July 17, 2015
CapitalPress.com
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Wildlife managers report on
campaign to deter wolf attacks
Update coincides with season’s first depredations of livestock
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Compressed
crop squeezes
cherry prices
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE,
Wash.
— Pacific Northwest cherry
growers set another record for
the most cherries harvested in
June and are headed toward
an early or mid-August finish
of what likely will turn out to
be an 18.8-million-box crop.
That’s down a bit from the
19.7-million-box forecast in
May and the record of 23.2
million, 20-pound boxes in
2014. As of July 12, 17.5 mil-
lion boxes had been shipped
so far this season.
The crop was too com-
pressed, with supply coming
from many areas at one time,
said Roger Pepperl, market-
ing director of Stemilt Grow-
ers LLC in Wenatchee.
“Selling 12 weeks of sea-
son in eight weeks this year
wasn’t ideal for anyone, re-
tailer or grower,” Pepperl
said. Stemilt will finish ship-
ping in three weeks, he said.
The season started early
with 500,000 boxes harvest-
ed in May and reached a 12.5
million record in June, said
James Michael, domestic pro-
motions director of Northwest
Cherry Growers, the indus-
try’s promotional arm in Ya-
kima.
In several recent years,
cool spring weather pushed
more harvest from June to
July and August. But a warm-
er spring last year brought a
record 10.1 million boxes in
June. This year’s warm spring
brought an even earlier sea-
son.
Daily shipments from
packers peaked at 595,000
boxes on June 25 compared
with 655,000 on July 11,
2014, Michael said. Last year,
there was a 30-day streak av-
eraging 500,000 boxes per
day, he said. This year, there
were 11 days, from June 15
to 26, of half-a-million boxes
per day or greater, he said.
The crop was early and
growers pushed to harvest af-
ter hot weather around June 8
and knowing more hot weath-
er was coming, he said. They
managed to get most low-el-
evation fruit harvested before
triple-digit temperatures hit
again, he said.
Demand outstripped sup-
ply for Fourth of July sales,
Michael said.
“We had one of the best
Fourth of Julys ever in adver-
tising and promotions but we
could have had more consis-
tent supply leading up to it,”
he said.
Bud Riker, a Wenatchee
Heights grower, said promo-
tions didn’t match the crop
and that buyers were not
prepared for early fruit. Late
June and early July heat dam-
aged quality and along with
oversupply from Okanogan
County caused prices to fall
by two-thirds to where no
one could make money, Riker
said.
“Many
warehouses
were on hold because they
couldn’t sell fruit and the
only option was processors,”
he said.
Tree Top Inc., Excel Fruit
Brokerage and another pro-
cessor took all the fruit they
could at 55 cents a pound,
which was breakeven or a
loss for growers, Riker said.
Fresh market whole pric-
es have been $10 to $20 per
box when they should be $30
to $40, but hopefully prices
will improve on the last of the
late varieties, Riker said.
Growers dealt with rain
and lack of labor early in the
season, then labor improved
and heat became an issue,
Michael said. There was also
some hail, but there have been
worse seasons, he said.
Heat, rain and hail were
not catastrophic but reduced
the crop about 10 percent, Mi-
chael said.
“High heat increases dou-
bles (a defect of two cher-
ries grown together) the next
season. We saw that this year
from last year,” he said.
Harvest is now centered
in the hills above Wenatchee,
Brewster and Hood River and
in Montana, he said.
attacks can be prevented by
non-lethal means. “Wolves are
opportunistic. They take what-
ever they can. You want to take
that opportunity away from
killing anymore cows. Hope-
fully that solves the problem.”
The deterrence update in-
cludes new information on the
size and location of 15 wolf
packs. The report does not cov-
er the Whitestone pack, which
is managed by the Confederat-
ed Tribes of the Colville Reser-
vation.
For the current grazing sea-
son, WDFW reported it has 41
agreements, up from 33 a year
ago, with ranchers to share the
costs of non-lethal protection
measures, such as range riders,
guard dogs, electrified fences
and fladry, which are ribbons
that flap in the wind. WDFW
estimates it will spend more
than $300,000.
“In general, we’ve gotten a
positive reaction. We’re talking
with more producers in the
state all the time,” Martorel-
lo said. “For a few producers,
signing an official contract with
the state is not something they
want to do.”
The producer who lost
cows to the Dirty Shirt pack
USDA official: Women farmers have credibility
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SILVERTON, Ore. —
Since women make most
food-buying decisions for
U.S. families, female farmers
can establish strong credibili-
ty with those key consumers,
according to a top USDA of-
ficial.
“Women relate to women,”
said USDA Deputy Secretary
Krysta Harden. “Women do
have a special role.”
Female farmers operate
in a largely male-dominat-
ed world, which prompted
Harden to launch a “Wom-
en in Agriculture Mentoring
Network” to help them con-
nect with role models who
experience similar hurdles.
During a roundtable fo-
rum on July 13 in Silverton,
Ore., Harden said she was
heartened by the 20 percent
of principal farm operators in
Oregon who are female.
Women farmers who
served on the panel said they
didn’t feel like they faced
higher barriers to success in
agriculture, which Harden
said was unique in her experi-
ence traveling across the U.S.
“This room would not be
full everywhere. You’re real-
ly lucky here,” Harden told
the group of women gathered
at the Oregon Garden Resort.
Once a female demon-
strates she knows what she’s
talking about, there’s usual-
ly no impediment to gaining
“traction” in agriculture, said
Molly
Pearmine-McCar-
gar, a Gervais, Ore., grow-
er who spoke on the panel.
“Once you get respect and
credibility with your audi-
ence, it’s not a problem,” she
said.
The panel participants
said that Oregon farmers
generally face similar chal-
lenges whether they’re male
or female.
Shelly
Boshart-Davis,
whose family operates a farm
and trucking business, said
that the state and federal gov-
ernments need to take steps
to improve transportation for
agriculture.
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Deputy USDA Secretary Krysta Harden speaks at a panel of women
farmers during a recent stop at the Oregon Garden Resort in Silverton,
Ore. To the left sits Barbara Boyer, of McMinnville, Ore., and to the right
sits Katy Coba, director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
For example, the Port
of Portland lost two major
container ocean carriers this
year, which has complicated
life for farmers who rely on
exports, she said.
If companies avoid im-
porting goods along the West
Coast due to labor concerns,
there will be fewer empty con-
tainers available for agricul-
tural exporters, Boshart-Davis
said.
Amy
Doerfler-Phelan,
whose family farms multiple
crops in Oregon’s Willamette
Valley, said she’s concerned
about the lack of economic
development in the eastern
and southern portions of Or-
egon that are less populated.
“We need to have oppor-
tunities in other part of our
state,” she said.
Pearmine-McCargar said
that insufficent labor and the
need to mechanize harvest
are top priorities, while Bar-
bara Boyer, who farms near
McMinnville, Ore., said she
is concerned about farm suc-
cession.
Aspiring young growers
often face the prospect of
paying back student loans
on top of the other financial
burdens of running a farm,
Boyer said.
The federal government
should examine forgiving
student debt for farmers, as it
does for certain other profes-
sions with social value, she
said.
“It takes legislation, but
it’s a great idea,” responded
Harden.
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Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Ivan Silva picks Rainier cherries in Mike Prey’s orchard in Orondo,
Wash., on June 18. Harvest peaked in June but will continue until
mid-August.
The Washington Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife has
collared wolves, hired range
riders and signed agreements
with ranchers to prevent wolf
depredations, according to a de-
partment report, whose release
was upstaged by the killing of
two cows in northeast Wash-
ington.
WDFW’s update on its de-
terrence activities was made
public Friday, the same day
WDFW investigators conclud-
ed wolves from the Dirty Shirt
pack had killed two adult cows
on a U.S. Forest Service grazing
allotment in Stevens County.
The cows, in a herd of 83
cow-calf pairs, are the first
livestock confirmed killed by
wolves in Washington this year
and the first since at least 26
sheep were killed last year by
the Huckleberry pack, also in
Stevens County.
WDFW carnivore section
manager Donny Martorello
said the department is using
“time-tested” methods to pre-
vent such depredations, but
can’t quantify how successful
they are.
“It’s not something we can
directly measure. We know
these are good measures to be
doing,” he said.
Until Friday, the Dirty Shirt
pack, like most of the state’s
16 wolf packs, had never been
known to kill livestock, accord-
ing to WDFW.
The pack was first docu-
mented in 2013 in the Chewelah
area and had six members as of
April, including an adult female
wearing a radio-tracking collar.
“You never know where the
conflicts might occur,” Mar-
torello said. “Most of the time,
there’s peace in the valley.”
The rancher has moved the
herd to a lower elevation, and
WDFW has had two range rid-
ers in the area since Friday in an
effort to haze wolves and stop
more depredations. The calves
paired with the two cows that
were killed have been account-
ed for, Martorello said.
Stevens County Cattlemen’s
Association President Justin
Hedrick said Monday he doubt-
ed non-lethal measures will
stop more depredations. “None
of it has worked to date,” he
said.
Kettle Range Conservation
Group Executive Director Tim
Coleman said he believes wolf
did not have an agreement with
WDFW. Wildlife officials say
they are discussing an agree-
ment with him now and provid-
ing daily updates on the pack’s
movements. He has not been
identified by the department.
WDFW has contracted with
five range riders, up from three
a year ago, and has 11 people
assigned in areas with wolf
packs to resolve conflicts be-
tween wildlife and landowners.
The department reports
it has captured and fitted 11
wolves with radio collars in the
past year and now has collars
on 14 wolves in 10 packs. The
collars enable wildlife manag-
ers to track packs to document
breeding pairs, the key mea-
surement of success for the
state’s wolf recovery plan.
WDFW reports it has had
no reports of depredations by
the Huckleberry pack since last
year. Although WDFW con-
firmed 26 sheep depredations,
rancher Dave Dashiell reported
losing about 300 sheep.
“I think the proactive strat-
egies we’ve pursued over the
past year have put us on the
right path and reinforced the
importance of working with
livestock producers to minimize
conflicts with wolves,” WDFW
Director Jim Unsworth said in a
written statement.
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