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March 6, 2015 CapitalPress.com 3 Customers remain committed to Idaho wheat despite 2014 losses By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press Bill would require giant cane growers post $1 million bond Critics fear the biomass crop will become invasive By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI SALEM — Farmers who grow giant cane, a plant used for bioenergy productionB would be subject to bond requirements and potential penalties under legislation proposed in Oregon. Under House Bill 2183, producing up to 400 acres of giant cane would require fil- ing a $1 million surety bond with the Oregon Invasive Species Council, an entity within the Oregon Depart- ment of Agriculture. Planting a larger parcel of the species Arundo donax would require filing a surety bond of $25B000 per acre. The money would pay for removing the plants that spread beyond the plot and ODA could also impose civ- il penalties of up to $25,000 for violations of bond condi- tions. Supporters of the legisla- tion fear that giant cane will become an invasive weed to the detriment of Oregon’s en- vironment by crowding out other plants. “It will inevitably escape control if planted on an in- dustrial scale,” said Billy Don RobinsonB vice president of the Native Plant Society of Oregon, who testified during a March 3 hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. Spraying the plant with an herbicide such as gly- phosate won’t necessarily prevent its resurgenceB as the chemical may not kill inac- tive tubers that can remain viable for several years, Robinson said. “It’s a real ticking time bomb down in the groundB” he said. The concern over Arundo donax stems from trials con- ducted by Portland General Electric, which is examining the use of the plant as a feed- stock for power generation. PGE will stop using coal at its power plant in Board- manB Ore.B in 2020 and is considering giant cane as a replacement, said Brendan McCarthyB government af- fairs analyst for the compa- ny. Rather than shutter the facility, modifying it to use biomass would preserve jobs in area and allow PGE to keep it as an asset, he said. The aggressiveB fast-growing qualities that make giant cane attractive as a feedstock also make it a potential invasive species, McCarthy said. Ironically, PGE has re- duced its trials of Arundo donax because the plant hasn’t performed as well as expected due to frost kill and other issuesB he said. PGE doesn’t believe that HB 2183 is necessary, as the company is taking precau- tions to prevent the plant’s escapeB he said. Growers and harvesters must comply with “sani- tation check lists” such as baling the crop and cleaning trucks after hauling it, Mc- Carthy said. “We’ve been extraordi- narily careful about how we’ve started growing this plant,” he said. “Due to our project, I think we’ve im- proved our state’s knowl- edge of this species.” ODA is not taking a po- sition on the bill but Katy CobaB the agency’s directorB noted that Arundo donax is already subject to restric- tions under its “control area” authority for potential pests and diseases. For example, anyone who wants to grow the crop must provide ODA with a map of where it will be planted and keep the plant away from waterways, she said. Parcels must also be monitored for three years to ensure eradi- cation. PGE has also filed a $1 million bond with ODA for its existing trials, she said. Committee chair Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, said the testimony of HB 2183’s sup- porters “has succeeded in alarming me.” Further hearings will be held on the bill to get input from scientists at Oregon State University and ODAB Sean Ellis/Capital Press Wheat is harvested in a Southwestern Idaho field last July. Idaho Wheat Commission Executive Direc- tor Blaine Jacobson told lawmakers March 2 the state’s wheat customers remain committed to Idaho growers despite major losses last year caused by heavy August rains. He said the rains were devastating but the industry’s customers “did everything they possibly could in order to make it work.” Moon said that included using some wheat with low- er falling number test scores, which measure wheat quality, than they normally would. “They didn’t run away from usB” said IWC commis- sioner Gordon Gallup. “They definitely worked with us.” Jacobson said buyers did everything they could to use as much of that damaged wheat as possible. “They wanted to keep the growers healthy so that the industry would bounce back this yearB” he said. Jacobson said the 2014 losses have also impacted the commission’s fiscal year 2015 budget. The approved budget is $3.2 million but the com- mission will end up spending only about $2.8 million in fis- cal 2015 because of reduced revenue from the state’s wheat assessment. And by the end of this yearB the commission’s $3.8 million reserve is expected to decrease to about $3.4 million. Despite the 2014 losses, wheat remained the state’s second largest crop in terms of revenue with $732 million in cash receipts last year, Ja- cobson said. Calif. manual survey shows 5% of normal snowpack By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — Snow in the Sierra Nevada last weekend may have ex- cited ski and snowboard en- thusiasts, but it did little for California’s pitiful snow- pack. The state Department of Water Resources’ third manual snow survey of the season on March 3 turned up just 0.9 inches of water contentB or 5 percent of av- erage for the dateB at a snow course 90 miles east of here. The department’s elec- tronic readings found the water content of the north- ern Sierra snowpack at 4.4 inches on March 3B or 16 percent of average for the date, while the statewide snow water equivalent aver- age of 5 inches was 19 per- cent of normal. Most of the DWR’s 103 electronic sensors are at higher elevations than the snow courses where chief of snow surveys Frank Gehrke and other officials take readings, so they tend to receive more snowB the agency explained in a news release. The snow survey fol- lowed a weekend system that brought heavy down- pours to Southern Califor- nia, light showers to the Central Valley and 12 to 18 inches of snow in parts of the Sierra Nevada. But much of California saw a historically dry Janu- ary, and even the early-sea- son and February storms Courtesy of Calif. Dept. of Water Resources Frank Gehrke, the California Department of Water Resources’ chief of snow surveys, measures snow depth for the agency’s third manual snow survey of the season March 3 at Echo Summit east of Sacramento. that improved reservoir lev- els and pushed up commu- nities’ rainfall totals didn’t produce much snow. Sacramento is only slightly below its normal seasonal rainfall total, reg- istering 13.22 inches since Oct. 1 while it averages 13.63 inches for the periodB according to the National Weather Service. But elec- tronic snowpack readings in the central and southern Sierra on March 3 came in at 20 percent and 22 percent of normal, respectively, the DWR reported. Snowpack levels are a key factor in determining the year’s state and federal water allocations, as they give an indication for how much runoff will fill res- ervoirs in the spring and summer months. For the second straight yearB farm- ers without senior water rights who rely on federal Central Valley Project water have learned they will likely get non this year, while the DWR has set its allocation at 20 percent of requested deliveries. Only in 1991 was the wa- ter content lower than this year in early March, regis- tering 18 percent of normal statewide, but there’s little hope the state can repeat the “miracle March” that dra- matically improved condi- tions that year. The federal Climate Prediction Center foresees warmer-than-normal tem- peratures throughout the West in the next monthB so any storms that do come will likely have high snow levels. And areas north of Sacramento are expected to be drier than normal. rop-6-26-5/#17 Courtesy of Frank Callahan, Native Plant Society Giant cane is seen growing near the Talent area in Oregon. A bill proposed in the Oregon House of Representatives would require those growing the plant as a fuel stock post a minimum $1 million bond to pay for eradication should it spread beyond its plot. BOISE — Major Idaho wheat customers remain com- mitted to the state’s growers despite the significant losses in 2014 caused by heavy Au- gust rainsB Idaho Wheat Com- mission Executive Director Blaine Jacobson told lawmak- ers March 2. Jacobson said the wettest August in parts of Southern and Eastern Idaho since 1953 caused an estimated $210 mil- lion in losses to Idaho’s wheat and barley crops, with wheat accounting for about two- thirds of that total. Idaho produces a consis- tent crop every year and the state’s wheat customers un- derstand last year’s losses were a rare eventB he said. “These companies come to Idaho because of the consis- tency of our harvest” and they understand “it’s been 60-some years since we had something like that,” he told members of the House Agricultural Affairs Committee. IWC commissioner Ned Moon told the Capital Press that millers helped Idaho growers survive the losses by using as much of the damaged wheat as they could while still meeting their quality parame- ters. Lawsuit claims malfunction killed chickens By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press An Oregon egg producer is seeking $500,000 in damag- es from a Washington com- pany it accuses of improper- ly installing equipment that led to the deaths of 100,000 chickens. Willamette Egg Farms, based in CanbyB Ore.B has filed a lawsuit claiming that an electrical malfunction halted ventilation at its fa- cility in Moses Lake, Wash., asphyxiating 100B000 hens. The complaint alleges that Spectrum Communica- tions of Moses Lake is liable for negligence and breach of contract because it installed a control system that failed to set off an alarm when the ventilation system stopped operating. Capital Press was unable to reach the owner of Spec- trum Communications for comment as of press time. U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice in Spokane, Wash.B is presiding over the lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District of Wash- ington. IMMEDIATE GROWER OPPORTUNITY Kerr Concentrates is currently seeking red beet growers in the Willamette Valley for harvest the summer of 2015. Contact Rory Hayden at 503-587-8327 for more information. Byron Ellis Senior Vice President, Investment Officer 101 S. Capitol Blvd., Boise, ID 83702 208-338-1200 • 800-992-9318 Byron.Ellis@wellsfargoadvisors.com ROP-10-3-2/#7 10-2/#17