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Newspaper Page TextJuly 14, 2017 CapitalPress.com 7 Washington State AG targets chemical ‘incredibly important’ to farmers 5 states, D.C. challenge EPA By DON JENKINS Capital Press Washington Attorney Gen- eral Bob Ferguson has joined the ﬁ ght to ban the country’s most widely used insecticide, a chemical the USDA said has successfully warded off unpredictable pests for more than 50 years and is “incred- ibly important to U.S. agricul- ture.” Ferguson, a Democrat, and attorneys general from four other states on the East Coast and the District of Columbia moved July 5 to participate in a lawsuit aimed at prohibiting chlorpyrifos. “Washington consumers, farmworkers and farm oper- ators deserve an administra- tion that respects science and cares about the risks to their health,” Ferguson said in a written statement. The Environmental Pro- tection Agency in March rejected a petition filed in 2007 by the Pesticide Action Network of North America and Natural Resources De- fense Council to declare any residue of chlorpyrifos on food unsafe, effectively out- lawing its use on commer- cial crops. The EPA was reacting to a deadline set by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on the petition by March 31. The EPA said that despite several years of study, the science was unresolved. Con- gress has directed the EPA to complete a review of chlorpy- rifos by 2020. Environ- mental and labor groups, represented by Seattle-based Earthjustice lawyers, have Bob asked the 9th Ferguson Circuit to over- rule the EPA. The EPA said it was review- ing the suit. Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont and D.C. ﬁ led to intervene in the suit as the guardians of “millions of citizens who are potentially exposed to unsafe” levels of chlorpyrifos on food or while working on farms. Ferguson accused the Trump administration of “ig- noring science.” “President Trump’s EPA is willfully ignoring scientif- ic evidence that chlorpyrifos is harmful to human health,” Ferguson said. Washington Friends of Farms and Forests director Heather Hansen said Friday that the lawsuit seeks to pre- empt the EPA’s scientiﬁ c re- view. “We’re concerned about this new lawsuit. We think it misses the big scientiﬁ c pic- ture,” she said. “We agree with the attorney general about the importance of pro- tecting Washington citizens, but we think these allegations are the wrong way to go.” Measured by pounds of ac- tive ingredient, chlorpyrifos is the most widely used insecti- cide in the country, according to the EPA. Banning chlorpyrifos could affect many of Wash- ington’s most valuable crops, including apples, grapes and wheat, according to com- ments the state Department of Agriculture submitted to the EPA. WSDA said it consulted with Washington State Uni- versity and that crops most at risk would include sweet corn, onions and mint. WSDA asked the EPA to allow chlorpyrifos to continue to be used on those crops. Ferguson’s ofﬁ ce linked his intervention in this case to other actions he’s taken against Trump policies, in- cluding a travel ban on resi- dents of some Muslim-major- ity countries, emissions from new oil and gas facilities, and energy efﬁ ciency rules for ceiling fans. The 9th Circuit Court or- dered the Obama adminis- tration in 2015 to rule on the petition to ban chlorpyrifos. The Obama administration’s EPA subsequently concluded it couldn’t determine whether all existing uses of chlorpyri- fos were safe and proposed a ban. At the time, the Obama administration’s USDA com- plained that the EPA had over- estimated the public’s expo- sure to chlorpyrifos and drew a “mistaken conclusion” that the insecticide was not safe. The USDA stressed the insecticide’s importance and success since it was intro- duced in 1965 by the Dow Chemical Co. The court pushed the EPA to make a ﬁ nal decision be- fore the end of 2016, but the Obama administration won a three-month delay, leav- ing the ﬁ nal decision to the Trump administration. E. Washington family honored for 60 years of test plots By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Oregon State University Farmers should scout their ﬁ elds for the wheat head armyworm larva, which can reduce wheat yields, researchers say. Farmers warned to look for wheat head armyworm By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Eastern Washington farm- ers should keep an eye out for wheat head armyworm larvae or the pest’s adult moth as they scout their ﬁ elds. Washington State Univer- sity researchers haven’t re- ceived any calls yet, but it’s the time of year for the pest to show up, said Diana Roberts, regional specialist with WSU Extension in Spokane. Farmers should look in ar- eas the insect has been a pest before, such as Reardan and Davenport, but it has also mi- grated in recent years toward Edwall and Sprague, Roberts said. Oregon State University, the University of Idaho and WSU recently released a pub- lication about managing the wheat head armyworm “com- plex.” The true wheat head armyworm is an invasive spe- cies for the region. The false wheat head army worm is a native species and the promi- nent pest in the region. Genet- ic testing showed the two are closely related. Both cause damage. “The puzzle is why it took 120 years of wheat cultivation for it to become a problem,” Roberts said. “It’s hard to Online http://bit.ly/2sILVKC study because it comes and goes.” She suspects changing climates and changes in crop- ping systems have been fac- tors. The moths resurfaced in the Paciﬁ c Northwest from 2012 through 2014 but weren’t found last year, likely because populations haven’t had a chance to rebuild, Rob- erts said. In isolated ﬁ eld trials, the wheat head armyworm caused as much as 35 percent yield loss, Roberts said. “A lot of what they do is cause grain dockage at har- vest, because the kernels come out looking broken,” Roberts said. Insecticides are available, but Roberts recommends nat- ural options such as parasitic wasps to avoid harming ben- eﬁ cial insects. She emphasiz- es scouting for larvae in the ﬁ eld. “We don’t recommend spraying at the ﬁ rst sight of it,” she said. “You’re never going to eradicate an insect by doing that — they’re too crafty.” LAMONT, Wash. — Gil White and his family have al- ways been keen on research. They have assisted Washington State University scientists for the past six decades. “It started with Grandpa, down to my dad and then to me,” the Lamont, Wash., farm- er said. WSU ofﬁ cials honored the White family this week for 60 years of offering their land for test plots. Gil White was pre- sented with a plaque during a lunch between crop tours in St. John, Wash., and Lamont. Gil White is a fourth-gener- ation farmer and has been farm- ing for 35 years. His grand- father, Curtis “Frank” White, started offering land for test plots, and Gil’s father, Curtis, continued the practice. Curtis White died May 31, Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Washington State University Extension regional educator Steve Van Vleet, left, honors Lamont, Wash., farmer Gil White and his family for 60 years of offering their land for wheat variety ﬁ eld trials during a lunchtime celebration in St. John, Wash. Gil White said. Field trials in growers’ ﬁ elds allow researchers to examine the performance of wheat varieties in different areas. Whitman County alone has ﬁ ve climatic zones, said Steve Van Vleet, WSU Exten- sion regional educator. The Whites’ participation beneﬁ ts other Lamont farmers by helping breeders determine the best varieties with the best disease resistance for that par- ticular growing zone, Van Vleet said. Offering land to the univer- sity for free for six decades is rare, Van Vleet said. The Mills family of St. John, Wash., was honored in 2016 for participat- ing in 60 years of variety trials. Other farms have done it for 20 to 30 years, Van Vleet said. “The nice thing about it is we can look at different vari- eties and see what works and what doesn’t work.” Gil White said. “We kinda get a jump on what’s going on.” Retired farmer Randy Suess, a former Washington Grain Commission member, made the commemorative plaque for the Whites and the Millses from maple and padauk, an Af- rican redwood Suess likes for its color. “Having the test plots for that long is extremely rare,” Suess said. “Some people have them for a couple years and then they move on and do other stuff.” Washington irrigation innovator Ron Van Gundy dies By DON JENKINS Capital Press Ron Van Gundy, who managed one of Washing- ton’s most important and most drought-vulnerable irrigation districts for 20 years, died July 6 after a long illness. He was 73. Van Gundy retired as man- ager of the Roza Irrigation District in the Yakima Basin in 2002 because of health prob- lems, but continued to work part-time for the district as policy director. He marked 49 years with the district in April. He had been in declining health related to a respiratory illness, said Tom Myrum, ex- ecutive director of the Wash- ington State Water Resources Association. Colleagues said that Van Gundy was an innovator who guided the Roza district through many droughts. He was a key ﬁ gure in developing broad support among farmers, tribes, environ- mental groups and government Ron agencies for a Van Gundy still-unfolding plan to increase water supplies for farms, ﬁ sh and cities in the Yakima Val- ley. The Roza district irrigates some 72,000 acres in the state’s most valuable farm region, but its members are subject to cur- tailments by the Bureau of Rec- lamation in water-short years. The district’s current man- ager, Scott Revell, said Van Gundy’s experience helped the district get through the 2015 drought, one of the most severe in state history. “We sat down with him, and he said, ‘Here’s the things that work, and here’s the things that don’t work, and we’re only go- ing to do the things that work,’” Revell said. Van Gundy was “way, way ahead of the curve” in invest- ing in water conservation in the 1980s and it paid off as the district’s farmers received less than half their normal water al- lotment, Revell said. “The reason we made it through in 2015 with 44 per- cent was because of everything Ron did in the ’80s and ’90s,” Revell said. “He was a titan in water resources.” Van Gundy was the long- est-serving employee in district history and also was the long- est-serving manager, according to Revell. He was hired by the district in 1968 and promoted to assistant manager in 1971. He was named manager in 1982. Van Gundy served on the Water Resources Association board of directors between 1982 and 2013. He represented the association of irrigation dis- tricts as well as his own district in Olympia before the associ- ation hired a lobbyist, Myrum said. “Ron was super smart,” Myrum said. “That guy was a repository of information that was available on demand. “The information he held in his brain you can’t ﬁ nd in an ar- chive,” Myrum said. The association awarded Van Gundy its Distinguished Service Award in December. “We are saddened by the passing of a man who stood tall in the water resources commu- nity for decades,” the associa- tion’s president, Dave Solem, said in a written statement. “He will be remembered for his drive toward efﬁ cient water use, developing new water stor- age in the Yakima Basin and his collaborative approach toward achieving those goals.” INTRODUCING THE Daily Capital Press A N E M A I L N E W S L E T T E R F E AT U R I N G T H AT D AY ’ S A G N E W S F R O M A R O U N D T H E N O RT H W E S T FREE WITH YOUR CAPITAL PRESS SUBSCRIPTION You don’t have to wait until Friday to get the latest Ag news and information. As part of your subscription, you’ll receive the Daily Capital Press in your inbox each Monday through Friday. It’s easy to get this additional benefit for subscribers. 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