FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016
VOLUME 89, NUMBER 19
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
Growers staff up for cherry harvest
Light cherry crop may help, but industry anxious over labor
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
EO fi le photo
PGG announced Monday it lost
$7.9 million in 2014 and has
consolidated its debt with the
U.S. Farm Credit System.
PGG
members
vote to
dissolve co-op
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
A total of 682 people applied
for cherry sorting and pack-
ing jobs in association with
Stemilt Growers’ 12th annu-
al job fair on May 2, as Pa-
cifi c Northwest growers and
packers hire workers for the
2016 cherry crop.
Dan Wheat
Capital Press
Turn to HARVEST, Page 12
WHEAT,
QUALITY
it’s all about
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
Turn to PGG, Page 12
about 19 million 20-pound
boxes, which is the same as
last year, versus the record
23.2 million of 2014. Har-
vest will start early again,
likely in late May, and fi nish
in August.
“I think we’re getting
more and more concerned
every year as labor seems
When it comes to
Process could take
several years
PENDLETON, Ore. —
Pendleton Grain Growers,
the longtime farmers’ co-op
that formed out of the Great
Depression, is fi nished.
Members present at a special
meeting Monday voted over-
whelmingly to dissolve PGG,
authorizing the board of di-
rectors to sell off all property
and assets.
That process could take
several years before any left-
over equity is returned to
the co-op’s 1,850 members.
About 200 members attended
Monday’s meeting, and 186
cast their votes, about 95 per-
cent, in favor of dissolution.
At least 50 members were
required for a quorum. A two-
thirds majority was needed to
pass the resolution.
PGG is continuing to work
with United Grain Corpo-
ration, based in Vancouver,
Wash., to sell off its upcountry
elevators and McNary Termi-
nal along the Columbia River.
A deal could be done by June,
in time for this year’s winter
wheat harvest. The business
lines at PGG will remain open
until further notice.
PGG was incorporated on
March 31, 1930, and soon
established itself as a local
institution. For 86 years, PGG
Country was the signature
brand of hometown farms, of-
fering grain, seed, agronomy,
energy and irrigation services.
But recent years saw the
co-op’s fi nances plummet into
the red ink. The co-op over-
stated its earnings by $1.8
million in 2010 and $5.7 mil-
lion in 2011. In 2012 the U.S.
Department of Agriculture
suspended PGG’s warehouse
license for 44 days, citing au-
dit discrepancies.
As PGG tried to restruc-
ture its business model —
selling off retail stores and
agronomy in the process —
the co-op continued to hemor-
rhage money. While the co-op
did net a profi t of $434,681
in 2012, fi nancial statements
That’s shy of the 750 peo-
ple Stemilt needs and indi-
cates a tight labor supply, but
the company fi gures to make
up the difference in the next
few weeks.
Many packers and grow-
ers think they’ll get by, but
some are more worried than
others.
They will be helped by
a light crop, believed to be
Margarito Cabre-
ra, state Work-
Source employee,
watches Maria
Rodriguez sign a
job application at
Stemilt Growers’
annual job fair at
the Wenatchee,
Wash., convention
center, May 2.
“
We can’t compete with freight
costs and price. (Quality) is
all we’ve got. That’s our true
advantage.”
Mike Miller, farmer
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Farmer Mike Miller examines his wheat April 20 on farm property near Ralston, Wash. Wheat farmers in the region and across the country promote the quality of
their crop when selling it to customers overseas.
Pacifi c Northwest farmers work to provide
overseas buyers with the attributes they seek
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
R
ALSTON, Wash. — Mike Miller
knelt in a fi eld to inspect his wheat
crop on a recent April morning.
After two years of drought fol-
lowed by a wet winter, moisture
levels in the fi eld were near average, and an
early streak of warm weather had the crop look-
ing good.
Miller was pleased.
Miller raises hard red winter wheat, soft
white wheat and dark northern spring wheat un-
der irrigation and dryland dark northern spring
wheat and club wheat in addition to potatoes,
alfalfa and oilseed crops.
Like other wheat farmers in the Pacifi c
Northwest, most of his crop will go to customers
in Asia and South and Central America, where
it will be milled and turned into bread, noodles,
crackers, cookies, cakes and other products.
The quality of that wheat and how well it meets
Turn to WHEAT, Page 12
U.S. soft white wheat exports
250
(Millions of bushels)
233.3
164.7 million*: Down 17.9% from 2011-12
200.7
200
134.5
150
* Preliminary
100
1996-97
2000-01
Source: USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
2005-06
2010-11
2013-14
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Craig Morris, director of the USDA
Agricultural Research Service West-
ern Wheat Quality Laboratory, holds
up a sample of wheat fl our from
the 2015 crop that will be tested for
quality April 8 in Pullman, Wash.
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