August 14, 2015
CapitalPress.com
3
‘Ag-gag’ decision hard to overturn
Capital Press
Idaho’s ag community
might be disappointed with
the U.S. district court ruling
last week that the state’s Agri-
cultural Security Act — often
referred to as the “ag-gag” law
— violates the First Amend-
ment, but the ruling is consis-
tent with the jurisprudence of
freedom of speech, according
to a University of Idaho law
professor.
Idaho irrigators ink
long-term water deal
90
95
ake
Rive
r
Lewiston
Sn
95
All 10 irrigation entities represented
by Idaho Ground Water Appropria-
tors, Inc., drawing from Eastern
12
Snake Plain Aquifer wells have
signed on to a monumental
Snake River
water agreement to
watershed
resolve the decade-old
East Snake Plain
Surface Water
Aquifer Model 2.1
Coalition water call.
Surface Water
93
Coalition 10%
trim line
20
IDAHO
84
15
Ashton
Boise
26
20
Mountain Home
Sn a
k e R i v er
N
26
93
American
Falls Res.
93
Source: Idaho Dept. of Water Resources
Pocatello
15
Twin Falls
25 miles
Idaho Falls
Blackfoot
84
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Idaho groundwater
entities all support
aquifer agreement
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
TWIN FALLS, Idaho —
Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer
groundwater entities represent-
ing nearly 1 million well-irri-
gated acres have unanimously
endorsed an agreement aiming
to reverse declining aquifer
levels.
The affected groundwa-
ter groups — including nine
groundwater districts and an
irrigation district with wells —
had until Aug. 1 to opt into the
agreement, approved July 1 to
resolve the decade-old Surface
Water Coalition call. The seven
Coalition members, who have
also ratifi ed the agreement,
claimed injury due to Snake
River spring fl ow declines
below Blackfoot, attributed to
junior well irrigation.
The groundwater entities,
represented by Idaho Ground
Water Appropriators Inc., will
be asked to reduce groundwa-
ter use within ESPA boundar-
ies by 11 percent, in exchange
for protection from future cur-
tailment.
Models estimate the reduc-
tion should average 240,000
acre-feet in annual groundwa-
ter savings — roughly equal to
the aquifer’s rate of decline.
“I think the agreement is
the only way we’re going to
get there, and the aquifer has
got to be fi xed,” said Brian
Olmstead, general manager of
Twin Falls Canal Co., a Coali-
tion member.
Olmstead said future dis-
cussions will focus on well ir-
rigators who aren’t represent-
ed by groundwater districts or
who draw from feeder aqui-
fers outside ESPA boundaries,
hydrologically connected but
not part of the current agree-
ment.
The state has pledged to
average another 250,000 acre-
feet of annual recharge — pur-
posefully injecting surface wa-
ter into the aquifer.
IGWA will also give the Co-
alition a fl at 50,000 acre-feet
of mitigation water annually
and invest $1.1 million each
season in “soft conversions,”
switching certain groundwater
users to surface water.
Individual
groundwater
districts will be tasked with
setting terms for achieving
the reduction, addressing lin-
gering questions such as how
to factor in well priority dates
and how to credit farmers for
past improvements aimed at
irrigation effi ciency.
IGWA Executive Director
Lynn Tominaga has spent the
past two months educating
members about the terms of
the agreement. Tominaga said
a 17-member steering commit-
tee comprising a leader from
each participating entity has
been formed to help resolve
outstanding issues.
IGWA attorney T.J. Budge
explained the “game chang-
er” that drove the discussions
was a recent change in Idaho
Department of Water Resourc-
es policy, adding groundwater
levels to the factors used to
predict mitigation obligations
in the Coalition’s call. Budge
said the change, mandated by
an Idaho district judge, would
have made curtailment much
more diffi cult to avoid.
Budge said to help farmers
cut their water use, groundwa-
ter districts may provide sup-
plemental funding to improve
the attractiveness of USDA’s
Conservation Reserve En-
hancement Program, which
pays groundwater users to stop
irrigating farm land.
Lynn Carlquist, a Hazelton
farmer who chairs the North
Snake Groundwater District,
said cropping patterns will
have to change in his region,
where water-intensive corn
has become more common in
rotations. He views stabiliz-
ing the aquifer as imperative
for the sustainability of Idaho
farming, not just for resolving
a water call.
“Trying to make this so
everybody thinks it’s fair and
equitable is going to be a real
problem,” he said.
siderable public interest.”
Winmill’s analysis was
thorough as to what rules ap-
ply, how the court reasons and
how competing rights inter-
sect with freedom of speech.
His decision goes through the
state’s statute with a fi ne-tooth
comb, Sanders said.
Winmill discussed the mo-
tivation for the statute, quot-
ing the legislative history of
the statute in which legislators
and proponents compared an-
imal rights activists to terror-
ists, persecutors, vigilantes,
blackmailers, and invading
marauders.
Sanders said purpose is a
fi rm factor of constitutional
interpretation, and motivation
becomes really important in
part of the judge’s ruling.
Winmill also looked back at
the history of the First Amend-
ment in serving society by
facilitating positive change,
which is not uncommon in the
Supreme Court’s free-speech
jurisprudence in the Supreme
Court, she said.
He used the story of Up-
ton Sinclair — whose expose
of the meatpacking industry
brought needed changes in
how the industry was regulat-
ed — to illustrate the benefi t of
undercover investigation and
how Sinclair’s conduct would
have exposed him to criminal
prosecution under Idaho’s stat-
ute, she said.
“He also uses that example
to say when engaged in an ac-
tivity of public interest, such
as food, privacy is not a trump
card. An issue of public interest
is treated differently than pure-
ly private matters,” she said.
“The public’s right to know
outweighs private property and
privacy rights,” she said.
Sanders said she thinks pro-
ponents of Idaho’s law failed
to realize farmers are operating
a business that’s in the public
interest.
Price rebound predicted for
Washington apple industry
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — Apple
marketers are optimistic about
higher prices with a smaller
2015 crop, good fl ow of exports
through seaports and full access
to China.
Harvest is underway and
will run to early November. The
crop is forecast at 125.2 million,
40-pound boxes by the Wash-
ington State Tree Fruit Associa-
tion in Yakima and Wenatchee.
That’s down 10.5 percent
from the record 140-million-box
2014 crop. The sheer size of that
crop caused prices to tumble to
eight-year lows and the dump-
ing of millions of boxes of fruit.
Red Delicious, the dominant
apple variety by volume, fell to
$9 per box during the last sales
season, well below break-even,
after peaking at $22 in the ban-
ner year of 2012.
But new crop Gala will start
in the mid to upper $30s per box
and some old crop Gala is sell-
ing at that range because of short
supply, said Tom Riggan, gen-
eral manager of Chelan Fresh
Marketing in Chelan, Wash.
“It’s short-lived but it’s a
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Refl ective ground cover helps apples gain color at CRO Orchard, south
of Rock Island, Wash., on Aug. 5. Bins stacked in the background will
be used for harvest. The industry is forecasting a smaller crop this fall.
good start. Typically, we start
in the low to mid $30s on prime
sizes and grades,” Riggan said.
A lack of Southern Hemi-
sphere Gala volume or quality is
helping, he said.
The asking price of mid-size
Washington extra fancy Red De-
licious averaged $10 to $13 per
box on Aug. 7, compared with
$16 to $18 a year earlier, ac-
cording to USDA Market News.
Granny Smith apples were $17
to $20 versus $24 to $26 a year
ago. Fuji is $20 to $22.
Prices for the last year have
been hurt by the huge crop, la-
bor issues slowing down West
Coast ports and the lack of mar-
ket access to China and Russia.
Though China has opened its
doors to U.S. apples, Russia
continues to boycott U.S. and
European produce.
“I would say the ingredients
for having a successful year are
presenting themselves from a
much more manageable crop
to export markets looking to be
more accessible,” said Howard
Nager, vice president of market-
ing at Domex Superfresh Grow-
ers in Yakima.
Key to better prices is low
carryover of old crop into the
fall as it sells out and new crop
takes over. About 9.5 million
boxes of old crop remained to
be sold as of Aug. 1 compared
with 8 million boxes a year ago.
Red Delicious gained
124,000 boxes in July as pack-
ers re-estimated packouts from
what they have left in storage,
said John Onstad, sales manager
of Sage Fruit Co. in Yakima.
The old crop was 91.5 per-
cent shipped as of Aug. 1, the
normal percentage for this time
of year, Onstad said. Inventory
of most varieties is about where
it should be but Granny Smith is
a little high, he said.
Domex will clean up old
crop by the end of August and
fi rst week of September and is
feeling good about the carry-
over, Nager said. The 9.5 mil-
lion boxes, as of Aug. 1, is not
a big concern because the indus-
try has been shipping 1 million
boxes of old crop per week in
July and August versus normal-
ly a little more than half that,
he said.
Study says GMO labels don’t act as warnings
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A new study concludes that
shoppers aren’t scared off by
labels on food containing ge-
netically modifi ed organisms,
but labeling opponents are
skeptical of the fi ndings.
The study by University of
Vermont economics professor
Jane Kolodinsky found that
support for mandatory GMO
labeling didn’t measurably
correspond with opposition to
biotechnology.
“A label doesn’t seem to
change people’s opinion of
genetic engineering,” she said.
The results were released at
a time when GMO labels are in
the public spotlight.
A proposal to ban state
and local governments from
requiring labels for GMOs is
currently pending in Congress
and Vermont’s labeling law is
being challenged before the
2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals.
An average of 89 percent of
Vermont residents, who were
surveyed fi ve times between
2003 and 2015 as part of the
study, favored mandatory
GMO labeling.
About 60 percent of survey
respondents said they opposed
GMOs being used in commer-
cial food products.
Among people who want
labeling, those without college
educations, those in single-par-
ent households and those with
the highest incomes tended not
to oppose GMOs.
Support for labeling tended
to increase GMO opposition
among men and people with
median incomes, but the over-
all impact of backing labels
was negligible to non-existent,
the study found.
Kolodinsky said she was
surprised by the results be-
cause opponents claim that
GMO labels will act as warn-
ings to consumers and reduce
consumption of products con-
taining biotech ingredients.
Given the study’s fi ndings,
however, such fears are un-
founded, she said.
The Coalition for Safe and
Affordable Food, which rep-
resents food manufacturers
and farm groups opposed to
GMO labeling, believes the
study “conveniently over-
looks” statements by an-
ti-GMO advocates who tout
labels as the fi rst step in con-
vincing the public to avoid
biotech products.
The coalition pointed to a
recent survey by the Pew Re-
search Service that found the
majority of scientists view
GMOs as safe while the ma-
jority of the public does not.
15-5/16 x 10 x 2
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“It’s a very sound opinion
and could prove very diffi cult
to overturn on appeal,” said
Shaakirrah Sanders, a UI asso-
ciate law professor who focus-
es on individual rights and lib-
erties under the Constitution.
Chief U.S. District Judge
Lynn Winmill Aug. 3 struck
down the 2014 law that crim-
inalizes covert audio or video
recordings on ag operations
and obtaining employment
by misrepresentation with the
intent to cause economic or
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
other injury.
“ … Legislators drafted and
passed a law creating a crimi-
nal felony offense for activities
that facilitate undercover in-
vestigations at agricultural fa-
cilities.” The law “seeks to lim-
it and punish those who speak
out on topics relating to the
agricultural industry, striking
at the heart of the First Amend-
ment values,” Winmill wrote.
He further stated, “Indeed,
the lies used to facilitate under-
cover investigations actually
advance core First Amendment
values by exposing misconduct
to the public eye and facilitat-
ing dialogue on issues of con-
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Professor says ruling in sync with court’s
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