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10 CapitalPress.com July 29, 2016 Beef, dairy groups question proposed organic rule By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press A new rule proposed by the USDA Agricultural Mar- keting Service to amend or- ganic livestock and poultry practices is raising concerns among conventional animal agriculture groups. The rule, which adds provi- sions for animal welfare prac- tices and living conditions, is based on recommendations by the National Organic Stan- dards Board. It is meant to ensure consistent application of USDA organic regulations and maintain consumer con- idence in organically labeled products, according to AMS. But the rule would do much more than that, ac- cording to the National Cat- tlemen’s Beef Association. USDA is attempting to add an entirely new and unauthorized category to the National Or- ganic Program, exceeding its statutory jurisdiction and con- Capital Press File Holstein cows rest at a Southwestern Idaho dairy in this ile photo. Livestock groups question the propriety of new animal welfare rules aimed at organic farms. gressional intent, said Colin Woodall, NCBA vice presi- dent of government affairs. The most important point of NCBA’s opposition is that the organic program is a mar- keting program. It isn’t about animal health, welfare or even food safety, and USDA shouldn’t be inserting animal welfare standards into a vol- untary marketing program, he said. The Organic Foods Pro- duction Act of 1990 doesn’t include welfare practices or living conditions. The clear intent of Congress in setting organic standards was to en- sure that feed is organic and animals are raised without the use of synthetic chemi- cals, and that’s where USDA should spend its time, he said. The Organic Trade Associ- ation disagrees. “Organic is much more than input substitution,” said Nate Lewis, OTA farm policy director. It is written into the or- ganic law that USDA has the authority to promulgate rules regarding the care of livestock and poultry, he said. The proposed rule is the result of 12 years of public comment and work by the or- ganic standards board to clar- ify the organic requirement for access to outdoors, and the vast majority of organic pro- ducers and consumers support the rule, Lewis said. National Milk Producers Federation also questions USDA’s statutory authority, especially since some of the proposed practices lack an explanation of the well-being beneits, said Jamie Jonk- er, NMPF vice president of sustainability and scientiic affairs, in his comments to USDA. “A fundamental problem with the proposed rule is that it appears more driven by economics and consumer perception rather than animal science and welfare,” he said. Economic considerations are important and should be part of the rule-making pro- cess, but so-called “consumer confusion” about the meaning of organic should not drive rule-making associated with animal well-being, he said. Consumer confusion was one of the reasons USDA pro- posed the new rule, but the agency should have invested in consumer education rather than adding more categories to the organic program, making it even more confusing, Woodall said. USDA cites reports by the board as authority to support some of the proposed rule changes. However, those re- ports mostly contain basic information and do not cite scientiic literature or provide scientiic bases to support the Stripe rust pressure ‘severe’ in NW wheat, expert says By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Stripe rust pressure this year is “severe to extremely severe” in Paciic Northwest wheat, but most farmers have been able to control it by grow- ing resistant varieties or by ap- plying fungicides. USDA Agricultural Re- search Service plant geneticist Xianming Chen blames the mild winter, which allowed the rust to survive and develop in winter wheat. “Stripe rust developed very early and very quick,” Chen said. The fungus can cause more than a 60 percent yield loss in highly susceptible wheat vari- eties. Applying fungicide has paid off for growers. Rust is gener- ally under control in most com- mercial ields, Chen said. “That is big spending for growers, but this year, it was worth it to do that,” he said. The fungus is occurring al- Matthew Weaver/Capital Press USDA Agricultural Research Service plant geneticist Xianming Chen, right, looks over variety trials during a July 14 ield day in St. John, Wash. Chen says the wheat fungus stripe rust is at a “severe to extremely severe” level in the Paciic Northwest. most everywhere in the Paciic Northwest, even in dryland ar- eas. He hopes to see more farm- ers plant resistant varieties in the future. That would elimi- nate the need to spray fungi- cide, even in severe rust years. Most wheat ields are now past the point where a fungi- cide application would help. Rust typically dies by harvest, Chen said, as it cannot live long in dead leaf tissue. Chen said later-planted spring wheat in higher eleva- tions may still have active rust due to recent rain. Some of the major fungi- cides cannot be used after the lowering stage, while others can be used up to 30 days be- fore harvest. Growers should be sure to read the fungicide labels, Chen said. Temperatures are not quite optimum for the wheat’s high temperature, adult plant resis- tance to stripe rust to kick in. It’s too early to tell the outlook for next season, he said. “It depends on what the weather conditions are from now to the fall,” Chen said. “If the coming winter is cold, then the rust will die more. If the coming winter is very mild like last winter, this rust will survive more.” Chen said roughly 36 per- cent of winter wheat varieties are resistant to stripe rust and 16 percent are moderately re- sistant. Eight percent are mod- erately resistant to moderately susceptible and 24 percent are moderately susceptible. None are highly susceptible. For spring wheat, rough- ly 12 percent of the varieties are resistant, 40 percent are moderately resistant, 11 per- cent are moderately resistant to moderately susceptible, 11 percent are moderately sus- ceptible and 11 percent are susceptible. Rain, temperatures increase falling number concerns By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Rain and temperature luc- tuations are worrying some in the Paciic Northwest wheat industry about sprout damage that could reduce the price farmers receive for their crop. If the weather clears up without additional storms, “then maybe it’s not going to be that big a disaster,” said Camille Steber, USDA ARS research plant molecular ge- neticist in Pullman, Wash. The concern is greater for winter wheat than the spring crop. Grain elevators use the Hagberg-Perten falling num- Capital Press File USDA Agricultural Research Service plant molecular geneticist Camille Steber stands in the laboratory where she tests for falling numbers in this 2014 photo. Steber said rains and luctuating temperatures this year have put wheat farmers at risk of receiving less money because of sprout damage in their crop. ber test to measure starch damage because of sprout- ing, according to Washington State University. A low fall- ing number indicates a high level of alpha amylase, an Bag needs? Bag solutions! SMITH PACKAGING YOUR MAIN SUPPLIER FOR: • Polyethylene Bags • Polypropylene Bags • Paper Bags • Bulk Bags • Stretch Films • Hay Sleeves enzyme that degrades starch and diminishes the quality of wheat products. Grain with a falling number below 300 typically receives a discount in the Paciic Northwest. “If the wheat is green, the rain won’t cause a low falling number problem,” Steber said. “If it’s turned completely yellow, then you have to start worrying about it. The longer it’s been since it turned from green to yel- low, the more likely it is that you’re going to have a prob- lem.” Susceptible wheat variet- ies include Bruehl, Jasper, AP Legacy and Xerpha. Resis- tant varieties include Puma, Skiles, Coda and Bobtail. Rain when temperatures are in the 80s won’t likely cause sprouting. But rain during cooler periods are a concern, Steber said. Other areas have had wide temperature luctuations that can induce late-maturity al- pha amylase. “There may be some farmers whose wheat didn’t even get rained on who will be coming to us and telling us they had falling numbers below 300,” Steber said. Blaine Jacobson, exec- utive director of the Idaho Wheat Commission, said low falling numbers are a con- cern in the Lewiston, Idaho, region. Stripe rust is also im- pacting lower elevations of Nezperce County, according to the commission. As harvest moved into higher elevations, falling number scores improved, Ja- cobson said. “We’re optimistic that as the harvest progresses and the footprint expands, that problem will take care of itself,” he said. “But it is something we’re watching carefully.” Steber isn’t certain how widespread the problem could be. “I’m hoping it’s a limited problem this year,” she said. Steber recommends farm- ers harvest as quickly as they can to avoid any rains com- ing through their area. Growers are likely to make more money if they avoid mixing wheat likely to have a falling number prob- lem with wheat that probably won’t, she said. • Mesh Produce Bags • Plastic Pallet Covers • Bag Closure Products • General Warehouse Supplies Competitive pricing! Great quality products! Service you expect and trust! • Halsey, Oregon: 541-369-2850 • Eastern Washington, Ed Kropf: 509-936-2652 or ed@smith-packaging.com www.smithpackagingservices.com 31-4/#5 31-1/#7 provisions, Jonker said. Instead, the reports are largely based on public meet- ings. In some cases, the pro- posed standards are based on public perception of what is good animal welfare and relect no consensus among experts in animal welfare and handling, he said. “Although public meetings serve a useful purpose … they do not absolve the USDA- AMS-NOP from developing regulatory requirements, par- ticularly on topics such as ani- mal welfare, based on the sci- entiic literature,” he said. The proposed rule contains a lot of unjustiied and unsub- stantiated provisions that go beyond standard, approved, safe procedures, Woodall said. The rule is based on agen- da and perception more than anything else and viliies con- ventional livestock, giving the false perception that only or- ganic livestock is being treat- ed well, he said. Delta growers closely follow WaterFix hearings By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — Car- olyn McCormack and her neighbors will be following the upcoming series of hear- ings on Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature water project and how it will impact their farms. She and her husband, fourth-generation farmer Jeff McCormack, grow pears in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta region. Their orchard is in the path of Brown’s proposed $15.7 billion twin tunnels that would send Sacramento River water directly to Southern California farms and cities, bypassing the Delta. “It’s just going to uproot so many families that have been there so long,” McCormack said as she helped customers at a farmers’ market in Elk Grove, Calif., on July 23. “It’s not going to beneit Northern California. It’s just going to hurt everybody.” In the coming weeks the state Water Resources Con- trol Board will have hearings on the tunnel project, dubbed California WaterFix. The board was set to begin July 26 with discussion of the state Department of Water Re- sources request to add three new points of diversion for the project, which includes two, 40-foot-diameter pipes buried underground for 35 miles. The opening three days of the hearing in the Cali- fornia Environmental Pro- jection Agency Sacramento headquarters were expected to begin with policy state- ments from the state Natural Resources Agency and U.S. Department of the Interior followed by public comment, according to a news release. Experts are expected to present hundreds of pages of evidence over the next sev- eral months as the board de- termines if the project would change water quality and low in a way that harms other wa- ter users. The board will also consider whether the project would effectively initiate a new water right. Another round of hear- ings, expected to begin in early 2017, will examine the project’s impacts on ish and wildlife, recreation and other public trust issues, state ofi- cials said. The proposed tunnels are a key agenda item for Brown, who has made a solution to many of the Delta’s water quality woes a focus of his ad- ministration. The governor’s fourth term runs through 2018. Proponents, including farm groups in the parched San Joaquin Valley, say the project would ensure a more reliable water supply by al- lowing more water to be sent south during wet periods without harming ish. Opponents, including many Delta farmers, say the project would worsen the Delta’s already dire environ- mental condition.