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8 CapitalPress.com March 3, 2017 USDA extends comment period for organic checkoff By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has ex- tended to April 19 the com- ment period on a proposed organic checkoff to “ensure that interested persons have sufficient time to review and comment on the proposal.” The proposal was pub- lished in the Federal Reg- ister Jan. 18 with a 60-day comment period to close on March 20. Developed by the Organ- ic Trade Association, the checkoff could provide more than $30 million annually, and 50 percent to 75 percent would be earmarked for re- search and related activities, such as technical assistance and dissemination of re- search findings. OTA says the checkoff would help the burgeoning organic industry meet de- mand by supporting more organic acreage and the suc- cess of organic producers. It would also help the industry educate consumers and increase market oppor- tunity. The No Organic Checkoff Coalition, however, oppos- es the checkoff, contending as little as 12.6 percent of checkoff funding could go to research under the propos- al and that promoting sales now would only increase imports and lower prices to U.S. organic farmers. In a press release on Fri- day, OTA urged USDA to avoid further delays once the extended comment period expires “in making this inno- vative program a reality that will help advance the grow- ing organic sector and have important and long-lasting benefits for organic farmers, businesses and consumers alike.” OTA noted the public support of nearly 1,400 or- ganic stakeholders and the proposal’s overwhelming support, 10 to 1, thus far in the comment period. Capital Press did not im- mediately hear back from the Coalition on Friday, but it earlier stated its petition against the checkoff has received nearly 1,900 sig- natures from organic stake- holders and support from 25 organic farming organization representing more than 6,000 farmers. For more information and to comment, visit www.reg- ulations.gov Labor shortage, wage laws among top Feds: Chinese fertilizer concerns for California produce growers dumping warrants countervailing duties By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SALINAS, Calif. — Issues related to labor are the top concerns for produce growers and handlers along Califor- nia’s Central Coast in 2017, according to a survey by the Grower-Shipper Association. The ongoing worker short- age and wage and employ- ment regulations were the top two issues for growers in the survey, which received responses from more than two-thirds of the trade organi- zation’s nearly 400 members. Specifi cally, producers are concerned with immigration reform, farmworker housing, labor costs, wage and hour compliance and legislation, according to a news release. Responses to the question- naires guide the GSA’s board in setting work priorities for the coming year. The GSA advocates for produce grow- ers and shippers in Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Santa Clara counties — the so-called salad bowl of the nation. “In California in particular, agriculture is at a competitive disadvantage because we are subject to lots of laws and regulations, more so than oth- er states,” said James Bogart, the Salinas-based GSA’s pres- ident and general counsel. “It makes it a challenge for farm- ers to operate.” Among other concerns for growers were water, food safety, crop protection and pesticide use, health care costs, workers’ compensa- tion, land use issues, theft and Tim Hearden/Capital Press James Bogart, president and general counsel of the Salinas, Calif.-based Grower-Shipper Association, stands outside the organization’s headquarters. Labor-related issues led grower concerns in a GSA survey of farms. The results were pub- lished last week. Tim Hearden/Capital Press Workers at Castroville, Calif.-based Ocean Mist Farms prepare fresh spinach for shipping on Feb. 21. Labor costs were among growers’ top concerns in a Grower-Shipper Association survey of farms. vandalism and the progress of research and technology, ac- cording to the survey. While the GSA meets with legislators and is “pretty plugged in on bills,” Bogart said, the group also special- izes in labor and employ- ment law. For example, when workers in various industries staged walkouts recently to protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, the GSA urged busi- ness owners not to retaliate because the walkouts are pro- tected under both the Agricul- tural Labor Relations Act and National Labor Relations Act. The survey comes as the Almond Alliance of Califor- nia and other farm groups are trying to make previously en- acted legislation a little more palatable to growers. For in- stance, the ag overtime law passed last year eliminated an exemption for overtime after 8 hours in a day for managers and family members, which exists in every other industry, and eliminated exemptions for ag irrigators and truck drivers. Under the legislation by Assemblywoman Lore- na Gonzalez, D-San Diego, farmworkers will be paid for overtime after eight hours in a day and 40 hours in a week rather than the 10-hour day and 60-hour week for agricul- ture that existed previously. The new rules will take effect in 2022 for most farms and 2025 for operations with 25 or fewer employees. A survey of Western Grow- ers members last fall found that many produce farmers will try to contain their labor costs by reducing California production, shifting to less labor-intensive crops and through mechanization. A lit- tle more than 80 percent of farms will reduce hours for farmworkers, who will lose 15 hours and $180 in income a week on average, according to that survey. “I think what got lost in that debate is, I wonder how many people ... knew at the time that California had the only daily overtime for farm- workers to begin with,” Bog- art said. Pesticide alert proposal stalls in Washington legislature Drift happens, but rarely, farmers say By DON JENKINS Capital Press OLYMPIA — Legislation to require farmers to alert neighbors at least two hours before spraying pesticides has died for this year, though it’s likely to resurface in the fu- ture. Farmworkers gathered in a conference room Monday on the Capitol Campus to talk about their issues, including the risk of being exposed to drifting pesticides. Ramon Torres, president of the farmworker union Famili- as Unidas por la Justica, said he hopes lawmakers some- day will require pre-spray notifi cations. “It’s something we should push for,” Torres said in an interview, speaking through a translator. House Bill 1564 was championed by Columbia Legal Services, a nonprofi t legal fi rm supported by char- ities and public legal aide pro- grams. The bill also would have required growers to submit monthly reports on pesticide use to the state Department of Health or risk being fi ned up to $7,500 per violation. The mass of information would help identify connections be- tween pesticide use and farm- worker illnesses, Columbia attorney Joe Morrison said. The measure received a hearing, but failed to meet a deadline to move from the House Health Care Commit- tee. No state agency asked for the bill. The commit- tee’s chairwoman, Rep. Ei- leen Cody, D-Seattle, said she wanted farm groups and worker representatives to agree on a policy. “We’re going to keep Ammonium sulfate from China has ‘materially injured’ U.S. manufacturers Ammonium sulfate imports from China Annual volume and value totals since 2013 ... Volume (U.S. tons) Value (U.S. dollars) By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Shipments of subsidized ammonium sulfate fertilizer from China have harmed U.S. manufacturers and will be subject to duties, according to federal trade regulators. The U.S. International Trade Commission has de- termined the U.S. industry is “materially injured” by the Chinese dumping of the fer- tilizer, which the U.S. Depart- ment of Commerce has found to be sold at “less than fair value.” As a result, ammonium sulfate from China will be subject to countervailing du- ties of more than 200 percent. Federal trade authorities began investigating imports of ammonium sulfate from China last year after a U.S. company, PCI Nitrogen, com- plained that the nation had in- creased shipments of the fer- tilizer to the U.S. by eightfold between 2013 and 2015. Chinese manufacturers controlled about 12 percent of the U.S. market for ammoni- um sulfate in 2015, up from 2 percent two years earlier, which drove down domestic prices by roughly 25 percent, PCI Nitrogen claimed. Ammonium sulfate is largely a byproduct of steel and nylon manufacturing, which are favored by the Chinese government with reduced taxes and tariffs, as well as preferential loan pro- grams. “Producers in China are expanding capacity to pro- duce ammonium sulfate well beyond any forecasted increase in global demand,” according to PCI Nitrogen’s petition. “Much of this new capacity will be targeted at $68.3 million $60.2 million $10.3 million 369,566 228,997 47,236 2013 2014 2015 ... and annual average unit value since 2013. $263 $218 $185 (Dollars per U.S. ton) 2013 2014 2015 Source: U.S. International Trade Commission Capital Press graphic export markets and the U.S. market, in particular.” The fertilizer is a niche nitrogren product in the U.S., where it’s used by farmers who also want to in- crease sulfur levels in their soil. Prices for ammonium sulfate had dropped in the U.S. despite rising demand for the fertilizer, likely due to the glut of Chinese prod- uct flowing into country, according to a preliminary finding by the U.S. ITC. China exported roughly $700 million worth of am- monium sulfate in 2015, with less than one-tenth getting shipped to the U.S., where the fertilizer is manufac- tured in 11 states, the agency found. House memorial seeks fairness on food safety standards By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press Don Jenkins/Capital Press Ramon Torres, president of farmworker union Familias Unidas por la Justica, speaks Feb. 27 on the Capitol Campus in Olympia at a farm labor forum. The workers say they need additional safeguards from pesticide drift. A bill that would have required farmers to alert adjacent property owners at least two hours before spraying appears to be dead for this legislative session. fi ghting until we get some- thing that protects workers,” Morrison said in an interview Monday. “We’re not fi ghting spraying. It’s just, tell your neighbor.” Farm lobbyists said com- plying with the bill would have been expensive and handicap farmers reacting to pests and diseases. They said pesticide drift incidents are rare, but an in- evitable product of changing winds and human error. To make drifts even rarer, lawmakers should give the state Department of Agri- culture more money to train workers, said Washington Potato and Onion Association lobbyist Jim Jesernig, a for- mer WSDA director. “These people are very good, very competent. How do I know? I ran the depart- ment of ag for nine years,” he said. In a recent report, Colum- bia Legal Services asserts that the number of pesticide drift incidents is increasing. The claim is based on state Department of Health fi gures. According to the department, the number of events in which humans were exposed to drift- ing pesticides from agricultur- al applications increased from 15 in 2012 to 24 in 2015. Figures for 2016 are not yet available. WSDA investigates drift incidents and fi nes agricul- tural applicators who expose people to pesticides. WSDA issued 11 such fi nes in 2015, fi ve in 2016 and two so far this year, according to depart- ment records. Morrison and Torres said many pesticide drift incidents go unreported, a position stat- ed in past health department reports. Jesernig estimated that more than 500,000 agricul- tural pesticide applications take place in Washington each year. Federal and state agen- cies tightly regulate how the chemicals are used, he said. “Any indication that there is not a regulatory system and quality people in place pro- tecting people is not true,” he said. Under HB 1564, adjacent landowners alerted to up- coming pesticide applications would have been obligated to warn anyone expected to come onto their property. The notifi cations would have had to list the pesticides and active ingredients, along with other information about the applicator and phone numbers to report pesticide exposure. Torres leads the union rep- resenting workers at Sakuma Brothers Farms, a berry farm in Skagit County. The union and farm are negotiating a contract for the upcoming season. BOISE — A Canyon County farmer has introduced a House Joint Memorial that asks Congress to ensure for- eign food products imported into the U.S. meets the same food safety standards that do- mestic farmers and food pro- cessors must meet. “I don’t think that is asking too much,” HJM1 author Sid Freeman told members of the Idaho House Agricultural Af- fairs Committee, which vot- ed unanimously to send the memorial to the House fl oor, where it is awaiting a vote. Foreign food product im- ports are required to meet the same standards on paper, but in reality no one is sure wheth- er those requirements are actu- ally being met, he said. “The criteria is there” to require foreign food imports to meet the same standards, he added. “But nobody can show where that is actually being done.” “Information on docu- ments is pretty easy to put together,” Freeman told Cap- ital Press later. “But it’s the in-fi eld inspections that we don’t know for a fact are be- ing done.” Freeman said U.S. farm- ers and food companies are required to pay for their own audits and USDA inspections to confi rm their products meet U.S. standards. The memorial asks that the cost of any audits or inspec- tions required to ensure that foreign food imports meet the same standards be “paid in full by the foreign companies themselves. ...” If it is passed by the state House and Senate and signed by the governor, the memorial will be sent to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. Members of Food Produc- ers of Idaho, which represents most of the state’s main agri- cultural groups, voted to op- pose the memorial. Elizabeth Criner, who rep- resents the Northwest Food Processors Association, said, “There were some inaccura- cies that raised some concerns and we’re working with pro- ponents of the memorial to try to get those corrected.” FPI President Wyatt Prescott, an Idaho Cattle As- sociation lobbyist, said his industry is concerned about language in the bill that ad- dresses the World Trade Orga- nization’s 2015 ruling against the U.S. Country of Origin La- beling law. Congress repealed the law after the WTO ruled it violated trade agreements with Canada and Mexico.
