12 CapitalPress.com
April 17, 2015
Growers believe regulations are overly burdensome
PCN from Page 1
Eighteen growers are in
the federal PCN monitoring
program, which is overseen
by USDA’s Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service.
Twenty-six fields encompass-
ing 2,897 acres are infested
with PCN and 7,734 acres are
regulated. Potatoes can still be
grown on the regulated fields,
which are not infested but are
associated with them because
the same equipment is used
on them. However, regulated
fields face strict testing and
heightened phytosanitary re-
quirements.
When PCN was first de-
tected in a small area near
Shelley in 2006, nations such
as Canada, Mexico and South
Korea closed their doors to
potato imports from Idaho.
Japan prohibited the importa-
tion of all U.S. potatoes.
Since then, Canada and
Mexico have allowed potatoes
to be imported if they undergo
field soil sampling for PCN.
However, they still prohibit
potatoes from PCN-regulated
areas. South Korea has re-
opened its borders to all pota-
toes except those from the two
Idaho counties, Bingham and
Bonneville, with PCN-infest-
ed fields. Japan still won’t buy
Idaho potatoes.
Many of the 15 farmers
in the regulated area gave
detailed accounts of how the
regulations impact their oper-
ations.
Steve France, who has
farmed for 50 years, said the
regulations “have really ham-
mered us (financially). It’s
about more than we can take.”
The growers told lawmak-
ers they don’t know where
else to turn for help, and that’s
why they formed the Idaho
PCN Group.
Gary Farmer, an agron-
omist who has worked with
growers in the regulated area,
told legislators that the farm-
ers have lost contracts and
leases, had to hire more em-
ployees, seen their expenses
increase “and generally been
thrown under the proverbial
bus.”
He said the financial im-
pact the regulations have had
on his company — between
$40,000 and $60,000 per year
— is small compared with
what those growers have had
to endure.
Mark Mickelsen said his
farm has lost $700,000 due to
the PCN regulations in the last
six months.
“We in the Shelly area
have had the finger pointed at
us for a long time and we need
help,” he said.
Farmer said major french
fry companies will not con-
Bill Schaefer/For the Capital Press
These are two of the washer units that potato growers in a federal quarantine area in Eastern Idaho can use to clean their equipment
when it leaves the field. The equipment was paid for by a federal grant obtained by the Idaho Potato Commission.
tract for potatoes grown in
regulated ground, and he has
seen growers in the regulated
area lose contracts with pack-
ers.
‘Over-burdensome’
regulations
The growers said they be-
lieve the regulations are overly
burdensome and largely unnec-
essary.
“The regulations are so
over-burdensome and difficult,
it’s terribly difficult to oper-
ate,” said Stephanie Mickelsen,
Mark Mickelsen’s wife.
As an example, Searle said
other countries that deal with
PCN test fields at a rate of 1.3
pounds of soil per acre, but
growers in Idaho’s regulated
area are tested at a much higher
rate.
Several growers said they
believe PCN would be found
in other major potato-growing
areas if soil there was tested as
heavily as it is in Idaho’s PCN
quarantine area.
“We’re putting the Idaho
potato industry at a huge dis-
advantage if we continue to test
at such high rates in Idaho, and
they aren’t going to have the
same testing in other places,”
Stephanie Mickelsen said.
State Department of Agri-
culture officials said Idaho’s
potato industry chose to test at
higher rates so regulated fields
could be released from the
monitoring program quicker.
During the program’s first
four years, fields in the regulat-
ed area that were not infested
with PCN had to test negative
for the pest for four consecu-
tive potato crops before they
could be released from the fed-
eral program.
That testing protocol re-
quired 5 pounds of soil per
acre to test negative after each
potato crop.
Because potatoes in East-
ern Idaho are grown on 3- to
5-year rotations, that meant it
could take 20 years for a field
to be released. At the industry’s
urging, ISDA officials said,
they helped convince APHIS
in 2010 to change the release
protocol to one 20-pound soil
sample after one potato crop.
This allows fields to be re-
leased much sooner.
Those people who pushed
for the higher test rate include
some of the farmers who are
complaining about it now,
ISDA Director Celia Gould
said.
Stephanie Mickelsen said
growers in the regulated area
were led to believe at the time
that additional testing was re-
quired and they chose what
they believed at the time to
be the lesser of two evils: a
higher soil testing standard so
their fields could be released
quicker.
“If they had to do it over
again, I believe everyone (in
the regulated area) would
choose a different path,” she
said.
Fields infested with PCN
can’t be used to grow host
crops such as potatoes, but they
can grow other crops, including
barley, wheat and corn.
Stephanie Mickelsen said
that because of Eastern Idaho’s
cold climate, farmers are limit-
ed in what they can grow.
A grower in that area “really
needs to have a cash crop like
potatoes to pay their bills,” she
said.
Besides being limited in
what they can grow, some
of the growers have millions
of dollars invested in potato
equipment and facilities, she
added. The average cost of a
potato cellar is $600,000.
Growers also told lawmak-
ers that their pleas for help have
fallen on deaf ears at the ISDA,
Idaho Potato Commission and
APHIS.
Gould and IPC President
and CEO Frank Muir, who
were watching the presentation
to lawmakers via a video feed,
both said they were surprised to
hear that claim.
Gould said the potato indus-
try and growers in the regulated
area have been at the table and
involved in helping shape the
program from the beginning.
She said it was “hugely frus-
trating (to hear) allegations that
they had not been listened to
or had not had any voice in the
process because from day one
they had a voice.”
Gould said the ISDA has
tried to balance the need to ad-
dress the concerns of the regu-
lated growers while at the same
time prevent or limit the spread
of PCN and protect internation-
al and domestic markets.
In a statement, Muir said the
commission has worked with
impacted growers, USDA and
ISDA to protect Idaho potatoes.
He said federal regulations
require equipment to be steam
cleaned and washed when
leaving infested fields and, to
minimize the impact of that
regulation on growers, the com-
mission sought and received a
federal grant to build a steam
sanitation station and purchase
several wash systems that are
made available to growers free
of charge.
Muir said the commission
will continue to fund research
toward developing PCN-resis-
tant potato varieties as well as
other efforts to help eradicate
the pest.
Changing tactics
PCN affected growers
would like state and federal
regulators to explore the pos-
sibility of switching from a
PCN eradication program to a
management program, which
they believe would involve
less burdensome regulations.
Searle said the pest can be
controlled with the current
integrated pest management
practices growers already em-
ploy.
APHIS officials told Cap-
ital Press in an email that the
eradication program “con-
tinues to yield successful
results. PCN viability data
received to date indicate that
there has been significant
progress toward eradication
of the pale cyst nematode in
Idaho.”
APHIS also fumigates the
fields with methyl bromide in
an effort to reduce the nema-
tode population.
Eight of the first nine
infested fields detected in
Eastern Idaho are eligible for
planting potatoes again, ac-
cording to APHIS. However,
those fields are still subject
to testing after the next three
potato crops to verify the ab-
sence of viable cysts.
Moving from an eradica-
tion program to management
could impact interstate and in-
ternational trade, APHIS said.
Lloyd Knight, administra-
tor of ISDA’s plant industries
division, said countries with
a PCN management program
are limited in which markets
will buy their potatoes.
He said the goal of Idaho’s
eradication plan has always
been to “get all the markets
back open as fully as possible
to Idaho potatoes.”
Four of the top five nations
importing Idaho potatoes con-
sider PCN a quarantine pest,
Gould said, “and we can’t tell
those countries what they’re
going to accept.”
It’s not known exactly what
a management plan would
look like in Idaho, Gould said,
but a golden nematode man-
agement plan in New York
turned into a statewide testing
program that has lasted for
more than three decades.
“That’s what we didn’t
want to happen in Idaho,” she
said.
Idaho PCN Group mem-
bers said they would only sup-
port a management program if
it didn’t negatively affect the
industry’s markets, but they
believe the idea is worth ex-
ploring.
Idaho PCN Group Presi-
dent Jared Wattenbarger said
the group’s visit to Boise was
more about educating law-
makers about the difficulty
growers face in the regulated
area. The group, he said, will
continue to work with the IPC
and state and federal regula-
tors to try to find a solution
that protects the state’s potato
industry and is workable for
the affected growers.
He said regulated growers
want to “get this to where it’s
a manageable thing so we can
get back to making money.”
Increased
restrictions
on GMOs
still on table
Immigration action back in limelight
GMO from Page 1
Capital Press
conflicts,” said Ivan Maluski,
policy director for Friends of
Family Farmers, which supports
stricter regulation of genetically
modified organisms.
While HB 2509 doesn’t pro-
vide for direct state regulation of
genetically engineered crops, it
would allow farmers to discuss
their options before resorting to
litigation, he said.
However, increased restric-
tions on GMOs are still on the
table during the 2015 legislative
session.
On April 21, lawmakers
are scheduled to hold a pos-
sible work session on House
Bill 2674, which would require
ODA to establish “control ar-
eas” for biotech crops in which
they’d be subject to regulations,
like isolation distances.
Biotech crops growing out-
side control areas would be con-
sidered “an infestation subject
to eradication” under HB 2674,
which would also impose fees
on GMOs to compensate farm-
ers who are negatively affected
by them.
The House Committee on
Rural Communities, Land Use
and Water approved several
other bills during its most recent
work session:
• House Bill 2277, which ex-
pands the authority of drainage
districts in Oregon’s Multnomah
County to conduct flood con-
trol.
PASCO, Wash. — It may be
months yet before millions of people
living in the U.S. illegally can sign
up for temporary legal work status
under the president’s controversial
executive action, a Pasco immigra-
tion attorney says.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals, in New Orleans, hears argu-
ments April 17 on an injunction pre-
venting the Obama administration
from proceeding with deportation
deferrals and temporary legal work
status for people in the U.S. illegally.
Having just dismissed a similar
case April 9, the court is likely to
overturn the injunction and let the
programs proceed while taking up
the merits of the case, says attorney
Tom Roach.
But regardless of which way the
court goes on the injunction, the
losing party may appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court and that could take
several more months to hear, Roach
said.
Appeals court hears arguments
By DAN WHEAT
He estimates there are 90,000 to
100,000 people in Central Wash-
ington and northeastern Oregon,
thousands more in Idaho and many
thousands more in California who
are eligible for the Deferred Action
for Parents of Americans (DAPA)
or an expanded 2014 version of the
2012 Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, called DACA 2.0. Many of
them are farmworkers.
The programs are executive ac-
tions giving temporary legal work
status to illegals who have lived in
the U.S. at least five years, not been
convicted of disqualifying crimes
and meet some other conditions.
Roach said he helped about 350
people prepare to sign up for DAPA
before the program was put on hold
Feb. 16 by an injunction by a U.S.
District Court judge in Texas.
Roach said he’s handled 335 cas-
es under the 2012 DACA which he’s
been told is more than any other im-
migration attorney in the state.
How many people sign up for
DAPA or DACA 2.0, if the programs
are eventually upheld,
is a good question, he
said.
Some people may
be eager for legal sta-
tus and benefits that
come with it while oth-
Roach
ers may figure they’ve
done well enough in the
shadows for years and are reluctant to
risk exposure since deferrals are only
good for three years, he said.
Benefits include a Social Security
card good only with a work permit
and, in some states, drivers licenses.
The government estimates 1.2
million people were eligible under
the 2012 DACA program but only
600,000 signed up, Roach said.
An estimated 4 million to 5 mil-
lion people are eligible for DAPA
nationwide. “It wouldn’t surprise me
if only half of them sign up,” he said.
Shortly after the November 2014
elections, President Obama issued
an executive action for DAPA and
DACA 2.0. The administration
planned to implement the programs
this spring. Many Republicans said
the action was unconstitutional, that
Obama was writing law.
On Feb. 16, U.S. District Judge
Andrew Hanen, in Texas, ruled in fa-
vor of 26 states that sued to overturn
the executive order and issued an
injunction stopping the programs on
grounds that they were implemented
without following an administrative
procedures act requiring a public
comment period.
On April 7, Hanen denied an ad-
ministration request to lift his in-
junction.
The government argues the exec-
utive order is prosecutorial discre-
tion that does not require the admin-
istrative procedures act be followed,
Roach said.
Prior administrations have deferred
deportation of people from China,
Nicaragua, Cuba and other places, just
not on the same scale, he said.
On April 9, the 5th Circuit Court
dismissed a lawsuit challenging the
2012 DACA, saying the state of
Mississippi lacked standing to sue
because it did not prove it was in-
jured by the program.
The 26 states suing over DAPA
and DACA 2.0 “allege irreparable
harm, that the programs will cost
them lots of money and encourage
more illegal immigration,” Roach
said.
‘If employees want to talk about those programs, tell them to go to an attorney’
ICE from Page 1
“Eligibility for a benefit
does not automatically imply
that an individual is employ-
ment eligible. Employees are
only eligible for employment
once they have received doc-
umentation from the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security
showing work authorization.
Employers may be subject
to civil or criminal penalties
when they employ or contin-
ue to employ an alien in the
United States knowing that
the alien is an unauthorized
alien with respect to such em-
ployment,” she wrote.
An employer may rehire
a previously terminated em-
ployee once that person has
DHS work authorization, she
wrote.
WAFLA has advised em-
ployers to provide employ-
ment records to employees
only if there is no discussion
between the employer and
employees about DAPA or
DACA 2.0, Fazio told Capi-
tal Press.
“If employees want to talk
about those programs, tell
them to go to an attorney,” he
said. “I can’t conceive of any-
one going after an employer
who helped out a worker, but
I’ve seen weirder stuff from
government.”
Tom Roach, a Pasco im-
migration attorney, said it
seems ironic that the govern-
ment provides safe harbor for
employees but not employ-
ers.
“But it does make sense if
you look at it from the gov-
ernment’s point of view,” he
said.
It wants the program to
go forward so it provides as-
surance for employees, but it
wants employers to hire only
legal workers, he said.