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July 10, 2015 CapitalPress.com 11 Washington Potato leader lists priorities Disagreement strangles wolf bill By MATTHEW WEAVER Lawmaker sees missed opporunity to change recovery plan Capital Press By DON JENKINS Capital Press The Washington State Po- tato Commission will concen- trate on long-range planning this year, its new chairman says. The commission recently named Mike Dodds as its new chairman. Dodds is raw mate- rial and environmental manag- er for Basic American Foods in Moses Lake, Wash. He pre- viously chaired the commis- sion’s research committee. He succeeds Nelson Cox, a potato farmer from Warden, Wash. Dodds said the commission will use this year to develop its long-range planning and review how well it adhered to the plan developed in 2010. “We’ll get together with the growers of the state and hope- fully come up with a priori- tized list of things they’d like us to work on,” he said. The commission typically develops a long-range plan ev- HU\¿YH\HDUV'RGGVVDLG Priorities include develop- ing new markets, a constant need, he said. Domestic potato consumption is declining per capita, and growth opportuni- ties seem to be in Asian mar- kets. “We need to capitalize on that,” Dodds said. The potato industry felt the effects of a labor dispute between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and West Coast port district container terminal operators, which included a labor slowdown in the fall of 2014, creating a backlog of potato and potato product shipments. “It left nobody unscathed,” Dodds said. “It impacted ev- ery facet of the potato indus- try, whether it was fresh, de- hydrated or french fries. The concern is, we certainly don’t want to have to go through this again in another four or ¿YH\HDUV%XWZLWKRXWOHJLV- lation, we could be up against the same thing.” Dodds said advocating for growers’ needs is the com- mission’s job. He hopes to see potato farmers continue to par- ticipate and communicate with the public. OLYMPIA — Okanogan County Rep. Joel Kretz bat- tled against Washington’s wolf policies all session, but ulti- mately was thwarted by his natural allies in the livestock industry and Legislature, who saw Kretz-sponsored legislation as gambling too much for too little gain. As the 2015 session wound down, Kretz said Tuesday that he had the same worries. Nev- ertheless, he maintained that reopening the state’s wolf plan was the only practical path to- ward change and worth the risk because the status quo is intoler- able for ranchers. “It comes down to, ‘How’s it working for you now, boys?’” he said. Kretz, a Republican, shep- herded a measure through the Democratic-controlled House to review the wolf plan. House Bill 2107 didn’t dictate changes, but ordered wildlife managers to take into account that wolves tus quo.” Early in the session, the Cattle Producers of Washing- ton supported Kretz’s bill. As the weeks went on, however, the group moved to a neutral position, spokeswoman Jamie Henneman said. She said there was concern that HB 2107 would have as- signed a large role to a medi- ator, Francine Madden, who persuaded WDFW to close to the public a meeting in May of the department’s wolf adviso- ry group. “There were a lot of mixed feelings on the board,” Henneman said. The House proposed spend- ing $850,000 to contract with Madden to lead wolf advisory group meetings. There’s nothing Don Jenkins/Capital Press LQWKH¿QDOEXGJHWSDVVHG0RQ- :DVKLQJWRQVWDWH5HS-RHO.UHW]5:DXFRQGDWDONV-XQHLQKLVRI¿FHLQ2O\PSLDDERXWWKH6HQ- day by the Legislature. Kretz DWHIDLOLQJWRSDVVKLVELOOFDOOLQJRQWKHVWDWH'HSDUWPHQWRI)LVKDQG:LOGOLIHWRUHFRQVLGHUWKHVWDWH¶V said Madden would have been a wolf recovery plan. “huge boom” to resolving con- ÀLFWV DQG KHOSLQJ WKH DGYLVRU\ are increasing in Kretz’s district, uents.” mental differences on how lethal group make recommendations to WDFW. northeast Washington’s ranch- Stevens County rancher force has been used in the past. “I felt that was the most ing country. Ted Wishon said ranchers were “We really weren’t ready for The bill died in the Repub- concerned that environmental WKDW ¿JKW´ :LVKRQ VDLG ³5H- promising part of the whole lican-controlled Senate, where groups would seize the chance opening that wolf plan wasn’t deal,” he said. Dansel questioned the value Sen. Brian Dansel, who rep- to amend the plan to their liking. really where I thought we need- of reopening the wolf plan. He resents the same district, op- Among other things, HB ed to go.” posed it, a position shared by 2107 instructed the Department The Washington Cattlemen’s said he thinks there’s a chance the Stevens County Cattlemen’s of Fish and Wildlife to review $VVRFLDWLRQ ZDV ¿UPO\ EHKLQG the House and Democratic Gov. Association. “They’re the ones the circumstances in which it the bill. “I’m extremely disap- Jay Inslee can be persuaded who will be affected,” Dansel will shoot wolves to stop live- pointed,” Executive Vice Presi- next year to take wolves off the said Tuesday. “It was a no-brain- stock killings. Environmental- dent Jack Field said. “Basically, state’s protected species list in er for me to listen to my constit- ists and ranchers have funda- we’re set up for more of the sta- Eastern Washington. Researchers mull winter peas for dryland farmers they’re going into.” Winter pea market options are currently limited to cover crops, because most are feed quality. Food quality winter peas would open up readily available markets, Guy said. By MATTHEW WEAVER Food quality peas are Capital Press worth about twice the value of LIND, Wash. — Research- feed-quality peas to the farmer, ers are testing winter peas as a McGee said. possible crop for dryland farm- Winter peas replace fertil- ers in Eastern Washington. izers, Guy said, and provide a Washington State Universi- crop rotation to a region that ty professor Stephen Guy and doesn’t usually have a lot of USDA Agricultural Research crop diversity. Service pea breeder Rebecca “The greater the difference McGee spoke about their re- between the crops, the greater VHDUFKGXULQJD¿HOGGD\DWWKH WKH LQÀXHQFH RI URWDWLRQ´ KH university’s dryland station in said, citing nutrient cycling, Lind, Wash., in June. breaking up disease and in- Guy said farmers are begin- sect cycles and increased weed ning to plant winter pea acres control options. in dry, fallow areas. Guy said winter wheat “We can plant them in the yields increase about 20 per- fall, they can make it through cent following a pea crop. the winter with the right va- Ritzville, Wash., farmer riety,” he said. “We can actu- Rob Dewald experiences a ally get some return on them yield bump when he follows depending on what market winter peas with dark north- Crop rotation would reduce fertilizer, break up pest cycle ern spring wheat. The peas are a good broadleaf crop that allows him to take out grassy weeds like goatgrass, cheat- grass or rye economically, he said. The toughest thing is win- ter survival, he said, noting he’s lost two of the last three crops. “But we’ve got varieties that are coming that are real winter hardy,” he said. Peas tend to have shal- low roots compared to cereal crops, so water stored in the soil would be accessible for a following wheat crop, Guy said. Winter pea problems in- clude limited herbicide avail- ability and the fact that it’s a new crop for many people, Guy said. Guy said there will be more research at the dry- land station next year. McGee said she was initial- ly skeptical about what would work at the Lind station, so she tested many varieties to see which would perform best. She is working to sepa- rate generations for different characteristics, including plant height, seed size and seed col- or. McGee will send plants to New Zealand in order to in- crease populations, and plans to plant more plots in 2016 from the varieties that per- form well at the Lind station. Heat, herbicide-resistant barley on Spillman Field Day agenda By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Washington State Universi- ty will showcase its grain and legume research at the upcom- ing Spillman Field Day. Registration begins 7:30 a.m. July 14 at the Spillman Agronomy Farm in Pullman, Wash. WSU puts on the event every other year. “This is one of the show- case events for research hap- pening at the WSU research farm,” said Ryan Higginboth- am, director of WSU’s cereal variety testing. “Growers only get a tour of it once every oth- er year, so I would hope they would be interested in coming and checking it out.” The agenda includes up- dates on winter and spring wheat, barley and grain le- gume breeding programs. USDA Agricultural Research Service plant pathologist Xianming Chen will provide an update on stripe rust. WSU professor Kulvinder Gill will give a progress report on two- JHQH&OHDU¿HOGZKHDWYDULHWLHV and heat tolerance. “I think everyone will be concerned about the heat and drought,” Higginbotham said. “We won’t have the answers because we can’t make it rain, but (farmers) will be able to see how different varieties are faring, and how they look compared to what they have on their own farm.” Researchers and farmers DUH¿QGLQJKHDWVWUHVVHGSODQWV Online http: //smallgrainswsu.edu at a variety of locations, Hig- ginbotham said. Higginbotham plans to provide yield information to farmers once the varieties are harvested. Higginbotham believes growers will be interested in WSU barley breeder Kevin Murphy’s work developing varieties with resistance to Be- 28-2/#4x yond and other herbicides. “They would not be labeled for spraying with the chemis- try, but you could plant them in a rotation where you’re using Beyond, whereas right QRZEDUOH\LVQRWDJRRG¿W´ he said. “(That) might help in- crease the barley acreage.” Higginbotham expects 150 attendees, he said. WSU small grains econ- omist Randy Fortenbery will provide an economic update during lunch. 28-1/#4x