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April 24, 2015 CapitalPress.com 3 GMO control area proposal dies in Oregon House By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press SALEM — A bill to create “control areas” for increased regulation of genetically modified crops in Oregon has died in committee, but the basic idea may be revived. House Bill 2674 would re- quire the Oregon Department of Agriculture to designate control areas where biotech crops would come under new restrictions, such as iso- lation distances to prevent cross-pollination with other crops. Genetically modified organisms growing outside control areas would be “sub- ject to eradication.” Rep. Brian Clem, D-Sa- lem, said the bill was too nar- row in scope to keep alive, since Oregon agriculture faces other conflicts between crops that don’t involve ge- netic engineering. For example, growers have similar cross-pollina- tion concerns about canola and related brassica species and between the newly legal- ized crops of hemp and mari- juana, he said. While Clem allowed the bill to die during an April 21 work session of the House Committee on Rural Com- munities, Land Use and Wa- ter, he said there will be an ongoing effort to create a tool for ODA to resolve such dis- putes. It’s possible such a pro- posal will be considered by the House Rules Committee, where bills can stay alive un- til the end of the legislative session. Oregonians for Food and Shelter, an agribusiness group that supports biotech- nology, is heartened that HB 2674 has died in committee Maiden season for new apple line By DAN WHEAT Capital Press EAST WENATCHEE, Wash. — McDougall & Sons Inc. began operating its new multi-million dollar apple pack- ing line eight months ago, just in time to help handle its share of the industry’s largest crop on record. The 39-year-old Wenatchee company typically packs about 3 million 40-pound boxes of ap- ples in a season but this year had an extra 500,000. The new line, at double the speed of the old line, enables the company to pack the additional volume while maintaining two, eight-hour shifts per day, five days a week, said Bryon Mc- Dougall, director of operations. Without it the company would have extended its shifts to 10 to 12 hours, six days a week, costing more money, he said. Each shift operates with 105 to 110 employees and an additional 40 in repacking, said Brenda O’Brien, packing man- ager. “It’s going quite well. We’re still figuring some things out and have identified some areas for improvement. In general, it’s working like we thought,” Mc- Dougall said. The line began running in early September in the compa- ny’s new 527,000-square-foot North Baker Flats facility north of East Wenatchee. There’s racked storage for 400,000 boxes of packed apples that ship out through 15 truck loading bays. There’s controlled atmosphere storage for 48,000 Capital Press Dan Wheat/Capital Press Brenda O’Brien, packing manager, on new North Baker Flats apple packing line of McDougall & Sons Inc., April 9. Lighting is augmented by 200, 2-by-2-foot skylights. bins of apples. The company has capacity for another 152,000 bins in facilities elsewhere. A new, high-tech cher- ry line is being built in an 82,000-square-foot room for this year’s cherry season. With Unitec optical sizer-sorters it will be 20 to 25 percent faster and reduce sorting labor by at least 50 percent, McDougall said. There will be 20 lanes for red cherries and 10 lanes for Rainiers and organic reds. The new apple line is in a 157,000-square-foot room that has space for an additional ap- ple line of the same size in the future. The new apple line was built to stay competitive and handle an anticipated 20 to 25-percent increase in apple volume in five years from the company’s orchard expansions. It saves 25 to 30 percent in labor over the old line at Olds Station north of Wenatchee that now is being used exclusively to pack organic apples. The new apple line is capa- ble of receiving 80 to 90 bins of apples an hour, but more often runs at 60 to 70 given variabil- ity of trays, bags and clamshell packaging, McDougall said. That’s still 50 to 75 percent more fruit than the Olds Station plant, he said. “We’ve definitely increased productivity but maybe not to the level we anticipated,” he said. The line packs 18,000 to 20,000 boxes per day, double that of Olds Station. A big part of the increased speed are two, Dutch-made Greefa sizer-sorters that take 16 images of each apple in a second and instantaneously sort for size, color and external and internal defects. Different sorting profiles are followed depending on how rough or clean the fruit is. Line speed, flume water temperature, brush beds and many other as- pects are controlled by an oper- ator overlooking the entire line and using several large monitors. Four robotic arms move packed boxes to pallets for ship- ment, reducing manual stacking 75 percent. Each arm can handle four different sizes and grades of fruit simultaneously. Capital Press FRESNO, Calif. — Califor- nia’s new FFA president says the youth organization has a key role in bringing agriculture’s message to urban residents amid all the challenges facing farm- ing. “The members of FFA are going to be the ones who are the future farmers,” Joelle Lewis of San Luis Obispo said in an in- terview moments after being an- nounced as the new state leader for the next year. “I’m just excited to meet all of the members and get to know” fellow leaders, said Lew- is, who was the South Coast Re- gion president for 2014-2015. Lewis leads a slate of new officers elected at the 87th an- nual California FFA Leadership Conference, held April 18-21 at Fresno’s convention center complex. More than 5,000 high school agriculture students at- tended the conference, whose theme was “Reach Out.” Lewis was among 59 candi- dates for state office, including 35 who were interviewed and 12 who were named as finalists. She is joined by new Vice Pres- ident Sydnie Sousa of Tulare, Secretary Breanna Holbert of Lodi, Treasurer Trevor Autry of Nipomo, Reporter Danielle Di- ele of Merced and Sentinel Tim Truax of Turlock. In remarks during the last of six rock concert-like general sessions in Selland Arena, Lew- is urged fellow members to take whatever inspired them during the four-day conference back to their hometowns. “Whatever that moment was, don’t let it stay here in Selland Arena,” she said. “Use what you heard to help everyone around you.” The new officers were an- nounced after each of the out- going state leaders had taken turns giving heartfelt speeches about their time in office. Each also had their parents and ad- visers on stage to thank them Outgoing California FFA President Dipak Kumar, left, gives incoming President Jo- elle Lewis a new jacket to signify her role during the organiza- tion’s state conference April 21 at Selland Tim Hearden/Capital Press Arena in Fresno. in moving tributes. Outgoing president Dipak Kumar of Tulare spoke of his admiration for his father, a doc- tor who moved the family from what was then war-torn India to the Central Valley and planted almonds, walnuts and pistachios. He said his family’s experi- ence taught him to use challeng- es as well as good fortune to help others. “In life, each of us has been given something,” Kumar said. “No matter the nature of what we have, we can choose to have amazing outcomes.” Haley Warner of Angels Camp, the outgoing vice pres- ident, noted that people today “live in a world of words” in texts and social media and urged her fellow members to use words constructively. “The power of our words is stronger than we know,” she said. “Those words — our words — can cut deep and they leave scars. But I have seen people em- powered to do more because of the helpful, constructive words that people said to them.” It instead supports ODA conducting mediation to re- solve such conflicts. Friends of Family Farmers, which supports GMO regula- tion, favored a more specific mechanism for dealing with biotechnology conflicts, said Ivan Maluski, the group’s pol- icy director. “Our preference would have been that we focused very narrowly on the issues surrounding genetic engineer- ing,” he said. Idaho lawmakers approve rule lifting elk import restriction By SEAN ELLIS New Calif. FFA leaders strive to meet challenges By TIM HEARDEN and plans to oppose similar concepts, said Scott Dahl- man, its policy director. “Coexistence is not en- hanced by directing a state department to tell farmers what they can grow and how they can grow it,” he said. Farmers who own land that’s often been in their fam- ily for generations can’t sim- ply move their operations to grow a genetically engineered crop within a designated con- trol area, Dahlman said. BOISE — After signif- icant debate and several votes, Idaho lawmakers ap- proved a rule that commer- cial elk breeders say will help their industry be more competitive but opponents argue will endanger wild elk and other animals in Idaho. The rule lifts the state’s ban on domestic elk from states where the meningeal worm is endemic. The par- asite can cause fatal neu- rological problems in elk, sheep, goats, llamas and alpacas. The rule change also re- quires elk to be treated for meningeal worm within 30 days of being shipped to Idaho. Commercial elk breeders told lawmakers they needed the restriction to be lifted so they can compete for genet- ics and elk with other West- ern states that don’t have the restriction. Those who supported the rule argued that elk are a dead-end host for the par- asite, the same as sheep, goats, llamas and alpacas. “Why isn’t there a men- ingeal worm restriction on those species?” Shawn Schafer, executive director of the North American Deer Farmers Association, asked lawmakers. “It is because science tells us that just like elk, they are a dead-end host.” Ada County Fish and Game League representa- tive Forrest Goodrum, who led the opposition, said lawmakers were presented with evidence that shows the worm can be passed on by elk in Idaho and there is no 100 percent effective de-worming treatment but he believes they were con- fused by the widely con- flicting testimony presented during public hearings. Goodrum said lifting the import restriction was fool- hardy. “Elk are not a dead-end host,” he said. The rule change was op- posed by Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore, who told the Idaho State Department of Agriculture in a letter that the department is “very con- cerned about the potential importation of meningeal worm.” The Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee rejected the rule but the House Ag- ricultural Affairs Commit- tee approved it. In Idaho, a pending rule that doesn’t involve a fee increase only needs one committee to ap- prove it for it to become final. Rep. Ken Andrus, the House ag committee chair- man, who voted in favor of the rule, said the fact that sheep, goats, llamas and alpacas can also carry the worm but there are no im- port restrictions on those animals played an import- ant role in the debate. Andrus, a Republican sheep rancher from Lava Hot Springs, said he was convinced by testimony and the state veterinarian that Idaho lacks the inter- mediate host, a mollusk, necessary for the worm to complete its life cycle and be passed on. “It really came down to whether or not we were basing the rule on science or whether (some people) have an aversion do domes- tic elk,” he said. Idaho Wool Growers Association Executive Di- rector Stan Boyd, who rep- resented commercial elk breeders on the issue, said other Western states have lifted similar restrictions “and there’s been no prob- lem in those states with meningeal worm. Idaho did not break new ground here.” BUYING 6” and UP Alder, Maple, Cottonwood Saw Logs, Standing Timber www.cascadehardwood.com W rop-14-4-1/#24 Concept may be revived before end of session ALTER IMPLEMENT “ Your Farm Equipment Specialists” Odessa, WA • 509-982-2644 • 1-800-572-5939 17-2/#14