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4 CapitalPress.com September 30, 2016 U.S. organic production value up 13 percent Oregon Tilth helps fund OSU By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press A new National Agricul- tural Statistics Service survey found that the nation’s 12,818 certiied organic farms sold $6.2 billion in organic prod- ucts in 2015, up 13 percent from the previous year. Leading the way was Cal- ifornia, whose $2.4 billion in sales last year was up $205 million from 2014 and ac- counted for nearly 39 percent of the national total. Washington was second in the nation with $626 million in sales in 2015, while Oregon was fourth with $269 million. Organic sales in those states increased from $515 million and $237 million, respective- ly, two years ago, according to NASS. Pennsylvania was third in organic sales at $332 million. Idaho registered $85 mil- lion in organic sales in 2015, up 29 percent from $66 mil- lion the previous year, the agency’s annual surveys showed. “Certainly the growth is driven by consumer pressure for organic” products, said Kelly Damewood, policy director for the Santa Cruz- based California Certiied Organic Farmers, an organic certiication organization. Consumers seek organic products to make their diets healthier and to beneit the en- LEGAL PUBLIC NOTICE The Soil and Water Conservation Commission (SWCC) will hold its regular quarterly meeting on Thursday, October 20, 2016, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Monarch Hotel & Conference Center, 2566 SE 93rd Avenue, Portland/Clackamas 97015. The meeting agenda covers SWCC reports, advisor reports, Soil and Water Conservation District programs and funding, Agriculture Water Quality Management Program updates, and other agenda items. The Oregon Department of Agriculture complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you need special accommodations to participate in this meeting, please contact Sandi Hiatt at (503) 986-4704, at least 72 hours prior to the meeting. 40-1/#4 Tim Hearden/Capital Press Margaret Jensen, co-owner of Good Work Organic Farm in Round Mountain, Calif., weighs a watermelon for a customer at a farmers’ market Sept. 24 in Redding, Calif. Organic production in Califor- nia continues to grow and accounts for nearly 39 percent of U.S. organic production, according to a national survey. vironment, as organic growers can use only approved materi- als and are required to main- tain soil health and account for biodiversity, Damewood said. “It’s really a whole system approach that has so many beneits,” she said, adding that organic farms set “the gold standard for a holistic approach to food production.” When buying organic foods from local producers, people get a sense that they’re LEGAL CHERRY AVENUE STORAGE 2680 Cherry Ave. NE Salem, OR 97301 (503) 399-7454 Sat., Oct. 8th • 10 A.M. • Unit 19 Austin Rodriquez • Unit 24 Art Espinoza • Unit 85 Angela Kinzel • Unit 92 Renan Chavez • Unit 104 Charles Mitchell • Unit 140 Eric & Jordan Hagen • Unit 142 Angelique Goldschmidt • Unit 210 Jamie Parks Cherry Avenue Storage reserves the right to refuse any and all bids helping their own commu- nities, said Margaret Jensen, co-owner of Good Work Or- ganic Farm in Round Moun- tain, Calif. “There’s a general sense that organic is healthi- er,” Jensen said, “and the greater availability of or- ganic is making it a more normal, easier choice for people.” Milk topped all organic sales at $1.2 billion. It was followed by organic eggs at $732 million. Combined, they represented 31 percent of all organic sales, according to NASS. Egg sales were up 74.5 percent over the previous year. Other top sellers were or- ganic broiler chickens ($420 million), apples ($302 mil- lion) and lettuce ($262 mil- lion). The selection of certiied organic products sold by U.S. farms last year was diverse, with livestock and poultry products leading the way with $1.9 billion in sales, ac- cording to NASS. In all, $1.4 billion in vegetables and $1.2 billion in fruits, tree nuts and berries were sold by organ- ic producers nationwide last year, the survey found. The total U.S. livestock and crop production in 2015 was $379.2 billion, according to NASS. Organic production represented 1.6 percent of that. The organic industry shows a potential to keep growing, as existing produc- ers are transitioning 151,000 acres nationally to organic production, the agency report- ed. Oregon and Washington saw growth in the value of their organic goods despite declines in organic acre- age. Washington went from 73,841 certiied acres in 2014 to 71,781 last year, while Ore- gon saw a drop from 204,186 acres to 175,675 over the same period, according to NASS. organic Extension position By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press In a move that highlights the growing inluence of or- ganic agriculture in the state, the Oregon nonproit that is- sues USDA certiication will help fund an organic Exten- sion program at Oregon State University. In academic circles, at least, the decision is signiicant. Oregon Tilth will provide $100,000 over four years to a new organic program with- in OSU’s Center for Small Farms & Community Food Systems. The contribution matches OSU’s support for the program. A Dutch compa- ny, Vitalis Organic Seeds, also plans to provide inancial sup- port. Details of the company’s involvement were not immedi- ately available. Oregon State professors say multiple campus researchers are involved in organic crop trials or other projects, but the work is largely the result of individual professors pursuing their own interests. Conferring program status on organic work will bring all that research un- der the same umbrella, said Garry Stephenson, director of OSU’s small farms center. “It also a recognition that some kinds of research need to be more specialized,” Ste- phenson said. “We have a lot of disciplines that are produc- tion-system neutral, but when it comes to other areas we need people who are more special- ized in what are called biolog- ical approaches.” Oregon Tilth Executive Di- rector Chris Schreiner said the non-proit’s investment in the OSU program is a statement about the rising impact of or- ganic agriculture. “I think it absolutely is,” Schreiner said. “We wanted to send a message to the OSU administration that the organic sector wants and values an or- ganic Extension program.” The investment means Or- egon Tilth “puts some skin in the game,” he said, and it may encourage involvement by for-proit businesses such as Vitalis. The investment is recogni- tion by organic producers that “land-grant universities, and Extension programs and Ex- tension agents are really seen as a credible, valued source of expertise,” Schreiner said. With demand for organic products outstripping supply, Oregon Tilth and other organi- zations are focused on helping more farmers transition to or- ganic production and recognize the importance of a partnership with a land-grant university, he said. Oregon Tilth, which has been around since 1979 and like OSU is based on Corvallis, has been informally involved and has provided funding to the university since 2009. The group certiies organic pro- ducers for the USDA. Attorney fees denied in Josephine County GMO lawsuit By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Supporters of a prohibition against genetically en- gineered crops in Oregon’s Josephine County won’t have to pay the attorney fees of farmers who defeated the ordi- nance. Josephine County Circuit Judge Pat Wolke has held that such an award isn’t warranted in this case. Voters approved Josephine County’s ban in 2014, but earlier this year, Wolke struck it down at the urging of Robert and Shelley Ann White, who wanted to grow biotech sugar beets. The couple then sought to recover $29,200 from an organic company, Sis- kiyou Seeds, and a nonproit, Orego- nians for Safe Farms and Families, that had intervened to defend the ordinance. The intervenors had relied on several arguments that lacked an “objectively reasonable basis” and thus should com- pensate the Whites for dragging out the legal proceedings, said John DiLorenzo, the plaintiffs’ attorney. “All we want is compensation for time that we had to waste,” he said during oral arguments in August. For example, the intervenor’s attor- neys claimed that a state law pre-empt- ing local governments from regulating genetically modiied organisms, or GMOs, was unconstitutional, DiLoren- zo said. However, they cited no legal prece- dent from Oregon to support this theo- ry, and instead pointed to case law from Ohio, he said. Attorneys for the intervenors said the issue of local GMO bans is a novel legal issue in Oregon and they should not be punished for presenting good faith de- fenses of the ordinance. Wolke ultimately sided with the in- tervenors, noting that attorneys rou- tinely counter lawsuits with multiple defense theories that may not end up proving plausible. legal-39-2-1/#4 PACIFIC NORTHWEST AG INDUSTRY EXPO PRESENTED BY: SPONSORED BY: 40-1/#6 NOV. 9-10, 2016 • TRAC CENTER • PASCO, WA washingtonagnetwork.com/pnw-agie/ Large Transmission Power Lines on Your Property? Lease Us Your Land! Long Term Land Leases Needed! 20-40 Years - Up to $1,250 per Acre per Year • We require large tracts of land (over 150 acres), currently clear and clean with 3-phase transmission type power lines for our solar farms. • Land cannot be in flood zone or have wetlands issues. 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