16 CapitalPress.com
January 29, 2016
Idaho ag groups eye dyed diesel report
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho’s agricul-
ture industry is keeping a wary
eye on a new report that offers
several options to enhance
enforcement against the ille-
gal use of dyed fuel on Idaho
roads.
Highlights of the 61-page
report were presented to law-
makers Jan. 21 by Idaho State
Tax Commission Chairman
Ken Roberts.
The report offers nine op-
tions for increasing dyed diesel
enforcement in Idaho. A trans-
portation funding bill passed
by the 2015 Idaho Legislature
directed the ISTC and Idaho
State Police to develop recom-
mendations for greater dyed
fuel enforcement.
Dyed fuel is also called
dyed diesel or farm diesel and
is exempt from state and feder-
al fuel taxes because it’s only
for use in off-road, unlicensed
vehicles. It is used heavily in
the agricultural, mining, timber
and construction industries.
The state tax on diesel is 32
cents per gallon and the federal
rate is 24.4 cents per gallon.
Idaho ag groups told legis-
lators last year they would sup-
port increased enforcement of
the state’s dyed fuel laws. But
they won’t support anything
that is burdensome or inequi-
table to agriculture, said Milk
Producers of Idaho Executive
Director Brent Olmstead.
“We told them last year we
support enhanced enforcement
and we will if that’s what it is,”
he said. “It’s an issue we will
be monitoring.”
No testing, or dipping, of
fuel tanks for dyed diesel is
done in Idaho. Law enforce-
ment officers can only check
for the fuel if they see it leaking
from a vehicle after responding
to an accident.
Options for enhanced en-
forcement in the report include
implementing a dyed diesel
testing program, creating dedi-
cated fuel tax investigation and
prosecution units, increasing
fines for violations, creating a
reward fund and, in lieu of a
diesel fuel tax, implementing
a weight or mile tax for diesel
vehicles weighing over 26,000
pounds.
One of the options includes
having people pay the tax and
apply for an income tax rebate
later, an idea that has been beat-
en back by Idaho Farm Bureau
Federation and other ag groups
in past years.
Dennis Tanikuni, IFBF’s as-
Idaho sugar industry poised for
success over next several years
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho’s sugar
beet industry was success-
ful in fiscal year 2016 and is
poised for more success over
the next several years, accord-
ing to industry leaders.
“I would (describe) our
company as strong and
poised,” Amalgamated Sugar
Co. Chairman Duane Grant
told Idaho lawmakers recent-
ly.
Amalgamated is owned
and operated by the Snake
River Sugar Co., a coopera-
tive of 780 growers in Idaho,
Oregon and Washington.
The company’s growers
harvested 182,123 acres in fis-
cal 2016, up 2.4 percent from
fiscal 2015, and yields reached
a record company-wide. As
a result, Amalgamated pro-
duced 11.6 percent more
sugar in fiscal 2016 and total
sales revenue is projected to
increase 19.7 percent to $898
million.
The increased revenue is
a result of the additional pro-
duction and a modest price
increase.
Grant, a Rupert area sug-
ar beet farmer, told the Cap-
ital Press that the company’s
board of directors and man-
agement “have made good
decisions and good invest-
ments over the last five years
and that has resulted in our
company being poised for
good success in the next half
decade.”
The company has invested
$150 million in its three sug-
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A top Oregon labor offi-
cial recently outlined how
farmers can compensate
piece-rate workers under
new paid sick time regula-
tions, but the Oregon Farm
Bureau still hopes to change
the rules.
Last year, Oregon law-
makers passed a bill requir-
ing employers with 10 or
more workers to pay for 40
hours of sick leave per year,
concerning farmers who
with legislation, some form of
inspection program should re-
ceive serious consideration by
lawmakers.”
The report estimates Idaho
could be losing about $11 mil-
lion a year from the misuse of
dyed fuel.
“They put a lot of work
into (the report) and presented
it really well,” said Sen. Bert
Brackett, a Republican rancher
from Rogerson and chairman
of the Senate Transportation
Committee.
“Collectively,
we’ll have to see if there’s the
will or interest to have an en-
forcement program here in the
state.”
Hazelnut acreage
grows as farmers
salvage old orchards
Removal of diseased
trees is slow while
new orchards planted
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Amalgamated Sugar Co. Chairman Duane Grant stands in front of a sugar beet pile in Rupert,
Idaho, on Dec. 14, 2015. Grant, a Rupert farmer, said the company and its 780 sugar beet growers
are poised for success over the next several years.
ar processing plants in Idaho
over the last four years and
“that’s resulted in our cost of
operating decreasing signifi-
cantly,” he said. “That sets us
up well.”
Amalgamated is on track to
achieve 18 percent sugar con-
tent in its beets company-wide
by 2020. Sugar content is at
17.4 percent currently.
About 5,000 acres of sug-
ar beets didn’t get planted in
Malheur County, Ore., last
year because of a water short-
age, but with current snow ac-
cumulation, “Odds are we’re
going to get those planted this
year,” Grant said. “That will
be very positive for the com-
pany.”
Amalgamated has $82 mil-
lion in cash reserves.
Like any business, the
company has its challenges,
“but we’re in a pretty good
spot,” said Amalgamated
CEO John McCreedy. “We’re
in a strong position. If weath-
er and market conditions stay
strong, we should have anoth-
er good year” in fiscal 2017.
Grant told lawmakers that
the adoption of genetically en-
gineered sugar beets in 2008
has provided the company a
major benefit. The average
annual yield increase during
the 16 years prior to 2008 has
doubled since all of Amal-
gamated’s growers switched
to genetically engineered
beets, he said.
“We have realized a sig-
nificant advantage from bio-
technology in our area,” he
said. The yield increases put
Amalgamated on a trajectory
“to be the lowest-cost sugar
producer in the world as that
trend continues.”
Labor official offers paid sick leave advice
Questions remain over
compensation for
piece-rate workers
sistant director of governmen-
tal affairs, said Farm Bureau
would support more enforce-
ment efforts, “but we want to
look at all the alternatives and
make sure it is equitable and
probable cause-based. We want
to look at this report closer be-
fore we go any further.”
IFBF would adamantly op-
pose any effort to have people
eligible to use dyed fuel pay
the tax and apply for a rebate,
Tanikuni said.
The report’s executive sum-
mary says the agencies aren’t
advocating any of the nine op-
tions, “but if the Idaho Legis-
lature decides to move forward
pay based on harvested crop
amounts and similar piece
rates rather than per-hour
wages.
The Oregon Farm Bureau
criticized regulations enacted
by Oregon’s Bureau of Labor
and Industries for insuffi-
ciently explaining how em-
ployers should calculate the
regular rate of compensation
for piece rate workers who
take sick time.
If a regular rate of pay
can’t be established, employ-
ers can pay workers the mini-
mum wage during paid leave.
Gerhard Taeubel, admin-
istrator of BOLI’S Wage and
Hour Division, said farmers
should calculate the regular
rate of pay using the same
method as employers who
5-4/#4x
must pay overtime to piece-
rate workers.
The total amount of mon-
ey earned by an employee
during the most recent week
should be divided by the
number of hours worked,
Taeubel said at the recent Ag
Summit conference in Salem,
Ore., organized by the Dunn
Carney law firm.
While it’s “helpful to
know” how BOLI will inter-
pret the piece-rate provision,
the agency’s view may not be
shared by workers who can
file lawsuits against employ-
ers over alleged violations of
the paid leave statute, said
Jenny Dresler, state public
policy director for the Ore-
gon Farm Bureau.
BOLI’s
explanation
doesn’t account for some sce-
narios encountered by farm-
workers who are expected to
switch between tasks that pay
different rates, Dresler said.
For example, a worker
may be compensated at an
hourly wage for pruning but
then paid a piece rate for har-
vesting, she said.
During the upcoming
legislative session, Oregon
Farm Bureau will support
Senate Bill 1581, which pro-
poses to clarify and fix con-
fusing provisions of the paid
sick leave rules, Dresler said.
Under the bill, farmers
would simply pay the min-
imum wage to piece rate
workers on sick leave rath-
er than have to calculate the
regular rate of pay.
5-7/#7
Hazelnut acreage is grow-
ing in Oregon as farmers plant
new trees but are reluctant to
remove orchards that are slow-
ly succumbing to Eastern fil-
bert blight.
Michael McDaniel, who
operates Pacific Ag Survey
and is tracking hazelnut acre-
age, said the high prices paid
for hazelnuts in recent years
has discouraged growers from
replacing older varieties, such
as Barcelona, with new variet-
ies that are resistant to the fun-
gal pathogen.
“People are doing what
they can to make the Barce-
lona and other varieties really
last,” he said. “I was surprised
by how much mature acreage
is still hanging on.”
In 2015, Oregon had more
than 45,000 acres of hazelnuts
in the ground, with about two-
thirds of the orchards being
11 years or older, McDaniel
said at the recent Nut Growers
Society meeting in Corvallis,
Ore.
Roughly 25 percent of the
hazelnut acreage consisted of
trees younger than five years,
and another 9 percent consist-
ed of trees between five and 10
years, he said.
According to USDA’s Ag
Census, Oregon had about
37,000 acres of hazelnuts in
2012, which means the acre-
age has grown 22 percent
since then, which translates to
an additional 2,700 new acres
a year.
Of the new acreage, farm-
ers have planted more than half
at double-density, McDaniel
said. This method speeds up
the profitability of orchards but
eventually requires the remov-
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Dwayne Bush of Bush’s
Nursery displays hazelnut trees
at the recent Nut Growers
Society meeting in Corvallis,
Ore. Growers are planting more
hazelnut orchards and new
Eastern filbert blight-resistant
genes are being incorporated in
the breeding of trees.
al of trees.
It’s unclear how quickly
orchards of Barcelona — the
traditional cultivar grown in
Oregon’s Willamette Valley —
will be replaced by new plant-
ings of Jefferson, a popular
EFB-resistant variety released
in 2009 by Oregon State Uni-
versity, said Garry Rodakow-
ski, chairman of the Oregon
Hazelnut Commission.
However, it’s certain that
the hazelnut industry will need
to ramp up production to com-
pete on the global market, he
said. In the past, for example,
a food manufacturer canceled
plans for a cereal that promi-
nently featured hazelnuts due
to insufficient supplies of the
crop.
Production was particular-
ly problematic in 2015, when
Oregon farms harvested fewer
than 31,000 tons of hazelnuts
even though USDA estimated
a crop of 39,000 tons.
That shortfall has put the
squeeze on processors, said
Rodakowski. “They promised
people they’d have nuts they
can’t deliver now.”
In some cases, farmers are
planting annual crops between
the rows of new orchards to
keep generating revenue on
their properties before trees
mature.
Idaho’s Caine vet teaching
center to close this year
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — University of
Idaho officials announced Jan.
27 that the College of Agricul-
tural and Life Science’s Caine
Veterinary Teaching Center in
Caldwell will close this year.
Veterinary faculty and stu-
dents at the center will instead
be spread throughout the state
and work more directly with
livestock producers.
CALS Dean John Foltz
made the surprise announce-
ment to lawmakers in the
morning, shortly before UI
sent out a news release ex-
plaining the move.
“We believe this change is
necessary to reflect changes
in the regional veterinary ed-
ucation program and to better
prepare students to work with
Idaho’s livestock producers,”
Foltz stated in the news re-
lease.
The Caine Center opened
in 1977.
UI is part of a regional
veterinary medicine program
with Washington State Uni-
versity’s College of Veteri-
nary Medicine.
The new model will result
in veterinary faculty positions
formerly housed at the Caine
Center shifting to UI’s near-
by Caldwell Research and
Extension Center, the Nancy
M. Cummings Research, Ex-
tension and Education Center
near Salmon, UI’s Moscow
campus and the Magic Valley.
Reports reviewed by: Ronald A. Sorensen CA Geophysicist PGP #957
& Suzanne Dudziak Geologist OR.G1273/WA.747
5-4/#24