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VOLUME 90, NUMBER 2
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
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Farm
Bureau
outlook
• TH
E PO
R T L A
ND
EXP
O C
ENT
ER
Farmers face
low prices,
new politics
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Political consultants Stan Barnes, left, and William “Billy” Moore told farmers and
ranchers that Trump’s election changes everything.
TOP PHOTO: American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall addresses members
Tuesday at the federation’s annual convention in Phoenix, seen below.
Photo courtesy of AFBF
HOENIX — Zippy Duvall was fi ghting a cold and sore
throat all during the American Farm Bureau Federation’s
annual convention here, but the Georgian had enough
voice left Tuesday to say he was feeling good about things.
Duvall, the Farm Bureau president, said the voting
delegates gave him a clear vision of what
they want in the coming year, including
guidance to “hit regulatory reform real
hard.”
Members zipped through a 350-page
policy book that outlines the organiza-
tion’s stance on everything from the 2018
Farm Bill principles to the gritty details
of crop production, livestock diseases,
science and relations with regulators, con-
sumers and activists.
President-elect Donald Trump still hadn’t nominated an ag sec-
retary to head the USDA, but Duvall said he and other ag and com-
modity group leaders met for 90 minutes with Trump’s transition
team last week in Washington, D.C., and had a “very good discus-
sion.”
“I think we have a great opportunity in this change,” Duvall said.
P
AFBF wraps up
annual convention on
optimistic note despite
changing political,
economic landscape
Turn to AFB, Page 12
Thinkstock photo
Idaho irrigators oppose Oregon endangered fi sh reintroduction effort
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho irrigators fear
they’ll be hurt fi nancially if the
State of Oregon prevails in a legal
battle to force the reintroduction of
endangered fi sh to the Snake River
upstream of the Hells Canyon Com-
plex of dams.
“If you have a listed species
above Hells Canyon in the Snake
“If you have a listed species above Hells Canyon in the Snake River and tributaries,
you’re going to have an alphabet soup of environmental laws imposed.”
Norm Semanko, executive director Idaho Water Users Association.
River and tributaries, you’re going
to have an alphabet soup of environ-
mental laws imposed,” said Norm
Semanko, executive director with
Idaho Water Users Association.
Construction of the Complex —
which is located at the Idaho and
Oregon border and includes the
Brownlee, Oxbow and Hells Can-
yon dams — was started in the mid-
1950s. The dams provide about 30
percent of Idaho Power Co.’s total
energy, but they’ve blocked the mi-
gration of native chinook salmon
and steelhead trout, which once used
the upstream channel and tributaries
for spawning.
The original federal license to op-
erate the Complex expired in 2005,
and the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission issued a fi nal environ-
mental impact statement for the reli-
censing in 2007. But the new license
has been delayed as Idaho Power
awaits Clean Water Act certifi cations
from the states of Idaho and Oregon.
Both states have issued draft cer-
tifi cations, which are in the midst of
Turn to FISH, Page 12
WSDA director: We have a plan for wheat woes
No easy answers, though
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Washington’s agriculture
Director Derek Sandison outlined for law-
makers Tuesday his plan to help the state’s
export-dependent wheat farmers meet a
key international benchmark for quality,
though none of the measures appear to be
quick or easy.
“We have a plan. We’re moving for-
ward with it,” Sandison told the House Ag-
riculture and Natural Resources Commit-
tee. “It’s not going to happen overnight,”
he said in an interview afterward.
Washington’s wheat industry last fall
encountered unprecedented trouble with a
decades-old test for starch quality. Because
of low falling numbers, a measurement of
how quickly a device falls through a mix
Turn to WHEAT, Page 12
Washington State
Department of Agri-
culture Director Derek
Sandison, right, talks
with Rep. Tom Dent,
R-Moses Lake, after
speaking to the House
Agriculture and Natural
Resources Committee
on Jan. 10 in Olympia.
Don Jenkins/Capital Press