OREGON BILL PROPOSES PREDATOR CONTROL DISTRICTS
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Capital
Press
The West s
Weekly
FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015

VOLUME 88, NUMBER 17
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
DROUGHT
Washington’s worries
grow as snow melts
Nearly half the state in new emergency declaration
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Washing-
ton’s drought, so far confi ned
to less than half the state, may
grow into a statewide emer-
gency in another month, De-
partment of Ecology Director
Maia Bellon said Friday.
“I think it’s possible, very
possible,” she said in a confer-
ence call with reporters hours
after Gov. Jay Inslee expand-
ed a previous drought decla-
ration from about one-fi fth to
nearly one-half the state.
As snowpack melts,
drought worries spread. State
agencies are monitoring po-
tential impacts on agriculture,
fi sh and cities. Virtually the
entire state can expect sum-
mer river and stream fl ows
below 75 percent of normal.
DOE will re-evaluate in ear-
ly May summer water supply
outlooks. Long-range climate
forecasts say the state will con-
tinue to be warmer than average.
“Conditions are expected
to get worse,” Bellon said.
Inslee declared a drought
emergency March 13 in 11
watersheds in the Yakima and
Wenatchee areas, Walla Walla
region and Olympic Peninsula.
Turn to SNOW, Page 12
MORE INSIDE
• Water managers
respond to Yakima
Basin drought
Page 4
• Ruling forces Calif.
water districts to
review rates
Page 4
• Owyhee farmers
face another tough
year
Page 5
• Forecast bodes well
for Southern Idaho
Page 5
Klamath ag businesses
brace for another dry year
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.
— The possibility of enough
rain showers through the up-
coming summer is probably
nil, so ag-related businesses
in the Klamath Basin antici-
pate another year of drought
conditions.
There is basically no snow-
pack on the east side of the Cas-
cade Range, so there’ll be little
or no water from melt off in
the hot months of July and Au-
gust. It’s anticipated that thou-
sands of acres won’t be put into
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
Michael Ugalde, left, and Billy
Conrad, territory managers for
Pape Machinery in its Merrill,
Ore., store, have the responsi-
bility of selling big equipment
such as this John Deere tractor.
production because of a lack of
Turn to DRY, Page 12
THIS WEEK IN THE
CAPITAL PRESS
Craft brewers
PRODUCTION
Maiden season
for new apple line
Company begins
operating its new
apple packing line
just in time to help
handle its share of the
industry’s largest crop
on record.
Page 3
MARKETING
Lamb sliders a hit
at ballpark
The nation’s largest
processor of lamb is
taking its message —
and its meat — out to
the ballgame.
Page 8
boost demand for
HOPS
HOP
States beyond Northwest return to
growing hops as possible shortage looms
By DAN WHEAT
U.S. commercial hop
production in 2014
Capital Press
Y
Photos by Dan Wheat/Capital Press
A worker digs a hole for a hops pole at Oasis Farms
between Prosser and Benton City, Wash., March
26. The farm is one of many adding hop acreage in
the Pacifi c Northwest and Midwest this year to meet
demand from small craft brewers.
AKIMA, Wash. — The continuing growth of craft beer
is squeezing the U.S. hop industry.
It’s driving an increase in plantings in the nation’s
premier hop-growing region — the Pacifi c Northwest.
And it’s causing states that haven’t produced hops for decades to
venture back into it. Even then, there probably won’t be enough for
craft brewers or to prevent a worldwide shortage of hops for big
brewers in a few years.
Craft breweries are projecting 20 percent annual growth through
2020, according to Ann George, administrator of Hop Growers of
America and the Washington Hop Commission in Moxee, Wash.
That means hop acreage is likely to keep increasing, she said.
To meet that demand, growers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho
have been shifting from alpha variety hops that large brewers prefer
to the more profi table aroma varieties that craft brewers want.
Oil in the hop cone, or fl ower, is used for fl avor and to stabilize
the beer.
Pete Mahony, director of supply chain management and purchas-
ing for John I. Haas Inc. in Yakima, has warned the shift could lead
to a shortage of alpha hops.
At current trends, there will be a worldwide alpha shortage by
2018, predicted Lynn Kemme, owner of Great Lakes Hops, a hop
propagator in Zeeland, Mich.
Large brewers, however, say they don’t rely solely on the open
market.
Turn to HOPS, Page 12
Nearly 71 million pounds of
hops were harvested in 2014,
a crop valued at $272 million,
according to USDA NASS data.
Hop acres by state
Washington:
29,021 or 73.9%
Oregon: 5,559
or 14.2%
Idaho: 3,812
or 9.7%
Other: 880
or 2.2%
Total: 39,272 acres
Source: Hop Growers of America
Dan Wheat and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
A bag of pelletized hops at Roy Farms,
Moxee, Wash., during 2013 harvest.
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