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October 27, 2017 CapitalPress.com 9 Washington More farmworker housing planned By DAN WHEAT Capital Press CASHMERE, Wash. — The farm labor association WAFLA plans to build farm- worker housing in Cashmere while continuing projects in Okanogan and Chelan. Pear growers in the Wenatchee Valley, from Wenatchee through Cashmere to Leavenworth, increasingly struggle with too few domes- tic workers to tend and har- vest crops. They have been turning to WAFLA to help them hire H-2A-visa foreign guest- workers and would hire more if they had more housing that the federal program requires them to provide. “A lot of small growers around Dryden and in the valley need housing. Brender Creek is full,” said Dan Fazio, WAFLA’s director in Olym- pia. Brender Creek is a $6 million, 200-bed migrant farmworker housing facili- ty in Cashmere constructed Dan Wheat/Capital Press File Brender Creek migrant farmworker housing in Cashmere, Wash., shortly before it opened in 2015. The facility is mostly full now, and more farmworker housing is being planned. with state and private funding and opened by the Washing- ton Growers League in May 2015. The League also oper- ates the 270-bed Sage Bluff facility near Malaga, south of Wenatchee, that it built in 2010. The League reserves about 10 percent of the beds at both facilities each season for walk-in individual work- ers who pay $8 per night to stay. The rest is full most of the time. The state and Chelan Coun- ty are working to extend state funding and county operation of the 380-bed migrant farm- worker camp in Monitor, just west of Wenatchee, through 2019, said Cathy Mulhall, county administrator. Preliminary planning calls for groups of growers to own a 150- to 200-bed facility at Apples top crop, but varieties in ‘turmoil’ Value of production ($ millions of dollars) By DAN WHEAT Capital Press OLYMPIA — Agricultur- al production in Washington dropped 1 percent to $10.6 billion in 2016 with apples as the top value commodity for the 12th year in a row, accord- ing to the National Agricultur- al Statistics Service. Apples represented 22 per- cent of the total agricultural value at $2.39 billion, up 3 percent from 2015 but down 4 percent from the record high of $2.48 billion in 2012. Those numbers belie the “terrifi c turmoil going on within the different varieties” in the industry, said Desmond O’Rourke, retired Washington State University agricultural economist and apple analyst in Pullman. Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Cripps Pink and Gala, along with about a dozen proprietary varieties, are car- rying the industry while Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Braeburn, Jonagold and Cam- eo tend to generate losses for growers but usually not for packing houses, O’Rourke said. The proprietary, club or managed varieties are con- trolled by individual compa- nies and are not open to all growers. Established club va- rieties including Jazz, Envy, Pacifi c Rose, Ambrosia, Kanzi, Kiku, Autumn Glo- Rank/item 1. ......... Apples 3. ...... Potatoes 813.3 4. Cattle/calves 704.5 5. .......... Wheat 565.8 6. Cherries (all) 502.7 7. ....... Hay (all) 479 8. ............ Hops 382.2 9. .. Grapes (all) 359.6 10. ...Pears (all) Capital Press 1,097.3 233.4 ry, Lady Alice, Pinata, Rave, Koru, Smitten and Opal each range from 50,000 to 2 mil- lion, 40-pound boxes annu- ally in volume and are doing well while others are coming along, O’Rourke said. “Honeycrisp is durable. No one fi gured it would get to 10 million boxes and still be selling at the price its selling,” he said. Honeycrisp is estimated at 12.4 million boxes for 2017 and usually sells at $50 to $60 per box. The industry is hopeful the new Cosmic Crisp apple will be a big money maker as it becomes established in 2020 and beyond. The Oct. 13 report from the NASS Northwest regional Top 10 Washington agricultural commodities, 2016 Source: USDA NASS Alan Kenaga/Capital Press offi ce in Olympia lists milk in second place, after apples, at $1.1 billion, down 3 percent from 2015 and at its lowest value since 2010. Potatoes moved up 5 per- cent and one place to third at a record high $813 million. Cattle and calves, valued at $704 million, fell one spot to fourth, down 17 percent. Wheat completed the top fi ve commodities at $657 mil- lion, up 9 percent. of Commerce grant last De- cember to build 166 beds of seasonal farmworker hous- ing in the city of Okanogan. WAFLA planned to kick in $750,000, break ground in May or June and be ready for occupancy in spring of 2018. The project has been de- layed by zoning changes taking longer than expected. Now the hope is to be open for the apple and pear harvest next year but maybe not for cherries, Fazio said. WAFLA and others will shoulder costs of just under $4 million, he said. The site is 20 acres along the Okanogan River in the north end of town. Zoning allows a second phase of 106 beds for a total of 272 beds. In Chelan, WAFLA plans to build an 180-bed facility near Chelan Fruit Cooper- ative’s new packing plant No. 1. Grower groups have donated nearly $500,000 in land and other services for that project and WAFLA has applied for a $3 million Com- merce grant, Fazio said. The grant could be award- ed this December but is in doubt because the Legisla- ture has not passed a capital budget, he said. The plan is for construction in 2018 for a spring 2019 opening, he said. The Growers League has a $3 million grant application pending for 192 beds for the $5.3 million Phase 3 of its Mattawa housing. Construction on the fi rst two housing units of the 190- bed Phase 1 just began a cou- ple of weeks ago, a year be- hind the original schedule do to utility issues with the city of Mattawa, said Cody Chris- mer, League housing program manager. Phase 2 is another 190 beds, and eventually the League hopes to have more phases for a total of 2,000 beds, Chrismer said. Even if Congress changes or replaces the H-2A pro- gram, farmworker housing will be needed, Fazio said. It’s difficult for the private sector to invest in housing when occupancy is seasonal, he said. Otto top wheat variety in Wash. survey By MATTHEW WEAVER 2,389.2 2. .............. Milk Cashmere that would be de- veloped by WAFLA with pri- vate money and managed by WAFLA. State grants — used at Brender Creek, Sage Bluff and by the League for a proj- ect in Mattawa and WAFLA for projects in Chelan and Okanogan — are restricted to H-2A and domestic migrant seasonal workers only, Fazio said. The Cashmere property owners prefer private funding because it allows them more options such as housing local and year-round workers, he said. The plan is to remove or- chard to make room for the housing after the 2018 harvest and have it ready for use in 2019, Fazio said. Meanwhile, WAFLA is open to more privately fund- ed projects of 150 to 250 beds each in the next several years and is proceeding with plans in Okanogan and Chelan, Fazio said. WAFLA was awarded a $3 million state Department The Washington Grain Commission has released its survey of wheat varieties planted for the 2017 harvest season, and Otto came out on top. The top fi ve winter wheat varieties were Washington State University’s Otto with 221,975 acres; Syngenta’s SY Ovation with 189,244 acres; WSU Clearfi eld variety Curi- osity CL+ with 155,421 acres; ORCF-102 with 126,593 acres and WestBred’s WB1529 with 64,552 acres. Commission CEO Glen Squires said farmers plant varieties with good agro- nomic characteristics, good emergence, disease packages and good yields. The survey helps identify what’s avail- able for growers, the indus- try and overseas buyers. Other varieties move up as time progresses and farm- ers get more comfortable with them, he said. Arron Carter, WSU winter wheat breeder, said Otto is do- ing well across environments. “It’s one of those varieties people can plant and rely on from year to year,” he said. In 2016, SY Ovation led the pack with 248,368 acres, followed by Otto with 221,398 acres; ORCF-102 with 208,608 acres; Curios- ity CL+ with 144,675 acres; WSU variety Xerpha with 118,720 acres and WB1529 with 71,184 acres. In 2017, soft white winter club wheat Crescent, from the USDA Agricultural Research Service, rose to 98,484 acres over Bruehl, with 55,574 acres. Last year, Bruehl had the top spot, with 188,030 acres to Crescent’s 60,944 acres. Squires believes the change was a refl ection of concerns over falling numbers, the quality test used to measure starch damage. Bruehl is sus- ceptible to starch damage, but typically a top variety, he said. For hard red winter wheats, Keldin came in fi rst with 100,911 acres. Limagrain Cereal Seeds’ LCS Jet had 97,830 acres, followed by SY Clearstone 2CL with 50,006 acres and Farnum with 30,444 acres. In 2016, Keldin was tops with 99,101 acres, followed by SY Clearstone 2CL with 31,117 acres; LCS Jet with 25,594 acres; LCS Azimut with 19,025 acres and Far- num with 17,880 acres. Louise led the top fi ve soft white common spring wheats in 2017 with 56,368 acres, followed by WB6121 with 36,623 acres; Diva with 18,384 acres; WB-1035 CL+ with 18,280 acres and Whit with 17,199 acres. In 2016, WB6121 led the pack with 66,846 acres, fol- lowed by Louise with 53,712 acres; Diva with 37,158 acres; Whit with 34,661 acres and WB-1035 CL+ with 22,823 acres. JD was the only soft white club spring wheat with 21,477 acres in 2017, down from 22,041 acres in 2016. Hard white spring wheat totaled 389 acres, with 219 planted to WB-Hartline and 171 planted to Dayn in 2017. That’s down from 2016’s 1,114 acres, with 820 plant- ed to WB-Hartline and 294 planted to Dayn. BUYING or SELLING a Yakima Basin reservoirs higher than normal By DAN WHEAT Capital Press YAKIMA, Wash. — Yaki- ma Basin irrigators fi nished their season with more water in their mountain reservoirs than in the past two years and a bonus of 15 to 20 inches of rain and snow last weekend. The storm, starting Thurs- day, Oct. 19, and ending Sunday, Oct. 22, brought 15 inches of precipitation in the mountains feeding the basin and 20 inches of snow in the highest elevations, said Joe Gutierrez, assistant river op- erator of the Yakima system for the U.S. Bureau of Recla- mation in Yakima. “It was a good event. More than I expected. We’ve had larger in the past but this was the fi rst of more to come we hope. It’s a good start for the water year,” Gutierrez said. The Oct. 1-24 precipitation for the basin is 42.24 inches or 325 percent of average and 241 percent of the month’s av- erage, he said. It added 53,064 acre-feet of water to the basin’s fi ve mountain reservoirs in fi ve days, bringing the total to 361,077 acre-feet, which is 134 percent of average stor- age for this time of year. Irrigation diversions end- ed Oct. 20 with the collective low point of the fi ve reser- voirs most likely reached three days earlier at 306,840 acre-feet, said Chris Lynch, the Bureau’s Yakima Basin hydrologist. “That should be the low point unless we get dry after this rain,” he said. The low a year ago was 244,500 acre-feet on Oct. 12. Two years ago it was 107,323 acre-feet following the 2015 drought. The 30-year average low is 261,000 acre-feet. Full pool of Keechelus, Kachess, Cle Elum, Rimrock and Bumping reservoirs is 1,065,400 acre-feet and is usually obtained before irri- gation season begins in June. The system serves 464,000 acres, most of it farmland, along 175 miles of the Yaki- ma River in the Kittitas and Yakima valleys. The long-term outlook calls for a La Nina weather pattern which Lynch said usu- ally is good news. It should mean normal to above-av- erage precipitation and tem- peratures on the cooler side, he said. “It should mean a typical winter of normal snowpack and normal is good. But na- ture can always throw a curve ball. I’m hopeful we will be fi ne for the next irrigation sea- son,” he said. Your best pick is More than 1,080 rural property listings • Ag Businesses • Crops • Berries • Dairies • Farm Properties • Hobby Farms • Large & Small Acreage • Livestock • Nursery • Orchards & Vineyards • Ranch Properties • Recreational / Resort • Rural Residential • Timber Buyers can search by type, price, location, acreage, bedrooms, baths, crops, livestock, water, irrigation and more. Brokers: for more information contact your Capital Press sales rep today or call 800-882-6789. farmseller@capitalpress.com 43-2/HOU