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4 CapitalPress.com August 28, 2015 Farm seeks repayment for confiscated raisins Volume control effort was ruled unconstitutional By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press A California farm is de- manding repayment for raisins confiscated by the USDA as part of a volume control pro- gram that’s been declared un- constitutional. Earlier this year, the U.S. Su- preme Court invalidated an agen- cy marketing order program that sought to stabilize prices in times of overproduction. Under the program, a per- centage of a farmer’s raisins was diverted into a “reserve pool,” which was sold by USDA in non-competing mar- kets such as foreign countries. Funds from these sales paid for the administration of the program, with any leftover money returned to growers. In some years, farmers did not receive any payment for the re- serve pool raisins. Marvin Horne, a Califor- nia raisin producer, refused to participate in the program and claimed it was unconstitutional as a government taking without just compensation. In June, the nation’s highest court agreed with Horne and ruled that he did not have to pay the USDA about $200,000 in fines and $480,000 for the raisins he didn’t turn over. Now, a major California raisin producer, Lion Farms, wants reimbursement for the market value of raisins taken by the government over several years. The company claims it had to turn over 10-15 percent of its 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 crops, which were valued at $1,210-$1,343 per ton. Tonnage amounts aren’t disclosed in the complaint, but Lion Farms said it did not re- ceive any money back for three of the four crops. Capital Press was unable to reach the grower’s attorney or a representative of USDA’s Ag- ricultural Marketing Service, which oversaw the program. It appears Lion Farms’ case will be complicated by the six- year statute of limitations on takings lawsuits against the fed- eral government, said Jim Burl- ing, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights group that has closely followed the Horne case. The government will likely argue that the statute of limita- tions has run out for most of the crops in question, he said. AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka, File In this 2013 file photo taken near Fresno, Calif., farmworkers pick paper trays of dried raisins off the ground and heap them onto a trailer in the final step of raisin harvest. A farm is seeking repayment for the value of the raisins the USDA confiscated under a volume control program. Despite drought, Fresno County crop values set record Legal action threatened over spotted frog habitat By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press When Mike Britton answers the phone at his North Unit Irri- gation District office in Central Oregon these days, the conver- sations take a quick turn. “The first three words are, ‘I heard a rumor,...’” Britton said. And so it goes. Environmen- tal groups have warned they intend to file suit over Oregon spotted frog habitat, and patrons of multiple Deschutes River Ba- sin irrigation districts worry the outcome will leave their land with less water and more restric- tions. Britton, the North Unit man- ager, scheduled a town hall meet- ing Aug. 26 in Madras, Ore. Here’s the background: The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in August 2014 listed the Oregon spotted frog as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act. The listing wasn’t a surprise; the frog has disap- peared from an estimated 78 percent of its historic range, from Southwest British Colum- bia to Northern California. Loss of its favored marsh habitat and introduction of pred- ators such as bullfrogs are the primary reason for the frog’s de- cline. Fish & Wildlife proposed 22,600 acres in the Deschutes River Basin as “critical habitat.” The Upper Deschutes in Central Oregon is one of the few places where the frogs can still be found, particularly in Crane Prairie and Wickiup Reservoirs and in the wetlands downstream from them and from Crescent Lake. Irrigation districts, recogniz- ing the potential impact of an Endangered Species Act listing, worked with Fish & Wildlife, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and other agencies and groups to develop a Habitat Conservation Plan for spotted frogs. Britton heads a group, the Deschutes Basin Board of Control, which represents eight irrigation dis- tricts in the process. But this summer, the Cen- ter for Biological Diversity and WaterWatch of Oregon sep- arately gave 60 days notice they would file suit against the Bureau of Reclamation, which built the Crane Prairie, Wickiup and Crescent Lake reservoirs, and against the North Unit, Central Oregon and Tumalo ir- rigation districts, which operate and manage the dams and res- ervoirs. The lawsuits allege the bu- reau and districts have harmed spotted frogs. In a news release, WaterWatch said “managing the Deschutes more like an ir- rigation ditch than a river has caused significant damage to river health.” Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Central Oregon irrigation dis- tricts worry they’ll be restricted by lawsuits over the Oregon spotted frog, which is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. John O’Connell/Capital Press Workers with Pioneer Equipment in American Falls, Idaho, check to see how much quinoa is being missed by the harvester in a 35-acre field at Koompin Farms. Growers say their quinoa fields look good this season. Eastern Idaho reports strong quinoa yields By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Quinoa should pay dividends this season for Idaho Falls businessman Jeremiah Clark and 14 Eastern Idaho growers who gambled on raising the high-protein, gluten-free crop. Last season’s harvest confirmed the risk of experi- menting with a sensitive crop that’s new to the area. Sprout damage claimed most of the 20-acre field Clark com- missioned in Grace, though he salvaged enough seed to plant 400 acres in small fields around the region this season. Following the Aug. 25 harvest of the first of this sea- son’s quinoa fields, Clark, a seed-cleaning business owner, believes he’s finally witnessed quinoa’s potential. Kamren Koompin, who raised 35 acres of irrigated quinoa for Clark, reported yields of 800 to 1,000 pounds per acre in American Falls. Clark pays quinoa growers $1 per pound. Clark said the weather was ideal for quinoa this season. High temperatures came in June, and the weather cooled to more ideal temperatures when the crop reached its crit- ical flowering stage. “This year might be the year we look back to for the next 20 years as far as (qui- noa) yield because of the strong yield we’ve had,” Clark said. Eric Jellen, a Brigham Young University agricultural professor and a quinoa expert, was encouraged upon evaluat- ing some of Clark’s fields. “The fields I saw near Soda Springs look terrific,” Jellen said. “Quinoa is no- torious for having seed-set problems when it is very hot at flowering time. However, I am cautiously optimistic.” Clark has launched a fund- raising campaign on Kick- starter, selling quinoa directly to customers to buy a new col- or sorter. He’s also had plans drawn to build a small facility to sort and pack quinoa for his own packaging or delivery to other interested customers such as ADM or Scoular, Co. He hopes to build on this sea- son’s success and use much of the seed to expand to 2,000 to 3,000 acres of quinoa in East- ern Idaho next season, sell- ing the remainder of his bulk commercially. He obtained his seed by sorting the white kernels from a mix-colored public variety from Colorado. He’s also breeding his own white quinoa variety, Kailey, which produces dwarf-sized plants, denser heads and larger ker- nels. Koompin planted his qui- noa in 36-inch rows, running a cultivator through the mid- dle and sending in crews with hoes to control weeds in the absence of tested quinoa her- bicides. Koompin said quinoa re- quired about half the water of barley or wheat, and even with the added labor, he con- siders it worth planting again. “If the market is there, I think it would be a pretty good longterm deal,” Koomp- in said. “I don’t think it’s ever going to be widespread. It wouldn’t take much to flood the market.” University of Idaho Ex- tension weed specialist Pam Hutchinson started a quinoa trial in Aberdeen this season to evaluate herbicides. No ini- tial scenarios were effective, but she anticipates having bet- ter results after adjusting ap- plication rates, and evaluating additional products formerly used in conventional sugar beet production. Hutchinson assisted with hand weeding of trial plots planted by UI agronomist Xi Liang to evaluate quinoa in Eastern Idaho rotations. Despite the crippling drought, the value of Fresno County’s agricultural produc- tion set a record in 2014 at more than $7.03 billion, the county’s agricultural commis- sioner reports. The total was a more than 9 percent increase from 2013’s $6.44 billion in receipts and was up nearly 7 percent from 2012’s then-record $6.58 mil- lion, noted the county’s annual crop report. “This report is a testament to the resiliency and determi- nation of the Fresno County agricultural industry,” Agri- cultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights and Measures Les Wright told county supervisors when he gave the report Aug. 25. While officials credit Fres- no County’s diversity of crops — more than 400 are produced there — county Farm Bureau Executive Director Ryan Ja- cobsen said favorable com- modity prices are saving many growers from taking losses, or suffering deeper ones. “Without a doubt we’re having challenges and strug- gles through this historic drought, but we’ve been for- tunate,” Jacobsen told the Capital Press. “We have an in- credibly strong desire for Cali- fornia-grown products (among consumers), and that has really driven up the demand for what we’re producing.” The county’s $1.3 billion almond industry was by far the top-valued crop, increas- ing from $1.1 billion in 2013 even though growers statewide struggled last fall to meet the 2013 production total of 2 bil- lion meat pounds. Though an estimated 10,000 acres of almond trees were bulldozed last year amid the drought, statewide totals were buoyed by a net gain of 20,000 acres to reach a historic high of 860,000 acres of pro- ductive almond trees, accord- ing to the National Agricultur- al Statistics Service. Grapes, the No. 2 crop, took a hit in Fresno County last year, posting $905 million in value after topping $1 billion in 2013, Wright reported. But poultry ($655 million), milk ($636.5 million) and cattle and calves ($575 million) round- ed out the top five by posting gains, the report showed. In all, Fresno County — the nation’s top agricultural county — exported 183 com- modities in over 20,000 ship- ments to 101 countries last year, Wright told the board. Field crops suffered mighti- ly, declining by more than 36 percent as thousands of acres on the Westside were fallowed because of the lack of water. Jacobsen cautions that the crop report only reflects gross values and doesn’t take into account net income or losses to producers. He said values would have been even greater if 25 percent of the county’s farmland hadn’t been fal- lowed. Tim Hearden/Capital Press Mendota, Calif., area grower Mark Turmon, right, talks with Roger Isom, left, and Chris McGlothlin of the Western Agricultural Processors Association about his almond crop in April. Fresno County’s $1.3 billion almond crop helped the county set a record for crop value in 2014. WDFW draws a line against Huckleberry wolf pack After so many attacks, why another chance? rancher asks By DON JENKINS Capital Press One more depredation by a troublesome pack in north- east Washington will lead to the lethal removal of wolves, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife official said Friday. Seriously injuring a sheep dog this month in Stevens County will count as a strike against the Huckleberry pack, which killed at least 26 sheep last summer belonging to the dog’s owner, rancher Dave Dashiell. Donny Martorello, WD- FW’s wolf policy coor- dinator, said Dashiell has tried everything possible — lights, alarms, dogs, fences Don Jenkins/Capital Press Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife wolf policy coordina- tor Donny Martorello talks to the media Aug. 4 at the Teanaway Community Forest in Central Washington about wolf management. Martorello said Aug. 21 that WDFW will lethally remove wolves in the Huckleberry pack in northeastern Washington if the pack’s northern group is responsible for another depredation. and more human presence — to deter wolves. “If we get a second depre- dation there will be a recog- nition that we have put those things on the landscape and that the depredations are continuing,” Martorello said. Martorello and other WDFW officials outlined in a conference call with the department’s wolf advisory group non-lethal efforts to protect livestock from the Huckleberry pack, which has split into north and south groups. The red line drawn by WDFW applies only to the north group, which was blamed for injuring the dog. If the south group attacks livestock or guard dogs, “I think we would take a pause and review everything we know,” Martorello said in an interview. Stevens County Cattle- men’s Association President Justin Hedrick said WDFW was being too lenient, con- sidering the pack’s record. Because of last summer’s depredations, WDFW au- thorized shooting up to four wolves. One female wolf was killed before WDFW suspended the operation be- cause the sheep were no lon- ger in the pack’s territory. “I don’t understand why there’s a reset button,” Hed- rick said during the confer- ence call. “Why would you wait for two (depredations) when this pack has already been eligible for lethal re- moval?” Martorello said WDFW was trying to apply its pol- icies in a case that pushed the department into new ter- ritory. WDFW generally will consider lethal removal after four depredations involving a pack. The Huckleberry pack has been involved in more than four depredations, but the incidents were sepa- rated by months. Shawn Cantrell, Defend- ers of Wildlife’s Northwest director, said lethal remov- al may be the right move if there’s another depredation, but WDFW should have waited to make that decision. “I would like them to allow for more flexibili- ty. The circumstances are hard to predict,” he said. “I’m pleased the department is continuing to invest in non-lethal measures to pre- vent a second depredation. I think that’s what everybody wants.”