November 25, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
Washington
Breaching
dams would
‘devastate’
wheat
industry,
growers say
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
With the federal govern-
ment seeking public comment
on the Columbia-Snake river
system, the Washington Asso-
ciation of Wheat Growers has
reaffirmed its opposition to
breaching dams on the Snake
River.
“It would be devastating to
the industry,” said executive
director Michelle Hennings.
Removing
the
dams
would mean the river would
not be useful for trans-
porting wheat, Hennings
said.
“It is vital that we keep our
transportation system intact,”
she said.
According to WAWG, the
river system is the top wheat
export gateway in the United
States and the third-largest
grain export gateway in the
world.
To move the same amount
of wheat by road or rail would
require 137,000 semi-trucks
or 23,900 railcars, increasing
fuel consumption, emissions
and wear-and-tear on roads
and railways.
“Do we really want to put
more trucks on the road?”
Hennings said. “We don’t
want to do that. This is one
way to alleviate that, if we
want to have clean air.”
Roughly $3 billion of com-
mercial cargo moves on the
river system, giving growers
in the Midwest access to in-
ternational markets.
Zirkle buying Wanapum Village
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
BEVERLY, Wash. — One
of the largest tree fruit com-
panies in Washington state,
Zirkle Fruit Co., of Selah,
is buying Wanapum Village
from Grant County Public
Utility District for $4 million.
PUD commissioners ap-
proved the sale Oct. 25, pend-
ing approval of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commis-
sion, which is likely by the
end of November, said Chuck
Allen, PUD spokesman.
Mark Zirkle, president
of Zirkle Fruit Co., declined
comment on the company’s
plans for the village, but Mat-
tawa-area orchardists believe
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Wanapum Village, north of Beverly, Wash., is being sold by the
Grant County Public Utility District to Zirkle Fruit Co., possibly for
use as farmworker housing.
it will be used for farmworker
housing.
Wanapum Village con-
sisted of a school and em-
ployee housing built in 1960
when the Wanapum and
Priest Rapids dams were
under construction, Allen
said.
It is north of the town of
Beverly, about a mile south
of the Wanapum Dam and
consists of 75 acres, 30 va-
cant single-family homes and
a 17,600-square-foot former
school that was used as an
office building, Allen said. It
includes a water system but
the sewer system is not on the
property so the new owner
will have to build a new one,
he said.
The office housed engi-
neers for the dam but the PUD
built a new office for them
closer to the dam and decided
to sell the village last January,
Allen said.
The property was listed
for sale in June, and four of-
fers were received. After ne-
gotiations the PUD accepted
Zirkle’s offer, an Oct. 5 PUD
memorandum states.
Zirkle Fruit Co. owns or-
chards around much of Cen-
tral Washington.
The company hired 2,889
H-2A visa foreign guestwork-
ers in 2015, according to the
U.S. Department of Labor.
Employers who hire H-2A
workers are required to pro-
vide housing.
Zirkle said he expects to
hire about the same number
of H-2A workers next year or
slightly more.
Farm bill safety net a top priority for new WAWG president
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — Improving
the next farm bill in Con-
gress is a top priority for the
new leader of the Washing-
ton Association of Wheat
Growers.
Congressional farm bill
discussions are expected to
begin with hearings as early
as March, and farmers want
to relay what’s working and
what’s not, Ben Adams said.
“Obviously, at $4 (per
bushel) wheat, there’s big
holes in the safety net,” Ad-
ams said. “It is well below the
cost of production.”
During the last sign-up
for crop insurance, farmers
concerned about crop losses
bought the Agriculture Risk
Coverage, while farmers wor-
ried about price — then above
$5 per bushel — chose Price
Loss Coverage.
“I always thought there
should be a third option:
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Ben Adams, new Washington Association of Wheat Growers president, says the organization’s focus
will be on the new farm bill.
Whatever results in the high-
est payment, because as a
farmer you’re worried about
both crop loss and price,” Ad-
ams said.
Adams said farmers would
like to see an option that al-
lows them to switch between
coverages.
As president Adams will
serve a one-year term. He re-
places Kevin Klein of Edwall.
In the state, the organi-
zation will seek legislative
support for Washington State
University’s plant science and
animal health buildings and
for maintaining tax preferenc-
es for farmers.
Adams farms roughly
11,000 acres near Coulee City
in Douglas County. He has 70
acres of irrigated ground, he
said.
Adams is a fourth-gener-
ation farmer and a certified
public accountant. He said
he’s made a point of serving
in various leadership posi-
tions on local grower groups
off and on since the early
1990s.
The idea is “to serve some-
thing greater than oneself,
whether church or farm co-
ops,” he said.
WSDA seeks money to help small farms
Program popular, but
not always funded
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Pe Ell School District assistant cook Holly Woodward cuts carrots
from Boistfort Valley Farm in Lewis County, Wash. The southwest
Washington school district buys vegetables and fruits from area
farmers.
All along, WSDA has relied
heavily on grants, including
from the USDA, to keep the
programs going.
The proposed two-year,
$500,000 expenditure would
be the state’s biggest invest-
ment in the program yet. It is
WSDA’s largest request this
year for new funding from
general taxes.
If state spending on the
program increased, WSDA
would still seek grants, Ray-
mond said. But more state
money would stabilize fund-
ing and give WSDA more
flexibility in helping farm-
ers, she said. For example,
the program has received
USDA grants to promote
specialty crops. That leaves
out livestock and dairy, she
said.
To help farmers, WSDA
holds training sessions, or-
ganizes farm tours and in-
troduces farmers to potential
customers, such as schools,
restaurants, colleges and hos-
pitals.
The program also publish-
es a handbook for small-scale
farmers on business strategies
and government regulations.
The bulk of the book is about
complying with food-han-
dling rules and licensing re-
quirements.
“All kinds of people
want to get into farming,”
Raymond
said.
“There
is a lot of information to
learn.”
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The Washington State De-
partment of Agriculture pro-
poses to roughly double state
spending on helping small
farms succeed, a program
that’s been popular with law-
makers but has received un-
even funding.
WSDA has submitted the
two-year, $500,000 fund-
ing request to the governor’s
budget office. If approved by
Gov. Jay Inslee and the 2017
Legislature, the expenditure
would fortify WSDA’s efforts
to help fledgling farms leap
through regulatory hoops to
reach their potential custom-
ers.
“We help farmers get ready
for the markets they already
know they want to get into,”
said Laura Raymond, head of
WSDA’s Regional Markets,
a combination of farm-to-
school and small farm mar-
keting programs.
“It is possible for a farm
to be successful by selling to
their local markets,” she said.
Lawmakers created the
small farm marketing pro-
gram in 2001 to promote “lo-
calized food production sys-
tems.”
The program’s goals in-
cluded providing consumers
with opportunities to support
local farmers and “understand
farm operations.”
The state farm-to-school
program was created in
2008 to feed schoolchil-
dren more fresh fruits and
vegetables.
The programs are based
on popular ideas: local food,
healthy kids, saving farmland
and helping new farmers.
“I don’t think you’ll find
opposition to those kind of
ideas,” WSDA policy assis-
tant Steve Fuller said. “These
programs really focus on help-
ing developing farmers get to
the next level of success.”
Faced with a budget hole
in 2013, however, lawmak-
ers eliminated funding. Some
funding, about $130,000 a
year, was restored in 2015.
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