April 10, 2015
CapitalPress.com
3
Proposal aims Hay growers face challenges
to override
Oregon’s GMO
pre-emption
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Local governments in
Oregon could restrict pes-
ticides and genetically
modified organisms despite
statewide pre-emption laws
under a ballot initiative pro-
posed for the 2016 election.
Proponents hope to pass
a “right to Local, Com-
munity Self-Government”
amendment to Oregon’s
constitution that attempts
to immunize local ordinanc-
es from state and federal
pre-emption.
Currently, the state gov-
ernment can pre-empt cities
and counties on nearly ev-
ery subject, said Paul Diller,
a law professor at Willa-
mette University.
“This amendment would
flip that presumption in
many more instances,” he
said.
While the proposed
amendment wouldn’t have
any power over federal
pre-emption — that would
require a change to the U.S.
Constitution — it would
override state pre-emption
with a simple majority vote
if it gets on the ballot, Diller
said.
“We want to be part of the
decision-making process,”
said Mary Geddry, a chief
petitioner for the ballot ini-
tiative.
State regulatory agencies
currently make decisions by
which local communities
must abide, she said. “We
want to democratize the
process.”
Pre-emption is a key sub-
ject of recent battles over
GMOs, which were banned
by Jackson and Josephine
counties last year. Benton
County will vote on a GMO
prohibition in May and sup-
porters in Lane County are
trying to get a similar initia-
tive on the ballot.
However, state lawmak-
ers in 2013 pre-empted lo-
cal regulations of GMOs
except in Jackson County,
where the measure had al-
ready qualified for the bal-
lot. Local regulation of pes-
ticides is also pre-empted in
Oregon.
Unenforceable
coun-
ty GMO bans and other
pre-empted
ordinances
would likely be retroactive-
ly activated if the ballot ini-
tative is approved by voters,
said Diller.
“I would assume it would
apply to anything that’s still
on the books,” he said.
Overturning
state
pre-emption would affect
numerous other laws that
set a statewide standard,
such as the statute against
local rent control ordinanc-
es, Diller said.
“I think it would be an
absolute boondoggle if it
passes, not just for agricul-
ture but a host of other is-
sues,” said Scott Dahlman,
policy director for Orego-
nians for Food and Shelter,
an agribusiness group that
supports state pre-emption
of GMO and pesticide rules.
The proposal to overturn
state pre-emption is part of
the “same movement” as
GMO prohibitions, as well
as restrictions on oil and gas
pipelines, he said.
To qualify for the Ore-
gon general election ballot
in 2016, supporters must
collect more than 117,500
valid signatures. As a con-
stitutional amendment, the
initiative faces a steeper
hurdle than the roughly
88,000 needed to get a stat-
utory measure on the ballot.
To begin the process
of drafting a ballot title,
though, supporters only
need to gather 1,000 signa-
tures.
“That’s not a very high
bar,” said Dahlman.
GMO label backers
tout glyphosate
cancer finding
Controversial cancer
finding cited in
labeling lawsuit
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Defenders of Vermont’s
genetically modified organ-
ism labeling law claim its
legality is buttressed by the
World Health Organization’s
recent finding that glyphosate
herbicides may cause cancer.
The state’s labeling re-
quirement for foods contain-
ing GMOs, passed in 2014,
is being challenged in court
by food manufacturers who
allege it violates their free
speech rights.
Critics and supporters of
biotechnology are watching
the lawsuit closely due to
potential impacts on GMO
labeling laws that could be
approved in other states.
The Grocery Manufac-
turers Association, which
is trying to stop the statute
from becoming effective in
2016, claims that mandato-
ry labeling is an unconsti-
tutional form of compelled
political speech.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals held that
consumer curiosity doesn’t
justify such compelled
speech when it overturned a
similar law that required la-
beling milk from cows treat-
ed with synthetic growth
hormones, GMA argues.
Attorneys for Vermont
counter that GMO labeling
is constitutional because the
government has a legitimate
interest in the law, such as
health and safety concerns.
The state recently noti-
fied the federal judge over-
seeing the case of a contro-
versial finding by WHO that
glyphosate herbicides are
probably carcinogenic. The
conclusion was met with
strong criticism because it
contradicts previous studies
by other scientists.
Glyphosate
resistance
is one of the most common
traits incorporated into ge-
netically engineered crops,
which are associated with
increased usage of the herbi-
cide, according to Vermont’s
attorneys.
Mandatory GMO labeling
“will therefore enable con-
sumers to make purchasing
decisions that, in the aggre-
gate, can decrease overall
glyphosate usage (and re-
duce their individual expo-
sure to the agent),” accord-
ing to Vermont’s court filing.
The WHO finding clearly
didn’t motivate the labeling
law but Vermont’s attorneys
hope that it will bolster their
health and safety arguments,
said Drew Kershen, an agri-
cultural biotechnology law
professor at the University
of Oklahoma.
Kershen said the state
likely realizes the 2nd Cir-
cuit’s legal precedent re-
garding consumer curiosity
strongly undermines their
case.
“They’re attempting to
switch the focus,” he said.
“They’re very worried that
they will lose.”
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Two balers and two harrowbeds harvest top-quality, first-cutting Timothy hay for export in an Anderson
Hay & Grain Co. operation south of Ephrata, Wash., last June. Drought is creating challenges this
season for growers in the West.
All hay acres
(Thousands of acres harvested)
State
Calif.
Idaho
Ore.
Wash.
U.S.
Percent
2014 2015 change
1,375 1,230 -10.5%
1,390 1,430
2.9
1,030 1,000
-2.9
870
830
-4.6
57,092 57,093
—
Source: USDA NASS
Capital Press graphic
clover root curculio larvae
and even alfalfa weevil,
which is making a “very
early” appearance on abnor-
mally warm temperatures
since January, he said.
The amount of disease
and vole damage this spring
is more than he’s ever seen,
he said.
South-central
Oregon
grower Scott Pierson, pres-
ident of the Oregon Hay and
Forage Association, said
he’s also seen increased
damage from voles, or
meadow mice, this winter
and thinks they’ll continue
to be a problem.
Early hatching mosqui-
toes are also an indication
that pests — such as alfalfa
weevil, thrips, cutworms,
and aphids – could be a
problem this year, he said.
Water will be another is-
sue, with much of southwest
Oregon pretty dry. Those
areas will run out of snow-
pack supplies in early June,
affecting grass hay — most-
ly harvested by cattle — un-
less late snow storms come
through, he said.
The backlog of hay ex-
ports, due to what was es-
sentially a strike by long-
shoreman, and milk prices
that have dairymen strug-
gling to break even will
also be an issue this year, he
said.
Washington growers are
also concerned about the
carryover of hay stocks due
to the port slowdowns and
lower milk prices, said Lo-
ren Lopes, a Clayton grower
and president of the Wash-
ington State Hay Growers
Association.
Water could also be an
issue for hay growers in
south-central Washington
who depend on snowpack
in the Cascade Mountains,
said Shawn Clausen, a War-
den grower.
Timothy hay acres in the
state are also likely to be
down due to the substan-
tial price drop on last year’s
second cutting, he said.
The California Alfalfa
and Forage Association has
not yet returned calls, but
severe drought and water
restrictions leave little sur-
prise as to lower expecta-
tions for the state’s harvest-
ed hay acres.
Idaho farm sector posted big rise
in personal income in 2014
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho’s sig-
nificant gain in total per-
sonal income last year was
driven in part by a large in-
crease in farm income and
profits.
Total Idaho person-
al income increased 5.3
percent in 2014, the sixth
fastest rate in the nation,
according to U.S. Bureau
of Economic Analysis data
summarized by the Idaho
Department of Labor.
But personal income
— the value of all wages,
profits, investment earn-
ings and government trans-
fer payments such as un-
employment benefits — in
Idaho’s farming sector rose
19.7 percent to $3.32 bil-
lion.
No other sector of the
state’s economy, except
forestry, which is a tiny
piece of the overall pie,
saw its personal income
rise by more than 9.5 per-
cent in 2014.
Farm personal income
in Idaho has grown from
$2.37 billion in 2012 to
$2.77 billion in 2013 and
$3.32 billion in 2014.
Idaho farm business
profits increased 26 per-
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Onions are planted in a field near Wilder, Idaho, March 30. Per-
sonal income in Idaho’s farming sector increased 19.7 percent
in 2014 and helped drive the state’s 5.3 percent increase in total
personal income.
cent, from $1.98 billion
in 2013 to $2.5 billion in
2014, and drove the state’s
11.4 percent gain in overall
business profits, the high-
est in the nation.
Without the farming sec-
tor, overall business profits
in Idaho would have in-
creased just 5.7 percent in
2014, said IDL spokesman
Bob Fick.
The stellar performance
by Idaho’s agricultural
sector in recent years has
underpinned the state’s
emergence from the last re-
cession and it’s been a big
lift to small rural commu-
nities that depend on farm-
ing, said Dan Cravens, an
IDL regional labor econo-
mist in Southeast Idaho.
“It’s been a real
game-changer in some of
these small rural commu-
nities .. and has contributed
to the overall job recovery
we are having in Idaho,” he
said.
However, the state’s
string of four straight years
of record farm cash receipts
almost surely will come
to an end in 2015 and the
large gains in personal farm
income experienced over
the last three year will also
cease this year, according
to University of Idaho agri-
cultural economists.
“It’s been an unbeliev-
able run,” said UI ag econ-
omist Garth Taylor “But
this is (the year) the records
stop.”
Idaho’s record last year
for farm receipts was driv-
en largely by the state’s
livestock industry. Dairy
and beef are Idaho’s top two
farm commodities when it
comes to cash receipts and
prices for both were at re-
cord or near-record levels
throughout 2014.
Beef prices are still near
record levels but the state’s
dairy industry is in for a big
correction when it comes to
total revenue, said UI ag
economist Paul Patterson.
Based on forecast dairy
prices for 2015, total cash
receipts from the state’s
dairy sector could decrease
by $600-800 million in
2015, Patterson said.
Crop prices were already
weakening last year and
that decrease has continued
into 2015, he said.
Patterson said it’s likely
Idaho agriculture “is going
to lose some of its shine”
this year.
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Initiative allows
cities, counties to
set restrictions
While harvested hay
acres are expected to re-
main stable across the U.S.
in 2015, growers in the West
see challenges ahead.
Nationwide, producers
expect to harvested 57.1
million acres of hay, virtu-
ally unchanged from 2014.
But harvested acreage is
expected down 11 percent
in California, 5 percent in
Washington and 3 percent
in Oregon, according to
the USDA National Agri-
cultural Statistics Service
prospective plantings report
released on March 31.
On the flip side, Idaho’s
harvested hay acres are ex-
pected to be up 3 percent.
Western hay growers say
they are bracing for chal-
lenges — from pest pressure
and water shortages to port
challenges and weaker milk
prices.
Many say this year’s ear-
ly spring makes things hard
to predict.
Abundant rains in Idaho
last year ruined the second
cutting and had a negative
effect on third-cutting yield
and quality. It’s hard to
predict what this year will
bring, said Will ricks, an
Eastern Idaho grower and
president of the Idaho Hay
and Forage Association.
Heavy rains last Au-
gust allowed fungal spores
to accumulate in soils and
plant material, and growers
are bringing in quite a bit
of sick alfalfa with various
fungal and crown diseas-
es, said Glenn Shewmaker,
extension forage specialist
with the University of Idaho
in Twin Fall.
He’s seeing damage from
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