April 7, 2017
CapitalPress.com
USDA sets specialty crop block grant amounts
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho, Cali-
fornia and Washington will
receive a little less funding
from USDA this year for their
specialty crop block grant
programs while Oregon will
receive a little more.
The annual program is
funded by USDA through the
Farm Bill. States use the mon-
ey to fund projects that im-
prove the competitiveness of
specialty crops, which include
fruits and vegetables, tree
nuts and fried fruits and horti-
culture and nursery crops.
The USDA will provide
$60 million in specialty crop
grant funding to states this
year, down from $62.5 mil-
lion in 2016.
The amount individual
states receive from USDA is
based on a formula that in-
cludes how much specialty
crop acreage that state has
as well as total farm cash re-
ceipts from that sector.
For 2017, a state’s farm
gate receipts are based on
calendar year 2015 totals and
farm cash receipts in many
states dropped significantly
that year.
Acreage is based on the
2012 Census of Agriculture
data.
Idaho will receive $1.76
million in 2017, down from
$1.9 million the previous two
years. Washington will re-
ceive $4.1 million, down from
$4.3 million last year, and
California will receive $19.2
million, down from $22.4
million last year.
Oregon will get $1.72 mil-
lion in 2017, up from $1.61
million last year.
Western states fare well
when it comes to the nation-
al rankings for specialty crop
grant funding.
California ranks an un-
challenged No. 1, Washington
is No. 2, Idaho ranks No. 6
and Oregon is No. 7.
Florida (No. 3, $3.8 mil-
lion), North Dakota (No. 4,
$2.5 million) and Michigan
(No. 5, $1.8 million) round
out the top seven.
Idaho State Department of
Agriculture officials hope to
receive more applications this
year seeking funding from the
department’s specialty crop
block grant program.
The ISDA last year re-
ceived 18 requests for fund-
ing from 14 different entities.
That was the fewest applica-
tions since 2011.
Program officials did
more outreach across the
state over the past year to
educate the state’s many
specialty crop industries
about the program, said Eric
Boyington, who manages
the ISDA program.
“We’re hoping to get a lot
more applications this year,”
Boyington said. “We want to
hopefully get different types
of organizations to apply that
haven’t in the past. We want-
ed to have applicants come
from other areas of the state
as well.”
The deadline to submit
applications in Idaho is April
14 and applications only
have to be postmarked be-
fore that date to be accepted.
For more information, con-
tact Boyington at (208)332-
8537 or eric.boyington@
isda.idaho.gov
Washington received 85
initial proposals before that
state’s first deadline, said
Washington State Department
of Agriculture Communica-
tions Director Hector Castro.
Of those, 50 applicants
were invited to submit com-
plete proposals for consider-
ation by an April 20 deadline.
The deadline to submit
grant proposals in Oregon and
California’s has passed.
Power utility argues Oregon
giant cane bills unnecessary
Courtesy of Rap Snacks
Rap Snacks potato chips fea-
ture rap artists on every bag.
Potato
chip brand
capitalizes on
rap music’s
popularity
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
Don’t tell James “Fly”
Lindsay that potatoes are a
humble vegetable.
For 21 years, the Atlan-
ta-based founder of Rap
Snacks potato chips has meld-
ed “the culture of hip hop with
the snack food industry.”
His unique brand of pota-
to chips features novel flavor
combinations typifying the
personalities of famous rap
music artists, who are featured
on the bags.
“Potatoes, I’ve been eating
them for so long,” Lindsay
said. “It’s one of the favor-
ite vegetables in our country,
and I think it truly helps the
acceptance of the product be-
cause everybody loves potato
chips.”
Though his brand has been
around for several years, he
said only recently have his
sales taken off, due largely to
the tendency of social media
oddities to go “viral.” Lindsay
said he’s updated his packag-
ing and his slate of artists, and
he’s emphasized internet mar-
keting.
Lindsay said his brand
has moved beyond the urban
“mom and pop” stores into the
suburbs, spanning from the
East Coast to the Southwest.
“We’re probably doing 20
truckloads a week of product,”
Lindsay said.
Soon, Lindsay plans to of-
fer codes on bags to access un-
released music by his artists.
Initially, a character Lindsay
invented named MC Potato
was featured on Rap Snacks
bags. Nowadays, his bags
show the likenesses of well-
known rap musicians.
His most recent flavor, New
York deli cheddar, features
the rapper Fabolous. Lindsay
explained cheddar is fitting
because Fabolous “loves his
money.” Honey jalapeno Rap
Snacks recognize both the
spicy and sweeter sides of rap-
per Fetty Wap. The most pop-
ular flavor — sour cream with
a dab of ranch — celebrates a
hip hop dance move known as
dabbing and features the enter-
tainer Migos.
Lindsay said he plans to
soon expand into marketing
cheese curls and mango-ched-
dar popcorn. But Idaho Pota-
to Commission President and
CEO Frank Muir is glad Lind-
say started with potato chips.
“To me, trying to get po-
tatoes, particularly Idaho po-
tatoes, into the current with
different lifestyles is good,”
Muir said. “Anything that por-
trays potatoes in a cool light is
a good thing.”
Portland
General Electric
is suspending
experiments with
weedy crop
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Utility com-
panies that grow a potential-
ly invasive biomass energy
crop would be on the hook
for its eradication costs un-
der a bill proposed in Ore-
gon.
Due to worries about the
weediness of Arundo donax,
or giant cane, Senate Bill
789 would require public
utilities to post a surety bond
of at least $1 million to cov-
er removal efforts.
However, the only com-
pany currently affected
by the proposal, Portland
General Electric, argues
the measure is unnecessary
because it’s soon abandon-
ing experiments with the
crop.
PGE has been evaluating
giant cane as an alternative
feedstock for its power plant
near Boardman, Ore., which
must stop burning coal in
2020.
The Native Plant Soci-
ety of Oregon wants state
lawmakers to pass SB 789
because giant cane poses
an “existential threat to all
streamside habitats” along
the Columbia river, said Bil-
ly Don Robinson, legislative
committee chairman for the
group.
“It simply crowds out
every other plant in these
streamside habitats,” he said
during a March 29 legisla-
tive hearing.
Under another proposal
the group supports, Senate
Bill 790, Oregon State Uni-
versity would be required to
conduct a study of the risks
associated with giant cane
and potential safeguards for
producing it.
Unlike previous research
on the plant, the OSU study
would examine the hazards
associated with genetically
enhanced varieties, said Judi
Courtesy of Frank Callahan, Native Plant Society
Giant cane grows near the Talent area of Oregon in this 2012 photo. A bill before the Oregon legisla-
ture would require a surety bond for anyone who grows the plant.
Sanders, past president of
the Native Plant Society of
Oregon.
In California, eradication
costs for the weed range
from $4,700 to $64,000 per
acre, which shouldn’t be
borne by taxpayers if cul-
tivated giant cane escapes
fields in Oregon, she said.
“If there’s no mess, it’s
not much of an issue,” she
said.
Giant cane is already
making its way north from
California, but PGE’s exper-
iments near Boardman have
introduced a new point of
risk, said Robinson.
There are also 48 patents
pending that would make
the crop more cold-hardy,
drought-tolerant and salt-tol-
erant, he said. “It scares me.”
Right now, though, PGE
is winding down its culti-
vation of giant cane, said
Brendan McCarthy, the com-
pany’s state environmental
policy manager.
The company grew near-
ly 100 acres of the crop at
one point but is now down
to about 30 acres, with the
remaining plants to be eradi-
cated after the 2017 growing
season, he said.
Giant cane and other
forms of biomass proved
more than twice as expen-
sive as needed to operate the
power plant profitably, Mc-
Carthy said. “It really came
down to cost.”
With less than four years
before the company would
have to convert the facili-
ty to biomass, PGE doesn’t
have enough time to estab-
lish a biomass supply chain,
McCarthy said.
PGE considered using
beetle-damaged wood from
national forests, but that
wouldn’t be a sustainable
feedstock, he said.
Juniper removed from
Oregon’s rangelands is too
dispersed to economically
collect and transport, while
other dedicated biomass
crops have risks similar to
giant cane, McCarthy said.
“Things that grow really
well may very well be inva-
sive,” he said.
While PGE is suspending
its biomass research, rep-
resentatives of the Native
Plant Society of Oregon said
they want SB 789 amended
to impose the surety bond re-
quirement on other potential
giant cane growers, not just
public utilities.
Aside from biomass,
companies may want to pro-
duce the crop for building
products, paper fiber and
livestock feed, said Robin-
son.
17
Limagrain
barley
exported
from PNW to
South Africa
Company sends 12
tons of LCS Genie
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
South African farmers will
soon start growing and using
barley from Idaho for malt-
ing.
Limagrain Cereal Seeds
sent 12 tons of LCS Genie —
11 tons of commercial-grade
seed and 1 ton of breeder seed
— to be used to develop stock
for future years, said Frank
Curtis, chief operating officer.
SAB Miller in South Af-
rica heard about the vari-
ety through U.S. contacts,
received
samples
from
Limagrain’s European own-
ers and requested seed.
Limagrain Europe owns
the variety. Limagrain Cereal
Seeds has a license to market
it in the U.S. and Canada.
Licensing will be through
the Limagrain Europe office,
Curtis said.
LCS Genie fits SAB Mill-
er’s quality requirements.
“It’s intermediate between
the typical eastern Euro-
pean pilsner types and the
stronger-enzyme American
adjunct types,” he said. “It
falls roughly in the middle
and gives the maltster a lot of
flexibility with different types
of malt he can make. That’s
very attractive to the craft
brewing market.”
SAB Miller is the largest
brewery in South Africa, Cur-
tis said.
Curtis said a situation
where a foreign country is
interested in a U.S. variety
occurs every five to 10 years.
In the past, Limagrain Cereal
Seeds has sent varieties to In-
dia, Australia and South Afri-
ca, he said.
Importing seed to South
Africa required permitting,
certification that the shipment
was free of disease and nox-
ious weeds and clear cargo
marking for customs.
Most countries only allow
import on sterile pallets or
plastic-disposable pallets to
avoid insects, Curtis said.
The interest provides an
additional market for LCS
Genie, he said.
In
partnership
with
Limagrain, Kevin Whittak-
er, seed manager for CHS
Primeland in Lewiston, Ida-
ho, brought the variety from
Europe to the U.S. in 2014.
He also provided the bar-
ley for shipment to South Af-
rica.
Small brewers like the
malt made with LCS Genie,
Whittaker said.
“This barley’s high-yield-
ing, it’s passed all the malt
tests here in the U.S.,” he
said. “It yields up with the
feed barleys and sometimes
better.”
Whittaker sees additional
room for growth for the vari-
ety in the PNW.
LCS Genie is grown in
Oregon, Washington, Idaho,
Colorado and Montana. It’s
being tested in several other
states.
$5.6M for Oregon farm-to-school funding passes key committee
Lawmakers also
consider increasing
tax credit for crop
donations
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — A bill direct-
ing $5.6 million to Oregon’s
farm-to-school food program
has won unanimous approval
from the House Committee
on Agriculture and Natural
Resources.
Now, House Bill 2038
must compete against oth-
er spending bills in the Joint
Committee on Ways and
Means, which is prioritizing
requests for funding in the
next biennium amid a project-
ed state budget deficit of $1.6
billion.
The bill would provide
Oregon Rep. Brian Clem,
D-Salem.
nearly $4.6 million for grants
to help school districts buy
foods grown and processed
in Oregon and more than
$900,000 for food-, garden-
and agriculture-based educa-
tion.
The committee’s chairman,
Brian Clem, D-Salem, noted
that existing farm-to-school
funding would be eliminated
under the 2017-2019 budget
recommended by Gov. Kate
Brown and halved under the
proposal by the co-chairs of
the Joint Committee on Ways
and Means.
Lawmakers have been ad-
vised to be selective in their
requests for funding to the
Ways and Means Committee,
given budget constraints, he
said.
If farm-to-school funding
is significantly reduced from
the amount requested in HB
2039, Clem recommended
that the program revert to a
competitive grant system.
Currently, all school dis-
tricts receive non-competitive
grants to buy Oregon food
products, but this approach
wouldn’t provide enough in-
centive if each received only
a small amount of money, he
said.
“No one school district will
find that worth doing,” he said.
The history of Oregon’s
farm-to-school program goes
back a decade, when lawmak-
ers created the position of a
farm-to-school coordinator in
2007.
A competitive grant pilot
program armed with $200,000
was created in 2011, with
funding expanded to $1.2
million in 2013. During the
2015 legislative session, an-
other $3.3 million was added
to the program and grants for
food purchases were made
non-competitive.
Aside from voting to ap-
prove HB 2038 during its
April 4 meeting, the House
Agriculture Committee also
considered another bill that
would increase tax credits for
farmers who donate crops to
food banks and similar insti-
tutions.
Under House Bill 3041, the
tax credit would increase from
15 percent to 25 percent of the
value of crops donated.
Jenny Dresler, state public
policy director for the Oregon
Farm Bureau, said the organi-
zation understands Oregon’s
tight budget situation.
If resources are available,
though, lawmakers should
support the bill because it
would help farmers overcome
financial barriers to donating
crops, Dresler said.
Tax Fairness Oregon, a
group that opposes tax breaks
to preserve state revenues,
doesn’t believe the tax credit
increase is justified, said Jody
Wiser, its founder.
“Why are we doing it? We
don’t have any statistical anal-
ysis to show the need is there,”
she said.
Restaurants and grocery
stores also donate food, but
must content themselves with
a deduction to their taxable in-
come, rather than a tax credit,
Wiser said.
“It’s hard to explain why
farmers should be treated so
differently than other food do-
nators,” she said.