10 CapitalPress.com
May 26, 2017
Washington
Grain
commission
OKs $6.33M
annual budget
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — The Wash-
ington Grain Commission in-
creased its budget nearly 20
percent for next year and added
money for falling number re-
search at its May 18 meeting.
The commission’s budget
for the 2017-2018 year, which
begins July 1, for $6.33 million,
up 19.9 percent from the 2016-
2017 budget, which was nearly
$5.3 million.
The commissioners also set
aside $500,000 for research
into falling number problems.
The starch quality problem is
estimated to have cost the Pa-
cific Northwest wheat industry
more than $30 million last year
in price reductions.
“We’ve taken a lot of the
messages from farmers — their
complaints, worries and con-
cerns on falling numbers and
we are determined to try to do
the best we can,” said chairman
Mike Miller. “We felt it was a
legitimate amount to begin ad-
dressing (the problem).”
The funding has not been
earmarked for a specific proj-
ect, said CEO Glen Squires.
The commission will send out
requests for proposals from re-
searchers.
The commission also en-
courages other states impacted
by falling number problems to
make a similar effort.
Priorities include devel-
oping a quick test for falling
number problems that grain
elevators would be able to use
on-site.
The budget is a year-long
discussion for commissioners,
Squires said.
“(Commissioners recog-
nized that) yeah, the income’s
coming down this year, but we
need to keep programs going
and keep addressing the issues,”
Squires said. “Something like
falling number, we need to help
solve that problem.”
Falling number problems
arose after the commission set
last year’s budget, Squires add-
ed.
Washington wheat prices
are down, but recently have
been increasing, Squires said.
Washington wheat prices in all
classes have averaged $4.60
per bushel, down 13.2 percent
from $5.30 per bushel last year.
Squires expects to collect
$5.3 million to $5.4 million
in assessments this year. That
money will fund the budget for
next year.
The commission assesses
three-fourths of 1 percent of net
receipts at the first point of sale
for wheat and 1 percent of net
receipts at the first point of sale
for barley.
The commission will take
$990,000 out of reserves. It
keeps $5 million in reserves in
case of a total crop failure.
Commissioners in previous
years had the foresight to save
money during good years as a
cushion for market downturns,
Miller said.
NAFTA talks could be good for ag, Inslee says
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington Gov. Jay Ins-
lee said Friday that renegotiat-
ing the North American Free
Trade Agreement could be a
“springboard” for exporting
more of the state’s farm prod-
ucts to Mexico.
Inslee spoke to reporters
after meeting with Mexican
President Enrique Pena Nieto
in Mexican City. The governor
said he brought up opening up
access to U.S. potatoes and
milk during what he called a
“long and engaging meeting.”
A revised NAFTA also
could increase opportunities to
sell Washington products such
as cheese and wine, he said.
“We think there’s a lot
more opportunity for selling
more ag products in Mexico,”
Inslee said. “These NAFTA
discussions may be a spring-
board to opening up doors to
new products.”
Inslee went to Mexico
City to join a state delegation
on the last day of a four-day
trade mission to Mexico. The
Don Jenkins/Capital Press File
Gov. Jay Inslee says Washington agriculture could benefit from re-
negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico
and Canada.
delegation included state De-
partment of Agriculture Di-
rector Derek Sandison and
Washington Dairy Products
Commission officials, as well
as representatives from other
industries.
Coincidentally, the dele-
gation was in Mexico when
the Trump administration for-
mally notified Congress that
it intended to renegotiate the
pact with Mexico and Cana-
da. The two-page notification
from U.S. Trade Representa-
tive Robert Lighthizer said the
23-year-old treaty needed to
be “modernized,” but did not
criticize the current agreement.
“That is a significant
change from the rhetoric we
heard during the campaign,”
said Inslee, a critic of the
Trump administration.
On Thursday, Inslee met
with Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau in Seattle. Ins-
lee said that Trudeau and Pena
Nieto agreed NAFTA could be
improved. “What I heard from
these two leaders was an open-
ness to reasonable dialogue
about this,” he said.
Mexico ranks as the sev-
enth-largest export market for
Washington farm goods, ac-
cording to WSDA. Last year,
Mexico bought $313 million
worth of food and other ag-
ricultural products from the
state.
While many farm groups
say they’re satisfied with
NAFTA, the National Potato
Council estimates that exports
to Mexico could roughly dou-
ble to $500 million annually if
Mexican importers had what
the council calls “full and un-
restricted access” to U.S. fresh
and processed potatoes.
The council complained in
a letter last month to the White
House that Mexico blocks
market access by “unscientific
and inconsistent application”
of food-safety standards.
Simply canceling NAFTA,
however, would have in-
creased tariffs on U.S. potatoes
from zero to 50 to 70 percent,
according to the potato coun-
cil.
The dairy industry wel-
comed reopening NAFTA.
Industry leaders accuse
Canada of blocking trade and
said that they wanted to defend
their market in Mexico.
Inslee said he was granted
a meeting with Pena Nieto be-
cause of his defense of undoc-
umented workers. Inslee said
he also found common cause
with the Mexican leader over
climate change.
“No matter what happens
in Washington, D.C., Mexico
will have a partner in the state
of Washington in fighting cli-
mate change,” he said.
Inslee’s proposals to tax
carbon emissions to discour-
age the use of fossil fuels and
increase government revenue
have failed to pass the Legisla-
ture. Inslee has ordered a car-
bon cap through an adminis-
trative order. Business groups,
including the Washington
Farm Bureau, have a lawsuit
pending in Thurston County
Superior Court to overturn the
cap.
Mexican trip reassures WSDA
director about trade ties
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Photos by Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Wayne Tippet, commissioner for the Port of Clarkston County, in hat and suspenders, displays a 1914
15-horsepower Fairbanks-Morse engine used for running threshers, grain mills, water pumps or “any
place they needed an engine,” during the Snake River Family Festival May 20 in Colfax, Wash.
Festival celebrates $20B impact
of river system on commerce
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
COLFAX, Wash. — The
Snake River Family Festival on
May 20 celebrated the billions
of dollars in economic contri-
butions the Columbia-Snake
River system makes to the Pa-
cific Northwest economy.
More than 400 people at-
tended the festival at Boyer
Park and Marina in Colfax,
Wash. It included free food,
children’s activities, live music,
an information tent, an interac-
tive salmon display, farm ma-
chinery and barge and tug boat
displays.
The entire system represents
$20 billion of commerce, said
Tom Kammerzell, commis-
sioner for the Port of Whitman
County and a Colfax rancher.
Nearly 10 percent of all U.S.
wheat exports move through
Snake River dams, and more
than 4.3 million tons of cargo
was barged on the Snake Riv-
er in 2014. It would have taken
167,000 semi-trucks or 43,000
rail cars to carry that amount.
Debbie Morrison, Lewis-Clark Terminal manager, helps Terra Von
Lindern, 4, play with grain near the terminal’s display about the
grains transported on the river system.
Rob Rich, vice president
of marine services for tug and
barge operator Shaver Trans-
portation Co., said the river
system impacts farmers, grain
elevators, fertilizer and seed
providers, ports, towboat oper-
ators, cruise vessels and elec-
tricity and irrigation users.
With the system, Rich said,
farmers have a bulk transpor-
tation system not affected by
weather.
Export elevators downriver
receive 40 percent of the wheat
by barge and 60 percent by rail.
About 80 percent of farmers
using the river system are sole-
ly dependent on it, Rich said.
“Where they are sending
their wheat, that particular el-
evator only has the (ability) to
receive by truck and ship by
barge,” he said.
A typical four-barge tow
moves the same amount of
cargo as 140 rail cars or 538
trucks.
Trucks are more expensive,
so farmers wouldn’t be as com-
petitive in the export market,
Rich said.
A weeklong trip to Mexico
eased worries about trade re-
lations with Washington’s sev-
enth-largest export market for
farm products, state Agricul-
ture Director Derek Sandison
said Monday.
The trade mission wasn’t
a direct response to President
Donald Trump’s criticism of
the North America Free Trade
Agreement, but that’s what ev-
erybody wanted to talk about,
Sandison said.
“The reason (to go) was to
reaffirm our commitment to
that partnership with Mexico,”
he said. “NAFTA has been very
good to Washington.
“It’s a concern, and we’re
doing what we can to keep rela-
tions on an even keel,” he said.
“But it’s less of a problem than
we perceived.”
Sandison was part of a
business delegation that also
included Washington Dairy
Products Commission Gener-
al Manager Scott Kinney and
Chairwoman Michelle Schliter,
a Lewis County dairy farmer.
While the delegation was
in Mexico, U.S. Trade Repre-
sentative Robert Lighthizer is-
sued a two-page letter notifying
congressional leaders that the
White House will re-negotiate
NAFTA. The letter stressed
that the trade pact with Mexico
and Canada needs to be updat-
ed and that the Trump adminis-
tration looked forward to con-
ferring with lawmakers.
The letter’s temperate lan-
guage contrasted with Trump’s
condemnations of NAFTA and
threats to withdraw from the
trading partnership.
“I think the positive lan-
guage that was used resonated
well with (Mexican officials),”
Sandison said. “It’s basically
an agreement that needs to be
modernized, and I think there is
a broad recognition that there is
a need to do that.”
Mexico bought $313 mil-
lion worth of Washington ag-
ricultural products last year,
according to the state Depart-
ment of Agriculture. Mexico
is the top foreign customer for
Washington apples and dairy
products, the state’s two most
valuable agricultural commod-
ities. Mexico is by far the top
export market for U.S. dairy,
with sales topping $1.2 billion
in 2016, according to the U.S.
Dairy Export Council. The
state’s share was $72 million,
according to WSDA.
Kinney said Monday that
he saw Tillamook cheese in
Mexico, as well as California
and Wisconsin cheeses. But
he said there is an opportunity
for Washington’s small chee-
semakers to fill a demand for
protein.
“We have the perfect prod-
uct for it,” he said.
Getting more Washington
cheese in Mexican stores will
take developing supply chains,
not revising NAFTA, Kinney
said. “NAFTA has definitely
been beneficial for Washington
farmers as a whole, and we’ll
keep our eye on that.”
The delegation also includ-
ed Washington Commerce Di-
rector Brian Bonlender. Gov.
Jay Inslee joined the delegation
Friday in Mexico City and met
with Mexican President En-
rique Pena Nieto. Inslee told
reporters that NAFTA negoti-
ations could help Washington
agriculture, particularly by re-
solving food-safety issues that
the National Potato Council
says keeps U.S. spuds from
having full access to the Mex-
ican market.
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