August 5, 2016
CapitalPress.com
3
Bi-partisan reform group cites
immigrants’ contribution to economy
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Farmer Kevin Hobbs
realized that inducing con-
sumers to drive out to his
property near Turner, Ore.,
just to buy eggs would be a
tough sell.
Agritourism operations
usually offer numerous oth-
er products and attractions,
so Hobbs decided to find a
retail establishment to buy
his eggs.
To do so, however, he
needed an egg handler’s li-
cense from the Oregon De-
partment of Agriculture.
Obtaining the license in-
volves fees and regulations,
but Hobbs said the process
paid off when he found a re-
tail buyer in Portland.
“They’re taking every-
thing we produce,” Hobbs
said. “We can’t produce
enough pastured eggs.”
Other egg producers
across Oregon are tak-
ing a similar approach as
Hobbs.
Between 2005 and 2015,
the number of licensed egg
handlers in Oregon more
than doubled, from 81 to
189, according to ODA re-
cords.
Though growers don’t
need a license to sell eggs
directly from a farm stand
or at a farmers’ market,
many want to be able to
supply grocery stores and
restaurants, said Carl Buch-
holz, who raises eggs near
Mount Angel.
“You see a lot of restau-
rants where a selling point
for them is they buy local,”
he said.
Buchholz said he ob-
tained his license to sell to
the Bon Appetit Manage-
ment Company, which pro-
vides food service to cor-
porations and institutions,
as well as a food retailer in
Portland.
The license also allows
him to sell eggs on behalf
of a neighbor who also
raises chickens on pasture.
Several other producers
wanted to supply Buchholz
with eggs, but he was con-
cerned with maintaining
consistency and quality
control.
“When you’re selling at
a higher price point, people
are picky, and rightly so,”
he said.
For example, eggs must
be free of dirt, cracks and
similar defects, and they
must be held up to a can-
dling light to inspect the
air cell — which indicates
freshness — and to ensure
they contain no internal
blood spots or signs of bac-
terial infection, she said.
Packages must also be
labeled with the handler’s
permit number to allow for
traceability, Schwab said.
Large producers are in-
spected by ODA quarterly,
while smaller ones are in-
spected every other year,
she said. The agency also
inspects eggs at the retail
level to check that handlers
are complying with regula-
tions.
In some cases, farmers’
markets are requiring that
egg producers obtain li-
censes, even though it’s not
mandated by law, she said.
“They want to ensure
someone is overseeing their
process,” Schwab said.
Demand for local eggs
among grocery stores and
restaurants is strong de-
spite competition among
the growing number of egg
handlers, particularly for
eggs raised on pasture, said
Buchholz.
Apart from the mar-
keting angle, Buchholz
said he’s been able to save
money on feed by allow-
ing his chickens to forage
freely.
Though he’s now tak-
en a full-time job and sells
eggs directly to the pub-
lic, Buchholz has elected
not to let his handler’s li-
cense lapse, in part because
ODA’s $25 annual fee and
other requirements are
reasonable.
“I was really impressed,”
he said of working with the
agency.
Licensed handlers can
sell eggs produced by oth-
er farmers as long as the
product undergoes the same
grading, sanitation and
packaging procedures, said
Sarah Schwab, operations
and automations special-
ist with ODA’s food safety
program.
Hobbs, who started rais-
ing chickens last year, plans
to increase his flock from
250 to 1,000 birds and in-
vest in mechanized equip-
ment for washing and grad-
ing.
Maintaining the egg
handler’s license involves
additional steps for his op-
eration, but the expanded
marketing opportunities it
offers are valuable, he said.
“It’s worth it.”
local taxes and $104 million
in federal taxes.
The report’s authors ac-
knowledged that immigration
issues cut both ways.
“Of course, there are many
compelling reasons that hav-
ing a large undocumented
population is a problem for a
society,” the report said. “It
undermines law and order,
permits a shadow economy
that is far harder to regulate,
and is simply unfair to the
millions of people who have
come here legally.”
But the problem of un-
documented immigration has
“gone largely unaddressed”
for 30 years, they added,
while undocumented workers
have come to ill an integral
role in many industries.
Other speakers in Port-
land included state Rep. John
Davis, a Republican from
Wilsonville; and Andrea Wil-
liams, executive director of
CAUSA. Jeff Stone, execu-
tive director of the Oregon
Association of Nurseries,
served as moderator.
Yantis’ neighbor: Death investigation outcome disappointing
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — A friend and
neighbor of Jack Yantis,
the Council rancher shot
and killed by two Adams
County deputies Nov. 1,
said he was disappointed
but not surprised by an-
nouncements July 29 by
federal and state officials
that no charges will be filed
against the officers.
“It’s very disappoint-
ing. We wanted justice
for Jack,” Adams County
rancher Ken Downey said.
“But I’ve known for six
months he’s not going to
get justice.”
The U.S. attorney for
Idaho and the state attorney
general both announced
July 29 that there is insuf-
ficient evidence to charge
Adams County sheriff’s
deputies Cody Roland and
Brian Wood for the death of
Yantis, who was 62.
The attorney general
based his decision on an
investigation by the Idaho
State Police while the U.S.
attorney in Idaho investi-
gated the case along with
the FBI.
After one of his bulls
was hit and injured by a
car on Highway 95, near
his home in Council, Ida-
ho, Yantis responded to the
scene after being asked to
by dispatch.
Roland and Wood both
had body cameras but in-
vestigators determined that
Wood’s body camera mem-
ory was full, while Roland
didn’t activate his.
There were four primary
eyewitnesses to the event:
Roland and Wood; Yantis’
wife, Donna; and Rowdy
Paradis, the Yantis’ nephew.
According to a letter sent
by the attorney general’s
office to the Adams Coun-
ty prosecuting attorney, the
eyewitness “accounts of the
interaction between Wood
and (Yantis) and the parties’
resulting actions contain sig-
nificant discrepancies.”
“Their conflicting state-
ments create sufficient doubt
to prevent a jury from hold-
ing anyone criminally re-
sponsible for this extremely
unfortunate fatality,” the let-
ter states.
After arriving at the
scene, Yantis was handed a
rifle by his wife and began
Grass
Expertise.
moving toward the bull. Ac-
cording to the letter from
the attorney general’s office,
“this was expected by the
officers so Jack could put
down the bull.”
Yantis then walked up to
the bull and lined up to shoot
it.
According to the ISP in-
vestigation, the officers be-
came concerned for the safe-
ty of others because of the
direction Yantis was aiming
his rifle in and intervened.
Both deputies stated that
Yantis pointed his rifle to-
ward Roland and they fired
at him in response to that
perceived threat.
According to the attorney
general’s office, the deputies
fired at Yantis 20 times and
hit him 12 times, including
three times in the abdomen,
eight times in his upper ex-
tremities and one time in the
chest. One shot was fired
from Yantis’ rifle.
An autopsy revealed Yan-
tis’ blood alcohol content
was .104 percent, above Ida-
ho’s legal driving limit of
.08 percent.
The ISP investigation in-
volved more than 50 witness
interviews, 5,300 pages of
documents, 590 photos and
30 hours of audio and video
recordings.
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License provides
farmers with
marketing options
businesses 20 percent, but due
to a lack of workers will grow
only 2 percent because “we
can’t get off our butts and get
this done.”
Ryan Deckert, president
of the Oregon Business As-
sociation, called immigration
reform a moral and economic
“no-brainer.”
Among the report’s Ore-
gon highlights:
• Nearly 390,000 Oregon
residents were born outside
the U.S., and 14,599 people
immigrated to Oregon be-
tween 2010 and 2014.
• Immigrants make up 10
percent of the state’s popu-
lation but 13 percent of the
overall workforce and an
estimated 56 percent of the
workers who hand-harvest
crops. About 73 percent of
immigrants are working age,
between 25 and 64, compared
with 51 percent of the na-
tive-born population.
• In 2014, undocumented
immigrants earned an estimat-
ed $1.6 billion in wages and
paid $61 million in state and
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Oregon egg handler
numbers surge
32-1/#17
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Egg producer Kevin Hobbs visits with his chickens at his family’s
farm near Turner, Ore. More egg producers like Hobbs are obtain-
ing egg handler’s licenses to expand their marketing options.
PORTLAND — A pan-
el of agricultural, business,
political and social leaders
called for comprehensive im-
migration reform Wednesday,
saying the current system is
broken, hurts families and
hampers economic growth in
Oregon.
The gathering was part of
a coordinated national cam-
paign, called “Reason for Re-
form,” that kicked off in all 50
states and the District of Co-
lumbia. The effort is the work
of a bi-partisan group called
the Partnership for a New
American Economy.
The group released reports
that detail the economic im-
pact of foreign-born residents,
including data on business-
es started by immigrants,
the number of people they
employ, their tax payments,
spending power and the types
of jobs they ill in Oregon and
elsewhere.
Speakers in Portland in-
cluded state Rep. Tina Kotek,
who is Speaker of the House
of Representatives. She said
immigrants make “an enor-
mous and growing contri-
bution to our culture and
economy” and the current im-
migration system is disjointed
and chaotic.
State Sen. Michael Dem-
brow, D-Portland, said immi-
grants and refugees in Oregon
are not here to “game the sys-
tem.”
“They are here to work and
work hard,” he said. “Without
their labor, agricultural areas
all over the U.S would be in
serious distress.”
Immigrants’ contribution
to Oregon agriculture was a
highlight of the state report.
Leigh Greschwill, whose
family owns F&B Farms and
Nursery of Woodburn, said a
lack of labor is the top issue
for agriculture, and the immi-
gration problem is weakening
Oregon’s economic health.
She said some members
of the Oregon Association of
Nurseries could grow their
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