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February 13, 2015 CapitalPress.com 3 State’s first industrial hemp license goes to a Southern Oregon man By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press Wash. potato growers serve Capitol spuds Annual day brings attention to industry By DON JENKINS Capital Press OLYMPIA — The Wash- ington potato industry served up 110-calorie baked potatoes Tuesday. What recipients did after that was their business. Salsa and broccoli were available. So were chili, but- ter, sour cream and cheese. “We love to please every taste,” Washington State Pota- to Commission Executive Di- rector Chris Voigt said. “The potato is versatile.” For every legislative ses- sion for the past 17 years, the commission has hosted Potato Day, serving free spuds and toppings in the Capitol Ro- tunda. The 1,500 Russet Nor- kotahs were going fast. Potatoes, however, aren’t moving as fast from West Coast ports. The potato in- dustry combines promotion with politicking and came to Olympia with taxes and transportation projects on its agenda. But the industry’s most-pressing problem is the port slowdowns as the Pacif- ic Maritime Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union bargain and trade accusations. Every potato Quincy grow- er Rex Callowy produces is processed into french fries. And every potato he grew in 2014 remains in cool storage on his farm. The potatoes will keep through the summer, but they had better be gone by next fall when the 2015 crop is ready to harvest, he said. “I’m very, very concerned. We need to get this product moving,” said Callowy, who helped top the potatoes. Even when ports return to normal, processors will need time to take his potatoes and empty his storage bins, Cal- lowy said. “It’s not going to get cleaned up immediately.” Callowy said the potato industry will talk to state law- makers about the problem. There may be little legislators can do directly, but they can join export-dependent busi- nesses in urging the port slow- downs to end. “We need some sup- port. We need to get people talking,” he said. “We need to come to a settlement.” Voigt said Washington has 250 potato growers and about 60 percent of what they grow is exported and 90 percent is processed. The potato industry sup- ports renewing tax exemp- tions for food processors. The exemptions are due to expire June 30. Gov. Jay Inslee has proposed extending the tax breaks for 10 more years. Senate and House budget writers will have to agree to insert the exemptions in the 2015-17 budget. The potato industry also has an interest in transportation im- provements, such as improving the flow of traffic into the Seat- tle and Tacoma ports and over Snoqualmie Pass. The potato industry also supports legislation increas- ing weight limits for new truck tires with higher side- wall strength ratings. Voigt said the measure will allow trucks to carry more potatoes. Biotech critics claim GMO loophole will backfire Limited USDA authority strengthens argument for more regulation, critics say By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Critics say a loophole in federal regulations for genet- ically engineered crops will backfire against biotech com- panies. Under current rules, USDA can only restrict biotech crops if they incorporate genes that pose a possible plant pest risk. Many common genetical- ly modified crops relied on a soil bacteria for gene trans- fer and thus were regulated until the agency determined they weren’t a hazard to other plants. Since 2011, though, USDA has allowed companies to free- ly cultivate biotech crops with- out any environmental analysis because they’re not made with genes from plant pathogens. Recent examples include varieties of glyphosate-resis- tant tall fescue, a non-bruising potato and a higher-density pine tree. These approvals of biotech crops are a “trickle that turned into stream” and undermine claims by large biotech devel- opers that genetically modified organisms are robustly scru- tinized by the federal gov- ernment, said George Kim- brell, attorney for the Center for Food Safety, a group that wants stronger biotech regu- lations. “They need the facade,” Kimbrell said. Most of the biotech crops allowed to sidestep USDA’s environmental reviews were developed by universities and small start-up companies, not major agribusiness firms that already dominate the market for biotech seed. Minimal USDA oversight of GMOs that pose no plant pest risk will create problems for the mainstream biotech industry, as it strengthens the case for stronger regulations, said Frank Morton, an organic seed producer from Philomath, Ore., who sued the federal government over biotech sug- ar beets. Trading partners may disre- gard USDA’s conclusions that crops altered with “gene gun” technology don’t fall under its biotech jurisdiction, he said. Export complications cre- ated by unregulated biotech grass varieties could prompt calls for the Oregon Depart- ment of Agriculture to step in with state restrictions, he said. Several such proposals will be considered by Oregon lawmakers during the current legislative session, said Ivan Maluski, policy director for Friends of Family Farmers, a group that supports stronger GMO regulations. The legislature pre-empted local governments from set- ting GMO rules in 2013 with the idea that such regulations should be statewide rather than a county-by-county “patch- work,” he said. While Oregon lawmakers have in the past been reticent to broach the GMO issue, ad- vocates for stronger regulation can now hold their feet to the fire, Maluski said. The Biotechnology Indus- try Organization believes that federal agencies adequately regulate biotech crops, includ- ing those produced with gene guns that aren’t considered possible plant pests, said Clint Nesbitt, the group’s director of regulatory affairs for food and agriculture. Those that are resistant to herbicides, like certain turf grasses, would still need to be approved by the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency, he said. “Current regulations cover all the risk of biotech,” Nesbitt said, adding that non-GMO crops aren’t subject to any reg- ulatory scrutiny. Edgar Winters Ron Pence, who oversees the industrial hemp growing program for the state agriculture department, said the seed issue is one of three tweaks the Legis- lature may want to make during the 2015 session. As written, a 2009 state stat- ute says hemp seed collected in an Oregon harvest can only be used to produce a new crop — not crushed for oil or other high-value products, for exam- ple, or used as livestock feed. Pence said the restriction ap- pears to be an oversight. Another issue is the require- ment for a three-year growing and handling license and a three-year seed handling permit, each of which cost $500 a year, or $1,500 for the required three years. “A person could easily in- vest $3,000 in a license and permit before spinning a wheel to produce hemp,” Pence said. The fees may be restructured to an annual basis, at $500 each, so a person could try his or her hand at it for a year at less ex- pense. A provision that requires a minimum production area of 2.5 acres also may be reconsidered, Pence said. The Oregon Legislature legalized hemp cultivation in 2009, but the law was never implemented because the U.S. Department of Justice classified hemp the same as marijuana. The federal classification re- mains, but the justice depart- ment has said it won’t interfere in states that have legalized hemp production if they adopt a robust regulatory system. In- dustrial hemp was included in the November 2014 ballot mea- sure that legalized recreational marijuana use, possession and cultivation. rop-6-26-5/#17 Don Jenkins/Capital Press The Washington State Potato Commission’s director of industry outreach, Matthew Blau, hands out a potato with the trimmings Feb. 10 in the Legislative Building in Olympia as Quincy grower Rex Callowy, center facing camera, and the commission’s director of marketing and industry affairs, Ryan Holterhoff, stand by to heap on more. The industry help its annual Potato Day at the Capitol. A man who was issued the first state permit to grow indus- trial hemp said he and a nonprof- it group of growers and activists hope to plant a 25-acre field in Southwest Oregon this spring. Edgar Winters, of Eagle Point, Ore., who describes him- self as director of the Oregon Agriculture Food & Rural Con- sortium, acknowledged there are problems obtaining seeds for planting and other compli- cations, but said he is optimistic. Winters also said warehousing and processing facilities will be ready to go when a crop is har- vested in late summer. “We are in position to do 40 tons a day at our processing mill,” Winters said. “We’ve got our ducks in a row.” Getting seed to plant is one of the major hurdles. Importing it requires the approval of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Ad- ministration, and the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University are working with the DEA on that process. In addition, Winters said a major Canadian hemp company, Hemp Textiles Inter- national, has breeders’ rights to its seed and will not allow Or- egon growers to retain seed for planting. Meanwhile, the exist- ing state statute requires hemp seed produced in Oregon to be replanted. “We’re at a standstill,” Win- ters said. He said hemp seeds might be available from Russia, Hungary, Australia or New Zealand. “We have to import to get started,” Winters said. “We don’t want our farmers to sit around another year.” Winters’ LinkedIn profile lists him as self-employed and the chief operations officer for Natural Good Medicines. It also lists him as a master gardener and involved in research and development services for indus- trial hemp. He said people often hear his name and mistake him for Texas rock and blues musi- cian Edgar Winter. Bag needs? Bag solutions! SMITH PACKAGING YOUR MAIN SUPPLIER FOR: • Polyethylene Bags • Polypropylene Bags • Paper Bags • Bulk Bags • Stretch Films • Hay Sleeves • Mesh Produce Bags • Plastic Pallet Covers • Bag Closure Products • General Warehouse Supplies Competitive pricing! Great quality products! Service you expect and trust! 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