February 26, 2016
CapitalPress.com
7
Senate approves
Northwest hard cider makers Oregon
increased Tillamook
see some good times ahead County wetland scrutiny
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
If industry insiders are cor-
rect, hard cider producers in
Oregon and Washington are
positioned where craft beer
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were before them.
That is, facing some hur-
dles, but on a roll, collaborat-
ing with each other and poised
to get bigger and better. Hard
cider — the alcoholic cousin
of sweet apple cider — ap-
pears to be favored by the
same people who like a mi-
FUREUHZRUERWWOHRI¿QHORFDO
wine to go with their good
food. They appreciate quality,
want to know the producer’s
story and are willing to pay
more.
While the Northeast has
much deeper historical roots
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Northwest is where the action
is, said Ian Merwin, a retired
Cornell University apple re-
searcher and professor who
grows cider apples and makes
cider at Black Diamond Farm
in New York’s Finger Lakes
region.
“It’s a very vibrant sector
out there,” Merwin said. “One
thing about the Northwest
scene, it’s a total free-for-all,
no rules. There’s a whole lot
of people having a lot of fun
trying to make cider.”
Merwin was among the
speakers at “CiderCon,” the
U.S. Cider Association’s an-
nual convention that was held
in Portland in early February.
About 1,200 cider makers,
apple growers, distributors
and others from 44 states and
eight countries attended.
For now, hard cider is
something of a regional suc-
cess, and consumption is tiny
compared to beer and wine.
Merwin estimated people in
Oregon, Washington and Cal-
ifornia drink 80 percent of the
cider consumed in the U.S.
Other convention speak-
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Nick Gunn of Wandering Aengus Cider in Salem, Ore., believes
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ers said cider accounts for 1.7
percent of alcohol sales na-
tionally, but about 4 percent
in Portland and Seattle.
“We are where wine
was 30 years ago and the
craft beer industry was 20
years ago,” said Nick Gunn,
co-founder with his wife,
Mimi Casteel, of Wandering
Aengus Ciderworks in Sa-
lem, Ore. “We’ve had a lot
of great growth, but we have
a long ways to go.”
Gunn and others say hard
cider takes some getting used
to. Many try it expecting a
version of fermented apple
juice, and are surprised by the
VXEWOHDQGDURPDWLFÀDYRUVRI
true cider. “People are unfa-
miliar with what they’re tast-
ing,” Gunn said.
The industry’s biggest hin-
drance is a lack of proper ci-
der apples. The best apples for
cider are sharp, bittersweet,
obscure and traced from old
English and French varieties,
Gunn and others said.
E.Z. Orchards, in northeast
Salem, was among the indus-
try pioneers in making tradi-
tional cider from old French
varieties.
The U.S. is awash in
sweet, fresh-eating apples,
with Washington the lead-
ing producer, but Fuji, Hon-
eycrisp, Red Delicious and
other familiar varieties don’t
make the best cider. Many
cider producers make do with
them, however, because there
CDFA’s Ross: Leafy greens group’s
audits comply with federal rules
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — The
VWDWH¶V WRS DJULFXOWXUDO RI¿-
cial thinks a produce grower
group’s rigorous farm-audit
process already meets federal
Food Safety Modernization
Act standards.
California Department of
Food and Agriculture secre-
tary Karen Ross has told par-
ticipants in the Leafy Greens
Marketing Agreement that
their program could be a mod-
el as she works to bring about
23,000 farms into compliance
with the new federal rules.
“I’m very proud of what
the industry did by sitting
down and partnering with the
government,” Ross said in a
videotaped interview posted
on the LGMA’s website. “I’m
sometimes overwhelmed by
(growers’) commitment to the
rigor of the program.”
Established in 2007, the
grower-supported LGMA en-
lists USDA-accredited state
auditors to verify that a set
of science-based food safety
practices is being followed on
leafy greens farms, the orga-
nization has explained.
On average, each LGMA
handler in California is in-
spected by government au-
GLWRUV ¿YH WLPHV RYHU WKH
course of the season, and each
audit includes 183 food safe-
ty checkpoints focusing on
water, soil, animal intrusion
and worker hygiene. A simi-
lar program exists in Arizona,
and together the two states
represent 90 percent of the
industry.
During a public comment
period on the Food Safety
Modernization Act’s imple-
mentation in 2013, LGMA of-
¿FLDOVDUJXHGWKDWWKHLUH[LVW-
ing food safety program likely
already exceeds the federal
requirements and urged the
federal government to accept
WKHLUDXGLWSURFHVVDVYHUL¿FD-
tion of compliance.
Representatives from the
marketing order have met
UHJXODUO\ ZLWK )'$ RI¿FLDOV
including hosting farm tours,
LGMA spokeswoman April
Ward said.
is such a shortage of proper
cider apples. Some use apple
juice concentrate from China,
Argentina or elsewhere.
Educating consumers is
key to the industry’s contin-
ued growth, said Merwin, the
retired Cornell professor.
“All us in the cider realm
hope they will evolve in their
tastes same way wine drinkers
have,” he said.
“I started working on cider
in the 1990s, when nobody
was very interested,” he said.
“It’s been fabulous to see it
take off.”
Meanwhile, the push is on
to grow more traditional cider
apples. Gunn, of Wandering
Aengus, said he considers
himself an “apple evangelist”
these days as he hunts scion
wood for grafting and encour-
ages farmers to plant cider
varieties.
“If I can get them to grow
for our company, great,” he
said. “But at the very least
grow them for the industry.”
Gunn said he’s met with a
mix of enthusiasm and hesita-
tion as farmers consider los-
ing a couple years production
IURPD¿HOGRUROGRUFKDUGDV
new cider varieties take hold
and begin to produce.
“My selling point is,
you’re at the beginning of a
trend,” Gunn said.
A key advantage is that ci-
der varieties can be mechani-
cally harvested and used even
if they’re bruised, beaten up
or fall to the ground, Gunn
said.
“They don’t have to be
coddled,” he said.
Gunn and others in the in-
dustry say it’s blessed with a
cooperative spirit, as growers
and cider makers seek each
other out, ask questions and
offer help.
“It’s a very social drink,”
Gunn said. “It lends itself to
being collaborative. We’ve
had that sharing atmosphere
from the beginning.”
12-month waiver
by Sen. Alan Olsen, who vot-
ed in favor of SB 1517 despite
wanting “to see this go fur-
ther.”
Sen. Michael Dembrow,
D-Portland, who voted against
the bill because the issue is
statewide and because the bill
GLGQ¶WVXI¿FLHQWO\GH¿QHZKDW
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
it
meant for a wetland to sig-
Capital Press
QL¿FDQWO\ FKDQJH IDUP SUDF-
SALEM — A proposal to tices or materially alter the
give local governments more stability of agriculture.
Wetlands are currently al-
control over farm-to-wetland
conversions has won the ap- lowed outright in Oregon farm
prove of the Oregon Senate, zones, but Senate Bill 1517
although in scaled-back form. ZRXOG¿UVWUHTXLUH7LOODPRRN
Under the original lan- County to consider whether
guage of Senate Bill 1517, QHZZHWODQGVZLOOVLJQL¿FDQW-
Oregon farms could not be ly change local farm practices
converted into wetlands un- or disrupt agriculture.
Wetland developers could
less the local county gov-
ernment agrees the change also opt to undergo a “col-
wouldn’t disrupt nearby agri- laborative process” with con-
cerned stakeholders instead of
cultural operations.
The scope of the bill has the regular county conditional
now been narrowed to a pilot use permit process.
The Oregon Farm Bureau
project in Tillamook Coun-
ty, which needs to preserve supported a change in land
farmland for its dairy indus- use rules for wetlands be-
try and is a “big center of cause the current approach
the most pressing issues” in- doesn’t provide farmers with
volving wetland conversions, a “meaningful opportunity”
said Mary Anne Nash, public to weigh in on such projects,
policy counsel for the Oregon said Nash.
Farmers cited numerous
Farm Bureau, which supports
problems created by wetlands
SB 1517.
This amended version of during earlier hearings on the
SB 1517 was approved 25-3 original version of SB 1517.
Wetlands can increase the
by the Senate on Feb. 18. The
House Committee on Agricul- IUHTXHQF\RIÀRRGLQJDQGLP-
ture and Natural Resources pede the drainage of nearby
farmland, as well as attract
passed it on Feb. 23.
However, some lawmakers birds and noxious weeds to
have expressed misgivings an area, according to growers
about the bill’s reduced scope. who support the proposal.
Joe Rocha, who farms
While Tillamook Coun-
ty certainly needs the pilot near Tillamook Bay, said the
program, farmers elsewhere changes in hydrology can kill
in Oregon also experience grasses that dairies depend on
problems created by wetland for feed.
“They brought the saltwa-
conversions, said Sen. Doug
ter closer to us,” he said.
Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls.
Kathy Hadley, a farmer in
“It’s distressing to know
the rest of the state won’t be Oregon’s Willamette Valley,
able to protect themselves said a 500-acre wetland bor-
IURP EHLQJ ÀRRGHG RXW E\ dering her property increases
a rampant neighbor,” he erosion during the wet season
and attracts elk that damage
said.
This concern was echoed fences.
Scope of bill scaled
back to pilot project
that allows local
wetland review
3 Years @ 0%
5 Years @ 0.9%
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