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-