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CapitalPress.com
April 29, 2016
April heat did a number on Oregon’s snowpack
By ERIC MORTENSON
On-line
Capital Press
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Orchard workers prune apple trees north of Brewster, Wash., on
March 24. As much as 70 percent of Washington’s tree fruit labor
force is estimated to be illegal aliens by the U.S. Department of
Labor and industry associations.
Farm groups side with
Obama on immigration
order appeal
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — Two
farms and two farm labor or-
ganizations on the West Coast
are among 63 businesses and
groups that have joined the
Obama administration’s ap-
peal seeking to uphold the
president’s controversial or-
der on immigration.
The order, struck down in
lower courts, grants deporta-
tion deferrals and temporary
legal work status to about 5
million illegal immigrants.
The U.S. Supreme Court
heard arguments on the case
April 18 and is expected to is-
sue a ruling at the end of June.
Twenty-six states, led by Tex-
as, brought the suit, saying
the president’s action is un-
constitutional and only Con-
gress has the legal authority
to set immigration policy.
Supreme Court justices
seemed evenly divided in
their questioning during oral
arguments. A split ruling
would leave the lower court
rulings standing.
Washington
Growers
League in Yakima, Wash.,
Broetje Orchards in Prescott,
Wash., Nisei Farmers League
in Fresno, Calif., and Farmers
Investment Co. in Sahuarita,
Ariz., are listed in the lawsuit
as friends of the court sup-
porting Obama’s position.
“I think we have been will-
ing to take a very pragmatic
view, moreso than some of
the other groups in the in-
dustry,” said Mike Gempler,
executive director of Wash-
ington Growers League, a
trade association representing
growers on labor issues.
“Congress has not done
anything for years and this
(order) would help alleviate
industry exposure (of hiring
illegals),” Gempler said.
It’s been common for U.S.
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement — known by
the acronym ICE — to show
up at a farm or packing house
with a warrant for someone
who has violated a deporta-
tion order, he said. Frequent-
ly, the employee is a foreman,
manager or longtime key em-
ployee who has been using
false documents unbeknown
to the employer, he said.
Many Northwest farms,
packing houses and dairies
would benefi t from the order
but they also could lose em-
ployees emboldened to move
to other job sectors, Gempler
said.
It reduces overall risk but
doesn’t negate the need for
immigration reform that in-
cludes an improved guest-
worker program, he said.
Even if the order fails in
court, some sort of legal work
status eventually will have to
be put in place because it’s
unreasonable to deport 11
million to 12 million people,
he said.
Dan Fazio, CEO of WA-
FLA, formerly known as
Washington Farm Labor As-
sociation in Olympia, said the
administration’s appeal has
little agricultural backing be-
cause it has “burned import-
ant bridges with agriculture.”
It has made it harder for
farmers to use legal guest-
worker programs, which has
caused more undocumented
immigration, Fazio said.
Under the order, Deferred
Action for Parents of Amer-
icans (DAPA) grants legal
work status to some workers,
which is a plus, but it’s a tem-
porary fi x that doesn’t address
the labor shortage, polarizes
Congress and makes a perma-
nent fi x harder to achieve, he
said.
Chris Schlect, president
of Northwest Horticultural
Council in Yakima, said many
in agriculture are not inclined
to support the president in a
major dispute with Congress
and many states over the ex-
tent of his constitutional pow-
ers.
Craig Regelbrugge, na-
tional co-chair of the Ag
Coalition for Immigration
Reform and senior vice pres-
ident of AmericanHort, said
DAPA doesn’t directly im-
prove farm labor shortages
because it doesn’t supply ad-
ditional labor. The H-2A visa
guestworker program only
supplies less than 10 percent
of farmworkers, while 50 to
70 percent of farmworkers
are believed to be unautho-
rized, he said.
Industries would be devas-
tated if workers were deport-
ed, he said. It’s in “our mutual
interest” if they can earn legal
work status and the groups
supporting the administra-
tion’s appeal probably see
DAPA as a “small stepping
stone” toward a more perma-
nent fi x, Regelbrugge said.
Broetje Orchards grows
more than 6,000 acres of ap-
ples and cherries with more
than 1,200 year-round em-
ployees and thousands more
seasonal workers, the lawsuit
states.
Wildly fl uctuating April
weather sent Oregon’s snow-
pack up, down and now, in
some areas, melted out.
It’s still too early to proj-
ect water trouble this summer
— the return of cool weather
could help retain snow or even
increase the snowpack a bit
— but as the USDA’s Natural
Resources Conservation Ser-
vice in Portland put it, “What
a difference three weeks can
make.”
At the fi rst of April, every-
thing looked great for irriga-
tors, fi sh and wildlife managers
and others who monitor and
care about streamfl ows and res-
ervoir levels. Heavy snow and
rain blanketed Oregon this past
winter, and the amount of water
contained in the snowpack was
at or above normal in nearly ev-
ery river basin in the state.
But April brought unseason-
ably warm weather, including a
record-high temperature of 85
degrees on April 7, measured at
Portland International Airport.
By April 22, the amount of
Read the USDA’s water and
climate update.
water stored in the snowpack,
called the snow water equiva-
lent, was well below the 1981-
2010 median.
The Deschutes and Malheur
regions of Central and South-
east Oregon measured 11 per-
cent and 31 percent of normal,
respectfully. Other river basins
measured from 51 to 83 percent
of the median for this time of
year.
Some NRCS automated
monitors show no snow re-
maining, hydrologist Julie Koe-
berle said.
“It went fast, because of the
warm temperatures,” she said.
Oregon’s snowpacks typ-
ically begin to melt in April,
but at a slower pace that sus-
tains streams through the hot
months.
Koeberle said the NRCS
will have a better handle
on things within the next
couple weeks, as snow sur-
vey teams hit the moun-
tains and take a closer look.
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
NRCS hydrologist Julie Koeberle, shown measuring the snow-wa-
ter content on Mount Hood in late December, said April’s heatwave
quickly melted some of Oregon’s snowpack.
Changing market demands challenge beef industry
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
TWIN FALLS, Idaho —
Changes in the beef industry,
from structural issues to con-
sumer preferences, are bringing
new challenges and risks to rais-
ing cattle and marketing beef.
One of the most dangerous
approaches is to do things the
same way they’ve always been
done, market consultant John
Nalivka, owner of Sterling Mar-
keting, Vale, Ore., told those
attending the Idaho Range Live-
stock Symposium.
“What it’s all about is man-
aging risk. The problem is the
cattle business is one of the risk-
iest businesses you could be in,”
he said.
“You have to think beyond
the ranch gate and think about
where that product’s going,” he
said.
Millennials are now the
largest group of consumers,
and they’re changing demand.
It’s not just about per capita de-
mand, it’s about awareness and
preferences, he said.
“It’s not about money, nec-
essarily. It’s ‘how much am I
going to eat and what cut’,” he
said.
Millennials are demanding
products that are natural, organ-
ic and local — produced sus-
tainably and without antibiotics,
he said.
Capital Press fi le photo
Changes in consumer demands
are bringing new challenges
and risks to raising cattle and
marketing beef.
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
Marketing consultant John Nalivka turns to the camera while
talking with cattle producer Laurie Lickley at the Idaho Range
Livestock Symposium in Twin Falls on April 20.
“The important part is ev-
erybody’s in this together
— producers, processors and
consumers. If they tell you the
environment is a big deal, it is a
big deal,” he said.
The same goes for animal
welfare and everything else con-
sumers are demanding, he said.
Nalivka contends that some-
one who’s been in business for
50 years, even 10 years, is sus-
tainable.
“But now you have to get
Walmart or someone else to tell
you if you’re sustainable,” he
said.
Producers need to actively
tell their story and be advocates
for the way they raise cattle and
produce beef, he said.
But they might also need to
make changes in what they do,
such as the subtherapeutic use of
antibiotics in feed. That’s a huge
deal with consumers, and it’s not
going away, he said.
Fed cattle weights are also
a problem. A fi nished weight
of 1,350 pounds used to be the
“generally accepted” weight by
packers, but live weights have
jumped signifi cantly over the
past two years — up to about
1,500 pounds to 1,600 pounds,
he said.
Along with that higher fi n-
ished weight is much heavier
carcasses, due also to better
live-to-carcass yields and the
use of growth promotants, he
said.
“It’s getting to the point of
diminishing returns. People
simply don’t eat a 16-ounce
steak any longer,” he said.
The industry has to get a
handle on weights, but that
likely won’t happen until pack-
ers discount those heavy car-
casses, he said.
Another challenge is inter-
national trade. U.S. beef ex-
ports were down 12 percent in
2015, strained by the strength
of the U.S. dollar against weak-
er currencies elsewhere.
“If you don’t understand
anything else about trade, you
need to understand the value of
the dollar,’ he said.
A strong dollar raises the
price of U.S. beef in interna-
tional markets. The dollar has
risen 25 percent since June
2014, peaking in January. It’s
come down about 6 percent
since then, but has to drop an-
other 18 percent to be back in
the 2014 range, he said.
Idaho ag department gives overview of food safety rules
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
ONTARIO, Ore. — Idaho
and Oregon farmers were giv-
en an overview of FDA’s new
Food Safety Modernization Act
rules April 26 during a meeting
hosted by the Idaho State De-
partment of Agriculture.
FDA’s produce safety rule
will require farmers who grow
fruits and vegetables that are
consumed raw to comply with
numerous provisions meant to
ensure food safety.
H-B SYSTEM 2000 HORIZONTAL BALE CUTTING SAW
The heavy duty, hydraulically powered horizontal Bale Reclaim system, with
“Vertical cut positioning”
It is one of seven rules FDA
has developed to comply with
FSMA and was the main focus
of the meeting.
The rule includes a host of
new requirements for these
fruit and vegetable farmers and
“the produce industry has never
been regulated in this manner
before,” said ISDA Chief of
Staff Pamm Juker.
But she told farmers not to
panic because the department
and other groups are gearing up
to help growers understand and
comply with the provisions.
“We’re here to try to fi nd
answers for everybody,” Juker
said. “The training and techni-
cal assistance everyone is going
to need to comply with these
rules is coming.”
Small operations with
$25,000 to $250,00 in average
annual produce sales have to
start complying in 2019, farms
with $250,000-$500,000 in
sales have to comply in 2018
and bigger farms have to start
complying in 2017.
Juker called the April 26
meeting a “FSMA 101” course
and said farmers would be pro-
vided more detailed informa-
tion as FDA releases promised
guidance on the rules.
The produce rule will re-
quire farmers to test every
source of agricultural water on
their farm annually for general
E. coli.
Farms with less than
$25,000 in produce sales annu-
ally are not covered by the rule
and produce that FDA has iden-
tifi ed as rarely consumed raw
SALVAGE
D BALES
CONTAMINATE
COST-
QUICKLY AND
EFFECTIVELY
is also not covered. Produce
headed for commercial pro-
cessing that reduces pathogens
with some type of “kill step” is
also not covered.
Produce farmers will be re-
quired to assess their fi elds to
see if any of their crop has been
contaminated by animal drop-
pings and will not be allowed
to harvest any part of the crop
that has.
Other components of the
produce rule include person-
nel training, worker health and
hygiene and the sanitation of
equipment, tools and buildings.
Accurate record keeping to
prove compliance is critical,
Juker said. “Everything you do
must be documented.”
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder,
on 5/4/2016. The sale will be
held at 10:00 am by
VISION DIESEL
12142 SKY LANE AURORA, OR
2004 FORD F250 P/U
VIN = 1FTNW21P14EE02713
Amount due on lien $898.13
Reputed owner(s)
Traci & Nicholas Butler
Ford Motor Credit Legal-17-2-4/#4
• The HB System 2000 comes complete with hydraulic cylinder and controls for powered cut
depth adjustment through the cut.
• Automatic bar oiler system is a standard feature on this unit.
• This saw splits bales using an L-M DE-68 inch saw bar running .404 pitch chain designed for
parallel cutting through any type of hay or straw.
P.O. Box 82111, Portland, OR 97282
18-7/#7
1-800-228-0793
Leasing available • Call for video
18-4/#8
Phone (503) 235-3146 - Fax (503) 235-3916
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 819
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder,
on 5/6/2016. The sale will be
held at 10:00am by
Wiltse Towing, LLC
3120 Cherry Ave NE
Salem, OR
2007 Jeep Commander SUV
VIN= 1J8HG48K17C562681
Amount due on lien $3,540.00
Reputed owner(s)
Jamina Ameilia Bells Owens
Legal-17-2-4/#4