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Thursday, February 13, 2020
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Small-business & Ag
HAPPENINGS
Producers may be eligible for
assistance after fl ooding
SALEM — According to the Oregon
Farm Service Agency, Union County pro-
ducers who have experienced fl ooding may
be eligible for assistance under the Emer-
gency Conservation Program administered
by the Union County Farm Service Agency.
A producer qualifying for ECP assistance
may receive cost-share levels not to exceed
75% of the eligible cost of restoration mea-
sures. Eligible socially disadvantaged and
beginning farmers and ranchers can receive
up to 90% of the eligible cost of restoration.
The following types of measures may be
eligible:
• removing debris from farmland
• grading, shaping or releveling severely
damaged farmland
• restoring permanent fences
• restoring conservation structures and
other similar installations
For more information on eligibility for
ECP assistance and the application process,
visit the Union County FSA Offi ce,1901
Adams Ave, Suite 5, La Grande; call 541-
963-4178; or go to www.fsa.usda.gov.
Bank of Eastern Oregon
celebrates 75th anniversary
HEPPNER — This year marks the 75th
anniversary of the founding of Bank of
Eastern Oregon. The bank in a news release
announced it will celebrate the anniversary
with open houses throughout the year at each
of its 20 branches, including Enterprise, start-
ing in February. The Arlington and Condon
branches go fi rst with celebrations Feb. 10-14.
A group of farmers and ranchers in 1945
saw a need for a bank in Eastern Oregon
founded the Gilliam County Bank in Arling-
ton, according the announcement. The bank
expanded in the 1950s, opening branches in
Heppner and Ione and changing its name to
Bank of Eastern Oregon. The headquarters
moved to Heppner where it remains.
“Our current mission hasn’t changed
from what our founders established in
1945,” CEO Jeff Bailey said in a written
statement. “We still serve the needs of our
rural communities, our local markets, by
providing them fi nancial services. In some
areas we’re not only the only bank in town,
we’re the only bank in the county. And we
take pride in that.”
For more information and to see a
historical video about the bank, visit www.
beobank.com.
Feb. 28 is deadline for
Conservation Reserve Program
general signup
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. De-
partment of Agriculture in a press release
reminds agricultural producers interested in
the Conservation Reserve Program 2020 gen-
eral signup to enroll by Feb. 28. This signup is
available to farmers and private landowners
who are either enrolling for the fi rst time or
re-enrolling for another 10- to 15-year term.
“This is the fi rst opportunity for general
signup since 2016,” FSA Administrator
Richard Fordyce said in the release. “It is
critical that producers and private land-
owners make their fi nal determinations
and submit offers very soon to take advan-
tage of this popular conservation program.”
Farmers and ranchers who enroll in CRP
receive yearly rental payments for volun-
tarily establishing long-term, resource-
conserving plant species, such as approved
grasses or trees (known as “covers”), which
can control soil erosion, improve water
quality and develop wildlife habitat on mar-
ginally productive agricultural lands.
For more details on the program and to
enroll, contact your local FSA county offi ce
or go to fsa.usda.gov/crp.
Chamber seeks nominations,
sponsors for awards banquet
LA GRANDE — The 86th annual Union
County Chamber of Commerce Annual
Awards Banquet is set for April 17. With
the theme “Roar into the Twenties,” the eve-
ning honors the amazing individuals and
businesses in our community.
Nominations are being accepted for Pub-
lic Employee of the Year, Educator of the
Year, Business of the Year, Entrepreneur of
the Year, Woman of the Year and Man of the
Year. For nomination criteria, details and
forms, call the Union County Chamber at
541-963-8588 or stop by the offi ce, 207 De-
pot St., La Grande. All nominations must
be submitted by 5 p.m. March 6.
The chamber is also seeking table spon-
sors, who will decorate a table and
See Happenings / Page 3B
Photo by Liang Xiaopeng/Xinhua via AP
Workers produce face masks in the workshop of a textile company in Jimo District of Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong
Province on Wednesday. Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology has mobilized two large textile
companies to produce face masks to help the fi ght the spread of the coronavirus.
New cases of virus drop
By Ken Moritsugu
The Associated Press
BEIJING — The number of new cases
of the coronavirus in China dropped for a
second straight day, health offi cials said
Wednesday in a possible glimmer of hope
amid the outbreak that has infected over
45,000 people worldwide and killed more
than 1,100.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile,
promised tax cuts and other aid to industry
as the ruling Communist Party tries to limit
the mounting damage to the economy. And
in Japan, 39 new cases were confi rmed on
a cruise ship quarantined at Yokohama,
bringing the total to 174 on the Diamond
Princess.
A look at the latest developments in the
crisis, which started in December in the city
of Wuhan:
New cases decline
The number of new cases has trended
down in the past week, raising hopes that
the epidemic may be plateauing.
China’s National Health Commission said
2,015 new cases had been tallied on Tuesday,
the second straight daily decline and down
from nearly 3,900 a week ago. Commission
spokesman Mi Feng said the situation is
still grim but “we have seen some positive
changes.”
“I’m going to be optimistic that is a sign that
their aggressive actions have been effective,
but I really do think it’s too soon to say that for
sure, not having hands on the data ourselves,”
said Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
She said she is hopeful an advance team
now in China from the World Health Orga-
nization will be able to examine the fi nd-
ings: “It would certainly be reassuring if we
were now seeing at least a slowdown of this
outbreak in China.”
All but one of the deaths recorded so far
have been in China, as have more than 99%
of all reported infections in the world. The
country has put an unprecedented 60 mil-
lion people in a near quarantine.
Economic fallout
China is struggling to restart its economy
after the annual Lunar New Year holiday
was extended to try to curb the spread of the
virus. Traffi c remained light in Beijing, and
many people were still working at home.
Xi’s announcement of tax cuts came as
companies face increasing losses because
of the closing of factories, offi ces, shops and
other businesses in the most sweeping anti-
disease measures ever imposed.
A large cluster of cases in Tianjin, a port
city southeast of Beijing, has been traced
to a department store, Chinese state media
said. One-third of Tianjin’s 104 confi rmed
cases are in Baodi district, where the store is
situated, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
A salesperson in the store’s home appliance
section was the fi rst diagnosed on Jan. 31,
Xinhua said, and a series of cases followed.
None of those infected had visited Wuhan
recently, and with the exception of one mar-
ried couple, they worked in different sections
of the store and did not know one another.
Elsewhere around the world, DBS bank in
Singapore cleared its offi ce, telling 300 em-
ployees to work from home after it learned
that an employee had been infected. The
city-state has 50 confi rmed cases.
A Formula One race in Shanghai in April
became the latest event canceled because
of the virus. Nokia, Vodafone and Deutsche
Telekom became the latest companies to pull
out of a major wireless trade fair this month
in Spain that usually draws 5,000 to 6,000
Chinese visitors.
Citizen journalist disappears
A citizen journalist reporting on the
epidemic in Wuhan has disappeared, activ-
ists said, becoming the second to vanish
in recent days amid tightening controls on
information in China.
Fang Bin, a seller of traditional Chinese
clothing, stopped posting videos or re-
sponding to calls and messages on Sunday,
activists Gao Fei and Hua Yong said, citing
Fang’s friends. His phone was turned off
Wednesday.
Fang had posted videos of Wuhan’s over-
crowded hospitals, including bodies in a van
waiting to be taken to a crematorium. The
last video he posted was of a piece of paper
reading, “All citizens resist, hand power back
to the people.”
Northwest ag commodity returns leveling up
Northwest Farm Credit Services
SPOKANE — Northwest
Farm Credit Services, an ag-
ricultural lending cooperative,
released its quarterly Market
Snapshot reports covering
the state of major agricul-
tural commodities in the region.
Northwest FCS industry teams
throughout Idaho, Montana,
Oregon and Washington monitor
conditions and report outlooks
for commodities fi nanced by the
co-op.
Northwest FCS’ 2020 outlook
for the agricultural commodi-
ties most common in Northeast
Oregon are summarized below.
Cattle: profi tability
throughout the beef sector
Slaughter facilities are very
profi table as they remain in
a position of leverage over
See Returns / Page 3B
Economy looks resilient despite virus risk
By Martin Crutsinger
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve
Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday
the U.S. economy appears durable, with
steady growth and unemployment near a
half-century low, but faces risks from the
broadening viral outbreak that began in
China.
Powell also said the Fed is content with
where interest rates are, suggesting that no
further rate cuts would be contemplated un-
less economic conditions were to change sig-
nifi cantly. Since last fall, the Fed has kept its
benchmark short-term rate in a low range of
1.5% to 1.75%, well below levels typical dur-
ing previous economic expansions.
The chairman made his remarks Tuesday
to the House Financial Services Commit-
tee on the fi rst of two days of semiannual
testimony to Congress.
The Fed is monitoring developments
stemming from the coronavirus, Powell said,
which he cautioned “could lead to disrup-
tions in China that spill over to the rest of
the global economy.”
In response to questions, Powell said
it was too early to assess the scope of the
threat the virus poses to the U.S. economy.
But he observed that the economy “is in a
very good place,” with strong job creation
and steady if modest growth.
“We will be watching that carefully,” he
said about the virus’ impact. “And the ques-
tion we will be asking is will these be per-
sistent effects that could lead to a material
reassessment of the outlook” in the United
States.
The daily death toll in China topped 100
for the fi rst time, raising the number of
deaths there from the virus above 1,000.
China remained mostly closed to business,
with around 60 million people under virtual
quarantine in the country.
The lockdown has raised concerns about
how much damage the loss of produc-
tion in China, the world’s second-largest
economy, will infl ict on global supply
chains. China accounts for more than 80%
of smartphone and notebook production
globally and more than half of global TV
and server production, according to recent
estimates.
In the midst of his testimony Tuesday,
Powell drew an attack from a familiar cor-
ner: President Donald Trump, the man who
nominated him to the Fed’s chairmanship
but who has repeatedly attacked him since
for not cutting rates more aggressively.
“Fed rate is too high,” Trump tweeted.
“Dollar tough on exports.”
The president complained in his tweet
See Economy / Page 2B