Season of 200-plus mile drives pays off for Merrill potato, wheat farmer 

By SARA HOTTMAN 

H&N Staff Reporter

November 7, 2010

.     By the time Donnie Heaton drove from his Merrill home to his widely dispersed fields — Newell, Bonanza, Sprague River — and back, he clocked 110 miles on his truck. On days he visited his Medford field, it was an additional 180 miles.

   Heaton had to plant potato crops far away from his usual Merrill-area fields after the Bureau of Reclamation cut water allotments to irrigators in order to keep Upper Klamath Lake at levels required by a federal biological opinion. The off-Project and California fields had access to water.

   A season of a 110- to 290-mile drives daily paid off.

   His yields were average, but the crop was quality, he said. Lower yields in the nationwide potato market mean prices are good. Overall, Heaton said, the turbulent growing season ended well.

   “It’s farming. There’s always stuff you’ve got to worry about. There’re always ifs, buts, maybes,” he said. “I got through this year. … Maybe we’ll make a little bit of money. It’s not the same as doing it at home with water, but there’s a chance we’ll be able to make money.”  

   Challenging year

   The operation’s successful end, Heaton hopes, will pay for all of the obstacles leading up to it.

   “The potatoes are worth more money and we won’t have to beg (buyers) to take them,” Heaton said. “That said, we have to get more out of (the potatoes) because of the cost of growing them.”

   Fuel, tires and maintenance were significant expenditures as Heaton sent employees to fields far outside their home base. He just finished harvest Oct. 22 — a late harvest caused by moving equipment across the 290-mile spread.

   The soil in his new fields was rocky, which damaged the potatoes as they were harvested. Damaged potatoes are thrown out.

   “On the whole, I’m very satisfied,” Heaton said. “We had more to deal with … but it looks like we’ll be able to get through the year and pay the bills.”

   Next year

   “Once you get done with harvest, you gather up your chips and get a head count and start figuring out what you’re doing next year,” Heaton said.

   Despite this year’s logistical and soil challenges, Heaton said he’s considering returning to the same fields next season.

   The question surrounding water on the Project is too much of an unknown, he said, so he’s currently in negotiations to keep the land.

   “Is it workable? Yes. But would we rather stay here, closer to home and do our stuff?” he said. “Yes.”  

Side Bar 

Technology with moisture helps fields

   Donnie Heaton remotely monitored his Medford field 9 miles away from his home in Merrill.

   The farmer forayed into moisture technology to make sure the field was properly watered - the crucial component to growing potatoes.

   Heaton had a hired hand to work the field, but a moisture sensor gauge linked to Heaton's home computer tracked moisture in the soil, sending him real-time data.

   "I could look at the computer and could tell him to turn up a sprinkler or whatever," Heaton said.  "It was a good tool to have this year, as spread out as everybody was."