June 10, 2016
CapitalPress.com
Local-food push fuels egg
production boom in Nevada
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SPARKS, Nev. — As Cal-
ifornia egg producers contin-
ue to adapt to new cage size
rules, their industry in neigh-
boring Nevada is experienc-
ing a boom.
Poultry and egg produc-
tion cash receipts in the Silver
State have risen 200 percent
since 2010 — from $5.32
million that year to $15.96
million in 2014, according to
USDA statistics.
The jump comes as the
state’s overall agriculture
production value rose by 50
percent during the same peri-
od, from $636 million to $952
million, the Nevada Depart-
ment of Agriculture reported.
Driving the growth were cow-
calf, milk and hay production,
according to the agency.
Tatjana Vukovic, an edu-
cation and information offi-
cer for the department, chalks
up Nevada’s egg and poultry
production increases to rising
demand, although she didn’t
rule out that California’s
Proposition 2 may have en-
ticed a few producers to move
operations here.
“It could play a certain part
in it,” Vukovic said. “I could
not tell you 100 percent if
it’s directly related to the in-
crease.”
Rob Holley, whose Hol-
ley Family Farms in Dayton,
Nev., produces beef, eggs and
other products, doubts that
California’s cage size mini-
mums have had anything to
do with Nevada’s boom.
Any gains in moving from
California’s stricter regula-
tions would be offset by Ne-
Courtesy of Nevada Dept. of Agriculture
Chickens are released onto pasture at Holley Family Farms in Dayton, Nev. Producer Rob Holley says
Nevada’s growth in egg production in recent years has been mostly driven by consumer demand for
fresh, local eggs.
vada’s harsher winters and the
fact that it is geographically
isolated, requiring more die-
sel and other costs, Holley
said.
“I think a lot of the increase
in demand for local pastured
eggs come … at least in part
from consumer concerns
about the life of warehouse
chickens,” said Holley, who
raises his chickens free-range
as part of a pasture manage-
ment program.
“More than that, it comes
from a desire among local
farmers to support agricul-
tural practices that are more
along the traditional lines of
a multi-species system where
we integrate plants and ani-
mals into soil management,”
he said. “In this area, people
want to support that. They be-
lieve the quality of eggs is far
superior to what you get out
of a commercial (operation).”
California voters passed
Proposition 2 in 2008, requir-
ing that each egg-laying hen
have at least 116 square inch-
es to spread its wings. The
new rules have been blamed
for a drop in egg production
in California, as many farmers
are simply raising fewer birds
in their existing structures to
comply.
But both egg production
and the number of layers
in California have been re-
bounding since early 2015.
The state’s egg production in
March totaled 297 million,
up 21 million from February
and up 23 million from March
2015, while the state’s 12.3
million layers in March 2016
were up 9 percent more from
a year earlier, according to the
USDA’s Pacific Region Poul-
try Report.
Nevada has no regula-
tions related to hen houses for
egg-laying chickens, although
egg producers are required to
register their operations and
undergo inspections by the
Nevada agriculture depart-
ment, noted Marlea Stout, the
agency’s producer certifica-
tion program manager.
However, major chain
stores such as Costco, Safe-
way and Walmart as well
as food manufacturers such
as General Mills and Nestle
have made a big impact on
the industry nationwide by
announcing plans to source
exclusively cage-free eggs.
Any new large-scale
egg-laying facilities built in
the last three or four years
have been compliant, Randy
Pesciotta of the commodity
reporting service Umer Barry
said last month.
Holley said most egg pro-
duction in Nevada consists of
smaller operations in the Re-
no-Sparks and Las Vegas ar-
eas that are filling a niche for
local consumers.
9
U.S. investigating Chinese
fertilizer ‘dumping’
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Federal trade authorities are
investigating whether Chinese
companies are “dumping” am-
monium sulfate fertilizer at be-
low-market prices in the U.S.
The U.S. International
Trade Commission’s investi-
gation is based on a complaint
from PCI Nitrogen of Pasade-
na, Texas, which claims that
domestic manufacturers are
suffering from soaring imports
of the nitrogen product.
“Low priced Chinese im-
ports of granular product
routinely undersell prices of
granular product sold by U.S.
producers, exerting tremendous
downward pressure on U.S.
prices for both granular and
standard ammonium sulfate,”
the complaint said.
In agriculture, the product
is applied on a variety of crops
and is also used to improve the
efficiency of herbicides.
Imports of ammonium
sulfate from China increased
nearly eightfold between 2013
and 2015 — from about 47,000
short tons to 370,000 short tons
— and are on track to rise 60
percent in 2016 over last year,
PCI alleges.
China now controls about
12 percent of the U.S. market
for the fertilizer, up from less
than 2 percent in 2013.
Meanwhile, the wholesale
price of Chinese ammonium
sulfate has plunged rough-
ly 25 percent, from $218 per
short ton to $164 per short ton,
forcing U.S. manufacturers to
reduce their prices to remain
competitive, the complaint
said.
PCI Nitrogen fears this
trend will only strengthen in the
future.
China is continuing to “add
capacity at an alarming rate”
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Stacked bags of ammonium
sulfate fertilizer. Chinese
manufacturers are accused of
dumping ammonium sulfate
in the U.S. at below-market
prices to the detriment of U.S.
manufacturers.
even though it already produces
much more of the fertilizer than
it consumes, the company said.
“Producers in China are
expanding capacity to produce
ammonium sulfate well be-
yond any forecasted increase in
global demand,” the complaint
alleges. “Much of this new ca-
pacity will be targeted at export
markets and the U.S. market, in
particular.”
China is able to generate
such large quantities of the fer-
tilizer because it’s a byproduct
of other industries that are fa-
vored by its government, PCI
claims. About 80 percent of the
ammonium sulfate in China
comes from the steel and nylon
manufacturing processes.
Not only has China’s gov-
ernment encouraged the growth
of these industries, but it’s also
emphasized adding value to
byproducts, the complaint said.
Government policies that ben-
efit production of the fertilizer
include the elimination of ex-
port tariffs, preferential loan
programs, reduced taxes and
better rates for freight.
New farmworker housing project proposed in Morrow County
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
BOARDMAN, Ore. —
Threemile Canyon Farms is
looking to add a new housing
development west of Board-
man for 200 to 800 seasonal
workers who are needed to
grow more organic crops.
But first, Morrow County
must approve a zoning change
for the property on Tower
Road south of Interstate 84.
The land is currently zoned
Space Age Industrial, which
does not allow seasonal farm-
worker housing as a permit-
ted use. Instead, Threemile
Canyon Farms wants the land
zoned for Exclusive Farm
Use, which would allow the
project to move forward.
The Morrow County Plan-
ning Commission met May 24
to review the zoning request,
and continued that hearing
for its next meeting on June
28. Planning director Carla
McLane said the commission
will make its recommendation
to the county court, which has
he final say on the matter.
The commission will meet at
7 p.m. at the Bartholomew
Building in Heppner.
Threemile Canyon Farms
is owned and operated by
R.D. Offutt Co., which is
working through its real estate
branch — PROffutt Limited
Partnership — on a deal to
buy 66 acres from the city of
Boardman to build farmwork-
er housing along the east side
of Tower Road. The proper-
ty is outside the city’s urban
growth boundary, across from
the Boardman Airport.
Organic farming has be-
come more of an emphasis at
the farm in recent years, with
7,800 acres now in organic
peas, corn, onions, carrots
and other vegetables. Gener-
al manager Marty Myers has
said they hope to expand to
over 12,000 organic acres in
the next two years.
To do that, the farm will
need to bring on a larger sea-
sonal workforce. In a previous
interview, Myers compared
organic farming to going back
20 years in terms of farm
practices, to the point of pull-
ing weeds by hand. It takes
more labor to grow organic,
and those workers will all
need somewhere to live.
In its application, the lim-
ited partnership said it initial-
ly plans to build one housing
complex with 36 units, each
with three bedrooms.
Ted Sanders, the compa-
ny’s real estate development
manager, declined to talk
more about the project when
contacted.
McLane, the county plan-
ning director, said the first
step is to get the land rezoned.
Space Age Industrial, or SAI,
is something of a throwback,
she said, created by the Ore-
gon Legislature in the 1960s
around the time of the Space
Race.
The housing site has been
zoned SAI since the early
1980s in hopes of luring aero-
space industries to Morrow
County. Those companies
never came, and since then
McLane said they’ve been
discussing what to do with the
property.
“It kind of has margin-
al value as industrial land,”
she said. “It really is a 1960s
space race holdover here in
Morrow County.”
The Planning Department
has recommended approving
a zoning change to Exclusive
Farm Use.
McLane said the location
is preferable for farmwork-
er housing, since they’ll be
closer to the farm and avoid
straining sewer and water ser-
vices within Boardman’s city
limits.
WSU dryland field day features potential new crops, climate predictions
The noon lunch program
a lot of niches in the low rain- The presentation is specific to
New study
the low-precipitation, wheat-fal- includes updates from Sen.
fall region.”
A private crop insurance low production zone, including Mark Schoesler, College of
examines Russian package
for winter triticale is climate predictions and impacts Agricultural, Human and Nat-
slated to begin this fall, with fed- on crop yields, Schillinger said. ural Resource Sciences act-
thistle appearance eral crop insurance expected to Researchers will discuss the ing dean Kim Kidwell and
Capital Press
Dryland wheat farmers in
Eastern Washington will get a
closer look at potential alter-
native crops and strategies for
stopping a problem weed.
Washington State Univer-
sity’s annual field day begins
at 8:30 a.m. June 16 at the
dryland research station in
Lind, Wash.
Precipitation throughout
the region has been well above
average, said Bill Schillinger,
director of the station.
Timely rains in mid- to late
May were “a bushel maker,”
boosting winter wheat yield
in the region, Schillinger said.
“We’re sort of past that
critical flowering stage where
it’s susceptible to frost,” he
said. “These crops are looking
very good all over. We’re not
in the ballpark yet, but after
two very tough drought years
in a row ... I think everyone
is looking at (them) going,
‘These are some pretty nice
looking crops.’”
The agenda includes infor-
mation about WSU’s winter
and spring wheat breeding
programs, as well as up and
coming crops.
“Winter triticale is looked
upon as a coming potential
alternative crop,” Schillinger
said. “We’ve had triticale out
there before, but I think this
year it could really have an
impact. I feel it has a place in
follow, Schillinger said.
Winter pea trials also look
good this year, Schillinger said.
“We’ve got some entries that
are chest-high,” he said. “That’s
another crop that’s showing a
lot of potential. The interest and
the acres that are going in seem
to be growing quite quickly.
It’s got a lot of pros, and things
you’ve got to watch for, too.”
Representatives from RE-
ACCH, a team of regional re-
searchers led by the University
of Idaho, offer an overview of
their findings as they enter the
fifth and final year of the project.
appearance, of the weed Russian
thistle, and how it affects their
potential to be killed by herbi-
cide. Some Russian thistles die
completely, while others don’t
die at all, Schillinger said. A
WSU graduate student is study-
ing the genetic traits.
“This is new research that
nobody in the world has done
before,” Schillinger said. “It
is by far the biggest broadleaf
weed crop in the low-precipi-
tation zone and it has been for
more than 100 years. It’s a real
tough weed with a real survival
instinct.”
associate dean Rich Koenig.
For more information, contact
Schillinger at 509-235-1933.
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By MATTHEW WEAVER
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