PNW CHERRY HARVEST MOVING WELL
FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2016
VOLUME 89, NUMBER 27
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
Page 5
$2.00
THE CHANGING FACE OF
FARMING
Number of Hispanic farm operators
continues to grow across the nation
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
W
ENATCHEE, Wash. — From
humble beginnings in Mex-
ico, Jesus Limon has spent a
lifetime working hard for his
slice of the American dream.
As a young man, he picked celery and or-
anges in California and tree fruit in Washing-
ton state. Twenty years ago he became one
of the few Hispanic orchard owners in the
Wenatchee area.
He and his wife of 40 years, Maria Luisa
Limon, helped put their four sons through col-
lege and today see retirement in their not-too-
distant future.
They now own 150 acres of apple trees and
lease 35 acres of cherry and apple trees.
Growing number
Limon — pronounced “Lee-moan” — is
one of about 100,000 Hispanic farm operators
in the United States. Operators are defi ned by
the U.S. Census of Agriculture as those man-
aging daily operations. They may or may not
own a farm.
The growth rate of Hispanic farm operators
was still accelerating nationally in the last Ag
Census in 2012.
Those numbers include up to three opera-
tors per farm, said Christopher Mertz, North-
west regional director of the USDA National
Agricultural Statistics Service in Olympia,
Wash. Nationwide there were approximate-
ly 67,000 Hispanic-owned farms in 2012 and
99,732 Hispanic farm operators.
Photos by Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Jesus and Marie Limon sit with one of
their sons, Jose, and grandchildren, from
left, Christopher, 7, Jose Jr., 9; and
Damian, 2, in the Limons’ East
Wenatchee, Wash., home on
June 27.
Not easy being small
Depending on the type of farm, breaking
into the fi eld can be diffi cult, Limon said.
“I’m not sure what the deal is in California,
but here in Wenatchee packing houses that are
not (grower-owned) co-ops don’t accept you if
you don’t produce a certain amount of fruit,”
Limon, 58, said.
Jesus Limon, 58,
is among a growing
number of Hispanic farm
and orchard operators
in the U.S.
Turn to FARMS, Page 12
Oregon county’s GMO ban ruling appealed
Decision expected to establish statewide precedent
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A ruling striking down the
ban on genetically engineered
crops in Josephine County,
Ore., is being appealed by
supporters of the ordinance.
The prohibition was passed
by voters in 2014 but over-
turned in May by Josephine
County Circuit Court Judge
Pat Wolke, who held that
state law clearly pre-empted
local regulation of geneti-
cally modifi ed organisms, or
GMOs.
Oregonians for Safe Farms
and Families, a nonprofi t, and
Sisikou Seeds, an organic
farm, defended the GMO ban
in court and have fi led a no-
tice informing the judge that
they will appeal his decision.
Mary Middleton, execu-
tive director of OSFF, said the
group continues to believe in
local control and wants to vin-
dicate the will of voters who
created the GMO-free zone.
“Winning sets a precedent
for the rest of the state,” Mid-
dleton said.
Middleton and other sup-
porters of the GMO ban
feared that biotech crops will
cross-pollinate with organic
and conventional ones, ruin-
ing their marketability.
Farmers Robert and Shel-
ley Anne White fi led a lawsuit
against the ordinance last year
because they wanted to plant ge-
Ag’s reaction to Supreme Court’s
immigration ruling mixed
Lower court’s
reversal of Obama
order stands
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
The Josephine County, Ore.,
Courthouse is seen in this
photo. Two parties say they will
appeal a judge’s ruling against
the county’s ban of genetically
modifi ed crop.
netically engineered sugar beets.
Wolke agreed with them
that state lawmakers disal-
lowed such local restrictions
in 2013, rejecting arguments
that the pre-emption law was
unconstitutional.
Turn to GMO, Page 12
The U.S. Supreme Court’s
deadlock on President Barack
Obama’s executive order on
immigration doesn’t alter the
labor situation for agriculture
and drew predictable reac-
tions from various quarters.
The 4-4 court deadlock
announced June 23 lets low-
er court rulings stand striking
down Obama’s order of No-
vember 2014 granting depor-
tation deferrals and tempo-
rary legal work status to about
5 million illegal immigrants.
Twenty-six states, led by
Texas, brought suit saying the
president’s order is unconsti-
tutional.
Conservative groups such
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Workers train Kanzi apple tree limbs by stringing them to trellis
wire in Mountain View Orchard, East Wenatchee, Wash., April
30. Like pruning, thinning and picking, requires a lot of workers.
as FreedomWorks heralded
the court split as a victory for
the Constitution. United Farm
Workers President Arturo S.
Rodriguez issued a statement
calling the ruling a “setback
for hardworking immigrant
families.”
The decision “refl ects the
separation of powers princi-
ple in our Constitution that
Congress writes the laws
and the president enforc-
es those laws,” said Rep.
Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.,
whose Fourth Congressional
Turn to RULING, Page 12
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