August 21, 2015 Medical records sought in pesticide lawsuit Citizens seek compensation for off-target spray incident By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press The lead plaintiff in a law- suit over off-site pesticide spraying in Oregon’s Curry County has allegedly ignored requests to turn over his medi- cal records. In 2013, a helicopter com- pany sprayed residential prop- erties near Gold Beach with herbicides intended for nearby forestlands, resulting in the Oregon Department of Agri- culture suspending its applica- tor license. Seventeen residents filed a complaint against the helicop- ter company, Pacific Air Re- search, as well as the logging firms overseeing the operation and the owners of the timber properties that were treated. They claim to be suffering from serious health problems from being sprayed with 2,4- D and triclopyr and seek at least $100,000 per plaintiff in damages. Two of the defendants, Crook Timberlands LLC and Barnes & Associates, recently filed a motion to compel the lead plaintiff, John Burns, to turn over medical records and other documents related to the injuries he allegedly suffered from the herbicide incident. The motion claims that Burns has failed to respond to the request for information since May, necessitating a court order. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Aug. 28 and a trial in the overall case is set for Jan. 11-27 in Gold Beach. Capital Press was unable to reach Burns’ attorney for comment. The legal dispute caught the attention of Oregon’s ag- ricultural industry because it initially challenged the consti- tutionality of the state’s “right to farm” law, which prohib- its lawsuits against common farming and forestry practices. The judge dismissed that earlier version of the complaint because the defendants hadn’t raised the “right to farm” law as a defense, so allowing the plaintiffs to challenge the stat- ute was premature. The plaintiffs refiled their complaint without raising the “right to farm” issue, and it’s currently unclear whether the defendants will rely on the statute. Aside from spurring lit- igation, the Curry County spray incident also prompted lawmakers to propose new restrictions on pesticides in Oregon. A bill that increased fines for violations, created no- spray buffers and devoted more resources to pesticide in- vestigations was passed earlier this year. Latest hop estimate up more By DAN WHEAT Capital Press MOXEE, Wash. — This fall’s U.S. hop crop is forecast at 80 million pounds by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. That’s up 13 percent from last year’s 71 million-pound crop and up 7 percent from a 74.5-million-pound estimate for this year given at the Inter- national Hop Growers’ Con- gress in Germany the week of July 27. The NASS estimate, re- leased Aug. 12, is dated Aug. 1. Ann George, administrator of Hop Growers of America and the Washington Hop Com- mission, both in Moxee, said 74.5 million-pound estimate that she gave at the Internation- al Congress was based on a sur- vey of growers taken when the crop was just starting to bloom and several weeks earlier than the NASS survey. She said the NASS number may be more accurate but that no one really knows until the crop is baled. “I think it will end up being between the two estimates,” she said. “The big message is we don’t anticipate it being smaller (than last year).” Some national stories spec- ulated about a hop shortage due to heat and drought. In response to that, George said she issued a press release July 29 about the 74.5-million-pound estimate. “We wanted to reassure our customer base and the public that we wouldn’t have a tremen- dous hop shortage,” she said. At the international meet- ing, it was evident Europe’s hop crop will be down, per- haps significantly, because of drought and wind, Doug MacKinnon, a Yakima hop broker, said at the time. A shortage in Europe adds market pressures since there’s more U.S. craft brewer de- mand for aroma hops than there is supply. Even though U.S. produc- tion is up it remains short rel- ative to craft brewer demand, George said. Some aroma varieties will be short because demand is grow- ing faster than the varieties can be expanded, she said. It takes about two years to get new hop yards into production, she said. One reason overall yields are forecast to be down this year is that there are a lot of “baby” acres that are not yet producing, George said. The switch from alpha to aroma varieties affects yields because aroma yield less, she said. Heat and drought are addi- tional factors reducing yield this year, she said. The larger was heat affecting more of the crop in the Yakima Valley in June when it was blooming, she said. Some hops entered the heat a little drought stressed, she said. Lack of water has been an issue only in portions of the valley served by the Roza and Wapato irrigation districts, not the entire valley, she said. NASS estimates 57,969,000 pounds for Washington, 11,571,900 for Oregon and 10,447,500 for Idaho. The three states comprise the U.S. crop. Don Jenkins/Capital Press Cranberries ripen in the sun on the Long Beach Peninsula in southwest Washington. An outstanding crop will be a triumph for farming, but there’s already a price-deflating oversupply of cranberries. USDA forecasts large Northwest cranberry crop By DON JENKINS Capital Press Oregon cranberry grow- ers are expected to reap a re- cord crop, while Washington farmers will have their largest harvest in a decade, the U.S. Department of Agriculture pre- dicted Thursday. Across the U.S., cranberry farmers in five states, already sitting on a price-deflating sur- plus, will harvest 8.41 million barrels, a slight increase of 12,700 barrels over last year, the USDA forecasts. Strong recent harvests in the U.S. and Canada have created a cranberry surplus, which the USDA has estimated will equal roughly 90 percent of annu- al sales a year from now. The surplus has driven prices below the cost of production for some farmers, particularly indepen- dent growers who don’t belong to the Ocean Spray cooperative. Although the harvest isn’t expected to challenge the re- cord-setting 2013 harvest of 8.95 million barrels, most cran- berry-growing states will see production rise over last year, according to the USDA. The USDA says Washing- ton and Oregon growers have enjoyed favorable weather. Oregon cranberry farmers, concentrated near the coast in Coos and Curry counties, will harvest an estimated 504,000 barrels, edging above last year’s record 500,000-barrel 34-7/#4x harvest. Each barrel represents 100 pounds. “Every week they (grow- ers) seem more encouraged by the crop,” said Don Kloft, Ocean Spray receiving station manager in Bandon, Ore. Bandon cranberry grower Charlie Ruddell said he doubts Oregon’s harvest will set a record. Independent growers slightly outnumber coopera- tive members, and low prices have forced some to reduce investments in bogs or give up entirely, he said. “Some farms have been abandoned,” he said. In Washington, where Ocean Spray members out- number independent growers, the harvest is projected to jump from last year’s 156,000 barrels to 186,000 barrels. That would be the biggest crop since 2005, when farmers pro- duced 187,000 barrels. The state record is 202,000 barrels set in 1994. Recent harvests have been much smaller. Washington State Univer- sity horticulturist Kim Patten, who heads the cranberry re- search center in Long Beach, said he agrees with the US- DA’s forecast. “It’s in the ball- park; 180,000 to 200,000” bar- rels, he said. “It’s going to be a good crop.” Growers who flood their bogs for harvest could face water shortages, however, he said. The U.S. Drought Mon- itor on Thursday categorized the Long Beach Peninsula and Grays Harbor County, where cranberry growers are concen- trated, as being in an “extreme drought.” CapitalPress.com 7 Divers prepare to yank irrigation-clogging weed By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Divers equipped with suction hoses will soon be- gin removing flowering rush from sites on the Columbia River where the irrigation ca- nal-clogging weed was discov- ered last year. The invasive species was first found on the Oregon side of the river near McNary Dam in August 2014, but regulatory hurdles prevented it from be- ing dug out immediately. Flowering rush is already a problem in Washington, Idaho, and Montana, where its thickly growing leaves impede water movement to the detriment of irrigators and fish. A team of divers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to spend the final week of August yanking the plants, which were previous- ly covered with plastic bar- rier mats to prevent the weed patches from spreading. “This is going to be an on- going thing for a while and there are no easy solutions,” said Tim Butler, noxious weed control program manager for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. “Unfortunately, there are no silver bullets. It’s a difficult plant to control, is the bottom line.” Before divers were allowed to physically pull the weed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — which has jurisdiction over the Columbia River — had to clear the project under the Na- tional Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. With that process complete, further removals will not have to be evaluated under NEPA or ESA, though new sites will still have to be reviewed for cultur- al resources under ARPA, said Damian Walter, wildlife biolo- gist for the agency. The upcoming diving project is expected to cost $50,000, which required the agency to shift funds from other invasive management programs, he said. Flowering rush remains submerged during winter, so the diving team also had to wait until the plants were at their most visible to begin re- moval, Walter said. The weed is a concern for irrigators because it can stop water from freely flowing in ca- nals, hindering water delivery. Its capacity to change ecosys- tems is also a risk for threatened and endangered native fish, as the plant creates the ideal hab- itat for invasive pike that prey on them. Treating the weed patches with herbicides is troublesome because of the plant’s aquatic nature — chemicals are dif- ficult to effectively apply in flowing water, can damage crops and face environmental restrictions. “The physical removal is probably the best technique we have at this point,” said Butler. In the long term, research- ers from Washington State University hope to identify natural predators in Central Europe, where the weed origi- nates, to help suppress it in the Northwest. At this point, two potential candidates have been found: the beetle species Bagous nod- ulosus and Bagous validus, which feed on the flowering rush’s rhizomatous roots, said Jennifer Andreas, director of WSU’s Integrated Weed Con- trol Project. Attacking the rhizomes is important, since fragments break off and allow the weed to infest new areas down- stream, she said. “That’s the part that’s causing the biggest damage. That’s the part that moves.” Before the insects could be released into the environment, researchers must conduct ex- tensive studies to show they would not damage native plant species, Andreas said. Approval must come from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the process usually takes about a decade, she said. 34-1/#6