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March 17, 2017 Bill would enable California beef research, promotion panel By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — A bill in the Leg- islature would allow beef producers to set up their own state commission to deal with issues unique to California. The legislation by Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove, would enable ranchers to vote to create a California Beef Research, Promotion and Educa- tion Commission funded with checkoff dollars. Under the bill, a producers’ referen- dum would be held to raise the checkoff from $1 to $2 per head of cattle sold and enable ranchers to recoup the additional funds if they don’t want to participate, explains the California Cattlemen’s As- sociation, which requested the legisla- tion. The bill’s passage wouldn’t automati- cally trigger the increase. “We want to make sure that addition- al dollar remains solely in California for use … by California ranchers,” said Justin Oldfi eld, the CCA’s vice president of government affairs. “We have various commodity commissions in California. This accomplishes that objective.” Currently, of each checkoff dollar that’s collected, 50 cents goes to the Cal- ifornia Beef Council and 50 cents goes to the national checkoff administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, which is subject to scrutiny by the USDA, Old- fi eld said. The additional dollar, if approved in a referendum, would go toward the commission and not be subject to the USDA’s oversight, he said. The refund provision would enable the commission to be created with a simple majority vote by ranchers, he said. The new panel would be better equipped to respond to such develop- ments as when the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015 classi- fi ed red meat as a probable carcinogen, Oldfi eld said. As it was, the red meat industry responded by pointing to nu- merous studies that show no correlation between meat and cancer. “That’s something that the commis- sion would be able to fund efforts to re- spond to … very easily” without being limited by USDA rules, Oldfi eld said. The commission would also be able to tackle industry challenges that are specifi c to California, providing ranchers with “in- creased freedom and fl exibility to invest in research, promotion and education projects that directly benefi t California beef pro- ducers,” CCA president Dave Daley told members in a legislative newsletter. As commission members would also be on the Beef Council, the panel would be similar to the California Walnut Board and California Walnut Commission, which work concurrently. While the walnut board has various duties under a federal marketing order, the commission does international marketing and funds research. Water regulators rescind $1.5M fi ne WILLIAMS, Calif. (AP) — State wa- ter regulators rescinded a $1.5 million fi ne levied against one of California’s top tomato processing companies they said had been polluting groundwater af- ter the company uncovered documents contradicting offi cials. The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board imposed the fi ne last year against Morning Star Packing Co. for expanding two wastewater ponds from 60 to 100 acres without permission and improperly disposing of millions of gallons of waste. The company said Tuesday the de- cision to rescind the fi ne came after its lawyers received a report through a Pub- lic Records Act request that showed wa- ter board staff member summarizing a meeting in which Morning Star informed them of the pond expansions at the plant in Williams. After the water board rescinded the fi ne, Morning Star agreed to dismiss a lawsuit it fi led against the state last July in Colusa County Superior Court, the company said. In its February decision to rescind the fi ne, the state board said that the compa- ny’s lawsuit alerted it to documents that were not included during the administra- tive hearing when the fi ne was imposed. It said the documents showed discrepan- cies with statements made by the prose- cution team but didn’t give details. Water board offi cials didn’t immedi- ately return a message seeking comment. The board said last year that its staff discovered the expansion after receiving odor complaints from plant neighbor. An estimated 266 million gallons of wastewater were discharged from the ponds’ unauthorized expansion to groundwater, the board said. Morning Star Packing Co. is a leading supplier of tomato products with plants in Northern and Southern California. CapitalPress.com 17 U.S. trout sales increase 1 percent By CAROL RYAN DUMAS 60,000 U.S. sales of all sizes of trout were up 1 percent year over year to $105 million in 2016, with Idaho claiming 48 percent of those sales, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. The agency withholds a lot of details for specifi c states on the different size categories to avoid disclosing data for individual op- erations. But in Idaho, food-size trout is king, and those sales accounted for $50.022 million of the state’s $50.4 million in total sales. Nationwide, sales of food-size trout — 12 inches and longer — were up 1 percent to $97 million, with 61 percent sold to processors at an average price of $1.64 per pound nationwide. Idaho claimed about 52 percent of that value at an average price of $1.26 per pound. The state’s share of production of food-size trout, however, was 67 percent on a live weight basis — 39.7 million pounds of the 59.1 million pounds nationwide. Year $2 Fish sold (Millions of fish) Total value (Millions of dollars) Price per pound Capital Press $50 34 40 $1.26 1 $27 33 $0.77 20 Idaho trout sales (Food size, 12 inches or longer) Source: USDA NASS Carol Ryan Dumas and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press 0 2003 over year, Idaho’s food-size trout increased 2.4 percent in sales and 1 percent in production. The difference in price is a fac- tor of markets. For example, if a supplier is selling to a large nation- al chain, pricing can tend to be low- er, said Kurt Myers, vice president of sales and marketing for Clear 2010 2016 0 Springs Foods, the world’s largest producer of rainbow trout. The exciting thing is demand is strong for trout, and seafood in gen- eral, he said. Per-capita consumption of sea- food in the U.S. is up substantially, and seafood took the spotlight of all proteins in USDA’s latest dietary guidelines, he said. U.S. per-capita consumption of seafood in 2015 was 15.5 pounds, up nearly a pound from 14.6 pounds in 2014 and more than a pound above the recent low of 14.4 pounds in 2012, according to the National Fisheries Institute. “That’s encouraging,” Myers said. Rainbow trout is a small, niche market in the seafood category — not even in the top 10 of the sea- food products that account for 90 percent of consumption in the U.S. And it’s in the top pricing tier of fi n fi sh, with boneless fi lets selling for $7 to $8 a pound at retail, he said. But it’s well received by con- sumers, and demand is growing, he said. “There’s nothing we’ve seen that suggests otherwise,” he said. Rainbow trout has a great health story and is domestically produced — compared with the 85 percent of seafood imported into the U.S. It is a mild fi sh with a lot of versatility, he said. All of those things speak well to how it is perceived in the market and to subsequent demand, he said. Clif Bar grows its production capacity Company continues to build network of local organic growers within Idaho By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press TWIN FALLS, Idaho — The popularity of Clif Bars has has- tened the addition of a third pro- duction line at the company’s Twin Falls bakery, which began opera- tions last June. The additional production line to make energy and nutrition bars was in the plan from the start, but the company didn’t anticipate start- ing it as quickly as it did. Strong demand, however, pushed the launch ahead of sched- ule, said Dale Ducommun, general manager of the bakery. The bakery produces the origi- nal Clif Bar energy bar, Clif Kids ZBars and the company’s newest product, Clif Nut Butter Filled bars. “Business is good, demand is good. People are liking our organ- ic bars and can’t get enough,” Du- commun said. Energy bars in general are a hot item, but Clif Bar’s use of organ- ic ingredients is a big draw. The company aspires to use 100 percent organic ingredients and is current- ly able to source 74 percent of its ingredients organically. Some of its 19 brands and 150 products are 100 percent organic. “We will continue to strive to expand that,” said Dean Mayer, Clif Bar communications manager. In 2016, the company used 113 million pounds of organic ingre- dients and has used 750 million pounds since 2013. The company’s products would be 100 percent organic across the Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press Dale Ducommun, general manager of the Clif Bar bakery in Twin Falls, Idaho. The company’s expansion to a third production line brought 75 new full-time employees to the Clif Bar ranks, upping the Twin Falls count to 290. board if supplies were available, Ducommun said. The pressure is on for organ- ic products, but the availability of organic ingredients isn’t keeping up. That’s why Clif Bar is excited to be working with its first local grower in Idaho, Mayer said. The company uses a lot of fruits, nuts and rolled oats and not all of those fit with Idaho’s cli- mate, he said. Clif Bar is continuing to work with local organic growers to help figure out which organic crops will work in their rotations. So far oats are the best suited for lo- cal production that matches Cliff Bar’s needs, Ducommun said. The company is interested in evaluating seed cultivars for oats that will perform well in Idaho. It would be a multi-year project, but that’s what Cliff Bar does — partner with local growers to help them be more profitable in their operations, he said. The company held a confer- ence for local organic growers last year and is continuing efforts to support growers and expand a local supply network. “There are more local organic growers than I would have ex- pected,” Ducommun said. The company’s expansion of a third production line brought 75 new full-time employees to the Clif Bar ranks, upping the Twin Falls count to 290. The family- and employ- ee-owned company — based in Emeryville, Calif., with another bakery in Indianap- olis — employs a total of 1,090. It markets its products in the U.S., Canada and 14 other coun- tries, including Germany, Aus- tralia and the United Kingdom. Its bars can be found in grocery stores, natural food stores, sports special- ty retailers, mass and club stores, convenience stores, drugstores and online. Founded in 1992, the company celebrates 25 years in business this year and a 10-year compounded an- nual growth rate in revenues of 18 percent. Idaho allows users to exceed recharge water rights By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press BOISE — Idaho water man- agers say they’re allowing Snake River users to exceed the upper limits of their aquifer recharge wa- ter rights, seeking to maximize the benefi cial use of fl ood-control re- leases that would otherwise go to waste. Since March 10, the Bureau of Reclamation has been allowing 15,000 cubic feet per second of wa- ter to fl ow past American Falls Res- ervoir and Milner Dam, freeing res- ervoir space for forthcoming runoff from a strong mountain snowpack. Idaho law allows for no water to be released from Milner. The state has a water right to in- tentionally recharge up to 1,200 cu- bic feet per second from the Snake River to help address declining groundwater levels, paying fees to irrigation companies to open their systems and allow the water to seep in through unlined canals and grav- el spill basins. All of the other wa- ter rights now in priority — most of which are for private recharge — add up to about 3,300 cubic feet per second. “This year, there will be so much fl ood water, there will be water nobody has a solid claim to,” said Idaho Water Resource Board Chairman Roger Chase. “Where there’s extra water and everybody’s John O’Connell/Capital Press About 1,500 cubic feet per second of water is released below American Falls Dam on March 10, freeing space in the reservoir to capture runoff while avoiding fl ooding. The Idaho Department of Water Resources is allowing water users with recharge water rights to go over their water right limits to take advantage of fl ood-control releases. water right is met, we’ll dump out whatever we can dump.” Wes Hipke, recharge coordi- nator for the Idaho Department of Water Resources, said the state would ramp up to recharging 1,600 cubic feet per second during the week beginning March 12. “Within three weeks, I have the potential of being around 3,000 cu- bic feet per second,” Hipke said. “The more we can move off of the system that would otherwise fl ow out, the better off we are.” Hipke said entities including the City of Blackfoot at Jensen’s Grove, the Fremont-Madison Irri- gation District, Farmers’ Friends Irrigation Co., Enterprise Canal Co. and the Great Feeder Canal Co. and associated canals are al- ready conducting recharge in the upper valley. He’s optimistic up to nine more recharge contracts may soon be signed, though many canal companies must still remove snow from their systems and repair fl ood damage. He said the state may also need to tap additional resources beyond the $1.5 million it has budgeted for this season to pay canal companies to conduct recharge. In early Febru- ary, Hipke predicted the state would recharge up to 80,000 acre-feet of water this winter and spring. Based on the current outlook and the op- portunity to exceed the state’s re- charge right, Hipke now anticipates recharging up to 196,000 acre-feet. In the future, Idaho Ground Wa- ter Appropriators, Inc., Executive Director Lynn Tominaga would like to see the state allow canal op- erators to recharge without a right whenever fl ood-control releases are made, prior to the start of irriga- tion. Tominaga suggests fi nancial agreements involving recharged water could subsequently be made with either the state or with his or- ganization, for mitigation. In the meantime, Tominaga hopes to fi nd a canal company that will lease IGWA storage water and recharge it toward IGWA’s mitigation obli- gations, knowing the reservoirs are bound to refi ll. “It just seems like a waste to have 15,000 cubic feet per second running past Milner,” Tominaga said.
