June 10, 2016
CapitalPress.com
3
ODA won’t conduct on-farm food safety inspections
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
The Oregon Department
of Agriculture has decided
against seeking federal funds
to conduct on-farm food safety
inspections.
The agency will instead
wait to see what role the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
will play in on-farm enforce-
ment of the Food Safety Mod-
ernization Act.
ODA doesn’t have the au-
thority to perform on-farm in-
spections, though it’s consid-
ering asking state lawmakers
for that power in 2017, said
Stephanie Page, the agency’s
food safety director.
“We need to have a con-
versation with the Legislature
before we commit to a grant
application to do that work,”
said Page.
Farmers are giving the
agency “diverse feedback”
about whether they’d prefer
for ODA to conduct inspec-
tions, rather than FDA, she
said.
While some farmers would
feel more comfortable with
ODA, it’s not clear that the
agency’s involvement would
preclude FDA from doing its
own inspections.
For example, FDA concur-
rently inspects food manufac-
turers even though ODA also
inspects these facilities.
For that reason, some farm-
ers wonder whether there’s
any purpose in ODA conduct-
ing on-farm inspections, Page
said.
“It’s not a done deal we
will do inspections. We need
to continue to have those con-
versations with the industry,”
she said.
The Oregon Board of
Agriculture has affirmed
the agency’s decision not to
purse inspection funding, vot-
ing unanimously at its June 8
meeting in John Day, Ore., to
wait until more information is
available.
While Oregon is only one
of a handful of states not to
seek FDA funds for on-farm
inspections, the agency is ask-
ing for about $3.5 million over
five years to educate farmers
about FSMA.
“I think we need more time
to do some more outreach,”
said Katy Coba, ODA’s direc-
tor.
To obtain those funds, ODA
must commit to developing a
database of farms for the FDA.
If farmers were required
to submit information to the
database, that would become
a public record, which makes
some growers uncomfortable,
Coba said.
The agency has decided not
to pursue a mandatory data-
base and will instead seek vol-
untary submissions.
The FDA is unlikely to ob-
ject to the voluntary inventory
idea, since the agency recog-
nizes “all states are struggling
with how to do that,” said
Page.
If the ODA wins grant ap-
proval for education and out-
reach, it plans to create three
new staff positions located in
major produce-growing areas
of the state, she said.
The FSMA rules for farm-
ers only apply to fruits and
vegetables that are consumed
raw.
If the ODA changes its
mind about on-farm inspec-
tions, it can apply for that grant
in a separate application next
spring, Page said.
“That’s a small price to pay
to have more time to talk to our
stakeholders,” she said.
Mexico drops temporary tariffs against U.S. apples
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
Mexico has ended its tempo-
rary tariffs on U.S. apples after
determining that imports from
Washington’s 2013 crop did not
damage that nation’s industry.
It’s good news for Wash-
ington growers since Mexico is
their No. 1 export market and
becomes even more important
with larger crops, said Todd Fry-
hover, president of the Wash-
ington Apple Commission in
Wenatchee.
Mexico normally buys 10
million, 40-pound boxes of
Washington apples or more per
season and bought a record 15.5
million in the 2014-2015 sales
season. More than 11 million
boxes, valued at $230 million,
were sold to Mexico in the
2013-2014 season that was in-
vestigated.
As of May 31 this season,
6.5 million boxes have been
sold compared to 10.4 million
a year ago. That’s a drop of 37
percent.
However, Rebecca Lyons,
Apple Commission export mar-
keting director, has said a 12
percent reduction in the value
of the peso versus the dollar, a
smaller 2015 Washington apple
crop and higher prices have all
contributed more to the decline
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Eleodoro Rameriz, foreground, packs a tray of Fuji apples into a 40-pound box at Washington Fruit & Produce Co.’s new packing plant in
Yakima, Wash., in December. The company is one of a few apple packers in the state that enjoyed no tariffs on their sales to Mexico this
season. Mexico has now ended its temporary tariffs.
in exports to Mexico than the
tariffs.
That’s true, Fryhover said,
while noting removal of the
tariff levels the playing field
among shippers since some had
a 20 percent tariff and some had
none.
Fred Scarlett, manager of
Northwest Fruit Exporters in
Yakima, said industry efforts to
fully comply with all requests
for information from the Mexico
Ministry of Economia “proved
there was no injury to Chihua-
hua growers by our exports.”
NFE is a nonprofit corpo-
ration managing export proce-
dures of apples and cherries.
The Mexico government
opened an investigation in De-
cember 2014 at the request of
the Regional Fruit Producers
Association (UNIFRUT) of the
state of Chihuahua. UNIFRUT
alleged U.S. shippers, mostly
from Washington, sold apples
in Mexico in 2013 at less than
fair value, damaging Chihuahua
growers.
Reward offered in stock dog poisoning case
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
PARMA, Idaho — A
$5,000 reward has been of-
fered for information that
leads to the conviction of the
person responsible for poison-
ing 14 stock dogs near Parma
since early April.
A local veterinarian who
examined the dogs, which are
used to guard and shepherd
sheep and goats, said they
were intentionally poisoned
with large amounts of strych-
nine.
Twelve of them have died.
The reward is being of-
fered by the Humane Society
of the United States, which
contacted the dogs’ owner,
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Casey Echevarria, after the Ramrod, an Anatolian shepherding dog, guards sheep in southwestern Idaho May 16. Ramrod is
Capital Press broke this story owned by Casey Echevarria, who has had 14 of his stock dogs poisoned near Parma in southwestern
June 1.
Idaho since early April.
HSUS State Director Lisa
Kauffman said the reward is the bad. These guard dogs are
double the standard amount more valuable to us farmers
the group offers in animal cru- and ranchers than the public
knows.”
elty cases.
Strychnine, which is used
HSUS usually stays out of
issues involving agriculture to kill rodents, is a restricted
— the stock dogs are consid- use pesticide and people have
ered ag animals under Idaho to obtain a license from the
law — but the large number Idaho State Department of Ag-
of dogs poisoned and the use riculture before using it in bait,
of strychnine made it a par- said George Robinson, admin-
ticularly heinous crime in istrator of ISDA’s Agriculture
Resources Division.
HSUS’ view, Kauffman said.
To obtain the license, a
“We need to publicize this
and keep this going,” she said. person needs to pass an exam.
“Hopefully, somebody is go- There are about 3,000 such
licenses statewide, Robinson
ing to turn this person in.”
Joe Decker, public infor- said.
Dr. Brent Varriale, a veter-
mation officer for the Canyon
County Sheriff’s Department, inarian who examined several
said the department is in the of Echevarria’s poisoned dogs,
early stages of investigating said strychnine is a horrible
the poisonings and isn’t re- way to die because it paralyzes
a dog and causes it to suffocate
leasing any information yet.
Echevarria said his phone to death.
He said the strychnine bait
has been ringing off the hook
since the story broke and he was mixed with raw ground
has already done several TV meat to encourage the dogs to
eat as much as they did and the
interviews.
He said he has used the large amount of bait he found
resulting media interest to in the dogs’ stomachs, coupled
educate people about how with the large amount of dogs
important stock dogs are to affected, convinces him they
were intentionally poisoned.
farmers and ranchers.
The incidents bothered him
“It needed to come out,”
he said. “The public outcry such that he froze stomach
is going to stop (whoever is content samples from the dogs
responsible) and there is go- and contacted the sheriff’s de-
ing to be good coming out of partment.
NFE said that was unlikely
because 2013 was a profitable
year, giving shippers little incen-
tive to sell into Mexico at low
prices.
More than 40 Washington
apple packers responded to a
Ministry of Economia ques-
tionnaire by the Feb. 13, 2015,
deadline and 12 were chosen
for further review to determine
if they would be assessed a duty.
On Jan. 7, 2016, Economia
imposed temporary tariffs rang-
ing from 2.44 to 20.82 percent
on some Washington exporters
while it continued its investi-
gation. Economia said there
was “sufficient evidence” that
U.S. apples had been sold into
Mexico at discriminatory prices
damaging Mexican producers, a
USDA report stated.
Washington Fruit & Pro-
duce, Yakima; Monson Fruit
Co., Selah; and CPC Interna-
tional Apple Co., Tieton, were
all allowed by the Mexican gov-
ernment to keep shipping into
Mexico at no tariff.
On March 17, attorneys
for several Washington fruit
companies, and Cass Gebbers,
co-owner of Gebbers Farms in
Brewster, spoke at an Economia
public hearing on the case in
Mexico City.
On June 7, Economia re-
leased a final determination in
the case saying U.S. sales did
not damage Mexico’s industry,
ending its investigation and re-
voking the tariffs as of June 8.
The U.S. is the primary sup-
plier of imported apples in Mex-
ico, with Washington account-
ing for about 90 percent of those
shipments.
Bob & Marjorie Littler
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