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8 CapitalPress.com September 23, 2016 Farmers welcome WTO challenge of Chinese price supports Cost to wheat farmers: $650M to $700M annually By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press The Chinese government’s programs supporting wheat, rice and corn farmers are dis- torting global trade and under- cutting U.S. farmers, trade and industry representatives say. The Obama administra- tion launched a new trade en- forcement action against the People’s Republic of China at the World Trade Organization, concerning excessive govern- ment support provided for Chi- nese production of those crops, according to the Ofice of the U.S. Trade Representative. “China’s ‘market price support’ for these products is estimated to be nearly $100 billion in excess of the levels China committed to during its accession,” a press release for the agency states. “China’s ex- cessive market price support for rice, wheat and corn inlates Chinese prices above market levels, creating artiicial gov- ernment incentives for Chinese farmers to increase produc- tion.” The U.S. is challenging China’s government support to reduce distortions for the crops, and help American farm- ers compete on a more level playing ield, the press release states. China’s programs cost U.S. wheat farmers roughly $650 million to $700 million each year, wheat industry oficials say. China’s internal domestic support price for wheat is more than $10 per bushel, while world market prices are “con- siderably lower,” said Gordon Stoner, president of the Nation- al Association of Wheat Grow- ers. Soft white wheat on the Portland market ranged from $4.75 to $4.81 per bushel as of Sept. 13. “Chinese farmers are cer- tainly growing wheat, to the point that China has the larg- est stockpiles of wheat in the world,” Stoner said. “As a result, the U.S. wheat indus- try does not have an opportu- nity to export wheat to China. Without the domestic sup- port, very likely their farm- ers would be growing other crops.” China has roughly 45 per- cent of the global wheat end- ing stock, said Alan Tracy, president of U.S. Wheat As- sociates. “Just the increase in pro- duction and reduction in trade is price-depressing,” he said. Without China’s price guarantees, the country would import 7.7 million more tons of wheat, Tracy said. The United States would get near- ly 1.5 million tons of that, and U.S. wheat production would increase by nearly 1 million tons. “If China were not guar- anteeing its price above mar- ket, world prices would be higher and the net U.S. farm gate (price) would be approxi- mately 19 cents a bushel high- er on a year average,” Tracy said. Iowa State University es- timates U.S. wheat farmers are losing 1.5 million tons of exports to China each year because of price support. The impacts are worth roughly 5 percent of producer income in the United States, Tracy said. Canada, Europe and Russia are also negatively affected by China’s domestic support programs. China has 60 days to re- spond to the U.S. Trade Representative’s request for meetings. If the issues can- not be resolved, then USTR is prepared to enter a full-on dispute settlement case with WTO, Tracy said. If the case cannot be set- tled and China is unwilling to change its policy to comply, the WTO dispute settlement panel will likely authorize the United States to retaliate, Tra- cy said. NAWG and U.S. Wheat don’t expect resolution to come any time soon. The pro- cess could take several years, Stoner and Tracy said. East Idaho canal shuts off water early By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press Gosia Wozniacka/ Associated Press File Farmworkers pick up paper trays of dried raisins near Fresno, Ca- lif. Farm groups say California’s new overtime law will hurt workers and farms. Groups say new overtime law will hurt workers, farms By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — Farm groups assert an agriculture overtime bill signed last week by Gov. Jerry Brown will ul- timately sap wages from the farmworkers it was intended to help. Farms will end up reducing work shifts and moving away from crops that require large numbers of employees, while retailers will simply purchase cheaper produce from other states and countries, said Tom Nassif, the Western Growers chief executive oficer. Other long-term ramiica- tions of Assembly Bill 1066 could include more consolida- tion of farms, including more farmland ownership by hedge funds and other investors, and more family farmers selling out, industry insiders said. “Certainly this is not a good opportunity for farm- workers to put in more hours to make up for days of in- clement weather when work wasn’t available,” California Farm Bureau Federation Pres- ident Paul Wenger told the Capital Press. The prospect of growers switching from labor-inten- sive crops to tree nuts and other commodities that can be mechanically harvested “is happening already, and this will just accelerate it,” Wenger said. Under the bill proposed by Assemblywoman Lore- na Gonzalez, D-San Diego, farmworkers will be paid for overtime after eight hours in a day and 40 hours in a week rather than the current 10- hour day and 60-hour week for agriculture that Brown originally approved during his irst stint as governor in 1976. The new rules will take effect in 2022 for most farms and 2025 for operations with 25 or fewer employees. Unit- ed Farm Workers president Arturo Rodriguez said in a statement that Brown “cor- rected a historic wrong and set an example for other states to follow.” The UFW helped push the revived measure through af- ter Gonzalez’s original over- time proposal failed to get the needed 41 votes in the Assem- bly. She used the “gut-and- amend” process to insert the overtime language into what had been a teacher-compensa- tion bill. Gonzalez, a former labor leader and the daughter of an immigrant farmworker, told the Capital Press in an email earlier this summer that she wanted to get the bill passed “for the 400,000 Californians who aren’t treated equally un- der the law … just because they work on a farm.” But the bill will end up harming farmworkers the most, said state Sen. Jim Niel- sen, R-Gerber. Nielsen, a rancher and vice chairman of the Senate Bud- get Committee, said family farms will hire one crew for eight hours or less and a sec- ond crew for another shift. “Farmworkers will end up working for one farm in the morning (and) getting back in their cars to drive to another farm to work the afternoon shift,” he said. The overtime bill follows the swift passage of legisla- tion this year gradually in- creasing the state’s minimum wage from the current $10 an hour to $15 an hour by 2022. Nielsen noted that the new burdens come as the state’s agricultural production value fell by nearly $9.5 billion to $47 billion in 2015, mainly because of the drought. The trends will likely lead to more consolidation of farms and higher prices for consumers, predicted Joel Nelsen, president of Califor- nia Citrus Mutual. “You’re going to see fam- ily farmers selling property,” Nelsen said. “It’s going to be a more concentrated industry. I’ve already got hedge funds looking at this industry. Peo- ple are going to have a con- centrated source for their food supply.” The Farm Bureau’s Wenger lamented language in the bill that allows growers to get around the new overtime rules if they pay their workers at least 30 percent above the minimum wage, but only if they have a labor contract. “My lowest-paid, year- round worker is 40 percent above the current minimum wage, but I wouldn’t be able to do a work-around,” said Wenger, a Modesto almond grower. He suggested that if Sacra- mento lawmakers are serious about raising farmworkers’ wages, they should pass a law under which all produce brought into the state is sub- ject to the same rules — sim- ilar to what Proposition 2 did in egg production. “We’re here to defend the producers in California who produce under the strongest, most strident worker laws and environmental laws, and Sacramento doesn’t mind heaping it on us,” he said. “If that’s what they want, why don’t they walk the talk? “With Proposition 2, it saved our poultry industry” by forcing out-of-state pro- ducers to comply, he said. “Other states were upset with us … but a lot of other grow- ers in other states started pro- ducing (according to the new standards) because they could get a higher price.” ABERDEEN, Idaho — Aber- deen-Springield Canal Co. General Manager Steve Howser said a water outlook that took a dramatic turn for the worse this summer has compelled him to shut off his system about three weeks earlier than he originally anticipated. Howser, who closed his headgates on Sept. 12, said his board members and shareholders opted during a recent meet- ing to prolong deliveries for as long as possible, rather than holding back some water until October to wet ields to more easily harvest sugar beets. The canal, which serves 63,000 irri- gated acres in southeast Idaho, has been especially hard hit by a summer drought, which is forcing water managers through- out the region to make tough choices. Though the water supply seemed sufi- cient in April, following a near-average winter, Howser said demand for canal water was greater this season than it’s been in nearly three decades. “In 18 years I’ve never been more than three days off when I make my pre- diction on how long my storage will last at the beginning of the season. This year, I was more than three weeks off,” Hows- er said. Howser explained, “charging the sys- tem” to deliver water during beet harvest wastes about a ive-day supply of water. He and his growers are banking on illing the system during general beet harvest with natural lows, as other companies shut off for the season and Snake River levels rise. Otherwise, beet tips break off when growers dig them from dry ground, causing a 25 to 30 percent yield reduc- tion. “I’m not making my shareholders any promises,” Howser said, adding natural lows have returned by Oct. 5 in similar “analogue” years. Howser said about 1,200 acres that had been well-irrigated switched back to canal water this year, and there were more water-intensive crops on canal water, as growers sought to conserve groundwater under terms of the Surface Water Coali- tion water call settlement. He said there were also several days above 90 degrees during summer, and the snowpack melt- ed in a way that minimized storage cap- ture. His company will end the season without a drop of carryover water in the reservoirs. Amalgamated Sugar growers say the company is prioritizing early beet harvests in the Aberdeen area and will open a piling station there earlier than planned. Some local growers, such as Doug Ruff, are simply harvesting beets on the canal irst, instead of well-irrigat- ed beet ields. National hay growers honor Eckenberg By DAN WHEAT Capital Press MATTAWA, Wash. — Some 280 hay growers and bro- kers from the U.S. and Canada and hay importers from China toured Eckenberg Farms, a hay exporter in Mattawa, as part of the 121st annual meeting of the National Hay Association last week. Most of the meeting was at the Pasco Red Lion Hotel, Sept. 14-17. That location and the farm tour and barbecue were in honor of Bob Eckenberg, head of the family-owned company who inished his year as asso- ciation president. The meeting was last held in Pasco when his late father, Eddie, was associa- tion president in 1999. “I was fortunate enough to follow in dad’s footsteps. For me this is probably the pinnacle of my career,” said Bob Ecken- berg, 50, adding he hopes his brother, Jim, 53, company vice president, becomes association president some day. “A lifetime of hay. Dad started with 35 acres in 1963,” Jim said. “It started as a hobby farm. A place to raise the kids,” said Dan Wheat/Capital Press From left, Bob and Andrea Eckenberg, matriarch Kay Eckenberg, and Janet and Jim Eckenberg at National Hay Association barbe- cue at their Mattawa, Wash., farm on Sept. 16. brother, Steve, 57, who is re- tired. Today, the farm produces hay on 5,000 acres, leased and owned, buys hay throughout the Northwest and exports 98 percent of its 100,000 metric tons of cubed hay and dou- ble-compressed bales to Asia and the Middle East. Japan buys more than 50 percent. South Korea and Chi- na alternate in second place at about 25 percent and the Unit- ed Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia round out the buyers. The hay is tracked by computer from growing and purchase to delivery. Eckenberg Farms has 90 year-round employees — more at harvest — and operates four bale compressors and six cub- ing machines. It’s among the last compa- nies grinding hay bales into 1.25-inch-square, 3-inch-long cubes, an industry standard from the 1960s into the 1990s for ease of shipping and reten- tion of nutrition and feed value. Double compression of bales into halves took over as a more economical method for shipping in the 1990s, and cub- ing has been declining since, Bob Eckenberg said. As national president, Eck- enberg and other association members lobbied Congress in support of bills by Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., trying to prevent future seaport labor slowdowns. West Coast hay exporters are still dealing with loss of export markets from the port slowdown in 2014 and 2015. The association is working to open new markets in India and around the world. It’s been working with USDA on Chi- na’s concerns about GMO res- idue in containers of non-GMO hay going into China. Greater longevity of U.S. embassy staff in China would help that issue, Eckenberg said. The association has also lobbied for more “reasonable” rest requirements for long-haul truck drivers, he said. The West Coast hay mar- ket has been lat since the port slowdown because of the loss of overseas markets, too much feeder hay in 2015 and low milk prices. East Idaho city hosts celebration of the russet By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press SHELLEY, Idaho — Pota- to sacks are a common garb, and large farm equipment comprises a good percentage of the loats at the Idaho Spud Days Parade, hosted as part of an 88-year-old celebration of the staple of this small Eastern Idaho city’s econo- my. The celebration draws thousands of people to pay tribute to the russet potato — which also happens to be the mascot of the local high school. The event started Sept. 14 with the crowning of Miss Russet, a unique pageant that awards college scholarship money to the top contestants. Shelley High School se- nior Alicent Ackerman, who won this year’s crown, lives adjacent to potato ields and is “super excited for all of the opportunities that are about to come” due to her new sta- tus as a potato ambassador. She wowed the judges with her dancing skills during the pageant and plans to organize a spirit week focused on sui- cide prevention for schools in her community. Children participated in a Tator Trot footrace on Sept. John O’Connell/Capital Press The Idaho Spud Days parade, hosted Sept. 17 in Shelley, includes potato- and agricultural-themed loats and exhibits. 16, and a pancake breakfast and Spud Run kicked off a day of festivities on Sept. 17. “For years, they said Shelley was the potato cap- ital of the world, though I don’t know if that’s accepted any more or not,” said Ron Carlson, a former watermas- ter of the water district that includes the Eastern Snake Plain’s upper valley. Carlson has attended Spud Days since his childhood but has performed patriot- ic music at the festival for most of the past decade with the Community Orchestra at Firth, conducted by his wife. “It’s a bigger event now than it’s ever been,” Carlson said. “It’s a celebration of Eastern Idaho’s economy.” Most people in attendance had a direct tie to the potato industry. Brian Mitchell, who watched the parade from his front yard, works at the Basic American Foods dehydrated potato processing plant. MerLene Hall, who attend- ed from Sugar City, said both of her parents were employed by the potato industry. As a child, she “bucked spuds,” which entailed illing baskets with tubers and then pouring the contents into sacks for loading on lat-bed trucks. “It was the beginning of everyone’s back problems,” Hall joked. The Idaho Potato Com- mission’s Great Big Idaho Potato Truck — a giant repli- ca Russet Burbank on wheels — rolled in the parade, hav- ing also participated during its initial national tour in 2012. “We go to a lot of places where they don’t know much about potatoes, but here at home, it’s great,” said El- lis Nanney, a member of the Tater Team that staffs the truck. “We don’t get asked as much if it’s real here, because people have a little bit higher potato IQ.” The Tater Team also par- ticipated in the Tater Tug — a tug-of-war with a mashed po- tato pit at its center. James Hoff, a local spud grower with the IPC, circled the parade route in the 1943 Boeing Stearman biplane he lew in the organization’s 2014 commercial, in which he and another farmer searched from the sky for their missing Potato Truck. “It gets everybody excited about spud harvest,” Hoff said of the festival. Shelley Mayor Stacy Pas- coe and a group of volun- teers gave away 6,200 baked potatoes, donated by Basic American Foods and Liberty Produce.
