July 8, 2016
CapitalPress.com
11
Support slips in Oregon for international trade pacts
By JIM REDDEN
Capital Bureau
Support for international
trade slipped in Oregon while
the major candidates for pres-
ident criticized the Trans-Pa-
ciic Partnership agreement
that Congress could consider
later this year.
According to two polls
conducted by DHM Research,
the percentage of Oregonians
who believe foreign trade is
an opportunity for economic
growth dropped from 65 per-
cent in March 2014 to 53 per-
cent in April 2016.
During that time, the per-
centage of Oregonians who
believe trade is more of a
threat to the economy in-
creased from 19 percent to 36
percent.
“Our polling data reveal
that Oregonians are less cer-
tain that international trade
is a good deal for our state
and our country in 2016 than
they were two years prior,”
says DHM Research founding
partner Adam Davis.
The drop in support fol-
lowed repeated attacks on
international trade treaties
by Republican presidential
candidate Donald Trump and
Democratic presidential can-
didates Bernie Sanders and
Hillary Clinton. All three can-
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Cargo containers are shown being loaded on ships at the Port of
Portland in this ile photo. Container lines no longer call at the port.
According to polls conducted by DHM Research, the percentage of
Oregonians who believe trade is an opportunity for economic growth
dropped from 65 percent in March 2014 to 53 percent in April 2016.
didates came out against the
TPP, even though Clinton had
previously called it the “gold
standard” of such treaties.
“The seemingly 24-7 cov-
erage of Trump and Sanders
this past year has taken its
toll on public understanding
and appreciation of the bene-
its of trade,” Davis says. “It’s
been a constant drumbeat of
Americans losing jobs and big
companies being the only ben-
eiciaries of policies like the
Trans-Paciic Partnership.”
Doug Badger, executive di-
rector of the Paciic Northwest
International Trade Associa-
tion, deplores the criticisms.
Although Trump, Sanders and,
to a lesser extent, Clinton have
all claimed such treaties have
reduced the number of Amer-
ican jobs, Badger says the
opposite is true, especially in
Oregon.
“Trade is creating jobs in
the country and the region,
which is especially depen-
dent on trade. And they are
good-paying jobs,” says Bad-
ger, whose organization is
aligned with the Portland Busi-
ness Alliance and is pushing
for approval of the TPP.
Badger notes that support
for international trade is still
above 50 percent in Oregon,
which he says is a good thing.
But he worries the criticisms
by the presidential candidates
will make it harder to win ap-
proval of the TPP and future
trade agreements.
“The politicians are saying
one thing but the economy is
saying another when it comes
to trade,” he says.
Davis agrees there’s little
public understanding of the
beneits of trade.
“Like we see in our research
about public understanding
of the basics of governance
and public inance, there’s a
great deal of ignorance about
international trade. And the
Trans-Paciic
Partnership
agreement? You got to be kid-
ding; there’s next to no facts-
based understanding of what it
is and how it affects Oregon’s
economy — positively or neg-
atively,” Davis says.
TPP opponent Michael
Shannon of the Oregon Fair
Trade Campaign argues that
just the opposite is true.
“The public isn’t respond-
ing to the politicians, the pol-
iticians are responding to the
public,” Shannon says.
“People are tired of stag-
nant wages and increasing
inequality, and previous trade
deals have shipped good pay-
ing jobs with beneits over-
seas,” says Shannon, whose
organization includes labor,
environmental and social jus-
tice organizations.
Shannon and other oppo-
nents point to a recent study
by the United States Interna-
tional Trade Commission that
says some manufacturing jobs
would be lost because of the
TPP, although other sectors of
the economy, like agriculture,
would beneit.
Davis conirms his com-
pany’s polls are inding deep
public dissatisfaction with the
economy.
“Nearly half of Oregonians
believe that America has got-
ten the short end of the stick,
perhaps in a nod of agreement
with Trump and Sanders about
the exportation of manufactur-
ing and other blue-collar jobs
that once served as the back-
bone of our economy. Many
of these same people are not
considering, because they’re
not aware, the beneits of in-
ternational trade such as lower
prices and the availability of a
wider range of goods and ser-
vices,” he says.
A 2013 study by the Value
of Jobs Coalition found that
$20 billion worth of Oregon
goods and services were ex-
ported in 2012. There were
490,000 jobs tied directly
or indirectly to internation-
al trade that year, up 20,000
from 2010. And the amount
of Oregon’s trade-related
employment grew 7.5 times
faster than total employment
between 2004 and 2011, said
the study, which was support-
ed by such business groups as
the Portland Business Alliance
and the Port of Portland.
The TPP is an agreement
between the United States,
Canada, Japan, Australia,
Brunei, Chile, Malaysia,
Mexico, New Zealand, Peru,
Singapore and Vietnam. Ac-
cording to Badger, seven of
Oregon’s top 11 export mar-
kets were on this list in 2015,
and they accounted for nearly
half of all of Oregon’s export
value that year.
“The export of Oregon
goods and services will only
increase if we can reform the
rules and reduce the tariffs
with our major trading part-
ners,” Badger says.
Shannon counters that the
biggest companies, such as
Nike, beneit most from such
deals, not average workers.
Because of the political
climate, some observers be-
lieve President Obama will
ask the lame-duck session of
Congress to approve the TPP
after the November general
election.
Signs help NW ag, forestry, isheries pack economic punch Animal
agriculture
motorists
showcases
ID crops
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
By KATHY HEDBERG
The Lewiston Tribune
GRANGEVILLE, Idaho
(AP) — If you’ve ever driv-
en by ripening grain ields and
puzzled over what’s growing
there, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Farm Services
Agency has a solution for you.
This year, shortly before Me-
morial Day, signs identifying the
various crops that are grown in
Idaho and Lewis counties began
sprouting up along U.S. High-
way 95, State Highway 162
between Grangeville and Nez-
perce and in some spots beside
U.S. Highway 12.
It’s a project sponsored by
the Idaho and Lewis counties’
farm agency ofices, said Julie
Fowler, executive oficer for
the Idaho County ofice.
“It was an outreach project,”
Fowler said. “We have a lot of
people who will come in and
ask us what crops are planted.
So this lets people know this is
canola or dark northern spring
wheat, or whatever.
“It just brings an awareness
of it. A lot of people don’t know
what kinds of crops are plant-
ed in Idaho, so this gives us an
idea of what we do in Idaho
County.”
Lewis County has planted
the crop signs since 2014, re-
ported The Lewiston Tribune.
Kaci Ralstin of the county’s
farm agency ofice said: “We’ve
had tons of compliments on
them and it’s a project we enjoy
doing.”
The idea came from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s
Know Your Farmer, Know Your
Food program, Ralstin said.
“The reason I started this
project, I thought the signs
would be a great way to show
the public local crops that are
growing throughout the area,”
Ralstin said.
Each county has produced
30 signs at a cost of about $100
per sign. Funding for the Idaho
County signs comes from the
agency, the Idaho Wheat Com-
mission, Idaho County Soil and
Water and the Idaho County
Grain Producers.
In Lewis County the under-
writers include the agency, the
Idaho Wheat Commission, Hill-
co Technologies and the Nez-
perce FFA chapter.
Industrial technology and
FFA students at Grangeville and
Prairie high schools, as well as
the Nezperce FFA chapter and
agency employees, did the met-
al work and built and distributed
the signs.
Fowler said the signs were
erected in mid-May and proba-
bly will be removed before har-
vest begins.
“I’d like to leave them, but
I think they might get in the
farmers’ way when they har-
vest,” she said.
A new university study
inds the natural resources
sector in the Northwest fu-
els more than $176 billion in
direct and related sales and
accounts for nearly 886,000
full- and part-time jobs.
The study, commissioned
by Northwest Farm Credit
Services and performed by
extension economists at Ore-
gon State University and the
University of Idaho, found
agriculture, forestry and ish-
eries account for 10.6 percent
of all jobs in the ive-state re-
gion and 12.2 percent of all
sales in 2015.
“We knew intuitively how
vital these industries are to
the Northwest and wanted to
quantify their contributions to
the regional economy,” said
Phil DiPoi, NWFCS presi-
dent and CEO.
“This study afirms the
signiicant impact producers
have on the inancial strength
of our region,” he said.
Agriculture is the front
runner in economic impact,
claiming about 70 percent
of total sales and jobs within
the region’s natural resources
sector with more than $120.1
billion in direct and related
sales and 621,518 jobs in
2015.
It also accounted for 8.3
percent of total sales in the
region and 7.5 percent of all
jobs, the economists found.
Forestry accounts for
nearly 24 percent of sales in
the natural resources sector
and 21 percent of the jobs.
Direct and related sales in the
industry totaled nearly $42
billion and provided 189,000
jobs in 2015.
In the entire regional
economy, forestry provides
2.9 percent of all sales and
2.3 percent of all jobs.
The ishing and seafood
advances
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Dust lies from a bale of alfalfa as it’s picked up in Ben Schaapman’s irst-cutting south of Quincy,
Wash., May 12. A new university study inds the natural resources sector in the Northwest fuels more
than $176 billion in direct and related sales and accounts for nearly 886,000 full- and part-time jobs.
Economic contribution
of Northwest agriculture,
forestry and fisheries
(Direct, indirect and induced effects)
Area
Full/part-
Sales
time jobs ($ billions)
Wash.
Ore.
Idaho
Mont.
Alaska
Northwest *
303,321
256,423
143,611
85,037
64,034
885,951
$58.8
48.5
31.8
11.1
8.9
176.1
*Northwest totals are larger than the sum
of the states because they include
economic linkages among states.
Source: Agriculture, Food, Forestry
and Fishing in the Northwest U.S. —
An Economic Overview, 2016
Capital Press graphic
manufacturing industry is
the smallest in the natural re-
sources sector, representing
about 8 percent of sales and
jobs. With $13.9 billion in
sales and 75,416 jobs in 2015,
it represented only 1 percent
of total sales in the region and
less than 1 percent of jobs.
Washington and Oregon
have the largest natural re-
sources sector in the region
and together contain about
65 percent of all econom-
ic activity in that sector.
Washington had 200,770
direct jobs in the sector
with $42.4 billion in direct
sales in 2015. Oregon had
147,591 direct jobs in the
sector with $32.4 billion in
direct sales.
The two states also have
more related economic activ-
ity than the other states due
to larger spillover benefits,
as there are more businesses
buying and selling and more
people earning wages and
income from the production,
the economists found.
Idaho had 76,374 direct
jobs in the natural resources
sector with more than $22.7
billion in sales in 2015.
Montana had 63,360 direct
jobs with more than $8 bil-
lion in sales in 2015.
With similar employment
levels, “total sales in Idaho
are 2.8 times as large as sales
in Montana, which indicates
that the natural resources
sector is less labor intensive
and includes more high val-
ue production in Idaho than
Montana,” the economists re-
ported.
Alaska has the fewest sales
and jobs in the sector, with
about $5.9 billion direct in
sales and 45,036 direct jobs
in 2015.
The study also found that
60 percent of all natural re-
source sales in the region are
exported to other states or
other countries, accounting
for 15 percent of all exports
from the region. Total sales
exported ranged from a high
of 89 percent of the seafood
manufacturing sector to a low
of 55 percent of agricultural
farm gate production.
In an effort to inform the
public about modern animal
agriculture and dispel nega-
tive myths about how it oper-
ates, the Animal Agriculture
Alliance has released its 2016
Advances in Animal Agricul-
ture Report.
The report highlights the
industry’s commitment to
continuing improvements in
areas consumers care about.
Those highlights demonstrate
the industry is using less feed,
water, land and energy to pro-
duce safe, high-quality food
while reducing environmental
impacts and the use of antibi-
otics, said Hannah Thompson,
the Alliance’s communica-
tions director.
It provides a comprehen-
sive overview of the positive
steps animal agriculture is
taking in animal care, food
safety, public health and envi-
ronmental sustainability, she
said.
The Alliance uses the re-
port to communicate that
message to consumers, the
media, retailers, restaurants,
partners in the supply chain
and other influencers, she
said.
“There’s no doubt that
raising food looks much
different than it did 50, 25
even five years ago. To feed
a growing population effi-
ciently and to prioritize the
highest standards of animal
care, the entire animal agri-
culture industry has worked
tirelessly to identify areas
for improvement and to
evolve,” the report states.
Fresh fruit organization’s Bedwell moves to leadership foundation
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
The executive who presided
over historic advances at the
California Fresh Fruit Associ-
ation is taking over the Cali-
fornia Agricultural Leadership
Foundation.
Barry Bedwell, president of
what would become the Fresh
Fruit Association since 2003,
will take the reins of the Sali-
nas, Calif., based foundation on
Aug. 1.
The ag leadership program,
which works with four Cali-
fornia universities to offer a
17-month course for people
working in or around agricul-
ture to become industry lead-
ers, will start its 47th class in
the fall.
“I was a graduate of Class
13, and the fact is I had un-
derstood the value of the pro-
gram as it was
structured then,”
Bedwell said.
“Over the years,
I’ve
become
even more im-
pressed
with
Barry
how the program
Bedwell
has evolved into
a true leadership
program. They do coaching and
training for leadership.
“When you look at that cou-
pled with the challenges we
face, primarily in Sacramento,
this program will be imperative
for the future of California agri-
culture,” he said.
Bedwell will replace out-
going foundation president
and chief executive oficer
Bob Gray, who is retiring after
seven years at the helm. Gray
will stay on as a consultant for
a few months after Bedwell
takes the position.
As president,
Bedwell
will
be responsible
for directing the
foundation’s ac-
tivities, which
raises funds for
Bob
the
program,
Gray
and guiding the
leadership pro-
gram. The program works with
California Polytechnic Uni-
versity-San Luis Obispo, Cal
Poly-Pomona, California State
University-Fresno and the Uni-
versity of California-Davis.
Applicants who are chosen
for classes receive all-expens-
es-paid instruction at the uni-
versities as well as national and
international trips to learn about
ag, Bedwell said.
The program is considered
to be one of the world’s best at
preparing industry leaders, he
said.
“They have
over
1,300
alumni now,”
Bedwell said.
“That’s one of
the things I want
to capitalize on
George
— that network
Radanovich of prior grad-
uates … who
come from everywhere in Cal-
ifornia.”
Among Bedwell’s accom-
plishments at the Fresh Fruit
Association was to preside over
its 2014 name change from
the California Grape and Tree
Fruit League, under which the
organization had operated for
66 years. The name change
was necessary as the group had
expanded to represent about 15
different fresh fruit commodi-
ties.
While the more than
300-member group has for
many years held a Fruit De-
livery at the state Capitol, the
CFFA has been more outspo-
ken in recent years, supporting
workers’ right to vote on union
decertiication at Fresno-based
Gerawan Farming and oppos-
ing the minimum-wage in-
crease that lawmakers passed
earlier this year.
Bedwell will be replaced at
the CFFA by former U.S. Rep.
George Radanovich, a wine-
grape grower who served in
Congress from 1995 to 2011.
He is also a California Agri-
cultural Leadership Program
graduate.
“With George being an eight-
term congressman, he gives a lot
of practical experience and ac-
cess to the association,” Bedwell
said. “It became a win-win. …
I feel good about what I’m go-
ing to do and I feel good about
George coming in here.”