August 18, 2017
CapitalPress.com
5
Large apple crop, higher returns predicted
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Aliya Hall/Capital Press
Organic Valley founder and
CEO George Siemon speaks
at the opening of the co-op’s
McMinnville, Ore., butter plant.
Organic
Valley butter
plant opens
in W. Oregon
By ALIYA HALL
Capital Press
McMINNVILLE, Ore. —
Organic Valley celebrated the
grand opening of its new but-
ter plant in McMinnville on
Aug. 12. It bought the Farm-
ers Cooperative Creamery fa-
cility last year.
The plant is the co-op’s
first brick-and-mortar facil-
ity outside Wisconsin, Hans
Eisenbeis, director of Or-
ganic Valley public relations,
said.
Organic Valley is the na-
tion’s largest cooperative of
organic farmers, with 2,013
members, 77 of whom are
in Oregon and Washington.
After Wisconsin, Oregon pro-
duces the next largest volume
of milk in the Organic Valley
supply chain. The co-op’s
sales have topped $1.1 billion
a year, and in 2016 it saw a 15
percent growth in member-
ship and 5.8 percent growth
in sales, according to the
co-op.
The plant will produce
butter and skim milk powder,
but in the future could expand
to making buttermilk powder
and other products.
The creamery has 37 full-
time employees on two shifts.
Organic Valley’s renova-
tion of the former FCC plant
was one of Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown’s business develop-
ment reserve fund invest-
ments to support small busi-
ness growth, according to her
office. The facility received
a $350,000 check that Chris
Cummings, deputy director of
Business Oregon, presented
during the opening ceremony.
“Organic Valley knew
pretty quickly that McMinn-
ville is the place to do busi-
ness,” he said.
The event included a tour
of Dan Bansen’s dairy, Forest
Glen Jerseys. He was the first
co-op member in the area.
In Oregon, about 20 per-
cent of all dairies are organ-
ic, said co-op member Steve
Pierson of Sar-Ben Farms.
George Siemon, Organic
Valley CEO, was among the
speakers.
He thanked FCC for giv-
ing them the opportunity to
take over the plant, and said
that McMinnville was among
the “strongest regions for the
Organic Valley brand.”
WENATCHEE,
Wash.
— Apple harvest is about to
start in Central Washington,
and while another large crop
is forecast it could be a better
year for grower returns.
The 2017 fresh crop is
estimated at 130.9 million,
40-pound boxes, down about
1 percent from the nearly sold
out 2016 crop, according to the
Washington State Tree Fruit
Association.
The total volume and vol-
ume by variety is adjusted
from the start of packing in
August through the year-long
sales season, primarily for cul-
lage.
While this fall’s crop looms
large, grower returns could
improve because of fewer Red
Delicious and more Honey-
crisp and newer varieties and
because crop forecasts are
down substantially in Europe,
Mexico and Canada, said Des-
mond O’Rourke, world apple
market analyst and retired
Washington State University
agricultural economist.
“Those are all positives that
should point to a better scenar-
io for Reds globally, but I’m
not sure it isn’t still too much
at 31 million boxes (the Red
forecast),” said Tim Evans,
general sales manager of Chel-
an Fresh Marketing, one of the
state’s larger marketers.
Evans is cautiously op-
2017 Washington apple forecast
(Millions of 40-pound boxes)
Variety
Red Delicious
Gala
Fuji
Granny Smith
Honeycrisp
Others †
Golden Delicious
Cripps Pink
Braeburn
Jonagold
Cameo
Total
2016*
38.2
31.2
16.9
14.9
8.4
7.7
6.7
6.1
1.5
0.58
0.3
132.5
2017**
Percent
change
31
29.5
18.3
16.6
10.5
9.7
6.9
6.5
1.2
0.49
0.23
130.9
-18.8%
-5.4
8.3
11.4
25
26
3
6.6
-20
-15.5
-23.3
-1.2
*Close to final as of Aug. 1, 2017 **Forecast as of Aug. 1, 2017
† Mostly club or managed varieties proprietary to certain companies.
NOTE: Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding.
Source: Washington State Tree Fruit Association
timistic about exports but is
concerned about another large
crop, noting the industry aver-
age wholesale price was $15
per box the week of Aug. 6 with
$18 to $20 being breakeven for
growers.
Europe’s apple crop is down
21 percent because of frost
damage and weather, O’Rourke
said. Poland, Europe’s largest
producer, is down 29 percent.
Mexico, the largest Washing-
ton export market, is down 30
percent in its production and
Canada is down 5 percent. All
of that along with a weakening
dollar improves Washington’s
overseas market opportunities,
he said.
“We have the same size
Capital Press graphic
crop but a better varietal mix
moving into more desirable
varieties. Reds being down so
much is a big help on the do-
mestic picture,” O’Rourke said.
Red Delicious, No. 1 in
volume for 82 years, is fore-
cast at 31 million boxes in the
new crop, down 19 percent
from 38.2 million in the 2016
crop.
That’s a big help if that
forecast holds, O’Rourke said.
A year ago, Reds were fore-
cast at 33.7 million but ended
up being 4.5 million boxes
more, which surprised people
because they were pulling out
Reds, he said. Larger fruit size
increased volume but also a lot
of small growers, not selected
by companies to grow man-
aged varieties, are stuck with
Reds and poor returns until the
new Cosmic Crisp takes off, he
said.
The average wholesale
price of standard grade, me-
dium size Reds has been $11
to $14.90 per box for at least
three months, down $5 on the
low end and $4 on the high
end since January, according to
USDA tracking.
The tough thing for the
start of the new season is that
there’s still 5.5 million boxes of
Reds left to sell from the 2016
season, O’Rourke said. It may
hamper marketers’ ability to
get premium prices at the start
of the new season, he said.
“The cleanup on the oth-
er varieties is good, including
Gala. But that’s a lot of Reds.
Whether you give them away,
I don’t know. We might be
able to get more into India if
competing suppliers like South
Africa or Australia are late into
market with new crop,” O’Ro-
urke said. Mexico may take
more since its crop is down, he
said. Reds are needed for ex-
ports since managed varieties
are too expensive for foreign
importers, he said.
The jury is still out on
whether there will be a lot more
Reds than forecast again this
year, Evans said. Reds are fore-
cast at 24 percent of the crop
and need to be 20 percent to get
better prices, he said.
Managed varieties and
Honeycrisp are the big money
makers and still increasing in
volume. The question, O’Ro-
urke said, is when will the club
or managed varieties will start
“cannibalizing each other” or
lose value from over supply.
Honeycrisp averaged about
$60 per box wholesale in the
past year while Reds, Gala,
Fuji, Braeburn, Jonagold and
Cameo all averaged about $22
per box and were “marginally
profitable,” he said.
The forecast for Golden
Delicious is up slightly, but its
volume has dropped a lot in the
last three years. That drop im-
proved pricing, Evans said.
Gala, second only to Reds
in volume, are expected to be
down slightly, which will be
good, O’Rourke said. Like
Reds, Gala have suffered in
price from too much volume.
After a hit in 2016, Granny
Smith is forecast back at nor-
mal at 16.6 million boxes. Fuji
will be up, which could hamper
its price a little.
Braeburn and Jonagold are
forecast at half their volumes
of three years ago. Cameo is
close to the same. Acreage of
all three is lessening and they
will pretty much be gone in a
few years with the advent of
Cosmic Crisp, O’Rourke said.
The average wholesale
price of Washington standard
grade, medium size Gala was
$15 to $20.90 on Aug. 11, un-
changed from three months
ago, according to USDA.
Ecology: No threat in biosolid use on ag lands
Citizen committee
forms in opposition
of permit request
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
The state Department of
Ecology says there’s no risk to
applying biosolids to an agri-
cultural field in Eastern Wash-
ington despite the concerns of
neighbors.
Fire Mountain Farms, of
Onalaska, Wash., is seeking
state permits to apply biosol-
ids — treated solid waste from
waste water treatment plants
— to several sites, including
Rosman Farms near Daven-
port, Wash. The company is
already permitted in various
counties in Oregon and Wash-
ington.
A committee of neighbors,
called Protect Mill Canyon
Watershed, formed to protest
the requested permit.
“Nobody knows, really,
what is in biosolids because
it’s impossible to know what
somebody in some city some-
where far away happened to
throw down their drain that
day, that month or habitually,”
said Chrys Ostrander, a mem-
ber of the committee.
Research indicates that bio-
solids do not pose a threat to
human health or the environ-
ment when applied according
to permit requirements, said
Joye Redfield-Wilder, commu-
nications manager for Ecolo-
gy’s central regional office.
“Our hydrogeologist has
studied the proposal and finds
that there are no threats to sur-
face or groundwater,” she said.
The source of the biosolids
has not yet been identified, but
would most likely be from the
smaller rural towns within a
30-40 miles radius of the site,
Redfield-Wilder said.
Ostrander isn’t aware of
any specific problem occur-
ring as a result of the use of
biosolids. The committee has
posted several scientific docu-
ments supporting its views on
its website, he said.
If municipal sewage sludge
does not meet federal quality
standards, it cannot be classi-
fied as biosolids and applied
to the land, said Robert Thode,
president and owner of Fire
Mountain Farms.
“Their concerns are simply
not founded in proven sci-
ence,” Thode said. “A recent
risk assessment by Kennedy/
Jenks (consultants) and the
University of Washington
found that you would have to
work with biosolids for many,
many lifetimes before you
would even get one dose of
ibuprofen. Most of us won’t
live that long.”
Ostrander blames a politi-
cal effort that promotes the use
of biosolids. More definitive
research needs to be done, he
said.
Bill Schillinger is six years
into an eight-year biosolids re-
search project at Washington
State University’s dryland re-
search station in Lind.
Schillinger and colleagues
plan to publish papers that
say there’s no significant dif-
ference in dust emissions and
no new fungi added to the soil
that were not already naturally
occurring.
Negatives include an odor
that lasts several days — “It’s
not that bad, in my opinion,”
Schillinger said — and the pos-
sibility of introducing heavy
metals.
“You don’t know what
people are flushing down their
toilet,” Schillinger said. “But
these are tested and approved
by our own Washington State
Department of Ecology and
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency at prescribed rates. It’s
gone through some pretty solid
environmental scrutiny by the
environmental agencies.”
Ecology is developing a re-
sponse to the group’s comments
and will make a determination
on Fire Mountain Farms’ appli-
cation within the next 45 days,
Redfield-Wilder said.
Thode’s company is wait-
ing for Ecology’s response. If
needed, the company will ad-
dress any problems raised in
comments, he said.
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Washington Ecology defends CAFO permit’s price tag
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The Washington Depart-
ment of Ecology has asked
an appeals board to dismiss
claims by the dairy industry
that the agency vastly under-
estimated the cost of comply-
ing with new manure-control
rules.
A motion filed with the
Pollution Control Hearings
Board argues that Ecology
met its duty to compare costs
for small and large dairies.
The analysis led Ecology to
exempt dairies with fewer
than 200 cows from the rules,
which are meant to keep ma-
nure out of water.
Even if the numbers were
off or the study didn’t include
all operating expenses and
lost income, what’s important,
according to Ecology’s mo-
tion, “is the proportional im-
pact between small and larger
businesses.”
The regulations, contained
in permits that Ecology is-
sues to concentrated animal
feeding operations, went into
effect March 3. Previously,
only about a dozen Washing-
ton producers were required
to have CAFO permits. Ecol-
ogy broadened the permit to
potentially apply to more than
225 dairies.
The revamped CAFO per-
mit has come under attack
from dairies as unreason-
able and from environmental
groups as too lenient. The
Washington State Dairy Fed-
eration and the Washington
Farm Bureau have appealed
the permit, as have several en-
vironmental groups.
The appeals have been
merged into one 19-complaint
case. A hearing is set for De-
cember.
Ecology has moved to dis-
miss six complaints by envi-
ronmental groups and three by
the dairy industry, claiming the
nine have no legal support.
All three dairy industry
complaints are related to the
federation’s contention that
Ecology understated the cost
to producers. State agencies
are required in some cases
to do an “economic impact
analysis” before adopt-
ing new rules. The analy-
sis didn’t pinpoint costs to
producers, noting expenses
could vary significantly from
dairy to dairy.
The federation maintains
that costs could total hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars
for some dairies.
Ecology low-balled the
expense of testing soils and
maintaining manure lagoons,
according to the federation,
and didn’t consider the effects
of new limits on fertilizing
with manure such as lower
crop yields, loss of land, high-
er chemical costs, and either
reducing herds or building
larger lagoons to store ma-
nure.
As a result, according to
the federation, Ecology has
run afoul of a policy adopted
by the Legislature that com-
mits Washington to providing
a stable business climate for
dairies.
Ecology argues that poli-
cy statements by lawmakers
do not eclipse federal and
state pollution laws, and that
the study wasn’t intended to
capture all expenses related to
protecting water or to weigh
the costs with the environ-
mental benefits.
Ecology also moved to
dismiss a complaint by envi-
ronmental groups that Ecolo-
gy failed to require the mon-
itoring of water in ditches,
streams and rivers that border
dairies.
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