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June 24, 2016 CapitalPress.com Farm Bureau busy ahead of presidential election By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press With the presidential election ive months away, the American Farm Bureau Federation is busy doing its homework on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. “We are deinitely in the research stage of where the candidates stand on issues im- portant to farmers and ranch- ers,” said Dale Moore, Farm Bureau’s executive director of public policy. Farm Bureau oficials will then relay the organization’s position on those issues to both campaigns and hopefully be able to sit down with the candidates or their campaign staff to discuss the details and implications, he said. “The general approach, particularly for Farm Bureau but also other organizations, is we irmly believe the coun- try is run by those who show up … we want to make sure the voices of our members are heard,” he said. Politicians often refer to agricultural states as “lyover country,” but both campaigns need to understand agricul- tural issues are not just sim- ply blue and red. They need to sit down with farmers and livestock producers and ind out what’s important to them and how policies affect them, Moore said. “Farmers and ranchers by and large are engaged and tend to show up at elections,” he said. And past elections have proved that every vote really does count, he said. Farm Bureau doesn’t en- dorse candidates, but some of its state afiliates do, he said. “And they’re watching to see if the candidates are going to commit to strengthening agriculture and rural Ameri- ca,” he said. Both candidates have made comments on the Trans-Paciic Partnership and trade in general — issues that are important to agriculture — so Farm Bureau has a good handle on where they stand in that area. The organization is still analyzing the candidates’ po- sitions on several other issues to make sure both campaigns will know where Farm Bu- reau stands, he said. Regulatory reform is one issue of great importance to ag producers. The government is constantly trying to expand its jurisdiction over farmers and ranchers, he said. Farm Bureau is also fo- cused on issues of food safe- ty and food security. That covers a broad swath, but at the top of the current list is implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act. It’s important to get that on- the-ground effort in place so an individual farmer knows what he’s dealing with when an inspector shows up on his farm, he said. Immigration reform is also a top priority, in partic- ular getting legislation that ensures farmers and livestock producers have access to a le- gal workforce, he said. GMO and other technolo- gy and innovations are anoth- er important issue. There’s a lot of pushback in that area, with an effort to kill farmers’ and ranchers’ ability to access those tech- nologies, he said. “There’s too much at stake to take a back seat and watch this process,” he said. WSDA ines orchard company for pesticide drift Two workers in adjoining orchard sickened By DON JENKINS Capital Press An orchard company has been ined $1,800 for expos- ing two workers at a neigh- boring orchard to pesticides, causing both to seek medical treatment, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture. WSDA issued the ine June 15 against Wenatchee-based Double S Orchards for an in- cident May 5, 2015, about 6.5 miles east of Royal City in Grant County. Two orchard employees, both licensed applicators, were applying pesticides with an air-blast sprayer on 19 acres of apples in the compa- ny’s Galaxy Orchard. A third orchard employee was in a pickup to warn the sprayers of trafic passing on an adjoining county road, ac- cording to WSDA. The pesticides drifted across the road and contact- ed the two workers in the ad- joining orchard, according to WSDA. One worker was exposed as he was waving and yell- ing, trying to get the applica- tors’ attention that the pesti- cide was drifting across the road. The other worker was about 160 feet away and turned, but still felt a fine mist on his face, according to WSDA. Both suffered mild pesti- cide-related illnesses, accord- ing to WSDA. A WSDA investigation conirmed pesticides contact- ed the workers’ clothing. The wind speed was 6 to 8 mph, with gusts up to 13 mph, ac- cording to weather records examined by WSDA. The company reported the incident. WSDA held the compa- ny responsible. Two orchard managers and a foreman had approved the spraying, ac- cording to WSDA. Efforts to reach the com- pany for comment were not successful. In setting the ine, WSDA doubled the penalty for a irst- time violation because two people were exposed. The company waived a hearing and did not contest the allegations, according to WSDA. WSDA has levied six ines in 2016 for pesticide viola- tions. The penalty against Dou- ble S Orchard is the largest issued this year to an agricul- tural business. 11 Easements help keep land in farming By KATY NESBITT For the Capital Press ENTERPRISE, Ore. — When making decisions about the future of the family farm worries about taxes and val- ues loom large. Nonproits and agencies throughout the Northwest, such as the Wal- lowa Land Trust, work with landowners to ind ways to reduce income taxes while planning a lasting legacy. Julia Lakes, the trust’s conservation director, told attendees at a May workshop in Enterprise that conservation easements are one way they can help landowners keep property in the family during estate plan- ning. “The land trust uses its ex- perience to ‘ballpark’ what you want the end result to be and helps lay out the path before a lot of money is expended,” Lakes said. Attorney Nancy Duhnkrack kicked off the workshop with an overview of how easements work. “Conservation easements allow landowners to voluntari- ly restrict how land is used in the future to protect the prop- erty’s values,” Duhnkrack said. She said conservation ease- ments are becoming increas- ingly popular, not just to keep working farmland intact, but because tax incentives, recently made permanent by Congress, make them economically ad- vantageous. “The landowner still owns the property and retains the right to sell it, lease it, pass it Katy Nesbitt/For the Capital Press The conluence of the Wallowa and Lostine rivers was protected from development through a conservation easement agreement between the Wallowa Land Trust and the Woody Wolfe Ranch. on,” Duhnkrack said. “It is the job of the land trust or public agency to monitor and make sure the restrictions in the ease- ment continue to be in place.” Wallowa County’s econ- omy is dependent on natural resources, primarily through agriculture, timber harvest and tourism. Tourism alone brought in $28 million in 2015, accord- ing to a Dean Runyan and As- sociates study. The stunning scenery attracts short-time vis- itors and the development of vacation homes that can cause farmland fragmentation and put the rural lavor of the county at risk. The fear of losing farm- land to development prompted the trust’s formation in 2004. Its signature bumper sticker, “Keep it Rural!”, simply states its mission. Woody Wolfe, a sixth-gen- eration Wallowa County farm- er, was the irst to use the trust to create a 197-acre easement on his farm. Wolfe said his irst easement has two zones; one is working farmland and the other is a riparian zone where cattle once grazed. “In the ag zone I gave up the right to build except for agricul- tural structures, but the riparian restrictions are much greater,” Wolfe said. Duhnkrack said the rights a landowner gives up and what he retains are entirely up to him. Wolfe said soon after he purchased a tract of land from a neighbor he started talking to James Monteith, one of the founding board members of the trust, about entering into an easement agreement to help pay off the loan. “The highest and best use is not running cows or grow- ing crops, it’s what somebody out of the area is willing to pay for breathing the air, hav- ing no trafic and looking at the mountains,” Wolfe said. In 2011, Lakes said, the trust paid Wolfe 70 percent of the easement’s value with grant money and the family donated the remainder. For the second easement on 257 acres, Wolfe is taking advantage of a USDA Natu- ral Resources Conservation Service grant that pays 50 percent of the land’s value. Lakes said the NRCS allows the landowner to donate up to 25 percent and the other 25 percent is coming from pri- vate foundations and the Nez Perce Tribe. Director Kathleen Ackley said the second easement is an attractive project for the trust because it is adjacent to the irst — creating a larger pro- tected swath of land. “It’s about landscape-scale connectivity,” Lakes said. “Protecting big chunks keep agriculture viable.” Wolfe said not everyone understands the beneit of conservation easements. “There is a little bit of value to neighbors when you don’t change the land as much as you could have,” Wolfe said. “As a neighbor may not agree with using a conserva- tion easement, but you might rest at ease when there is less likelihood there will be some- thing across your fence line that detracts from your seren- ity.” Smithsonian water exhibit traveling through Idaho By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press IDAHO FALLS — Idaho Humanities Council Director Rick Ardinger believes the latest Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit to grace the state is especially timely, given the Legislature’s recent com- mitments to maintaining a sta- ble water supply. The free exhibit, which opened May 28 at the Idaho Falls Public Library, where it will remain until July 10, offers a multi-faceted look into the importance of water. Displays arrived at the library in 20 large crates and cover topics such as water’s spiritu- al, social and cultural signii- cance, ocean life, harnessing water’s power to make energy, how water shapes the land- scape, how modern agriculture puts water to use and the im- portance of protecting the crit- ical, inite resource. The exhibit will be dis- played in six Idaho cities, mov- ing to the Sun Valley Museum of History in Ketchum from July 16 through Aug. 28, to the Idaho Museum of Natural History in Pocatello from Sept. 3 through Oct. 16, to the Nam- pa Public Library from Oct. 22 through Dec. 4, to the Latah County Historical Society in Moscow from Dec. 10 through Jan. 22 and to the Burley Public Library from Jan. 28 through March 12. The Idaho Legislature re- cently committed several mil- lion dollars toward efforts to reverse declining groundwater levels, and the state is in the midst of developing a sustain- ability plan to govern its water decisions. John O’Connell/Capital Press Cait Stewart watches her 6-year-old son, Constantine, as he checks the answer on a display June 9 about the amount of water required to produce various commodities. The display is part of a Smith- sonian Institution traveling exhibit now at the Idaho Falls Public Library focused on the importance of water. Ardinger believes the exhib- it will help visitors develop “in- formed opinions about where their water comes from and what use it should be put to.” Ardinger said the council, a nonproit organization sup- ported by donations and an annual grant from the National Endowment for the Human- ities, books a traveling exhibit through the Smithsonian’s Mu- seum on Main Street program nearly every year. The council will spend roughly $50,000 for the rights to the exhibit, and to ship it to each city. “We’re one of the irst states to get this exhibit on water,” Ar- dinger said. According to water trivia included in the display, it takes nearly 1,800 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef. Fur- thermore, a 2010 survey found more than 40 percent of fresh water in the U.S. was used for thermoelectric generation, mostly driving steam-powered turbines for creating electrici- ty. Another 38 percent of fresh water withdrawals were used for irrigation. And fresh water comprises just 3 percent of the 327 quintillion gallons of water on the Earth. The display also offers quo- tations from deep thinkers, such as President John F. Kennedy’s belief, “Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes — one for peace and one for sci- ence.” Speakers will be invited to each location to discuss a wa- ter-related topic in conjunction with the exhibit. Rexburg water rights attorney Jerry Rigby is among the scheduled speakers at the Idaho Falls Public Li- brary. Rigby said he will speak June 29. He said he’ll discuss the monumental Snake River Adjudication process, which was the nation’s largest effort to catalog water rights, as well as “the signiicant rulings of the courts through the 27-plus years of the SRBA, which guided decisions and eventu- al decrees resulting from the SRBA.” Each Idaho exhibitor will provide local water-related content, such as water’s role in the formation of the state and the history of its canal systems. Idaho Falls has includ- ed newspaper clippings on the 40th anniversary of the breaching of the Teton Dam. Library oficial Liza Evans said one exhibit visitor recog- nized her father, rancher L.W. Ball, in a photograph from the Teton Dam clippings. Littau Harvester expanding production capabilities By JANAE SARGENT Capital Press STAYTON, Ore. — Littau Harvester is expanding its pro- duction capabilities and pre- paring for an expected growth spurt by moving its assembly operation to a large warehouse it recently purchased several blocks from its main produc- tion facility. Frank Brown, production and purchasing manager, said the addition of the new site will free up the main facility to focus on building modular components and will open the company up to the opportunity to produce and sell signiicant- ly more harvesting equipment to more customers. Littau purchased the Janae Sergeant/Capital Press Littau Harvester bought a manufacturing facility in Stayton, Ore., once used to assemble modular homes. 150,000-square-foot ware- house on Wilco Road in Jan- uary. The warehouse was formerly a modular home pro- duction facility and sits on 10 acres. Brown said he hopes the expansion will allow Lit- tau to continue to innovate at a higher level and come up with machines that will offset to the upcoming labor shortage for farmers. “We see another major hurdle for the farmers coming with some of the new laws that are in place,” Brown said. “Ten years ago, machines were just for clean up after crops had been picked. Now you have farmers who are picking 100 percent of their berries with a machine.” Brown said Littau is work- ing with individual customers on a prototype basis to develop machines that will meet their needs given recent labor short- ages. Littau builds approximately 60 harvesting machines a year. Brown said when assembly shared the same space as all the other departments, pro- duction was cramped and he had to turn away customers because the company did not have the space or manpower to take on more projects. Brown said the assembly facility is still early in its de- velopment and is currently more of a crude assembly line. He would like to see it become the storage facility with racks and parts staged to be conve- nient as well as the irm’s new trucking facility. This most recent facility is not the irst big step toward ex- pansion Littau has made since it was founded in Eugene Lit- tau’s garage 50 years ago. Littau bought his irst in- dustrial facility after his neigh- bors suggested he move the harvesting equipment he lined up down the street to a separate location. Since then, Brown said the company has experi- enced continuous growth and moved to and purchased sev- eral pieces of property as it has expanded. In 2000, Littau sold the company to one of his em- ployees, Norman Johnson, who had been working there since 1987. Since buying Littau, John- son has purchased three build- ings. “Norman has an excep- tional vision of where the company needs to go to stay ahead,” Brown said. “What- ever it takes to keep ahead of the competition.”
