September 15, 2017
CapitalPress.com
7
Washington
Co-ops give mixed reviews on DOL inspections
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
CHELAN, Wash. — U.S.
Department of Labor sur-
prise audits of Chelan Fruit
Cooperative, its manager and
several board members and
growers apparently are turn-
ing out relatively well with
only minor infractions and
fines expected.
But the manager of neigh-
boring Manson Fruit Coop-
erative, Doug England, said
Chelan Fruit may see things
differently when it gets the ci-
tations and fines.
Manson Fruit was audit-
ed more than a year before
Chelan Fruit and inspectors
left indicating only minor in-
fractions were found, England
said.
A couple months later,
Manson Fruit and growers
received notices and fines for
small things that growers paid
but the cooperative appealed
several on principle, England
said.
“We were cited for not
prominently displaying a re-
quired work poster because
one worker said she didn’t see
it even though everyone else
saw it and it was prominently
displayed,” England said.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press File
Workers pre-sort cherries on Chelan Fruit Cooperative’s packing line. The co-op was recently the
subject of a Department of Labor inspection.
“We were cited for not
physically presenting workers
with a proposed contract when
hiring them even though they
were in California and we
were in Washington,” he said.
DOL also classified some
of the co-op’s workers as mi-
grants even though they were
full-time local residents, and
had been for years, he said.
That put the co-op into a dif-
ferent level of review, he said.
“Our fine was under
$2,000. Growers had similar
fines and paid theirs because
they didn’t want to fight, but
we appealed ours (within
DOL) on a matter of princi-
ple,” England said.
It’s been months and he’s
heard no response to the ap-
peal, he said.
Jose Carnevali, a DOL
spokesman in San Francisco,
said the matter is ongoing and
that he can’t provide informa-
tion.
“They showed up out of
the blue and went through
Farm Bureau urges cap on elk
all our payroll and found no
problems. The sign posting
is bogus. The only thing le-
gitimate was no screen door,”
England said.
“They demanded our
grower list and hit all our
board members for extremely
minor things,” he said.
In July, Dan McCarthy,
president of Okanogan Hor-
ticultural Association and a
Tonasket grower, said DOL
was auditing growers in
Tonasket, Omak, Okanogan
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The Washington Farm Bu-
reau proposes capping the
number of elk in two northwest
Washington valleys, where
farmers and ranchers say the
growing North Cascades herd
is damaging crops and fences,
and making driving rural high-
ways hazardous.
Farm Bureau director of
government relations Tom Da-
vis said a maximum number
would protect property and mo-
torists, goals the Department of
Fish and Wildlife says it shares.
“A limit would be the most
transparent way to manage the
herd and hold the department
accountable,” Davis said. “We
would prefer zero, but we know
we can’t get there. But let’s pick
a number, or a range, and argue
over that.”
An estimated 200 to 400 elk
have migrated over the past half
dozen years into the Skagit Riv-
er and Acme valleys in Skagit
and Whatcom counties. Previ-
ously, the valleys were outside
the herd’s territory, but WDFW
and tribes curbed hunting and
trucked in elk from southwest
Washington more than a decade
ago and succeeded in spurring
population growth.
The state estimates the herd
has about 1,200 elk, without
counting the elk in the two val-
leys. The state’s goal is to have
1,950 elk in the herd.
WDFW is updating its plan
Courtesy of Randy Good
Elk blood splatters Highway 20 in this photo taken July 4 in Skagit
County in northwest Washington. State wildlife managers say they
want to reduce elk-vehicle collisions and crop damage by elk in the
area. The Farm Bureau proposes limiting the number of elk.
to manage the herd, providing
another forum for frustrated
farmers and ranchers to suggest
the state rein in its elk. Sepa-
rately, lawmakers have directed
WDFW to come up with a plan
to reduce farmer complaints
and highway collisions.
So far, WDFW has pro-
posed relying on hunting and
hazing to drive elk from the
valley, but has not committed
to reducing the population to a
certain number.
According to the Farm Bu-
reau, WDFW should back up
its intentions with a population
cap. If WDFW relies on count-
ing complaints to measure suc-
cess, it will be hard to know
whether farmers just decided it
wasn’t worth the hassle of put-
ting in a claim, Davis said. “It’s
like filing your taxes. Nobody
likes that paperwork.”
WDFW district biologist
Fenner Yarborough said the
department will consider the
Farm Bureau’s position.
op had been audited by DOL
in at least 17 years, he said.
“Everyone had little is-
sues. Things on housing like
screens (missing) on windows
and doors and batteries in
smoke detectors, but no real
surprises or major fines. Ev-
eryone thought they (DOL)
handled themselves profes-
sionally and it turned out
OK,” Collins said.
There were also issues
with formatting of payroll,
and no one escaped without
some infractions and fines,
the dollar amount of which
they do not yet know, he said.
The inspectors did not
seem overly aggressive or
agenda-driven, he said.
Dan Fazio, executive di-
rector of the farm labor asso-
ciation WAFLA, said some
of the growers audited were
WAFLA members and that
WAFLA gave general advice
and that he believes all audit
findings were minor.
Fazio said he felt it inap-
propriate that DOL auditors
asked Chelan Fruit for names
of its members and that he ad-
vised the cooperative not to
comply.
Collins said the co-op’s at-
torney thought it best to com-
ply, so he did.
Alfalfa seed farmers see average, profitable year
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Herd expanding
onto farmland
and
Pateros
and that grow-
ers were con-
cerned.
DOL
au-
dits in Okan-
ogan County
Doug
several years
England
ago resulted in
“frivolous cita-
tions and hefty
fines” without
due process,
he said. Grow-
ers were all
but threatened
to sign admis-
Reggie
sions of viola-
Collins
tions without
knowing what
they were specifically, he said.
The growers audited this
year in Tonasket, Omak,
Okanogan and Pateros were
all Chelan Fruit Cooperative
members, McCarthy said.
“The inspectors stormed
into town and blew out and
after that I haven’t heard any-
thing. No news is good news,”
McCarthy said.
Reggie Collins, general
manager of Chelan Fruit Co-
operative, said he, the coop-
erative and three of four other
board members were audited
starting in May and into July.
It was the first time the co-
TOUCHET, Wash. — Otis
Garbe isn’t quite sure what he
did to get one of his top alfalfa
seed harvests this year.
“For me, I’m going, ‘What
did I do this last year?’ so I can
repeat it again this year,” the
Touchet, Wash., farmer said.
Garbe credits a long win-
ter, good moisture, low insect
populations and weather that
helped the alkali bees that help
pollinate the crop.
“I don’t know if you want
to call it a perfect storm for the
seed crop, but everything hit
for us,” he said.
Most of the 55 to 60 farms
raising alfalfa seed experi-
enced an average year after
several challenges in recent
harvests, said Shane Johnson,
executive director of the state
Alfalfa Seed Commission.
He estimates 14 million
pounds of seed will be pro-
duced this year, up from 11
million pounds last year.
Garbe raises alfalfa seed on
roughly 200 of his own acres
and 50 leased acres about 20
miles outside Walla Walla. He
started harvest Aug. 19 and ex-
pected to finish Sept. 8-9.
Garbe anticipates an aver-
age yield of more than 1,000
pounds per acre. The price he
receives under a three-year
contract averages about $2.15
per pound for clean seed. He
has to factor in the cost of
equipment, power for handline
irrigation, chemicals and using
leafcutter bees as a pollinator,
he said.
Garbe does the bulk of la-
bor himself, although he’ll hire
a worker if he gets in a pinch.
Johnson believes alfalfa
seed farmers are relatively
profitable under the contracts.
Farmers raise proprietary
varieties under contract to seed
companies.
“I think it’s absolutely
something to look at,” he said.
Yarborough
cautioned,
however, that elk are hard to
count, populations vary by
season and some people want
more elk in the valleys.
“It’s a tough one,” he said
“We’re trying to find a middle
ground.”
Skagit County Cattle-
men’s Association Vice Presi-
dent Randy Good said that he
stopped raising cattle in a 40-
acre pasture bordering High-
way 20 because elk were crash-
ing through the electric fence. A
sturdier fence would have been
expensive and would shift the
problem to a neighbor, he said.
He estimated that nine to
12 elk a year are hit by vehi-
cles along a three-quarters-mile
stretch of highway along his
land. Sometimes the injured
elk make it to his field before
dying, and he has to bury them.
He said he’s also concerned
about elk spreading disease.
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