March 19, 2008
By SUE RYAN
News staff writer

Fruit growers will soon have a new research scientist onboard to consult regarding horticulture.

Oregon State University has selected Todd Einhorn as the new horticulture research scientist at the Mid Columbia Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Hood River. Superintendent Clark Seavert said Einhorn will begin June 1 and become a valuable addition to the MCAREC team.

“He will bring a breadth of knowledge to compliment our staff and take us in a new direction that will benefit the industry,” Seavert said. (See box at right.)

While Einhorn’s background is in pomology, he also has experience in the ornamental, woody-plant industry extensively as a nurseryman and arborist.

His training is as a horticulturist with an emphasis on plant physiology. His work in pomology will lend itself to issues in the Mid-Columbia region including irrigation.

“I have spent time developing water-use-efficient irrigation protocols for various fruit crops, largely as a function of my appointments in semi-arid regions,” Einhorn said.

He plans to continue work on the whole plant level at MCAREC by looking at the efficient use of resources including both water and fertilizer. Einhorn said he also intends to address soil-water-root relationships and their effects on fruiting and cropping. He also will assess the horticultural techniques already developed and currently being tested at the center. Those include mulching; design of pruning, training and planting systems; trials for new cultivars and rootstocks.

“In addition to field performance of new cultivars there is a need to evaluate their post-harvest performance,” Einhorn said. “The combination of my rather unquenchable appetite for basic science and horticultural training should serve our industry well.

“Currently, with the excitement of arriving in Oregon, I am generating a considerable amount of ideas that I am eager to exchange with industry leaders.”

Einhorn said his research platform has a major emphasis on pear and cherry culture/physiology with a minor emphasis on post-harvest issues affecting those crops. He said both crops have undergone substantial evolutions from a horticultural sense through new rootstocks and cultivars as well as training strategies.

“The balance then becomes one of effectively integrating new, sensible technologies into growers’ current production systems with the overall focus of increasing their profitability and competitive advantage,” Einhorn said.

In his spare time, Einhorn enjoys spending time playing ice hockey with his two sons, Eli and Sam. They and his wife, Kathryne, will join him in Hood River.

“She is wonderfully gifted in hand-crafts and has spent time in the Waldorf educational movement in Fort Collins,” Einhorn said.

In addition to Einhorn, the center has also been working on hiring a new superintendent to take over from Seavert.

Seavert has been serving as both MCAREC’s leader and at the Aurora research station for more than a year.

He said while the team hiring the superintendent has moved on to the negotiations phase with a candidate that they are not yet ready to announce their selection.