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July 6, 2011 in City
Chickpea pioneer’s innovation gave Inland Northwest vital crop
Jim Evans, who died June 26, farmed the family land overlooking the Lewiston/Clarkston valley for more than 30 years.
(Full-size photo)
The next time you have a big scoop of hummus – and if you’re like me, that’ll be any second now – spare a kind thought for Jim Evans of Genesee, Idaho.
About three decades ago, Evans and his father pioneered a chickpea crop on the family farm overlooking the Lewiston/Clarkston valley. In conjunction with university and government researchers, the Evanses took a crop that was almost completely disregarded, provided land to test and modify it, weathered a brutal crop-killing blight, and helped make the humble garbanzo bean a regional success story.
These days, farmers in the Pacific Northwest plant more than 80,000 acres of chickpeas, driven largely by a surging market for hummus.
“It’s the fastest-growing snack food in the United States,” said Tim McGreevy, a longtime friend of Evans and the CEO of the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council in Moscow. “And most of that hummus you’re consuming is coming from right here in the Pacific Northwest.”
A fourth-generation farmer, Evans became a true force in Northwest agriculture before he died June 26 at age 55.
“He was a very loving, kind, generous man,” said his wife, Diane. “He could talk to a fence post and get a reaction.”
Evans served in leadership positions in many agricultural organizations, and he helped lead the effort to establish peas, lentils and chickpeas as subsidized federal crops in 2002. He provided land for crop testing for more than three decades – not just for chickpeas, which became his main focus, but also for varieties of other crops and new ways of controlling weeds and insects. He hosted an annual barbecue and tour of regional farms to showcase new varieties and research.
“He was a real benefit to the farm community,” said Larry Smith, a retired University of Idaho extension educator. “It’s not everybody that has the time or energy or willingness to take on the positions he did and be a spokesman for agriculture.”
Evans was generous, quick with a joke, and loaded with home-spun sayings – some fit for publication and some, in the grand tradition of the barnyard epithet, not. He was interested in innovative approaches, and liked to improvise solutions to problems.
“The kids who worked for him called him ‘MacGyver’ because he could fix anything,” Diane said.
She and Jim married in 1989, and he treated her two children like his own, she said, and relished the time spent with their grandchildren.
McGreevy, who spent a lot of time with Evans in Washington, D.C., trying to twist arms and change minds, said Evans charmed a lot of political types in the Capitol. He drew a big laugh in one Capitol hearing room by saying, “Mr. Chairman, it’s raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock today,” McGreevy said.
Evans was born in 1956, and graduated from Genesee High School in 1974. After spending a year at the University of Idaho, he returned to the family farm – which he called “Rimrock University.” His father, Sanford, provided plots for trial crops at the time, and farmers in the area had been casting about for a new crop in those years.
One day, Fred Muehlbauer, of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service at Washington State University, dropped by with some chickpea seed.
“I gave them this bag of seed – I think it was about 75 pounds,” said Muehlbauer, who’s now retired. “That was one of the first fields of chickpeas (in this region).”
After a couple years, though, the Evanses were hit by a blight that wiped out the chickpeas, and threatened to end the experiment. Innovation can be costly to a farmer, and other new legumes – such as fava beans – have had unsuccessful trials in the region. But Muehlbauer and others worked on finding a disease-resistant strain of the chickpeas, testing different varieties and hybrids on the Evans farm.
By the early 1990s, a couple of blight-resistant strains were developed – named “Sanford” and “Dwelley” after the two farmers who’d supported the research, Sanford Evans and Dwelley Jones of Walla Walla.
“From there, the industry just took off,” Muehlbauer said. “It’s grown by leaps and bounds the last few years.”
For all his hard work and advocacy, one of Evans’ favorite sayings was “You can’t put a price on a good time.”
“That was always a reminder to me that life is to be enjoyed, and Jim enjoyed the time he had here,” McGreevy said. “It was too short, really.”
Evans died of complications from a liver condition. One of his last wishes was that people would have a joyous remembrance of him – thus the celebration at Hall’s Corner Bar.
“He wanted a wake,” McGreevy said. “He said, ‘Now, McGreevy, I want there to be laughter. The world isn’t ending.’ ”
Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv@spokesman.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vestal13.
The draw of the unknowable 
Ninch on July 06 at 5:38 a.m.
I hate hummus… but I love whole chickpeas/garbanzo beans. Maybe it is the way hummus is prepared for sale in our markets, or maybe its because I associate certain intolerant liberals with the eating of hummus… or their bad food hygiene. I cannot count how many times I have seen these people dipping their half eaten veggie back into the group hummus pot. They may like to share their saliva but to me it is gross, gross, gross.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 06 at 5:56 a.m.
The “communal pot” sounds a lot like communion at church with a common cup. The little white cloth that is used to wipe between sips likely does little to sanitize the cup.
Victor Azar makes the best local Hummus in the Inland Basin and it can be found at several of the local markets. It is not a difficult product to make at home, and it was a major part of the diet for the Roman Legions. Gus
polistra on July 06 at 6:30 a.m.
“He could talk to a fence post and get a reaction.”
Best epitaph ever. I didn’t know Evans, never heard of him, but I’m tearing up just picturing such a fine man.
We pay entirely too little attention to agriculture and its leaders, innovations and successes.
Ninch on July 06 at 7:28 a.m.
I don’t share communal cups either.
maria on July 06 at 7:36 a.m.
Leave it to Ninch to take a sweet article and twist it into something ugly. Tell me, Ninch, where have you seen this practice of ungodly hummus dipping? You “cannot count how many times” you’ve seen this? Are you slamming the very crowd you appear to run with?
maria on July 06 at 7:40 a.m.
Oh, and Ninch….I’ll bet you share communal urinals. Aren’t you ever afraid something is going to slosh back up and get on you…something that didn’t come out of YOUR body? This world is a gross place, ain’t it?
Albert on July 06 at 8:34 a.m.
Interesting thought for a quick minute: The Lord in the Scriptural accounts, never passed around the “communion cup” to share. He simply served the disciples. “It all went south” in 405 A.D. when Leo I, declared himself to be infallible, (i.e. perfect like Christ and without sin), instituted the perverted “communion that forgives sin”, and split the Church. Revelations 17 is the story of the Catholic church and how it will fit into the End Times of today. You made a good decision Chef & Ninch…it’s an apostasy anyway and makes a mockery of the intent of the Last Supper. Good choice….just a quick thought.
empyrius on July 06 at 9:17 a.m.
RIP Mr. Evans.
But why are all of these farmers “subisdized”, i.e., socialists?
Albert Revelations 17-18 is about America! That much afeared “world government” flat-worlder Protestants ceaselessly look for is the American dollar that has been the world’s “reserve” currency that the world bank and IMF have used to subjugate nations the world over.
And we all know what happens to nations’ that do not want to have American federal reserve printed paper as their currency and want to use something real, like gold! They get cluster-fffff, errr …, bombed!
Nixonian America yet lives: for now!
Well there is an angel with a boulder coming for you . . .
MrNatural on July 06 at 10:13 a.m.
Thank you Mr. Evans…our local crop of chickpeas is the best in the world…
Chickpea Curry
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp mustard seed
1 dried chili, or 1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander seed
1 tbsp salt, or to taste
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 ripe tomatoes, diced or 1 cup canned tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tbsp chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)
Heat oil in a large pot and add onions and garlic and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
If you are an exacting cook, prepare the chili as above, adding the mustard seeds to the mortar and pestle as well. If you are a lazy cook like me add all the spices to the pot and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the chickpeas and tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes. Serve with bread or rice. Add cilantro garnish if using.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 06 at 1:48 p.m.
lovely recipe… a little lime on the side fresh squeezed will “brighten” a bit if you like.. gus
zelda on July 06 at 1:48 p.m.
Agricultural pioneers go largely unsung nowadays, so thanks, Shawn, for singing Jim Evans’ praises. Chickpeas are probably the only bean that tastes good all on its own, without embellishment, but I think I’ll give MrNatural’s recipe a try.
MrNatural on July 06 at 3:59 p.m.
Great idea Gus…Thanks!
I like the recipe because it’s a one pot wonder :)
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 06 at 4:06 p.m.
The only “disclaimer” on “Chick Peas/Garbonzo’s” is that they do NOT have a full complement of amino acids to make a “complete protein”… so adding a grain to the “Pulse/Bean” does round it out and make it a satisfying and full meal deal.. Pita bread and Hummus with a little EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and a few scattered Kalamata olives for some “garnish” makes an inexpensive and tasty table dish. Gus