January 15, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
Environmentalists appeal despite victory in ‘cattle drift’ case
Plaintiffs want to
block grazing along
Oregon-California
border
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Environmental groups are
challenging a court ruling in
which they prevailed because
it doesn’t go so far as to block
grazing along the Oregon-Cal-
ifornia border.
For five years, the Klamath
Siskiyou Wildlands Center and
the Klamath Forest Alliance
have been fighting against
grazing on three allotments
that total 48,000 acres along
the Siskiyou Crest.
They claim that cattle from
the Klamath National Forest in
California cause environmen-
tal problems when they “drift”
onto unauthorized allotments
in Oregon’s Rogue River Sis-
kiyou National Forest.
Their lawsuit was dis-
missed in 2013 by a federal
judge who found there’s little
evidence of serious resource
damage from cows, but that
ruling was recently overturned
by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals.
The 9th Circuit found that
the U.S. Forest Service de-
cided that cattle drift caused
minimal harm even though the
agency “provided essentially
no information about the envi-
ronmental impact.”
Forest Service officials ar-
gued there’s no quantitative
data about the effects of cattle
drift, but the 9th Circuit ruled
that it’s “exactly the point” of
an environmental assessment
to attempt to find such infor-
mation — especially since
“the record was replete with
anecdotal and photographic
evidence suggesting impact
from drifting cattle, which
should have been discussed.”
Due to this oversight, the
9th Circuit ordered the Forest
Service to reconsider its en-
vironmental assessment and
“develop sufficient evidence to
determine the likely environ-
mental impact of its plan” on
the national forest in Oregon.
If the effect is determined to
be significant, the agency will
have to conduct a more com-
prehensive analysis known as
an environmental impact state-
ment, the appeals court held.
The plaintiffs have now
asked the 9th Circuit for a re-
hearing of the case, arguing the
Forest Service’s authorization
of the 10-year grazing project
in the area should be vacated,
which would effectively end
grazing until the environmen-
tal analysis is revised.
Federal projects approved
in violation of the National
Environmental Policy Act due
to an insufficiently “hard look”
at environmental consequenc-
es must be vacated except
in “rare circumstances,” the
groups said in a court filing.
Such plans may only remain
effective if they have dire envi-
ronmental effects or otherwise
cause catastrophic disruptions,
which does not apply to stop-
ping grazing along the Siskiyou
Crest, the plaintiffs argue.
Allowing the grazing au-
thorizations to stay effective
would allow the Forest Service
to rationalize its decision in the
new environmental analysis
and undermine “the purpose
of NEPA to foster informed,
democratic decision-making,”
the groups said.
The Forest Service will
only lose a nominal amount of
grazing fees if the authoriza-
tions are vacated and ranchers
can buy hay or lease private
pastures while the allotments
are unavailable, the environ-
mentalists claim.
Bingham Co-op plans Brown’s budget includes boost for CDFA
new fumigant facility
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
BLACKFOOT, Idaho —
Bingham Cooperative will
break ground soon on a $1
million fumigant storage facil-
ity here that should enable the
company to keep more product
on hand for growers and reduce
freight costs.
Bingham Cooperative Gen-
eral Manager Mike Jensen said
work on the project should be
underway by early February,
with completion expected by
mid-May.
The planned 375,000-gal-
lon Blackfoot storage facility
will supplement the existing
125,000-gallon facility. The
extra capacity will make it fea-
sible for Bingham to haul in
fumigants by rail, which should
result in a significant freight sav-
ings over truck transportation.
Jensen has made no estimate
of the exact savings. Jensen
said the Blackfoot storage facil-
ity will also be used to restock
tanks in American Falls, further
spreading the freight savings to
growers.
“With margins decreasing
and becoming tighter and tight-
er, you’ve got to find different
ways to keep your production
costs down, and if this is one
of the avenues that helps us to
reduce costs, great,” said Kev-
in Christensen, chairman of the
board for the cooperative and a
grower in Firth.
Christensen said the extra
storage will also enable the
cooperative to respond more
promptly to growers planning to
fumigate fields for potatoes.
Jensen explained potato
growers have a tight window
from mid-September through
late November to fumigate
fields to control nematodes and
certain soil pathogens, and new
buffer-zone re-
quirements have
forced growers
to shank fumi-
gants into their
soil with an im-
plement rather
Jensen
than applying it
with irrigation
water. Jensen said shanking
must be done before the soil
freezes, and chemicals must be
available when custom applica-
tors need them.
“The logistics of getting that
much product in place and avail-
able was a real challenge,” Jen-
sen said. “With our building of
a new fumigant storage facility,
we can accept fumigants by rail
throughout the year.”
Despite declining commodi-
ty prices, Jensen said 2015 was a
strong year for Bingham Coop-
erative and its parent company,
CHS. CHS will give back $516
million in cash, plus additional
stock, to its growers worldwide,
based on its 2015 earnings.
In late February, the Bing-
ham Cooperative will return
$2.3 million in patronage to
grower members based on
2015 profitability, plus anoth-
er $800,000 in stock. Bingham
Cooperative’s patronage will
be down from 2014, when $4.1
million in cash was returned to
growers, counting $400,000 in
equity the company allowed
growers to retire early.
Jensen said Bingham Coop’s
2015 refined fuel sales were
up about a million gallons, or
roughly 10 percent of total sales
from the prior year. The reason
for the gain, Jensen said, is that
Bingham Cooperative expand-
ed its territory into new areas,
including Grace, Soda Springs,
Rexburg, Terreton, Burley and
Rupert. The cooperative also
bought a small propane business
in Grace, he said.
SACRAMENTO — Gov.
Jerry Brown has proposed a
more than $70 million boost
in the next fiscal year’s budget
for food and agriculture pro-
grams, including new money
for “climate smart” agriculture,
addressing antibiotic use in
livestock and licensing medical
marijuana.
In his preliminary ledger,
Brown proposed $485.1 mil-
lion for the Department of
Food and Agriculture, includ-
ing $45.9 million in one-time
funds for infrastructure needs
as his $122.6 billion overall
budget for 2016-17 envisions a
continued economic recovery.
The $439.2 million for the
CDFA’s regular expenditures
would still be a sizable boost
from the $414.4 million bud-
geted for the department in the
current fiscal year and includes
more funding for a trio of initia-
tives aimed at reducing green-
house gases, Secretary Karen
Ross said in a blog post.
“It’s called climate-smart
agriculture because it rep-
resents a set of practices that
sustainably increase productiv-
ity and resilience while reduc-
ing greenhouse gas emissions,”
Ross said.
In all, $75 million from the
state’s cap-and-trade program
would be set aside for:
• A dairy digester research
and development program ($35
million).
• Financial incentives for
growers to put in more efficient
water systems ($20 million).
• A program to increase car-
bon levels in California’s agri-
cultural soils ($20 million).
“CDFA is honored and
pleased to have the opportunity
to maintain these programs for
the people of California,” Ross
said. “We already have success
stories to share.”
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
Gov. Jerry Brown answers a question concerning his proposed 2016-17 state budget at a news
conference Jan. 7 in Sacramento. Brown unveiled the $122.6 billion spending plan that calls for
increases in spending on education, health care and the state infrastructure.
The water program — called
the State Water Efficiency and
Enhancement Program, or
SWEEP — has already allocat-
ed nearly $18 million, and more
than $11 million has been pro-
vided for five new dairy digester
projects in the state, she said.
Brown’s ledger would also
provide $1.3 million and eight
positions to implement Sen-
ate Bill 27, which introduces
new limits on agricultural use
in livestock. The bill requires
that CDFA develop antimicro-
bial stewardship guidelines, in-
cluding antibiotic selection and
administering policy for veter-
inarians and best-management
practices for producers, and
track antibiotic use.
Nearly $3.3 million and
18 workers would be used to
implement a package of bills
passed last year that require the
CDFA to license and regulate
the cultivation of medical mar-
ijuana, including regulations to
minimize grow sites’ environ-
mental impacts, according to a
budget summary.
The budget also includes $40
million for an agricultural lands
program administered by CDFA
and six other agencies, which
aims to keep farm and ranch
land in agriculture through ease-
ments. In all, Brown’s budget
envisions 1,490.3 positions for
CDFA in fiscal 2016-17 — a
decrease from the 1,578.7 cur-
rently funded.
The CDFA’s portion comes
amid a budget that would also
devote $9.5 billion to the Natu-
ral Resources Agency, includ-
ing $323.1 million for contin-
ued response to the drought
and an additional $215 mil-
lion for drought-related wild-
fire suppression costs.
Idaho farm cash receipts, net
income down significantly in 2015
Capital Press
BOISE — For the first
time in six years, University
of Idaho agricultural econ-
omist Garth Taylor had bad
news to report to lawmakers
about total revenue from Ida-
ho agriculture.
During UI’s annual report
to Idaho legislators on the
health of Idaho agriculture
Jan. 8, Taylor projected farm
cash receipts in Idaho were
down 9 percent in 2015 com-
pared with 2014.
The 2015 decrease follows
five straight years of increases
in Idaho farm cash receipts.
According to projections
by Taylor and UI ag econo-
mist Ben Eborn, farm cash
receipts in Idaho totaled $7.87
billion in 2015, down $800
million from 2014’s record
total of $8.66 billion.
Idaho net farm income
totaled a projected $1.34 bil-
lion in 2015, down 31 percent
from 2014. Net farm income
in Idaho reached a record $2
billion in 2013.
Those forecasts, which are
based on the calendar year,
are included in UI’s annual
“The Financial Condition of
Idaho Agriculture” report,
which was released Jan. 8.
According to the report,
revenue from milk, Idaho’s
top farm commodity in terms
of cash receipts, totaled $2.3
billion in 2015, down 27 per-
cent from 2014’s record total
of $3.2 billion.
But revenue from cattle
and calves reached a record
$2.2 billion in Idaho in 2015,
8 percent more than in 2014.
On the crop side, Idaho
wheat revenue dropped 17
percent to $506 million, hay
receipts totaled $485 million,
a 12 percent decline from
2014, and potato revenue was
off 3 percent, to $871 million.
Cash receipts for sugar
beets increased 19 percent to
$300 million and barley rev-
enue rose 7 percent to $286
million.
Total crop revenue was $3
billion in 2015, down 3 per-
cent from 2014, and livestock
revenue totaled $4.8 billion,
off 13 percent.
12th Annual
Cattleman’s Workshop
Opportunities in a
Changing Beef Cattle Industry
Saturday, January 16th, 2016
BLUE MOUNTAIN CONFERENCE CENTER
404 12th STREET, LA GRANDE, OR
9:00 - 9:15 Workshop Introductions & Overview
9:15 - 10:15 Opportunities for a Cow/Calf Operation
in a Changing Industry; Nevil Speer; VP,
U.S. Operations, AgriClear, Bowling Green, Kentucky
10:15 - 10:45 Break (provided by sponsors)
10:45 - 11:45 Current and Future Economic Outlook
for the US Beef Industry; David Anderson;
Texas A&M Livestock and Food Products Marketing
Economist, College Station, Texas
11:45 - 1:00 Lunch (provided by sponsors)
1:00 – 2:00 Sustainable Rangeland Grazing for
Western Rangelands; Chad Boyd;
Rangeland Ecologist, USDA Agricultural Research
Service, EOARC Burns Station, Burns, Oregon
2:00 – 3:00 Opportunities for More Efficient Cow/Calf
Production; Padlock Ranch Perspective;
Cody Peck; Operations Analyst, Padlock Ranch
Company, Ranchester, Wyoming
3:00 – 3:15 Break (provided by sponsors)
3:15 – 4:15 Ranching in the Presence of Wolves;
Casey Anderson; Ranch Manager, OX Ranch, Bear, Idaho
Note: For more information, please contact
Kim McKague or Tim DelCurto at (541) 562-5129
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/eoarcunion
ROP-2-2-2/#6
By SEAN ELLIS
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