June 5, 2015
CapitalPress.com
3
GMO control area proposal revived
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A proposal to increase re-
strictions on genetically engi-
neered crops has been revived
in the Oregon Legislature a
month after a similar bill died
in committee.
House Bill 3554 would al-
low the Oregon Department of
Agriculture to establish “con-
trol areas” where biotech crops
— even those deregulated by
federal authorities — would
be subject to additional rules,
such as isolation distances.
Growers
who
fear
cross-pollination from ge-
netically modified organisms
could petition ODA to create
a “market production district”
in which such crops would
face similar regulations.
Farm suppliers would also
have to report sales of biotech
seeds to the agency.
The new bill is a compro-
mise because state officials
could choose whether to des-
ignate control areas or market
production districts, said Ivan
Maluski, policy director of
Friends of Family Farmers, a
group that supports stronger
GMO regulation.
“It’s done in a way that
gives ODA the authority with-
out telling them what to do,”
he said.
Under earlier legislation,
which died in the House Com-
mittee on Rural Communities,
Land Use and Water in April,
the agency would be required
to establish control areas for
biotech crops.
Clarifying ODA’s author-
ity over GMOs is necessary
because the agency currently
believes it loses the power to
regulate once they’re commer-
cialized by USDA, Maluski
said.
“Right now, they pretty
much argue their hands are
tied,” he said.
Opponents of the bill are
disappointed that the control
area concept has been resur-
rected, even though such des-
ignations aren’t mandatory
under HB 3554.
“It might be scaled back in
some respects, but none that
are meaningful,” said Scott
Dalhman, policy director of
the Oregonians for Food and
PNW pear crop will be early, average size
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
PORTLAND — Pacific
Northwest pear growers this
year expect a record early
crop but with average volume.
The 2015 crop is forecast
at 20.4 million, 44-pound
boxes, down 2 percent from
last year’s crop and 2 percent
larger than the average of the
past five years.
The record crop was 21.6
million boxes in 2013.
“We’re pretty pleased
with the amount predicted.
It means there will be plen-
ty available for export,” said
Kevin Moffitt, president of
The Pear Bureau Northwest
in Portland, the fresh pear in-
dustry’s promotional arm. The
crop forecast was made at the
bureau’s annual meeting in
Portland on May 28.
Last November’s freeze
may reduce yields in Hood
River, Ore., and there’s been
some hail damage in Hood
River and maybe Yakima,
Wash., Moffitt said.
Picking is expected to start
with Starkrimson in Medford,
Ore., on July 23 and with the
same variety in Hood River
July 27, Yakima July 28 and
Wenatchee, Wash., July 29. It
usually ends with d’Anjou in
Wenatchee in October.
“This crop is probably the
earliest ever, by five to seven
days ahead of last year but
seven to 14 days ahead of the
historic norm,” Moffitt said.
That’s because of a mild
winter and an early, warm
spring.
The Northwest grows 85
percent of the nation’s pears
and provides 94 percent
Capital Press
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Ben Kern mows grass in his pear orchard near Ellensburg, Wash., May 28. The Pacific Northwest pear
crop will be early but of average volume this year at 20.4 million boxes.
of pear exports. California
grows the remainder of the
crop.
California’s pear crop also
is five to 10 days early, with
harvest starting in late June,
Moffitt said.
Neither California com-
petition nor carryover of the
2014 Northwest crop are sig-
nificant issues, he said.
The Northwest had 1.6
million boxes of the 20.7-mil-
lion-box 2014 crop left to
sell on May 22, which was
490,000 boxes more than a
year ago, he said.
“There will probably be
some Anjou still available when
(new crop) Northwest Bartlett
hits the market but that’s not
entirely unusual,” he said.
Imports are below where
they were last year so that’s a
positive, he said.
As of May 15, exports were
at 5.7 million boxes compared
with 6.6 million a year ago.
Exports will probably end up
600,000 boxes down for the
season or $12 million less due
to the West Coast port slow-
down last winter and closure
of the Russian market, Moffitt
said.
Mexico remains the lead-
ing export market at 2.6
million boxes, followed by
Canada at 1.2 million. Chi-
na, which opened in February
2013, is fifth.
China bought 227,900
boxes of U.S. pears this sea-
son and would have pur-
chased more without the port
slowdown, Moffitt said. It
bought 185,000 the prior year.
“We are certainly very bull-
ish on China still,” he said.
In general pear prices held
up much better than apple
prices this season, said Jeff
Main, USDA Market News
reporter in Yakima.
U.S. No. 1 d’ Anjou, size
70s to 90s, were $24 to $26
per box as of June 2, the same
as a year ago, he said.
The Pear Bureau renewed
grower assessments at 38.5
cents per box for promo-
tions, 3.1 cents for research
and 3.3 cents for Pear Bureau
administration and funding
the Northwest Horticultural
Council.
The bureau adopted a pre-
liminary $8.3 million domes-
tic and foreign promotions
budget.
The forecast by district
in boxes: Wenatchee, 9.4
million; Mid-Columbia, 7.6
million; Yakima, 2.5 million;
Medford, 877,550.
Capital Press
PORTLAND — If the prod-
ucts on display at a market
showcase event are true indica-
tors of future food trends, farm-
ers ought to get busy raising
new livestock and crops.
Such as crickets and sea-
weed.
The annual market event at
Oregon State University’s Food
Innovation Center features prod-
ucts developed by graduates of a
Getting Your Recipe to Market
program. Vendors taking part
hope to attract the attention and
shelf space of store buyers.
Most of the products are
variations of the familiar, such
as new lines of granola or salsa.
But some are more exotic.
World, meet brothers Ebin
Barnett, Ben Prindle and Mat-
thew Prindle, makers of Think-
sect cricket flour and the Ento-
bar, a protein bar made from the
former and flavored with peanut
butter-chocolate, cherry-choco-
late or coconut-almond.
“That gets you over the ick
factor,” Barnett said.
Yum. Or, as the smiling
brothers noted on fliers they
handed out at the June 2 market
event: “Cricket. It’s what’s for
dinner.”
Why? Because crickets and
other insects are high in protein
and can be raised using less wa-
ter and feed than it takes to raise
an equivalent amount of beef or
chicken, according to the broth-
ers. With the world population
projected to hit 9 billion by
2050, they say sustainable food
production is crucial.
The brothers raise crick-
ets in Portland. To make their
FDA-approved flour, they boil
the crickets twice, roast them
and pulverize them into a fin-
ished product.
“It’s the highest quality
cricket flour on the market, we
believe,” Barnett said.
For now, it’s an expensive
proposition. It requires 132
crickets to produce enough
flour to make a 60 gram coco-
nut-almond Entobar, for those
keeping score. A 1-kilogram
bag (2.2 pounds) of Thinksect
contract terms are met, he said.
Dahlman and other biotech
proponents want lawmak-
ers to pass House Bill 2509,
which would create a media-
tion system overseen by ODA
to resolve conflicts over ge-
netically engineered crops.
Critics of GMOs, on
the other hand, claim that a
stronger statewide policy is
necessary because lawmak-
ers pre-empted most local
governments from regulating
such crops in 2013.
“There’s a lot of interest
in the legislature following
through on that promise,” Ma-
luski said.
106-year-old pear
trees still producing
By DAN WHEAT
Entrepreneurs chirp about food ideas at market event
By ERIC MORTENSON
Shelter agribusiness group.
Subjecting biotech crops
to control areas is a “draconi-
an” idea that was previously
rejected because it effectively
allows some farmers to dictate
what others can grow, Dahl-
man said.
Traditionally, farmers who
signed contracts that guaran-
tee price premiums in return
for high seed purity were re-
sponsible for living up to those
specifications themselves, he
said.
Under HB 3554, growers
can demand that the govern-
ment dictate their neighbors’
farming practices to ensure the
ELLENSBURG, Wash.
— There was a time, when
he was young, that Ben
Kern planned to cut down
the oldest pear trees in Kit-
titas Valley and replant the
ground to apples.
Kern had purchased the
orchard from his father
and the trees hadn’t been
pruned for several years.
“Even with 14-foot lad-
ders you couldn’t reach the
tops. I was going to cut them
down,” said Kern, now 65.
“Dad said, ‘You’d bet-
ter think twice. Cut the
tops but keep them because
you’ll need the income.’
Sometimes Dads know
more than we think they
do,” Kern said.
He kept the trees, topped
them and many years lat-
er they’re still producing
good fruit. Some of them
yield two bins.
“That’s real good,” he
said.
The trees are Green
Anjou, known as d’Anjou.
They cover about seven
acres. Their trunks range
from 2 to 3 feet in diame-
ter. They were planted in
1909. Kern isn’t sure by
whom, but he says water
was hauled to them before
Cascade canal was built.
His great uncle pur-
chased the farm and then
sold it to his brother, Kern’s
grandfather.
Kern isn’t sure what
the future holds. His three
daughters aren’t interested
in farming and his oldest
grandson is 6. He has 80
acres of pears, 20 acres of
apples and the oldest pear
trees in the valley.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Ben Kern shows a green d’Anjou pear on one of his
106-year-old trees near Ellensburg, Wash., on May 28. He
says they are definitely the oldest pear trees in the Kittitas
Valley and among the oldest in the state.
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Brothers Ben Prindle, left, and Ebin Barnett show samples of their
high-protein Entobar, made with cricket flour. The brothers were
among entrepreneurs displaying products June 2 at OSU’s Food
Innovation Center in Portland.
flour sells for $79.95, according
to the company website.
Ben Prindle came up with
the idea, approaching his broth-
ers with a PowerPoint presen-
tation, providing samples and
urging, “We need to get into
this business.”
The product line invokes the
memory of the brothers’ late
grandfather, Ellis MacLeod,
a University of Illinois ento-
mologist who instilled an ap-
preciation of bugs in the boys.
rop-6-26-5/#17
Bill would give
Oregon farm
regulators more
authority
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