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September 30, 2016 CapitalPress.com 5 Levy considered to fund Ada conservation easements Backers say money could save farmland in Idaho’s Treasure Valley By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — People interested in staving off the rapid loss of farm ground in parts of Idaho’s Treasure Valley are mulling the idea of asking local voters to approve a farmland preservation levy. The money would be used to of- fer farmers money in exchange for placing an easement on their proper- ty that preserves it as farmland. This would give growers who are being offered signiicant money from developers an option to volun- tarily save their farmland for future generations, said Boise farmer Josie Erskine, who manages the Ada Soil and Water Conservation District. The idea is in its infancy and the district’s board has not committed to it, Erskine said. “But we are committed to creat- ing solutions and we think this is one of the best solutions,” she said. Erskine said the money could make it so “farmers would not have to sell their land to developers for their retirement. They could put an easement on it and get paid for that easement” while renting it out to oth- er farmers. Some areas of the country have created agricultural zones where no development is allowed but that like- ly won’t ly in Idaho, where private property rights are a major issue, Er- skine said. “Zoning might not be an option for us right now but a voluntary (easement) program might be an op- tion,” she said. Erskine said she and other district board members are alarmed at the rapid loss of farmland in Ada Coun- ty. According to the SWCD, Ada County had 244,218 acres of farm- land in 1974 but only 144,000 now. Ada County farmer Glen Ed- wards, chairman of the SWCD’s Executive: Portland container shipping faces broad challenges Turmoil among ocean carriers is disruptive beyond labor disputes By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Capital Press File A container ship is loaded at the Port of Portland in this ile photo. Ocean carrier service at the Terminal 6 facility has since stopped. The port’s ocean container terminal faces broader problems than a labor dispute that effectively discontinued container shipping at the facility last year, according to a port oficial. By DAN WHEAT Capital Press SUMMERLAND, B.C. — A third non-browning, geneti- cally modiied apple has been approved by the USDA. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of USDA has granted deregu- lated status to the Arctic Fuji developed by Okanagan Spe- cialty Fruits of Summerland, B.C. The Fuji joins the Arctic Golden and Arctic Granny Smith varieties as deregulated and deemed as safe and nutri- tious as conventional apples by APHIS. “The response to Arctic Fuji apples and our overall platform to deliver direct ben- eits to consumers has been encouraging,” said Neal Car- ter, Okanagan Specialty Fruits founder and president. “We are conident the positive feedback we have received will translate to the marketplace,” he said. The company’s Arctic apples have been changed through a reduction of the en- zyme polyphenol oxidase, the primary cause of browning in fruit. It reduces browning when the apples are sliced, bitten or bruised without us- ing lavor-altering chemical additives that the fresh-sliced apple industry uses. In August, Carter said about 1,000 to 1,200, 40-pound boxes of Arctic Golden will be sliced and sold in test marketing in grocery Courtesy of Okanagan Specialty Fruits The non-browning genetically modiied Arctic Fuji, developed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits of Summerland, B.C., has been approved for production and sales in the U.S. by the USDA. stores in the western U.S. this fall. Retailers, food service and quick-serve restaurants all have expressed interest in the apples and Okanagan Specialty Fruits will grow, process and market the ap- ples, focusing on packaging and sales of sliced apples, he said. This fall’s test marketing will help determine packag- ing and pricing, he said. The apples will be labeled as ge- netically modiied in the nu- tritional information area of packaging when regulations require it, he said. The company is counting on a mix of its own orchards and contract growers to grow the fruit in the Northwest, along the East Coast and in Canada. The company will seek ap- proval of an Arctic Gala next year, hoping for approval in 2017 or 2018. 40-1/#4X less proit there is for export- ers, she said. “There is no one to call to help you. You’re on your own. There’s no hotline.” The lack of container shipping at the port indirect- ly affects the nursery indus- try, because fewer trucks are available, said Leigh Geschwill, president of the Oregon Association of Nurs- eries. “Not having a fully func- tional port reduces the num- ber of trucks willing to come,” she said. USDA approves genetically modiied Fuji apple 40-1/#7 the committee. However, it’s dificult to imagine that Paciic Ocean shipping will be reduced to megaships traveling between large ports in Hong Kong and Los Angeles, he said. Terminal 6 should be able to attract some vessels, but the facility’s niche is likely to be more “surgical” than it was in the past, he said. “We’re a niche port, we al- ways have been,” Leavitt said. Shelly Boshart Davis, whose family owns farm- ing and trucking operations, agreed that the resumption of activity at Terminal 6 “wouldn’t ix everything,” but it would help Oregon agricul- ture remain competitive. Baled straw was, by vol- ume, the largest Oregon ex- port commodity to depend on containerized shipping from the port, said Boshart Davis. Even so, less than 40 percent of the state’s straw volume passed through that facility. When productivity at West Coast ports severely declined during labor contract nego- tiations between longshore- men and port operators in late 2014, straw that would have been exported to Asia backed up in Oregon, she said. That higher inventory, in turn, depressed prices for growers, Boshart Davis said. Shipping complications have also affected the Christ- mas tree industry, particular- ly in export destinations like the Philippines, where retail- ers expect to display trees by mid-November, said Gayla Hansen of Kirk International, which exports trees. The more time Christmas trees spend on the dock, the month begins a year-long effort to explore options for preserving farm- land in southwestern Idaho. “It’s wonderful to bike but it’s cooler to eat,” she said. County Farm Bureau President Don Sonke said the issue of balanc- ing the need to preserve farmland with a farmers’ right to sell his land to whomever he chooses is a tough one and he’s yet to hear a reasonable solution. “I’d be interested in hearing what they have to say,” Sonke said about any proposals to preserve farmland. “But the conversation has been go- ing on and on for years (and) I’ve never seen what I think is a good solution.” Call Classifieds for More Information ROP-40-42-4/#17 SALEM — Labor dis- putes are often blamed for discontinued ocean container shipping at Port of Portland’s “Terminal 6,” but the facility faces broader problems, a port executive said. Even if conlicts between the port, the terminal operator and the longshoremen’s union were resolved, turmoil in the global shipping industry would affect the facility, said Keith Leavitt, the port’s chief commercial oficer. “There’s no one silver bul- let here,” Leavitt said during a Sept. 22 hearing before the Oregon House Interim Com- mittee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. Ocean carriers ordered gi- gantic “megaships” nearly a decade ago that can carry a huge number of containers with the idea of improving ef- iciency, he said. Now that the vessels have come online, though, there’s not enough cargo to justify the investment, Leavitt said. “They are not illing those vessels because the demand for space on those vessels is not keeping up with capacity,” he said. As a result, the price of freight on those ships has dropped so low that shipping companies aren’t able to cov- er their debts, which recent- ly caused the bankruptcy of Hanjin, a South Korean com- pany that long serviced the Port of Portland before stop- ping service last year, he said. Because ports are afraid of not getting paid for loading and unloading containers from Hanjin ships, that’s left a lot of cargo stranded across the globe, including Northwest farm goods, Leavitt said. Leavitt said he expects the shipping industry’s problems will be sorted out over the next several years, but even then, Port of Portland’s Ter- minal 6 will face some head- winds. The new “megaships” carry up to 25,000, 20-foot- long containers, but the Port of Portland can only handle ships that carry 7,000 contain- ers, he said. “The megaships are just not going to be calling on the Columbia River,” Leavitt told board of supervisors, said he faces the same dilemma as a lot of oth- er growers in the valley. He’s been offered good money for his farm ground. “We have people trying to buy some of our ground here all of the time,” he said. “It’s a hard choice. A guy can’t farm forever. But if we were to get some kind of levy going and it paid me enough to retire on ... I can sure rent it out. That’s where I would go if I had that option.” County voters recently passed a clean water levy as well as an open space levy. How much more import- ant is saving farmland, asks Susan Medlin, treasurer of the Treasure Valley Food Coalition, which next 40-1/#13
