November 18, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
Washington
Red raspberry growers
harvest record crop
Helping veterans become farmers
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Yield up, price down
after drought year
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Western Washington’s red
raspberry farmers grew a re-
cord crop this year, though the
payoff may be no better than
from last year’s drought-di-
minished harvest.
Good weather, increased
acreage and new varieties ma-
turing helped boost produc-
tion to 78.2 million pounds,
Washington Red Raspberry
Commission Executive Di-
rector Henry Bierlink said.
The yield surpassed the
previous record of 72.4 mil-
lion pounds set in 2014.
“We were a little shocked
by the numbers at the end of
the year,” Bierlink said.
All 96 of the raspberry
commission’s growers are in
Western Washington, includ-
ing 78 in Whatcom County in
the northwestern corner of the
state.
Washington leads the
country in producing red
raspberries for processing.
California is the top supplier
of red raspberries for the fresh
market.
Washington heavily influ-
ences market prices. Its large
crop contributed to pushing
average field prices down to
about 90 cents a pound.
The price is comparable or
above most years in the past
decade, but a drop from last
year’s average price of $1.43
per pound. The raspberry
commission reported a 2015
harvest of only 52.6 million
pounds, far below normal.
The total value of this
year’s record crop probably
will be about the same as
last year’s small harvest, said
Lynden grower Jon Mayberry.
Growers compete with im-
ported raspberries from Chile
and Serbia, and a strong dollar
will be another factor weigh-
ing down prices, he said.
“The increase in produc-
tion pretty much will be off-
set by the decline in prices,”
Mayberry said. “We’re not
complaining. It’s great to
have a bumper crop, but all
the stars didn’t align.”
The summer of 2015 was
the hottest ever in northwest-
ern Washington, according
to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
The berries struggled in the
heat.
This summer, the region
had its seventh hottest sum-
mer, but received above av-
erage rainfall, according to
records dating back to 1895.
“We came out of the win-
ter with minimal winter inju-
ry, and the growing conditions
for the crop were pretty much
ideal. We had rain at the right
time and not too much,” May-
berry said.
The crop also was helped
by the further development
of a relatively new cultivar,
the Wakefield raspberry, he
said. “It performed very well
countywide,” he said.
The raspberry commis-
sion’s report for 2015 differed
sharply from statewide figures
compiled by the USDA Na-
tional Agricultural Statistics
Service.
NASS calculated that
Washington’s red raspberry
crop in the drought year was a
72.7 million pounds, about 20
million pounds more than re-
ported by the raspberry com-
mission.
The crop size and strong
prices led NASS to report that
the value of the state’s red
raspberry crop in 2015 was
$89 million, a 51 percent in-
crease over 2014.
Chris Mertz, Northwest
director of NASS, said his
office will talk with the rasp-
berry commission to review
the apparent discrepancy and
will revise its numbers if nec-
essary.
Some raspberries are
grown in Yakima and Walla
Walla counties, according to
the 2012 Census of Agricul-
ture, and would not be reflect-
ed in the commission’s num-
bers.
SPOKANE — The Spo-
kane Conservation District is
helping Eastern Washington
veterans apply their military
training to farming.
Vets on the Farm is de-
signed to help veterans transi-
tioning from military careers
into agriculture, said Vicki
Carter, district director.
“We look at both agricul-
ture and our military as being
the backbone of our country,”
Carter said. “The two have
this beautiful, hand-in-hand
fit, where the vets are coming
out with some very transfer-
able skills.”
The district provides vet-
erans with educational oppor-
tunities, hands-on experience,
internships and mentorships.
Veterans are paired with farm-
er-mentors and other veterans
to maintain the sense of com-
munity they experience in the
military, Carter said.
“It’s really a part of them,
and it’s hard for them to sep-
arate from as they transition
out,” she said. “We provide
some of that camaraderie as
well.”
In the last two years, the
program expanded from
Spokane to Stevens, Chelan,
Douglas, Whitman, Franklin
and Benton counties. Carter
said Vets on the Farm has as-
sisted more than 100 veterans.
KD Thompson, a former
Army specialist, is interested
in producing herbs and com-
posting on a small scale. She
gets help continuing her ed-
ucation and making connec-
tions.
“I didn’t know anything
about drip irrigation before,
now I’m kind of a pro,” she
said. “Being around other vet-
erans, too, it is kind of nice to
have people who know what
you’ve been through.”
Ben Parriman, a technical
sergeant in the Air National
Guard and Carter’s son, said
he enjoys working outside
and getting his hands dirty.
“This field of work is right
up my alley,” he said. “I run
heavy equipment, so running
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Spokane Conservation District Director Vicki Carter holds a pole for son Ben Parriman, right, a techni-
cal sergeant in the Air National Guard, while building a greenhouse on the Vets on the Farm learning
farm, as former U.S. Army specialist KD Thompson watches. The program helps veterans build a
career in agriculture.
Online
http://sccd.org/programs/vets-
on-the-farms
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Air National Guard member Ben Parriman, top, tightens a pole on
a greenhouse while Army veteran KD Thompson helps.
tractors to me is like second
nature. I pick this stuff up
very quickly.”
Parriman takes a sustain-
able farming and ranching
class at a Spokane community
college. He and his wife even-
tually want to find property,
he said.
A 3-acre learning farm
opened in April, producing to-
matoes and small vegetables.
The district may add herbs
and small animals such as
chickens, goats and bees for
pollination and honey produc-
tion.
Carter said the district
wants to expand the learning
farm into an incubator farm
concept.
“If we can train (veter-
ans) on a smaller scale here
... they can lease or take over
existing land that’s sitting
idle and be productive,” she
said.
She has an “overwhelm-
ing” number of farmers will-
ing to partner with veterans.
Carter said she frequently re-
ceives emails and calls.
Carter said the biggest
needs include a small trac-
tor, wheelbarrows and power
tools.
Farmers can donate to
sponsor a veteran, she said.
“This is great, but they
can’t work for free, they need
to make a living while they’re
learning,” she said.
The district is seeking
$345,000 in state funding
to put veteran-farmers on
projects in 12 counties. The
request includes a state co-
ordinator and a full-time em-
ployee in each county.
Municipal bond sale raises $22M for new Odessa waterline
Columbia River water
slated for delivery in 2018
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
The East Columbia Basin Irrigation
District has completed the sale of munic-
ipal bonds to help pay for construction
of a pipeline to provide Columbia River
water to Odessa Subarea farmers.
Manager Craig Simpson said the Oct.
27 sale raised roughly $22.5 million. The
district will use some of the proceeds
for construction of the EL 47.5 pipeline
pumping plant and distribution system.
The sale was the first district financ-
ing of the distribution system, said Mike
Schwisow, director of government rela-
tions for the Columbia Basin Develop-
ment League.
“This is the first time we’re acquiring
capital from the bond market to be repaid
by the landowners,” Schwisow said.
The irrigation district has the repay-
ment obligation, Simpson said. Land-
owners have written contracts with the
district to pay for the construction costs.
Revenue collected from the landowners
will go to debt service.
The district has capped the cost to
landowners at $253 per acre for 30 years.
The league hopes to reduce the cost to
less than $200 per acre.
Some $15 million raised will go to
serving 8,200 acres that are signed up for
water, Schwisow said. The pipeline will
serve fewer than 10 farmers, he said.
Work on the pumping plant on the
East Low Canal needs to take place when
the canal is dry, Schwisow said. “That
needed to be done this year so we are in a
position to deliver water in 2018.”
The district also re-funded two exist-
ing bonds because interest rates are now
lower. Doing that will save the district
$500,000 in interest payments, Simpson
said.
A municipal bond is similar to a loan,
but the interest payments to the bond-
holders are usually exempt from state
and federal income taxes. Because of that
feature, the interest rates are lower than
for other forms of financing. Current in-
terest rates are at historically low levels.
“With any luck, we come up with
enough outside funding so we don’t
have to go to the bond market again,” he
said.
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