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10 CapitalPress.com June 30, 2017 Washington WSDA picks projects for USDA money By DON JENKINS Capital Press The Washington State De- partment of Agriculture has submitted 20 projects to the USDA to receive a total of $4.1 million in federal specialty crop grants. The USDA is expected to announce grant recipients in the fall. The USDA last year funded all projects selected by WSDA. The grants range from $75,000 to $250,000. Some of the money will be spent to promote sales of apples, aspar- agus, wine and other products. Some grants will fund research into such subjects as managing plant diseases and fertilizing with manure. Several grants will fund research at Washington State University. A large grant will go to The Center for Produce Safety and the University of California-Davis to work on a reusable anti-bacterial liner for plastic containers. Specialty crops include fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits and horticulture. The selected projects are: • $250,000 to the Washing- ton State Potato Commission: To support the “Washington Grown” television series and other videos that publicize Washington farms and crops. • $250,000 to The Center for Produce Safety and UC-Davis: Unsanitary plastic containers can contaminate produce. Re- searchers are developing liners that can be cleaned with bleach and reused. • $249,973 to WSU profes- sor Pius Ndegwa: To make pel- lets from manure that are free of pathogens and weeds and economical to transport. • $249,951 to WSU profes- sor Sindhuja Sankaran: To de- tect diseases in stored potatoes. Farmers lose 6 percent of their potatoes in storage. • $249,116 to Washington State Department of Agricul- ture: WSDA will work with the Washington Farm Bureau to help farmers sell cut flowers. • $248,700 to WSU profes- sor Richard Knowles: The De- partment of Horticulture will research cultivating potatoes with the right size and shape for french fries. • $240,775 to USDA-Agri- cultural Research Service, John Henning: To breed drought- Don Jenkins/Capital Press File and heat-tolerant hops. Climate predictions suggest that the Yakima Valley will get hotter, threatening hops and craft beers. • $230,155 to WSU profes- sor Achour Amiri: To research spaying fungicides to manage gray mold, a major disease for apples and pears. • $225,000 to Washington Wine Industry Foundation: To update an online guide for wine grape growers and pro- cessors. According to the grant summary, the updated guide will help producers “build and manage businesses that are economically viable, socially Washington State University berry breeder Pat Moore looks at sprouting plants at WSU’s research center in Puyallup in 2016. The Washington Department of Agriculture has submitted 20 projects, including Moore’s, to the USDA for funding. supportive and ecologically sound.” • $216,497 to the Wash- ington Hop Commission: The commission and USDA will research managing hop pow- dery mildew. According to the grant sum- mary, the disease has become a serious problem for Cascade hops, the most widely planted variety. • $200,000 to Viva Farms in the Skagit Valley: The farm helps new farmers and farm- workers go into business. • $177,808 to WSU re- search scientist Carol Miles: To research technology for ci- der apple orchards, and devel- op pruning and harvest plans for small, medium and large orchards. • $176,000 to Washington State Fruit Commission: To make videos and write articles in Spanish on topics such as food safety, worker safety and farm management. • $165,134 to Washington State Wine Commission: To develop a wine education pro- gram to promote sales to inter- national markets. • $153,090 to WSDA and WSU: To continue research into how fertilizing red rasp- berries with manure affects food safety. According to the grant sum- mary, red raspberry growers are not allowed to fertilize with manure. The soil is poorer, and farmers must replant more of- ten. • $120,000 to the Washing- ton Asparagus Commission: The commission proposes to hire a marketing firm to pro- mote April, May and June as fresh asparagus season in the Northwest. Washington asparagus farmers are increasing produc- tion after a two-decade decline. The goal will be for Wash- ington, Oregon and Idaho con- sumers to absorb 50 percent of the new production. The indus- try assumes the other half will go to the other 47 states and Canada. • $110,401 to WSU research scientist Pat Moore: To breed strawberries for the fresh fruit market. Washington strawber- ry growers primarily supply berries for processing, but that market has been declining. • $105,560 to the Organ- ic Seed Alliance: To market and cultivate purple sprouting broccoli and to release a new variety. Research will be con- ducted on farms in Clallam, Jefferson, King, Skagit and Snohomish counties. • $80,968 WSU research scientist Gary Chastagner: To research controlling post-har- vest botrytis disease in peony flowers. • $75,000 to the Washing- ton Apple Commission: To produce, film and translate into seven languages a video show- casing Washington applies. The video will target con- sumers in Mexico, Central America, India, the Middle East, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Indonesia. WAFLA sues to end attorney general’s probe WSU By DAN WHEAT Capital Press WATERVILLE, Wash. — WAFLA has filed a complaint in Douglas County Superior Court seeking an end to the state attorney general’s civil investigation of the organi- zation. WAFLA is also ask- ing for damages and attorney fees. Attorney General Bob Ferguson began investigating WAFLA, formerly the Wash- ington Farm Labor Associa- tion, in late 2015 for advice it publicly gave members re- garding an agriculture wage and practices survey con- ducted by the state Employ- ment Security Department. The department claimed WAFLA biased the 2015 survey by warning growers that choosing piece rate over hourly wage reporting could artificially inflate prevailing Dan Wheat/Capital Press Dan Fazio, director of WAFLA, Feb. 23, 2017. wages for the next season. WAFLA complied with a request for information from the attorney general, turning over more than 120,000 pag- es of documents. During the investigation, the Employ- ment Security Department conceded WAFLA’s advice was legally correct and al- tered its survey the next year to incorporate WAFLA’s sug- gestions. The AG issued a second request for documents last fall that Douglas County Superior Court Judge John Hotchkiss struck down as an invasion of privacy and un- constitutional. The AG did not appeal the ruling, refused several requests by WAFLA to close the investigation and in Feb- ruary issued a third Civil Investigative Demand for in- formation. “The state and the AG have no legitimate basis upon which to investigate WAFLA under RCW 19.86 (state law). Their conduct constitutes harassment. They should be enjoined from is- suing further CIDs and the WAFLA investigation should be terminated,” the June 22 court complaint states. “Farmers rely on WAFLA to vigorously monitor gov- ernment actions and point out problems when they arise. That is what we did and we commend (the Employment Security Department) for making the necessary chang- es to their annual survey,” said Dan Fazio, WAFLA di- rector. “It is time to end this politically motivated investi- gation and move on.” Brionna Aho, AG spokes- woman, said the AG had not been served with the com- plaint so she had no specific comment. She said in general the “AG’s Antitrust Division has a responsibility to protect consumers from anti-compet- itive conduct. We continue to uphold that responsibility and will go wherever the law takes us.” In January, Phil Talmadge, a Seattle attorney represent- ing WAFLA, told Capital Press the investigation “con- stitutes harassment” if it con- tinues without any sugges- tion of violation of law. Talmadge, a former state Supreme Court justice and former Democratic state senator, said Ferguson, also a Democrat, is “very politi- cal” and his investigation of WAFLA was a “fishing ex- pedition” spawned by labor unions and legal services who don’t like the H-2A visa foreign guestworker program “because they think someone is waiting out there for the opportunity to pick apples.” In reaction to those com- ments, Aho said in January, “We continue to believe it is appropriate for us to investi- gate WAFLA’s conduct and are evaluating the most ap- propriate avenues to move forward.” Stemilt Basin land deal on hold in ownership dispute By DAN WHEAT Capital Press WENATCHEE, Wash. — The sale of two sections of land between state agencies in the Stemilt Basin isn’t like- ly until fall. A dispute over ownership of Lilly Lake on Section 22 and lack of a new state bud- get have held up the sale of Sections 16 and 22 from the state Department of Natural Resources to the state Fish and Wildlife Department for $1.95 million, says James Brown, WDFW regional di- rector in Ephrata. In the meantime, the Mathison family is free to in- stall an irrigation pipeline and power line across Section 16 to develop a cherry orchard Dan Wheat/Capital Press File West Mathison, president of Stemilt Growers Inc., Wenatchee, Wash. on Section 17, which it owns. DNR granted an easement to the Mathisons’ company, Wheeler Ridge LLC, earlier this year, Brown said. The Mathison family also owns Stemilt Growers LLC in Wenatchee. Pipeline, powerline and road improvement work has not started yet but the fami- ly is working on a plan and talking with other stake- holders and may start plant- ing cherry trees next spring, said West Mathison, Stemilt Growers president. Neighbors and the Wenatchee Sportsmen’s As- sociation have long opposed further orchard development as detrimental to wildlife, including the 6,000-head Co- lockum elk herd that migrates through the area. The Mathisons have said they will ensure migratory pathways are maintained but have been criticized for wild- life mitigation efforts at their orchard on Section 10, which they lease from DNR. The area is high elevation and produces late-season cherries, which can bring high prices. Section 17 is at an eleva- tion of 4,200 feet, and it is questionable whether cher- ry trees can withstand harsh spring frosts there, Mathison has said. Test blocks of 10 to 20 acres will be planted and if they do well up to 250 acres will be planted, he has said. The Mathison family owns more than 1,000 acres of other cherry orchards on Stemilt Hill at roughly 1,600- feet of elevation and higher. Meanwhile, an agreement for DNR’s sale of Sections 16 and 22 to WDFW has expired since a state budget has not been approved, but the agen- cies have a verbal commit- ment to renew the agreement when a budget is passed, Brown said. A dispute over ownership of Lilly Lake doesn’t have to be resolved but must be doc- umented, he said. DNR and the Upper Stemilt Irrigation District both claim ownership to the 18-acre lake dating back to a 1902 court case. DNR may want more money for the lake, he said. extends search for dean Washington State Universi- ty administrators will continue the search for a new dean to lead its College of Agricul- tural, Human and Natural Re- source Sciences this fall. WSU provost and execu- tive vice president Dan Ber- nardo made the announcement this week. WSU began the search for a new CAHNRS dean last fall. In a message to stakehold- ers, Bernardo said he elected not to extend an offer to the single candidate who inter- viewed for the position. Fol- low-up efforts to identify addi- tional interviewees “have not proven fruitful,” Bernardo said in the message. The school will restart the search during the fall semester “with the goal of recruiting a larger, more experienced and diverse set of finalists.” Bernardo said in his mes- sage he hopes to retain the single interviewee as a “viable and interested candidate.” Current dean Ron Mittel- hammer will continue until a suitable replacement is iden- tified, Bernardo said. Mittel- hammer was appointed interim dean in June 2013 and dean for a two-year term in September 2014. “This search has been characterized by an extreme- ly unique set of circumstanc- es that have taken us to this point,” Bernardo said in his message. “I have spent a sig- nificant amount of time re- searching this situation and am comfortable and confident with this decision.” 26-3/#4x
