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.”
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