December 8, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Grass seed market strong heading into 2018 Hemp on hiatus as
WSDA asks for money
DLF Pickseed CEO
says prices to
remain healthy
House ag chairman:
Simplify program
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
By DON JENKINS
SALEM, Ore. — Grass
seed farmers are heading into
2018 on a strong footing, as
world supply is largely bal-
anced with demand, accord-
ing to a global seed marketing
executive.
“We don’t have to worry
about prices dropping dramat-
ically this year or next year,”
said Claus Ikjaer, president
and CEO of DLF Pickseed.
The market outlook is
positive despite the strong
U.S. dollar, which general-
ly hinders exports of U.S.
products, Ikjaer said. For the
same amount of money, for-
eign buyers can now purchase
about 80 pounds of U.S. seed
compared to 100 pounds in
2011.
Traditionally, strong grass
seed prices would spur more
production, but that large-
ly didn’t happen when oth-
er commodity prices were
healthy and those crops were
competing for acreage, he
said.
“Production is really not
going up as it used to do,”
Ikjaer said Dec. 5 during the
Oregon Seed Growers League
annual conference.
Now that commodity crop
prices are weak, grass seed
Capital Press
Capital Press File
Grass seed is harvested from an Oregon field. Claus Ikjaer, president and CEO of DLF Pickseed, sees
stable grass seed prices heading into 2018.
growers can be expected to re-
spond by expanding acreage,
he said. However, in Oregon,
farmers have increasingly
dedicated land to hazelnuts.
It’s estimated that Oregon’s
grass seed acreage dropped
from 525,000 acres in 2006 to
about 375,000 acres in 2010,
when prices were suffering
due to the housing downturn
and financial crisis, he said.
Grass seed production
has since recovered to about
400,000 acres in 2017 and
will likely remain flat next
year, Ikjaer said.
In the U.S., three years
of lower grass seed yields
have depleted stocks of cer-
tain species, leaving dealers
struggling to meet demand, he
said. “That’s starting to create
some issues for us.”
High prices are increasing-
ly driving companies to use
seed coatings, Ikjaer said.
Such coatings add weight
to seed but they can also im-
prove germination by retain-
ing water and making nutri-
ents readily available.
Annual ryegrass is the
most commonly exported spe-
cies, representing nearly 46
percent of the export market,
and China is the top destina-
tion for grass seed.
“China is by far the most
important market for us at the
moment,” Ikjaer said.
While Europe is the sec-
ond major destination for
grass seed, the continent is
largely self-sufficient and it’s
been importing less seed in
recent years, he said.
For example, exports of
U.S. annual ryegrass to Eu-
rope have dropped more than
a third since the 2013-2014
marketing year.
Poland’s production of the
species has compensated for
the decline, since U.S. prices
are too high to fill the demand,
Ikjaer said.
Ikjaer urged the U.S. in-
dustry to more accurate-
ly monitor its grass seed
acreage, which would help
better
project
available
supplies.
In Denmark and Poland,
for example, farmers are re-
quired to report acreage to the
government, but in the U.S.,
surveys are voluntary and
therefore not as dependable,
he said.
“We don’t have reliable
data,” Ikjaer said.
Trump takes step to reduce national monuments
By CATHERINE LUCEY
and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY —
President Donald Trump on
Monday took the unusual step
of scaling back two sprawling
national monuments in Utah,
declaring that “public lands
will once again be for public
use,” in a move cheered by
Republican leaders who had
lobbied him to undo protec-
tions they considered overly
broad.
The decision marks the
first time in a half century that
a president has undone these
types of land protections.
Tribal and environmental
groups oppose the decision
and are expected to go to
court in a bid to preserve the
designations.
Trump made the plan of-
ficial during a speech at the
State Capitol, where he signed
proclamations to shrink the
Bears Ears and Grand Stair-
case-Escalante national mon-
uments.
Both monuments encom-
pass millions of acres.
State officials said the pro-
tections were overly broad
and closed off the area to en-
ergy development and other
access.
Environmental and trib-
al groups plan to sue, saying
the designations are needed
to protect important archaeo-
logical and cultural resources,
Evan Vucci/Associated Press
President Donald Trump shows off a proclamation he signed to
shrink the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante
national monuments Dec. 4 in Salt Lake City.
especially the more than 1.3
million-acre (2,030-square-
mile) Bears Ears site fea-
turing thousands of Native
American artifacts, including
ancient cliff dwellings and
petroglyphs.
Trump argued that the peo-
ple of Utah know best how to
care for their land.
“Some people think that
the natural resources of Utah
should be controlled by a
small handful of very distant
bureaucrats located in Wash-
ington,” Trump said. “And
guess what? They’re wrong.”
Roughly 3,000 demonstra-
tors lined up near the State
Capitol to protest Trump’s an-
nouncement. Some held signs
that said, “Keep your tiny
hands off our public lands,”
and they chanted, “Lock him
up!”
A smaller group gathered
in support of Trump’s deci-
sion, including some who said
they favor potential drilling or
mining there that could create
new jobs.
“Your timeless bond with
the outdoors should not be re-
placed with the whims of reg-
ulators thousands and thou-
sands of miles away,” Trump
said. “I’ve come to Utah to
take a very historic action to
reverse federal overreach and
restore the rights of this land
to your citizens.”
Bears Ears, created last De-
cember by President Barack
Obama, will be reduced by
about 85 percent, to 201,876
acres (315 square miles).
Grand Staircase-Escalante
National Monument, desig-
nated in 1996 by President
Bill Clinton, will be reduced
from nearly 1.9 million acres
(nearly 3,000 square miles) to
1,003,863 acres (1,569 square
miles).
Both were among a group
of 27 monuments that Trump
ordered Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke to review this
year.
Zinke accompanied Trump
aboard Air Force One, as did
Utah’s Republican U.S. sen-
ators, Orrin Hatch and Mike
Lee.
Hatch and other Utah
Republican leaders pushed
Trump to launch the review,
saying the monuments locked
up too much federal land.
Trump framed the deci-
sion as returning power to
the state, saying, “You know
and love this land the best and
you know the best how to take
care of your land.” He said
the decision would “give back
your voice.”
Washington’s hemp pro-
gram, not yet a year old, has
stopped issuing licenses be-
cause of a budget deficit.
Restarting the program
for a second growing season
may depend on whether state
lawmakers are willing to in-
vest $287,000 into nurturing a
hemp industry that faces high
regulatory costs.
“Without the addition-
al appropriations, we would
need to shut down the pro-
gram,” state Department of
Agriculture spokesman Hec-
tor Castro said. “Without the
funding, it’s not a sustainable
program.”
The program’s costs are
largely driven by the fact that
hemp, according to federal
law, is a federally controlled
substance and can be legally
grown and processed only
under state supervision. Over-
sight varies from state to state.
Washington chose a high lev-
el of control, intended to build
a sturdy hemp industry not
vulnerable to federal interven-
tion.
The cost of closely regu-
lating hemp, however, has far
surpassed the fees collected
from growers and processors.
While some other states, in-
cluding Oregon, have regis-
tered hundreds of hemp busi-
nesses, Washington has issued
only seven licenses, collecting
$8,139 in fees and spending
$146,000 on oversight. The
licenses must be renewed an-
nually.
WSDA says the $287,000
in general tax funds would
restart the program and see
it through a second summer.
WSDA receives relatively
little money from the general
fund. Many of its programs
are supported by fees paid by
growers. “To increase fees to
a level to sustain the program
would not be feasible for an
industry this young,” Castro
said.
House Agriculture Com-
mittee Chairman Brian Blake,
D-Aberdeen, said that he
would be interested in simply
treating hemp like any other
crop, eliminating the need for
growers to support a state pro-
gram.
“Let’s make this as least
complicated as possible and
let people farm. I don’t think
I’m worried about the feder-
al government. I’m worried
about innovating and growing
this opportunity for Washing-
ton farmers,” he said.
“This is not marijuana. It’s
an ag crop,” Blake said. “At
some point, somebody needs
to go tell the feds to go pound
sand.”
Some 33 states have ap-
proved licensed hemp culti-
vation, but no state has gone
as far as simply allowing it to
be grown without any state
supervision, according to the
National Conference of State
Legislatures. Congress autho-
rized state-supervised hemp
in the 2014 Farm Bill, but
has not approved wide-open
hemp cultivation.
Washington hemp entre-
preneur Cory Sharp, whose
license expires in June, said
he had welcomed the state’s
involvement because WSDA
approval added credibility to
the new industry.
But he said the program is
too expensive. Hemp nation-
wide has picked up so much
momentum that he’s not wor-
ried about federal intervention
if the state program ends, he
said.
“The cat’s out of the bag,”
Sharp said. “It’s happening
with or without the Depart-
ment of Agriculture.”
Hemp remains subject to
state-by-state interpretations
of federal law. Some states,
for example, have banned oil
extracted from hemp leaves,
but it’s widely available for
consumption in other states.
The Washington Legisla-
ture this year removed hemp
plants from the state’s con-
trolled substance list then
promptly directed WSDA
to write rules to fine anyone
growing unlicensed hemp.
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