February 3, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Snow damage to onion industry nears $100M
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
NYSSA, Ore. — As much
as $100 million in damages
were caused when dozens of
onion storage sheds and pack-
ing facilities collapsed under
the weight of deep snows that
have buried Idaho and Eastern
Oregon.
About 50 onion buildings
collapsed under the weight of
up to 40 inches of snow that
has fallen during the harshest
winter in memory.
“It’s an absolute catastro-
phe,” said Shay Myers, gen-
eral manager of Owyhee Pro-
duce in Nyssa. Three of the
company’s storage sheds and
the building housing one of its
packing lines collapsed.
Myers estimated the total
damage to the onion indus-
try in southwestern Idaho and
Malheur County, Ore., could
be near $100 million.
The region’s 300 onion
farmers and 30 shippers pro-
duce about 25 percent of the
nation’s big bulb storage on-
ions.
The damage is devastating.
In many cases, it looks like a
tornado tore through the build-
ings, said Partners Produce
co-owner Eddie Rodriguez.
Courtesy Photo
A demolition machine clears 500,000 pounds of onions that were
lost when a large storage facility in Nyssa, Ore., collapsed under
the weight of several feet of snow. The record-setting snow in
Idaho and Eastern Oregon has caused damage estimated at up to
$100 million.
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Hundreds of thousands of pounds of onions were lost when this onion storage shed in Nyssa, Ore.,
collapsed under the weight of several feet of snow. About 50 storage sheds and packing facilities have
been destroyed.
“They’re still going down
as we speak,” he said. “Now,
it’s just happening every-
where. The snow is heavy and
there’s too much of it.”
Partners has lost four
buildings, including its main
packing line in Payette, Ida-
ho, which will be out of
commission at least seven
months.
The lost production has
pushed the prices shippers
receive for their onions up
dramatically. For example,
the price for a 50-pound bag
of yellow jumbo onions was
around $3.50 before the col-
lapses but is nearly $10 now.
“There have been a lot of
sheds that haven’t been able
to pack onions. That’s why the
market’s gone up,” said Paul
Skeen, president of the Mal-
heur County Onion Growers
Association.
This region produces more
than 1 billion pounds of Span-
ish big bulb onions annually,
but the building collapses have
claimed a good chunk of last
year’s production. That’s be-
cause once the onions are ex-
posed to the cold and freeze,
they are no good.
Owyhee Produce alone lost
20 million pounds of onions
when its buildings collapsed.
Snake River Produce in
Nyssa lost the equivalent of 35,
40,000-pound truckloads of on-
ions when four of its buildings
collapsed.
“That’s peanuts compared
to what some have lost,” said
manager Kay Riley. “Every-
where you go ... there’s a build-
ing on the ground. It’s pretty
dramatic.”
Onion industry leaders have
contacted state and federal rep-
resentatives to ask for help in
finding assistance for the re-
gion. An estimated 150 farm-
and non-farm-related buildings
have been destroyed.
“I’ve personally seen at
least 40 collapsed buildings,
probably more,” said state Rep.
Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario. “It real-
ly looks like they were hit by a
bomb. It’s really shocking.”
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley, both D-Ore.,
have asked the federal govern-
ment to begin the process that
would result in a federal di-
saster declaration for Malheur
County and other Eastern Or-
egon counties impacted by the
severe winter.
Farm groups sue California over Tillamook pledges $1.5M
gray wolf’s endangered listing to new OSU dairy facility
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — Two
farm groups are suing the state
Fish and Game Commission
over its 2014 decision to list
the gray wolf as endangered in
California.
The Pacific Legal Founda-
tion filed the action Jan. 31 in
the San Diego Superior Court
on behalf of the California
Farm Bureau Federation and
California Cattlemen’s Associ-
ation.
The groups contend the
listing was based on flimsy ev-
idence, as it came after a single
wolf — OR-7 — wandered into
the state in 2011; that regulators
undercounted the wolf’s pop-
ulation by looking only at its
numbers in California; and that
it shouldn’t be covered under
California’s Endangered Spe-
cies Act because it is a non-na-
tive species.
The groups further argue the
listing, which took effect Jan. 1,
puts ranchers’ livestock at risk
by taking away what they con-
sider reasonable measures to
ward off wolf attacks.
“(T)here are better ways
than through the gray wolf’s
listing to protect the wolf while
preserving the livelihoods of
California ranchers,” PLF at-
torneys Damien Schiff and
Tony Francois wrote in the
complaint.
They noted that the CCA
and Farm Bureau have been
“active participants” in a state
Department of Fish and Wild-
life-established working group
to develop a wolf recovery plan
for California.
“But the wolf’s listing will
undercut any value such a plan
might otherwise have by sub-
stantially limiting the depart-
Courtesy of USFWS
OR-7 became the first known
gray wolf in California when
it arrived in 2011. It has since
returned to Oregon.
ment’s management discretion
and foreclosing various live-
stock production measures that
(ranchers) might otherwise pur-
sue,” the attorneys wrote.
California Secretary of State
Xavier Becerra’s office referred
inquiries to the Fish and Game
Commission, whose spokes-
woman, Jordan Traverso, did
not immediately respond to
messages from the Capital
Press seeking comment.
A legal challenge was wide-
ly anticipated after the commis-
sion’s 3-1 vote on June 4, 2014,
to list the species despite Fish
and Wildlife’s recommendation
that the wolf not be listed yet
because no packs had become
established in California.
The Center for Biological
Diversity and other environ-
mental groups requested the
petition in 2012 shortly after
the arrival of OR-7, the first
known gray wolf in California.
That wolf later returned to Or-
egon and mated and produced
pups, but another pack became
established in far Northern Cal-
ifornia.
“I think they’re really tilting
at windmills with this lawsuit,”
said Amaroq Weiss, the Center
for Biological Diversity’s West
Coast wolf organizer. “The
arguments they’re making ap-
pear to be pretty baseless.”
The PLF argues that nev-
er before had a listing been
initiated by a single animal’s
occasional wanderings into
the state, and that the com-
mission failed to consider that
the wolf’s overall status has
improved to the point that the
federal government has consid-
ered removing it from its own
“endangered” list.
On whether the gray wolf is
a native species under the law,
the foundation acknowledges
there is evidence that Great
Plains and Mexican wolves
once were present in Califor-
nia. But there is no evidence
the Northwestern wolf subspe-
cies, which includes the wolves
introduced into Idaho that
spread into Oregon and Wash-
ington, ever lived in California,
the attorneys assert.
Weiss countered that the
Department of Fish and Wild-
life had already been studying
wolves for about two years
before OR-7 appeared and that
the state was preparing for the
species’ eventual re-entry into
California.
She said that between OR-
7’s pack and the Shasta Pack,
there are at most about 10
wolves in California. And as
for the wolf’s origin, she point-
ed to research that shows at
least three different subspe-
cies of wolves lived in Cali-
fornia before the 1920s and
that she believes the state’s
endangered species law is
consistent with the federal
law, which only considers
species and not subspecies.
8th Annual
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
The Tillamook Coun-
ty Creamery Association has
pledged $1.5 million to help
build a new dairy science cen-
ter at Oregon State University.
The facility is part of a
planned food and beverage
center that will include wine
and beer making and other food
made through fermentation.
The dairy section will include
an automated, small-scale man-
ufacturing plant to produce
cheese, ice cream, cultured
products and powders. Oregon
State’s small dairy herd, housed
a quarter-mile away, will pro-
vide milk for the facility.
OSU already has a “beauti-
ful little pilot plant” to make ar-
tisan cheese but the new facility
will expand the opportunities
for students, said Lisbeth God-
dik, dairy processing Extension
specialist and a food science
professor.
“This is taking the training
to a new level,” Goddik said.
She said the dairy industry,
particularly on the West Coast,
is doing well. Exports to Mexi-
co, China, Japan and elsewhere
have fueled the industry’s rise,
she said. The industry’s strong
position has paid off in jobs
for program graduates. Goddik
said national dairy companies
now send recruiters to OSU.
“The industry realizes we
have some pretty good students
come out of here,” she said.
The dairy part of the food
building will cost about $6
million, of which $3 million is
projected to come from dona-
tions such as the one from Til-
lamook. The rest is proposed to
come from state bonds, pending
legislative approval this year.
Patrick Criteser, president of
Courtesy of OSU
Oregon State University food science students, left to right, Danton
Batty, Julia Cresto and Kyle Lackey muscle the heavy curds toward
one side of the vat to squeeze out the whey. OSU master cheese-
maker Robin Frojen, in the blue apron, supervises.
the Tillamook Creamery group,
said in a prepared statement
that the donation demonstrates
the co-op’s confidence in OSU
to train the next generation of
dairy scientists. The group is
a farmer-owned cooperative
that produces the familiar Til-
lamook brand cheese and oth-
er products.
5-1/#4x
By TIM HEARDEN
• Fertilizer and Irrigation Water Management • Crop Diseases •
• Falling Numbers • Soil Health • Precision Ag •
• Unmanned Aerial Systems • Drone Flight Demo •
SOIL HEALTH SYMPOSIUM
“SCRATCHING THE SURFACE”
Presented By
CROPPING SCHOOL
Payette SWCD, Malheur SWCD, Canyon CD, and Adams SWCD
Best Western Plus Caldwell Inn & Suites
908 Specht Avene, Caldwell, ID 83605
Four Rivers Cultural Center, 676 SW 5th Ave., Ontario, OR 97914
SYMPOSIUM
WORKSHOP
Thur., February 16, 2017
8:00am - 4:30pm
Fri., February 17, 2017
8:00am - 12:00pm
(Registration begins at 7:30am)
(Registration begins at 7:30am)
(Includes lunch)
$25 through February 10
$30 after February 10
NO RSVP required; Cost: $20 (cash or check please)
1.5 CCA - Soil & Water Management • 4.5 CCA - Crop Management
Morning coffee/doughnuts and lunch provided
Host: Olga Walsh, University of Idaho,
Parma Research and Extension Center, owalsh@uidaho.edu, 208-722-6701
8:30-9 a.m. Registration, coffee & doughnuts/welcome
Registration Fee
9-9:45 a.m.
(Lunch not included)
Efficient irrigation methods
$50 - Including Packet
9:45-10:30 a.m.
Crop disease update
10:30-10:40 a.m. Break
10:40-11:10 a.m.
Precision fertilizer management
11:10 a.m.-noon
Low falling numbers demo
noon-1 p.m. Lunch
Noel Garcia - VP & Certified Crop Advisor, Texas Plant & Soil Lab
Steve Leonard - Cowdance Range & Riparian Consulting, Idaho
Marlon Winger - NRCS Soil Health Specialist for WY, ID & MT
Kent Whittig - Allied Seed Cover Crop & Biofumigant Specialist
Local Producer Discussion Panels • CEU Credits Are Pending
www.payetteswcd.org | (208) 642-6129 Mon-Fri 10am to Noon
5-1/#17
Come Learn Soil Health Principles From:
1-1:45 p.m.
Soil health demo
1:45-2:30 p.m.
Unmanned aerial vehicles
2:30 p.m. Adjourn
ROP-4-2-4/#17
Registration Fee
Feb. 10, 2017 • 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.