12 CapitalPress.com
September 9, 2016
Flood
CONTINUED from Page 1
The issue has pitted the south-
western Idaho irrigation commu-
nity against the Idaho Department
of Water Resources, which claims
it has counted flood control re-
leases from Boise River reservoirs
against storage rights since 1986.
Irrigators say it’s a new practice
and have challenged it in court.
IDWR Deputy Director Mathew
Weaver said the ruling vindicates
Labor
CONTINUED from Page 1
would decimate orchard and
packing shed workforces.
For the past 10 years, the
McDougalls have been ex-
panding their operation with
more high-return managed
apple varieties. They’ve in-
vested multi-millions of dol-
lars in new high-tech packing
facilities and orchards to pro-
duce over 5 million boxes of
apples, pears and cherries an-
nually.
“We needed more tonnage
to be competitive,” Scott Mc-
Dougall said.
As they expanded, labor
became more of a problem. In
late fall of 2011, the domestic
labor supply was so scarce
that McDougall hired 50 state
prison inmates for two weeks
to get about $1 million worth
of Jazz apples picked.
The bind prompted him
the next year to accelerate his
usage of H-2A workers. Since
then he has spent $9 million
on housing for the 700 H-2A
workers that help with har-
vest, but he feels small com-
pared with Selah-based Zirkle
Fruit Co., which according to
the U.S. Department of Labor
hired 2,889 H-2A guestwork-
ers in 2015.
Other companies also use
a lot of H-2A guestworkers.
The total in Washington may
exceed 15,000 this year.
“If we can smell the ex-
haust of companies like
Zirkle, Washington Fruit or
Stemilt Growers I think we’re
still in the game,” McDougall
said with wry humor.
Comparing
candidates
McDougall is a lifelong
Republican. His father was
a Republican state legislator
from 1961 to 1973.
McDougall isn’t fond of
Trump but likes his business
experience, “that he’s had to
make payroll” and fears Clin-
ton’s desire to raise taxes and
turn to socialism is bad for
agriculture and the U.S. econ-
omy.
“It literally forces a lot of
people out of business and
adds to unemployment. We
need tax incentives for those
who make investments and
take high risks because that
stimulates job growth,” he
said. “You only have to look
at European socialism to see it
doesn’t work well.”
On immigration, McDou-
gall doesn’t mind having
some illegal immigrants pay
a fi ne, get work authorization
and even a pathway to citi-
zenship. But he doesn’t think
legalizing them will help a
lot because many of them al-
ready work in other industries
that pay more — or they will
switch from agriculture once
they’re legalized.
He views improving the
the department, which has been
harshly criticized by some legis-
lators and people in the irrigation
community.
“The way we have been doing
accounting in the Boise system ...
was upheld by the judge,” he said.
“The department has done only
what it was supposed to do here.”
Wildman did rule in favor of ir-
rigators on the issue of whether a
water right exists for water that is
stored in the reservoirs following
flood control releases.
Wildman ruled that the record
clearly shows flood control re-
leases occurred many times before
1971 “and that in all of those years,
water identified by the (IDWR) di-
rector as unaccounted for storage
was diverted, stored and ultimately
used by the irrigators for irrigation.
... Under the constitutional method,
the diversion and use of such water
is all that is necessary to complete
the appropriation and obtain a vest-
ed water right.”
But Wildman’s flood control rul-
ing was a blow to Treasure Valley
irrigators, who have said the prac-
ICE deportations from the U.S.
Convicted criminal
(Thousands of individuals, for fiscal years 2008-15)
409.8
389.8 392.9 396.9
368.6
369.2
31%
35%
235,413:
Down 25.5%
from FY ’14
55%
55%
80
(Fiscal years 1995-2015)
50%
45%
’10
’11
Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, Dept. of Homeland Security
45%
’12
41%
’13
44%
’14
Up 21.1%
from 2011
0
1995
2000
2010
2015
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
41%
2015
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Honduras: 20,309
or 8.6%
El Salvador:
21,920 or
9.3%
Guatemala:
33,249 or
14.1%
ICE removed individuals from
the U.S. to 181 countries of
origin in FY2015. Of the
235,413 deportations,
more than 62 percent
Mexico:
were to Mexico,
146,132
with Guatemala,
or 62.1%
El Salvador and
Honduras rounding
out the top four.
Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Dept. of Homeland Security
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
H-2A guestworker program
as more important, and he be-
lieves Trump is more apt to do
that.
H-2A is expensive because
employers have to provide
housing, pay transportation
between the work site and the
country of origin and pay a
higher minimum wage called
the Adverse Effect Wage Rate
— or often pay piece rates
that are even higher. McDou-
gall also questions the fair-
ness of that pay rate going up
every year based on increases
domestic workers receive.
McDougall likes that he
gets about 80 to 90 percent of
the same H-2A workers back
every year. They like going
home in winter and can earn
as much in one month work-
ing for him as they can make
in Mexico in a year.
On piece rate, many of
them make the equivalent
of $20 per hour. Even at that
pay rate and advertising na-
tionally, only 2 percent of
his workers are domestic.
“Over nine years of H-2A
we’ve proven no one else
will take these jobs,” he said.
“Everyone talks about
a $15 (per hour) mini-
mum wage but it’s kind of
mind-boggling to realize
tree fruit is paying $20 and
no one wants to do it,” he
said.
Other reactions
“All that is certain is
uncertainty,” said Chris
Schlect, president of North-
west Horticultural Council,
Yakima, Wash.
Comprehensive immigra-
tion reform is more likely
to happen with Clinton, but
she is more likely to pro-
mote unionization of H-2A
workers while Trump would
increase border control and
possibly be more aggressive
in sanctioning employers
hiring illegal immigrants,
Schlect said.
“In my opinion, either
one, if elected to office,
would use executive power
to advance their own immi-
gration policy positions to
the maximum extent allowed
by federal courts,” he said.
Craig Regelbrugge is se-
nior vice president of Amer-
icanHort, Washington, D.C.,
and was co-chairman of the
Agricultural Coalition for
Immigration Reform that
worked on the 2013 Senate
bill.
“Once again the poli-
tics are pretty much upside
down. With Clinton it comes
down to whether she will
veer left in the direction of
Bernie Sanders and Eliza-
beth Warren or toward the
pragmatic though shrinking
middle where solutions will
be found,” he said.
The solution isn’t com-
plicated, Regelbrugge said,
it’s some kind of legal status
and work authorization that
gives farmworkers the in-
centive to stay in agriculture
for awhile and a “stream-
lined, market-oriented” visa
program.
Trump, he said, appears to
be putting a border wall and
mandatory E-Verify ahead
of improving the H-2A visa
program.
Kerry Scott, program
manager at masLabor in
Lovingston, Va., said he is
not sure which candidate
and party is more likely to
do anything and fears noth-
Chris
Schlect
Leon
Sequeira
ing will get done.
The company is the lead-
ing supplier of H-2A and
non-agricultural H-2B for-
eign guestworkers in the
nation, providing 13,000
workers to 800 clients in
46 states. The company’s
growth indicates a shortage
of people willing to do “en-
try-level, outdoor, dirty, hard
work,” Scott said.
Trump’s resorts in Flor-
ida and New England use
H-2B seasonal workers, and
his family’s winery in Vir-
ginia uses H-2A workers,
Scott said.
“We know he’s favorable
to H-2A an H-2B. He’s said
so. We have not heard any
opinion on it from Secretary
Clinton. We do know the
administration she has been
part of has made usage of
H-2A and H-2B more diffi-
cult than any administration
has done,” he said.
Deportations
It’s impossible to deport
11 million people, as Trump
talks about, and bring those
needed back in fast enough
to continue agricultural,
landscape and other seasonal
jobs, Scott said.
“The destruction from
that would be astronomical.
I agree with him (Trump)
that there has to be a way
to separate the wheat from
the chaff and I think there’s
more wheat than chaff,” he
said.
It takes years for people
on temporary worker status
to get permanent worker sta-
tus, he said. That’s why guest-
worker programs are neces-
sary relief valves, he said.
Progress is more likely if
Trump is elected with a Re-
publican Congress than if
Clinton is elected with a Re-
publican Congress, he said.
“It’s going to be hard to pull
that lever, but I’ve been a Re-
publican all my life. Right or
wrong, I will vote for Trump.
CAFO
CONTINUED from Page 1
Environmental
groups
who submitted detailed
comments were gener-
ally as critical of Ecolo-
gy’s proposal as the dairy
industry.
Ecology should re-
quire diaries to line la-
goons with synthetic ma-
terial and install wells
to monitor groundwater,
the environmental groups
suggested.
Environmentalists also
criticized Ecology for pro-
posing to regulate some
dairies under state laws,
rather than the federal
Clean Water Act, which
allows groups to enforce
pollution laws by suing
dairies.
The Washington Envi-
ronmental Council urged
Ecology to add a provision
2005
Source: U.S. Dept. of State
2015 ICE deportations by country of origin
Other: 13,803 or 5.9%
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
A dairy cow eyes visitors to a farm in Whatcom County, Wash. The Washington State Dairy Federation
warns new rules proposed by the Department of Ecology could force some dairies to close.
allowing private parties to
sue farmers. “In the event
that government fails to
act, the people of Washing-
ton need a back-up plan,”
according to the council.
program, Gasperini said.
Time with Trump
8,379
65%
’09
H-2A visas issued
worldwide
40
59%
59%
2008
108,144
315.9
50%
56%
69%
120,000 visas
Non-criminal immigration violator
acre-feet less water to start the irri-
gation season with. ... That’s a lot
of water.”
Batt said irrigators will like-
ly decide in the next few weeks
whether to appeal Wildman’s rul-
ing to the Idaho Supreme Court or
seek a legislative solution.
Weaver said a settlement agree-
ment between the parties is a valid
third option.
“There might be an opportuni-
ty to push ‘pause’ and try to final-
ize (a) settlement agreement,” he
said.
tice could have dire consequences
for agriculture in the region.
Water is released for flood con-
trol from Boise River reservoirs
during seven out of every 10 years.
The amount released varies con-
siderably from year to year. Nearly
300,000 acre-feet of water was re-
leased from the reservoirs this year
to prevent flooding.
Under the accounting prac-
tice allowed by Wildman’s ruling,
Batt said, “If (300,000) acre-feet
of water is released for flood con-
trol, that means we have (300,000)
Kerry
Scott
Tom
Nassif
I don’t think he refl ects our
core values but he does more
than Hillary. I’m more afraid
of an effective Hillary than an
ineffective Trump. That’s my
opinion, not my company’s,”
Scott said.
Frank Gasperini Jr., ex-
ecutive vice president of the
National Council for Agricul-
tural Employers, Vienna, Va.,
said both candidates present
challenges.
“One has to hope he would
not really attempt to deport 11
million people. That would
break not just agriculture but
a huge portion of our econo-
my,” Gasperini said.
Reform may be possible
if Trump has a Republican
House and Senate and listens
to experienced members, he
said.
“The biggest downsides
to Trump are his total lack of
governing and government
experience and his unpredict-
ability,” Gasperini said.
Given Trump’s ag advis-
ers, it’s unlikely his secre-
tary of agriculture would be
very knowledgeable about
labor-intensive food produc-
tion, he said.
There’s also trade con-
cerns, he said. Clinton would
probably try immigration re-
form in her fi rst half-year but
may not get it with a Republi-
can House, Gasperini said.
“We must hope that if we
see a Clinton presidency that
both sides of the aisles in
Congress will fi nally decide
to work together for at least
the first year and that their
efforts will include either
real reform that includes ag-
riculture or at least substan-
tial H-2A improvements,” he
said.
Clinton appointees would
not provide any regulatory
relief, he said.
A real risk with either
candidate is mandato-
ry E-Verify without some
transition period or im-
provements in the H-2A
The permit could ap-
ply to any operation that
confines livestock, but
the stakes are especially
high for dairies that con-
fine large numbers of cows
year-round.
Dairies
with
few-
er than 200 cows would
be exempt from the
rules.
The dairy federation
argues that farms have
made great strides in pro-
tecting groundwater and
waterways in the past two
decades under the state’s
Dairy Nutrient Manage-
ment Act, which is enforced
by the state Department of
Agriculture.
Ecology estimates a
CAFO permit would cost
dairies between $11,000
and $25,000 over five
years, depending on the
size of the dairy.
The federation, howev-
er, says the estimate vast-
ly understates crop loss-
Tom Nassif, president and
CEO of Western Growers in
Irvine, Calif., met Trump at
one of the candidate’s rallies
in Fresno last May and rode
on his plane with him to San
Diego. They talked for 15 to
20 minutes, mainly about im-
migration.
Nassif was instrumental
in reaching a compromise
with the United Farm Work-
ers to craft the 2013 Senate
bill.
Trump listened and com-
mented how complicated
the issue is when Nassif
talked about the need for a
new guestworker program
to meet labor shortages and
the need to give loyal, hard-
working people a path to
citizenship or legalization,
Nassif said.
“A president Trump
would solve H-2A very
quickly where I’m not sure
Clinton would change it in
any way. Organized labor
would hold her back,” Nas-
sif said. “I want to see im-
migration reform, but I don’t
think it’s proper to do it by
executive order.”
Clinton hostility
Leon Sequeira, a Ken-
tucky labor attorney and
former assistant secre-
tary of labor under Presi-
dent George W. Bush, said
Trump would be better for
H-2A while Clinton would
simply continue or expand
the Obama administra-
tion’s “hostile approach to-
ward farmers and the H-2A
program.”
“The Democrats’ mis-
guided strategy is to make
the H-2A program unwork-
able, rather than help farm-
ers manage the agricultural
labor crisis facing our coun-
try,” Sequeira said.
He was the main archi-
tect of Bush administration
changes to H-2A, many of
which Obama ended.
The biggest difference is
probably Clinton’s desire to
grant illegal immigrants citi-
zenship and Trump’s refusal
to do so, he said.
The problem with the
Democratic position is that
it insists on citizenship when
Congress has rejected that
repeatedly, he said.
“It’s an all-or-nothing
proposition. So Clinton
just continues to play pol-
itics with the issue rather
than looking for common
ground,” Sequeira said.
“Trump’s recent comments
actually reflect an approach
that has been support-
ed by majorities of both
parties.”
In the long run, he said,
what presidential candidates
say is far less important than
what Congress is willing to
do.
es caused by prohibitions
against spreading manure
within 100 feet of ditches
in some cases.
The federation also says
dairies will need to expand
lagoons or acquire land to
store or dispose of manure
because of prohibitions
against spreading manure
during non-growing sea-
sons.
“Applications in late
winter and early spring
are applications before the
growing season, but are
done to ensure the nutrients
are in the right form, at the
right place, at the right time,
and in the right amount for
growth during the growing
season,” according to the
federation.
The federation also said
the rules would contribute
to the loss of farmland,
contradicting a state law
that requires the state to
avoid regulating farmers
out of business.