Gold Dust & Walker Farms

Tricia Joins KWUA Board

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Tricia Hill elected to the KWUA board as alternate to Position 10
Congratulations, Tricia, on being elected as the KWUA Board’s Position 10 alternate

Tricia has added a few more hats to her impressive collection of  head gear she wears for Gold Dust.  That’s right – she’s not only now a Klamath Water Users Association board member, she’s also the treasurer on the public relations committee!

Gold Dust has been a supporter of the Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) for several years.  We understand the importance of the work the KWUA does on behalf of Klamath Basin agriculture and appreciate of the hours and commitment put in by the association.  Now we are extremely proud to announce Tricia has been elected to the KWUA board.  She is the alternate for at-large Position 10 held by Karl Scronce.  As an alternate, she will vote on important issues posed to the KWUA when Mr. Scronce is not available.  Along with being the Position 10 alternate and treasurer, Tricia has volunteered to serve on the public relations committee.

With a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon, a law degree from the University of Oregon’s School of Law and the experience of not only growing up a spud farmer’s daughter but now a partner in the Walker family’s farm, Tricia brings a lot of insight to the KWUA.  Along with experience and education, as a part of the public relations committee she hopes to help the KWUA effectively communicate its goals and commitment to Klamath Basin agriculture.

According to the Klamath Water Users Association Web site, the KWUA represents the water and power rights of over 1,400 family farms and ranches on both sides of the Oregon-California border that receive water from the Klamath Irrigation Project.  However, if you consider the number of people also hired by those farms, ranches and individuals, as well as the contribution of all of those folks to the Klamath Basin economy, the KWUA plays an important role in the lives of almost everyone who lives here.  With that in mind, we’d like to give a very big, heart-felt very big thank you to the Klamath Water Users Association for all of the work it does on behalf of the Klamath Basin.  And congratulations to Tricia for getting elected to the KWUA board!

Walker Brothers In The News

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Gold Dust and Walker Brothers Featured on Page A9 of November 7th, 2010 Herald and News
John and Gold Dust Featured In Nov. 7th Installment of "Chronicles: Water and Drought"

Shortly after the end of chipping potato harvest, the Herald and News published its latest in installment of  ”Chronicles: Water and Drought”.  On page A9 of the November 7, 2010 edition,  we were treated to a big picture of John looking through chippers in our potato processing plant as well as two stories featuring John and Weston.

The main story on the page, titled “Bringing In The Bounty”, discusses the challenges Walker Brothers faced this harvest caused by the drought.  A late start to digging, harvesting potatoes from fields not farmed by us before, frost and long hours were all part of the obstacles cited for making this one of the more difficult harvests in recent years. Regardless, the fields were dug, the potatoes put into storage and we’re shipping them out as we speak.  Just as John was quoted as saying, “You take days off, but it never shuts down.”

The second feature, “South Korean Company Checks Out Gold Dust”, appeared just under John’s article.  This write-up highlighted Gold Dust’s experience with shipping to South Korea and a visit from three guests you may have seen in previous blog posts – Eddie Lee,  Ha Ju Sang and Sung-Ho Park.  We appreciated how the article did a great job of illustrating the close relationship we’ve developed with Orion as well as what we do to make our customers happy.

Both articles were written by Herald and News Regional Editor Lee Juillerat.  This series, which has been running for the duration of the drought, has done an excellent job of portraying the challenges Klamath Basin agriculture has faced this year.  From farmers and ranchers to local businesses, “Chronicles: Water and Drought” has put very real faces to people affected by the water crisis.  If the Herald and News ever decides to publish all the stories together online, we highly recommend reading it to get a feel for how businesses, and communities, adapted to this drought.

Photo credits go to Lee Juillerat.

2010 Potato Festival Parade Update: We Were Robbed!

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The Gold Dust Potatoes Spud Festival Float
And Here's Our (Shoulda' Been) First Place Potato Festival Float!

It’s been almost a month since that beautiful October day the 73rd Annual Klamath Basin Potato Festival parade was held, and amazingly we still have news about it! Last year, we took second place to the Merrill branch of Sterling Savings Bank float in the Commercial category of the parade.  The theme was, as you recall, “This Spuds For You!” and with the help of a semi and trailer, Sterling Savings put together a pretty impressive (read  large) float.  Undaunted, the Gold Dust crew vowed to take first this year.  With the theme “Potatoes – Can You Dig It?”,  we were sure cute kids, dogs and an awesome float depicting hard-working farmers (as well as handing out bags of Lays potato chips!) would seal first place honors for us.

Unfortunately for us, the Merrill Lion’s Club awarded first place in the Commercial category to a bunch of hippies.  That’s right – not hard-working farmers but a bunch of hippies!  We have to admit their twin towers of rainbow balloons and guest appearance by Austin Powers was pretty impressive,  but c’mon! We had kids and dogs! Who doesn’t love children and puppies?

Anyway, congratulations to the Sterling Bank team for putting together another fun float.  And thank you to the Merrill Lions Club for all the hard work they put into to another excellent Spud Festival parade.  We had a lot of fun this year and are looking forward to doing it again next year!  And watch out Sterling – we just might win next year!

If you weren’t able to make it the parade (shame on you!), we have pictures of our awesome float as well as that other one.   And we hope to see you along the streets in Merrill next year for the 74th Klamath Basin Potato Festival!

Before we go, we’d like to again thank the Merrill Lions Club for putting on the parade as well as the folks from our office who took time on their Saturday to decorate the float and participate in the parade.  We really do appreciate it.

2010 Klamath Spud Festival Is Coming!

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Banner in Merrill, Oregon, for 2010 Klamath Basin Potato Festival
Merrill Is Ready For The 2010 Klamath Basin Potato Festival

It’s the middle of October. The cool, crisp nights are putting color in the trees around the Klamath Basin. If you look to the sky over the farmland around Klamath county, you can see pillars of dust in the sky indicating potato harvest is still underway for many area spud farmers. In the small town of Merrill, picnic tables are being set up while vendors stake out their spots.  What do all of these signs point to? Klamath Spud Festival time!

The Klamath Basin Potato Festival is here again. Between October 15th and 16th, folks come from all around to Merrill to take part in the festivities. Though the Spud Festival will take place over two days, the biggest day is Saturday, when at 11 o’clock in the morning the parade begins. The theme for this year’s festival is “Potatoes – Can You Dig It?”, and we’re hoping our float is a big win with the judges and the crowd. Last year, the Gold Dust team received second place honors, but this year we’re hoping to take first!

The Potato Festival is a really fun family event. With a free BBQ put on by the Merrill Lion’s Club, live music, lots of booths, exhibits about potatoes and Basin agriculture and Saturday football game, there’s something for everyone.

We hope to see you there – and be sure to cheer at the top of your lungs when you see the Gold Dust float go by!

Ag Tourism Farmer of the Year Awarded To Gold Dust

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Lexi and Tricia Showing Our 2010 Klamath Falls Farm Expo Aggie
Tricia and Lexi Showing Off Our 2010 Aggie and Prizes

Last Saturday (October 9th, 2010), the first annual Klamath Falls Ag Expo held an awards dinner to recognize area farmers, ranchers and ag-related businesses for their contribution to the local economy and  prestige they bring to Klamath Basin agriculture. And we are very proud to say Gold Dust Potato Processors brought home one of the very first Aggies!

Held at the Klamath County Fairgrounds October 8th and 9th, the Klamath Fall Ag Expo gave area farms, ranchers and vendors an opportunity to network and see what companies are working on for the future of farm equipment, irrigation, fertilizer and other areas of agriculturally-related technology and practices.  The Aggies Awards banquet not only featured a savory beef dinner with wine, beer and cheesecake, but after the awards were handed out country music star Steve Azar played for the guests.   As one of the many sponsors of the event, Gold Dust was very happy to support the Ag Expo despite the fact our field crews are deep into potato harvest and couldn’t join the festivities.    Though the harvest bosses and crew weren’t there, a few of the office staff were able to make it to cheer on Tricia as she accepted the award!

Since the title of this post gave away the category of the prestigious award we won (Ag Tourism Farmer of the Year for those not paying attention), we’ll take this opportunity to thank the people who nominated us for the award and to the voters who awarded it to us.  As Tricia said in her acceptance speech, it takes a lot of hardworking people, both in the fields and in the offices, to do what we do and to be successful.  With our business expanding into South and Central America and in several other countries in the Pacific Rim and our growing domestic customer base, we feel we represent the best of what Klamath Basin farming has to offer to our local economy as well as to the world.  And we couldn’t be where we are without the hard work from the guys out in the field, the men and women in the spud trucks and the shed floor, or without the dedication of the folks in office.  Thank you all.

Again, thank you to the Klamath Falls Ag Expo committee for putting together the trade show and awards banquet.  This award will look great next to our Environmental Stewardship award from the National Potato Council!  We truly do appreciate the recognition and look forward to attending the Ag Expo again next year.

John and Weston Walker In The News

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Herald and News Front Page, Sept. 5, 2010
Front Page of the September 5th Herald and News

The Herald and News has been running an ongoing series throughout this year’s growing season called “Chronicles: Water and Drought”. This series highlights this year’s drought, the impact it’s having on area agriculture and how Klamath Basin farmers and ranchers are trying to adapt. In last Sunday’s installment (September 5, 2010), John and Weston were the focus of two articles.

On page A9, we were treated to a big picture of John checking plants in a chipping potato field as well as a smaller picture of him with the new potato harvester we bought to dig potatoes out of rocky ground that’s been leased in Poe Valley and Yonna Valley (photo credits go to H&N photographer Andrew Mariman). In the article written by Sara Hottman, John discusses the problems and extra costs the drought and cold weather have created for Basin potato farmers. In plain English, he also lays out the dire results if the cold weather impacts the potato crops.  “If you can’t sell the product,  you can’t pay the bank back, you go broke, you’re done.”

Right below John’s article is short article featuring Weston, also written by Sara Hottman. In it, he talks about getting mentally prepared for one of the hardest chipping potato harvests since he’s been out of college. Frost and rocky fields made planting difficult, and now that same stony soil and cold weather is going to make harvest difficult.

The Herald and News’s reporters and photographers should be commended for this series and giving real, human faces to realities of Klamath Basin ranchers, farmers and small business owners.  While this year will be tough for Gold Dust and Walker Brothers, we will persevere.  As Weston was quoted as saying, “This isn’t a job, it’s life.”

Articles written by Sara Hottman of the Herald and News. Photos by Andrew Mariman, Herald and News photographer.

It’s Merrill-Malin Highway Clean-Up Time!

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From Left: Tricia, Lexi, Necia, Nayeli, Matt, Sarah and Ryan
The Gold Dust Clean-Up Crew In Ultra-Chic Yellow Vests

August 3rd was a beautiful day.  The warm, sunny morning promised a hot afternoon, but it wasn’t going to keep the Gold Dust Clean-Up Crew from hitting the Merrill-Malin Highway.  That’s right, time for litter patrol!

Donning their nuclear yellow vests with garbage bags in hand, the Clean-Up Crew set to work picking up garbage along the stretch of Highway 50 (from Harpold Road to the Malin city limits) that Gold Dust and J&W Walker Farms adopted through the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway program.  This program is a great way for local businesses (and regular folks too!) to get a bit of recognition while keeping their communities clean.    Speaking of cleaning, the Gold Dust Clean-Up Crew collected enough garbage and road debris to fill ten garbage bags.  After the highway had been combed for trash, the crew enjoyed a pizza lunch back at the office where the AC was blowing strong and cold.

As we mentioned in our previous Highway Clean-Up blog post, we’re proud to be a part of this program and even more proud of our employees for taking time from their day to help keep our community clean.  We feel fortunate to work and live in a beautiful spot in the world and are happy to do a little bit to keep it pretty.  Again, Tricia, Lexi, Necia, Nayeli, Matt, Sarah and Ryan – thank you all very much for your help!

It’s Klamath County Fair Time!

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A Small Sample of Gold Dust's FFA/4-H Auction Purchases
Part Of Our Auction Wall of Fame Plus Last Year's Grand Champion Goat Check!

In Klamath County, the beginning of August always means one thing – it’s time for the Klamath County Fair!

Held the over the first weekend of August at the fairgrounds in Klamath Falls, the Klamath County Fair has all of the activities you’d expect.  There are arts and craft entries, a carnival, lots of good food, vendors, rodeo, live music and of course 4-H and FFA kids with their animals.  On Sunday, the Rotary Club holds the auction where the FFA and 4-H members sell their animals.

Gold Dust and Walker Brothers have been regular fixtures at the 4-H and FFA auction for decades, occasionally giving the winning bid for a Grand Champion animal.  When you walk into our offices, you’ll see our wall of fame of past purchases at both the Klamath County Fair and the Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair.  While the auction is a great way for local businesses and individuals to show their support for these programs, sometimes it’s hard for folks with shallower pockets to get involved with the auction.

In 1999, this problem was solved with the creation of the Klamath County Sale Committee, which Bill and Jan have been involved with from the beginning.  The Klamath County Sale Committee (KCSC) is an organization that pulls money together to buy animals that may not meet market value or get purchased at all.  As part of their involvement, Bill bids on animals on behalf of the Committee while Jan keeps track of the accounting.  The KCSC is something both Jan and Bill feel is important and it helps keep kids involved in 4-H and FFA.

If you’d like to participate in the Klamath County Sale Committee or give a donation for bidding, please get in touch with them either by email (kcsc44HFFA@aol.com) or through a call to Jan  at 541.281.4165.

We hope everybody has a great time at this year’s Klamath County Fair and if you go to the auction, look for Bill and John bidding in the stands!

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 Cleans Up The Merrill-Malin Highway

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Brita Binderup, Ryan Amodeo, Tricia Hill, Lexi Crawford, Alma Pena and Nayeli Pena
Brita Binderup, Ryan Amodeo, Tricia Hill, Lexi Crawford, Alma Pena and Nayeli Pena

Armed with bright yellow bags and reflective vests on their backs, the Gold Dust and Walker Brothers Farm garbage crew picked up trash on the section of the Merrill-Malin Highway we adopted through ODOT’s Adopt-A-Highway program.   As mentioned in a previous post about joining Oregon’s Adopt-A-Highway program, the chunk of road we adopted stretches from where Harpold Road intersects with Highway 50 to just outside of Malin.  Judging by how full the bags were, the road was definitely in need of a good clean up.

The blue skies and crisp November weather we had last Saturday made picking up garbage almost enjoyable.  Drivers were polite as the clean-up crew picked up debris.  The trash collected ranged from cans, bottles and “regular” trash you see along a road to a thawed-out turkey, still in its wrapper.  Needless to say, the clean-up crew had an interesting time while scouring the ditches.  After the highway was cleaned, the crew met up with Bill in Malin for pizza, wings and drinks at Borderline Pizza.

Gold Dust and Walker Brothers Farms would like to give a big thank you to Tricia, Nayeli, Alma, Lexi, Lexi’s brother David, Ryan and Brita for taking time away from their families on a post-holiday Saturday to make the Klamath Basin look a little nicer.  We’re proud to be a part of the Adopt-A-Highway program, and even more proud that we have employees who are committed to our community.

If you would like to join the program, visit the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway page on www.oregon.gov.   Also be sure to see the pictures from Gold Dust’s highway clean up below!

From Our Farm Blog

We’re Hiring!

Looking for a job? Check out our current Employment Opportunities!

Our farm keeps growing – and it’s planting season – which means we have a lot of openings. From jobs on our farm to office positions in Malin, we’re looking for dedicated, diligent folks to join our team.

If you’re a truck driver with a CDL, be sure to check out our updated compensation package!

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