Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current, February 12, 2016, Image 7

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Newspaper Page TextFebruary 12, 2016 7 CapitalPress.com U.S. surpasses Germany in hop production By DAN WHEAT Capital Press MOXEE, Wash. — For only the third time in the past 10 years, the United States bested Germany to lead the world in hop production last year, according to a ﬁ nal 2015 report by the Hop Growers of America. The U.S. — overwhelm- ingly Washington, Oregon and Idaho — produced 80.2 million pounds of hops, which was 42 percent of the world production, compared to Ger- many at 62.2 million pounds and 33 percent, according to the report. The U.S. topped Germany in 2013 and 2009, but other- wise Germany has led since 2006. Taken as a whole, Eu- rope always produces about half the world’s hops. After Europe and the U.S., China is Dan Wheat/Capital Press A worker fastens trellis wire to poles about 15 feet above the ground for a new hop planting at a farm between Prosser and Ben- ton City, Wash., last March. The planting was postponed because of drought. Fields like this will be planted this year. the other main producer, rang- ing from 6 to 16 percent. Oil from hop cones is used for ﬂ avoring and stabilizing beer. 2015 was a tough year be- cause of drought in Europe, where rain, not irrigation, mostly waters the crop, said Ann George, executive direc- tor of Hop Growers of Amer- ica and the Washington Hop Commission. It was a difﬁ cult year for aroma varieties in Washington’s Yakima Valley because of drought and ex- treme heat early in the grow- ing season during critical cone development, she said. Total world hop production was 190.4 million pounds in 2015, down from 208.1 mil- lion in 2014 but greater than 178.4 million in 2013. The re- cord in the past 10 years was 245 million pounds in 2008. Lower production in 2015 means a deﬁ cit in alpha hops which will be made up by inventories from past years, George said. With Yakima Basin wa- ter reservoirs at 117 percent of normal and Washing- ton’s snowpack at 109 per- cent of normal, more water for irrigation is anticipated along with higher yields and more acreage going into production, she said. “The unusually high tem- peratures experienced this past summer were unprecedented and we do not anticipate a re- peat of an early and persistent heat wave,” George said. Some Yakima Valley grow- ers held off on new plantings last spring because of drought but likely will resume nor- mal plantings this spring, said Jaki Brophy, communications director of Hop Growers of America. Craft brewery demand for aroma varieties of hops contin- ues to drive demand and India pale ale continues to be the clear beer style favorite, with two times the volume in 2015 over 2011, Brophy said. “Going through our sta- tistics, it is clear that growers are putting more hops in the ground to meet the needs of both domestic and internation- al brewers,” George said. It was promising, she said, that the Brewers Association reported, at the recent Hop Growers of America national convention, that about 95 per- cent of its members are con- tracting their hop supply. The more contracts grow- ers and merchants have, the better they can serve domestic and global brewers, and it’s “a pretty big gamble” for brewers to rely on the spot market, she said. For the second straight year, the Hop Growers of Amer- ica report includes acreage harvested outside the Paciﬁ c Northwest. Michigan leads at 320 acres, New York has 250, Wisconsin 170, Colorado 125 and California has 85 acres. Washington harvested 32,158 acres of hops in 2015, Oregon 6,612 acres and Idaho 4,863 acres. Senate resolutions would bless Turnbull refuge reopens after closure water agreement, direct recharge By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press and Senate Concurrent Reso- lution 135 allows lawmakers to be educated about the situation and “to give their blessing to the (agreement),” Bair said. “This resolution recognizes that the state supports the goal of the settlement agreement to stabilize and reverse the trend of declining ESPA water lev- els,” the resolution states. “This settlement will resolve the mul- tiple water delivery calls that have led to protracted litiga- tion and economic uncertainty for all water users in the upper Snake River basin.” The agreement includes the state’s promise to inject 250,000 acre-feet of recharge water into the aquifer annually and SCR 136 directs the water board to begin developing in earnest the capacity to achieve that goal. “It gives the participants in the ... agreement a level of com- fort that the legislature is direct- ing the (Idaho Department of Water Resources) and the water board to do everything in their power to recharge 250,0000 acre-feet of water into the aqui- fer,” Bair said. Addressing the resolutions, Lt. Gov. Brad Little told Food Producers of Idaho members Feb. 3 that there is an aggres- sive water plan to ensure the agreement stands and partici- pants and the state can’t take their foot off of it because of how important the ESPA is for agriculture. Drought disaster declarations pay dividends for Idaho ranchers By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press POCATELLO, Idaho — Twin Falls County rancher Jared Brackett had to sell some cows and lease extra pasture to cope with drought-related forage shortages last spring. But he knows help is on the way to cover a portion of his drought losses, thanks to federal programs that were triggered when Idaho coun- ties declared drought emer- gencies. According to the federal Farm Service Agency for Ida- ho, the Livestock Forage Pro- gram, which will help Brack- ett, has been the “big ticket item” lately among programs available to aid producers af- fected by drought. FSA paid Idaho ranchers $21 million to offset forage losses in FY 2015, and ofﬁ cials say they’re on pace to eclipse that amount in FY 2016, for losses that oc- curred last season but are still being claimed. Last season, all but two Idaho counties were classiﬁ ed as being in severe drought, making them eligible for fed- eral assistance and low-inter- est loans. No Idaho counties currently remain in severe drought status. Brackett also took advan- tage of a drought-emergency option allowing producers to defer tax payments. “When we have a bad drought, es- pecially like we were in last spring, it’s important the counties get de- clared,” Brack- Samson ett said, adding there are sever- al programs for crops but few for livestock. “Most ranchers are pretty independent. We don’t take a lot of handouts, and it’s not like it covers 100 percent of our costs, but it helps in tighter years.” The deadline for payments in the current ﬁ scal year was Jan. 31, but producers can ap- ply for back losses in the next payment cycle. Bingham County rancher Chris Dalley claimed for- age assistance in FY 2015 for 2014 losses. The funding helped him to buy bred heif- ers to replace cows that failed to breed due to drought stress, and it was the ﬁ rst time in sev- eral years he’d taken an emer- gency payment. “Those drought-relief pro- grams help a bunch,” he said. Idaho ranchers also re- ceived $250,000 in FY 2015 from the Livestock Indem- nity Program, which helps cover livestock deaths due to adverse weather or attacks by federally reintroduced ani- mals. They received $500,000 in emergency loans, which must be repaid with 1.75 per- cent interest. Demand for livestock emergency programs has also been heavy nationally, where $2 billion was budgeted to last the life of the Farm Bill, but $6 billion has already been paid, said Idaho FSA Execu- tive Director Mark Samson. Samson credits the emer- gency programs with keep- ing prices steady by enabling growers to avoid culling their herds. “It has been very beneﬁ cial to the cattle industry overall in the U.S. and in Idaho,” Sam- son said. Samson said the new Grasslands Conservation Re- serve Program should help producers facing forage short- ages in the future. It offers land owners payments for planting property in grasses but allows them to graze, un- der a specialized plan devel- oped by USDA’s Natural Re- sources Conservation Service. The enrollment deadline is Feb. 27, though payment rates are still being established. Idaho has 100,000 open acres before reaching its CRP cap. During FY 2015, Samson said FSA paid $415 million to Idaho farmers and ranchers, including roughly $240 mil- lion in sugar loans, $98 mil- lion on other loan programs, $24 million on disaster pro- grams, $37 million on conser- vation programs and $15 mil- lion on commodity payments, mostly for corn. 290 Spokane 2 90 Opportunity 90 Cheney C r e ek 904 k N 27 195 Idaho Wash. Courtesy of Idaho Department of Water Resources Water ﬂ ows through the new Milepost 28 bypass around a hydro plant within the Milner-Gooding Canal, built to increase the state’s aquifer recharge capacity. A concurrent resolution introduced in the Idaho Senate would enable legislators to provide their blessing to the 2015 settlement agreement between groundwater pumpers and surface water users in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. SPOKANE an . e R BOISE — A concurrent resolution introduced in the Idaho Senate would enable leg- islators to bless the landmark 2015 settlement agreement be- tween groundwater pumpers and surface water users in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. Another related resolution would direct the Idaho Water Resources Board to begin de- veloping in earnest the capacity needed for the state to recharge 250,000 acre-feet of water into the aquifer annually, which is a major part of the agreement. A third resolution encour- ages the water board to address declining groundwater levels in the state’s other aquifers. All three were introduced by Sen. Steve Bair, R-Black- foot, a retired farmer, and print- ed Feb. 3. The ESPA agreement solves a long-running ﬁ ght between surface water users with senior water rights and groundwa- ter pumpers with more junior rights. The seven members of the Surface Water Coalition have claimed in water calls that groundwater pumping in the ESPA has resulted in declining spring ﬂ ows. The agreement prevents curtailment of almost 1 million acres irrigated by groundwater pumping. Both parties wanted to avoid a legislative solution that required changing Idaho law 291 ok Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge o c Capital Press A wildlife refuge near Cheney, Wash., and several others around the West were closed over the weekend due to an “abundance of caution” about the possibility of pro- tests, a U.S. Fish and Wild- life Service spokeswoman says. Turnbull National Wild- life Refuge was closed Feb. 6-7. “Given the situation in Eastern Oregon, we felt it might be appropriate to close Turnbull out of an abundance of caution,” Fish and Wildlife Service spokes- woman Miel Corbett said. “There were no specific threats to Turnbull or to oth- er refuges in the area, but we simply know the situation in Eastern Oregon has sparked some strong feelings in the public. We just wanted to be sure we were appropriately Wash. 2 Sp By SEAN ELLIS Area in detail 395 R Capital Press graphic taking care of the public’s safety and the safety of our employees.” Several refuges in Neva- da were also closed. Corbett said there were no specific threats there, either. Other refuges remained open. Corbett said she did not know how the agency de- cided which refuges to keep 3 Years @ 0% open and which to close. Spokane County Sher- iff Ozzie Knezovich said he recently communicated with an individual via email who was calling for a protest at Turnbull, but he doesn’t think it was a factor in the closure. Knezovich said his of- fice is watching how things progress in Malheur County, Ore.. “We are aware there has been a national call from the Oregon ranch area to try to replicate this throughout the United States, so we’re keeping our eyes open,” he said. Corbett said there were no protests at the refuges, but there have been protests in Spokane, Olympia and Burns, Ore. “I believe the refuge will continue to be open,” she said. 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