4
CapitalPress.com
December 29, 2017
ODA keep close eye on
deceptive swine virus
Cosmic Crisp marketing plan in works
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
Reports of Seneca Valley Virus are on the rise in Oregon
swine, and though the virus itself is relatively harmless, it is the
resemblance to a much more pernicious foreign disease that
has animal health officials on guard.
Cases may
resemble more
serious foot-and-
mouth disease
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Reports of Seneca Valley
Virus are on the rise in Ore-
gon swine, and though the
virus itself is relatively harm-
less, it is the resemblance to
a much more pernicious for-
eign disease that has animal
health officials on guard.
Brad LeaMaster, state
veterinarian for the Oregon
Department of Agriculture,
said more than 50 cases of
Seneca Valley Virus have
been recorded since Septem-
ber, all from pigs imported to
a slaughterhouse near Klam-
ath Falls.
Animals infected by the
virus may develop telltale le-
sions on their feet and snouts,
but otherwise heal within a
few days, LeaMaster said.
The symptoms, however,
look exactly like the highly
contagious and sometimes
fatal foot-and-mouth disease,
which could have a devas-
tating effect on the livestock
industry.
“For each case, every
time we have an animal that
breaks with this, then we
have to investigate,” Lea-
Master said. “Really, how
do we know? What we don’t
want is to become compla-
cent.”
Foot-and-mouth disease
is widespread around the
world, but has not been doc-
umented in the U.S. since
1929. Ironically, it is in the
same family of viruses as
Seneca Valley Virus, which
makes differentiating the two
a challenge.
“We want to be diligent
and encourage producers,
as well as veterinarians, to
call us right away if they
see the vesicular lesions,”
LeaMaster said. “We’ll send
someone out to do the labo-
ratory testing immediately to
determine if it’s Seneca Val-
ley Virus and rule out foot-
and-mouth disease.”
Seneca Valley Virus was
first isolated by scientists in
2002, but it wasn’t until 2015
when cases began to gain
attention in Oregon, Lea-
Master said.
“It’s one of those emerg-
ing-type diseases,” he said.
“It’s not a big deal in terms
of the disease it causes ini-
tially.”
Foot-and-mouth disease,
however, is a very big deal.
As a field veterinarian for
ODA in 2001, LeaMaster
experienced firsthand a large
outbreak of the disease in the
United Kingdom, which re-
sulted in animals needing to
be slaughtered to contain its
spread.
LeaMaster said foot-and-
mouth is one of the most con-
tagious diseases on the plan-
et, affecting cloven-hoofed
animals including pigs, cat-
tle, sheep and goats. It can
kill young animals, while
adults never regain their peak
production.
KENNEWICK, Wash. —
Developing a marketing plan
and funding for it are among
the tasks remaining as the
Washington apple industry
prepares for the first sales of
Cosmic Crisp apples in two
years.
Kevin Brandt, vice pres-
ident of Proprietary Variety
Management in Yakima,
Wash., was asked about the
marketing budget for Cosmic
Crisp at the Washington State
Tree Fruit Association annual
meeting in Kennewick.
“We don’t know at this
point. We understand it needs
to be a large roll-out. We
know that takes money. We’re
looking at grants,” Brandt re-
plied.
His father, Lynnell Brandt,
president of PVM, which was
hired by Washington State
University to help manage
commercialization of the new
state apple, said a marketing
advisory committee is work-
ing “toward consensus” for
a marketing plan and that all
options, except probably new
grower assessments, are being
looked at for funding.
Money is needed for the
first few years of the launch
but as sales volumes increase
companies will have revenues
to augment marketing, Lyn-
nell Brandt said.
Five marketing entities that
handle 80 percent or more of
the state’s apple marketing are
working well together on the
committee despite being com-
petitors, committee chairman
Robert Kershaw, president of
Domex Superfresh Growers
in Yakima, has said.
With 629,000 Cosmic
Crisp trees planted in the
spring of 2017, 5.8 million
ready for planting in the
spring of 2018 and 5.2 million
to be planted in 2019, Brandt
estimates 200,000, 40-pound
boxes of Cosmic Crisp will go
to stores from the 2019 crop,
1.9 million in 2020, 5 million
in 2021 and 9 million in 2022.
Production may reach 15 mil-
lion boxes in 10 years.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
A Cosmic Crisp apple from the 2015 WSU field trials. Tiny yellow specks in the skin are lenticels, or
pores. That they look like little stars is the basis for the Cosmic Crisp name.
Courtesy of PVM
A logo designed by Blind Renaissance Inc. of East Wenatchee,
Wash., for the new Cosmic Crisp apple. An official logo has not yet
been chosen.
PVM will help develop and
coordinate the marketing plan
with advice from the advisory
committee, Brandt said. The
first major crop in 2020 is the
target date for having a plan in
place, he said.
A subcommittee is work-
ing on grading standards that
may be adjusted after the first
few years of juvenile fruit.
Cosmic Crisp was bred
from Enterprise and Honey-
crisp apples 20 years ago by
WSU apple breeder Bruce
Barritt at the WSU Tree Fruit
Research and Extension Cen-
ter in Wenatchee. It rates high
in flavor, color, storage and
resistance to disease and dis-
orders. The industry believes
consumers will like its sweet,
tangy flavor more than that of
Honeycrisp.
Such an aggressive ramp-
up of a new variety has never
been tried before.
The planting of 12 million
trees in three years has been
estimated as a collective in-
dustry investment of $275
million to $550 million. A 10
million-box crop of Cosmic
Crisp could gross $300 mil-
lion to $500 million annually.
Costco likes Cosmic Crisp
and has a “spot open on the
spread sheet for it,” Keith
Neal, a Costco buyer, told
growers at the meeting.
Chris Willett, quality con-
trol and packing manager for
T&G Global in Wenatchee,
told growers the anticipated,
unprecedented ramp-up is
“daunting,” that it is “diffi-
cult” to launch marketing that
quickly and that consumption
will only grow so fast.
“The question is will oth-
er varieties move away fast
enough. Quality has to be
there — and the right price,”
he said.
Brandt said good branding
is vital because it increases
revenues.
“Branding is a name, a
term, a design or symbol that
differentiates a product. It can
be a picture or name recog-
nition. Strong brands drive
consumer traffic and deliver a
promise,” he said.
Consumers are willing to
pay more for a branded prod-
uct because it guarantees con-
sistent quality, he said. The
Nike shoe symbol is an exam-
ple, he said.
PVM has trademarked the
name Cosmic Crisp and is ap-
plying for a logo trademark.
It likes a logo developed by
Blind Renaissance Inc. in East
Wenatchee showing the name
in a galaxy of stars but has not
made a final decision.
H-2A ag worker minimum wages hiked
By DAN WHEAT
Attorneys for state
make counterclaim
against Hayes
Oyster Co.
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An oysterman would for-
feit his oyster plats in Tilla-
mook Bay if he prevails in a
lawsuit alleging inadequate
regulation of dairy pollu-
tion, according to Oregon’s
attorneys.
Jesse Hayes, president of
the Hayes Oyster Co., filed a
complaint accusing the Ore-
gon Department of Environ-
mental Quality of allowing
dairy pollution to effectively
shut down oyster harvests in
the bay.
The
lawsuit
seeks
$100,000 for lost profits and
reduced property value, as
well as an order for DEQ
to regulate pollution more
strictly in the region.
The State of Oregon de-
nies taking the plaintiff’s
property by sanctioning pol-
lution, but if he’s success-
ful in this claim, ownership
of the affected oyster beds
should go to DEQ, accord-
ing to the state’s attorneys.
The title to the oyster
bed lease would “vest” to
the agency because Hayes
is pursuing a claim of “in-
verse condemnation,” under
which a government action
is alleged to take property
without compensation, the
state’s attorneys said in a
counterclaim against Hayes.
Hayes objects to the state
government’s argument be-
cause the lawsuit’s goal is to
“regain economically viable
use of its oyster plats” rath-
er than being forced to sell
them to DEQ “for a disputed
price so that the pollution
easement can continue in-
definitely,” according to a
letter sent by his attorney,
Thomas Benke.
“If nothing else, public
policy should preclude DEQ
from extinguishing a ‘bene-
ficial use’ that it is mandated
by law to protect,” Benke
said in the letter to Tilla-
mook County Circuit Judge
Mari Garric Trevino.
OROVILLE, Wash. —
As the minimum wage for
H-2A-visa foreign agricultur-
al workers goes up 74 cents
per hour in Washington and
Oregon, a small tree fruit
grower in this U.S.-Canadian
border town says it’s just one
more factor jeopardizing his
survival.
“I’m filling out my H-2A
application for next year right
now as we speak. It has me
nervous. I don’t know when it
ends. It’s a minimum so I have
to reward workers with expe-
rience and better skills by pay-
ing them more than that,” says
Dave Taber, owner-operator
of about 275 acres of apples,
pears and cherries.
The H-2A minimum wage
in 2018 for Washington and
Oregon is $14.12 per hour, up
5.53 percent from $13.38 this
year. The two states fall from
highest to second highest in
the nation. Hawaii is the new
No. 1 at $14.37 per hour.
Taber hired 30 H-2A work-
ers last year and this year plans
to have 45. For the first time,
he’s hiring some for winter
pruning and spring planting.
“It’s just making our cost
of labor go up and it’s that
much more difficult to get
returns to cover that. You’d
better have the right varieties,
quality, yields and warehouses
to stay in business and I’m not
sure if I do or not,” Taber said.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Dave Taber’s fruit stand and cherry orchard just north of Oroville, Wash., in the off season last April.
He says the increasing minimum wage for H-2A-visa foreign workers makes it harder for him to stay in
business.
The U.S. Department of
Labor on Dec. 21, released the
Adverse Effect Wage Rates
(AEWRs) for all regions of
the country for 2018. They
are the same as what USDA’s
National Agricultural Statis-
tics Service released in No-
vember based on a survey of
prevailing wages of field and
livestock workers by region
across the nation.
They are minimum hourly
rates for H-2A-visa workers,
usually above state minimum
wages, and intended to be
high enough that the pay of
Grass Expertise.
LET’S TALK!
GREENWAY SEEDS
48-3/106
Caldwell, Idaho • Alan Greenway, Seedsman
Cell: 298-259-9159 • MSG: 298-454-8342
Over 40 Years
Experience
Alan Greenway,
Seedsman
52-3/108
State eyes oyster plats
in dairy pollution lawsuit
Capital Press
domestic workers is not ad-
versely affected.
An employer who hires
H-2A workers is required to
pay a minimum of the AEWR
to any domestic workers also
under his or her employ.
AEWR increases push all
wages up, increasing costs,
growers say.
California goes up 4.85
percent, from $12.57 to
$13.38.
Idaho and Wyoming wages
go down 3 cents from $11.66
to $11.63. Nevada and Col-
orado go down 2.82 percent
from $11 to $10.69 and Arizo-
na is down 4.47 percent from
$10.95 to $10.46.
Washington tree fruit
growers pay piece rates for
harvest that generally run the
equivalent of $20 per hour and
more for fast pickers.
Dan Fazio, executive di-
rector of the farm labor asso-
ciation WAFLA, said expense
is a major grower complaint
about H-2A. Some vegetable
farmers have quit using it be-
cause they can’t afford it, he
said.
Beside the high minimum
wage, employers have to pro-
vide worker housing and pay
transportation for the workers
from and back to their coun-
try of origin, predominantly
Mexico.
Labor shortages are driv-
ing up wages but not creating
more workers, he said.
“Now that H-2A is a signif-
icant component of the work-
force in Washington it is caus-
ing wages to increase across
the board. It helps employers
attract more domestics,” he
said. “The pressure right now
is on employers to get very
productive workers.”
DOL approved 200,049
H-2A workers for U.S. farms
in 2017, up 20.7 percent from
2016 and about 10 percent of
the nation’s more than 2 mil-
lion seasonal ag workers, ac-
cording the National Council
of Agricultural Employers in
Washington, D.C.
DOL approved 18,535
H-2A workers for Washington
state in 2017, up 9.3 percent.
California was at 15,232, up
7.6 percent. Oregon and Ida-
ho were not available but have
far fewer.