April 1, 2016
CapitalPress.com
3
ODA opposes deregulation of biotech bentgrass
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Or-
egon farm regulators are ob-
jecting to USDA’s proposed
deregulation of a genetically
engineered grass variety that
escaped field trials more than
a decade ago.
Last year, USDA reached
an agreement with Scotts
Miracle-Gro, which devel-
oped the glyphosate-resistant
biotech creeping bentgrass, to
lift federal regulations on the
crop as long as it’s not com-
mercialized.
Scotts would also conduct
a 10-year management plan
to control the grass, but some
farmers have complained
that the proposal will allow
the company to eventually
wash its hands of the prob-
lem while leaving them with
spray costs and potential ex-
port barriers.
The Oregon Department
of Agriculture has come out
against the proposal, arguing
it’s inappropriate to deregu-
late the bentgrass while it’s
still infesting areas of Central
and Eastern Oregon.
“We think it needs to be
eradicated before deregu-
lation,” said Lisa Hanson,
ODA’s deputy director, during
the March 29 meeting of the
Oregon Board of Agriculture.
The ODA claims the bio-
tech bentgrass doesn’t meet
the federal requirements for
deregulation because it “clear-
ly falls into the category of a
plant pest and noxious weed,”
according to a letter sent to
USDA’s Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service.
“It is invading irrigation
canals and displacing native
species in riparian areas in the
affected Oregon counties,”
the ODA letter said, noting
that the crop should remain
regulated until “a means to
eradicate this pest becomes
available.”
ODA also recommends
that USDA convene a task
force to evaluate the impacts
of deregulation.
Biotech bentgrass is of
particular concern near wa-
terways because they can
allow the crop to spread to
new areas and potentially get
out of control, said Helmuth
Rogg, ODA’s plant program
director.
There are also limited
chemical methods for treat-
ing the bentgrass, he said. Not
only is it resistant to glypho-
sate, but other herbicides of-
ten can’t be used in irrigation
canals without potentially
harming crops.
Canals can be treated with
herbicides before they’re used
to convey summer irrigation
water, but that time window
poses another challenge,
Rogg said.
“The problem in early
spring is it’s not easy to iden-
tify,” Rogg said.
At that point, the variety
looks much like any other
grass, he said. The crop is
more distinctive in late sum-
mer.
Scotts developed the bent-
grass for golf courses and
began testing it with USDA’s
consent in a “control area” in
Central Oregon designated by
ODA, but the cultivar escaped
field trials in 2003 and contin-
ues to be found in Jefferson
and Malheur counties.
California farmers sue feds over
tardy decisions on foreign workers
Growers: Our fruit
may rot
Two adult wolves from the Walla Walla Pack were caught on a
remote trail camera Jan. 16 in northern Umatilla County, Ore.
Oregon AG: Wolf delisting
bill likely makes case moot
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. — Two
weeks after the signing of
new legislation that upholds
in state law the delisting of
the gray wolf as endangered,
Oregon’s top attorney has
now launched an effort to end
wolf advocates’ lawsuit once
and for all.
Attorney General Ellen
Rosenblum filed a notice with
the state appellate court on
Monday, using an attached
copy of the new law, House
Bill 4040, as justification for
why wolf advocates’ com-
plaint against the state is like-
ly no longer relevant.
This is what conservative
lawmakers hoped to accom-
plish with HB 4040 and what
environmentalists had feared.
In December environmental-
ists sued state wildlife offi-
cials over their decision to re-
move the gray wolf from the
state’s Endangered Species
Act list, saying the decision
was premature.
Nothing is settled yet and
the judge will have the final
say. But parties on both sides
agree the situation is gloomy
for the wolf advocates’ case.
“We don’t have a next step
yet,” said Arran Robertson, a
spokesman for Oregon Wild,
adding they’ll be discussing a
game-plan this week with the
other environmentalists that
are part of the suit.
The issue dates back to
November, when the Ore-
gon Fish and Wildlife Com-
mission determined the gray
wolf’s population was robust
enough to remove the species
from the state’s endangered
list. Oregon Wild, Cascadia
Wildlands and the Center for
Biological Diversity followed
with their lawsuit, arguing the
commission used flawed sci-
entific evidence and the delis-
ting decision should therefore
be independently re-exam-
ined.
That’s where HB 4040 —
backed by the Oregon Cattle-
man’s Association and others
concerned with wolves’ at-
tacks on livestock — comes
into play.
HB 4040 essentially says
the commission did every-
thing it was supposed to do
by law in reaching its final
decision to delist. That’s the
very thing wolf advocates
want re-examined, but with
the Legislature’s seal of ap-
proval now established in
state law, their “challenge
is likely moot,” Rosenblum
wrote in Monday’s court
filing.
Rosenblum’s filing — sub-
mitted about a week after the
wildlife commission began
revising its wolf management
plan — stands in contrast to
the way HB 4040 was initially
portrayed at the Legislature in
early February.
In hearings, GOP law-
makers in the Oregon House
repeatedly denied claims that
the intent was to end the law-
suit.
Capital Press
Three Southern California
strawberry farms and a labor
contractor are asking a federal
judge to intervene and speed
up the processing of their ap-
plications to import foreign
workers.
The lawsuit filed March 21
in U.S. District Court for Cen-
tral California, Western Divi-
sion alleges federal agencies
are failing to meet statutory
deadlines to approve or deny
requests to admit farmwork-
ers on H-2A visas.
In a response filed March
28, the U.S. Justice Depart-
ment said that although the
visa program includes time
frames to process applica-
tions, the law doesn’t provide
for any consequences if the
deadlines aren’t met.
Also, the deadlines are less
important than ensuring for-
eign labor doesn’t undermine
the domestic workforce, ac-
cording to the Justice Depart-
ment.
The department asked that
any hearing on the plaintiffs’
request for immediate relief be
delayed until at least April 1.
The lawsuit reflects wide-
spread concern among U.S.
growers about what has be-
come annual delays in secur-
ing approval to hire foreign
workers to offset a shortage of
domestic workers.
Washington’s nine U.S.
House members in March sent
a letter to Secretary of State
John Kerry and Homeland
Security Secretary Jeh John-
son urging improvements.
“With a new harvest quick-
ly approaching, we know that
you want to anticipate and
address this problem before
it becomes another major
difficulty, costing farming
businesses millions of dollars
and causing harm to the con-
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Farmworkers pick cucumbers in Washington state. Growers say federal delays in processing visa
applications are jeopardizing crops. California berry farmers and a labor contractor are suing, alleging
federal authorities are breaking deadlines to approve or reject the applications for H-2A workers.
sumers they serve and the jobs
they support,” the congress-
men wrote.
The State Department re-
sponded in a March 23 letter,
assuring the lawmakers that
the department has taken steps
to avoid further malfunctions
with a computer database that
delayed processing visa appli-
cations in 2014 and 2015.
The U.S. Department of
Labor announced in January it
again expected delays because
of technical problems with an-
other computer system.
The California lawsuit
names the Labor Department,
Department of Homeland
Security and several sub-
agencies that have a role in
processing applications. The
Labor Department declined
to comment on the lawsuit or
whether visa applications are
being delayed.
The lawsuit was filed by
berry farms Ito Bros. of Ven-
tura, Reiter Brothers of Ox-
nard and Harvest Breeze Ag
Management of Oxnard, and
farm labor contractor Fresh
Harvest of Heber.
In court filings, the grow-
ers said a shortage of domes-
tic workers in the past two or
three years has forced them
to look outside the U.S. for
20 percent of their workforce
during peak harvest times.
According to the growers,
strawberries are ripening, and
if the berries aren’t picked
soon for fresh fruit, they will
become berries for juice,
NEW ITEMS!
OSU names new director of Southern Oregon ag research station
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Richard Roseberg, a soil
scientist with 26 years experi-
ence at Oregon State Univer-
sity, has been named director
of OSU’s Southern Oregon
Research and Extension Cen-
ter in Central Point.
The center, one of 12 OSU
ag experiment stations state-
wide, is situated in one of the
state’s more diverse agricul-
tural regions, and Roseberg
brings his own unusual re-
search projects to the position
as well.
The Rogue Valley region
grows tree fruit, especially
pears, plus multiple types of
vegetables, melons, livestock,
dairy, forage and other crops.
The area’s vineyards have
emerged as strong producers
over the past decade, and the
station has developed a busy
small farms program to meet
the needs of alternative and
beginning producers.
The center, known as
SOREC, has 34 faculty and
staff and an annual budget of
nearly $2 million. Roseberg
worked at the station for the
first 14 years of his OSU ca-
reer, then spent 12 years at the
ag station in Klamath Falls,
85 miles away but with a
much higher elevation, colder
winters and a shorter growing
season.
Roseberg said one of his
first tasks is
to hire a vi-
ticulturist
to
work with the
region’s wine
grape growers.
SOREC also
Roseberg has a position
open for a plant
pathologist to work on diseas-
es in orchards, vineyards and
post-harvest crops, he said.
The area’s wine industry
has grown dramatically, Rose-
berg said. He was at SOREC
in the late 1990s when the first
vineyards were coming on.
With the valley’s long, warm
growing season, wine grapes
seemed to hold potential if the
demand kept pace, he said.
That’s come to pass, and wine
has proven to be a good fit be-
cause it provides high-value
on the valley’s small acreages.
“The Rogue Valley is not
large,” Roseberg said. “There
will never be 100,000 acres of
anything in the Rogue Valley.
So what can you fit?”
In addition to his admin-
istrative role, Roseberg said
he hopes to work with station
staff on soil-related aspects of
their research. He also plans
to keep his hand in on a cou-
ple projects of his own.
Roseberg and other re-
searchers have been working
the past 10 years on Russian
dandelion, which produces
rubber in its roots. Natural
rubber is a strategic materi-
al of interest to the military,
Roseberg said, because syn-
thetic rubber doesn’t hold up
in modern aircraft tires. Out-
side Brazil, only five South-
east Asian countries, includ-
ing China, produce natural
rubber. “We don’t want to get
into a situation where the sup-
ply is cut off,” Roseberg said.
Russian dandelion grows
fairly well in the Klamath
Falls area, he said, and re-
searchers are working through
the usual agronomic questions
lowering their value and the
piece-rates farmworkers re-
ceive for picking them.
If the fruit rots and is left
to rats and insects, consumer
prices may rise and vines will
suffer long-term damage, ac-
cording to the growers.
Fresh Harvest said in a
court filing that only one of a
dozen applications for H-2A
workers for clients in Cali-
fornia and Arizona had been
timely certified.
According to the Justice
Department’s filing Mon-
day, most of the plaintiffs’
H-2A applications have now
been processed, undermining
claims they will be irreparably
harmed if the court doesn’t in-
tervene.
of how to fine tune produc-
tion. Roseberg is working
on the project in cooperation
with counterparts at Ohio
State University and in Can-
ada.
“It’s promising, but like
any new crop it takes time,”
he said.
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