September 25, 2015
CapitalPress.com
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Farm-level organic sales
approach $5.5B in 2014
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Sales of organic products
from U.S. farms have increased
substantially, jumping 72 per-
cent to $5.45 billion from $3.16
billion since the federal govern-
ment last conducted a compara-
ble survey in 2008.
Although the value of sales
have increased, the National
Agricultural Statistics Service
reported last week that both the
number of organic farms and
the amount of organic acreage
has dropped.
NASS reported 14,093 or-
ganic farms, 447 fewer than in
2008, and 3.67 million acres,
almost 407,000 less. The ser-
vice attributed the decline, at
least in part, to differences in
the survey methodology.
Ten states represented 78
percent of organic sales, ac-
cording to the survey.
Farms in California claimed
$2.2 billion in sales, 41 percent
of total national sales. It led the
nation in number of organic op-
erations, at 2,805, and in acre-
age, more than 687,000 acres.
Washington state posted the
second-highest sales at $515
million, up from $282 million
in 2008. Oregon came in fourth
Courtesy of Assemblyman Jim Patterson
California Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, stands with
workers from Fresno-based Gerawan Farming at a rally at the
state Capitol earlier this year for a bill that would have given
workers more of a voice in state labor proceedings. The workers
are trying to end their representation by United Farm Workers.
at $237 million, up from $156
million.
Nationwide, crops account-
ed for $3.3 billion in sales, led
by lettuce at $264 million, ap-
ples at $250 million, grapes at
$195 million, and corn for grain
at $155 million.
Livestock and poultry prod-
ucts accounted for $1.5 billion
in sales, and milk accounted
for almost $1.1 billion in sales.
Livestock and poultry sales, at
$660 million, were led by broil-
ers at $372 million.
Nationwide, 78 percent of
product was sold to wholesale
markets, 14 percent directly to
retail and 8 percent directly to
consumers.
While the majority of prod-
uct was sold wholesale, 40 to
60 percent of farms in Wash-
ington, Oregon and Idaho sold
some product directly to con-
sumers, as did 20 to 40 percent
in California and 45 percent
nationwide.
Total production expenses
increased from $2.5 billion in
2008 to almost $4 billion in
2014, with feed and hired labor
combined comprising 46 per-
cent of expenses. Nationwide
average per-farm expenses in-
creased from $171,978 in 2008
to $208,722 in 2014. Expens-
es were significantly higher
in California at $616,379 and
Washington at $485,708.
The survey shows 1,365
farms are transitioning an addi-
tional 122,175 acres to organic
production. Nearly 5,300 or-
ganic farms, 39 percent, intend
to increase organic production
over the next five years, 43
percent intend to maintain pro-
duction and 5 percent intend to
decrease or discontinue organic
production.
The 2014 organic survey
offers nearly 600 pages of de-
tails on farm-level organic
sales, farms and land in organic
operation, crops and products
being produced, how they are
marketed, and producers’ age,
years in organic, expenses, and
practices.
Post Holdings buys Willamette Egg Farms
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
In its $90 million purchase
of Willamette Egg Farms, Post
Holdings, Inc. is buying one of
the Pacific Northwest’s leading
egg producers and a leader in the
industry’s adoption of cage-free
hen housing.
Post Holdings, a St. Lou-
is-based company whose prod-
ucts include the Post brand
breakfast cereals, announced
Sept. 23 it is buying Willamette
from family owners Gordon Sa-
trum and his son, Greg Satrum.
Willamette Egg raises Leg-
horns and Rhode Island Reds
and produces approximately 2
million eggs a day from its fa-
cilities in Canby, Ore., and Mo-
ses Lake, Wash. They’re sold
throughout the Northwest, into
Northern California and as far
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Willamette Egg Farms co-own-
er Greg Satrum has been an
industry leader on hen nesting
standards. Post Holdings of
St.Louis has purchased the
company for $90 million.
as Hawaii, Guam and Saipan.
In a news release, Post said
Willamette Eggs will be folded
into its Michael Foods division,
which makes “value added” egg
products, cheese, refrigerated
potato products and other dairy
case items.
In a prepared statement, Post
President and CEO Rob Vitale
said the purchase fits well with
Michael Foods.
“Willamette Egg will fur-
ther increase our leadership as
the country’s largest provider of
cage-free egg products and con-
tributes to additional geograph-
ic flock diversification,” Vitale
said in a news release.
In May, the company report-
ed roughly 20 percent of its egg
supply had been impacted by a
deadly bird flu outbreak that hit
the Midwest, according to The
Associated Press.
In addition to the bird flu
problem, U.S. chicken and egg
producers have been criticized
for keeping chickens in cramped
cages. Led by Greg Satrum,
Willamette Egg has been a lead-
er in adopting larger cages and
what are called “enriched colo-
Oregon Ag Department beefs up staffing
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
BOARDMAN, Ore.— The
Oregon Department of Agri-
culture plans to create about 26
new positions with an increase
in funding from lawmakers.
The agency fared well
during the 2015 legislative ses-
sion, with total funds growing
to nearly $106 million over the
next two years. That’s up from
$97 million during the previ-
ous biennium, ODA Director
Katy Coba said.
ODA will hire five new reg-
ulatory laboratory employees
and upgrade its testing equip-
ment, which is long overdue,
she said at the Sept. 23 meeting
of the Oregon Board of Agri-
culture in Boardman.
Three new people will also
be hired to implement the agri-
cultural water quality program,
Coba said. Under that pro-
gram, the agency uses aerial
photography to identify prob-
lems in selected watersheds
known as strategic implemen-
tation areas.
Landowners are encour-
aged to seek help from local
soil and water conservation
districts to correct problems on
their properties, but ODA does
have enforcement authority to
issue fines.
Seven new strategic imple-
mentation areas were estab-
lished this year, and ODA will
identify six more next year,
Coba said.
Concerns about pesticides
led the legislature to devote
more than $1.7 million in ad-
ditional money to the agency’s
pesticide program.
Those funds will be ded-
icated to four new pesticide
investigators, a customer ser-
vice representative and a case
reviewer, she said.
As the federal government
rolls out its new food safety
rules, ODA will fund three
full-time natural resource spe-
cialists.
To fully implement the
Food Safety Modernization
Act, which was signed into law
in 2011, Congress will need to
appropriate substantially more
money to help states with out-
reach to farmers, Coba said.
It’s currently unclear what
role ODA employees will play
in on-farm inspections of pro-
duce operations, she said.
It’s possible the agency
may focus on education and
leave enforcement to the U.S.
Food and Drug Administra-
tion, she said.
With recreational marijuana
now legal in Oregon, the agen-
cy will also hire a marijuana
policy analyst, Coba said.
While the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission has pri-
mary jurisdiction over recre-
ational marijuana, ODA will
likely be involved in the regu-
lation of pesticides and edible
products, she said.
Currently, no pesticides
are registered for marijuana,
which remains illegal under
federal law, she said.
ROP-38-2-4/#14
ny systems” that allow hens to
engage in natural behavior such
as perching, nesting and scratch-
ing.
In recent years, Willamette
Egg has built highly automat-
ed cage-free facilities in which
chickens are able to perch, hop
down to the floor to mingle with
the flock and retreat to nesting
boxes. Eggs are carried from the
building on a conveyor system,
while special lighting calms
the birds and simulates day and
night patterns.
Greg Satrum in 2011 struck
what some viewed as an unusual
partnership with the Oregon Hu-
mane Society. The two support-
ed Oregon and Washington leg-
islation that increases cage sizes
over a 15-year period, giving the
industry time to phase in expen-
sive infrastructure changes.
Supporters of
dumping union
will fight ruling
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
Attorneys and supporters
of a union-decertification
effort at Fresno-based Ger-
awan Farming Inc. say their
fight is far from over despite
a judge’s unfavorable ruling
last week.
In a 192-page decision
issued Sept. 17, Administra-
tive Law Judge Mark Soble
nullified an election held by
workers nearly two years ago
because of what he called
“misconduct” by Gerawan
during the petition drive.
Soble alleged that Ger-
awan gave an unfair advan-
tage to employees trying to
oust the United Farm Work-
ers by granting petitioner
Silvia Lopez special time
off work to lead the effort
and allowing her to block the
farm’s exit on one day to col-
lect signatures.
The judge also took is-
sue with a $20,000 grant to
Lopez from the California
Fresh Fruit Association,
whose president, Barry
Bedwell, responded that the
grant was made at the re-
quest of other growers not
directly involved in the elec-
tion and not at the behest of
Gerawan.
Armando Elenes, the
UFW’s national vice pres-
ident, said Soble’s ruling
speaks for itself.
“The decision was really
not regarding the ballots,”
Elenes said. “The ballots
happened after the fact. The
entire focus of the hearing
and investigation had noth-
ing to do with the ballots. It
was everything to do with
how the election was ob-
tained.”
However, Ronald Bar-
samian, an attorney for Ger-
awan, said Soble’s ruling is
essentially a recommenda-
tion that has to be acted on
by the state’s Agricultur-
al Labor Relations Board,
which in 2013 overruled a
local official and ordered the
decertification election. The
farmworkers’ votes have
remained locked up and un-
counted pending the state’s
investigation of the petition
effort.
“Obviously we’re confi-
dent about this because we
would like to think that the
board … is going to look at
the bottom line, and that is,
is the ALRB going to protect
workers’ right to vote and
certainly to have their ballots
counted?” Barsamian said.
Paul Bauer, the attorney
representing Lopez, said
the farmworkers’ desire not
to be represented by UFW
wasn’t unduly influenced by
the company.
“Just because they want-
ed the same thing doesn’t
mean there were any nefari-
ous dealings by the employ-
er,” Bauer said.
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