July 1, 2016
CapitalPress.com
17
Farm Bureau disputes WSU’s upbeat take on carbon tax
Yes on I-732
campaign
highlights report
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Carbon tax proponents are
calling attention to a Wash-
ington State University study
that concluded Initiative 732
on the November ballot would
slightly boost the state’s farm
economy.
The study, led by Gregmar
Galinato of the WSU School
of Economic Sciences, con-
cludes that an increase in the
cost of fuel and other goods
would be more than offset by
I-732’s other features, which
would cut taxes and stimulate
consumer demand.
The net result would be a
1.76 percent increase in the
value of the state’s agricultural
output in the policy’s second
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
A woman demonstrates on the Capital Campus in Olympia in 2015.
Washington voters will decide in November whether to tax carbon.
A Washington State University study concludes the tax would ac-
tually beneit agriculture, a inding at odds with the Farm Bureau’s
stance on taxing carbon.
year, the authors concluded.
The study did not report
dollar igures. Washington’s
agricultural production topped
$10 billion in 2013, according
to the U.S. Department of Ag-
riculture.
The Washington Farm Bu-
reau views the report skepti-
cally. It maintains that a car-
bon tax would raise the cost
of fuel, electricity, fertilizer
and food processing, and that
farmers and processors would
have to absorb those costs.
“We would disagree with
this professor,” Tom Davis, the
Farm Bureau’s director of gov-
ernment relations, said. “Any-
thing that impacts our food
processors and causes them
to move to other states would
have a big detrimental impact
to agriculture.”
The report was completed
in April, but highlighted Mon-
day in a press release from the
Yes on I-732 campaign.
“This policy supports the
state’s economic goals, while
addressing our moral respon-
sibility to protect our children
and future generations from
the harmful effects of climate
change,” Yes on I-732 founder
Yoram Bauman said in a writ-
ten statement.
Galinato’s study was fund-
ed by a USDA grant. He has
endorsed I-732, according to
the campaign’s website. Ef-
forts to reach Galinato were
unsuccessful.
I-732 would phase in over
two years a $25 per metric ton
tax on carbon emitted by the
reining of fossil fuels and the
generation of electricity.
The tax would increase an-
nually by 3.5 percent, plus the
rate of inlation until climbing
to $100 per ton. I-732 propo-
nents estimate the cap would
be reached in 40 years.
Agriculture would be par-
tially shielded from the carbon
tax. The tax on diesel, biodies-
el and aircraft fuel used for
agriculture would be phased in
over 40 years.
Sponsors sought to make
the proposal “revenue neutral”
by reducing taxes on manufac-
turers, cutting the state sales
tax to 5.5 percent from 6.5
percent and distributing the
carbon taxes to low-income
workers.
The WSU study conclud-
ed the sales tax cut and work-
ing-families rebate would
help farmers by increasing
food consumption
Climate-change activists
are not united behind the plan,
criticizing the tax-cutting as-
pects of the plan. The Ofice
of Financial Management es-
timated that state tax revenues
would decline by $914 mil-
lion over the policy’s irst four
years.
Carbon Washington, the
group behind I-732, collected
enough signatures last year to
force state lawmakers to either
adopt the measure or put it to
a vote.
Another Galinato-led study
completed this year, titled
“How a Race to the Bottom
Can Make You Face,” linked
lower business taxes with
higher childhood obesity rates.
The study concluded that
cutting taxes and increasing
spending on infrastructure to
attract businesses siphoned
money from health and edu-
cation programs that reduce
obesity.
Paciic Ag acquires Calagri
Company bolsters
status as largest
crop residue
handler
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Randy Lawffer, center, and his wife, Linda, smile June 17 at the
Red Lion Inn in Olympia after being named tree farmers of the year
by the Washington Tree Farm Program. The Lawffers own about
250 acres of timberland and pasture near Amboy in southwestern
Washington. Stihl branch manager Dave Warren, left, presented
the Lawffers with a chainsaw.
SW Washington couple
receive tree farm honor
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — A couple
who own about 250 acres of
timber and pasture land in
southwestern
Washington
were honored Friday as tree
farmers of the year by the
Washington Farm Tree Pro-
gram.
The Lawffer Tree Farm
near Amboy in northeast-
ern Clark County has been
in the family for more than
a century. Randy and Linda
Lawffer, who have four chil-
dren, 16 grandchildren and
ive great-grandchildren, said
they hope the land will stay in
the family.
“It’s a big honor. I think
it’s another incentive for the
kids to realize how important
it is to keep it going,” Randy
Lawffer said.
The Lawffers received the
award at the organization’s
29th annual awards luncheon,
which was held in conjunc-
tion with the annual meeting
of the Washington Farm For-
estry Association.
The nonproit tree program
administers the American
Tree Farm System in Wash-
ington. Landowners who meet
the standards are recognized
around the world for sustain-
able forest stewardship, ac-
cording to the organization.
The organization is cele-
brating the 75th anniversary
of the irst certiied tree farm,
a 120,000-acre tract in Grays
Harbor County that was
owned by Weyerhaeuser Co.
when it was certiied June 12,
1941.
The Lawffers certiied
their tree farm in 2010.
“The Washington Tree
Farm Program is proud to
honor individuals who go
above and beyond in their
commitment to responsible
forest management,” the pro-
gram’s chairwoman, Tammie
Perreault, said. “The Lawffers
have been doing that for gen-
erations.”
Randy
Lawffer’s
great-grandfather bought the
property in the early 1900s.
He took over managing the
property from his father near-
ly 40 years ago, according to
a tree program press release.
The couple do much of the
planting, thinning and har-
vesting themselves.
In a video shown at the
luncheon, the Lawffers talk-
ed about the enjoyment their
family has received by spend-
ing time on the land.
Randy Lawffer also said
that grazing cows have bene-
ited the tree farm by keeping
down brush.
Bill and Marilyn Logan,
who manage the 40-acre J.W.
Logan Tree Farm, east of On-
alaska in Lewis County, were
also nominated for the annual
award.
Bill Logan was sheriff of
Lewis County between 1987
and 1994. His father bought
the family’s tree farm in the
1940s.
In another video shown at
the luncheon, Logan said that
people ask him how he prof-
its from managing a crop that
won’t be harvested in his life-
time. He said a granddaughter
likes to spend time among the
trees. “That’s how you get
your payoff,” he said.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
HERMISTON, Ore. —
Two of the Northwest’s larg-
est biomass and crop residue
companies are joining forc-
es.
Pacific Ag, of Hermis-
ton, announced June 16 it
has acquired Calagri after
nearly two decades working
side by side in the industry.
Terms of the deal were not
disclosed, but Pacific Ag
CEO Bill Levy said it will
help provide better service
for growers and a more re-
liable stream of products for
different markets.
“I think it says great
things about the future of
Pacific Ag and our markets,”
Levy said. “There’s a lot of
great opportunities out there,
and we felt we could meet
those opportunities better
together than we could sep-
arately.”
Pacific Ag is the nation’s
largest harvester of crop res-
idue and forage — such as
corn stover and wheat straw
— used to make things like
animal feed or tree-free paper
products. Composted wheat
straw is also what’s predom-
Photo courtesy of Paciic Ag.
Paciic Ag, of Hermiston, Ore., announced June 16 that it has acquired Calagri, a hay and forage
company based in Washington.
inately used to grow commer-
cial mushrooms for grocery
stores.
But perhaps one of the
biggest future markets, Levy
said, is plant material as a
feedstock for biofuel and bio-
chemicals.
“We believe that’s going
to be a signiicant part of our
future,” Levy said.
Based in Ellensburg,
Wash., Calagri has collabo-
rated and even shared equip-
ment in the past with Paciic
Ag, Levy said. Now, they’ll
be able to continue that work
seamlessly under a single op-
eration.
Calagri’s co-owner, Kerry
Calaway, is joining Paciic
Ag’s leadership team and said
it is an exciting time to be
joining forces.
“New markets for forage
and crop residue are grow-
ing across the region and the
country, and farmers are in-
creasingly looking for ways to
sustainable generate addition-
al income per acre,” Calaway
said in a statement. “Together,
we will create more opportu-
nities for farmers while pro-
viding better service to our
customers.”
Levy said Paciic Ag will
retain Calagri’s employees,
and as a result of the trans-
action the company will now
harvest more than 300,000
tons of forage every year
across Oregon, Washington
and Idaho.
“This is a signiicant addi-
tion for us,” Levy said. “It’s
exciting, truly, to be working
with them and to be one com-
pany.”
Growers interested in
learning more about gener-
ating income off crop resi-
due can contact Paciic Ag at
1-844-RESIDUE.
Breeder makes progress on new quinoa varieties
Sequencing
genome will help
breeding eforts
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
PULLMAN, Wash. — Pa-
ciic Northwest farmers will
be able to get their hands on
a Washington State Universi-
ty variety of quinoa in about
three years, the university’s
breeder says.
Kevin Murphy, assistant
professor in barley and alter-
native crop breeding, hopes to
follow the model for releasing
wheat and barley varieties. He
needs one more year of sol-
id testing and then a year of
increasing breeder seed and
foundation seed.
Most advanced lines are in
Western Washington this year,
where they get better seed
set and yield, Murphy said.
The university has 200 to 250
breeding lines made from
crosses made seven to eight
years ago.
“We’ll narrow those down
to maybe 100 next year, to 20
and then to one or ive,” Mur-
phy said. “So we’re getting
close.”
Murphy said he has fol-
lowed, but is not involved
in, private efforts to develop
quinoa varieties and expand
acreage in Idaho.
The week of June 19, re-
searchers from around the
world were in Pullman to
build collaboration with WSU
breeders and determine the
next steps forward.
One of the researchers on
the tour was Mark Tester, as-
sociate director of the Des-
ert Agriculture Center at the
King Abdullah University
of Science and Technology
in Saudi Arabia. He recently
submitted an article to Nature
magazine on sequencing the
quinoa genome.
Understanding the genome
will help develop a sophis-
ticated system to develop
quinoa that’s economically
viable for more farmers, Tes-
ter said. The next step is to
use the information to select
for key traits in breeding pro-
grams, he said.
Sequencing the genome
will also allow breeders to
knock a year or two off of
variety development, which
currently takes eight to nine
years, Murphy said.
Murphy said remaining
questions about quinoa in-
clude its heat tolerance, herbi-
cide capabilities and handling
of saponin, a waxy coating on
the quinoa seed.
Tester hoped to view
WSU’s quinoa germplasm,
discuss food processing possi-
bilities and learn about grow-
ing conditions.
“We’re just exploding with
questions,” he said. “We’re
only at the ground loor of
understanding quinoa. At the
moment, quinoa is still a very
new crop. There are a million
things to do to improve it.”
Spokane co-op begins malting local grains for brewers, distillers
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE
VALLEY,
Wash. — Spokane coopera-
tive LINC Foods is malting
local grains as a raw ingredi-
ent for brewers and distillers
to make beers and spirits.
The co-op recently held
an open house for its new
Palouse Pint brand, showcas-
ing various beers made from
its malt. The cooperative has
been producing for roughly a
month.
“As craft brewing has got-
ten so popular in the last 15
years or so, craft malting has
just started to emerge,” malt-
ster Joel Williamson said.
LINC Foods primarily
aims to distribute food and
produce to local institutions
and restaurants. The co-op
was looking for a year-round
processing endeavor for the
winter months, Williamson
said.
“Malting is one of those
highly consolidated industries
— there’s four giant compa-
nies in North America,” he
said. “They produce all the
malt, and it’s all large-scale,
kind of anonymous, aggregat-
ed from thousands of farms.”
Going along with LINC
Foods’ mission, Williamson
wants to malt different local
grains and identify the source.
The cooperative will also
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
LINC Foods maltster Joel Williamson stands in the middle of the
malting facility May 17 in Spokane Valley, Wash. The cooperative
hopes to market its Palouse Pint malt to brewing companies,
home-brew shops and distilleries in the Spokane area.
malt triticale, oats and other
grains. Williamson is inter-
ested in ancient grains such as
rye, spelt, and emmer.
“Anything unique and in-
teresting that the big compa-
nies just won’t do,” William-
son said. “We want all the
grains to be as close as pos-
sible.”
The cooperative hopes to
work with farmers who em-
phasize sustainability, pro-
moting their soil health.
“We’re giving farmers an
alternative to the commodity
market,” Williamson said. “In
working with us, they get to
tell me, ‘This is my price, this
is what I need.’”
Williamson said malting
barley averages 10 cents a
pound, but he pays 20 to 30
cents per pound.
The cooperative plans
to sell to small and large
breweries, local home-brew
shops and distillers within
Washington, primarily in
the Spokane area.
Colfax, Wash., farmer Bill
Myers sells the cooperative
barley and wheat through his
Joseph’s Grainery brand. He
believes it will be a different
offering in the marketplace.
“There’s a big vacuum
in Eastern Washington and
Northern Idaho,” Myers said.
“The malt he’s putting out is
excellent. Unless they can
get it from Europe or some-
thing, they are just buying the
same malt everyone else does.
That’s what craft brewing is
all about, having something
different than the other guy.”
Lind, Wash., farmer James
Wahl will sell triticale to the
co-op, on a trial basis at irst.