January 27, 2017
CapitalPress.com
Lindsey recognized as Nut Grower of the Year
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
As a dentist, Bob Lindsey’s
professional training didn’t over-
lap much with hazelnut farming.
Nonetheless, in the 1970s,
Lindsey and his wife, Pat, bought a
hazelnut orchard near Salem, Ore.,
to teach their six children the value
of hard work and responsibility.
“It wasn’t that we knew any-
thing. We were total strangers,”
said Lindsey.
Roughly four decades later,
Lindsey has won the title of Nut
Grower of the Year, a prestigious
award he received Jan. 18 at the
Nut Growers Society’s 2017 meet-
ing in Corvallis, Ore.
Though he initially saw hazel-
nut farming as a way to keep his
four sons out of trouble, the crop
soon captured Lindsey’s imagina-
tion.
He eventually launched an op-
eration for cleaning and drying
hazelnuts as well as a “Hazelnut
Gnome Factory,” which sells sev-
eral types of hazelnuts to consum-
ers.
Though Lindsey could have
lived in comfort after retiring
from his dental practice, he con-
tinues to revel in producing ha-
zelnuts at the age of 90, said Phil
Walker, a fellow hazelnut grower
who presented the award.
“Every day, he lives and
breathes hazelnuts,” Walker said.
The son of an oil wildcatter
in Montana, Lindsey was drafted
into the Army and served in the
Korean War.
When his military duty was
finished, he studied dentistry and
eventually opened a practice in
Salem.
His involvement in various
civic activities, such as advocat-
ing for water fluoridation, led to
Lindsey’s election as Salem’s
Courtesy of Polly Owen
mayor, a role he filled from 1973 Hazelnut grower Phil Walker, left, presents the Nut
to 1977.
Grower of the Year award to Bob Lindsey.
Beware of intentional food adulteration, expert says
Front-line
workers offer
chance to prevent
contamination
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
For a decade, food defense
expert Rod Wheeler signed
into visitor log books at food
processing plants with a fake
name: Osama Bin Laden.
The notorious terrorist’s
signature never aroused any
interest, other than from one
receptionist who dutifully
asked what to write on his
name tag.
“Just call me ‘Bin’ for
short,” Wheeler replied.
The incident highlights an
unsettling fact about safety
procedures at many food pro-
cessing facilities — the sense
of security is often illusory,
he said during the Northwest
Food Processors Associa-
tion’s recent conference in
Portland, Ore.
“It only takes one inci-
dent. They use the element of
complacency,” said Wheeler,
CEO of the Global Food De-
fense Institute, which advises
food companies on security.
Large processing facilities
must already protect them-
selves from intentional adul-
teration under the Food Safe-
ty Modernization Act, which
requires them to develop vul-
nerability assessments and
mitigation strategies.
While farms aren’t cov-
ered by these rules, Wheeler
Rod Wheeler, CEO of the Global
Food Defense Initiative, recently
advised companies on food
security at the Northwest Food
Processors Association’s annual
conference in Portland, Ore.
Photos by Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Participants at the Northwest Food Processors Association’s recent conference in Portland, Ore.,
examine food processing equipment. Food companies were advised to guard against intentional
adulteration by terrorists or disgruntled employees.
said growers shouldn’t ig-
nore food defense concerns.
Consumers want more
food security oversight
so processors — through
third-party food safety audi-
tors — will scrutinize their
suppliers more closely, he
said.
“They’re going to have
to pay more attention if they
want to stay in business,”
Wheeler said of farmers.
Companies
conducting
their first vulnerability as-
sessment should hire an out-
side expert because it’s easy
to overlook shortcomings
that have grown as familiar
as “wallpaper in your kitch-
en,” he said.
For example, areas con-
taining finished product
that’s yet to be packaged are
particularly vulnerable.
“If they’re going to hit
you, that’s where they’re go-
ing to hit you,” he said.
Cameras are a common
feature of security systems,
but it should be remembered
they’re generally used to fig-
ure out what went wrong af-
ter the fact, Wheeler said.
Front-line workers, on the
other hand, offer the great-
est opportunity to prevent an
intentional adulteration inci-
dent, he said.
It’s critical to train these
employees to be aware of the
risks, he said.
In one case, Wheeler easily
slipped into a processing fa-
cility without drawing an ob-
jection from security guards,
only to be stopped by an el-
derly female worker.
Due to a lack of training,
though, she simply made
Wheeler put on a hairnet
rather than demand to know
what he was doing.
“I will take that little old
lady over the $200,000 cam-
era system you can buy,”
Wheeler said. “They’re our
greatest assets.”
Companies should brain-
storm various scenarios of
potential food contamination
and how they’d react, he
said. How should a threat be
assessed? In what situations
should production or ship-
ping be halted? Which law
enforcement agencies and
employees should be noti-
fied?
“You don’t want to wait
until it occurs to figure out
how to deal with it,” Wheeler
said.
Though it’s a common as-
sumption that outside terror-
ists would be likely culprits
in intentional food adultera-
tion, disgruntled employees
or political activists also pose
a hazard, he said.
Food companies are also
at risk from “subversives” —
workers who don’t personally
have a beef with their employ-
er but are paid by outsiders to
carry out nefarious activities,
Wheeler said.
“One of our biggest con-
cerns are insider threats,” he
said.
Shippers, truckers prepare for FSMA transportation rule
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho —
A local agricultural attorney
anticipates forthcoming fed-
eral food-safety transporta-
tion regulations will require a
cultural shift for many in the
trucking industry.
The final rule governing
Sanitary Transportation of
Human and Animal Food un-
der the Food Safety and Mod-
ernization Act takes effect
March 31, with some excep-
tions.
Lance Schuster, with
Beard St. Clair Gaffney, be-
lieves trucking companies
will face the greatest changes
under the rule, which places
the legal burden of “stopping
the train” once a potential
food-safety hazard is discov-
ered on everyone in the sup-
ply chain.
The rule applies to food
that is transported by truck
or rail in bulk, not food fully
enclosed by another container
or requiring temperature con-
trol. Transportation on farms
or from farms to fresh sheds
is excluded.
“I think the biggest chal-
lenge about this rule is hav-
ing individuals who haven’t
typically been subject to the
(federal Food and Drug Ad-
ministration) requirements
recognize they have responsi-
bility to take action under the
law,” Schuster said. “Truck-
ing companies typically don’t
think of themselves as having
responsibility to make certain
food is safe.”
On the shipping and re-
ceiving ends, businesses with
fewer than 500 workers and
earning less than $27.5 mil-
lion annually are granted until
April of 2018 to comply. Fur-
thermore, transportation op-
erations with average annual
revenues under $500,000 over
a three-year cycle — such as
individuals with their own
trucks — are exempt from the
rule.
Idaho Trucking Associa-
tion President and CEO Julie
Pipal said her organization
lobbied for all truckers to be
regulated, concerned smaller
operators who aren’t compli-
ant will risk losing contracts.
She said some of her com-
panies are implementing their
own transportation rule train-
ing programs. She believes
the rule should make carriers
more vigilant, but added most
trucking companies don’t
view themselves as a “weak
link” and are already expect-
ed to comply with customers’
safety practices.
Shippers must provide
written specifications to the
carrier for safe transportation
of the food. Carriers must
maintain documentation that
temperature
requirements
were met, trailers were pre-
cooled, sanitized and inspect-
ed and keep records of previ-
ous cargo to prevent allergens
or cross-contamination.
Lynn Fuhriman, vice
president of sales with Doug
Andrus Trucking, said his
company has been compli-
ant with the forthcoming
rules for six months, and he
believes most big transpor-
tation companies are well
positioned for the transition,
thanks to their transportation
management software. The
rules will require his com-
pany to offer and document
training programs for driv-
ers, he said.
17
Dairy
organization
petitions for
immigration
reform
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
The Idaho Dairymen’s As-
sociation is asking people to
sign a petition to bring con-
gressional attention to farm
labor shortages and the need
for immigration reform.
The organization is hoping
for at least 10,000 signatures
by Feb. 3.
“The purpose is obvious
(and) the new administration
made the need for immigra-
tion reform one of their plat-
form issues,” said Bob Naer-
ebout, IDA executive director.
Dairymen want to make
sure Idaho’s delegation un-
derstands the importance of
immigration reform, he said.
There is currently no visa
program to bring immigrant
labor to Idaho for year-round
employment, and the state’s
low unemployment rate is
keeping the available labor
pool extremely tight, he said.
The damaging effects of
labor shortages are being felt
in the dairy industry and else-
where in Idaho and inhibiting
economic growth, he said.
The lack of labor is ham-
pering investment in Ida-
ho’s businesses and slowing
growth in the state, resulting
in missed opportunities for
existing and new companies,
he said.
Idaho can’t continue to be
prosperous without immigra-
tion reform. Idaho is an agri-
cultural state and dependent
on foreign-born labor, he said.
The petition cites a “mas-
sive shortage of workers” for
dairy farms in Idaho, the criti-
cal need for a consistent, legal
workforce for efficient opera-
tion of dairies and the lack of
a farmworker visa program
for dairies.
It states: “We, the dairy
producers of Idaho and sup-
porters of the dairy industry
in our state, respectfully re-
quest that the members of
our congressional delegation
work with other members
of Congress and the new ad-
ministration to develop and
implement federal legislation
that includes an effective visa
program for dairy farmwork-
ers as soon as possible.”
Such a program would in-
clude legal status for the cur-
rent experienced workforce;
access to year-round workers;
and an effective program for
legal new workers when they
are needed in the future.
The petition began with a
dairy producer from the Trea-
sure Valley who is frustrated
with his lack of ability to find
labor. He asked IDA to assist
with getting signatures, Naer-
ebout said.
“We’re getting a pretty
strong response right now,
especially electronically,” he
said.
Online
The petition is available at: www.
idahodairymens.org
Citrus industry hopes HLB grants coax state into funding research
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — A cit-
rus group is hoping that the
USDA’s latest round of grants
totaling $13.1 million for
huanglongbing research will
spur the state into finally chip
in money toward the potential
crisis.
In one of the last acts of
President Barack Obama’s
administration, the USDA’s
National Institute of Food and
Agriculture announced four
grants — including $5.1 mil-
lion for the University of Cal-
ifornia-Riverside — aimed at
tackling the deadly citrus tree
disease.
The money is the latest in
specialty crop funding under
the 2014 Farm Bill and brings
the total to more than $57 mil-
lion issued through the Citrus
Disease Research and Exten-
sion Program since 2014.
The latest funding comes as
California Citrus Mutual is try-
ing again to get money includ-
Courtesy of USDA ARS
Courtesy Calif. Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program
Grace Radabaugh, a researcher from the California Department
of Food and Agriculture, points out an Asian citrus psyllid in a Cal-
ifornia Polytechnic University-Pomona greenhouse. The National
Institute of Food and Agriculture has announced $13.6 million in
research grants from the 2014 Farm Bill to target huanglongbing,
the deadly citrus tree disease that the psyllid can carry.
ed in the state budget for HLB
after failing the last two years.
“We’re always looking for
ways to show the Legislature
and (Gov. Jerry Brown’s) ad-
ministration that investing in
the citrus industry is something
California should be doing,”
said Alyssa Houtby, CCM’s di-
rector of public affairs.
Brown’s initial 2017-18
budget does include $6.15
million for a pest and disease
prevention program and an
emergency exotic pest response
unit. Some currently seasonal
An adult Asian citrus psyllid is
shown on a young citrus leaf.
Researchers in California are
targeting huanglongbing, the
deadly citrus tree disease,
which is also known as citrus
greening, that the tiny insect
can carry.
employees would be switched
to full-time to address the citrus
issue, state Food and Agricul-
ture Secretary Karen Ross said
earlier this month.
But that money isn’t dedi-
cated solely to huanglongbing
or the Asian citrus psyllid,
which can carry the disease,
Houtby said.
“The state of Florida has
put $8 million from their gen-
eral fund toward their ACP and
HLB program,” she said.
Since 2009, the USDA has
spent more than $400 million
to address huanglongbing, also
known as citrus greening, ac-
cording to a news release. First
detected in Florida in 2005,
huanglongbing has caused a 75
percent decline in that state’s
$9 billion citrus industry and
has led to full or partial psyllid
quarantines in 15 U.S. states
and territories, including Cali-
fornia.
The $5.1 million given to
UC-Riverside will be used for
bacteriacide research, Houtby
said. Others receiving grants
in the latest round are Clemson
University in South Carolina
(nearly $4.3 million), Iowa State
University (nearly $2.5 million)
and a USDA Agricultural Re-
search Service facility in Geor-
gia ($1.8 million).
California’s citrus industry
has devoted $15 million toward
HLB research and education
and had received $11 million
from the federal government be-
fore this grant, but two previous
attempts to get funding included
in the state budget failed.
While last year’s request for
$5 million was lined out of the
budget, industry officials hav-
en’t yet determined how much
to ask for this year, Houtby said.
In all, 32 trees in Southern Cali-
fornia have been found with the
disease, but none in agricultural
areas.
Houtby said industry leaders
may try to appeal to Brown’s
concerns about climate change.
“If we don’t have a citrus
industry here, that would be a
problem for air quality,” she
said. “Those are the types of
messages we want to share
with legislators. Climate
change is a priority for this
governor, so we need to insert
ourselves into that conversa-
tion.”