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CapitalPress.com
July 15, 2016
Proposed Idaho field burning changes still rankle environmentalists
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho farm
groups support a revised draft
proposal amending the state’s
crop residue burning program.
Environmental and public
health groups are challenging
the proposal, which contains
program changes Idaho De-
partment of Environmental
Quality officials say are neces-
sary to avoid a large reduction
in the number of allowable
burn days for Idaho farmers.
The two sides will meet
July 20 to try to iron out their
differences.
After field burning was
halted in Idaho in 2007 be-
cause of a lawsuit, the two
sides reached an agreement in
2008 that created the current
field burning program and al-
lowed farmers to resume using
the tool.
But the two sides are drift-
ing apart on the DEQ propos-
al, which was offered after the
federal standard for ozone was
tightened in October.
DEQ can only allow farm-
ers to burn if ozone and small
particulate matter levels are
not expected to exceed 75 per-
cent of the federal standards
for those air pollutants.
To avoid a large reduction
in allowable burn days because
of the new ozone standard,
DEQ has proposed loosing
Idaho’s ozone standard to 90
percent of the federal standard.
The department’s first
draft proposal also proposed
tightening the state’s standard
for small particulate matter,
known as PM 2.5, to 65 per-
cent of the federal standard.
DEQ officials said that
was a fair trade-off to protect
public health while continuing
to allow farmers to burn their
fields to control pests and dis-
eases.
But after farm groups said
there is no scientific evidence
that shows tightening the
state’s PM 2.5 standard would
make it less likely that field
burning in Idaho would impact
public health, DEQ revised its
proposal to leave the state’s
PM 2.5 standard unchanged at
75 percent of the federal stan-
dard.
Based on public comments
submitted to DEQ, that re-
vision is not going over well
with environmental groups.
Conservation Voters for
Idaho Executive Director
Courtney Washburn said her
group supports loosening the
ozone standard to 90 percent
only if the PM 2.5 standard
is tightened an equal amount,
to 60 percent, a comment
echoed by other environmen-
tal groups.
“We have serious concerns
over DEQ’s backsliding on the
PM 2.5 and feel that the pro-
posed limits are not protective
of public health ...,” stated
Austin Hopkins, a conserva-
tion assistant with the Idaho
Conservation League.
But Idaho-Eastern Oregon
Seed Association Executive
Director Roger Batt said field
burning has little or no impact
on ozone levels and the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency
is reviewing the federal PM
2.5 standard, “with the possi-
bility that more stringent stan-
dards may be adopted in the
future.”
The assumption is that EPA
will enact a more stringent PM
2.5 standard, Idaho Farm Bu-
reau Federation President Bry-
an Searle said.
“Arbitrarily adjusting the
criterion of this pollutant for
the sake of emotional equali-
ty, while knowing that the PM
2.5 (standard) will be adjusted
in the near future, is irrational
and unreasonable,” he said.
Idaho Grain Producers
Association President Ter-
ry Kulik said the proposed
changes “will result in more
high-quality burn days for
farmers while maintaining the
public health outcomes of the
program.”
Sakuma berry farm
proposes vote on union
Grower loses on bid to
reduce attorney fees
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Sakuma Brothers Farms
proposed July 8 that workers
cast secret ballots to determine
whether they want union repre-
sentation, the same day a feder-
al judge dealt the Washington
berry grower one final loss in a
class-action lawsuit by ordering
the company to pay out almost
$250,000 in legal fees.
The Skagit County-based
business had planned to meet
July 14 with representatives of
Families United for Justice to
work out the details of holding
an election overseen by a neu-
tral party and involving about
300 to 330 workers, Sakuma
spokesman Roger van Oosten
said.
If a majority votes to be rep-
resented by the group, “we’ll sit
down and work out a contract
with the workers,” he said.
Families United for Justice
said in a statement that it was
encouraged by Sakuma’s offer,
though it complained the com-
pany announced its proposal
before Thursday’s meeting.
The group has sought to
represent Sakuma’s workers for
four years and has organized
protests at the farm and events
along the West Coast to pro-
mote a boycott of products that
contain Sakuma berries.
Sakuma grows and process-
es strawberries, blueberries,
blackberries and raspberries.
The 85-year-old family-owned
business was started by broth-
ers from Japan. It also operates
Norcal Nursery in Red Bluff,
Calif.
Sakuma CEO Danny Weed-
en decided it was in the best
interest of the employees and
the company’s future to hold a
vote, van Oosten said.
“I wouldn’t say (the boy-
cott) is threatening the survival
of the farm. I would say it’s an
annoyance. This is an opportu-
nity to bring some clarity to it,”
he said.
Families United for Justice
advocates a $15-an-hour min-
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Representatives of Sakuma
Brothers Farms in Skagit Coun-
ty, Wash., plan to meet with
Families United for Justice to
discuss an election to deter-
mine whether workers want to
be represented by the group.
imum wage, plus overtime.
Washington’s current minimum
wage is $9.47 an hour. Van
Oosten said the average pay for
piece-rate pickers for the recent-
ly completed strawberry harvest
was about $17 an hour.
In a separate matter, U.S.
District Judge Marsha Pechman
in Seattle on July 8 awarded
$251,699 to Columbia Legal
Services and Terrell Marshall
Law Group, the full amount the
firms sought for representing
Sakuma workers before the state
Supreme Court.
Pechman’s decision was the
last piece of business in a 2013
class-action lawsuit brought by
two Sakuma workers alleging
pay violations.
Sakuma settled most issues
out of court by paying 408
workers a total of $500,000 and
their lawyers $350,000.
In addition, the company this
year retroactively paid $87,160
to pickers who worked in 2014
after the Supreme Court ruled
piece-rate workers must be paid
separately for 10-minute rest
breaks. The average payout per
worker was $231.
Sakuma’s attorney had ar-
gued the two law firms should
receive no more than $87,785.
“We’re very pleased,” Co-
lumbia Legal Services attorney
Daniel Ford said. “I think the
judge recognized the work in-
volved in representing a large
class of farmworkers in a
complex case.”
The Supreme Court de-
cision, handed down a year
ago, changed pay practices
on farms throughout Wash-
ington.
Courtesy of Ceres
A researcher examines sorghum developed by Ceres, a biotech developer that was recently sold for $17 million to the Land O’Lakes farm
cooperative.
Farm cooperative buys
struggling biotech developer
Land O’Lakes
acquires Ceres for
$17 million
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A major farm cooperative
is buying a money-losing
biotechnology
company
that’s introduced several ge-
netically engineered crops
exempt from USDA’s regu-
latory process.
Land O’Lakes, a Min-
nesota-based cooperative
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LEGAL
NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING
The USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS)
announces a meeting of the
Washington State Technical
Advisory Committee on July
26, 2016 from 9:30 am to 3:00
pm, 316 W. Boone Ave., Suite
450, Spokane, WA. Remote
access is also available.
For more information
contact Bonda Habets,
(509) 323-2900
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with roughly $13 billion in
annual revenues, has agreed
to pay about $17 million
for Ceres, a publicly-traded
California biotech firm that
lost more than $28 million
in its most recent fiscal year.
Ceres’ performance has
disappointed investors since
selling its shares to the
public in 2012: Revenues
have since dropped by near-
ly half, to $2.7 million in
2015, while its stock price
plummeted from a high of
more than $130 to as low as
16 cents before the takeover
was announced.
With profits topping
$300 million in 2015,
though, Land O’Lakes isn’t
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29-1/#5
NOTICE OF SALE
On Friday, July 22, 2016 at 11:00 a.m.
Pacific Daylight Time, Papé Kenworth
will offer for sale, to the highest
bidder, all, but no part of, the
following equipment: One (1)
2006
Kenworth
Truck,
VIN
1XKAD49XX6J104955. The sale will
be open to the public and bids will
be received orally. Terms of sale are
25% cash payment upon acceptance
of the bid with the balance payable
within 48 hours. The equipment will
be held pending receipt of the full
bid price and is sold AS IS - WHERE IS
- AND WITH ALL FAULTS condition,
with no representations or war-
ranties as to fitness for any particular
application whatsoever and may be
examined at 4300 Hanley Dr., Suite
100, Central Point, OR 97502. Papé
Trucks, Inc. dba Papé Kenworth
reserves the right to bid on the
equipment and the right to reject
any one or all of the bids received.
PAPÉ TRUCKS, INC. DBA PAPÉ KEN-
WORTH 541-772-5211 Legal-28-2-1/#18
taking a serious financial
risk with its 40-cent-per-
share acquisition of Ceres,
while the investment has
the potential upside of ex-
panding the cooperative’s
biotech portfolio.
Land O’Lakes already
owns Forage Genetics In-
ternational, which sells gly-
phosate-resistant
biotech
alfalfa that was targeted
in high-profile lawsuits by
critics of genetic engineer-
ing.
In the past couple years,
Ceres has re-oriented its fo-
cus from bioenergy crops
grown in Brazil to food and
forage crops, such as sor-
ghum and sugarcane.
Notably, the company
has received written assur-
ances from USDA that nine
varieties of sugarcane, corn,
sorghum and switchgrass
it developed through vari-
ous biotechnology methods
don’t need to be cleared by
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold, for
cash to the highest bidder, on
7/27/2016. The sale will be held at
10:00am by
CANYON AUTO REBODY
21916 FERRY RD. SE, STAYTON, OR
2002 MERZ E 320 4DR
VIN - WDBJF82J72X076637
Amount due on lien $6,068.56
Reputed owner(s)
AARON WILLIAM JOHSON
the agency to be commer-
cialized.
Many common genet-
ically engineered crops
must first be deregulated
by USDA, which typically
involves a time-consuming
environmental analysis.
However, crops whose
genes were altered without
the use of plant pests don’t
have to undergo this process
according to USDA’s policy,
which has been affirmed by
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals.
Ceres, for example, has
used a “gene gun” to shoot
genetic material into plant
cells, thereby avoiding any
parasitic or disease-causing
organisms for gene transfer.
Chris Policinski, CEO
of Land O’Lakes, said the
“acquisition brings comple-
mentary strengths together,
adds new advanced plant
breeding and biotechnolo-
gy to the FGI research and
development pipeline and
accelerates the process of
bringing new forage solu-
tions to existing and new
markets.”
The takeover may face
some legal hurdles, howev-
er: Several shareholders are
pursuing a class action law-
suit against Ceres alleging
that its board of directors
approved the deal against
the best interest of inves-
tors.
legal-29-2-7/#4
LEGAL
PUBLIC NOTICE BY WASHINGTON STATE PORK PRODUCERS
ASSOCIATION AND THE NATIONAL PORK BOARD
The election of pork producer delegate candidates for the 2017
National Pork Producers (Pork Act) Delegate Body will take place at
12:30 pm, Wednesday, July 20, 2016 in conjunction with a Board of
Directors meeting of Washington State Pork Producers Association, in
Room 1 of the Soup It Up Restaurant, 116 West Main Street, in Ritzville,
Washington, 99169. All Washington State pork producers are invited to
attend.
Any producer, age 18 or older, who is a resident of the state and has
paid all assessments due may be considered as a delegate candidate
and/or participate in the election. All eligible producers are encouraged
to bring with them a sales receipt proving that hogs were sold in their
name and the checkoff deducted. For more information, contact
Washington State Pork Producers Association, 2001 VanTine Road,
Garfield, Washington. Telephone 509/397-2694.
29-2/#4