June 24, 2016
CapitalPress.com
7
State ines Washington
Potato Company for
safety violations
Company marked
as ‘severe violator’
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
An onion ield near Nyssa, Ore., is irrigated in this July 2015 photo. Onion thrips, which can transmit a virus that can devastate onion
ields, have made another early appearance in the Treasure Valley area.
Devastating onion thrips appear
early in Treasure Valley region
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
NYSSA, Ore. — Onion
thrips were found in com-
mercial ields in the Treasure
Valley region in late April this
year, much earlier than nor-
mal.
Thrips are a vector for the
iris yellow spot virus, which
can severely reduce onion
yields. The virus was detected
in onion plants the last week
of May and researchers said
they were likely infected in
mid-May.
Onion growers in this area
historically haven’t been con-
cerned about thrips until about
Memorial Day and the virus in
past seasons has made its ini-
tial appearance in July or ear-
ly August, said Oregon State
University Cropping Systems
Extension Agent Stuart Reitz.
The virus was detected the
irst week of June last year,
which was an extremely early
appearance, he said.
“They’re just coming ear-
lier every year,” Reitz said, a
development he contributed to
the recent warmer than normal
winters and early springs. “I
think more of their popula-
tions survived over the winter
so they were out spreading
the virus around earlier than
we’ve seen in past years.”
There are no good biolog-
ical methods for controlling
onion thrips in the Treasure
Valley area of Southwestern
Idaho and Eastern Oregon,
which produces about 25 per-
cent of the nation’s fresh bulb
onion supply.
The only effective way to
control them is by spraying.
With their earlier appear-
ances, that means growers
have to spray more to control
them.
“If growers are having to
spray another month of the
season, that’s another huge
cost for them,” Reitz said.
Thrips, and the virus they
transmit to onion plants, will
devastate an onion ield if not
controlled and not spraying
is not an option, said Oregon
farmer Bruce Corn.
“Sometimes you have to
close your eyes to the cost be-
cause you won’t have a crop if
the virus gets in early and you
don’t spray for it,” he said.
“As a grower, if you expect
to have a crop, you have to be
very vigilant and proactive on
it.”
Spraying for thrips costs
between $20 and $100 an acre,
depending on what chemical
is used, according to Corn and
Paul Skeen, president of the
Malheur County Onion Grow-
ers Association.
Because there is a limited
number of chemicals available
to growers that effectively
control thrips, rotating them
is critical to avoid the insects
building up resistance to them,
Corn said.
That means growers also
have to use the more expen-
sive chemicals. Skeen es-
timates the average cost of
spraying at about $50 an acre.
“If you’re spraying eight
times, that’s a lot of money,”
he said. But, he added, “You
won’t have a crop if you
don’t.”
To try to ind a solution to
the thrips problem, OSU re-
searchers in Ontario last year
started a ield trial with some
experimental onion varieties
to see if they offer some re-
sistance to thrips and the iris
yellow spot virus.
Some of the varieties
showed promise, Reitz said,
but it will take several years
to test them more, then isolate
the beneicial traits and breed
them into commercially ac-
cepted varieties.
Bill would remove population targets for predator ish
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
TURLOCK, Calif. — Con-
gress is giving a boost to mo-
mentum for leaders to address
the predatory ish problem that
farm groups believe has led to
stricter controls on pumping
from the Sacramento-San Joa-
quin River Delta.
A bill by U.S. Rep. Jeff
Denham, R-Calif., that would
eliminate population require-
ments for striped bass in the
Central Valley Project Im-
provement Act is headed to
the loor of the House of Rep-
resentatives.
The legislation passed the
House Natural Resources
Committee unanimously on
June 15, and Denham believes
its bipartisan
support
will
enable it to sail
through Con-
gress and be
signed by Pres-
ident Barack
Denham
Obama.
“It is the
congressman’s hope the bill
can be passed by the House
and Senate soon, especially
since the Obama administra-
tion supports” the legislation,
Denham chief of staff Jason
Larrabee said in an email.
In an effort to boost ish
populations, the 24-year-old
CVPIA mandated population
doubling for both native spe-
cies and non-native predator
ish, including striped bass. As
a result, millions more acre-
feet of water has been lushed
through the Delta and out to
the ocean rather than being
used for other purposes, Den-
ham argues.
The Turlock lawmaker’s
bill comes as the Califor-
nia Farm Bureau Federa-
tion and Western Growers
are among a broad coalition
that has petitioned the state
Fish and Game Commission
to ease or remove ishing
controls on several types of
bass.
The farm groups believe
that solving the predator prob-
lem could lead to the easing of
pumping restrictions that have
deprived growers of needed
surface water in recent years,
Western Growers spokesman
Cory Lunde has said.
Denham argues that re-
moving predator ish from the
doubling requirement will also
give native ish species a bet-
ter chance to repopulate while
saving water and money.
Since its introduction in
February, his bill, the Save
Our Salmon Act, has gained
support from 15 water agen-
cies and irrigation districts
throughout California as well
as from the U.S. Department
of the Interior.
“Reclamation and the De-
partment appreciate the inter-
est in reducing threats to the
survival of listed ish in the
Bay Delta,” Deputy Assistant
Interior Secretary Tom Iseman
said in written testimony to
the House Natural Resources
Committee.
A potato processor has
been ined $213,160 for
repeated safety violations,
including one that led to a
worker being seriously in-
jured, the Washington De-
partment of Labor and In-
dustries announced June 14.
The state initiated an
investigation in early De-
cember after a worker at the
Washington Potato Com-
pany in Warden caught his
arm in a piece of machinery,
an L&I spokeswoman said.
Another worker started the
equipment without realizing
the other worker was clean-
ing it.
The company had previ-
ously been cited three times
for not having safety proce-
dures to prevent machinery
from being started during
maintenance, according to
L&I.
In all, state investigators
reported inding ive serious
and three general safety vio-
lations that the company had
previously been cited for,
along with 15 other serious
violations.
The plant is owned by
the Oregon Potato Compa-
ny, which does business in
Washington under the name
Washington Potato Compa-
ny.
L&I has identiied the
company as a “severe vio-
lator” because of the repeat
violations. About 20 busi-
nesses have been classiied
as severe violators since
2011, the spokeswoman
said. The designation could
lead to more inspections at
the company’s other plants.
Efforts to reach the com-
pany June 15 were unsuc-
cessful.
The company can appeal
the ine.
Other violations cited by
L&I included:
• In two instances, rotat-
ing shafts weren’t equipped
with safety guards.
• Two employees used a
6-foot aluminum ladder with
two broken steps for two
months.
• An unprotected pul-
ley and drive belt exposed
workers to broken bones
and cuts.
• A 15-foot deep waste-
water well was uncovered,
exposing workers to the risk
of drowning.
• The company did not
properly manage pits, vaults,
boilers and other conined
spaces that workers must
enter. The company did not
develop a complete written
program to control access
and to train workers in safe-
ty and rescue procedures.
• A loor did not have
guardrails to protect workers
from a 15-foot fall.
• The employer did not
cover all electrical wiring
and did not ensure extension
and power cords were in
good condition.
L&I conducts about
4,600 safety inspections a
year and about eight result in
ines of more than $200,000,
the spokeswoman said.
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