8
CapitalPress.com
September 1, 2017
Oregon
Co-op lists farm bill priorities
By ALIYA HALL
Capital Press
McMINNVILLE,
Ore.
— An Oregon member of
Congress heard from organic
dairy cooperative members
last week about what they
want from the next farm bill.
Rep. Suzanne Bonami-
ci, D-Ore., toured the newly
refurbished Organic Valley
Creamery and Forest Glen
Jerseys dairy farm on Aug.
25 and was briefed on the
co-op’s priorities as Congress
works on a new farm bill.
Jake Schmitz, the co-op’s
regional pool manager, and
Scott Fields, the McMinn-
ville plant manager, told her
Organic Valley’s priorities
include modernizing organic
trade oversight by increasing
funding of the National Or-
ganic Program to identify and
shut down suspected interna-
tional fraud and supporting a
technology upgrade to better
track international organic
trade.
Schmitz, who used to
work as an organic certifi-
er, said that while there are
many organic businesses
with integrity, there needs to
Aliya Hall/Capital Press
At Dan Bansen’s Forest Glen Jerseys farm, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., pets one of the new-
born calves.
be more enforcement against
those that cheat the system.
“We need a budget in-
crease to employ more cer-
tifiers to get work done and
monitor it all,” he said.
Also on the list is funding
more organic research and
maintaining conservation in-
vestments by renewing and
maintaining the working
lands conservation programs.
An investment of $16.5
million is needed each year
to keep in line with growth
of organic agriculture, ac-
cording to Organic Valley. In
2016, U.S. organic sales were
$47 billion and there were
24,650 organic certificate
holders.
Schmitz and Melissa Coll-
man, an Organic Valley coop-
erative member from Cloud
Cap Dairy in Boring, Ore.,
also said the NOP needs to
modernize its technology.
“There’s no way to upload
information,” Collman said.
“You have to keep track by
hand. There is no moderniza-
tion, and technology would
make (the process) better.”
Bonamici expressed con-
cerns she heard about wheth-
er younger generations will
be taking over the farming
business.
However, Schmitz told
her that with the profitabili-
ty of organic dairy farms, it
has become a viable option
to own a farm — last month
he signed up two sons taking
over the family farm.
Schmitz said because the
younger generations are en-
thused about organic farming
it’s important to continue re-
search in the field.
Fields walked Bonami-
ci through the butter plant,
showing her the process of
separating the cream and the
milk, which was pasteurized,
dried and bagged as powder.
Fields said much of the
cost of refurbishing the
creamery was spent in the
pasteurization room, and
estimated with Schmitz that
refurbishing the plant cost
about $1 million, including
a state grant of $350,000.
Bonamici later met with
Dan Bansen at Forest Glen
Jerseys in Dayton — her
first visit to an organic dairy
farm.
Ruling expands farmer cellphone use while driving
Oregon farmers
will soon lose
exemption to law
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An Oregon Appeals Court
ruling broadly allows farmers
to use cellphones for agricul-
tural operations while driv-
ing, but a new law will soon
nullify the decision.
An $80 traffic ticket issued
to hog farmer Michelle Re-
nee Bennett was overturned
by the appellate court, which
held that she was allowed to
coordinate pork deliveries on
her cellphone while driving.
Mobile devices generally
can’t be used in Oregon while
operating vehicles, but the
prohibition currently has an
exemption “for the purpose
of farming or agricultural op-
erations.”
Contrary to the State of
Oregon’s interpretation of
the law, farmers can use cell-
phones for delivering goods
or other agricultural opera-
tions while driving and aren’t
strictly limited to the “agri-
cultural production phase,”
the ruling said.
Agricultural operations
don’t necessarily occur on
farmland, as they include the
“whole process” or “business
activity,” such as marketing
crops and livestock, accord-
ing to the appellate court.
This characterization of
the law is backed up by leg-
islative history, since law-
makers realized the language
could be interpreted broadly
but chose not to narrow the
exemption, the ruling said.
The Oregon Department
of Justice said it’s reviewing
the decision.
However, growers will
only have roughly a month to
take advantage of the ruling,
since a law passed this year
eliminates the agricultural
exemption on Oct. 1.
Due to concerns about in-
creased traffic fatalities, law-
makers approved House Bill
2597, which created harsher
penalties for using mobile
devices while driving and
eliminated exemptions to the
statute.
The Oregon Farm Bu-
reau plans to discuss the is-
sue with its members to see
how they’re affected by the
changed law and then po-
tentially suggest revisions
to lawmakers, said Jenny
Dresler, state public policy
director for the group.
Bennett, of Sweet Briar
Farms in Eugene, Ore., said
she’s a law-abiding citizen
and will abide by the stricter
prohibition.
Bennett said she believes
distracted driving is a prob-
lem, but felt comfortable us-
ing her cellphone that day in
May 2014 because she was
traveling slower than 10 mph
in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
John Deere Dealers
See one of these dealers for a demonstration
35-1/#4N
Sean Ellis/Capital Press File
Oregon State University re-
searcher Joel Felix has shown
that sweet potatoes grow well in
the Treasure Valley of Oregon
and Idaho, but farmers have
been hesitant to grow them.
Researcher
not giving
up on sweet
potatoes
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
ONTARIO, Ore. — Sweet
potatoes grow well in the des-
ert climate of the Treasure
Valley region of Idaho and
Oregon. Six years of field tri-
als by an Oregon State Uni-
versity researcher have shown
that.
But so far, growers have
struggled to find a steady mar-
ket in the Treasure Valley.
OSU weed scientist Joel
Felix has grown sweet pota-
toes at the university’s agri-
cultural experiment station
near Ontario since 2011 and
the results have been good,
with yields comparable to
what sweet potato growers in
California achieve, he said.
But few farmers in this
region have opted to grow
them for long. As far as Felix
knows, only one farmer cur-
rently grows them, on about
40 acres. That farmer didn’t
respond to requests to be in-
terviewed for this article.
Felix believes there is a
market for the crop in the
region, between the grocery
stores that sell them fresh and
processors in the area that turn
them into sweet potato fries.
They are shipped here for pro-
cessing from as far away as
Florida.
He said sweet potatoes will
never replace the major crops
grown in this region such as
onions, potatoes, sugar beets
and corn. But they could be
a nice niche market for some
farmers, he added.
It’s just a matter of figuring
out the right market opportu-
nity.
“I think there is room for
sweet potatoes in the valley,”
Felix said. “I’m not losing
hope.”
Bill Johnson grew sweet
potatoes on his farm in 2011
under contract with a local
processor. However, the pro-
cessor chose not to renew
the contract the next year for
whatever reason, he said.
He confirmed that the crop
grows well here and said it
could work for someone with
a fresh packing facility, which
Johnson didn’t have.
“I’m convinced you can
successfully grow them in the
Treasure Valley,” he said. “I
think there is a legitimate op-
portunity here. But you have
to figure out how to sell them.
You have to complete the
business.”
The hot summers the area
typically experiences — high
temperatures often exceed
100 degrees — are not a prob-
lem for the crop, Felix said.
“That is like heaven for
sweet potatoes,” he said. “It’s
a plant that enjoys the heat.”
Felix will continue his tri-
als, with an emphasis on find-
ing varieties that can be plant-
ed earlier in the area so the
roots have more time to size.
Growers in the area would
have to be careful not to plant
them too early or harvest them
too late in the season to avoid
the potential of a killing frost
on either end.
“The timing of planting is
really critical,” he said.
Felix said the trials have
proven sweet potatoes can be
grown here and he will con-
tinue fine-tuning them to find
the right varieties that could
fill the niche market in the
area for the fresh market.