member spotlight

by Nancy Maddox, MPH, writer

That comes as no surprise— the Beaver State is a chef’ s dream-come-true. Its scenic rivers and 363-mile-long Pacific coast yield up salmon, pink shrimp and other aquatic treats. On terra firma, about a quarter of Oregon’ s land area— 16.4 million acres— is devoted to farming. Moreover, the Oregon Department of Agriculture( ODA) reports that“ more that 98 % of Oregon farms are operated by families, with 88 % being sole proprietor single-family operations.” That translates into ingredients like, per Sietsema,“ Hood strawberries so juicy and fragile they rarely leave the state.”

Lucky for the rest of the country, many Oregon delicacies do. The state ranks # 1 in the US for production of a long list of agricultural commodities, including blackberries, boysenberries, hazelnuts and even Christmas trees. It ranks # 2 for production of peppermint, sweet cherries and hops; # 3 for Dungeness crabs, pears, red raspberries and a few other items; and # 4 for blueberries, green peas, cranberries and wine grapes. The abundance of local hops and wine grapes in particular has fueled the state’ s vibrant beverage industry, with more than 600 local wineries and over 200 breweries.

The Oregon State Food Innovation Center, home of the Oregon Department of Agriculture Laboratory Services

The two-story center— built of steel, concrete and glass with an industrial chic design— is a joint project of the ODA and Oregon State University( OSU). Billed as a one-stop shop for food product developers, its services include package engineering, shelf life studies and consumer sensory testing.“ If I want to start selling my grandma’ s pasta sauce,” said Kathleen Wickman, who manages the ODA Laboratory Services Program,“ I could come here and develop a flavor profile and set up a test kitchen to make small batches for sale. An economist could tell me the likelihood of my success, and ODA marketing folks could take my product to domestic and foreign trade shows.”

Manager

Wickman was born in Nebraska, and her early life followed the career trajectory of her father, an aspiring chemist who moved the family to New Hampshire, California(“ for dad’ s PhD”), New Jersey, Greece, New Jersey again, and finally Corvallis, OR, where her father secured a professorship at OSU. Wickman went to high school there and then enrolled in OSU herself, earning a BS in microbiology. She said,“ I had planned to go back to school, but instead I got a job with the state Department of Agriculture.” Over the next 33 years or so, she was promoted from laboratory technician to Microbiologist I to Microbiologist III to supervising microbiologist to assistant laboratory administrator. After a reorganization about 15 years ago— about the time the laboratory relocated to Portland— she became the laboratory manager.

Staff

When fully staffed, the ODA Laboratory Services Program employs 21 people: five microbiologists, five laboratory technicians, nine chemists, a quality assurance officer and Wickman.“ We have no administrative staff,” said Wickman.“ I let them go to maintain our analytical staff. Because we mostly serve our department, we don’ t have a lot of external calls come in.”

Front row from left to right: Kathleen Wickman, Sharon Ferrier, Deb Wong, Rafia Razzaque, Virginia Tarango, Terrie Graves, Riam Sangdoung, Rachel Zygmontowicz and Sarah Lampson. Back row from left to right: Justin Wood, Joe Harworth, Cary Johnson, Jim Madden, Tasha Johnson, Erik Luvaas, Sheri Roe and Kate Ellis

In terms of dollar value, Oregon’ s top ten list is a little bit different, including cattle, greenhouse plants, hay, milk, grass seed, wheat, potatoes, hazelnuts, pears and wine grapes. These agricultural items netted the state about $ 4.4 billion in 2014.

Overall, the ODA figures that agriculture comprises over 10 % of Oregon’ s entire economic output and is responsible for one of every eight jobs, no doubt including the jobs of chefs in Portland.

Facility

The ODA Laboratory Services Program moved up the Willamette Valley in the late 1990s from the state capital of Salem to downtown Portland. Today it occupies over 8,000 square feet of the state’ s Food Innovation Center, on the edge of the upscale Pearl District, known for its art galleries, restaurants and warehouse-to-loft conversions.

Revenue

The laboratory has a two-year budget of just over $ 7 million, including a recent, one-time allocation of $ 1.1 million for equipment upgrades, a new laboratory information management system and supplies. Roughly half of the current budget comes from general state funds, about $ 0.5 million from federal funds and most of the remainder from departmental transfers. A fraction of the budget comes from fees.

Testing

ODA Laboratory Services is one of several ODA testing programs.“ We call ourselves the regulatory lab,” said Wickman. Its chief client base consists of other ODA programs.

For the state pesticide program, the laboratory investigates pesticide misuse or abuse, testing everything from soil to foliage to dead geese. For the fertilizer program, it tests product samples for compliance with labeling laws, with an emphasis on nitrogen content and measurement of plant growth regulators. For the Oregon Natural Resource Program, it tests water samples for possible contamination with excrement from confined animal feedlot operations. And for the state gypsy moth eradication program— which seeks to keep the invasive, leaf-eating species from becoming established in Oregon— the laboratory verifies the potency of the hormone-based lures used in ODA moth traps.

In addition, the Laboratory Services Program supports a number of ODA food safety programs, testing finished Oregon-produced milk products for bacterial contamination; local shellfish for paralytic shellfish toxin, domoic acid and