FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2017
VOLUME 90, NUMBER 18
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
PORT OF PORTLAND
TRUMP
Massive
ships
threaten
export
prospects
H IS F IRST
100 D AYS
Experts paint
sobering picture of
challenges facing
container terminal
Jan. 23 — Trump withdraws U.S. from
Trans-Pacific Partnership.
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
DAY 4
DAY 6
Jan. 25 — Trump signs executive order to
increase enforcement of immigration laws.
Feb. 17 — Senate
confirms Scott Pruitt
to lead Environmental
Protection Agency.
AP photo
President scores high on
regulations and Cabinet picks,
but trade, labor worries remain
Feb. 28 — Trump
rescinds Waters of
the United States rule.
Pruitt
March 1 — Senate
confirms Ryan Zinke to
head Interior Department.
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A
merican Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Du-
vall says he recognizes how President Donald Trump
works.
Trump evaluates problems, weighs solutions and
makes decisions, the Georgia farmer says.
“He’s already shown he can be fl exible,” Duvall said. “We do
that on the farm every day.”
After 100 days in offi ce — a milestone reached April 29 —
Trump receives mostly high marks from producers and farm leaders
interviewed for this story, partly because he’s kept campaign prom-
ises, but also because he’s signaled a willingness to adapt.
The favorable reviews, however, come with widely shared res-
ervations, particularly about how his tough talk on immigration and
trade will impact agriculture.
“It’s a little scary to not know what the future will bring,” said
Washington State Grain Commission member Dana Herron, whose
state exports up to 90 percent of its wheat crop.
Promises kept
On regulations, Trump, as promised, rescinded the new Waters
of the U.S. rule, widely despised by farm groups. He also signed a
congressional resolution to repeal the unpopular Bureau of Land
Management Planning 2.0 Rule and issued executive orders to re-
view farm regulations and the designation of national monuments.
On the makeup of his administration, farm groups praise Trump’s
picks for agriculture secretary, interior secretary and Environmental
Protection Agency administrator. The new EPA head, Scott Pruitt,
spoke recently to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
“He received two standing ovations from a roomful of cattle pro-
ducers,” NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Wood-
all said. “I’ve never seen that before.”
DAY 29
DAY 40
DAY 41
March 16 — Trump
proposes 31 percent
budget cut to EPA and
21 percent cut to USDA.
Zinke
March 27 — Trump signs resolution
repealing Bureau of Land Management
Planning 2.0 Rule.
March 31 — Trump orders report within
90 days on causes of trade deficits.
Xi Jinping and Donald Trump
DAY 56
DAY 67
DAY 71
Turn to TRUMP, Page 12
DAY 78
April 7 — Trump hosts Chinese President Xi
Jinping at Mar-a-Lago; hopes rise for U.S.
beef exporters.
April 24 — Senate
confirms Sonny Perdue
to direct USDA.
April 25 — Trump sets
up task force to promote
agriculture and rural
prosperity.
Perdue
April 26 — Trump orders review of national
monument designations.
DAY 95
DAY 96
DAY 97
DAY 98
Courtesy USDA
Flanked by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and FFA Central Region Vice
President Valerie Early of Minnesota, President Donald Trump holds up an
executive order creating a task force to promote agriculture and rural prosperity
April 25 at the White House.
April 27 — Trump tweets
that Mexican President
Enrique Pena Nieto and
Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau asked him
to renegotiate rather than
terminate NAFTA. “I agreed … subject to the
fact that if we do not reach a fair deal for all,
we will then terminate NAFTA. Relationships
are good — deal very possible.”
Source: Capital Press research
Don Jenkins and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Increasingly massive con-
tainer ships threaten the rele-
vance of the Port of Portland’s
container terminal, where
cranes aren’t large enough to
accommodate the behemoth
vessels, experts say.
“In many ways, this is
where the market is headed
and what we have to contend
with in Portland,” said Randy
Fischer, senior analyst at the
port. “It’s bigger ships com-
ing in and smaller ships get-
ting pulled out.”
Transportation offi cials
painted a sobering picture of
the problems facing container
shipping from the port during
an April 28 meeting with
Northwest importers and ex-
porters.
Container traffi c at the
port came to a halt in 2016
after several ocean carriers
stopped calling at the facili-
ty, claiming that slow loading
and unloading rendered the
market unprofi table.
Productivity problems at
the port were blamed on a la-
bor dispute between the long-
shoremen’s union and the ter-
minal operator, ICTSI, which
began leasing the facility in
2011.
The Port of Portland re-
gained control of the contain-
er terminal after ending its
contract with ICTSI earlier
this year, but carriers must
still be convinced to return.
“We have a bit of a black
eye in the market right now
and we need to fi gure out how
best to fi t into the market,”
said Fischer.
The International Long-
shore and Warehouse Union
is still involved in a legal
dispute with the port, though
it’s less intense than litigation
between the union and ICTSI,
said Keith Leavitt, the port’s
chief commercial offi cer.
As the port devises a plan
to lure ocean carriers back
to the Terminal 6 container
facility, it will also seek to
“reset” its relationship with
ILWU, he said.
“When we start making
our market pitch, they need to
be with us,” Leavitt said.
Financial turmoil in the ship-
ping industry has reduced the
number of major global ocean
carrier companies from 20 to 14
even as global freight capacity
has surged, Fischer said.
Turn to EXPORTS, Page 12
Two Oregon onion packing sheds moving to Idaho
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
CANYON COUNTY, Idaho —
Two major onion packing sheds are
moving from Oregon’s Malheur
County to Idaho.
Golden West Produce and
Owyhee Produce, both located in
Nyssa, Ore., have taken out build-
ing permits to construct packing
sheds and several storage facilities
across the Snake River in north-
western Canyon County, Idaho.
Golden West Produce is one of
the largest of the 29 packing sheds
in the Idaho-Oregon onion growing
region and Owyhee Produce ranks
in the top third.
Golden West had been planning to
move its onion packing operation to
Idaho in the next three to fi ve years
and Owyhee Produce had been seri-
ously considering moving to Idaho.
Turn to MOVE, Page 12
Owyhee Produce General Manager
Shay Myers stands in front of an
excavator removing onions and debris
damaged when one of the company’s
onion storage facilities collapsed this
winter under the weight of snow and
ice, March 3 in Nyssa, Ore. Owyhee
Produce and Golden West Produce,
both hit hard by the winter damage,
are moving their onion packing opera-
tions from Nyssa to Idaho.
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
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