December 8, 2017
CapitalPress.com
9
Pacific Northwest wheat
exports grow as total U.S.
wheat exports decline
Region ships
100,000 metric
tons each year
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Capital Press File
A California FFA Foundation fundraiser brought in enough money to purchase nearly 600 blue jackets for members who can’t afford them.
California FFA’s Giving Tuesday
fundraiser nets nearly $45,000
GALT, Calif. — Donors
to the California FFA Foun-
dation’s jacket fundraiser
stepped up in a big way on
Nov. 28, as they teamed with
Blue Diamond Growers to
raise enough money to pur-
chase nearly 600 blue jack-
ets for members who can’t
afford their own.
At $75 for each jack-
et with a tie or scarf, that’s
nearly $45,000.
The organization near-
ly met its goal of raising
enough for 668 jackets, or
two for each of California’s
334 FFA chapters, the foun-
dation explained on its web-
site.
That’s a big jump from
the $6,500 goal the Califor-
nia FFA set and reached on
Giving Tuesday in 2016. A
big reason for the increase
was Blue Diamond Growers,
which matched individuals’
donations.
The push started last year
as FFA advisers realized
some members didn’t have
the means to purchase their
own trusty blue-and-gold
jackets and had to borrow
them for competitions and
other events.
The FFA held its first
jacket fundraiser in conjunc-
tion with the Sacramento
area’s Big Day of Giving in
May 2016, during which lo-
cal residents and businesses
donated more than $22,000
to support FFA and agricul-
tural education.
Giving Tuesday is a
United Nations Founda-
tion-sponsored movement
to encourage philanthropy
at the beginning of the hol-
iday season. Started in 2012,
Giving Tuesday always falls
on the Tuesday after Thanks-
giving, on the heels of Black
Friday and Cyber Monday.
California has about
88,000 FFA members state-
wide and is led by more than
760 advisers and agriculture
teachers.
Idaho farm cash receipts, ag exports projected to be up in 2017
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — The condition
of Idaho agriculture is im-
proving, with farm exports
and farm cash receipts expect-
ed to be up this year compared
to 2016.
And Idaho agriculture is
on a different, better track
than U.S. agriculture as a
whole when it comes to cash
receipts and net farm income.
That was the message
University of Idaho Agricul-
tural Economist Garth Taylor
delivered Nov. 28 during the
Idaho-Eastern Oregon Seed
Association’s annual meeting.
The value of Idaho foreign
farm product exports had de-
clined 20 percent from 2014
to 2016 but they are up 12
percent through the first nine
months of 2017, Taylor said.
“We’ve turned a corner on
a lot of ag exports,” he said.
UI ag economists forecast
that Idaho farmgate receipts,
which totaled a revised $7.2
billion in 2016, will increase
2 to 7 percent this year, after
declining each of the past two
years.
Based on USDA Economic
Research Service data, Taylor
said, farm cash receipts in
Idaho have outgrown the U.S.
as a whole by 40 percent since
1980 when converted to real
dollars.
During that same time, net
farm income in Idaho has out-
paced the U.S. as a whole by
100 percent.
“Idaho is growing far fast-
er than the U.S. overall,” he
said.
Taylor used the state’s po-
tato and dairy sectors to show
that growth is based on yield
increases rather than price in-
creases.
Potato prices have declined
45 percent since 1980 when
adjusted for inflation, while
dairy prices have declined by
59 percent, yet both those sec-
tors have seen large increases
in total farm cash receipts.
“The growth comes from
production, not price,” he
said. “It’s the innovation that
you bring to the table that’s
propelling agriculture.”
In terms of farm Gross Do-
mestic Product as a percent-
age of a state’s total GDP, Ida-
ho ranks fourth in the nation,
behind South Dakota, Nebras-
ka and Iowa, Taylor said.
While those other three
states had negative overall
GDP growth during the sec-
ond quarter of 2017, Idaho
GDP increased by 2.7 per-
cent, led by the stability of
the state’s agricultural sector,
Taylor said.
“It’s agriculture that is
dragging those states’ econo-
mies down,” he said. “I’m not
really worried when Midwest
states have heartburn (be-
cause) we’re on a different
track than they are.”
Idaho farm GDP has grown
259 percent since 1997, while
total state GDP has grown 172
percent since then and GDP
from the state’s food manu-
facturing sector has grown
120 percent.
So, while Idaho’s recent
string of new food processing
facilities may attract the rib-
bon cutting ceremonies, that
sector “has not grown as fast
as mom and dad, grandma and
grandpa on a tractor,” Taylor
said.
But Idaho’s farming sector
is not necessarily a new job
creator because farmers are
doing more with less, he said.
While total Idaho jobs in-
creased by 28,000 from 1997
to 2016, the state’s total farm
jobs increased by only 100
during that time.
PORTLAND — Wheat
exports from the Pacific
Northwest have increased by
100,000 tons per year even
as total U.S. wheat exports
have declined by 630,000
metric tons.
Shawn Campbell, deputy
director of the West Coast
office for U.S. Wheat Asso-
ciates, says that’s because the
types of wheat grown in the
region — soft white wheat
and hard red spring wheat —
have very little competition
on international markets.
Wheat exports from the
Pacific Northwest — Idaho,
Oregon, Washington, Mon-
tana and North Dakota —
have continued to grow each
year, said Campbell, who is
based in Portland. The re-
gion caters to markets across
Asia, the most densely popu-
lated region in the world.
“People’s stomachs are
only so big, but if you have
a whole lot of people, they
can buy a whole lot of stuff,”
Campbell said.
Soft white wheat and hard
red spring wheat grown in
the Pacific Northwest are at
the low and high end of the
protein scale. They represent
75 percent of the wheat the
region exports, Campbell
said.
“If you’re trying to sell
a product in a very crowd-
ed market, differentiation
is a huge way to actually
sell more,” Campbell said.
“There’s not a lot of compe-
tition for soft white wheat in
the world market, similar to
hard red spring.”
Growing those types of
wheat is more difficult in
other parts of the world, re-
quiring the right climatic
conditions or more resourc-
es, Campbell said.
“So far most of our com-
petitors seem much more
happy just growing yields as
much as they can,” he said.
Most of the growth in
world wheat production has
happened in hard red winter
wheat, he said.
The U.S. is well-known
as a reliable seller, but often
has a higher price compared
to competing countries. U.S.
Wheat works with buyers to
show them how a high-qual-
ity wheat may have a higher
price, but other factors make
it a better deal, Campbell
said.
Wheat quality in Canada
and Australia is fairly com-
parable. Other countries,
such as Russia, are improv-
ing their wheat quality, al-
though they are not up to the
U.S. level yet, he said.
“One of the things we
always have to fight is main-
taining quality even though
the market pays mostly
for yields,” he said. “If we
don’t maintain our quality,
it erodes even faster that ad-
vantage we have.”
Other advantages for U.S.
wheat include supply reli-
ability, independent inspec-
tion through the USDA’s
Federal Grain Inspection
Service and chemical resi-
due testing. Other countries
might not be able to provide
information in a manner
that’s as trusted, Campbell
said.
The region’s emphasis
on quality is another bene-
fit, Campbell said, including
dockage discounts, when
farmers receive reduced
prices for wheat with low
falling number test scores.
“The reason those dis-
counts exist is because they
incentivize the market to
grow a better quality wheat,
which makes it more com-
petitive overseas,” he said.
Campbell spoke during a
Washington Grain Commis-
sion export tour and wheat
quality workshop Nov. 28-
30 from Spokane to Port-
land.
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