14 CapitalPress.com
July 22, 2016
Growers worried by packer’s bankruptcy
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. — About a
dozen tree fruit growers voiced con-
cerns about getting paid for the rest
of their 2015 apple crops at a July 14
bankruptcy hearing for Gold Digger
Apples Inc. of Oroville, Wash.
One of them, Mauricio DePaz,
said growers haven’t been able to
get new operating loans because
they are awaiting payments from the
packer to pay off old loans.
Growers are concerned Gold
Digger may not be “on the level with
us,” he said.
Gold Digger said it was doing
great at its annual grower meeting in
December, he said.
DePaz said that in January Gold
Digger General Manager Greg Mos-
er told him the co-op owed him
$83,000 for his 2015 fruit. Later, he
was told $62,000 and then $30,000,
so he wonders what the amount real-
ly is, he said.
Brexit impact
minimal on
global ag,
economist says
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
While Britain’s decision
to exit the European Union is
expected to create dificulties
for farmers, agricultural trade
and investments in the region,
an economist predicts it won’t
have a signiicant impact on
the global food system.
“I think there will be a rip-
ple (but) it will barely make
a dent in the global food sys-
tem,” said Mike Dwyer, chief
economist for the U.S. Feed
and Grains Council and for-
mer economist with USDA’s
Foreign Agricultural Service.
“I’m not saying there won’t
be some fallout in Europe. I’m
saying when you diffuse that
across a huge global food sys-
tem, I don’t think this — in and
of itself — will be a big deal,
he said during a forum hosted
and streamed live by the Farm
Foundation on July 13.
His forecast, however,
comes with one major cave-
at — that other EU countries
don’t follow suit, he said.
The main impact is the
long-term effect Brexit has on
currency, he said.
All the chaos seen in equity,
bond, commodity and foreign
exchange markets following
the surprising Brexit vote was
a repricing of assets for an un-
expected outcome, he said.
Deutsche Bank changed its
forecast for 2.1 percent eco-
nomic growth in Britain to 0.9
percent after the vote and its
forecast for economic growth
in the EU to drop from 1.5 per-
cent to 1.1 percent.
European growth was ane-
mic to start with, he said, add-
ing that it’s a little more ane-
mic now but not falling off the
cliff.
In the bigger picture, the
expected 3.6 percent economic
growth rate in the global GDP
was only decreased slightly to
3.4 percent, he said.
“This is not enough to cause
anything like what happened
in 2008-2009, when the global
economy tanked in a very rapid
fashion,” he said.
The effect would get more
pronounced if it isn’t isolated
to Britain. If what happens
in Europe starts morphing
through emerging markets, af-
fecting trade linkages, it could
become a global problem, he
said.
“I just don’t see that hap-
pening,” he said.
“What happens in a place
like China will absolutely af-
fect the global food system.
So that should keep you awake
at night, not what happened in
Europe,” he said.
If Brexit accelerates the
growth rate of the U.S. dollar
even further than expected,
that will be a problem for the
U.S. in some markets. But in
terms of currency realignment
verses economic growth im-
pact, it is the demand side that
is far more important than the
realignment of currency,” he
said.
“This event, as bad as it
is and as scary as it is for the
Europeans themselves, poses
no real risks in my opinion
for the global food system,”
he said.
“I get the feeling Gold Digger’s
own fruit goes to better markets and
the rest of our fruit not the best,” he
said.
Other growers raised similar con-
cerns.
Peg Callaway, Gold Digger’s at-
torney in Omak, Wash., later called
the comments “ridiculous.” She said
Gold Digger didn’t even know it had
a problem with the bank until the end
of December, informed growers at
numerous grower meetings and that
growers voted for bankruptcy.
Gold Digger had two days to de-
cide between bankruptcy and receiv-
ership and chose bankruptcy over
having someone from Renton with
no tree fruit experience run the coop-
erative, she said.
U.S. Bank iled a lawsuit against
Gold Digger on May 20 seeking
repayment of loans totaling $18.5
million, alleging that the co-op was
in default. A week later, Gold Dig-
ger iled for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in
U.S. District Court in Spokane.
The purpose of a Chapter 7 il-
ing is to achieve a fair distribution
to creditors of the debtor’s available
property.
The meeting was held in
Wenatchee to give creditors an op-
portunity to ask questions and help
the bankruptcy trustee examine debt-
or assets, debts and operations to
determine liquidation and disburse-
ment of assets, said Dan O’Rourke,
Gold Digger’s bankruptcy attorney.
At the meeting, Jeff Earl, a Mo-
ses Lake, Wash., attorney and U.S.
Justice Department-appointed bank-
ruptcy trustee, said he expects to
gain court authority soon to “make a
large disbursement to growers.”
It will be followed by other pay-
ments while holding back 10 percent
to cover trustee and professional
selling costs, he said.
Earl told growers he can’t vouch
one way or another for Gold Dig-
ger’s business practices.
Gold Digger is named for Oro-
ville’s gold mining roots and is the
last grower-owned tree fruit coop-
erative headquartered in Okanogan
County. It has more than 44 grow-
er members, 613,456 square feet of
fruit storage and packing facilities in
Oroville, 500 acres of orchard and
leases 250 acres.
It packs about 1 million boxes
of apples and pears annually and
300,000 boxes of cherries. The fruit
is sold through Chelan Fresh Mar-
keting. Gold Digger also has a vine-
yard and a 10,000-case winery.
The co-op has laid off virtually all
of its 800 seasonal and year-round
employees, Earl sold its 2016 fruit
to Gebbers Farms, which is operat-
ing the co-op’s cherry packing line,
Callaway said.
Earl said that, as trustee, he is
trying to sell Gold Digger’s property
and facilities and that this fall’s op-
eration of its apple and pear lines are
not determined.
The 2014 crop year was a poor one
throughout the apple industry, and
Gold Digger’s costs are increased
because it is the farthest-north op-
eration in the region, Callaway said.
U.S. Bank followed the law but
was not fair, Callaway said.
“There were alternatives to bank-
ruptcy. Instead they narrowed it to
bankruptcy or putting their person
in charge. It wasn’t fair to growers.
I think the bank got tired of deal-
ing with them and intended to shut
them down,” she said. It was “plain
wrong,” she said.
Cheryl Leamon, vice president of
corporate communications for U.S.
Bank in Chicago, declined comment,
saying the bankruptcy proceedings
are ongoing.
Gold Digger tried “every possi-
ble means” to get reinanced with
any bank and in the end U.S. Bank
refused to respond to an offer from
another lender to buy the loan, Cal-
laway said.
“People in the Midwest make de-
cisions for the bank and they don’t
care about Oroville, the community
or Gold Digger,” she said.
OSU suggests later application to control thrips
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
ONTARIO, Ore. — If on-
ion growers could push ap-
plications of Movento back a
little later in the season, they
might have more success con-
trolling thrips, Oregon State
University research is show-
ing.
Onion thrips are the biggest
pest problem for bulb onion
growers in Idaho and Eastern
Oregon. Besides causing feed-
ing damage, which results in
smaller onions, the insects can
transmit the iris yellow spot vi-
rus, which can devastate onion
ields.
According to OSU re-
searchers in Ontario, an ag-
gressive spraying program to
keep thrips populations down
is the only effective way for
onion growers to control the
insect.
OSU Cropping Systems
Extension Agent Stuart Reitz
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Oregon State University researcher Stuart Reitz discusses the
Malheur County onion ield trials July 13 during a ield day. Reitz
said the research is showing that using Movento a little later in the
season may help growers better control onion thrips.
said Movento is one of the
most effective pesticides in
controlling immature popula-
tions of onion thrips and rec-
ommendations have been for
growers to start their spray
program with Movento and
apply it early in the season be-
cause it takes awhile for it to
absorb into the plant and be-
come effective.
But if growers in this area
apply the pesticide too early,
its residual effect is gone by
late June or early July, right as
thrips populations in the area
are starting to soar, he added.
Pushing use of Movento
back a little later in the sea-
son can result in better control
when thrips numbers are ex-
ploding, Reitz said.
“If you can push using that
to a little later in the season,
I think you can get a bigger
bang for your investment,” he
said. “If you use another ma-
terial early in the season to
hold those low populations in
check and put the Movento out
a little bit later, I think it will
ultimately pay off.”
OSU researchers in Mal-
heur County have been con-
ducting ield trials supported
by the Idaho-Eastern Oregon
Onion Committee to try to ind
the best way for onion growers
to manage thrips.
Nyssa farmer Bruce Corn
said the various onion-related
Farm groups urge Calif. to delay
cap-and-trade extension, changes
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — Farm
groups want state leaders to
hold off on a proposed expan-
sion of California’s cap-and-
trade program, which they say
already has placed burdens on
producers.
Representatives
from
groups including the Califor-
nia Farm Bureau Federation
and Western United Dairy-
men say Gov. Jerry Brown
and lawmakers should wait
until closer to the program’s
2020 sunset before consider-
ing whether to extend it.
Cynthia Cory, the CFBF’s
director of environmental af-
fairs, noted that California
is still the only place in the
world where such a program
exists even though state lead-
ers were conident that others
would follow.
“We’re saying let the pro-
gram get closer to 2020 and
let other people in the world
start doing this,” Cory said.
“This is a global issue, not a
local issue.
“We just keep saying,
‘Why are you ratcheting
down on the cleanest place
in the world and putting them
at a competitive disadvantage
instead of working with oth-
er entities and getting them
to step up to the plate?’” she
said.
Brown and other lead-
ers are pushing to extend
the 4-year-old cap-and-trade
program, in which manufac-
turers and other companies
must meet certain emissions
limits or buy “credits” to ex-
ceed them, even as the pro-
gram faces a legal challenge
from the California Chamber
of Commerce and credit sales
have fallen well below expec-
tations.
The California Air Re-
sources Board may vote next
year on a proposal to extend
the program until 2030, and
companion bills in the Leg-
islature would require further
cuts in emissions to meet
trials there have greatly bene-
ited the area’s onion industry
over the years and growers
have high hopes the thrips trial
will help them manage thrips
with as little spraying as pos-
sible.
“It sounds very reason-
able,” he said of Reitz’s
Movento recommendation.
“We really depend on them
and look to them to igure out
the best way to do things.”
Because of the roller-coast-
er weather in the valley this
year — it’s gone from hot ear-
ly to cooler, then hot again and
cooler — populations of thrips,
which like hot, dry weather,
have been spotty, Reitz said.
“Thrips pressure has come
up and gone down and come
up and gone down,” he said.
Growers have had decent
success this year in con-
trolling thrips but they’ve
had to spend money to do
that, said Nyssa grower Paul
Skeen.
Onion growers
conirm success
of applying
herbicide through
drip system
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
A log is loaded onto a truck at a logging site near Viola, Calif., in 2015. Some large timberland owners are
participating in the carbon offsets program under California’s cap-and-trade law, but many others have
found that the requirements for participating are too stringent, going beyond common forestry practices.
targets set for
2030,
2040
and
2050,
according to
legislative bill
analyses.
Among the
Cynthia Cory
hardest-hit by
the proposed
changes would be the dairy
industry, insiders say. The in-
dustry has been subject only to
voluntary emissions targets so
far while the state has provid-
ed $11 million for ive dairy
digesters, which cost a total
of $30.2 million, according
to the state Department of
Food and Agriculture.
However, the air board
has discussed mandating a 75
percent reduction of methane
emissions from dairies — a
burden that could require the
construction of as many as
500 digesters at the state’s
largest dairies to meet, said
Paul Sousa, WUD’s director
of environmental services.
“Our goal has been to keep
it in the arena of being vol-
untary and incentive-based,”
said Sousa, noting that dair-
ies that install digesters can
receive income for carbon
credits. “I think there are
some things we can do to
achieve emissions reductions
… but the goals need to be
reasonable.”
A 75 percent cut in ma-
nure methane by 2030 is “just
a very lofty goal that would
be very, very dificult to hit
even with funding because of
other obstacles to putting in
digesters,” he said.
The program’s direct im-
pact on farms has been hard
to calculate because it has
been built in to such costs
as electricity and fuel, Cory
said. The biggest impact now
is being felt by agricultural
processors, which are already
subject to mandatory report-
ing and emissions reductions,
she said.
Further, plants are grap-
pling with a recent Public
Utilities Commission decision
stemming from the 2010 San
Bruno pipeline explosion that
will increase natural gas trans-
portation costs by 90 percent
over the next three years, said
John Larrea, director of gov-
ernment affairs for the Cali-
fornia League of Food Proces-
sors.
As a result of the panel’s
allowing rate increases to pay
for improved gas lines, pro-
cessing plants are “looking at
anything from a $400,000 to
$1.2 million increase in their
natural gas costs,” Larrea
said.
“We’ve got water issues,”
he said. “Water is going to be-
come more costly as well. All of
these factors start coming in and
they’re not being considered.
… It’s piling up on us here.”
One industry that expected
to beneit from cap-and-trade
was timber. Large timberland
owners, including Sierra Pa-
ciic Industries, have partic-
ipated in the carbon offset
program, said Mark Pawlic-
ki, the company’s director of
corporate affairs and sustain-
ability.
But to sell credits to those
affected by the cap, a land-
owner “must abide by a set of
stringent requirements such
as committing to a 100-year
program of maintaining or
increasing forest carbon lev-
els each year, going above
the level of carbon seques-
tered under common forest-
ry practices, and avoiding
other land uses in the project
areas,” Pawlicki said in an
email.
ONTARIO, Ore. — Ore-
gon State University ield trials
have shown that applying the
herbicide Outlook through drip
irrigation works much better than
surface application in controlling
the yellow nutsedge weed.
Now grower experience is
conirming that research.
Farmers who produce yel-
low bulb onions in Idaho and
Oregon received special per-
mission for the irst time this
year from their state agriculture
departments to apply Outlook
through drip irrigation. Previ-
ously, they were limited to sur-
face application of the herbicide.
“We were very successful
with” applying it through a drip
system, Nyssa farmer Bruce
Corn said. “It worked very, very
good.”
About 95 percent of the
20,000 acres of bulb onions
grown in Southwestern Idaho
and Eastern Oregon are yellows
and about 60 percent of them are
on drip irrigation systems.
According to OSU research-
ers, Outlook is one of the most
effective tools in controlling yel-
low nutsedge, which is the main
weed challenge for growers in
this region.
OSU Weed Scientist Joel Fe-
lix said growers who have used
Outlook in drip systems this
year are reporting good results.
“The growers that I’ve spo-
ken to so far that are using it in a
drip system are quite happy,” he
said. “If you have a drip system,
I think you’ll be wasting your
money applying it over the top
... because we’re seeing much
better nutsedge control from ap-
plying it through a drip system.”
The ield trials Felix has led
at OSU’s Malheur County Re-
search Station the past three sea-
sons are occurring in silt loam
soil, and he said farmers with
lighter soils would likely be bet-
ter off applying Outlook at low-
er rates than those being applied
at the station.