Digger magazine

Written to make you a nursery industry expert.

Writer breaks down the immigration issue

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From reporter Dan Wheat in the Capital Press (Salem, Ore.), Thursday, May 13, 2010: If illegal immigration was an easy issue it would have been solved by now. For most of us who are not immersed in the subject it is easy to adopt the sound bite of the side we lean toward. It’s much […]

Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown to speak to OAN members

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The second-highest elected official in Oregon’s state government will be the guest speaker at the next meeting of the OAN Government Relations Committee. As secretary of state, Kate Brown works on many issues of importance to nursery growers. For one, she is leading a workgroup that is grappling with the thorny issue of defining public […]

Early registrations due May 15 for the 2010 Oregon Urban and Community Forestry Conference

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Early registrations are now being accepted for the 2010 Oregon Urban and Community Forestry Conference, titled ”From Seed to City: The Journey of an Urban Tree”. The two-day conference will take place June 2 at J. Frank Schmidt & Sons Inc. nursery in Boring, Ore., and June 3 at The Oregon Garden Resort, Silverton, Ore. […]

Pacific Coast Nurseryman stops print publication

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The venerable Pacific Coast Nurseryman magazine, which covers nursery news in 13 states and British Colubmia, has stopped print publication after nearly seven decades. “Owner Rita Kwasnick made a difficult decision to exit the magazine business due to financial problems posed by the economy and declining advertising revenues,” a press release stated. “She closed the […]

Tree growers can get aid for disaster losses

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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced today that nurseries, Christmas tree growers and orchardists can now apply for benefits under the Tree Assistance Program, which was part of the 2008 Farm Bill. The program, administered by the USDA Farm Service Agency, exists to help farmers who lost trees to natural disasters after Jan. 1, […]

Aguirre departing for new horizons

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We’re sad to report that OAN Executive Director John Aguirre will be leaving us at the end of the month to join the California Association of Winegrape Growers as that group’s new president. John has provided outstanding leadership to the association, which publishes Digger, during his decade-plus tenure at the helm, and he will be […]

Retailers get their own place at the Farwest Show

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The 2010 Farwest Show in Portland, Ore. has many new features coming this year, and one of them is the Garden Center Pavilion — a place to check out all the enticing gift shop items many garden centers are using to build larger orders, add to their bottom line, and become a multi-season destination for […]

Duke researchers: ‘Choose your fronds carefully’

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The ferns you find at garden centers or from wholesalers that are labeled as American natives may not be authentic. Researchers from Duke University report that they found falsely-labeled ferns at nurseries in North Carolina, Texas and California. It’s hard to say whether this happened intentionally or accidentally, because ferns aren’t as easy to tell […]

Trucking glut turns into a shortage

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It was predicted more than a year ago that as the economy recovered, a trucking shortage would develop due to truck owners having sold their idled trucks overseas. Now, according to Packer, that is exactly what has happened. For the first time in a long time, carriers may have the leverage rather than their customers. […]

OSU scores $5.8 million grant to research fruit fly

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Oregon State University tentatively has scored a $5.8 million grant to battle the spotted wing drosophila. As we reported last fall, this fruit fly has been attacking ripe fruit in the Pacific Northwest and causing widespread damage. Fruit and berry growers are the main victims, but nurseries growing fruit trees and shrubs also have reason […]