WOODBURN, Ore. — One by one, the Prinoth Raptor mowed over blighted hazelnut trees in a 30-acre orchard near Woodburn, Ore., snapping branches like toothpicks and leaving behind a trail of mulched wood and leafy debris.

Tom Senter stood and watched as the tank-like vehicle devoured each row. These trees, he said, were heavily infected with Eastern Filbert Blight, a fungal disease that reduces crop yield and requires labor-intensive management to avoid spreading. 

Senter, who has farmed hazelnuts for 33 years, spent six seasons trying to save the orchard. Then came a major ice storm in February 2021 that caused severe damage for him and other producers across the Willamette Valley.

“The trees just broke off this high off the ground,” Senter said, holding his hand to about his waist. “That was the final straw. … Mother Nature made the decision for us.” 

Senter hired Advanced Land Management, a crop removal and reintegration company based in Sweet Home, Ore., to clear the orchard. That will allow him to replant newer blight-resistant hazelnut varieties — specifically McDonalds or PollyOs.

It isn’t just hazelnuts driving demand for the service, said Matt Bostrom, the company’s owner. Blueberry farms are also transitioning to newer varieties that can better handle extreme heat and drought, while apple growers are converting more acres to Honeycrisp and Cosmic Crisp to meet consumer demand.

“We can flip an orchard in days, depending on the size of it” Bostrom said. “And we don’t have to burn anything. You don’t have hardly any groundwork afterward.” 

Bostrom founded Advanced Land Management in 2008. At the time, he was working mostly on timber and riparian restoration projects, doing everything from mowing brush to piling and burning nonsalable forest slash.

Rather than resorting to burn piles, Bostrom said he wanted to come up with a way to put all that organic, carbon-rich material back into the ground, where it could improve soil health and water retention. 

In 2014, the company acquired the 630-horsepower Prinoth Raptor 800, one of the largest linear mulchers on the market. It didn’t take long to draw the attention of farms, Bostrom said, realizing its potential for resetting cropland.  

The entire crop reintegration process takes several phases to complete. First, the Prinoth Raptor does the primary mulching, knocking down entire trees or consuming bushes down to the stump and roots. 

A second round of mulching grinds the material even finer before it is mixed into the ground using a Rotovator. Once finished, the site looks like a freshly tilled garden, providing essentially a blank slate for farmers to replant newer and better crops for their operations. 

After about two years, Bostrom said the organic material breaks down enough to significantly boost production.  

“Overall, it’s been great for the soil,” Bostrom said. 

Advanced Land Management works with about 200 clients per year in agriculture and forestry, from the Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon north to the Canadian border and as far east as the Tri-Cities in Washington. Bostrom said they plan to push into Northern California. 

“We have the right machine for just about everything,” he said.