Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2016)
8 CapitalPress.com December 30, 2016 Apple Commission still looks to Asia Ranchers seek exemption to electronic device livestock trucking rule change By DAN WHEAT By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Capital Press WENATCHEE, Wash. — A recent survey of Wash- ington apple shippers shows they still view Asia as the best target for export growth while realizing that maintaining the traditional top markets of Mex- ico and Canada are critical, says Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Com- mission. China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thai- land all offer opportunities for growth as Washington con- tinues to produce larger apple crops, Fryhover said the day after a Dec. 8 com- mission meeting in Yakima. The survey also showed shippers still Todd support the Fryhover commission’s strategic plan of targeting Asia, Fryhover said. Results of the survey were re- viewed at the meeting. “The biggest concern in the industry right now is that we’re growing more fruit and domes- tic per capita consumption is growing at a pound over the last 10 years so it doesn’t keep up,” Fryhover said. “Everyone agrees we have to develop ex- ports and at the same time in- crease domestic per capita con- sumption.” In 2012, Washington en- tered a new era of producing 120 million to 150 million, 40-pound boxes of fresh ap- ples annually. The driver is big companies converting older, low-density orchards into new higher-density plantings and increasing yields. In May, the commission de- cided to review its five-year-old export promotion strategic plan to stay competitive globally. The effort was to include a col- lective, anonymous sharing of production and export volumes of companies to examine sales trends. It also was to include a tree survey. However, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will do a tree and acreage sur- vey next year and the commis- sion will wait on that, Fryhover said. Shipper volumes are still being accumulated but shipper marketing priorities were col- lected, he said. They show China-Hong Kong, Mexico and India all ranking tops with shippers. For years, Mexico has been the top market at about 10 mil- lion boxes. It bought a record 16 million boxes in 2014. Canada typically buys about 6 million boxes. India was a 5 million-box market but fell in the last year because of port closures. China just opened to all varieties of U.S. apples in the spring of 2015 and while at the 1 million-box level is expected to grow significantly in coming years. Strength of the U.S. dol- lar reducing buying power of foreign currencies and closure of Russia to Western produce have made exports more chal- lenging. Given that, Honeycrisp and other high-value apples are not seen as volume ex- ports, but Red Delicious and Gala will remain the export focus, Fryhover said. Organic apple exports could increase to Canada and niche markets like Singapore, he said. The commission’s federal Market Access Program fund- ing has dropped 5.6 percent to $4.8 million for 2017, leav- ing a $282,000 shortfall to be made up by reserves or an in- crease in commission revenue from assessments on growers if more fruit is sold, Fryhover said. Growers are assessed 3.5 cents per box of apples sold. The commission contributes $1 million annually to the U.S. Apple Association and $610,000 to the Northwest Horticultural Council. While those organizations are im- portant, the commission may need to look for other options for funding them, Fryhover said. Cattle ranchers want an ex- emption to a livestock hauling rule change that they say will hinder their ability to transport animals long distances. The new rule requires the use of hours-of-service elec- tronic logging devices by driv- ers who are currently required only to prepare records of duty status. The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration’s Elec- tronic Logging Device rule goes into effect Dec. 18, 2017. The final rule does not change federal hours-of-ser- vice requirements, said Federal Motor Carriers Safety Admin- istration spokesman Duane DeBruyne. Drivers required to maintain federal records of duty status must convert from paper logs to electronic logging devices. Current rules place an 11- hour driving limit after a driver has been off-duty 10 hours and require 30-minute rest breaks every eight hours. A driver may not drive after 60-70 hours of consecutive duty in seven or eight days. The new electronic device rule removes “discretional wig- Online http://actag.us/ Courtesy of Tim O’Byrne/Working Ranch magazine The beef cattle industry wants an exemption to a new regulation that would require the use of elec- tronic devices to monitor the hours a truck driver hauls cattle. The change would hurt animal health, biosecurity and increase costs, a consultant says. gle room,” said Tim O’Byrne, beef cattle consultant in Hen- derson, Nev. “The device will log in whenever the truck starts, and that kicks off the hours of ser- vice clock, even if the driver just drives 20 minutes out of town to the sale barn to get in line early and climbs in the sleeper for a five-hour nap un- til the sale is over and he has a load ready for him,” O’Byrne said. “Our concern is that the (electronic device) does not recognize the discretionary ac- tions of the livestock driver as he performs his regular duty,” he said. Trucks would either need two drivers or a single driver would need to unload cattle during breaks, said Jess Peter- son, spokesman for the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association. “It’ll be a greater cost to get your cattle shipped,” Pe- terson said. “It makes dis- tance an issue.” “It doesn’t matter if you’re hauling a load of potato chips and you run into the end of your hours of service and you just park in the rest stop or Wal-Mart parking lot,” O’Byrne said. “With live- stock, it’s completely dif- ferent. They didn’t give any thought whatsoever to live animals.” The infrastructure doesn’t exist that allows truckers to stop and unload cattle af- ter reaching driving limits. Even if it did, O’Byrne said, it would increase biosecurity risks. “The whole idea is to get the cattle on the truck and get them expeditiously delivered to the final destination, all in one go,” he said. “If it takes 18 to 20 hours to do that, it’s far better for the cattle to have that happen.” The American Cattle Transporters Advisory Group and American Trucking Asso- ciation’s agricultural division will speak with the motor car- rier administration to express concerns and seek possible solutions. The oil industry has ex- emptions for off-the-clock waiting time that could be put to use for livestock, O’Byrne said. The change in presidential administration could also pro- vide an opportunity, Peterson said. “(President-elect Donald Trump) has an opportuni- ty to get this done right, and we look forward to working with him to do the right thing here,” Peterson said. Mechanization company interested in helping with robotic picker By DAN WHEAT Capital Press WENATCHEE, Wash. — One of the largest manufac- turers of labor-saving mobile agricultural machines in the Pacific Northwest says he may want to work with the develop- er of a robotic apple picker. “I’d like to talk to them about potentially teaming up with them, being part of it in- stead of competing,” said J.J. Dagorret, owner of Automated Ag Systems of Moses Lake. High-density plantings pro- ducing 80 to 90 bins per acre is a lot of fruit and bin movement is a challenge, Dagorret said. One of his 23-mph forward and reverse, air-suspension, $74,500 to $88,000 Bin Ban- dits can move 500 to 600 bins per day, what normally takes three to five tractors, he said. Dagorret was at the Wash- ington State Tree Fruit As- sociation annual meeting in Wenatchee, where Dan Steere, CEO of Abundant Robotics, Hayward, Calif., spoke about his goal of having a robotic ap- ple picker commercially avail- able by the fall of 2018. Automated Ag produces two models of Bin Bandits. It also produces the self-pro- pelled $60,000 Bandit Xpress platforms to replace ladders for workers picking apples and pruning, blossom thinning and tying tree limbs. Automated Ag has sold 500 to 600 machines worldwide since 2013, with 80 percent being the Bandit Xpress, Da- gorret said. He also produces a machine to assist solely with ground-level apple harvest, a hedger for automated pruning and a hand-held mechanical blossom thinner. “The key is simplicity and build quality. Everything is powder-coated,” he said. Bandit Xpress was chosen as one of the Top 10 innovative new machines at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., in 2014. Dagorret’s new Melon Wran- gler, which is used for har- vesting melons, pumpkins, to- matoes, cucumbers, egg plant, bell peppers and squash, is in the Top 10 for 2017. Automated Ag is mov- ing from a 35,000- to a 60,000-square-foot facility in Moses Lake. The larger fa- cility will allow a 24-person assembly crew to finish six machines per day, Dagorret said. Bandit Xpress has sold mostly in Washington, Ore- gon and California but also in New Zealand, Australia, South America and South Africa, he said. 53-1/#04N
