Country Life Special Section • Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Cloud Mountain opens season
Gardening • CL2 Dairy • CL3 FFA • CL4
Business
Stan Ryan is new Darigold CEO He brings 25 years of international experience with Cargill
Interns Christine Hoefgen and Rob Jordan have begun a season of learning about plants at the Cloud Mountain Farm Center with education coordinator Sean D’Agnolo, center. (Courtesy photo)
Seven new interns now on board EVERSON — Cloud Mountain Farm Center, 6906 Goodwin Rd., has opened its doors to the public for the 2016 season. The nonprofit agricultural education center provides hands-on learning opportunities to new and experienced farmers as well as home gardeners and orchardists. These unique educational experiences are integrated into management of the center’s 45-acre farm and nursery.
The Cloud Mountain nursery grows almost all its plants and trees from starts. Cuttings, seeds or grafts of locally adapted varieties are nurtured for one to two years before being made available for sale. The nursery offers a wide variety of fruit and nut trees, berries, table and wine grapes, ornamental landscape plants and more. The nursery is now open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Each year, Cloud Mountain Farm Center offers over 30 See Cloud Mountain on CL2
Snowpack at 109% of normal statewide SPOKANE — Even with slightly above-normal temperatures, Mother Nature built upon an already substantial snowpack in Washington State throughout the month of January, the Natural Resources Conservation Service reports. Water year (Oct. 1 to Sept. 30) precipitation also remains well above normal for the state. The most recent National Weath-
er Service three-month outlook is for above-normal temperatures and belownormal precipitation. However, shortterm forecasts call for continued snow in the mountains and rain in the valleys. “With 70 percent of our typical winter already past, the rest will be a coast as long as the temperatures don’t elevate to the point of causing snowmelt. We would rather save that for late March and into
April,” said NRCS water supply specialist Scott Pattee. The Feb. 1 statewide SNOTEL readings were 109 percent of normal but vary across the state. The Skykomish River Basin had the lowest readings at 68 percent of the 30-year median for Feb. 1 while the Okanogan had the most snow at 146 percent. Most basins are recording near-tonormal to above-normal snowpack.
SEATTLE — Darigold Inc. has named Stan Ryan, longtime Cargill executive, as its new president and CEO, effective Feb. 22. Ryan brings to Darigold 25 years of international leadership experience with Cargill, a global food, agribusiness and trading company. With Cargill, Ryan was the platform leader of the Agricultural Supply Chain in Shanghai, China, overseeing the agricultural commodities origination, trading and processing for this multibilliondollar division with more than 30,000 employees and 700 facilities. Most recently, Ryan served as interim CEO and board director for Eagle Bulk Shipping, based in New York. “Ryan is a highly accomplished international executive,” said Mark Wesen, chairman of the Darigold board of directors, in a press release. “He is both customer- and employee-focused. He is accomplished at delivering value, inspiring innovation and building teams. He has high leadership standards that mirror Darigold’s commitment to stewardship for our family farm owners.” Over his Cargill career, Ryan served as president and general manager of seven divisions in five countries. He managed both branded and
Stan Ryan commodity products and drove growth through customer-focused innovation and strong organizational development. “I’m truly excited to join the Darigold team, an organization so rich in history and substantial in capabilities,” said Ryan. “I look forward to building on that legacy and creating many successes with my new colleagues, our customers and all of our farmer owners.” Ryan was raised in Janesville, Wisconsin, the oldest of four children. He earned both an MBA and MA from the University of Chicago, and a BA in economics from the University of Notre Dame. Ryan and his family will be relocating to Seattle from Shanghai, China. Among Darigold’s 11 processing plants in the Northwest is the Lynden milk drying facility that receives most of Whatcom County’s dairy farm milk. Darigold is the marketing and processing subsidiary of the Northwest Dairy Association cooperative of nearly 500 dairy farm families.