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CALIFORNIA: RAIN SETS STRAWBERRIES BEHIND 2013 PACE Page 7 Capital Press The West s Weekly FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015 VOLUME 88, NUMBER 1 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM OLYMPIA 2015 WOLVES, WATER AND TAXES TOP AG AGENDA $2.00 USDA clears GMO tall fescue Lack of plant pest genes lets agency skip enviro analysis By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Don Jenkins/Capital Press Washington lawmakers will convene Jan. 12 in the Legislative Building in Olympia for a 105-day session. Wolves, water and taxes will be among the agriculture-related issues. Legislators convene Jan. 12 for budget-writing session By DON JENKINS Capital Press Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-15 Rep. Judy Warnick, R-13 Rep. Joel Kretz, R-7 Rep. Brian Blake, D-19 O Washington Gov. Jay Inslee LYMPIA, Wash. — Wolves, water and taxes are the headline ag- ricultural issues as legislators prepare to convene for their 2015 session in the Washington State Capitol. Wolves haven’t crossed the “Cascade Curtain” that divides Washington state, but anger at livestock predation has. Rep. Joel Kretz, an Okanogan County Republican, says he hopes legislators will ad- dress the management of the apex predators and their impact on livestock producers in Eastern Washington. “I think it’s in play this year,” he said. Water always occupies the attention of eastside lawmakers from agricul- ture-rich districts, though to many westside legislators the issue seems dry. This year, however, eastside and westside lawmakers may form an alliance to promote a statewide multi-billion-dollar water bond. Turn to SESSION, Page 10 The USDA has cleared the way for cultivation of ge- netically modifi ed tall fescue without conducting an envi- ronmental review of the new crop. The Scotts Miracle-Gro company developed the gly- phosate-resistant turfgrass variety with genes from oth- er plants through a process known as “biolistics,” in which a “gene gun” essential- ly shoots DNA-coated metal particles into the plant cell. Because the method does not involve the use of a plant pest for gene transfer, the USDA has no authority to regulate the tall fescue, ac- cording to a document recent- ly released by the agency. Controversial biotech crops that are also resistant to glyphosate herbicides — such as “Roundup Ready” alfalfa and sugar beets — were made using a soil pathogen, which required USDA to study the plants be- fore deregulating them. Scotts began to re-orient its biotechnology program af- ter a regulated variety of ge- netically engineered creeping bentgrass escaped a fi eld trial in Central Oregon in 2003, which eventually resulted in a $500,000 civil penalty from USDA. Since then, the bentgrass cultivar has been stuck in reg- ulatory limbo as the USDA has not approved it to be grown commercially without restrictions. However, over the past four years the company has persuaded the USDA’s An- imal and Plant Health In- spection Service that several biotech varieties of Kentucky bluegrass and St. Augustine- grass did not come under its regulatory jurisdiction. Turn to GMO, Page 10 Port slowdowns among factors hurting hay exports By DAN WHEAT Capital Press ELLENSBURG, Wash. — West Coast hay exporters have lost up to 50 percent of their business since early November because of the longshoremen work slowdown and say their industry can’t absorb millions of dollars in losses indefi nitely. On top of the slowdown, a 35 percent devaluation of the Japanese yen and tighter re- strictions on residue of genet- ically modifi ed hay in China have dampened those coun- tries’ appetite for U.S. hay. “We have quite a few head- winds right now and they are affecting us short- and long- term in market psychology. We can’t survive like this forever,” said Mark T. Anderson, presi- dent and CEO of Anderson Hay & Grain Co. in Ellensburg. Developing markets such as China and Saudi Arabia will begin viewing the U.S. as un- reliable and look elsewhere for hay, Anderson said. Turn to PORT, Page 10 THIS WEEK IN THE CAPITAL PRESS Washington steps up testing for bird fl u in the wild Offi cials are asking the public to help fi nd wild birds infected with a lethal strain of avian infl uenza. Page 3 1-5/#5 Beekeeper buzzing about neonic ban Washington county bars family of pesticides from land it manages. Page 4 Balers and har- rowbeds harvest fi rst-cutting Timothy hay for export in an Anderson Hay & Grain Co. operation south of Ephrata, Wash., in June. Dan Wheat/Capital Press
