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June 26, 2015 CapitalPress.com 11 Oregon SWD pressure mounts in Willamette Valley Harney T.J. Hafner, agronomist for AgriCare, said spotted wing drosophila pressure on the company’s Jefferson, Ore., blueberries this year is three or four time heavier than he’s ever seen. And, Hafner said, trap counts on AgriCare’s Jeffer- son acreage have been lower than elsewhere. As blueberry harvest swings into full gear, growers throughout Western Oregon have their hands full battling high populations of the spot- ted wing drosophila. Oregon State University entomologist Vaughn Walton compares this year’s SWD pressure to 2013, when grow- HUV WUHDWHG EOXHEHUU\ ¿HOGV 10 and 11 times for the pest, compared to a typical six- or seven-spray regime. “The input costs this year will be way higher,” Wal- ton said, “both for the earli- er crops and for production costs in general.” Walton said Western Ore- gon’s mild winter and warm spring — conditions that helped blueberry crops get off to a fast start — were ideal for it ies/ r t e Capital Press T Ha ner agr n ist r AgriCare e s l e erries r e i en e sp tte ing r s p ila ne n AgriCare a reage tsi e n epen en e Ore Ha ner sai press re t is ear is t ree r r ti es ea ier t an es e er seen the spotted wing drosophila. “If you have a cold win- ter, it takes a long time for those SWD populations to build up, and the early fruit can usually escape damage,” Walton said. “Now you don’t have that.” SWD populations survived the winter on alternative hosts, Walton said. When the pest moved to fruit crops, it did so in large numbers and with overlapping generations. “That is why you have to space your sprays so close to each other,” Walton said. “It is not as if you are getting discrete generations. You are getting overlapping gener- ations at this stage already, and so you have constant egg laying. “And preventing that egg laying is what growers are trying to do,” he said. Hafner, who oversees agronomic activities on cer- tified organic blueberries for AgriCare, said he start- ed treating the early-season Duke variety with organ- ic crop protectants in late May, well ahead of a nor- mal treatment regime. And, he said, any thought of stretching intervals be- tween treatments have been tossed aside. “Early on, you can usu- ally get a little gap between sprays,” he said. “But we’re tightening up the intervals and getting back over the ¿HOGV TXLFNHU WKDQ ZH KDYH in the past.” Hafner said he’s using electrostatic sprayers from On Target Spray Systems of Mount Angel to apply the or- ganic protectants. The elec- trostatic component of the sprayers attracts material to leaves, providing good cov- erage in the shady under-part of the canopy, which is where WKHÀLHVWHQGWRKDQJRXWKH said. To date, Hafner said, he’s FRQ¿GHQW WKDW KH¶V VWD\LQJ ahead of the pest, but only time will tell. “We’re doing everything we can and I’m optimistic right now, but we’ll see how the season goes,” he said. “I think conventional guys are going to have a hard time later on in the season,” Haf- ner said, “and I think organic guys are going to have a real- ly hard time.” 2UHJRQOHJLVODWRUVPDNH¿QDOSXVKRQDJELOOV for cooperative efforts led by Portland State University. The goal of the legislation is As the 2015 legislative to simultaneously increase the session winds down in Ore- removal of juniper trees, which gon, lawmakers are making have taken over 10 million WKHLU¿QDOYRWHVRQDJULFXOWXU acres in Oregon, and assist new al bills that have undergone companies that make prod- extensive review in various ucts from the wood. Both bills committees. passed the House unanimously 0HDQZKLOH ¿QDO DFWLRQ RQ on June 10 and passed Senate other legislation that’s critical 26-2 on June 18. to farming — such as $50 mil- redator ontrol lion in additional funding for Livestock producers will water projects — isn’t expected to take place until the last days be able to raise funds for in- of the session in late June or creased predator control under a bill that’s headed for a vote on early July. The following is a summary WKH 6HQDWH ÀRRU DIWHU UHFHQWO\ of bills that have won approval passing muster with environ- from lawmakers or appear like- PHQWDODQG¿QDQFHFRPPLWWHHV ly to pass the legislature: The bill previously passed the House 56-2. uni er ar est Under HB 3188, landown- Two bills that provide more ers could petition county gov- WKDQPLOOLRQLQ¿QDQFLDODV ernments to create special dis- sistance for juniper harvesting tricts where they’d be charged and processing are awaiting fees that would compensate the a signature from Gov. Kate USDA’s Wildlife Services for Brown after passing the House enhanced predator control. and Senate. Landowners with more than Juniper is a native species 10 acres would be charged $1 in Oregon’s dry regions but is an acre while smaller ones behaving like an invasive due ZRXOGSD\DÀDWIHHRI,I WR ¿UH VXSSUHVVLRQ DQG RWKHU they chose not to pay the fees, effects of European settlement. WKH\ZRXOGQ¶WEHQH¿WIURPWKH Its spread depletes water and program. threatens the habitat of sensi- USDA’s Wildlife Services tive species, such as the sage already hunts coyotes and oth- grouse, that can impact live- er predators but the amount of stock grazing. county funding for this pro- While there are economic gram has shrunk due to reduced uses for lumber from juniper, federal timber payments. its extraction and processing Opponents of HB 3188 are complicated and expensive. said that decisions about pred- House Bills 2997 and 2998 ator management should not aim to help juniper companies be made at the local level and overcome these barriers by pro- urged lawmakers to consider viding them with $900,000 in non-lethal methods of control, loans and grants, technical as- but those objections have not sistance and mapping services, impeded the bill’s progress thus as well as $250,000 in funding far. By A W Capital Press Biote ediation Disputes over cross-pol- lination between biotech, or- ganic and conventional crops would be encouraged to seek mediation through state or fed- eral farm regulators under HB 2509. The original version of the bill introduced and passed in the House had much sharper teeth, as farmers who refused mediation would be liable for the opposing party’s legal bills in the event of a lawsuit. After quietly passing the House, HB 2509 encountered a strong backlash from critics of genetic engineering, which SURPSWHGODZPDNHUVWRVLJQL¿ cantly scale back its scope in the Senate. The Senate unanimously passed an amended version on June 11, the language about liability for legal bills was eliminated. The bill now simply allows a judge to con- sider a farmer’s reluctance to mediate when imposing sanctions or considering an injunction. Before HB 2509 heads to Brown for a signature, the +RXVH PXVW ¿UVW VLJQ RII RQ the changes made in the Sen- ate. Those amendments were scheduled to be considered RQ WKH +RXVH ÀRRU RQ -XQH 22. n reased ees The House and Senate have approved increased fees on fer- tilizers, veterinary products and nurseries, with the bills await- ing the governor’s signature. HB 2443 creates a new 5-cent fee per ton of lime and increases the evaluation fee on new fertilizer products from $50 to $500. The Oregon De- partment of Agriculture ex- pects the bill to raise $70,000 during the 2015-2017 bien- nium to pay for fertilizer and water research. SB255 raises the maximum registration fee on veterinary products from $75 to $150, which could generate up to $225,000 in revenue for ODA. However, the agency must still complete the rule-making pro- cess for the rate increase and it’s unclear how much registra- tion fees will actually rise. SB 256 hikes the maxi- mum annual fee on nurseries $20,000 to $40,000 and from a half-percent to one percent of their revenues. The annu- al cap on fees for Christmas tree growers would increase from $75 to $110 and from $3 to $4.50 per acre, with the to- tal not to exceed $7,000. The increased caps would allow ODA to raise $436,000 in ad- ditional revenues during the next biennium. groundwater worries halt new well permits Groundwater pumping is exceeding recharge in Harney basin Area in detail OREGON 26 GRANT A T N 10 miles 395 By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI 20 Capital Press Water regulators have largely stopped permitting new agricultural wells in Or- egon’s Harney Basin due to concerns about groundwater depletion. Groundwater pumping is exceeding the rate of re- charge in the area, which has prompted the Oregon Water Resources Department to deny most new permits until it conducts a multi-year study of the situation, said Ivan Gall, the agency’s groundwa- ter section manager. “You can see these de- clines occur over a fairly broad area of the valley,” Gall said during a recent meeting of the Oregon Wa- ter Resources Commission, which oversees the depart- ment. Preliminary data indi- cates the basin is experi- encing an overall downward trend in groundwater levels, but the agency hopes to gain a better understanding by measuring a larger number of wells and conducting de- tailed geological mapping, Gall said. ³:H KDYH VRPH VLJQL¿ cant holes in our data,” he said. “We don’t think it’s at a crisis right now, but that’s also based on not a lot of in- formation.” The agency estimates that 201,250 acre feet of groundwater rights are used each year, while only about 170,800 acre feet are avail- able for use. Heavy rains only offer a temporary reprieve from the problem, Gall said. “A really wet year helps for a period of time, but then it rolls over and begins its downward trend again.” Once the agency com- pletes the study, it may con- tinue denying new well per- mits for agriculture and only allow “exempt” domestic uses, he said. However, the OWRD will establish rules for the region that may allow an existing Burns 20 395 78 HA Wa ontire Harney Lake Crane Malheur Lake in CH r t e Capital Press Harney Basin 205 Alvord Lake Greater Harney Valley area Fields ields Ore. Nev. Alan Kenaga/Capital Press permit to be canceled — like- ly in return for money — so that a new well can be drilled, Gall said. OWRD’s decision to halt new well permits came after WaterWatch of Oregon, an HQYLURQPHQWDO QRQSUR¿W protested several approvals last year. The group became con- cerned after seeing the agen- cy issue multiple well permit without determining if water is available or whether the wells would affect surface water, said John DeVoe, its executive director. “This was happening over and over,” he said. Even so, it was becoming apparent that groundwater pumping in the basin was unsustainable, which would require action to prevent the area from developing more severe problems such as those seen in the Umatilla Basin, DeVoe said. “I think it’s an area that was going to get some scruti- ny whether we were involved or not,” he said. The Harney Basin expe- rienced a major increase in well drilling over the past de- cade for farm uses, said Gall. +RZHYHU LW¶V GLI¿FXOW for OWRD to deny permits unless it has data to sup- port such a decision, and the agency’s resources are limit- ed, he said. “The development got ahead of the data collection,” he said. BUYING 6” and UP Alder, Maple, Cottonwood Saw Logs, Standing Timber www.cascadehardwood.com ROP-23-4-1/#24 By 30th Annual Capital Press Ag Weekly Publishes Friday, August 21 st , 2015 Don’t Miss The Chance to Reach 1000’s of Customers! Take advantage of our guide to the Pacific Northwest and California nursery industry. The Farwest Nursery Show is the industry’s premier West Coast event and annually attracts thousands of visitors. This year it runs August 27th - 29th in Portland, Oregon. Our special edition will reach our print and online readers one week before the Farwest Nursery Show. If you are an exhibitor at the show or a provider of equipment or services for the nursery industry, let us deliver your advertising message to the perfect audience. Ad space reservation is Friday, July 24 th . PO Box 2048 • Salem, OR 97308 (503) 364-4798 (800) 882-6789 Fax: (503) 364-2692 or (503) 370-4383 www.capitalpress.com 1600-26-4-1/#13 26-1/#4N