4
CapitalPress.com
March 27, 2015
Honey production up in 2014, but colony losses continue
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
U.S. honey production
250
Capital Press
Industry insiders are at-
tributing an increase in honey
production last year to ideal
conditions, and say colony
collapse is not abating.
U.S. honey production
in 2014 was up 19 percent
year over year to 178 million
pounds with a per-colony in-
crease of 15 percent.
The number of colonies
producing honey also in-
creased, up 4 percent to 2.74
million, according to USDA
National Agricultural Statis-
tics Service.“It was an excep-
tional year” for honey pro-
duction in many areas, said
Darren Cox, president of Cox
Honey of Utah and president
of the American Honey Pro-
ducers Association.
A combination of factors,
(Millions of pounds, producers with five or more hives)
220.3
178.3: Up 19.3%
from 2013; Down
19.1% from 2000
200
149.5
150
100
Source: USDA
Capital Press graphic
2000
’02
’04
’06
including rain and tempera-
ture, allowed for good clover
yields and a lot of nectar, said
Dennis van Engelsdorp, assis-
tant professor of entomology
at the University of Maryland
and director of Bee Informed
Partnership, supported by a
’08
’10
’12
2014
USDA grant.
But signifi cant losses of
honey bee colonies from what
is generally referred to as
colony collapse disorder ar-
en’t going away. Over-winter
colony losses have averaged
about 30 percent for the last
eight years, and annual colo-
ny losses for the last two years
have totaled about 50 percent,
he said.
Nonetheless, the number
of honey-producing colonies
was up 100,000, NASS re-
ported.
Beekeepers are managing
for pollination income and are
getting better at splitting col-
onies to replace lost colonies,
Cox said.
Beekeepers traditionally
only divided hives once a year
— in the spring when bees
naturally swarm and divide.
Now, many are dividing as
much as eight months out of
the year, he said.
Honey production is sac-
rificed to make new hives,
but more lost hives are be-
ing replaced and more side-
line and backyard beekeep-
ers are contributing to hive
numbers, he said.
Colony losses are still ex-
tremely high, however, with
average annual losses in the
50 percent range and some as
high as 70 percent to 90 per-
cent, he said.
Cox lost 2,000 hives from
the end of July to February
but can live with that 30 per-
cent loss since he now makes
at least 2,500 new hives annu-
ally, he said.
Large, abnormal losses
continue since USDA coined
the term colony collapse dis-
order almost 10 years ago.
But “it’s something we’re
learning to manage,” he said.
Historically, winter kill
was about 5 percent, com-
pared with 20 percent to 35
percent now. Many beekeep-
ers now winter bees in indoor
facilities to improve survival
rates, he said.
Anticipating losses and
trying to meet their needs for
pollination contracts, bee-
keepers are making more col-
onies in the summer. But re-
placing colonies is fi nancially
diffi cult, considering lost pro-
ductivity, cost of queen bees
and increased labor, van En-
gelsdorp said.
“We’re not afraid bees will
go extinct, but we’re afraid
commercial beekeepers will
go out of business,” he said.
They are losing colonies
all the time and now making
several splits,” he said.
Three major components
are at play in colony losses
– the varroa mite, pesticides
that beekeepers use as well
as crop pesticides and loss of
nutrition, particularly in the
form of pasture in the Mid-
west that has been replaced by
corn and soybeans, he said.
NW hop acreage continues to grow Onion thrips
reproducing early
Craft breweries
drive growing
demand; stocks
down slightly
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — Pa-
cifi c Northwest hop acreage
likely will increase 13 percent
this year, driven by continued
growth of the craft brewery in-
dustry, a leading hop processor
says.
Oil in the hop
cone is used for
fl avoring and
stabilizing beer.
The USDA’s
National Agri-
cultural Statis-
Mahony
tics Service will
complete
an
acreage survey in June, but “it
appears acreage will go up by
5,000 this year,” said Pete Ma-
hony, director of supply chain
management and purchasing
for John I. Haas in Yakima.
The company is a leader in
growing and processing hops,
plus research and develop-
ment.
NASS did release, on March
20, a report on hop stocks as of
March 1. It showed the total
amount of hops held by grow-
ers, dealers and brewers at 119
million pounds, down 2 percent
from a year ago.
Of the total, brewers held
43 million pounds, down 12
percent from last year. Grow-
ers and dealers had 76 million
pounds, up 6 percent.
“It looks like brewers are
slower to draw inventory. They
may want to let dealers carry
costs of cold storage,” Mahony
said.
It could be that most of the
Photos by Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Vincente Pacheco sweeps hop cones from the fl oor as vines overhead are fed into a cone stripper at
Roy Farms, Moxee, Wash., during harvest in September 2013.
A hop vine display is shown outside the John I. Haas hops
research and development center in Yakima, Wash. Inventories are
down a bit, demand remains strong and hop acreage is expected
to keep increasing this year.
119 million pounds is sold and
that the amount brewers hold
versus the amount growers and
dealers hold is a timing issue on
shipments, he said.
Haas looks at the total stock
number more than the split be-
tween dealers and brewers, and
said a 2 percent drop is not all
that signifi cant, he said.
The 2014 crop was up 2.5
BERRY BASKETS
1 1 ⁄ 2 QT. ALSO AVAILABLE!
percent in production over
2013, a small increase ham-
pered by a heatwave in July
and August that slowed growth,
Mahony said.
“Cone size and weight
didn’t develop,” he said.
Washington produced 79
percent of the 2014 U.S. crop,
Oregon produced 11 percent
and Idaho 10 percent, NASS
reported in December. Total
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Washington
lawmakers are moving closer
2561 Pringle Rd. SE
Salem, OR
Call for Pricing.
Subject to stock on hand.
LEGAL
Delivery Available
ROP-13-2-1/#7
We’re Looking for Growers
That Will Grow The Following:
Before you plant, contact Bailey office
or one of our production managers today!
• Ed Senz 503-580-8950
• Terry Ross 503-278-2912
• Ken Pietrok 503-883-3259
• Frank Prantl 541-570-9579
* Hyoctane Winter Triticale will be available late
summer, early fall. Please call for a dealer near you.
OFFICE:
1-800-407-7713
EMAIL:
11-2/#7
Verboort@comcast.net
www.baileyseed.com
NOTICE OF
CLOVER COMMISSION
PUBLIC BUDGET HEARING
TO: ALL OREGON CLOVER
SEED GROWERS
• Oats • Peas • Barley
• Triticale • Wheat
• Turf & Forage Grasses
acreage likely will surpass
40,000 this year with growth
in all three states, but mostly in
Idaho.
Demand by craft breweries
remains strong and growers are
receiving in the $10,000 per
acre range for higher-demand
varieties, Mahony said.
The total U.S. crop was val-
ued at $272 million in Decem-
ber, NASS said. The average
price per pound was $3.83, up
from $3.35 the year before.
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Oregon State University
Extension onion researcher
Stuart Reitz presents research
data July 9 during a fi eld day
at OSU’s Malheur County Ex-
periment Station near Ontario.
ter for a lot of different sites
around Idaho.”
Reitz monitors onion thrip
populations with yellow stocky
cards placed around four fi elds
in Malheur County and two
fi elds in Western Idaho.
Reitz said growers can limit
their risk of iris yellow spot by
controlling volunteer onions
and weeds that help the insects
and virus overwinter. He said
growers may also plant variet-
ies that better resist the virus,
though they’re all susceptible
to some degree, and implement
thrip insecticide programs.
In OSU’s 2014 research tri-
als, Reitz said the most success-
ful pesticide programs reduced
thrip pressure by 65 percent
and increased yields by 30-35
percent over untreated check
plots. Treated plots also had
larger-sized bulbs.
Reitz said onions infected
with iris yellow spot also tend
to rot at higher rates in stor-
age.
Washington moves closer to growing hemp
By DON JENKINS
503-588-8313
Hop cones in summer growth in
Yakima, Wash.
ONTARIO, Ore. — An Or-
egon State University scouting
program has confi rmed onion
thrips — tiny, winged insects
that spread iris yellow spot vi-
rus in onion fi elds — are repro-
ducing in Western Idaho and
Malheur County, Ore., nearly a
month early.
OSU Extension onion spe-
cialist Stuart Reitz fears thrip
pressure will be especially high
this season, increasing rates
of iris yellow spot in growers’
fi elds.
Reitz began fi nding im-
mature thrips on plants in
mid-March — something that
doesn’t usually happen in the
region until mid-April. Reitz’s
testing of volunteer onions
hasn’t confi rmed any virus yet
this season, but he’s certain the
disease, which causes yield
losses and smaller onion size,
will surface all too soon.
“This is the earliest I have
seen reproducing thrips out in
the fi eld,” Reitz said. “We had
a really mild winter increase
their survivorship, and we had
enough warm weather back in
early February that the thrips
were able to start reproducing
again.”
The average February tem-
perature throughout the area
served by the National Weather
Service’s Boise offi ce was a re-
cord 43.9 degrees, 7.4 degrees
above normal. The previous
February record high was set
in 1934, according to David
Decker, program leader with
the NWS Boise offi ce.
“We’re also on pace to have
the mildest winter in terms of
average temperatures,” Decker
said. “This is going to be the
mildest February and win-
Notice is hereby given that a
public hearing will be held
pursuant to ORS 576.416 (5),
on Wednesday, May 13, 2015,
at 7:00 a.m., at Jake’s Deli,
1208
SE
Baker
Street,
McMinnville, Oregon, upon a
proposed
budget
for
operation of the Clover
Commission during the fiscal
year July 1, 2015 through June
30, 2016. At this hearing any
producer of Clover seed has a
right to be heard with respect
to the proposed budget, a
copy of which is available for
public inspection, under rea-
sonable circumstances, in the
office of each County Exten-
sion Agent in Oregon. For
further information, contact
the Clover Commission busi-
ness office, P.O. Box 3366,
Salem, Oregon 97302, tele-
phone (503) 364-2944. The
meeting location is accessible
to persons with disabilities.
Please make any requests for
an interpreter for the hearing
impaired or for other ac-
commodation for persons with
disabilities at least 48 hours
before the meeting by con-
tacting the Commission office
13-4/#4
at 503-364-2944.
to legalizing hemp culti-
vation, but while requiring
growers to be licensed and
pay fees.
The House Commerce
and Labor Committee on
Monday unanimously ap-
proved legislation to regu-
late hemp, a federally con-
trolled substance.
The bipartisan vote re-
affirmed the House’s posi-
tion that hemp needs more
oversight than carrots and
apples.
The Senate favored sim-
ply recognizing hemp as
an agricultural crop and in
January passed a three-page
measure, Senate Bill 5012.
The full House has yet
to vote on a hemp bill. The
House commerce commit-
tee took the Senate’s brief
hemp bill and made it 23
pages.
LEGAL
The
Oregon
Processed
Vegetable Commission will
hold a public budget hearing
on April 23, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
at 1320 Capitol Street NE,
Salem, Oregon. Any person
wishing to comment on the
budget is welcome to do so
either orally or in writing. A
copy of the proposed budget
is available for public
inspection during normal
business
hours
at
the
commission office located at
6745 SW Hampton Street,
Suite 101, Portland, Oregon.
13-1/#4
Hemp advocates asked
for the oversight. They said
their new industry needs
state-enforced rules to en-
sure seed purity and prevent
cross-pollination with mari-
juana fields.
Without
such
safe-
guards, manufacturers of
hemp products will shun
Washington-grown hemp,
Washington Hemp Indus-
tries Association President
Joy Beckerman Maher
said.
“It’s very important we
have at least minimal reg-
ulation, or we wouldn’t
even be able to compete.
We’d be blacklisted,” she
said.
The prime sponsor of
the Senate bill, Raymond
Democrat Brian Hatfield,
said he thinks hemp advo-
cates aren’t giving enough
credit to current programs
to certify seeds and prevent
cross-pollination. Still, he
said he wasn’t “drawing a
line in the sand.”
“The bottom line is to
say, ‘It’s legal,’ however we
get there,” he said. “As long
as folks can move forward,
that’s the most important
thing.”
Hemp growers would
have to initially pay $30
per acre to the Washington
State Department of Agri-
culture. The fee would be
reset after the first growing
season to fully fund WS-
DA’s oversight of the hemp
industry.
Hemp growers would be
limited to planting certi-
fied seeds and would have
to submit samples of their
crop to be tested for Tetra-
hydrocannabinol, or THC,
the psychoactive ingredient
in marijuana.
An earlier House pro-
posal set the fee at $10 an
acre. Commerce and Labor
Committee Chairman Chris-
topher Hurst, D-Enumclaw,
said he didn’t want bud-
get writers to view the bill
as setting up a new pro-
gram that will need to be
funded.
The fees won’t stop
hemp farming, Beckerman
Maher said. “Investors ar-
en’t going to mind,” she
said.
The 2014 Farm Bill re-
laxed rules against hemp,
opening the door for the
state to approve cultivation
and for universities to con-
duct research.
SB 5012 would require
Washington State Univer-
sity to study the feasibil-
ity of growing and mar-
keting hemp in the state.
The research would be
dependent on WSU ac-
quiring federal or private
funding.