May 5, 2017
CapitalPress.com
9
Washington
Taylor Farms buys slice of Crunch Pak
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Capital Press File
A wet spring has delayed
Washington state’s asparagus
harvest.
Wet spring
delays
Washington
asparagus
harvest
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
The Washington state
asparagus harvest, delayed
by unseasonally wet spring
weather, began 10 days later
than normal, said Gary Lars-
en, a Pasco, Wash., farmer
and chairman of the Washing-
ton Asparagus Commission.
“Harvest is looking really
good because we’ve had so
much rain,” Larsen said. “As
far as quality goes, it should
be outstanding. Now we just
have to get the sun to cooper-
ate ... so we get more aspara-
gus on the market.”
With the late start, Lars-
en expects yields to be down
from last year, although it’s
too early to forecast final
numbers.
Some 40 to 50 Washing-
ton farmers grow 4,500 acres
of asparagus, Larsen said.
Those acres are planted to
high-yielding hybrid variet-
ies.
“Our 4,000 acres is rough-
ly (equivalent to) 12,000 to
16,000 acres because of the
yields we get off those fields
now,” Larsen said.
The average yield is 5,000
to 6,000 pounds per acre. As-
paragus prices are about $58
per 28-pound box, according
to the commission.
Larsen doesn’t expect in-
sect pressures.
“I think it’s too cold for the
bugs to be out,” he said.
Harvest typically ends
June 10-15, depending on
field temperatures and when
the cherry harvest begins,
Larsen said.
The state minimum wage
increased to $11 per hour,
which affects growers, partic-
ularly during slower periods
before harvest really kicks
off, he said.
“We’re paying $1.50 more
per hour than what we were
paying last year,” he said.
Larsen hopes to sell more
Washington asparagus in-
state and in the region.
“We’ve got Seattle, Port-
land and Spokane — we’ve
got these big areas and it’s a
shame to see other people ship
into those areas when we’re
so close,” he said. “When
you’re at the grocery store,
everybody look at those rub-
ber bands. If it doesn’t say
‘Washington asparagus’ on it,
it’s somebody else’s.”
CASHMERE, Wash. —
A major California fresh
produce company, Taylor
Farms of Salinas, is becom-
ing a partner in Crunch Pak
of Cashmere, the national
leader in fresh, sliced-apple
snacks.
The two companies have
entered into agreements
aimed at Taylor Farms pur-
chasing “a significant mi-
nority stake” in Crunch Pak,
according to a news release
issued by both companies.
The deal gives Crunch
Pak regional distribution
to retail and food service
customers nationwide that
it needs for faster distribu-
tion to stay competitive and
gives Taylor Farms an entry
into fresh fruit slicing tech-
nology.
Dovex
Fruit
Co.,
Wenatchee, will retain ma-
jority ownership of Crunch
Pak and provide Taylor
Farms with direct access to
Dan Wheat/Capital Press File
Workers sort for defects in apple slices at Crunch Pak in Cashmere, Wash., in 2010. Crunch Pak is the
leading producer nationally of apple slices for the retail market. It supplies many grocery stores and
fast food restaurants.
organic and conventional
fruit, the news release states.
Crunch Pak sales, mar-
keting and management
teams will remain and Bruce
Taylor, Taylor Farms CEO,
will join Crunch Pak’s board
of directors.
“The fresh cut industry is
rapidly changing. Customers
are requiring deliveries sev-
en days a week. You have to
be national but with regional
delivery across the country,”
said Mauro Felizia, Crunch
Pak president. “We bring our
leading edge technology in
slicing the best quality fruit to
the table, but we need distri-
bution faster to market.”
Logistics, innovation and
collaboration are important
and Taylor Farms helps pro-
vide that, he said.
Taylor said his company’s
investment provides the tech-
nology it needs to move into
fresh fruit slicing.
“We look forward to
working closely with Crunch
Pak as we explore new ways
to deliver an unmatched
quality of fresh sliced fruit
products across a variety of
channels,” he said.
Founded in 2000, Crunch
Pak produces more than 1 bil-
lion apple slices annually at
plants in Cashmere and New
Jersey. Brands include Crunch
Pak with Disney and Crunch
Pak Organics.
Taylor Farms is a
third-generation convention-
al and organic operation in
the Salinas Valley, known as
America’s Salad Bowl. The
company is the world’s largest
producer of fresh-cut vegeta-
bles, supplying bagged salads
and freshly prepared meals to
many of the largest grocery
chains and restaurants in the
U.S.
Taylor Farms employs
10,000 people with regional
processing plants in Salinas,
Tracy and Gonzales, Calif.;
Yuma, Ariz.; Dallas, Tex-
as; Colorado Springs, Colo.;
Smyrna, Tenn.; Orlando, Fla.;
Annapolis Junction, Mass.;
Swedesboro, N.J.; Chicago,
Ill.; Kent, Wash.; and San Mi-
guel de Allende, Mexico.
Ecology holds coal company responsible for carbon in Asia
Farm Bureau
criticizes
requirement
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A U.S. company must de-
velop a plan to mitigate 100
percent of the net increase
in greenhouse gases that
would be released in Asia if
it shipped coal from Colum-
bia River docks in southwest
Washington, the Department
of Ecology said Friday.
Farm, labor and business
leaders accused Ecology of
stretching a law that authoriz-
es the agency to evaluate how
projects will affect the state’s
environment.
“Decisions like this just
send the wrong message about
our trade and export policies
and infrastructure, especial-
ly where one in four jobs is
linked to trade. It’s unaccept-
able,” Washington Farm Bu-
reau CEO John Stuhlmiller
said in a written statement.
Millennium Bulk Termi-
nals-Longview proposes to
export coal mined in Mon-
tana, Wyoming, Utah and
Colorado. The coal would
be transferred from trains to
Don Jenkins/Capital Press File
Opponents of a proposal to build a coal-export terminal along
the Columbia River in southwest Washington hold signs during
a hearing May 24, 2016, in Longview, Wash. The Washington
Department of Ecology says the project would contribute to global
warming and the company proposing it must develop a plan to
keep from adding to the world’s emissions of greenhouse gases.
ships at a large industrial site
was vacated by an aluminum
company.
Ecology and Cowlitz
County issued a long-awaited
final report on the terminal’s
anticipated environmental im-
pacts. The report will guide
10 government agencies re-
sponsible for issuing the more
than 20 permits the company
must obtain.
The report estimates the
project would add 1.99 mil-
lion metric tons of greenhouse
gases to the atmosphere each
year, mostly by inducing de-
mand for coal in Asia.
The company could offset
the increase by buying carbon
credits or making on-site re-
ductions in emissions, accord-
ing to Ecology.
“The measures must
achieve emission reductions
that are real, permanent, en-
forceable (and) verifiable,”
according to the report.
Ecology offered some
ways to reduce emissions:
Use electric vehicles for com-
pany cars, install charging
stations for electric cars and
encourage workers to carpool.
In response to efforts to
contact Millennium Bulk Ter-
minals President and CEO
Bill Chapman, the company
sent a press release.
“Today we are celebrat-
ing the completion of another
strong step forward,” Chap-
man said in a written state-
ment. “This independent state
study shows we can achieve
our goals to bring more fam-
ily-wage jobs to Longview
while meeting the high stan-
dards for environmental pro-
tection in Cowlitz County and
Washington state.”
It was left to other groups
to criticize Ecology’s de-
mands.
The Farm Bureau has been
a stronger backer of the proj-
ect, saying it will stimulate
rail and port improvements
that will benefit exporters of
farm products.
“It’s disheartening to
watch this unfold and know
that we could be doing so
much more to increase our
rail and export capacity.
We’re the most trade-de-
pendent state in the nation,
but our regulatory process
continues to create barriers,”
Stuhlmiller said.
Keep Washington Com-
petitive, a coalition of busi-
ness groups, charged Ecol-
ogy with overreaching by
going beyond the boundaries
of the State Environmental
Policy Act.
Ecology cited an assort-
ment of federal and state
clean air laws and executive
orders to justify requiring
Millennium to offset the
project’s net emissions.
The report also concluded
that particulate matter from
diesel-burning trains would
increase cancer risks in a
neighborhood along the rail
line. Eight loaded and eight
unloaded trains would leave
the terminal each day, ac-
cording to the report.
The Alliance for North-
west Jobs and Exports lashed
out at the finding.
Ecology’s assertion “is
seemingly an indictment
against rail service across the
state, which transports grain,
lumber, Boeing aircraft fuse-
lages, and the consumer prod-
ucts we rely on every day,”
Alliance spokeswoman Mar-
ianna Parks said.
Washington state onion packer accused of sex harassment
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
GEORGE, Wash. — An
onion-packing
company,
Horning Brothers LLC, and
its foreman have been sued by
the state attorney general for
alleged sexual harassment of
workers.
The civil action, filed in
U.S. District Court in Spo-
kane on April 25, accuses
foreman Hermilo Cruz of
making unwanted sexual ad-
vances and harassing female
employees since 2012 and the
company of allowing the con-
duct and reprimanding, firing
or not rehiring workers who
reported it.
Horning Brothers could
not be reached for comment.
The company typically em-
ployees 15 people.
Horning Brothers and Cruz
are accused of multiple viola-
tions of Title VII of the federal
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and
the Washington Law Against
Discrimination.
Company
policy
al-
lowed the conduct, and the
company and Cruz retal-
iated against employees
who reported it, the lawsuit
alleges.
“Low-wage agricultural
workers are part of a vulner-
able population with limited
resources. They deserve to
be heard,” Attorney General
Bob Ferguson said in a news
release.
“No woman should be
forced to accept sexual ha-
rassment as a condition of her
employment,” he said.
The AG’s investigation in-
volved interviews with sever-
al witnesses and alleged vic-
tims and began last year after
a referral from the Northwest
Justice Project.
Cruz is accused of perva-
sive sexual advances includ-
ing overt sexual gestures,
groping and requests for sex
as a condition of continued
employment.
The lawsuit seeks court
orders to halt the illegal prac-
tices, damages for alleged vic-
tims and costs and fees for the
state’s lawsuit.
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