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CapitalPress.com
January 30, 2015
Ag board calls for legislative action on producer issues
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
The Oregon Board of
Agriculture delivered a 55-
page document to Gov. John
Kitzhaber and the state Leg-
islature asking for action on
issues ranging from water and
guest workers to estate taxes
and labor problems at the Port
of Portland.
Fixing problems and seiz-
ing opportunities in those and
other areas are critical to an
industry that is the state’s sec-
ond-largest economic sector,
after high-tech, and employs
1 in 10 Oregonians, according
to the report.
The report, required by
state law, departs from pre-
vious versions that tended
to read like crop reports. In-
stead, it gives lawmakers an
overview of problems and op-
portunities in six growing re-
gions: The Coast, Willamette
Valley, the Columbia River
Gorge and plateau, and North-
east, Southern and Central Or-
egon. In addition, the report
includes a “narrative” about
each region, ag board Chair
Steve Van Mouwerik said.
“Once you get into the
story of ag, then you get 100
stories,” Van Mouwerik said.
“Then they become real to
people.”
The report’s recommen-
dations cover a lot of ground.
Oregon should press the U.S.
House of Representatives,
the report says, to pass an
immigration reform bill that
includes provisions for ag
guest workers. It calls for new
infrastructure to deliver water
from the Willamette River ba-
sin reservoirs to “new irriga-
tors.”
The report calls for state
support in helping produc-
ers explore local, regional
and national markets, while
noting that Oregon exported
$2.6 billion worth of unpro-
cessed agricultural products
in 2013. The report says the
estate transfer tax limit should
be raised so young producers
aren’t penalized so heavily
when taking over the family
farm.
The report notes the “in-
creasingly fragile” co-exis-
tence of diverse Willamette
Valley producers. Farmers
in the valley are concerned
about genetically engineered
crops, cross-pollination, hon-
eybee health, the impact of
agri-tourism, land conversion
and spray drift, in which one
producer’s remedy can be an-
other’s damage.
Van Mouwerik said the re-
port’s sections on water quality
and quantity issues deserve at-
tention from legislators.
“We are really working hard
in getting traction on meeting
water quality goals,” he said.
“There is a real commitment
for that in agriculture.”
Van Mouwerik, CEO of
PacificAg, which among oth-
er things sells wheat straw to
United Arab Emirates for use
as camel and goat feed, also
noted how the Internet has
reduced barriers to market ac-
cess.
“You can match up buyer
and producer, and opportunity
and an entrepreneurial grow-
er, pretty quickly,” he said.
“We feel like that sense of
adventure and excitement we
have in agriculture is commu-
nicated to our legislators.”
The 10-member Board of
Agriculture advises the Ore-
gon Department of Agricul-
ture and by statute issues the
biennial report on the indus-
try.
Public support for grazing strong in Idaho
(Feedlots with 1,000-head capacity or more)
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Item
U.S. feeder cattle numbers, Jan. 1
Capital Press
Livestock grazing on pub-
lic lands in Idaho pulled in
high marks in the latest survey
of Idaho residents by the Uni-
versity of Idaho.
A whopping 90 percent of
those surveyed approved of
livestock grazing on public
lands, and 82 percent strongly
or somewhat agreed livestock
grazing should be kept as part
of the management of public
rangelands.
“I feel it’s really good,”
said Gretchen Hyde, execu-
tive director of Idaho Range-
land Resources Commission,
which together with Idaho
Preferred commissioned the
survey. “The numbers are very
strong.”
A 90 percent approval rat-
ing in any survey is impres-
sive, she said, especially for an
issue that seems so controver-
sial in the media.
The survey showed, once
again, that Idaho residents val-
ue grazing and multiple use on
public lands, she said.
The high rate of approval
for livestock grazing was on
par with approval of guided
recreation on public lands and
not much below the 95 percent
approval of hunting and fish-
ing and the 99 percent approv-
al for hiking and camping.
Logging (71 percent ap-
(1,000 head)
2014
2015
On feed Jan. 1
10,590
Percent
change
10,690
Item
(1,000 head)
2013
2014
Placed on feed, Dec.
Fed cattle marketed, Dec.
Other disappearance, Dec.*
1,679
1,736
77
1
Percent
change
1,544
1,655
72
-8
-4.7
-6.5
*Includes death loss, movement from feedlots to pasture, and shipments to other feedlots for
further feeding.
Source: USDA NASS
Capital Press graphic
December feedlot
placements down 8 percent
Courtesy Bureau of Land Management
Livestock grazing on BLM lands near Price, Utah. Ninety percent of those surveyed by the University
of Idaho approved of livestock grazing on public lands, and 82 percent strongly or somewhat agreed
livestock grazing should be kept as part of the management of public rangelands.
proval), ATV motorized ve-
hicle use (65 percent approv-
al) and energy development/
transmission lines (62 percent
approval) were lower on the
list of desirable activities on
public land.
In addition, 79 percent of
those surveyed stated cattle
and sheep producers manage
rangeland in a responsible man-
ner, and 84 percent said private
rangelands provide a large por-
tion of wildlife habitat.
Respondents also gave
ranchers an 84 percent reli-
ability rating with respect to
information about rangelands,
followed closely by scientist
(83 percent) and the Bureau
of Land Management (80 per-
cent). Environmentalists re-
ceived a rating of 55 percent
when it came to credibility of
information.
Fifty-seven percent of re-
spondents rated the condition of
Idaho’s rangelands as good or
very good and 6 percent rated
rangelands in poor or very poor
conditions. However, almost 20
percent of those surveyed were
“unsure.”
The perception of rangeland
health is an area of educational
outreach focus by the Range-
land Commission, Hyde said.
Idaho has been through some
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
tough drought years, and range-
land is the first to show the ef-
fects. People take notice when
areas are restricted, and there
seems to be a growing aware-
ness of rangeland conditions,
she said.
Public perception of wildfire
as a problem on Idaho range-
lands was on the low end of ex-
pectations and shows an area of
education that needs work, she
said.
A little under half (43 per-
cent) of respondents ranked
wildfire to be a “severe” or
“significant” problem, with one-
third of respondents ranking it as
a moderate problem.
While cattle on feed num-
bers in large U.S. feedlots on
Jan. 1, at 10.7 million, ran
slightly above last year’s count,
cattle placed in those feedlots
in December were 8 percent
below December 2013 and fed
cattle marketed during Decem-
ber were 5 percent below a year
earlier.
USDA’s cattle on feed re-
port, released on Jan. 23 by the
National Agricultural Statistics
Service, was close to the aver-
age industry estimate that the
Jan. 1 number would be up 1.4
percent and marketings would
be down 4.2 percent. But place-
ments were nearly twice as low
as the average industry estimate
of 4.3 percent fewer placements.
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Analysts are viewing the
report as somewhat bullish for
cattle markets, but note price de-
clines in cash markets last week.
“Cattle supplies in the mar-
ket remain tight and this would
imply near record prices for
much of 2015,” Steve Meyer
and Len Steiner commented
Monday morning in their Daily
Livestock Report.
However, futures markets
in recent weeks have reflected
weakness in the broader com-
modity markets, lower exports
and the risk of stagnant growth
in key markets, they reported.
USDA reported a $3.73 per
hundredweight drop in the cash
live fed steer price last week
from a week earlier to $159.44
and a $6.83 per hundredweight
drop in the north-central 600-
700 pound feeder steer price
to $247.79. Choice beef cutout
also fell, $4.66 per hundred-
weight to $256.85.
Those prices are still well
above a year earlier, however, up
$11.22 per hundredweight for
live fed steers, $57.12 for feeder
steers and $18.42 for choice cut-
out, according to USDA.
The cattle on feed report also
showed fewer heifers on feed,
indicating more heifers retained
for breeding, and fewer feedlot
placements at lower weights
than a year earlier, indicating
tighter fed supplies in the sum-
mer and early fall.
Cattle on feed on Jan. 1 was
up 100,000 head and 1 percent
above a year ago, with increases
in Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Ida-
ho, Washington and Minnesota,
NASS reported.
December
placements,
at 1.54 million, were down
135,000 head from December
2013 and were the lowest for the
month in the past five year, com-
ing in just under the 1.55 million
placed in December 2009.
Year-over-year placements
were only up in Iowa and Ida-
ho and were notably down 12
percent in Texas, 8 percent in
Kansas, 2 percent in Nebraska,
and 13 percent in Colorado.
Year-over-year marketings
of fed cattle in December
were down 81,000 head with
an additional marketing day
in December 2014. Market-
ings were notably down 13
percent in Texas, 4 percent
in Kansas and 10 percent in
Colorado, but up 5 percent in
Nebraska.
Heifers and heifer calves
on feed in Jan. 1, at 3.67 mil-
lion head, were down 59,000
head or 2 percent year over
year. Steers and steer calves
on feed, at 6.94 million, were
up 155,000 head or 2 percent
year over year.
The number of cattle
placed on feed in Decem-
ber weighing less than 600
pounds was down 8.4 percent
year over year. Feeder cattle
weighing 600 to 700 pounds
were down 11.8 percent, and
feeders weighing 700 to 800
pounds were down 14 per-
cent, Ron Plain, livestock
economist with the University
of Missouri reported.
Placements of cattle
weighing more than 800
pounds were up 2.6 percent,
he said.