Growers are left dealing with higher labor costs and trying to get the U.S. Department of Labor to change its ways after a judge refuses to pull agricultural foreign guestworker minimum wages back to 2018 levels.
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A Yakima labor attorney gave employers tips at the Washington Growers League annual meeting and said arbitration agreements must be understood by employees signing them to be binding.
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A federal judge heard arguments regarding returning the minimum wage for H-2A-visa foreign guestworkers to 2018 levels but it may be days or weeks before he rules.
Many farmers wouldn’t be thrilled about a beaver dam flooding a portion of their land, but George Kral doesn’t see it as a problem.
The founder of a global blueberry nursery company based in Oregon is stepping down as CEO, to be replaced by a triumvirate consisting of his two children and chief operating officer.
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Most of Wild West's vegetable seed comes from Treasure Valley
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A continued shortage of Christmas trees from Oregon growers will likely mean higher prices this season for consumers.
A lingering shortage from Oregon growers means Americans will once again pay more for Christmas trees this holiday season.
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — People may need to trim back their Christmas tree expectations this year.
Willamette Valley trees have benefited from several days of rain going into harvest, just what Bob Schaefer, general manager of Noble Mountain Tree Farm near Salem, Ore., likes to see.
As a university horticulture student, Kathy LeCompte once got some bad advice from a guidance counselor about her plan to commercially grow and sell plants.
PORTLAND — As Tom Fessler thought about the future of his family’s nursery, he couldn’t help but notice the growing importance of ecommerce to the overall retail industry.
The Oregon Department of Forestry and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service are partnering to help private landowners in southwest Oregon slow the spread of an invasive tree-killing dise…
New facility set to open Sept.24
NEW YORK (AP) — Watch out for the 7-foot box on the doorstep. Amazon plans to sell and ship fresh, full-size Christmas trees this year.
The courtyard at Monrovia’s 1,200-acre plant nursery in Dayton, Ore. was buzzing with bees Tuesday as visitors toured elaborate displays set up for the company’s 2018 Handcrafted Expo, which r…
Portland, Ore. — The annual Farwest Show fills the Oregon Convention Center each year with more than 6,000 nursery industry professionals from all corners of the U.S. and provides space for mo…
Salem, Ore. — What began as a way for Diane Wavra to stay at home with her children has blossomed into a booming nursery business.
ALBANY, Ore. — For Sevenoaks Native Nursery, sand is a key ingredient for optimum growth in their plants.
Many consumers are saying so long to their lawns and replacing thirsty grass with low-maintenance native plants, says Diane Jones, owner of Draggin’ Wing High Desert Nursery in northwest Boise.
CANBY, Ore. — Morning Shade Farm began nearly 25 years ago, when Jim Geiselman and his wife, Kasi, decided they wanted to move to the country to raise their kids.
The Plant Place Nursery has two locations — one retail and one wholesale — in the Olympia-Tumwater area of Washington state.
In 1980, Michael Dolan was a young man fresh out of military service. Then he read “Eating on the Wild Side,” by Jo Robinson.
Tony Godfrey’s grandparents were all farmers in the Midwest, but his father was a machinist who moved the family to California for a job.
Wetland plants growing in logs and mats made from coir, the fiber from the outer husk of coconuts, have been the key to growth at North Fork Native Plants, a nursery in eastern Idaho specializ…
Molalla, Ore. — In the late 1980s Neal Lucht saw the need to produce transplants for commercial agriculture. At the time, plug transplants weren’t grown in the Pacific Northwest, but he knew s…
Inland Desert Nursery, the Pacific Northwest’s largest grapevine nursery, took root five decades ago with a teenager’s knack for growing vines in southern Washington.
CORVALLIS, Ore. — The Ornamental Plant Breeding Program at Oregon State University is attempting to create a better re-blooming lilac and make it more blight resistant.
Not all plants are wholesome for foraging animals.
Christmas tree farmers have narrowly approved a national checkoff program that raises about $1.8 million a year to promote and research the crop.
But this isn’t the first time local farmers have been in the crossfire over a dispute with Mexico. Back in 2009, the U.S. government found itself unable to reach an agreement with Mexico over …
CARPINTERIA, Calif. (AP) — There’s something in the air of the idyllic seaside Southern California town of Carpinteria (CAHR’-pihn-tehr-ee-uh), and residents say it stinks.
JEROME, Idaho — Moss Greenhouses is well known throughout the Intermountain West for its premium plants and hanging baskets.
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Researchers for Washington State University are being deluged with reports of brown marmorated stink bugs, especially from western Washington.
Modern gardening isn’t just about growing plants — it’s part of a movement toward personal and family wellness that includes everything from diet and exercise to a clean and livable environment.
We’re coming up on cherry blossom festivals, tulip time and lilac season. Here’s a look at some of the places that celebrate spring flowers with festivals and other events.
BOISE — Opposition from Idaho farm groups has helped beat back a bill that would have required conspicuous labeling on all plants for sale that could be poisonous to humans or animals.
Looking to gain a handle on the state’s largest-ever Japanese beetle outbreak, the Oregon Department of Agriculture has proposed doubling its treatment area around the Cedar Mill and Bethany n…
The latest U.S. House bill aimed at immigration reform and a DACA fix would create “chaos for farmers and their workers,” an Oregon nursery leader says.
GILSON, Ill. (AP) — After a night with the family eating turkey and stuffing, many families drive out to the local tree farm to make their selection for the holiday season. Grohmann’s Christma…
The change can happen overnight, a mutation at the microscopic level, causing otherwise healthy ornamentals such as daisies and chrysanthemums to sprout damaging growth defects.
PORTLAND — Representatives of Oregon agriculture say they are wary of a proposal to reduce the state’s carbon emissions. While farmers could attract new revenue under the system, they could al…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin tree farmers say they’ll have enough Christmas trees to meet demand this year despite evergreen shortages in other parts of the U.S.
Five people, including former state ag Director Katy Coba, received the 2017 Friends of Nurseries awards from the Oregon Association of Nurseries.
Certain species of maple have earned a nasty reputation that plant breeder Ryan Contreras aims to change.
The combination of two obscure passions — for the Russian language and exotic fruit — led Jim Gilbert to success in his career as a nurseryman.
Junction City, Ore. — Peoria Gardens takes pride in being sustainable, whether it involves the environment or employees.
EUGENE, Ore. — A staple of the Eugene and Springfield, Ore., area since 1940, Gray’s Garden Centers are often simply referred by community members as: Gray’s. The retail nurseries are consider…
PORTLAND — The 2017 Farwest Show will be far from ordinary as it enters its 45th year.
WILSONVILLE, Ore. — During the recession that began in 2008, one-third of the Oregon’s nursery business was lost, but now in 2017, the industry has come back strong, reclaiming first place amo…
WOODBURN, Ore.— Jim Parsons said he is asked all the time how he got into the palm tree business.
ALBANY, Ore. — From a young age, Dain Sansome was interested in bamboo.
ALBANY, Ore. — Sarah Stutzman and Michele Santoyo didn’t realize how hard their dad, Craig Edminster, worked until they joined him at Pacific NW Natives a few years ago.
Not everybody begins his career at age 10, but Dan Pearson did — with a detour for a college degree and eight years working as a landscape architect.
WOODBURN, Ore. — Brent Smith is the third-generation of Smiths to operate Treco Inc.