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About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 2016)
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2016 “ VOLUME 89, NUMBER 45 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 Orchard wages are so high that it’s pulling from warehouses and warehouses are short.” Grower Dave Taber LABOR PAINS Orchards, farms make it through another harvest season with too few workers — and many worries about the future Dan Wheat/Capital Press Sylvia Almaguer packs a box of Red Delicious apples at Valicoff Fruit Co. on Oct. 12. The packing shed was short 12 workers that day. Dan Wheat/Capital Press A crew picks Honeycrisp apples at Brewster, Wash., in August 2015. Washington state’s apple harvest is labor-intensive, requiring about 50,000 fi eld workers annually. Guest workers on the rise in Washington By DAN WHEAT Capital Press W APATO, Wash. — “Packers needed” signs, in English and Spanish, were tacked to stacks of apple bins outside Valicoff Fruit Co. Inside, Maria Sanchez and Joaquin Melo Vaca, both from nearby Toppenish, fi lled out job applications for two of 12 openings. “We’ve been short since we began this season’s packing the fi rst week of August,” said Brett Valicoff, general manager, the morning of Oct. 12. The remaining positions were only fi lled once harvest wound down, allowing some employees who had been picking to shift to packing, he said two weeks later. Valicoff Fruit’s predicament refl ects the new normal for many U.S. grow- ers. In some cases, the number of jobs is growing as the number of work- ers stagnates, forcing more employers to turn to the costly and cumbersome H-2A visa program for foreign guestworkers. It also underscores the need for Congress to improve that program and reform U.S. immigration policies. At the same time, it drives the quest for greater mechanization. Turn to LABOR, Page 12 13,641 11,844 H-2A workers approved for Washington state by U.S. Department of Labor. Source: Washington State Employment Security Department 9,025 6,221 Up 15.2% from 2015 4,546 1,688 2007 2,513 ’08 2,991 3,182 1,882 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 2016 Dan Wheat and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press Brett Valicoff WDFW spent $119,500 to shoot seven wolves Official: Money not reason for suspending hunt By DON JENKINS Capital Press Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Washington spent $119,500 to kill seven cording to Department Wildlife wolf policy more than wolves, ac- of Fish and coordinator Donny Martorello, who said the agency will look at culling wolf- packs in the future in “the most fru- gal way we can.” “We know that lethal removal is part of wolf management. It’s some- thing that will occur again in Wash- ington,” he said. “I do think that as an agency we have to think about cost-savings.” WDFW spent the money during an operation that began Aug. 4 and ended Oct. 19 in northeastern Wash- ington. Expenses included renting a helicopter, hiring a trapper, and paying the salaries and benefi ts of WDFW employees. A preliminary fi gure, $119,577.92, was tallied in response to public disclosure requests and was posted by an advocacy group, Pro- tect the Wolves. Martorello said a Turn to WOLVES, Page 12 New community hastens loss of Ada County farmland Development sited on 1,500 acres of prime ag ground By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — A planned community with 1,750 homes and 80,000 square feet of commercial space in the north part of Boise is hastening the loss of farmland, an increasingly rare com- modity in Ada County. The Dry Creek Ranch development, which is expected to cost about $100 million, will be sited on 1,500 acres of prime farmland. Ada County, Idaho’s most populous, still has 1,223 farms and $221 million worth of annual ag produc- tion but that farmland is disappearing. According to the Ada Soil and Wa- ter Conservation District, Ada County had 244,218 acres of farmland in 1974 but only 144,000 now. Twenty-seven percent of the county is ag land today but the county’s new comprehensive plan expects that number to drop to 18 percent over the next 15-20 years. In Canyon County, which borders Ada, total farmland increased 2,000 acres, to 206,469, over the past three years. The loss of 1,500 acres of prime farmland right next to her own farm was too much for Josie Erskine, who plans to move her Peaceful Belly Farm “It’s easier to farm if your neighbor’s a farmer.” Josie Erskine, Peaceful Belly Farm about 30 miles west to Canyon County. Though her farm would be pro- tected under Idaho’s Right to Farm Act, Erskine doesn’t like the idea of Turn to LOSS, Page 12 Our Rebin Program can turn your old trailer into a new trailer! We will remove all working mechanical parts, and replace the bin with a new Stainless Steel STC Bin on your existing running gear. All parts deemed reusable are reinstalled on the new bin. All of this at the fraction of the cost of a new trailer! WWW.STCTRAILERS.COM 494 W. Hwy 39 Blackfoot, ID 83321 208-785-1364 45-4/#16 EVER WONDERED WHAT TO DO WITH THAT OLD, WORN OUT COMMODITY TRAILER?