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10 CapitalPress.com October 20, 2017 Washington Farm Bureau video highlights labor shortage Zucchinis outgrow supply of pickers By DON JENKINS Capital Press A new American Farm Bureau Federation video fea- tures a Western Washington farm to highlight a national labor shortage and the orga- nization’s push for a more flexible guestworker pro- gram. In the 1-minute, 43-sec- ond video, a tractor plows under zucchinis in King County grown by Burr and Rosella Mosby. They said they abandoned the 20-acre field, easily losing $100,000, because they didn’t have enough workers. “We’ve never had a year Farm Bureau TV Farmer Burr Mosby says in the Farm Bureau video that he and his wife, Rosella, were forced to plow under 20 acres of zucchini because they couldn’t find enough labor. like this year,” Rosella Mos- by said Thursday in an inter- view with the Capital Press. The Farm Bureau has been warning that growers will have to let produce rot in the fields because they won’t have enough workers. The shortage this year hit the Mosbys, who grow veg- etables on 350 acres in King and Pierce counties south of Seattle. The Farm Bureau favors a guestworker program ad- ministered by the USDA that allows workers to enter the U.S. on short-term visas and hire out to the farm of their choice. The H-2A program administered by the U.S. De- partment of Labor is rigid, burdensome and nearly im- possible to use, according to the Farm Bureau. The Mosbys rely on do- mestic workers, many of whom work elsewhere in the winter. Rosella Mosby said that the farm has been short of workers for many years, but this was the first time in 40 years that the shortage was severe enough to force abandoning a field. USDA temporarily suspends new CRP applications She said the farm was about 25 workers short. The zucchinis in the 20-acre field grew too large for commer- cial use before they could be harvested. Mosby said the farm has about 25 year-round employ- ees and needs approximately 75 seasonal employees. The farm needed adults who aren’t limited in the jobs they can do, and stay on in the fall. Mosby attribut- ed the shortage to a strong Puget Sound economy. “I think they’re all doing oth- er jobs,” she said. “I think there are just better opportu- nities.” Mosby said that she’s not heard from her employees that fear of the Trump admin- istration is keeping workers away. 4 million acres in conservation program set to expire in 2018 By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press State agriculture department seeks study on dairy manure use, regulations Capital Press The Washington State Department of Agriculture proposes to study whether it should regulate cow manure hauled from dairies and spread at other commercial farms. WSDA monitors how dairies use manure, but the oversight ends when manure goes elsewhere. The depart- ment hopes to get a grasp on whether those manure appli- cations threaten groundwater and waterways. “We really don’t have a good understanding of where it goes when it leaves the dairies,” WSDA spokeswom- an Kathy Davis said. Washington dairies are under scrutiny, targeted by lawsuits and facing new De- partment of Ecology rules, and so is the WSDA-en- forced Dairy Nutrient Man- agement Act. Environmental groups criticize the law as too weak, while industry rep- resentatives say it has worked well in protecting water. The Legislature directed WSDA to convene an adviso- ry committee to discuss pur- ported “gaps” in the state law. The proposal to study ex- tending WSDA’s oversight of dairy manure to other farms stems from the committee. Washington State Dairy Federation policy director Jay Gordon said that singling out dairy manure for new rules could cause farmers to shift to other fertilizers, such as chicken manure or syn- thetic fertilizers. “Nobody ever talks about that,” he said. “What are dairy farms going to do with the manure? Stigmatizing one nutrient source is going to create problems. It (dairy manure) is incredibly import- ant as a nutrient source.” WSDA has asked for $200,000 from the state’s general fund to conduct the study. The governor’s budget office may forward the re- quest to the 2018 Legislature. The study would include looking at how much manure leaves dairies and how many places apply it. The debate over regulating manure has persisted for years. Proposals range from voluntary training on properly applying manure to a “more robust regulatory certification process,” ac- cording to the WSDA’s bud- get request. Fire erupts at Underwood Fruit and Warehouse Co. in Gorge By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press A fire early Wednesday morning damaged the Un- derwood Fruit and Ware- house Co. on the west end of Bingen, Wash., across the Columbia River from Hood River, Ore. Details were scarce Wednesday, but video shot from a news helicopter and shown on Portland televi- sion station KOIN showed towering flames and col- umns of heavy smoke. In a TV interview, Un- derwood CEO Don Gibson said the fire primarily dam- aged the pear packing part of the facility. He said the com- pany will rebuild. Company officials were not available for additional comment. Klickitat County Emer- gency Management said the fire was reported at 5:45 a.m. Eleven Klickitat County fire departments responded, along with personnel from the BNSF Railway fire train, Hood River Fire Depart- ment, Skamania Fire De- partment and Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue, according to a statement on the emergen- cy department’s website. Underwood Fruit and Warehouse is a 100-year- old packing and shipping facility for 55 apple, pear and cherry growers in the Columbia River Gorge, ac- cording to the company’s website. The packing house is under the same ownership as Mount Adams Orchards, of Yakima, Wash. A Mount Adams spokesperson was not available as of Wednes- day mid-day. The fire apparently knocked out electrical pow- er in parts of Bingen and neighboring White Salmon. As of mid-day Wednesday, the fire was isolated to the building in which it start- ed. No hazardous material was released and no evac- uation orders were issued, the emergency department said on its website. The de- partment did not provide information about a possible cause of the fire. The White Salmon Val- ley School District placed its buses on what it termed “road restriction routes” Wednesday morning. It closed one bus stop and di- rected children who usually catch the bus there to go to another stop “due to fire at Underwood Fruit,” the dis- trict said on its website. LIVESTOCK & HORSE SPECIAL SECTION December 1st, 2017 Ad Space Deadline is rd. November 3 The West is one of the most productive regions for livestock in the United States. This creates a lucrative market for businesses whose products and services include: • Animal Health • Feed • Livestock • Trucks • Trailers • And Much More! • ATV’s • Haying Equipment Get ahead of your competition by advertising in this special section, reaching Capital Press Ag Weekly print and online readers. Contact Your Sales Rep Today or Call 800-882-6789. 42-1/100 www.capitalpress.com ROP-40-4-1/HOU By DON JENKINS The USDA is putting a temporary hold on new ap- plications for the Conserva- tion Reserve Program. The agency accepted applications last year, but is holding them, said Rod Hamilton, farm programs chief for the USDA Farm Service Agency office in Spokane. All current eligible CRP continuous enrollment of- fers made through Sept, 30, except those made under the Pollinator Habitat Initiative, will be approved, according to the national office. CRP pays farmers and ranchers who remove sen- sitive land from production and plant certain grasses, shrubs and trees that im- prove water quality, prevent soil erosion and increase wildlife habitat. Contracts last between 10 and 15 years. Payments for 2017 totaled more than $1.6 billion. The agency will wait on offers received after Sept. 30, Hamilton said, and see how the applications corre- spond to the national 24 mil- lion-acre statutory cap. “For those folks that want to make new offers now, it does put them on hold,” Hamilton said. The temporary halt will likely be revised at some point in the fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, Hamil- ton said. Farmers with CRP con- tracts set to expire Sept. 30, 2018, are in “a little un- certain” position, Hamilton said. About 4 million acres are due to expire across the country. “They’re kind of left treading water, for at least a while, until a decision is made how to proceed,” he said. The agency has histori- cally held a signup allow- ing farmers the opportunity to make a new offer if they choose. Hamilton said “a fair amount of interest” remains in CRP, although growers are aware the agency is close to the acreage cap. It’s caused farmers who would otherwise routinely renew their CRP contract to consider other options, he said, including putting the land back into produc- tion, converting it to graz- ing lands or trying another version of CRP, such as SAFE, which targets wild- life habitat, or other options under the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The previous cap was 32 million acres. It’s reached as high as 39 million acres, al- though Hamilton said enroll- ment numbers never reached that total. Last year, only 20 per- cent of offers were accepted, Hamilton said. He believes U.S. Agricul- ture Secretary Sonny Perdue is analyzing the CRP pro- gram and future directions, including whether he will focus on general or targeted CRP programs. Discussions are ongoing at the national office, Ham- ilton said. It’s not clear when the suspension will be lifted. “We’ve just been told, ‘These are the rules until further notice, but there will be a change later on in the fiscal year,’” Hamilton said. Hamilton recommends farmers keep in touch with their county FSA office for updates.
