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April 10, 2015 CapitalPress.com 17 Tax relief proposed for urban farms Study: Mental evals Legislation would reduce property tax rates By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press SALEM — Farmers who raise crops or livestock in urban areas could obtain proper- ty tax relief under an Oregon bill that would create urban agriculture incentive zones. Supporters of House Bill 2723 say that urban farmers improve food security and teach city dwellers about agriculture but face a high property tax burden. The legislation would allow cities and counties to designate zones where undevel- oped land is subject to lower property tax rates so long as it’s used for agriculture for a minimum of five years. Farmland in urban areas already qual- ifies for deferred property taxes, but HB 2723 creates a new system in which grow- ers could benefit from lower rates right away, rather than in the third year of farm- ing as currently required, said Ivan Malus- ki, policy director of the Friends of Family Farmers group. Also, growers would not have to pay back taxes under the new program if they decide to stop producing crops or livestock after five years, he said. Maluski said the bill encountered some concerns about enforceability and land use implications, which are addressed in a pro- posed amendment. The revised language clarifies that HB 2723 only relates to property taxes and doesn’t affect the inventory of land avail- able for development within urban growth boundaries, he said. The amendment also lays out “checks and balances” that specify how local gov- ernments will assess properties that take advantage of the urban agriculture incen- tive zones, Maluski said. If only a portion of a property is used for farming, the special assessment would only apply to that area under the bill. The Oregon Farm Bureau’s main con- cern with the bill is that it not undermine the existing property tax deferral system for farmland, said Mary Anne Nash, pub- lic policy counsel for the group, during an April 7 hearing on the bill. Because the urban agriculture incentive zone idea is novel, the program should be subject to a sunset in roughly five to six years so that lawmakers can evaluate how it’s performing, she said. Commission delays decision on proposed Idaho ethanol facility By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press CALDWELL, Idaho — Canyon County commission- ers have delayed a decision on a proposed ethanol facility near Greenleaf until May 5. After a seven-hour public hearing April 7, commissioners said they needed more time to digest the evidence and com- plex issues surrounding the project, which would use bar- ley and tubers as feedstock. The project, which would include a food-processing plant and fertilizer process- ing facility, would make $26 million worth of purchases annually from Idaho’s farm sector, said the applicant, Sot Chimonas, chief operations officer of Demeter Bio-Re- sources. The county’s planning and zoning commission denied a request for a conditional use permit to build the ethanol fa- cility and Demeter appealed that decision to the commis- sion. No CUP is needed to build the food-processing and fertil- izer components of the proj- ect. Two of the three commis- sioners said they were leaning toward voting against the CUP request. The hearing room was packed with people opposed to the project who wore red “No” tags signifying their op- position to the ethanol facility, which they claim would cause noise, odor, traffic and pollu- Sean Ellis/Capital Press People opposed to a proposed ethanol facility near Greenleaf, Idaho, wear red “No” stickers during a public hearing on the project April 7. Canyon County commissioners delayed making a decision on the project until May 5. tion problems and negatively impact property values. Commissioners Tom Dale and Craig Hanson both said they like the potential jobs and economic development such a project could bring to the county. But they also said it is hard to ignore the concerns of the large number of people who have testified against the project over five public hear- ings. “I find myself coming down on erring on the side of caution,” Dale said. “I’m just not ready to go down the road of authorizing the ethanol side of the plant.” Commissioner Steve Rule said he was leaning toward supporting the CUP request. Commissioners unani- mously agreed to postpone their decision to give them more time to mull over the facts. Chimonas said 70 percent of the feedstock for the proj- ect, which would produce high-value food ingredients, would come from barley and the rest from a hybrid tu- ber-bearing crop called Sun Spuds. Tina Wilson, executive di- rector of the Western Alliance for Economic Development, said the $60 million project would conservatively result in an additional $350,000 in property taxes for the county. She also pointed out that agriculture and agribusiness provide 32 percent of base sales and 23 percent of jobs in the county. “Food processing plants and businesses such as Deme- ter Bi-Resources are a part of that foundation,” she said. predict livestock judging success By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press POCATELLO, Idaho — Written psychological assess- ment results can be used to accurately predict future per- formance among students com- peting in collegiate livestock judging, according to recently published research led by Idaho State University. The paper, which was pub- lished in the March edition of North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, was authored by Michael Meyers, an associate professor of sports science at Idaho State Univer- sity, and Texas A&M Univer- sity sports psychology faculty members Anthony Bourgeois and Arnold LeUnes. Meyers and his colleagues had 161 male and 104 female competitors from 13 top colle- giate teams complete six writ- ten psychological assessments, evaluating characteristics such as mood, motivation, attitude, performance anxiety, concen- tration, team emphasis and con- fidence. The assessments were collected throughout the past two decades. Though the researchers were provided no information about participants’ knowledge of livestock or judging perfor- mance history, they matched coaches’ ratings of competitors’ abilities 88 percent of the time based solely on mental assess- ments. Meyers, a former livestock judging competitor with Okla- homa State University, said livestock judging competitions can last up to eight hours and require participants to maintain concentration and endure high pressure. “Agricultural departments take this as seriously as some- body in basketball,” Meyers said, adding top teams offer scholarships to participants. “The better the judging team is, the more notoriety the college of agriculture gets, which helps with recruitment.” Meyers believes coaches could use the tool for recruit- ment, making tough decisions on how to rank mid-level com- petitors and to identify strengths and areas in which participants need more work. Blake Bloomberg, the 2014 livestock judging coach of the year with Oklahoma State, said Michael Meyers, associate professor of sports science at Idaho State University, has published research on livestock judging competitors. deciding between a few com- petitors for the final slot on a five-person judging team is among his most difficult tasks. He’s intrigued by Meyers’ re- search. “The typical contest starts at 7 a.m. and probably gets done at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m.,” Bloomberg said. “It’s pretty mentally drain- ing. You can’t talk to anybody during that time, and you’re pretty much on your own.” Mental assessments have been more often used to eval- uate potential among sports athletes, LeUnes explained. He said his past research with pro- fessional baseball demonstrat- ed psychological assessments could improve a scout’s ability to choose a successful player by 6 percent. He also used assess- ments to predict with 87 percent accuracy which Texas A&M football players would drop out of school. “Certainly, it was a stretch to think it might apply to judging in the (livestock) context that we’re talking about,” LeUnes said. He’s come to believe sports psychologists should call them- selves competition psycholo- gists. “The same kinds of traits that make you a good judge would be the same kinds of things that would make you a good athlete,” LeUnes said. Ron Richard, adviser to University of Idaho’s livestock judging team, looks for stu- dents with the desire to succeed and willingness to put in the time and effort. UI, which doesn’t give live- stock judging scholarships, has a judging club and offers a ba- sic livestock evaluation class, which prepares students to join the elite team as juniors or se- niors. ‘Industrial reserve’ bill criticized for threatening some farmland Legislation allows counties to designate areas for large-scale development By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press SALEM — A proposal to allow industrial development outside urban areas in several Oregon counties is touted as economically stimulative, but opponents claim it threatens statewide land use planning. Senate Bill 716 would per- mit three counties near Port- land to designate a “large-lot industrial reserve” of 150-500 acres without having the prop- erty within an urban growth boundary, as is currently re- quired. Proponents say the legis- lation would allow counties to seize on opportunities for high-tech development that are currently barred by a lack of adequate large industrial sites. “Generally, we don’t have big blocks of those,” said Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, who introduced the bill. The Oregon Farm Bureau opposes the bill because large tracts would take farmland out of production, changing the character of the surround- ing areas. Such shifts lead to in- creased development pres- sures and prompt agribusiness suppliers to leave as they lose their base of farm customers, said Mary Anne Nash, pub- lic policy counsel for OFB, during an April 6 hearing be- fore the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Re- sources. “We’re not getting more high value farmland in Ore- gon,” she said. “It’s a limited resource we need to protect judiciously.” The original version of SB 716 would affect Multnomah, Clackamas and Washing- ton counties, but a proposed amendment would substitute Columbia County for Wash- ington County in the pilot program. Tootie Smith, a Clackamas County commissioner, said the bill includes a mitigation component under which the total acreage of urban and ru- ral reserves within each coun- ty would remain unchanged despite the new industrial designations. Making large lots available for development is critical to attract job-creating companies that are seeking to build new facilities, she said. “By having this tool at our disposal, Clackamas Coun- ty can better market itself,” Smith said. However, several oppo- nents disputed whether Port- land metropolitan counties face a scarcity of industrial land. Tim Knapp, mayor of Wilsonville, said there are currently more than 7,800 acres of industrial property available in the metro region, but some portions aren’t ade- quately supported with roads, sewers, water pipelines and other infrastructure. “We’re very concerned that adding more acres com- petes with the scarce resourc- es that already are available,” he said. Companies seeking to de- velop large tracts of more than 100 acres are actually rare and considered the “white whale of economic development,” said John Williams, deputy di- rector of planning at the Met- ro regional government. Lawmakers who want to spur jobs should instead fo- cus on funding infrastructure within existing industrial par- cels, he said. “The real focus in our region is to make them development-ready.” Opponents also criticized the bill for undermining the land use planning process, which allows for long-term decisions on where industrial zones should be located. Urban and rural reserves that set out areas for develop- ment and farmland preserva- tion were created with public input and were subject to liti- gation and a legislative settle- ment last year. Through that process, it was decided that land south of the Willamette River near Wilsonville, known as French Prairie, should be a rural re- serve due to the burdens that development would place on transportation and water, said Charlotte Lehan, a councilor for the city. Lehan said SB 716 is meant to undermine those de- cisions to allow for the devel- opment of the area. Dan Wheat/Capital Press Ron DeLay plants potatoes about nine miles southwest of George, Wash., March 26. He always flies a U.S. flag atop his tractor cab to honor U.S. troops serving overseas. Spud planter says GPS has dulled abilities By DAN WHEAT Capital Press GEORGE, Wash. — Ron DeLay says he’s gone soft. GPS has spoiled him for the last 10 years or more when it comes to planting potatoes. “They use to call me ‘bubble butt’ because I could plant real straight and it was all in the feel of the field,” says DeLay, 58, of Royal City. “I would mark out a line and follow it, eyeball and seat of my pants. I could feel the contour of the land and keep it (the tractor) straight. A lot of guys couldn’t do it. It was a gift I had,” he says. But now, DeLay reads the newspaper some as he plants since GPS, the satellite nav- igation Global Positioning System, keeps him on track. “It’s a good thing I was younger when I did that,” he says. “I would go home and I couldn’t sleep because I was all knotted up in my back from holding the line.” DeLay has been planting potatoes and managing them and doing other jobs for Jerry Allred, a Royal City grower, for 34 years. DeLay flies a U.S. flag from the cab of his tractor. “As long as there’s troops dying overseas, I’ll fly the flag,” he says. “I’m the kind of guy that if I see a soldier I go up and thank him for his service.” His potato planting usual- ly runs March 21 to April 21. This year was no exception, even with the early spring. DeLay started planting 900 acres on March 21. Ranger Russets are first and later Umatilla Russets. “We buy our seed out of Canada, Montana and north of Spokane, 90,000 pounds. Those are colder areas where disease and bugs are less. We buy a year ahead of time. It’s shipped down and we cut it ourselves,” he said. Their production is con- tracted with ConAgra Foods, in Quincy, for french fries. The Allred Farm is plant- ing the same amount of po- tatoes as it did last year, de- spite the work slowdown at West Coast ports that cost the industry $48 million of lost frozen potato product exports in November, De- cember and January alone. That’s according to the Washington Potato Commis- sion. “ConAgra was full. Farmers couldn’t get rid of them. Some were starting to rot. Japan couldn’t get french fries,” DeLay said. “But farmers are on contract. They get their money wheth- er they sit or not.”