18 CapitalPress.com
January 30, 2015
2 farm reps added to Idaho ag dean search committee
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — A letter of con-
cern from Idaho’s agricultur-
al community has prompted
University of Idaho officials
to add two more farm indus-
try representatives to a com-
mittee that is advising the
university in its search for a
new College of Agricultural
and Life Sciences dean.
The original 12-member
search committee included
only one ag industry repre-
sentative: Steve Vernon, vice
president of research for J.R.
Simplot Co.
The rest of the committee
was made up of faculty mem-
bers and a UI student.
Idaho ag industry lead-
ers sent university officials
a letter questioning why
more people from the state’s
farming community weren’t
included on the search com-
mittee.
“Considerable
concern
and disappointment arose
upon learning that the search
committee as announced is
composed almost entirely of
university employees instead
of representatives of Idaho’s
$9.7 billion agriculture in-
dustry,” stated a Jan. 19 letter
sent to university officials by
Food Producers of Idaho.
FPI represents more than
40 commodity and farm or-
ganizations in Idaho.
The names of several peo-
ple from Idaho’s agricultural
community were submitted
as potential appointments to
the search committee, said
FPI President Travis Jones,
who is also the executive di-
rector of Idaho Grain Produc-
ers Association.
Yet, only one person
selected wasn’t a faculty
member or student at the
university, he told the Cap-
ital Press before the univer-
sity added two more ag in-
dustry representatives to the
committee.
“That definitely caught
our eye and made us won-
der why,” Jones said. “Idaho
agriculture has a big stake in
whoever the dean is and we
feel there ought to be some
adequate representation from
the ag industry on that search
list.”
Shortly after receiving the
letter, UI officials added two
more farm industry represen-
tatives to the committee: Joe
Anderson, a wheat farmer
and secretary treasurer of the
IGPA, and Bob Naerebout,
executive director of the Ida-
ho Dairymen’s Association.
The addition of Naerebout
and Anderson to the commit-
tee was a direct result of the
FPI letter and concern from
Idaho’s farming industry, UI
spokeswoman Stefany Bales
told the Capital Press in an
email.
Jones said FPI appreciat-
ed the university’s quick re-
sponse to their concerns.
“The committee could
be much broader in indus-
try representation; there’s
plenty of other ag industries
besides dairy and wheat,” he
said. “But it’s definitely a
welcome acknowledgement
of the need for industry rep-
resentation on a dean search
like that.”
The advisory committee
will conduct a nationwide
search for a new CALS dean.
The search for a permanent
dean was underway before the
university’s president and pro-
vost accepted other positions
in spring 2013.
The current dean, John
Foltz, was appointed in June
2013 to a two-year term to al-
low time for the new president
and provost to get on board.
Foltz said he will seek the
job permanently.
Fight continues ‘Dryland’ makes waves across region
against Little
Cherry Disease
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Wenatchee area
a ‘hot spot,’
researcher says
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash.
— When it comes to Little
Cherry Disease, “the hot
spot in the world right now
is Wenatchee,” says Tim
Smith, Washington State
University Extension tree
fruit specialist emeritus.
He’s not saying it’s
something to be proud of.
Growers fear it. The patho-
gen, that comes in three
strains, is incurable and re-
sults in small, bitter-tasting
fruit that’s unmarketable.
About 350 to 400 acres
of cherry trees have been
torn out in the fight against
the disease in the Wenatchee
area in the past few years.
Orchards have been replant-
ed only to have the disease
show up again from roots of
the old trees.
Smith says he doesn’t
know how many more acres
will be cleared.
“It could be a scary
amount. The potential is
very large,” Smith said at
WSU’s North Central Wash-
ington Stone Fruit Day at
the Wenatchee Convention
Center on Jan. 20.
“We have to slow it
down before we can know
the potential end point. It’s
getting worse every year or
we’re simply getting better
at finding it,” he said.
Malaga, a town south of
Wenatchee, was first to get
it but got ahead of it, he
said. It’s worse on Stemilt
Hill and Wenatchee Heights
and in East Wenatchee, he
said.
It’s also been found
in Rock Island, Sunnys-
lope and Orondo, all near
Wenatchee, and in all the
state’s sweet cherry produc-
ing counties. There’s some
in Oregon.
“I rarely fail to find it
when someone suspects it.
It’s getting worse by the
number of locations and
trees,” Smith said.
Andrea Bixby-Brosi, a
research associate at the
WSU Tree Fruit Research
and Extension Center in
Wenatchee, told growers
the disease comes in two
viruses, known as Little
Cherry Disease Virus 1 and
Little Cherry Disease Virus
2. The third pathogen is a
phytoplasma called West-
ern X. Virus 2 and Western
X are the most common in
the Wenatchee area, she
said.
Bixby-Brosi works with
Elizabeth Beers, an ento-
mologist at the center, who
heads a new three-year re-
search project funded by
Washington, Oregon and
California to better under-
stand and manage the dis-
ease.
Virus 2 is spread by
grape and apple mealy bugs
and there are differences
in their life cycles, which
makes them difficult to
control, Bixby-Brosi said.
They are difficult to con-
trol with foliar sprays be-
cause they are protected
by cottony secretions and
hiding spots on trees, she
said.
The disease also spreads
by roots connecting under-
ground, Smith said.
Molecular diagnosis is
reliable but expensive and
slow, symptoms aren’t al-
ways visible and test kits
in 2014 had too many false
negatives, Bixby-Brosi said.
A genetic variant of Vi-
rus 2 was found that isn’t
detected by the kit, she
said.
The kit will be refined in
2015 and chemical controls
for apple and grape mealy
bugs will be studied along
with how the bugs acquire
and transmit the disease,
she said.
The documentary film
“Dryland” will be shown at 8
p.m. Feb. 6 at the Spokane In-
ternational Film Festival and
its producers say screenings
are planned around the Pacific
Northwest.
The film follows Lind,
Wash., residents Matt Mill-
er and Josh Knodel from the
time they were teenagers until
they became farmers hoping
to join their family operations.
The film will also be
shown 3 p.m. Feb. 4 during
the Spokane Ag Expo and Pa-
cific Northwest Farm Forum
and is slated for screenings
at Oregon State University in
Corvallis, Ore.; Boardman,
Ore.; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho;
Moscow, Idaho; Pullman,
Wash., and Missoula, Mont.,
said Sue Arbuthnot, who pro-
duced and directed “Dryland”
with Richard Wilhelm.
The filmmakers hope the
movie sparks “meaningful”
conversations about where
food comes from, the future of
family farming and sustainable
agriculture, Arbuthnot said.
“Wheat farming is an es-
sential part of Eastern Wash-
ington life, yet most residents
of Spokane know little about
the day-to-day existence as
experienced by area wheat
farmers,” said Dan Webster,
who is on the film festival’s
board of directors and suggest-
ed including the film. “We are
hoping that people will be both
Courtesy of Hare in the Gate Productions, LLC
A still photo from the movie “Dryland”, a movie chronicaling the lives of two Eastern Washington wheat
farmers.
Online
http: //www.drylandmovie.net/dryland.php
Spokane International Film Festival: http://spokanefilmfestival.org/
educated about wheat farming,
especially about the various
hardships facing today’s farm-
ers, and moved by the desire of
the principal characters to con-
tinue a traditional way of life.”
It’s been particularly valu-
able to have the farmers at
screenings to speak with the
audience about hot-button top-
ics such as genetically modified
crops and organic and conven-
tional farming, Arbuthnot said.
Four cast members are slated to
attend the Spokane festival.
“(Older farmers) under-
stand the costs, the ways farm-
ers have to balance so many
things in their life to get go-
ing,” she said. “There’s a lot of
real resonance there.”
However, other viewers
have no connection to farm-
ing, and are surprised to learn
about the values depicted in
the film, as opposed to stereo-
types they might have picked
up, Arbuthnot said.
Arbuthnot hopes to show
the film outside the Pacific
Northwest.
Arbuthnot and Wilhelm are
in the early stages of making
another documentary about
natural resources and agricul-
ture in the region.
Washington State University revives its forestry major
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Washington State Universi-
ty is updating and re-establish-
ing its forestry major beginning
in the fall.
WSU had phased out the
program in 2011 as part of bud-
get reductions. The Legislature
instructed that the major be
re-established in WSU’s 2013-
2015 biennial budget.
Industry members also sup-
ported re-establishing the pro-
gram, said Keith Blatner, pro-
gram leader for forestry and a
professor at WSU.
“There is a substantial de-
mand for foresters in the state,”
he said. “We have an aging
population of foresters.”
Forestry was popular from
the 1960s through the 1980s,
but enrollment shrank after that,
partly because there weren’t
many jobs, he said.
Some 3.18 billion board-
feet of timber was harvested in
2013 in Washington, according
to the 2013 Washington Tim-
ber Harvest Report. Lumber
production in Washington is
second only to Oregon, Blatner
said. About 4.2 billion board-
feet was harvested in Oregon in
2013, according to the Oregon
Department of Forestry.
“We are called the Ever-
green State for good reason,”
Blatner said.
The job market for foresters
has improved in recent years,
he said. The number of lumber
and pulp and paper mills has de-
clined, but the remaining mills
are larger and more automated,
Blatner said. Timber firms, con-
sulting firms and governmental
and non-governmental organiza-
tions all need foresters, he said.
“We’ve seen a lot of restruc-
turing in the way lands are held
and managed, but there’s still a
demand for foresters out there
to do the work,” Blatner said.
“It’s a different mix of employ-
ers than we used to have.”
For the forestry major to be
viable, WSU hopes for at least
100 certified majors within the
next few years. Forestry stu-
dents need a good foundation in
biology, chemistry, college-level
algebra, introductory calculus,
statistics, communication skills
and computer applications, Blat-
ner said.
“It’s always important that
our students be field-ready when
they graduate,” he said. “We’ll
be stressing having students get
some professional experience
through summer jobs so they are
very comfortable on the ground
when they graduate.”
Study rebuts Canada’s claim of economic harm from COOL
By TIM HEARDEN
Online
Capital Press
A new economic study commis-
sioned by backers of mandatory coun-
try-of-origin labeling of meat seeks to
rebut Canada’s claim its cattle industry
is losing $1 billion a year because of
the rule.
The research by Auburn Univer-
sity agricultural economist C. Robert
Taylor asserts that it was the global
economic downturn — not the contro-
versial labeling rule — that caused a
slowdown of access of Canadian and
Mexican cattle to the U.S. market.
Taylor used mandatory price re-
porting by meatpackers to the USDA’s
Agricultural Marketing Service to
determine that the difference in pric-
es paid for imported and domestic
slaughter cattle actually decreased af-
ter the rule went into effect.
He said he also found no evidence
that COOL negatively affected im-
ports of slaughter or feeder cattle and
that other factors, such as capture sup-
plies of slaughter cattle and beef de-
mand uncertainly, played a larger role
in reducing import demand.
“Mandatory price reporting data
is what the packers themselves sub-
mit,” Taylor said in a conference call
with reporters. “It’s very detailed, with
price, class, grade, acquisition arrange-
ment and yield. It’s highly detailed and
Preliminary Estimates of Impacts
of U.S. Country of Origin Labeling
(COOL) on Cattle Trade: http://
www.nfu.org/images/COOLReport-
1132015Final.pdf
Tim Harden/Capital Press
Beef is served on a plate at a recent cattlemen’s dinner in Red Bluff, Calif. A new
study by Auburn University ag economist C. Robert Taylor seeks to refute earlier
research claiming the mandatory country-of-origin meat labeling law costs the
Canadian cattle industry as much as $1 billion a year.
is available publicly.
“The fact based on the data packers
report is that the price basis actually
narrowed somewhat, it did not widen,”
he said. “This indicates the Canadian
cattlemen, in U.S. dollars, are getting
the same price for like animals as do-
mestic cattle feeders.”
Taylor’s study was done at the re-
quest of the National Farmers Union,
a staunch advocate for the COOL rule,
which partly funded the research but
had no control over its findings, he
said.
His work challenges earlier re-
search by University of California-Da-
vis ag economist Daniel Sumner, who
was commissioned by the Canadian
government to do an unbiased eco-
nomic analysis of COOL’s impacts.
Sumner’s work is a basis for Cana-
da’s claim that COOL costs the cattle
industry there as much as $1 billion a
year.
The problem, Sumner has ex-
plained, is that American feedlots
and processors must separate streams
of cattle from different countries and
keep track of them. That has limit-
ed access for cattle from Canada and
Mexico, as many slaughterhouses
stopped accepting foreign cattle or
paid a lower premium for them to off-
set their added costs.
Taylor said Sumner was provided
data from the Canadian cattle industry
that is not available to the public.
Contacted by email, Sumner re-
sponded that he hadn’t read Taylor’s
study but he looks “forward to read-
ing it carefully.” He offered no further
comment.
The dueling academic studies mark
a new battlefield in a fight that has
been waged in the legal, political
and diplomatic arenas since COOL
was enacted as part of the 2008 Farm
Bill.
While COOL has been holding up
in federal court, the World Trade Or-
ganization in November again con-
demned major elements of the rule,
which the USDA revised in 2013 in
response to an earlier complaint by
Canada and Mexico. The U.S. has
appealed the WTO’s latest ruling.
If the U.S. loses its appeal, Tay-
lor’s study could be useful to the
U.S. government in negotiating
with its two neighbors over the level
of damage that has been caused by
the rule, notes Roger Johnson, the
NFU’s president.
Canada has threatened tariffs
on dozens of American agricultur-
al goods, which could affect major
Western commodities such as Cal-
ifornia’s $24 billion wine industry
and Washington’s $2.25 billion apple
industry. Under international treaty,
the level of tariffs can’t exceed the
harm that was done to Canada’s or
Mexico’s industries, Johnson said.
“One of the arguments from the
Canadians is that Canadian cattle-
men have suffered this enormous
damage — $1 billion,” Johnson said.
“We decided it was important to fig-
ure out whether that in fact was the
case.”
Officials from U.S. Trade Repre-
sentative Michael Froman’s office
did not return an email seeking
comment.