10 CapitalPress.com
October 2, 2015
Washington
Wash. reps: Timeliness
essential to China trade
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
In the wake of Chinese
President Xi Jinping’s visit
to Washington, a coalition
of the state’s agricultural and
business leaders hopes to
boost their trade profile.
Keep Washington Com-
petitive, which promotes
trade with China and other
nations, held a telephone
news conference Sept. 24.
Coalition member John
Stuhlmiller, CEO of the
Washington Farm Bureau,
said challenges with rail
and port backlogs in the last
two years were “devastating
blows” for agriculture, which
depends on exports to sur-
vive.
Union slowdowns and
strikes at West Coast contain-
er and grain terminals backed
up shipments and lost cus-
tomers for Washington pro-
ducers and processors.
“Once it leaves my farm,
wherever it is in the state,
I’ve got to get it to the port
in timely fashion,” Stuhl-
miller said. “When it’s per-
ishable in particular, it’s got
to be timely. We’re taking
fresh fruit (to Asia) and it
can’t sit and rot.”
It’s not certain how much
of the market share was lost,
he said.
“With export markets in
particular, if I can’t deliv-
er to my customer, I can be
replaced very quickly, and
that’s what happened,” he
said. “That’s an inexcusable
outcome for us.”
Louise Tieman, president
and CEO of the World Trade
Center in Tacoma, said Chi-
nese customers emphasize
the importance of fast con-
nections with Washington.
“When we talk to Chinese
companies, the notion that
it takes one day less to get
their goods from China to
the U.S. markets is import-
ant to them,” Tieman said.
“There is no question that it
is important to the Chinese
that we have the infrastruc-
ture, workforce and capabili-
ties to conduct business with
them.”
Tieman said the state has
an opportunity for a “re-
bound effect” following Xi’s
visit to open more markets,
distribution and investment
in China.
USDA promises
quicker response if
illness re-emerges
this fall
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Washing-
ton State Veterinarian Joe
Baker says he’s confident
commercial poultry farms
are prepared for bird flu, but
he’s worried that ignorance
will not be bliss for owners
of backyard flocks.
Even after what the U.S.
Department of Agriculture
calls the “largest animal
health event in our history,”
Baker said he still encoun-
ters poultry owners who are
oblivious to bird flu.
And even if commercial
barns ward off the virus,
trade sanctions will fol-
low if the disease strikes a
non-commercial flock, Bak-
er said. “We can’t separate
the small hobby flocks from
the commercial operations.”
The highly pathogenic
bird flu that made its U.S.
debut in a wild duck in
Rodney White/The Des Moines Register via AP
In this May 12 photo, dead chickens are hauled for burial in a farm field near Rose Acre Farms, out-
side Winterset, Iowa. The Washington state veterinarian is worried that some backyard poultry owners
are not aware of the risks posed by avian flu if it returns this fall.
Washington last December
eventually claimed 7.5 mil-
lion turkeys, 42.1 million
chickens and cost taxpayers
more than $950 million, ac-
cording to the USDA. The
virus infected 211 commer-
cial operations, with 184 of
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Leaders emphasize
need for reliable
port transportation
Washington state vet: Backyard
flocks most vulnerable to bird flu
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those cases in April and May
in the Upper Midwest.
Before any commercial
farm was hit, the U.S. poul-
try industry faced import
restrictions because the vi-
rus appeared in a hobbyist’s
mixed-bird flock in South-
ern Oregon. In all, 21 back-
yard flocks, including five in
Washington, two in Oregon
and one in Idaho, were in-
fected. In banning U.S. poul-
try, foreign countries didn’t
distinguish between com-
mercial and non-commercial
flocks.
The disaster’s scope and
rising criticism forced the
USDA to examine how it,
states and poultry producers
prevent and respond to bird
flu. The USDA on Sept. 18
issued a plan for handling a
“worst-case scenario” of 500
cases throughout the coun-
try.
The plan calls for reduc-
ing to hours what took days
last winter and spring: Di-
agnose bird flu within six
hours, euthanize and dispose
of flocks within 24 hours,
and streamline compensa-
tion for poultry owners who
report diseased birds.
The agency also con-
cluded that commercial pro-
ducers must improve bios-
ecurity practices. Although
migratory birds carry the
virus, the disease spreads
several ways, including on
equipment and clothing, and
maybe even the wind. Stan-
dard biosecurity practices
may have been sufficient in
the past, but not against the
virus that spread from barn
to barn in the Midwest, ac-
cording to the USDA.
USDA also has autho-
rized the development of a
bird flu vaccine that could
be deployed as an emergen-
cy measure to suppress the
disease’s spread. The agen-
cy also will test more wild
birds to detect bird flu in an
area before the virus strikes
poultry.
Because the virus didn’t
infect a commercial poul-
try farm in Washington, the
state was spared the logis-
tical challenge of euthaniz-
ing and disposing of hun-
dreds of thousands of birds.
Nevertheless, Baker said
WSDA has been planning
to confront such a disas-
ter, responding to concerns
from state lawmakers about
whether the department is
ready.
Baker said he’s “un-
equivocally” sure commer-
cial operators will be pre-
pared. WSDA will be better
equipped to euthanize and
dispose of carcasses, he said.
Baker said he’s more
worried about owners of
non-commercial flocks, es-
pecially ones who live most-
ly outdoors and are exposed
to wild birds. WSDA has
posted on its website infor-
mation about preventing bird
flu at agr.wa.gov/birdflu.
“I really hope that will
get people interested in get-
ting more information,” he
said.