October 7, 2016
CapitalPress.com
5
Judge refuses to dismiss
USDA organic lawsuit
Case centers on
change in synthetic
substance policy
Capital Press
A federal judge has re-
jected the USDA’s request to
dismiss a lawsuit alleging the
agency unlawfully changed
how synthetic substances are
evaluated for organic produc-
tion.
Last year, a group of 14
organic and environmental
organizations iled the lawsuit
against USDA, arguing the
agency has effectively made
it harder to remove synthetics
from the list of substances ap-
proved for organic farming.
The USDA claimed the
organizations lacked the legal
standing to ile the lawsuit,
but U.S. District Judge Hay-
wood Gilliam Jr. in San Fran-
cisco has disagreed with that
argument and is allowing the
litigation to proceed.
Gilliam ruled that it’s plau-
sible the plaintiffs will be
harmed by the USDA’s policy
change, which they say has al-
lowed more than 20 synthetic
substances to continue being
used in organic agriculture.
The dispute centers on
USDA’s decision in 2013 to
change the ive-year “sunset
process” for synthetic sub-
stances approved for organic
farming.
Previously,
synthetics
were automatically eliminated
from the list unless two-thirds
of the 15-member Nation-
al Organic Standards Board
Courtesy USDA
The Jamie L. Whitten, Federal
Building, U.S. Department of
Agriculture in Washington, D.C.
A federal judge has rejected the
USDA’s request to dismiss a
lawsuit alleging the agency un-
lawfully changed how synthetic
substances are evaluated for
organic production.
agreed they should stay on it.
Under the new policy, such
substances automatically re-
mained on the list unless two-
thirds of the NOSB voted to
remove them. Effectively, a
synthetic could stay on the
list even if a majority of up to
nine board members voted to
remove it.
“This gets at the heart of
decision-making at the Na-
tional Organic Standards
Board,” said Will Fantle,
co-founder of the Cornucopia
Institute, a nonproit organic
industry watchdog.
Instead of allowing prod-
ucts to “sunset,” as intended
by law, the USDA basically
keeps them in the “land of the
midnight sun,” Fantle said.
The plaintiffs say that con-
sumers who pay more for or-
ganic food are harmed by the
policy because they expect
these crops to be produced
with a minimal amount of
synthetic substances.
Farmers are also hurt by the
change because it undermines
the integrity of the organic la-
bel, their complaint said.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Taylor Keeton, program specialist, calculates the falling number for a wheat sample Aug. 9 in the Spo-
kane Valley ofice of the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Crop insurance oficials have
denied a request to not discount production because of low falling numbers.
RMA denies wheat growers
falling number assistance
WAWG weighs
long-term solutions
without short-term
relief for farmers
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — The USDA
Risk Management Agency
has denied Northwest wheat
farmers’ request for help with
low falling numbers.
Grain elevators use the
Hagberg-Perten falling num-
ber test to measure starch
damage due to sprouting. A
low falling number indicates
a high level of alpha amy-
lase, an enzyme that degrades
starch and diminishes the
quality of wheat.
Wheat with a falling num-
ber below 300 typically is
discounted. Rain and tem-
perature luctuations are the
primary cause of the damage.
A low falling number will
reduce a farmer’s actual pro-
duction history when signing
up for crop insurance, even if
no insurance claim has been
iled for falling number, ac-
cording to the Washington As-
sociation of Wheat Growers.
A farmer’s production his-
tory is averaged over 10 years
and used to determine future
crop insurance guarantees.
If actual production is dis-
counted to relect a low falling
number, the 10-year average
will drop and the amount of
a crop eligible for insurance
coverage will shrink.
The industry sent a letter
seeking relief from RMA Ad-
ministrator Brandon Willis,
signed by 36 organizations,
with follow-up letters from
the Washington State Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Idaho
State Department of Agricul-
ture and from six U.S. sena-
tors and six House members.
Roughly 25 to 30 percent
of the wheat crop in Wash-
ington and Idaho is impacted,
said Stacey Satterlee, exec-
utive director of the Idaho
Grain Producers Association.
As of Sept. 13, 42 per-
cent of soft white wheat
samples had a falling num-
ber of 300 or lower, as did
43 percent of club wheat,
20 percent of hard red win-
ter wheat and 10 percent of
hard red wheat, according to
WAWG.
In Idaho, the impact is
primarily felt in Idaho, Nez
Perce and Lewis counties,
Satterlee said. Some Oregon
farmers have been affected,
but not to the extent of the
other two states, said Oregon
Wheat CEO Blake Rowe.
“It’s very disappointing,
obviously, that we couldn’t
help our farmers in this situa-
tion that they’re in with record
low prices,” said Michelle
Hennings, executive director
of WAWG. “There’s a part of
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By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Synthetic products were
also intended to sunset to
stimulate the creation of new
organic replacements, said
Fantle.
Beer companies were once
allowed to brew with conven-
tional hops, but the sunsetting
of that input allowed for the
growth of the organic hop in-
dustry, he said.
In 2015, the judge dis-
missed the plaintiffs’ orig-
inal lawsuit because they
only claimed to suffer future
injury from the policy and
they didn’t identify specif-
ic substances affected by the
change.
In an amended complaint,
the plaintiffs said that aque-
ous potassium silicate — a
fungicide and insecticide —
has remained on the list even
though less than two-thirds of
NOSB voted in favor of keep-
ing it.
Under the previous poli-
cy, the chemical would have
been eliminated from the list.
The plaintiffs also identiied
20 other synthetics that faced a
similar situation.
“Speciics have been added
to it,” said Fantle.
Gilliam’s latest ruling,
which allows the revised law-
suit to proceed, is the second
legal victory won by critics
of USDA organic policies this
year.
In June, U.S. District Judge
Jacqueline Scott Corley, also
of San Francisco, held that
USDA unlawfully allowed
plants treated with pesticides
to be used in organic compost.
Both of these controversial
USDA decisions were made
under Miles McEvoy, admin-
istrator of the agency’s Na-
tional Organic Program, who
has been criticized by some
organic groups for bowing to
corporate pressure.
A spokesman for USDA
said the agency doesn’t com-
ment on litigation but said the
revised sunset policy “would
help protect organic farmers
and consumers” and had “in-
creased public engagement
and transparency.”
“USDA strongly supports
organic agriculture, and is
committed to establishing a
level playing ield that pro-
tects all organic farms and
businesses,” he said in an
email.
this procedure that’s inconsis-
tent throughout the states.”
RMA told the farmers the
falling number problem is
similar to quality problems in
commodities such as cotton
and corn.
“One of the reasonings
was, ‘If I do this for you, I’ll
have to do it for everyone
else,’” Hennings said.
“I’m not very optimistic
that we’re going to get any
short-term relief,” said Fair-
ield, Wash., farmer Marci
Green, secretary-treasurer of
WAWG.
Green said her farm hasn’t
had falling numbers as low
as some, but she still doesn’t
know the extent of the cost.
“We don’t know how
much wheat we have that has
falling number issue because
it’s in home storage,” Green
said.
Hennings said WAWG will
review the policy with RMA
regional director Ben Thiel.
It would take a year and a
half to two years to change the
policy, Hennings said.
“This is the time (farmers)
need the assistance,” she said.
The average break-even
price for farmers is $6.80 per
bushel, Hennings said. If pric-
es are around $4 per bushel
now, she said, some farmers
with falling numbers could
have $2 per bushel wheat.
Some new or beginning farm-
ers are poised to go out of
business as a result, she said.
Green said the industry
needs to look at how crop in-
surance handles falling num-
ber issues in the long-term.
“What would maybe be
more accurate would be hav-
ing the adjustment to price,
because when we’re having
crop insurance, we’re guar-
anteeing a yield of this many
bushels at this much of a
price,” she said. “When we
deliver our crop to the eleva-
tor ... they don’t say, ‘We’re
going to take half of your
bushels away.’ They say, ‘You
still have the same number of
bushels and we’re going to
lower the price we’re going to
pay you.’”
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