by Howard Applegate
    According to folks who study the migration patterns of wild birds, we have about six months to a year before a deadly strain of avian flu begins to strike domestic fowl. Health experts are asking people to keep their birds indoors to avoid infection from the droppings of the migratory flocks. For many reasons, we can be relatively sure this will be an unsatisfactory solution.
    For instance, several local farmers who raise so-called “free-range” eggs and chemical-free chickens, claim that such a move will hurt their businesses, forcing them to treat their livestock in a manner inconsistent with their values. They point out, correctly, that avian flu is the result of massive factory farming practices, which they are attempting to change.
    While we have always applauded the ethics of the organic movement, a major player in local agriculture, we would like to point out the seriousness of this situation to the future of Germaine. We believe most of these farmers will eventually realize the necessity of reigning in their birds freedom in order to avoid catastrophe.
    We would like to encourage those who only own a show bird or two to take this crisis to heart also. The future of poultry and egg farming in Central Oregon may be jeopardized, as well as the Fall Fowl Fest, an important community tradition.

by Susie Applegate
   Can Algae help to save the world from global warming? Harlan McCoy thinks so, and he’s willing to put 1500 acres into production to prove it.
   New technology developed by an M.I.T. scientist, according to McCoy, is capable of cleaning smokestacks from dirty coal-fired power plants, removing up to 40 percent of the carbon dioxide and 86 percent of the nitrous oxide emitted by these plants. An added benefit, he says, is that the process also creates biodiesel fuel and ethonol, environmentally-friendly alternatives to gasoline and petroleum diesel.
   McCoy Agricultural Technologies has discovered that a local variety of algae has the required “high oil density” to be economically feasible.
   So, will Germaine become a major producer of biodiesel? Not initially, says McCoy, “We will be more like a greenhouse, or seeding bed. The actual biodiesel farms will be attached to the stacks of the powerplants in other parts of the country.
   However, he thinks that the technology has other possible adaptations, such as garbage burning plants like the one being proposed in west Wilbur County. While he claims to be adamantly opposed to such a development, Harlan McCoy is philosophical about it. “If it happens,” he said, “it could have it’s good side.”

by Howard Applegate
   Malsanto Corporation announced on February 17 that it planned to open a High Desert Research Facility in Wilbur County about 20 miles south of Germaine, near the Harney County line. Rachel Evans, the spokesperson for the huge, multi-national company said that the actual construction of infrastructure has been underway for about a year now, and they hoped to have the facility fully operating by May 1. The news sent an immediate stir through the local agricultural community, which is deeply divided about the development.
   When asked how approval managed to slip under the radar of local media, Ms. Evans said, “We have an arrangement with a local rancher to build greenhouses on 600 acres of his land. These are standard agricultural facilities which fall under the County zoning ordinances.”
   A check, however, with the County Courthouse, shows that ranch owner, Dr. Vernon Hastart of Portland, Oregon, may have received special dispensation from County Commissioners, bypassing a needed Water Table Impact Study. All three County Commissioners were “out of town,” according to the County Clerk, and were unavailable for comment.