April 22, 2016
Dispute
erupts over
unique
mint
cultivar
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An Oregon essential oil
supplier has filed a lawsuit
claiming its unique mint va-
riety is being grown without
permission by a competitor
in Washington state.
RCB International, a
mint oil company in Albany,
Ore., alleges that Labbeem-
int of White Swan, Wash.,
has unjustly enriched itself
by cultivating the low-men-
thol mint plants.
According to the com-
plaint, RCB sells more than
$1 million worth of oil from
the special Erospicata mint
each year.
Menthol irritates oral,
nasal and gastrointestinal
passages, so the low-men-
thol variety provides the
benefit of tasting and smell-
ing like peppermint without
causing inflammation, ac-
cording to the plant patent
for Erospicata.
George
Sturtz,
the
breeder who developed the
variety, said its primary
advantage for growers is re-
sistance to verticillium wilt,
a fungal disease.
The plant is vigorous and
its oil can be substituted
for peppermint oil, he said.
“It’s a spearmint with a pep-
permint taste.”
RCB licensed the plant
patent from a company that
employed Sturtz.
That patent has since
expired, but RCB requires
growers and universities to
sign contracts prohibiting
them from selling or trans-
ferring the seeds, cuttings or
other progeny.
“RCB takes steps to keep
its plants under its lawful
ownership and control,” the
complaint said. “RCB prop-
agates the plant with the
assistance of fewer than ten
select growers.”
The complaint alleges
that Labbeemint obtained
the
Erospicata
variety
without authorization from
RCB, which could be quick-
ly confirmed with a genetic
test of its crop.
Earlier this year, Lab-
beemint
acknowledged
that it was growing the
cultivar and agreed to con-
sider destroying those
plants, but later changed
its mind, the complaint
said.
The complaint cites an
email from Labbeemint
claiming it’s “within our
rights” to use Erospicata
because the work has oc-
curred after the plant pat-
ent’s expiration six years
ago.
Labbeemint said it’s
not bound by any “mate-
rial transfer agreement”
between RCB and other
parties and “we believe it
is in the best interests of
our industry to have access
to this and any other mint
plant that is not under pat-
ent. Accordingly, we are
planning to move forward,”
according to the cited
email.
RCB’s complaint re-
quests that a federal judge
declare that Labbeemint
unjustly enriched itself and
has no legal title to the cul-
tivar.
The lawsuit also seeks an
injunction barring Labbee-
mint from selling or trans-
ferring the Erospicata culti-
var and ordering the plants
to be destroyed or returned
to RCB.
Any profits that Labbee-
mint earned from the va-
riety should also be turned
over to RCB, the complaint
said.
A representative of Lab-
beemint said the company
can’t comment on the alle-
gations because it has yet to
be served with the lawsuit.
The complaint was filed
on April 14, according to
court records.
An attorney for RCB
said he couldn’t discuss the
lawsuit without permission
from his client.
CapitalPress.com
5
Rabobank: Dairy price doldrums to continue
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
U.S. quarterly dairy prices and forecast
Capital Press
It’s going to be a long year
for dairy producers, given
stronger-than-expected EU
milk production and weak-
er demand from developing
markets.
Global dairy prices have
continued to stumble along
a market floor largely deter-
mined by EU intervention
stocks, which early in the year
reached levels equal to all of
2015, according to Rabobank’s
latest dairy quarterly report.
The short-term outlook
remains pessimistic, and talk
of recovery has quieted, the
bank’s analysts reported.
“In the face of a crippling
long price trough entering
2016, production growth
in the world’s milk produc-
tion regions has continued to
slow,” but the slowdown has
been prolonged by a variety
of confounding factors,” the
analysts said.
Those factors include ex-
change rates, the need for
farmers to generate cash, sup-
Item
Q4 ’15
Q1 ’16 *
Q2 ’16 †
Nonfat dairy milk
AA butter
Block cheddar
Whey powder
$0.84
2.65
1.64
0.23
0.77
2.08
1.49
0.24
0.77
1.87
1.43
0.24
$15.07
16.28
13.76
13.40
13.23
12.36
(AMS announced)
Q3 ’16 †
Q4 ’16 †
Price per pound
0.79
1.77
1.38
0.25
Q1 ’17 †
Q2 ’17 †
0.83
1.81
1.40
0.31
0.94
1.77
1.45
0.35
1.09
1.77
1.30
0.40
13.31
12.63
14.10
13.46
14.80
14.65
Per hundredweight
Class III milk
Class IV milk
*Estimate
12.76
12.11
† Forecast
Source: USDA
Capital Press graphic
port of milk prices from coop-
erative reserves and climatic
conditions.
In the end, production
from exporting regions has
continued to grow even if
the growth rate has slowed,
and product inventory has in-
creased on weaker demand.
“Continued low oil pric-
es, the weakening of many
currencies against the U.S.
dollar, economic turmoil in
Latin America and ineffec-
tive fiscal support mech-
anisms in Europe have all
played a part in reducing
buying power and, as a re-
sult, reduced purchase quan-
tities,” the analysts reported.
While demand is fragile,
the analysts see consumption
continuing to grow in Asia,
the U.S. and the EU and ex-
pect China to return to the
market in the second half of
2016.
Oil-dependent
markets
in the Middle East and West
Africa, however, will remain
challenging, and Russia will
remain out of the market for
at least another year, the ana-
lysts said.
But production growth
from the main export re-
gions will continue to slow,
and gradual improvements
in domestic demand in those
regions will reduce export
surpluses and tip them into
negative territory in the sec-
ond half of the year.
Here in the U.S., milk sup-
ply remains split, with the
West continuing to contract
and the Midwest continuing
to post surprising growth. But
overall production should re-
main flat through the rest of
the year, pressured by margins
that will fall below break-
even for the majority of the
year, the analysts said.
Domestic demand is ex-
pected to remain positive, but
exports are expected to be
down again as prices remain
unattractive for most export-
ers.
Low farm gate prices in the
EU are expected to slow, but
not decrease, milk production.
Increased summer rain-
fall will help boost produc-
tion in New Zealand for
the 2015/2016 season, but
full-season production is ex-
pected down as much as 4 per-
cent.
Below-average rainfall in
most key dairy regions in Aus-
tralia will challenge milk pro-
duction in the closing months
of the 2015/2016 season, and
full-season production is ex-
pected to be down about 2
percent.
Production continues to
contract in Argentina and Bra-
zil, as high feed costs keeps
farmers’ margins under in-
tense pressure. Milk produc-
tion is expected to contract
6 percent in Argentina and 3
percent in Brazil in the first
half of 2016.
Cosmic Crisp apple tree orders skyrocket
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — Or-
ders for Cosmic Crisp apple
trees, the new Washington
State University variety, are
taking off faster than anyone
in the industry has ever before
seen.
The initial 2017 release,
through an already completed
grower drawing, will likely
be 700,000 trees, says Cristy
Warnock, operations manager
of Proprietary Variety Man-
agement in Yakima.
Growers have ordered
more than 2 million trees
from Washington nurseries for
planting in the spring of 2018,
Warnock says. Some 700,000
more trees are on order so far
for 2019.
“As far as we know, this is
the largest launch of any ap-
ple variety ever in the world,”
Warnock said. “We’re looking
at a ballpark of 3.5 million in
the first three years.”
PVM is coordinating the
commercialization of Cosmic
Crisp for WSU.
It took Pink Lady 10 to 15
years to get to 7 million trees
planted, and at the current rate
Cosmic Crisp will surpass that
in its first five years, she said.
Cosmic Crisp, a cross be-
tween Honeycrisp and Enter-
prise apples developed in 1997
by WSU apple breeder Bruce
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Cosmic Crisp apples from 2015 test plots are shown on April 8.
The “Cosmic” moniker was derived from the prominent lenticels
— specks in the apple skin that are breathing pores. The “Crisp” is
from the Honeycrisp apple, which is one of its parents.
Barritt, is exclusive to Wash-
ington nurseries and growers.
Usually, new varieties, ex-
clusive to one company, start at
50,000 to 100,000 trees plant-
ed in the first two years, said
Lynnell Brandt, president of
PVM and Brandt Fruit Trees.
To minimize risk, companies
wait to see how the variety
does before planting more, he
said.
With Cosmic Crisp, the
risk is spread over the entire
industry. Major companies are
working collectively on stan-
dards, marketing and retail,
and consumer feedback has
been extremely good so grow-
ers are eager to start in a big
way, Warnock said.
“The industry believes in it
and is getting to participate in
all aspects. Momentum is un-
like anything we’ve ever seen
before,” she said.
The industry and WSU will
be involved in all aspects, from
best growing practices and re-
search on tree training to fruit
storage and marketing.
“I think it will set a new
bar on how to introduce new
selections commercially on
behalf of industries,” Brandt
said, adding it’s beginning to
change the thinking of major
companies from competition
to collaboration.
Orders are from a cross sec-
tion of small and large grow-
ers, he said.
“I don’t think we’ve ever
seen a variety introduced at
such an aggressive level,” said
Tom Auvil, research horticul-
turalist at the Washington Tree
Fruit Research Commission in
Wenatchee.
Nurseries don’t have
enough rootstock so growers
are changing orders from oth-
er varieties to Cosmic Crisp to
use rootstock planned for those
varieties, he said.
Rootstock for 2018 trees
won’t be budded until August,
so growers can switch 2018 or-
ders until then if nurseries are
willing, he said.
Pete Van Well, president
of Van Well Nursery in East
Wenatchee, agrees with War-
nock and Brandt that Cosmic
Crisp is the largest launch of
any new apple variety ever.
Simplot cattle lawsuit seeks $1 million
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An Idaho feedlot owned
by the J.R. Simplot Co. has
filed a lawsuit seeking nearly
$1 million from a California
cattle company for alleged
breach of contract.
According to the com-
plaint, the Sutfin Land &
Livestock Co. of Corning, Ca-
lif., contracted in 2014 to have
its cattle fed at the Simplot fa-
cility near Grandview, Idaho.
Simplot’s expenses for feed,
equipment and labor would then
be reimbursed upon the sale of
the cattle, which served as col-
lateral under the agreement.
Despite acknowledging in
the contract “that the cattle busi-
ness is inherently risky” and
assuming responsibility for the
risks, Suftin has refused to reim-
burse Simplot for its expenses
Celebrate June
Dairy Month
in Capital Press’
32 ND Annual
Dairy
Industry
SPECIAL SECTION
June 3 RD , 2016
Our annual Dairy Special Section spotlights dairy
operations and operators in California, Idaho,
Oregon and Washington. It features an in depth
look at the situations and successes - needs and
concerns of this dynamic industry.
To reach our print and online readers, contact your
sales representative or call 1-800-882-6789.
and currently owes $989,890
for the feedlot services, the com-
plaint said.
Simplot seeks compensation
for that amount, plus interest
and attorney fees.
A representative of the Suftin
Land & Livestock Co. refused
to comment on the lawsuit.
“I don’t know of any other
variety that’s gone that fast in
the first three years,” Van Well
said.
The limiting factor so far
has been enough bud wood,
but that’s only been for 2017
and 2018 and shouldn’t be a
factor for the 2019 crop, he
said.
Bud wood can be buds or
small chunks of limb with
buds on them that are inserted
into rootstock.
Cosmic Crisp from trial
plots has been taste tested in
stores but commercial sales are
unlikely until 2020.
“It’s a very good apple. It’s
good eating, storing and pro-
ducing. So far, it appears to be
excellent. The whole industry
is pleased. It will be one of the
major varieties pretty quick-
ly and in 10 years it could be
the new state apple,” Van Well
said.
Seven major nurseries in
Central Washington each pro-
duce more than 1 million trees
per year, Van Well said. But
that includes many varieties of
apples, cherries, pears, peach-
es, nectarines, plums and plu-
ots that are sold to growers
nationwide.
On top of that, major
Washington tree fruit compa-
nies grow trees in their own
nurseries. Van Well believes
that amounts to about 30 per-
cent of annual production.
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