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BEEF: MARKET DISTRIBUTIONS CHANGING TRADE LANDSCAPE Page A5 FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2017 VOLUME 90, NUMBER 27 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 Washington Wildfi re SAVING THE RANCH Sean Ellis/Capital Press American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall, right, speaks with Big D Ranch owner Richard Durrant June 28 near Meridian, Idaho. Duvall told about 200 producers to stay engaged in the political process. Farm Bureau president tells farmers to stay engaged in politics Duvall: Trump aff ords opportunity to achieve changes in agriculture Dan Wheat/Capital Press Molly Linville, a Palisades, Wash., rancher and her Border Collie, Stinker, on June 29 near the spot where they started herding 60 mother cows and their calves two miles to safety from a wildfi re. By SEAN ELLIS MERIDIAN, Idaho — Farm- ers and other rural Americans were responsible for electing President Donald Trump, and that presents an opportunity to achieve signifi cant changes on issues such as immigra- tion, trade and regulatory and tax reform, American Farm Bureau Fed- eration President Skippy Duvall told Idaho producers. But farmers need to stay engaged in the political process for that to happen, he said. “You made a difference ... in electing a president that is going to take us in a different direction,” Du- vall said. But “if we disengage from this process and don’t stay on the phone with our congressmen ... we will miss the greatest opportunity of my adult lifetime.” Members of Congress and the administration are receiving a lot of phone calls and emails from mem- bers of groups that don’t agree with agriculture’s stance on important is- sues, Duvall said. Farmers and ranchers and other rural Americans need to fl ood their elected offi cials with at least a sim- ilar amount of emails and calls, the Georgia farmer said June 28 during a tour of Idaho. “They need a stack of emails,” he said. “All you have to do is commu- nicate. You need to do it regularly, consistently and you need to do it loud.” Turn to DUVALL, Page 12 Tour of Idaho American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall meets with hundreds of Idaho producers. Ranchers rescue cattle, but lose rangeland Estimated 46,621 acres burned from June 26 through June 28 from lightning-strike fi res By DAN WHEAT Capital Press P ALISADES, Wash. — Molly Linville saw the lightning bolt strike just be- hind the hilltop about a mile west of her house. The plume of smoke was instant. Then came fl ames. Linville spotted the strike from the front win- dows of the adobe-brick-stucco house her hus- band’s grandfather built in 1921. She was eating a late lunch at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, June 26. She called authorities. Other lightning strikes in the area had been reported. “The response was awesome,” she later said. Fire burned through grass and sage brush down the hillside. U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Grant County fi refi ghters and private crews arrived and bulldozed a fi reline at the base of the hillside about a quarter mile from her house at the mouth of Sutherland Canyon. “They saved our house. They worked like I would expect fi refi ghters who are 25 (years of age) to work,” Linville said. She remained uneasy that night, getting up ev- ery couple of hours to check on things. The wind shifted, blowing down the Moses Coulee (valley) and away from her house. By Tuesday morning the fi re was out. Linville was relieved. But two other lightning strikes caused fi res that burned two miles down coulee, merging at Connet Grade and Francis Canyon, also known as Frank’s Canyon. Linville’s herd of 60 mother cows, plus calves and four bulls were grazing across the val- ley fl oor from the canyon. “All day fi re was coming down the grade very slowly. Planes and helicopters were dumping on it. Four brush trucks were watching. Nothing was being done from the ground. It was all air attack,” Linville said. Neighbors were nervous about the lack of a ground effort. WASH. WENATCHEE NAT’L FOR. Lake Chelan Chelan C 97 172 Straight Hollow fire 2 DOUGLAS Sutherland Canyon fire 2 Narrow escape One of them, rancher Justin Sachs, offered to cut a fi reline with his backhoe at the mouth of Francis Canyon but was turned away by U.S. For- est Service personnel who told him he had no fi re training. “I have a pretty ‘spidy sense.’ I could kind of tell something was going to happen,” Linville said. “I said to a neighbor, ‘They aren’t going to do any- thing, are they?’ and he said, ‘I don’t think so.’ So I drove back to my house (in her pickup) and got my ATV and my dog.” Fire reached the valley fl oor about 8:45 p.m. Linville, 40, on her ATV and her Border Collie, Stinker, started moving their cows 15 minutes be- fore the fi re jumped Palisades Road, burned where the cows had been and fanned north and south on the east side of the valley and climbed hills east- ward, claiming thousands of acres of rangeland in Douglas and Grant counties. Area in detail o lu Capital Press E. Wenatchee GRANT Wenatchee CHELAN 28 N KITTITAS Qunicy 281 5 miles Alan Kenaga/Capital Press “We got the cows to safe pasture at the house. Without moving them they’d probably all be dead.” MOLLY LINVILLE, Palisades, Wash., rancher Turn to WILDFIRES, Page 12 Page 3 Organic food sales jump 8.4 percent in 2016 By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The U.S. organic industry main- tained steady growth in 2016, with food sales increasing 8.4 percent to $43 billion — breaking the $40 billion mark for the fi rst time. The sizable growth is even more impressive considering total food sales increased only 0.6 percent. Organic food now accounts for 5.3 percent of all food sales in the U.S., another sig- nifi cant fi rst for the organic sector, according to the Or- ganic Trade Association in its 2016 Organic Industry Sur- vey, conducted by the Nutrition Business Journal this spring. Organic non-food sales also posted robust growth, increasing 8.8 percent to $3.9 billion, far sur- passing the 0.8 percent growth in all non-food sales of comparable items, such as textiles, supplements and per- sonal care items. “The organic industry continues to be a real bright spot in the food and agriculture econ- omy, both at the farm gate and the check-out counter, said Laura Batcha, OTA chief executive offi cer, in the as- sociation’s executive summary of the survey. The robust industry continues to gain ground, gaining market share and making its way into new channels — such as convenience and drug stores, foodservice and the internet. Turn to ORGANICS, Page 12 Our Rebin Program can turn your old trailer into a new trailer! We will remove all working mechanical parts, and replace the bin with a new Stainless Steel STC Bin on your existing running gear. All parts deemed reusable are reinstalled on the new bin. All of this at the fraction of the cost of a new trailer! 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