2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2020
BUSINESS & AG LIFE
Union Pacifi c closes big shipping center
that handled Malheur County onions
Wallula facility
shutdown raises
questions about
shipping options

By Les Zaitz
Mallheur Enterprise via AP
StoryShare
VALE — Union Pacifi c
Railroad on Friday shut
down its specialty rail ship-
ping facility in Wallula,
Washington, that has been
a key resource for Malheur
County onion producers.
The closure could have
implications for plans for
the Treasure Valley Reload
Center, a local shipping
project planned for Nyssa.
Malheur County offi cials
had justifi ed the center by
saying onion producers
could save nearly $2 mil-
lion a year in shipping costs
by dropping their use of the
Cold Connect service in
Wallula.
The Nyssa reload center,
however, is at least two
years away from coming
on line. That means the
4,000 truckloads of onions
that go from the Treasure
Valley area to the Wash-
ington site will have to be
shipped another way. Local
producers have long com-
plained that Union Pacif-
ic’s local service had been
unreliable because special-
ized rail cars were in short
supply.
The onion industry
already is taking a bat-
tering because of the pan-
demic as the market has
eroded for the large onions
grown locally favored by
the restaurant and food ser-
vice industries.
Union Pacifi c offi cials
confi rmed the Wallula shut-
down in an email Saturday
to the Malheur Enterprise.
“With COVID-19
impacting volume and
truck prices, it is no longer
sustainable to continue
Union Pacifi c photo
Union Pacifi c is shutting down this massive warehouse
and shipping center in Wallula, Washington, reducing how
Malheur County growers got their onions to market.
operations,” wrote Kristen
South, Union Pacifi c senior
director of corporate
communications.
She said employees were
notifi ed Friday that the clo-
sure is permanent. She said
the railroad wouldn’t pro-
vide any additional infor-
mation about its decision or
how many employees are
losing their jobs.
“Customers also were
notifi ed that Friday was
the last day we accepted
inbound orders,” Smith
said. “Our intention is
to deliver on all product
in transit, until it meets
its fi nal destination. A
reduced staff will tem-
porarily remain in posi-
tion to execute these fi nal
commitments.”
Customers were noti-
fi ed by email Friday from
two Union Pacifi c vice
presidents.
“The decision to shut
down this segment did not
come easily,” wrote Kari
Kirchhoefer and Brad
Thrasher, the vice presi-
dents. “We understand that
this may cause hardship to
your supply chain.”
The massive Wash-
ington complex featured
two miles of track to
handle specialized trains
that could get fruit and pro-
duce to eastern markets
in just days. Union Pacifi c
bought the Wallula site,
which is southeast of the
Tri-Cities, in January 2017
as well as sites in Delano,
California, and Rotterdam,
New York.
Movement of onions
out of the Treasure Valley
has been the motivation for
the Nyssa center. The area
ships about 490,000 tons of
onions, primarily to mar-
kets in the east.
The Legislature in 2017
gave the Oregon Trans-
portation Department $26
million to fund the Nyssa
center. The project has
fallen behind schedule, but
county offi cials say Union
Pacifi c has agreed to serve
the new Nyssa project and
Americold, another bil-
lion-dollar national com-
pany, is negotiating to
manage Treasure Valley
Reload Center. Construc-
OCA recommends
changes to reporting
EO Media Group
SALEM — The
Oregon Cattlemen’s Asso-
ciation reported its board
of directors voted to sup-
port a concept called
“30/14” to require a min-
imum 30% of each packer
processing plant’s weekly
volume of beef slaughter
to come as a result of pur-
chases made on the open
market, defi ned under
a Negotiated Purchase
Agreement.
“Four of the largest
packing companies in
the United States, Tyson
Foods, JBS, Cargill and
National Beef, have
owned more than 80% of
the packing capabilities
in our country,” the asso-
ciation stated in a news
release. “This monop-
olistic percentage has
gained and continues to
gain unprecedented con-
trol of cash markets, fl ow
tion isn’t expected to start
on land just north of down-
town Nyssa until next year.
Malheur County offi -
cials won access to the
state money by convincing
the agency that there was
a strong market for a new
shipping center and that it
would operate profi tably.
Making that case relied
heavily on the Wallula site.
The county said in its
October 2017 submission to
the state that 86% percent
of onions shipped out of the
Treasure Valley by truck.
The business for Nyssa
would come from taking
all the onion business away
from Wallula.
The projections, the
county said in its submis-
sion, “assumes that the
entire volume of ‘new’
onion shipments is shifted
from Wallula.”
That assumption was the
foundation for two fi nan-
cial claims by the county.
By making that shift, local
onion producers would save
about $1.8 million by not
trucking onions to Wallula.
The county also presented
calculations there would be
a “public benefi t” of about
$1 million from a Nyssa
operation – from reduced
wear on highways, fewer
truck-involved crashes and
fewer injuries.
of cattle, and the retail
beef pricing structures.”
The beef processor has
been enjoying higher and
higher profi ts, according
to the OCA, while the
rest of the cattle industry
hurts for revenue and
has no opportunity for
leverage.
“This has led to wild
market volatility,” the
association continued.
The OCA wrote a
letter to U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture offi -
cials recommending 30/14
to encourage fair, com-
petitive and transparent
markets.
The Livestock Manda-
tory Reporting Program is
due for legislative reautho-
rization Sept. 30.
To learn more about
the association’s recom-
mendations for market
changes, read the letter at
www.orcattle.com.
Beth Spell
House District 60
Ballots Due May 19
Working together for renewal and
revitalization of our District
I am the descendant of early settlers of Baker and Grant Counties
who came to Oregon in the late 1800s. I want to see our quality of
life maintained with good stewardship of our natural resources while
providing leadership in seeking ways to still preserve the livelihoods
of those who depend upon the land.
Vote for Beth Spell, Democrat,
for Oregon House Distrtict 60
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