – and thank you for your hard work and dedication during one of our busiest times of year!

And a special thank you to Katie Walker and Lexi Crawford for the additional photos of the Tulelake Fair!  Thanks, ladies!

The Fields In July

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Chipping potatoes growing at the Walker Ranch outside of Merrill, Oregon.
The chipping potatoes at the home place look green and happy

The summer sun and the click-clacking of sprinklers in the fields make July one of the greenest months in the Klamath Basin – despite the lack of precipitation.  Thunder storms have threatened to drop rain, but in the end the clouds dissipate or head in a different direction.  However, as long as we can irrigate, and the temperatures stay in the sweet spot, our crops will continue to thrive.

With that said, we figured it was time to show how some of the fields have progressed.  As you may recall from a previous post “Chipping Potatoes And Grain Are In The Ground!“, we shared photos we took of our fields being planted in mid-May.  Since it’s been just shy of two months, it’s a good time to see how some of our fields are doing.  While it’s a bit early to say how the crops will turn out at harvest, things are looking pretty good!

We took photos of grain and chipping potato fields at the Running Y, an alfalfa field in Malin, a chipping potato field at our Malin potato processing plant as well as one of a grain field that was in chipping potatoes last year.  We also have some snaps of the big, dry-land organic grain field on the Lower Lake Wildlife Refuge as well as chipping potato fields at the home-place outside of Merrill.  These field photographs don’t tell the whole story, and represent a fraction of the acres we farm around the Klamath Basin, but should give you an idea of what we’re seeing.

Enjoy!

Chipping Potatoes And Grain Are In The Ground!

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Chipping potatoes peeking through soil in a field at Gold Dust Potato Processors, Malin, OR.
The baby potatoes were already getting their grow on

During the hustle and bustle of shipping season, spring farming began, making the months of March, April and May some of our busiest months of the year.  And as quietly as it began, last month, wheat and potato planting came to an end.

This year, our crops include chipping potatoes (of course!), wheat, barley, alfalfa hay and organic potatoes.  We worked and planted fields as far north as the Running Y to just over the California border on Lower Klamath Lake and in the Tule Lake leases.  However, instead of telling you about farming, how about we let the photos show you instead?

The following photographs were taken from the beginning to mid-May.  From getting stuck to happy alfalfa fields, these pictures will give you a glimpse into joy and frustration of planting season at Walker Brothers.

 

Before we wrap up this post, John, Weston, Bill and Tricia would like to thank the planting crews for their hard work.  We covered a lot of ground this year (literally), and did so through the perseverance and dedication of our hard-working crew.  Thank you!

Let’s cross our fingers for a event-less growing season and a fantastic harvest!

Grain Harvest At The Running Y

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Claas Lexion 750 cutting a field of conventional wheat on the Running Y Ranch.
No finer site than a big Lexion 750 cutting heavy grain

As we mentioned in our last post about chipping potato harvest getting underway, grain harvest is still going on.  Though we started grain harvest around Malin and have worked through a gigantic organic barley field on the Lower Klamath refuge, we’ve moved our combines down to the Running Y Ranch to harvest the wheat we planted there.

Though we’re proud of our chipping potatoes, raising grain is a major factor of our farming operation.  When Bill and John got together all those years ago, they focused on raising wheat, which is evident when you see the grain fields we’ve planted around the Klamath Basin.  To get some perspective on the impact of raising grain on our farm, and since our harvesters and focus is on the Running Y, let’s take a quick look at how much grain we planted there.  Out of the total acres we’re farming there, almost 67% of the ground is under wheat.  Now compare that to the other crops, we have 12% of the ground in chipping potatoes and almost 10% of it in alfalfa.  And in case you’re curious, we’ve dedicated almost 6% of the farm ground on the Running Y to the Walking Wetlands.  What is the percentage of acres in production that are organically farmed?  16.81%.

Why so much grain?  For starters, grain is a good market to be in, and John and Bill have been raising grain in the Klamath Basin since 1975.  Grain farming is also a part of our sustainable farming plan.  Potatoes take a lot of “power” out of the soil.  By rotating grain and alfalfa crops into fields that have either just been in spuds are or going into potatoes, we’re able to add organic material, nitrogen and other essential elements back into the ground.  This makes it so we rely less on fertilizer, which is better for the environment, for the soil itself and for our operating line.

With that in mind, while we’re excited about potato harvest, we have to remember how important grain harvest is to our farm as well. Let’s hope the skies stay blue, the grain continues to ripen nicely and we get the crop into storage safely.  Here’s to heavy yields!

Grain Harvest Begins!

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Class Lexion combine cutting grain in a wheat field in Malin, OR.
Here comes the Claas, making short work of this field

Driving around the Basin, fields of ripening wheat, barley and oats are turning from green to gold.  Combines are appearing almost from thin air, lining roads and sitting in front of shops and sheds being prepped for cutting.  In some fields, you can see where farmers took test passes.  As summer ends, grain harvest begins.

At our potato processing plant, we cut the wheat field directly south of the packing shed and solar panels.  Our big Claas with its 40 foot wide head made short work of the field, starting just before lunch and finishing the same evening.  To truly appreciate the efficiency of the combine, you have to be in the field and watch it work.  Modern combines with their floating heads and GPS units are able to cut grain just inches above the ground and maximize the amount of crop cut on each pass.  This machine not only allows us to harvest our grain in a more efficient manner, but we also are able to collect more of the grain cut.

While this is our first field harvested, it is certainly not our only field.  After this one, two other fields are ripe and ready to cut – and those are just the ones ready in the immediate future!  As August rolls on, you’ll see our grain trucks running from the fields to storage and our grain carts toted out to help collect the crop.  Though we spend a lot of time discussing chipping potatoes and writing about our packing shed, grain and hay are a part of the crops we rotate though in our sustainable farming plan.  So wherever you see a grain field, a potato field was there once!

 

Yep, We’re Farming!

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Potato field being planted at Gold Dust Potatoes' Malin facilities field.
Planting chipping potatoes at Gold Dust

The old saying goes, April showers bring May flowers.  And for farmers, sometimes those very same April showers that bring the flowers (and much needed precipitation) can bring headaches as well.  However, despite a wet beginning to the month, we have been planting potatoes.

Since mid-April, our tractors and planters have been in the fields getting this year’s crop of chipping potatoes in the ground.  Fields that aren’t being planted in spuds and are not already growing alfalfa are being drilled with wheat.  With the Running Y added to our acreage portfolio, it’s taking an extraordinary amount of coordination and communication to keep our spring farming on track.  And with the typical Klamath Basin spring (which means it’s not typical at all!), it’s also requiring a little bit of patience as well.

While much of the focus is on the ground and what’s going in it, all around the Basin the signs of spring and the promise of the season to come are sprouting up all around.  Winter wheat is peaking through the soil while the alfalfa and other hay fields are well above our ankles.  These green reminders mixed with the rich browns of freshly farmed soil make the Klamath County landscape one of the prettiest places to be this time of year.  No wonder we love what we do!

We’re Farming The Running Y!

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Sign at the Running Y Ranch.
Welcome to the Running Y Ranch!

If it’s been a secret, it isn’t one any longer.  After evaluations, negotiations and many meetings, we’ve struck an agreement and will now be farming the Running Y Ranch!  It’s a move that we’re very excited about and feel that for the long-term success of our farming operations, it is right in line with remaining sustainable for many, many years to come.

You’ve seen us mention the Running Y before in blog posts and press releases about our annual Open House Field Day.  The Running Y Resort is where we treat our attendees to an afternoon of golf followed by dinner after spending the morning checking out our fields and packing shed.  So, are we farming the golf course?  Of course not; that would be silly.  The fields we’ll be working are located just across from the resort on the Running Y Ranch.  And while it may seem like it’s a long ways from our storage and packing facilities in Merrill and Malin, it turns out it’s not any further than some of the ground we farm near the Lava Beds in California.

The rich, peat dirt is some of the best farmland in the Klamath Basin, and while large portions of the ranch have been in pasture for a while, in no time those grounds will be producing hay, wheat and chipping potatoes.  Add in the wells located on  the premises and it only looks better from where we’re sitting.  However, securing the ground doesn’t mean we’re guaranteed success.

As you’re reading this, the Walker Brothers crews are at the Running Y Ranch getting it ready for spring farming.  Over the constant, raucous calling of migrating snow geese, you can hear the din of equipment running.  Irrigation canals and ditches are being dredged and readied, faulty head gates are being replaced and old, crushed culverts are being removed.  Though the general perception of farming is that farmers and crews have pretty relaxing winters, at Gold Dust and Walker Brothers winter is just the season you’re busy with getting ready for spring planting.

While we want to farm the Running Y because of the rich farm ground and the availability of water, it’s hard to ignore the natural beauty of the place.  The little valley is surrounded by tall stands of pine and fir trees where it’s easy to find deer and elk tracks.  In the fields themselves, snow geese, bald eagles, herons and cranes abound while on the perimeter songbirds and hawks watch the action. All in all, it’s a picturesque place that makes us thankful we get to work and live in a place as beautiful as the Klamath Basin.

Walker Bros Win Environmental Stewardship Award!

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Sandhill Crane In Stubble Field
Grain stubble provides protection against wind erosion.

We are very proud to announce that the National Potato Council has honored Walker Brothers with a 2010 Environmental Stewardship Award.  While it’s always nice to be recognized, to receive recognition from the National Potato Council for our work on providing cleaner water and wildlife habitat as well as for preventing soil erosion feels extra good.

Part of the requirement to win the award was to maintain a high crop yield while implementing practices that protect the environment and wildlife.  With both our chipping potato crops and wheat crops, we were able to do just that.  Aside from the tried and true practice of crop rotation, when planting we used no till drills for the wheat which minimized erosion during planting.  As for the potatoes, GPS was used to plant the rows closer together, which helped minimize pesticide use and erosion.  After planting the spuds, a few days later the fields were irrigated in order to reduce wind erosion.

For pest management, Walker Brothers used a couple of techniques other than better planting methods.  One was to plant 42 foot wide stretches of rye and grass around the fields to attract good insects as well as to encourage bad insects to leave the crops alone.  Not only did this help with bugs, it also provided habitat for birds.

Speaking of birds, we participated in the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Flood Fallow program.  We voluntarily flooded fields, which provided habitat for migratory waterfowl that summer in the Klamath Basin.  This gave the birds a place to hang out as well helped clean the water and returned important nutrients back to the soil.  This also gave human visitors to the leases something to look during the Walking the Wetlands tours.

After implementing the above methods and other techniques and technology, Walker Brothers still harvested over 60,000 metric tons of chipping potatoes.  So, at the end of the day, we not only had an impressive yield but we also cut down on the amount of fertilizer and pesticides we used and helped make our little part of the world a little better (and cleaner!).

We would like to thank John and the farm crew for all of their hard work in implementing these practices.  We would also like to thank the National Potato Council for this award and we look forward to officially receiving it in Vegas in January at the 2011 Annual Meeting!

For more details about the award, be sure to read our press release about receiving the National Potato Council 2010 Environmental Stewardship Award.

Gold Dust Ships First Container of Wheat!

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Need Wheat? Talk to Weston!
Need Wheat? Talk to Weston Today and Save!

Today marks another first for Gold Dust and Walker Brothers Farms.  For the first time in company history, we are shipping grain from our processing facility in Malin, Oregon, to South East Asia.  While we’ve been in the grain business for years, this is the first time in our company’s history that we’ve shipped wheat ourselves, let alone overseas.  This is the first shipment of what we hope turns out to be many.

Weston, our international salesman, said the shipment is a container of a northern spring wheat we call “Gold Dust Red Wheat”.  It’s been cleaned and is ready for processing into natural, whole-grain snacks.  So far, the primary use of our “Gold Dust Red Wheat” is for whole grain snacks, such as Frito Lays’ multi-grain SunChips® snacks.

Visitors to our site and blog may have been under the assumption that Gold Dust and Walker Brothers Farms only deal in chipping potatoes.  While it’s true that much of the focus is growing, processing and selling chippers, John and Bill have been growing and selling wheat since the 1970’s.  With this much experience in raising wheat, our customers can expect the quality of our “Gold Dust Red Wheat” to meet their expectations.

We have plenty of wheat to meet this year’s orders.  If you’re interested and would like a sample, contact Weston in our wheat and potato sales department.  He will be more than happy to send you a sample of our “Gold Dust Red Wheat” and talk to you about pricing.  Since you’re dealing directly with the grower, and not any middle men, you can be assured of big savings as well as excellent customer service.

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