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November 17, 2017 House ag chairman outlines farm bill priorities By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press House Agriculture Com- mittee Chairman Michael Conaway says he plans to have a farm bill ready in January or February but to expect individual pieces of farm legislation in stand- alone bills before that. Those stand-alone piec- es will test lawmaker sen- timent, and the plan is to roll them into the farm bill, he said in a media phone conference. Top prior- ities are cre- ating a safety Conaway net for cotton growers, fix- ing the Margin Protection Program for dairy farmers and the Agricultural Risk Coverage program for grain growers and finding money for a vaccine bank for foot and mouth disease. Most of the farm bill de- liberations will be more of a fine-tuning than a shift in focus, but it will be in an environment of limited re- sources, the Texas Republi- can said. The 2014 Farm Bill was supposed to spend $23 bil- lion less than the 2008 Farm bill, but it’s looking more like it’s going to be $100 billion less, he said. “I’m not necessarily go- ing to be able to reclaim all those (dollars), so we’ve got some hard decisions to make. And it’s going to require the Wisdom of Solomon to make some of them,” he said. Everyone is arguing, justifying and making the case for why their pro- gram should have more money than what was in the 2014 Farm Bill, he said. “If there is a shift in fo- cus, it is to focus like a laser on SNAP,” he said. Reform — not food- stamp cuts — to the Sup- plemental Nutrition As- sistance Program has been the focus of more than 30 listening sessions, he said. The aim is to get the pol- icy correct, reset the suc- cess metric and address the “moral hazards baked into” the program. The focus is not on what is spent but giving people the help they need and getting them back on their feet to where they no longer need the program, he said. “I have religiously stayed away from any ref- erences to food-stamp cuts because that is a pejorative to most folks on the Dem- ocratic side, and I’m trying not to let that happen,” he said. “We’re going to propose reforms to the policy we believe are in the beneficia- ries’ best interest as well as respectful of the taxpayer,” he said. He said he and Rep. Col- in Peterson, D-Minn. and ranking member on the Ag Committee, are “shoulder to shoulder” on almost every- thing they’ll be doing on the farm bill, and he anticipates Peterson’s active involve- ment. “I’m going to be work- ing with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get as good a farm bill as we can get so that we can get a big vote in the House and then try to prevail against whatever the Sen- ate might come up with,” he said. Conaway said he is com- mitted to continuing to push the process to get a farm bill done on time. Senate Ag Commit- tee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., wants to move quickly as well to give lawmakers ample time to work out the differences between the House and Sen- ate bills before the drop- dead date of Sept. 30, he said. CapitalPress.com 7 Could blueberries grow in Idaho? By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press PARMA, Idaho — A Uni- versity of Idaho researcher and a major hop grower in southwestern Idaho are co- ordinating their efforts to try to figure out how to success- fully grow blueberries in the region. If their field trials pan out, Brock & Phillip Obendorf Farms could become the first producer to successfully grow blueberries on a large scale in Idaho. “The jury’s still out on how it’s going to turn out,” said Phil Obendorf, co-own- er of Obendorf Farms, one of the state’s largest hop grow- ers. He has been growing 18 acres of blueberries on the farm for two years now, with mixed results. The plants A southwestern Idaho hop farm is trying to become the first producer in Idaho to grow blueberries successfully on a large scale. The farm has grown them for two years now and is trying to overcome low yields and high soil pH issues. Tim Hearden/Capital Press produce berries but yields are nowhere near what it will take to make it a profit- able crop for the farm, which also grows onions, wheat and corn. Obendorf said high soil pH is proving to be a major chal- lenge. A measure of soil acid- ity, high pH levels can affect a plant’s roots and prevent it from up-taking some micro- nutrients, Obendord said. UI researcher Essie Fal- lahi, who heads the univer- sity’s pomology program at the nearby Parma experiment station, has been trying to grow blueberries for several years, and he is also having a problem with high soil pH content. “We are trying to grow blueberries but we are fight- ing with high pH problems,” he said. “It’s a major prob- lem and causes damage to production.” Fallahi said a solution, one that Obendorf is also us- ing, is to add acid when wa- tering the plants. “The acid brings the pH down and makes the mi- cronutrients available,” he said. “When we inject a lot of acid, we have had some success but it is expensive to do that.” Fallahi began growing a blueberry variety provided by Obendorf Farms this year at the experiment station. “I’m trying to help Essie so he can help me,” Oben- dorf said. Obendorf said that if the farm’s blueberry experiment is successful, it will help the operation diversify. “We’re just looking for another crop that could be the next emerging market in this area,” he said. “There are no blueberries grown locally here (but) there’s demand for them.” This year was the first Obendorf Farms sold its blueberries commercially, to three supermarkets, three farmers’ markets and four fruit stands. Obendord said his plants are yielding about 10 percent of what they need to in order to be profitable but it takes four or five years for them to reach full production. He’s hopeful that despite the current low yields and high pH issue, blueberries will turn out to be a profitable crop for the farm. “I think it’s very prom- ising,” he said. “We’re definitely hoping for a bigger crop next year. We’re planning to keep expanding.” Agency rolls out rules for winery wastewater By DON JENKINS Capital Press Wineries wash bottles, barrels and tanks, and the wa- ter picks up cleansers, stems and dregs and the potential to pollute, according to the Washington Department of Ecology, which will make some winemakers get a permit to irrigate with wastewater. Ecology will take com- ments on the proposal until Feb. 14. The permit will also regulate sending wastewater into sewer and septic systems. The rules will apply to win- eries that produce more than 17,835 gallons a year, about one-fifth of the state’s more than 900 winemakers. Washington Wine Institute Executive Director Josh Mc- Donald said Monday that the trade group hopes Ecology will raise the threshold. “Our position in trying to work with If you go Ecology will hold two public hearings on the proposal: • 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, at Benton County PUD, 250 Gap Road, Prosser. • 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, South Bellevue Community College, 14509 S.E. Newport Way, Bellevue. Written comments may be mailed to: Stacey Callaway, Water Quality Program, Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47696, Olym- pia, WA 98504-7696. Online ecology.wa.gov/winerypermit Ecology has been to come as close to doing no harm as pos- sible,” he said. The rules have been sever- al years in the making. Ecol- ogy expects to finalize them and start issuing permits next summer. Some large winer- ies already have wastewater permits, but for the first time the entire industry will be put under uniform requirements. Ecology uses the same reg- ulatory approach to control wastewaster from several oth- er industries, including fruit packers. “What we hope for is that under the permit, wineries will be able to comply with it without extraordinary ac- tions,” Washington Associa- tion of Wine Grape Growers lobbyist Mike Schwisow said. Wineries have not been a “major source” of ground- water pollution, according to an Ecology fact sheet. The agency cites a Michigan food processor that contaminated groundwater by irrigating as a reason for the new rules. Ecology says winery wastewater picks up organic material and is typically acid- ic. Groundwater could be pol- luted if wineries over-irrigate with untreated wastewater, septic tanks fail or the volume discharged overwhelms treat- ment plants. Wineries that come under the regulations will have to submit a pollution-prevention plan. Wineries generate waste- water primarily by cleaning and rinsing equipment to pre- vent wine from being contam- inated. A typical winery uses 6 gallons of water for every gallon of wine produced, ac- cording to Ecology. McDonald said the wine institute has been asking from the beginning whether winer- ies are polluting groundwater. He said wineries made some progress in negotiating the terms of the permit, but the cost and complexity remain concerns. “It’s still 80 pages long and still fairly complicat- ed to understand,” he said. An Ecology spokeswoman said Tuesday there have been cases of wineries discharging wastewater high in pH and discharging enough wastewa- ter to overwhelm treatment plants. In a financial analy- sis, Ecology estimates that building a small lagoon to hold wastewater would cost $102,000, while a large lagoon would cost $315,000. As a nod to the financial burden of following the rules, Ecology exempted hundreds of small winemakers. ROP-46-3-3/HOU
