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CapitalPress.com
January 20, 2017
Deregulation of Roundup
Ready bentgrass criticized
Final organic rule focuses on poultry
GMO escaped
2003 trials, took
root in Oregon
Capital Press
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
ONTARIO, Ore. — Envi-
ronmental groups blasted the
USDA’s Jan. 17 decision to
deregulate a genetically engi-
neered creeping bentgrass that
has taken root in two Oregon
counties.
In a joint news release, the
Center for Biological Diversi-
ty and Center for Food Safety
sharply criticized USDA’s de-
cision to deregulate the grass,
which was genetically modifi ed
to resist applications of glypho-
sate, the active ingredient in
Monsanto Corp.’s Roundup
weed killer.
Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. and
Monsanto developed the grass
for use mainly on golf courses.
Since it escaped fi eld trials
in 2003, it has taken root in
Malheur and Jefferson coun-
ties in Oregon, as well as part
of Canyon County in Idaho,
and Scotts has been tasked by
USDA with controlling it and
eradicating it where possible.
The CBS and CFS news re-
lease said that in approving de-
regulation, USDA relinquishes
any authority it had over the
grass, “leaving local landown-
ers and the state of Oregon to
wrestle with the problem.”
Lori Ann Burd, director of
CBD’s environmental health
program, said USDA “has left
us with no choice but to ex-
plore our legal options to return
the burden of controlling this
weedy grass back to the shoul-
ders of the corporate profi teers
who brought it into the world.”
A fi nal environmental im-
pact statement released by
USDA Dec. 7 recommended
deregulation of the genetically
engineered creeping bentgrass
because it “is unlikely to pose a
plant pest risk. ...”
Sid Abel, assistant deputy
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
A genetically engineered creep-
ing bentgrass plant is shown
Oct. 10 during an outreach
meeting in Ontario, Ore. On
Wednesday USDA’s Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service
deregulated the plant.
director of USDA’s Biotech-
nology Regulatory Services,
said deregulation does not af-
fect a 10-year memorandum
of understanding and memo-
randum of agreement USDA
reached with Scotts in Septem-
ber 2015.
The agreement requires the
company in 2017 and 2018 to
provide technical assistance to
affected farmers and irrigation
districts and provide incentives
for the adoption of best man-
agement practices to control
the grass. After that, the com-
pany will pull back a little but
still continue to analyze the
situation, educate growers and
provide technical assistance.
As part of the agreement,
Scotts and Monsanto agreed
not to commercialize or further
propagate the plant.
“The MOU and MOA re-
main in place,” Abel said. “De-
regulation does not affect those
agreements at all.”
Some farmers and water
managers in the affected coun-
ties worry that because the
bentgrass is resistant to gly-
phosate and diffi cult to kill, it
could clog irrigation ditches
and affect shipments of hay
and other crops to nations that
don’t accept traces of geneti-
cally modifi ed organisms.
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
A fi nal rule on organic live-
stock and poultry practices is-
sued by the USDA Agricultural
Marketing Service is intended
to bolster consumer confi dence
in the organic seal and level the
playing fi eld among producers,
the department said.
New provisions for outdoor
access and indoor and outdoor
space for poultry produc-
tion are the focus of the rule,
which was fi nalized Wednes-
day — two days before the
Obama administration hands
over the government to Don-
ald Trump.
“It ensures that everyone
competes on a level fi eld and
plays by the same rules,” Ela-
nor Starmer, administrator of
USDA AMS, said.
Outdoor space is already
required for organic poultry,
but that access varies widely in
practice, with some operations
providing large, open-air areas
and others providing minimal
outdoor space or using screened
and covered enclosures.
Provisions of the fi nal rule
seek to resolve the ambiguity
about outdoor access to clear
up consumer confusion about
organic production practices
and address the disparity in cost
of production between produc-
ers, AMS stated.
Farm-state lawmakers and
some farm groups remain op-
posed to the rules, which they
said could raise food prices and
force some farmers out of busi-
ness.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.,
chairman of the Agriculture
Committee, said he’d work
with the Trump administration
after he is inaugurated Friday
to try and reverse them. Trump
has yet to name an agriculture
secretary.
“With less than 48 hours
left in power, this administra-
tion has overstepped its bounds
with this damaging rule,” Rob-
erts said.
The rules won’t go into ef-
fect until 2018, and some of the
Courtesy of Agricultural Research Service
Broiler chickens mill around in a barn. New provisions for outdoor
access and indoor and outdoor space for poultry production are
the focus of a fi nal rule on organic livestock and poultry practices
issued by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.
changes aren’t required for sev-
eral years.
The changes will primarily
affect egg and broiler produc-
ers, which will incur costs to
provide additional indoor space
for broilers and outdoor space
for layers.
Broiler operations might
need to acquire more land and
build new housing to comply
with indoor stocking rates.
Egg producers might also need
more land and need to modify
facilities, as the fi nal rule does
not allow enclosed porches to
be considered outdoors or to
meet the requirement for out-
door access.
The rule also prohibits
forced molting, restricts the
use of artifi cial light, limits the
amount of ammonia in the air
indoors and requires perching
space for laying chickens in-
doors.
Broiler operations must
comply with the indoor space
requirements by March 2020,
and all poultry operations must
comply with the outdoor space
requirements by March 2022.
Assuming all current pro-
ducers remain in organic pro-
duction and it grows at a sta-
ble rate, AMS estimates the
annualized cost of compliance
over 15 years at $29 million to
$31 million industrywide. The
agency estimates annualized
benefi ts of $16 million to near-
ly $50 million.
The cost-benefi t analysis
used data from the 2014 Ag
Census, which showed 722 or-
ganic egg operations and 245
organic broiler operations.
In addition to the outdoor
access and spacing require-
ments for chickens, there are
other requirements in the fi nal
rule that apply to all organic an-
imal operations.
It requires that producers
provide animals with daily ac-
cess to the outdoors and that
outdoor areas include vegeta-
tion and/or soil. Additionally,
exit doors must be distributed
to ensure animals have ready
access to the outdoors.
It also lays out when pro-
ducers can confi ne animals in-
doors temporarily and codifi es
fl exibility for producers to con-
fi ne animals when their health,
safety or well-being could be
jeopardized.
It adds humane handling
requirements for transporting
livestock and poultry to sale or
slaughter and clarifi es humane
slaughter requirements.
It prohibits several kinds
of physical alteration, such as
de-beaking chickens or dock-
ing cows’ tails, but does allow
some alterations for health and
well-being.
Producers must comply
with all requirements, except
the outdoor access for layers
and indoor space for broilers,
by March 2018.
AMS also made changes to
the fi nal rule based on public
comment and input from other
federal agencies.
It removed the requirement
that animals be able to lie down
in full lateral recumbence,
which would have required ex-
pensive housing modifi cations
and could have had negative
consequences, particularly for
dairy cattle health. It also re-
moved size requirements for
doors on poultry operations for
outdoor access.
The agency clarifi ed the var-
ious requirements for soil and
vegetation in outdoor areas to
differentiate between the needs
and management of avian and
ruminant species and to protect
soil health and water quality.
And it deferred establishing
indoor and outdoor stocking
rates for turkeys and other avi-
an species to future rulemaking.
WSDA issues much-anticipated revised CAFO permit
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
H ANNU
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OLYMPIA — The Wash-
ington Department of Ecology
released new rules Wednesday
for storing and applying ma-
nure, capping a two-year pro-
cess that alarmed both produc-
ers and environmentalists.
The revised Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operation
permit — known by the acro-
nym CAFO — is expected to
cover about 200 mid-sized and
large dairies. Ecology exempt-
ed dairies with fewer than 200
cows, a nod to the cost of com-
plying with the new rules.
Only a few dairies currently
have a CAFO permit.
An Ecology offi cial said
the new permit “builds on” the
state Department of Agricul-
ture’s dairy nutrient manage-
ment program.
The permit will set new re-
quirements for when manure
can be spread on crops.
If soil tests show high ni-
trates, a farm must stop or limit
manure spreading or moni-
tor groundwater, according to
Ecology.
Manure lagoons will have
to be assessed to determine the
risk of groundwater pollution.
Ecology will offer two ver-
sions of the CAFO permit.
One version will be based
solely on state law and will
cover discharges to ground-
water. Environmental groups
opposed a state-only permit
because private groups will not
be able to sue farmers in federal
court.
The other version will cover
groundwater and surface water
discharges. The permit com-
bines federal and state laws.
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