September 18, 2015
CapitalPress.com
7
Lawsuit accuses sheep ranchers of fixing wages
Complaint also
claims ranchers
made unlawful
wage deductions
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A new lawsuit accuses
ranchers who rely on foreign
guest workers of colluding
to unlawfully fix wages for
sheep herders at artificially
low levels.
The complaint was filed
against the Western Range
Association and Sountain
Plains Agricultural Service —
which help ranchers hire em-
ployees using the H-2A guest
worker visa process — by for-
mer sheep herders represented
by Towards Justice, a law firm
representing workers.
Several ranches that par-
ticipate in the H-2A program
are also named as defendants
in the complaint.
“The result of this price
fixing conspiracy or conspira-
cies is absurdly low wages for
all shepherds, the exclusion of
most American workers from
the shepherd labor market,
and the importation of vul-
nerable foreign workers,” the
lawsuit claims.
Capital Press was unable
to reach representatives of
the Western Range Associa-
tion or the Sountain Plains
Agricultural Service as of
press time.
According to the com-
plaint, ranchers associated
with the two organizations
generally offer wages exactly
at the minimum floor levels
set by the U.S. Department
of Labor, thereby eliminating
competition and discouraging
domestic workers from apply-
ing for sheep herder positions.
Sheep herders are paid
about $750-$800 per month
across most of the West,
though those in Oregon and
California earn $1,277 and
$1,422 per month, respective-
ly, the lawsuit said.
When domestic workers
don’t fill the positions, the
associations recruit foreign
workers through the H-2A
program — as a result, a vast
majority of sheep herders are
from overseas, the complaint
said.
“In a competitive market,
and absent the price fixing,
ranchers would offer a high-
er wage to U.S. workers than
they do H-2A workers to ac-
count for the additional cost
of bringing an H-2A worker
to the country,” the lawsuit
claims. “H-2A workers are
more costly to employers be-
cause, pursuant to the H-2A
regulations, they must be
reimbursed by their employ-
ers for travel to and from the
place of recruitment in their
home country.”
The complaint also alleges
that ranchers affiliated with
the two organizations illegal-
ly deducted the cost of travel,
lodging, criminal background
checks and other expenses
that primarily benefit the em-
ployer.
The lawsuit seeks certifi-
cation as a class action, which
would allow other sheep herd-
ers to join in the case, as well
as triple the amount of dam-
ages allegedly sustained by
harmed workers.
Study shows excessive foreign farm support costing U.S. wheat
China, India, Turkey,
Brazil highlighted
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
Excessive farm subsidies
in several advanced develop-
ing countries might be costing
U.S. wheat farmers nearly $1
billion per year in revenue, ac-
cording to the results of a new
study released Sonday.
The study, paid for by the
U.S. Wheat Associates and
National Association of Wheat
Growers, focuses specifically
on China, India, Turkey and
Brazil, where the industry
groups say governments are
supporting domestic wheat
production at levels much
higher than what they agreed
to as members of the World
Trade Organization.
By over subsidizing pro-
duction, those countries end
up with a surplus of domestic
wheat that competes with U.S.
and global exports, said Dalton
Henry, director of policy for
the Wheat Associates. The re-
sult is a distorted trade market
with artificially deflated prices.
About half of all U.S.
wheat is exported, including
a whopping 85-90 percent of
Oregon’s crop — the majority
of which is grown in Umatilla
and Sorrow counties.
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
A new study, paid for by U.S. Wheat Associates and National Association of Wheat Growers, says excessive farm subsidies in several
advanced developing countries might be costing U.S. wheat farmers nearly $1 billion per year in revenue.
“What other countries do
has a big and significant im-
pact on the revenue of U.S.
wheat growers,” Henry said.
“I think the overall total loss
in revenue seen to these pro-
grams has been surprising.”
The goal of the study, con-
ducted by agricultural econ-
omist Dermot Hayes with
Iowa State University, was to
analyze what would happen
to U.S. wheat if domestic sup-
port in China, India, Turkey
and Brazil were removed. Re-
sults showed U.S. production
would increase by more than
53 million bushels, and farm
gate prices would increase by
nearly 30 cents per bushel.
As the largest world con-
sumer of wheat, China’s sub-
sidies have had a particular-
ly compelling effect, Henry
said. China currently supports
47 percent of the value of its
domestic production, far ex-
ceeding its agreement of 8.5
percent under the World Trade
Organization.
Hayes’ figures show U.S.
wheat growers could capture
an additional $548 million an-
nually if subsidies were elim-
inated in China, along with
$358 million in India, $172
million in Turkey and $23
million in Brazil. The study
indicated the four countries to-
gether would increase imports
by nearly 10 million metric
tons, with the U.S. in position
to capture 20 percent of that
growth.
And, even with the chang-
es, Hayes argues China, India
and Turkey would still be 90
percent self-sufficient in wheat
production.
U.S. Wheat Associates is
asking the countries to abide
by their commitments to the
World Trade Organization as
the latest Doha Round of ne-
gotiations continues among
members, Henry said. In-
creasing subsidies likely stems
from political pressure within
the countries to increase food
security, he said, though it ac-
tually drives up the cost for
consumers by reducing com-
petitive imports from America
and other trade partners.
“I think part of it is just rais-
ing awareness of the issue,”
Henry said. “It’s definitely not
an easy answer, and not one
we expect to be solved within
the next several months.”
Brett Blakenship, an East-
ern Washington wheat farmer
and current president of the
National Association of Wheat
Growers, said the countries’
“market-distorting policies”
are in part to blame for wheat
prices falling 30 percent over a
year ago, hitting family farms
especially hard.
It’s already been a tough
production year for Oregon
wheat, with drought expected
to cut into yields by roughly
15 percent statewide. Blake
Rowe, CEO of the Oregon
Wheat Growers League, said
soft white wheat prices have
fared relatively well compared
to other types of wheat, but
have still slipped on the export
market.
All farmers can do is con-
tinue to produce a quality pro-
duce and weigh in to the gov-
ernment on trade issues, Rowe
said.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Colfax, Wash., farmer Randy Suess sits in his shop Sept. 10 in the middle of some of his items up for
auction. Suess is retiring after 30 years of farming.
Retiring wheat leader preps for auction
Suess ponders life
after farming
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
COLFAX, Wash. — It
hasn’t sunk in yet for Randy
Suess that he’s farmed his last
harvest.
“I think when I see the
guys out seeding my farm
land, that’s going to be pret-
ty hard,” he said while sitting
in his shop north of Colfax,
Wash., one sunny morning in
early September.
Suess, a leader in the Wash-
ington wheat community, has
been too busy to think about
it, getting ready for an auction
of his equipment 10:30 a.m.
Sept. 23 on his farm.
“I’m cleaning out a hun-
dred years of accumulation,”
he said. “This was my grand-
pa’s and my dad’s farm. They
grew up in pretty poor times. I
think they kept every nut and
bolt and everything they pos-
sibly could think of that they
thought they may use again,
and they never did.”
Items include two tractors,
two cultivators, a disc, a har-
row cart, a service rig, a seed
truck and tools, toys from
Suess’ childhood and antique
farm equipment. Some of the
larger items are also up for bid
in an online auction.
Suess decided to retire af-
ter 30 years for medical rea-
sons. Long hours on the trac-
tor and combine bothered one
of his legs.
“The sad part is giving up
some of the leases, because
those leases have also been
in the family for three gener-
ations,” he said.
Sost leases will be picked
up by the father-son team tak-
ing over Suess’ land.
Suess has long been an
advocate for the wheat and
agriculture industry. He rep-
resented Whitman County on
the Washington Grain Com-
mission and its predecessor,
the Washington Wheat Com-
mission, for 11 years.
Appeals court overturns insecticide’s approval
Ruling finds
sulfoxaflor’s
pollinator impact
insufficiently studied
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s approval
of a controversial insecticide
was reversed by a federal ap-
peals court, which found its
effects on pollinators were in-
adequately studied.
Sulfoxaflor is a type of ne-
onicotinoid — a class of pesti-
cides that’s increasingly under
fire from environmentalists
— that was unconditionally
registered by EPA for use on
fruit, nut, grain and oilseed
crops in 2013.
Several
environmental
groups challenged the pes-
ticide’s approval before the
9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, which has now
agreed that EPA should have
required more testing of the
chemical.
The 9th Circuit has held
that sulfoxaflor’s registration
was based on “flawed and
limited data” and thus vacated
the agency’s decision.
“By the EPA’s own reck-
oning, the data was insuffi-
cient to evaluate the effect on
sulfoxaflor on brood develop-
ment and long-term colony
strength,” the ruling said.
38-4/#6