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Focusing on breast cancer AWARENESS, awareness, EDUCATION education and throughout October FOCUSING ON BREAST CANCER AND prevention PREVENTION THROUGHOUT OCTOBER FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2017 VOLUME 90, NUMBER 42 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM “We don’t want to be a California company that’s trying to play Oregon. We want that group to feel very much Oregonian.” Mitch Davis, a Jackson Family senior vice president $2.00 Report: Most Northwest ag commodities barely profi table By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press tazi family, which owns nearby vineyards — should also be thrown out because the Wagners haven’t tres- passed or interfered with their land, according to de- fendants. “You don’t get to fi le a lawsuit with no facts, sheer conjecture, pure specula- tion about what will hap- pen,” said Allison Bizzano, attorney for the Wagners. Northwest agricultural pro- ducers will see at least a small profi t this season from most of the crops they raise, according to a report by Northwest Farm Credit Services. The fi nancial cooperative’s quarterly Market Snapshot con- cludes producers of cattle, po- tatoes, sugar beets, onions, hay, apples and wine should do better than break-even for this season’s crop. Dairy producers are operating around the break-even point, and wheat farmers are expected to lose money. USDA forecasts the all-wheat price for the current crop will range between $4.30 and $4.90 per bushel. “We have record-high grain stocks in the world, and they don’t rot,” said University of Idaho Extension economist Garth Taylor. Besides wheat, Taylor agrees with the report that most produc- ers should be OK. “The big picture on “We’re this is we’re back in not in the that steady boom years slog of on agricul- ture,” Taylor just barely said. “We’re above back in that break-even steady slog of just barely for many above break- of our even for crops.” many of our crops.” Garth Taylor, The break- University of even point Idaho Extension varies from economist farm to farm, depending on the debt load, cost of inputs and labor costs compared to the yield and price of the crop. According to the report, cat- tle producers who market calves are benefi ting from a recent price rally fueled by growing beef exports. UI Extension econo- mist Ben Eborn said U.S. beef exports to date are up 14.5 per- cent from 2016, and November futures for feeder calves are now $1.56 per pound, up from $1.40 in mid-August. Though the U.S. beef herd continues to expand, Eborn said the value of the dollar is softening and improving the export outlook. Feedlot operators, however, continue to operate below the break-even point, while spending more on calves, said Lewisville cattle feeder Duwayne Skaar. “Something has got to give on our end,” Skaar said. The report fi nds hay growers are making slightly above break- even margins, with a low supply of high-quality hay and year-to- date exports that are 25 percent above last year’s pace contribut- ing to higher prices. UI Extension forage special- ist Glenn Shewmaker anticipates a widening gap between the pric- es of feeder hay and dairy-grade hay. “It sounds like quite a bit of hay in Eastern Idaho on all cut- tings got some rain and a lot of hay around Kimberly got rained on,” Shewmaker said. Sugar beet farmers say dam- age to sugarcane caused by hur- ricanes and recent updates to an agreement preventing Mexico Turn to POT, Page 12 Turn to REPORT, Page 12 Photos by Eric Mortenson/Capital Press Anxious to reassure Oregon’s wine pioneers that it did not intend to “bigfoot” the industry, Califor- nia-based Jackson Family Wines chose Eugenia Keegan to head its expanding Oregon operations. BIG WELCOME CALIFORNIA WINERY ARRIVES IN OREGON When Jackson Family Wines arrived in the Willamette Valley, a small circle of producers provided the welcome By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press M CMINNVILLE, Ore. — Friends in Oregon’s wine indus- try describe Eugenia Keegan as a petite “powerhouse.” Five-foot-2, maybe, and fi erce in the best meaning of the word, one said. A go-getter personality tempered by com- petence, warmth, intelligence and grace. This is her 42nd harvest, as vintners count the years. She’s a native Californian who followed love to Oregon 15 years ago. In previous ca- reer turns she’s been a winemaker, owned a wine distributorship and worked as a wine business consultant. She’s had her own label and has an ownership share of a vineyard in France. If it were up to her, she’d spend every day in the vineyard. She says choosing when to pick the grapes is the season’s most crucial decision. Turn to WINE, Page 12 Emilie McKinny, a seasonal intern at Jackson Family Wine’s new winery in McMinnville, Ore., checks a tank where grapes pressed into juice. Potential pot producers seek dismissal of lawsuit Neighbors fear grape damage from ‘foul-smelling particles’ By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File Marijuana plants grow at a farm near McMinnville, Ore. Yamhill County neighbors have sought to stop a proposed marijuana farm. McMINNVILLE, Ore. — Aspiring marijuana growers in Oregon’s Yam- hill County have asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit against their operation fi led by neighboring landowners over potential odors. The complaint was fi led earlier this year against Ste- ven and Mary Wagner, as well as their son Richard, who planned to grow and process marijuana on their property near McMinnville, Ore. The Wagners argue that two of their neighbors, Har- ihara and Parvathy Mahesh, are barred from fi ling tres- pass and nuisance claims under Oregon’s “right to farm” statute, which shields growers from such com- plaints. Claims fi led by their oth- er neighbors — the Mom-
