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8 CapitalPress.com January 22, 2016 Washington Don’t make farmers obtain a license to hire, Washington court urged Salmons said L&I had never been applied the licensing law to managers paid a single fee to run all aspects of farming, including hiring for their farm only. “You can’t be a farm labor By DON JENKINS contractor for yourself, you can Capital Press only be a farm labor contractor Every Washington farmer for another,” he said. who leases land will need a Columbia Legal Services state license to hire workers attorney Lori Jordan argued the if the state Supreme Court law applied to Northwest be- DI¿UPV D IHGHUDO MXGJH¶V SR- cause it was paid to hire work- sition, an attorney warned ers and lacked the assets to en- the state Supreme Court on sure workers would be paid. Thursday. “They were a shell enti- The result would be a sense- ty, with no resources of their less but sharp distinction be- own,” she said. tween farmers who own their Justice Debra Stephens land and those who lease it, asked whether the same could with the renters facing an ad- be said of individual farmers ditional regulation, said Da- who lease land. vid Salmons, representing the “Why do you presuppose corporate landowners and for- they have the assets? They mer managers don’t own the of three Yakima land. They proba- “You can’t be County apple or- bly don’t own the chards. equipment,” Ste- a farm labor “You could phens said. contractor for have two farm- Jordan said the ers with orchards yourself, you can law doesn’t apply right next to each to farmers who use only be a farm their own foreman other engaged in the exact same to hire. activity,” he said. labor contractor for “So this idea “One would that all of a sudden another.” have to be a farm every agricultural labor contractor David Salmons, represent- entity in the state and the other ing the corporate landown- of Washington is wouldn’t, even ers and former managers going to be cov- though both only of three Yakima County ered (by the act) is hire workers for apple orchards simply not true,” their own opera- she said. tion.” Salmons at- The court heard oral argu- tacked claims by L&I that it al- ments in Saucedo v. John Han- ways required farmer managers cock Life Insurance, a 2012 like Northwest to obtain a labor class-action lawsuit that grew contractors license. into arguments over the scope Northwest had been in busi- of the state’s Farm Labor Con- ness for about 30 years and tractors Act. L&I never brought up the sub- The act requires companies ject, Salmons said. that recruit and hire out farm- ³7KLVZDVQRWDÀ\E\QLJKW workers to have a license from operation,” he said. “It was well the Department of Labor and known to the Department of Industries and post a bond to Labor and Industries and never ensure workers will be paid in did anyone suggest it needed the event the recruiter goes out a farm labor contractor’s li- of business and has no assets to cense.” ¿OHDFODLPDJDLQVW He noted that L&I updat- U.S. District Judge Thomas ed its website describing who O. Rice ruled that the manager needs a labor contractor’s li- of the three orchards, Northwest cense after Judge Rice issued Management Realty Services, his ruling. should have had a license. By then, Northwest was out The landowners, Hancock of business, Salmons said. and pension fund investor Tex- “No one had any idea there as Municipal Plans Consor- was this requirement. Once it tium, were required under the was brought up in this litiga- law to make sure Northwest tion, Northwest attempted to had a license, as was Califor- get (a license), was shut down nia-based Farmland Manage- by the department because of ment Services, which was an the pending litigation and was intermediary between the land- forced out of business,” he said. owners and farm managers, he Farmland Management has ruled. posted a $1 million bond, pend- Rice made all of the de- ing the case’s outcome. fendants liable for paying 722 The court heard the ar- workers a total of $1 million guments at the University of and their attorneys $377,214. Washington’s Bothell campus. The defendants appealed to Justices occasionally hold ses- the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of sions outside Olympia to give Appeals, which asked the state the court wider public expo- Supreme Court to interpret the sure. There is no timeline for state’s law. the court to rule. Case to define who’s a farm labor contractor 6WDWHKHOSVZLOG¿UHYLFWLPVEX\KD\ By DAN WHEAT Capital Press OKANOGAN, Wash. — The state has provided $500,000 to help Okanogan County ranchers buy extra hay because RIORVVHVIURPZLOG¿UHV It’s a “godsend for some folks,” but it’s only one-sixth of the $3 million local ranchers estimated in November that they would need to get through June or July of this year, said Craig T. Nelson, manager of the Okano- gan Conservation District. “If it helps pull them back from the edge, keeping them viable, it’s done its purpose, but people are worried about the health of the livestock industry in Okanogan because of limited grazing. People are selling off livestock,” Nelson said. The Washington State Conservation Commission, in Olympia, issued a news re- lease Jan. 15 announcing the funding and inviting ranchers to apply for it. But Nelson said the program was approved in mid-December, ranchers were well aware of it and the vast majority of dollars are already spoken for. Applications may still be PDGHDWWKHGLVWULFWRI¿FHRU$J Technologies in Okanogan. Dan Wheat/Capital Press Monte Andrews, owner of Ag Technologies, a feed store in Okano- JDQ:DVKLVVHHQZLWKGRQDWHGKD\IRUZLOG¿UHYLFWLPVODVW$XJ 31. The state has now provided funding to help ranchers buy hay. Producers were limited to 75 percent of their cost of purchas- ing hay and up to $10,000 per round. Some made it to a second round, Nelson said. A round is determined by a local committee of the district established to approve requests based on loss of hay and grazing forage, loss of grazing only, size of herd and whether assistance had previously been received, he said. A round is basically when the committee worked its way through all the requests and ranchers started new purchases, he said, acknowledging it’s a ORRVH V\VWHP VLQFH VRPH ¿UVW time requests came in after the second round started. He said his staff was gone for the day and he did not know many ranchers are receiving money. The money came from the state Department of Ecology through the Washington State Conservation Commission that oversees conservation districts, said Ron Shultz, commission policy director. “To my knowledge, this hasn’t been done before, at least in recent times. We have built critter paths and fencing near &KHKDOLV LQ UHFRYHU\ RI ÀRRGV but buying replacement feed is a new thing,” he said. “We are trying to meet real needs of landowners.” The idea originated with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wolf Advisory Group to help prevent any in- creasing interactions between cattle and wolves because of the loss of grazing ground, Shultz said. The appropriation was ap- proved by DOE and WSCC without legislative action, Shul- tz said. Funding is limited to 2015 victims but the governor’s supplemental budget request LQFOXGHVPLOOLRQIRU¿UHUH- covery that includes fencing, re- seeding of grass and other costs UHODWHGWRWKH¿UHVKHVDLG The action was praised by Reps. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, who is an Okanogan rancher, and Steve Tharinger, D-Dunge- ness, chair of the House Capital Budget Committee. A couple dozen ranchers have lost the ability to graze thousands of acres of rangeland in Okanogan County because of ZLOG¿UHVWKHSDVWWZRVXPPHUV that burned more than 1 million acres. Many are hard-pressed WR¿QGVSULQJVXPPHUDQGIDOO grazing. Dairy industry disputes need for safety bill House committee holds hearing By DON JENKINS Capital Press OLYMPIA — Farm groups Monday defended the safety record of dairies, arguing that advocates of new safety mea- sures are exaggerating work- place dangers. “The claims are inconsis- tent with the facts,” Wash- ington State Dairy Federation policy director Jay Gordon said. The House Labor and Workplace Standards Com- mittee held a hearing on House Bill 2484, legisla- tion motivated in part by the drowning of dairy worker Randy Vasquez last February Don Jenkins/Capital Press Alberto Garcia of Sunnyside, Wash., stands Jan. 18 on the Capitol Campus to support legislation that would require dairies to adopt state-pre- scribed safety measures. in Mabton. Vasquez, 27, was found dead in a front-end loader submerged in a manure la- goon. Vasquez had metham- phetamine in his system, ac- cording to the Yakima County coroner. “This particular incident is not a dairy problem. It’s a drug problem,” said Gordon, a Grays Harbor County dairy farmer. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Brady Walkinshaw, D-Seattle, said he was more motivated by Department of Labor and Industries statistics. Accord- ing to L&I, 11 dairy workers have been killed since 2000. The bill would require all dairy workers to undergo safety training and for dairies to adopt state-prescribed safe- ty measures, such as marking, lighting and fencing lagoons. Workers who alleged safety violations would have whis- tle-blower protection, and dairies would be subject to spot inspections and substan- WLDO¿QHVIRUYLRODWLRQV L&I has not taken a posi- tion on the bill. The measure has little chance of passing this year, especially in the Republi- can-controlled Senate. Walk- inshaw, who said he grew up in a part of Whatcom County with many dairies, said he will continue to pursue the issue. “I hope it’s the beginning of an important conversation. We aren’t going to solve this in 2016,” he said. In 2014, out of every 100 dairy workers, 2.7 suffered an injury serious enough to miss at least three days of work, an injury rate nearly double compared to all occupations, but 20 percent lower than con- struction workers, according to L&I. 3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVWVWULSHUXVWRXWORRNµPRGHUDWH¶ yield loss. That’s considered a “moderate” level of stripe rust. Wheat farmers will face a Most commercial wheat moderate threat from stripe cultivars grown by farmers UXVWWKLV\HDUD3DFL¿F1RUWK- typically experience up to half west expert says, meaning an the loss of highly susceptible early application of fungicide varieties, Chen said. to ward off the disease may Last year’s forecast was not be necessary. for roughly 35 percent yield USDA Agricultural Re- loss in highly susceptible va- search Service research genet- rieties. icist Xianming Chen’s early Increased winter moisture forecast indicates that highly doesn’t have a bearing on rust susceptible winter wheat vari- survival, Chen said. “Because HWLHVLQWKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVW the temperature is very low, could have about 30 percent rust does not grow,” he said. By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Rust infections need a temperature above 23 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter to survive. Colder weather kills rust in the leaf tissue, Chen said. An early application of fungicide at the time of her- bicide application for winter wheat will generally not be necessary for growers, he said. Last year, Chen used only one application of fungicide RQKLVWHVW¿HOGQHDU3XOOPDQ Wash., but may require two this year. Chen said a second application would have helped control the rust completely. A second application depends on weather conditions, and would FRPHGXULQJWKHZKHDWÀRZHU- ing stage, Chen said. If weather conditions fa- vorable to stripe rust occur, yield loss could be higher, Chen said. Chen will make another forecast in early March based on the winter weather condi- tions. He said it will be more accurate than his early fore- cast. According to his report, no rust was observed in Wash- ington’s Whitman, Adams, Lincoln, Grant and Benton counties in November. But Chen received stripe rust sam- ples from volunteer wheat and grasses from southern Idaho in late October and early No- vember. Chen recommends farmers select wheat varieties that are highly resistant to stripe rust. Farmers should compare a va- riety’s rust resistance against its yield capabilities and ad- aptation to the area, he said. -RQHVQDPHG3DFL¿F Northwest cherry king YAKIMA, Wash. — Den- nis Jones, a Zillah grower, was crowned 72nd king of WKH 3DFL¿F 1RUWKZHVW FKHUU\ industry at the annual Cherry Institute of Northwest Cherry Growers in Yakima on Jan. 15. Jones and his brother, Will, raise 11 varieties of cherries along with apples, pears and row crops. 4-4/#4N Jones is a member of the Cherry Institute board of di- rectors and the Washington Cherry Marketing Commit- tee. He has served on the Washington Tree Fruit Re- search Commission’s Cherry Research Review Committee. Jones and his wife, Linda, have four children and seven grandchildren. — Dan Wheat Reports reviewed by: Ronald A. Sorensen CA Geophysicist PGP #957 & Suzanne Dudziak Geologist OR.G1273/WA.747 4-4/#24