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14 CapitalPress.com February 9, 2018 Company to launch new GM apple product By DAN WHEAT Capital Press SUMMERLAND, B.C. — A small volume of geneti- cally modified non-browning sliced apples apparently were well received by consum- ers in the U.S. Midwest and Southeast in November, and the company making them will launch a new product in mid-February. Neal Carter, president of Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. in Summerland, won’t say what the new product is but says 92 to 94 percent of consumers who ate the com- pany’s GM sliced Golden De- licious in promotional testing in six U.S. Midwest stores last February and March accepted them and said they would like- ly buy them. “We don’t feel we lack consumer acceptance,” Carter said. Asked if he believes it is a very vocal minority opposed to GM products, he said, “Yes, very much so.” OSF launched commercial sales Nov. 1 of only 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of Arctic Okanagan Specialty Fruits Okanagan Specialty Fruits The non-browning genetically modified Arctic Fuji, developed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits of Summerland, B.C., has been approved for production and sales in Canada. Arctic Golden Delicious apple slices sold last November in the U.S. Midwest and Southeast. The Canadian product is the first genetically modified apples sold in the U.S. Golden slices in about 70 stores under three retail ban- ners across the Midwest and into the Southeast. They sold in 10-ounce pouch bags at a range of premium prices. The sales and the earlier testing provided valuable con- sumer feedback on price points and packaging, Carter said. Another 120,000 to 130,000 pounds of the 2017 crop was held back for the new product coming soon. Testing of bagged, whole apples may come next fall, he said. OSF’s products all sell un- der its Arctic brand. The Canadian Food Inspec- tion Agency and Health Cana- da announced Jan. 30 that the Arctic Fuji can be sold as food in Canada, poses no greater risk to human health than ap- ples currently sold, has no im- pact on allergies and is not dif- ferent in nutritional value than non-GM apples. The Arctic Fuji had already been approved for sales in the U.S. by USDA in September, 2016. Arctic Golden Delicious and Granny Smith have been approved in both countries and OSF plans to submit re- quests for approval of an Arc- tic Gala later this year or ear- ly next year. Approval takes about nine months in the U.S. and more than twice that in Canada, Carter said. OSF is considering other varieties, he said. Carter, company founder, silenced a gene, reducing the enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO) to prevent browning when apples are sliced, bit- ten or bruised. The apples match the industry norm of not browning for three weeks after slicing but without using flavor-altering, chemical addi- tives that the rest of the fresh- sliced apple industry uses. OSF touts its slices as pre- servative free. OSF grows most of its ap- ples in undisclosed orchards in Washington state and is ag- gressively planting to increase volume to become a national brand in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere, Carter said. “We are pursuing regula- tory approval in Mexico and Argentina right now,” he said. The company will have 660 acres of orchards in Washing- ton by the end of 2018, grow- ing to 1,450 by mid-2019 and in 2020 will plant an addition- al 1,000 acres in Washington and the East Coast, he said. So far, orchards are all company owned but contract growers likely will join, Car- ter said. Washington has been the focus because of the availabil- ity of large tracts of land and because it’s good apple coun- try, he said. The company is consider- ing several sites in Washing- ton to build a storage, pro- cessing and packing facility. Currently, it slices apples on its own line in facilities of an- other company in the Pacific Northwest. Sales have only been in the U.S. “In Canada, you have to have packaging in both En- glish and French so it’s not worth doing until we have more fruit,” Carter said. “We may have a small amount here late this year from the 2018 crop.” Warming causes worries for Washington snowpack By DAN WHEAT Capital Press YAKIMA, Wash. — Low- land snow on the east slopes of the Cascade Mountains is far less this winter than last and a warm February could threaten snowpack needed for summer irrigation. Statewide snowpack was 100 percent of normal on Feb. 5 and water storage in Yaki- ma Basin reservoirs was 131 percent of average, according to the Natural Resources Con- servation Service and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It was 68 degrees Feb. 4 in Yakima and 57 in Wenatchee, according to the National Weather Service. “We’ve had three to four days of considerably above normal temperatures and rain which does not bode well for building mountain snowpack as we should be doing,” said Scott Pattee, NRCS water supply specialist. “It’s all a function of La Nina. Warm and wet,” he said. Snow depth shrank several inches in a few days but not water content and soil mois- ture is good, Pattee said. Snowstorms could rebuild snowpack or even just cool- er temperatures could main- Western U.S. snow water equivalent Basin-wide percent of February 2018 snowpack compared to the aggregate average (1971-2010). 315 66 150 390 292 332 234 21 137 132 137 519 668 363 442 569 535 407 618 252 27 74 435 331 474 133 280 303 174 22 233 138 289489 321 664 136 3 345 88 562 558 233 12 112 377 132 100 393 12 25 200 246 9 0 20 132 419 75 22 57 20 126 156 231 276 25 36 85 2 170 126 31 7 240 20 0 31 63 0 168 270 0 0 332 43 156 14 16 22 8 26 0 57 59 18 13 39 6 145 237 277 463 277 346 291 Percentage key (As of Feb. 6) Unavailable Less than 50% 50-69% 70-89% 90-109% 110-129% 130-149% More than 149% 13 45 0 20 11 10 25 10 20 42 43 12 36 Miles 0 Source: USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service tain existing snowpack, but the February outlook is for above normal temperatures 0 150 300 Capital Press graphic and equal chances of precip- itation, he said. March and April are ex- pected to be below normal in temperature and above nor- mal in precipitation, he said. “If we go through Febru- ary with higher than normal temperatures, that could start to hurt if we’re not getting snow, just rain. This time of year, we should be collecting snow in the mountains every day and we’re getting rain,” Pattee said. Chris Lynch, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation hydrologist overseeing the Yakima Ba- sin’s five mountain reservoirs, said the water situation looks good but that he doesn’t want to lose ground and never likes to see mountain snow melting in February. “Snowpack isn’t bad right now but we don’t have a lot of snow-building weather in our forecast,” he said. “De- cember was dry in the mid- dle and came back strong at the end. Historically, the ba- sin builds snowpack through mid-April.” The five reservoirs, serving 464,000 acres of Yakima Ba- sin farmland, were at 66 per- cent of their 1,065,400-acre- feet capacity on Feb. 5. Precipitation at the reservoirs for the first five days of Feb- ruary was 8.65 inches and wa- ter year-to-date precipitation (Oct. 1 through Feb. 4) was 170 inches or 122 percent of average. Preliminary April through September streamflow fore- casts call for normal to slight- ly above normal flows for the upper and central Columbia River regions, Pattee said. “Some of the best snow in the state is in the upper Co- lumbia and into Canada,” he said. Snow water equivalent snowpack in the Spokane ba- sin was 106 percent of normal on Feb. 5. The upper Colum- bia (Okanogan and Methow rivers) was 131 percent. The central Columbia (Chelan, Entiat and Wenatchee) was 106, the upper Yakima was 92 and the lower Yakima 95. Walla Walla was 76, the lower Snake River was 103, the lower Columbia was 84, south Puget Sound (from Cas- cade crest to lowlands) was 80, central Puget Sound 90, north Puget Sound 116 and the Olympics 126. Snow is sparse below 4,000 feet in the foothills west of Wenatchee. Lowland snow levels and lack of snow are normal for this time of year but noticeable compared with a year ago, which was above normal, Pattee said. Pulse industry asks federal government to purchase excess stocks By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Representatives of the pulse industry will ask the fed- eral government to purchase excess pea and lentil stocks after India unexpectedly hiked its tariff on the crops. The request is to reduce “burdensome” stocks from an unexpected market shock be- fore the new crop year, said Tim McGreevy, chief execu- tive officer for the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council. India was the largest export market for U.S. peas and len- tils, purchasing 150,000 metric tons to 200,000 metric tons of dry peas and 60,000 to 90,000 metric tons of lentils each year in the last five years. India represents about 25 to 30 percent of total pulse ex- ports, McGreevy said. In November, the Indian Submitted Photo Peas are shown in the header during harvest near Kendrick, Idaho. A decision by India to increase its tariffs on peas and lentils from the U.S. has forced the industry to ask the USDA to boost its purchases of pulse crops. government imposed a 50 percent tariff on all dry peas imported by India. Then, in December, the Indian govern- ment imposed a 30 percent tariff on lentil and chickpea imports. “What was particularly disturbing about this decree was they made it effective im- mediately,” McGreevy said. “That was very difficult, be- cause some U.S. shippers had product on the water bound to be delivered into India by the end of the year, or was already loaded and shipped. That was what we considered to be quite poor trade practice.” The shipments had to be re- directed, causing some shippers to take losses, McGreevy said. India is within its rights un- der the World Trade Organiza- tion to impose the tariff on im- ported pulses, McGreevy said. The reason given is that In- dia had a fairly large domestic crop of pulses and is protect- ing prices for its growers. Mc- Greevy said it’s had the desired effect: The tariff completely shut off all sales into India, and domestic prices increased “sig- nificantly.” India is the largest producer and “by far” the largest con- sumer of pulse crops in the world, McGreevy said. Eighty percent of India’s population is vegetarian and constantly seeks inexpensive sources of vegeta- ble protein. Stronger demand domes- tically has helped soften the blow for U.S. farmers, he said. But stock levels are well above the past five years. Prices have dropped by 2 to 3 cents per hundredweight since the tariffs were announced. “It was the biggest mar- ket shock I’ve been a part of in my 24 years,” McGreevy said. “We’ve had droughts be- fore, but you can kind of see them coming. But to have a shock like this where literally a government decision to cut off trade, after you’ve signed contracts — it was significant. There’s no way to plan for that (or) insure against that. There was no indication this was coming.” Wheat, soybean and corn industries have faced a similar tariff in India, McGreevy said. “This isn’t something oth- er commodity groups haven’t faced — they have,” he said. “It’s just the first time we’ve faced it, because they’ve gen- erally been pulse-deficit.” Oregon wineries see surge in direct-to-consumer sales By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press The U.S. wine industry continues to experience a meteoric rise in di- rect-to-consumer sales, with Oregon wineries seeing the sharpest increase of all in 2017. That’s according to an annual report by Wines & Vines magazine and So- vos, a company that makes tax compli- ance and regulatory reporting software. Together, they have tracked growth in the direct-to-consumer channel since 2010. Wineries shipped more than 5.78 million cases direct-to-consumer in 2017, valued at $2.69 billion. Both figures show roughly 15 percent annu- al growth in the sector, outpacing the six-year average of 11 and 12 percent, respectively. Oregon led all wine-producing regions with a 31 percent gain in di- rect-to-consumer sales, followed by Washington at 26 percent and Sonoma County, Calif., at 25 percent. Napa County, Calif., remained the leader both in volume and value of di- rect-to-consumer sales, even after the devastating wildfires that struck the re- gion during harvest in October — the busiest time for tourists. In Oregon, direct-to-consumer wine shipments have increased 214 percent since 2012, with Pinot noir driving more than half of that volume. The average price per bottle also increased by 2.8 percent, to $39.16. “Oregon is clearly having its day,” the report states. “Due to larger than average harvests in 2013-2015, along with increased attention from inves- tors, the trade, media and consumers, Oregon’s sales and shipments are flour- ishing.” Sally Murdoch, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Wine Board, said the news is encouraging to every Oregon wine- maker. “This represents a lot of hard work on the part of our producers in an ex- tremely competitive and challenging market,” Murdoch said. “It also shows a lot of successful engagement with con- sumers with a very sharp focus on what consumers want in the high-end wine sector.” The Oregon Wine Board’s figures show a similar increase in direct-to-con- sumer sales, which rose by 63,536 cases in 2016 over 2015. Murdoch said tasting rooms are largely responsible for those impressive increases. “People really want to get in there, see the people who make the wine and buy,” she said. “It’s very tactile.” WSDA determining effects of TPP pact without U.S. By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press The Washington State Department of Agriculture is trying to determine the impact of the Trans-Pacif- ic Partnership proceeding without the U.S. “We’re still figuring out what that impact is, and how quickly those competitive disadvantages will emerge,” said Derek Sandison, WSDA director. “How much time do we have to find a solution be- fore we actually are having real, tangible impacts — in terms of how much more tariffs we’re paying than our competitors?” The U.S. wheat industry estimates the tariff alone will create a $200 million annual disadvantage in Ja- pan by the time the trade deal is fully implemented in nine years. The department is working with various com- modity organizations to get a sense of what they’ve heard and know, Sandison said. The state is using its connections with USDA to assess what they’re seeing. “Who’s impacted, by how much, and when?” Sandison said. During a National As- sociation of State Depart- ments of Agriculture fo- rum in Washington, D.C., he spoke with Ted McKin- ney, USDA Undersecretary for trade and foreign agri- cultural affairs, and Sharon Bomer Lauritsen, assistant trade representative for ag- ricultural affairs and com- modity policy for the U.S. Trade Representative. Sandison told McKin- ney and Lauritsen that the agreement, now called TPP 11, will create an uneven playing field for U.S. com- modities. McKinney and Laurit- sen said one problem is the U.S. Senate is sitting on the confirmation of Greg Doud, who was nominat- ed to be the chief agricul- tural negotiator for USTR, Sandison said. The hold was recently lifted, but no Senate vote has been set on his appointment. “Not having that criti- cal position in place does somewhat limit their abili- ty to have a broad, ranging set of discussions through- out ag trade,” Sandison said. “From their stand- point, they still want to pursue bilaterals, although we’ve seen in recent news stories that the president has expressed some inter- est in maybe revisiting the multilateral side of this, which has yet to be seen.” Wheat industry rep- resentatives recently met with Japanese government officials and flour millers and were told that nation is not interested in a bilateral agreement. Sandison said Japan expressed similar sentiments to other groups recently, including the Montana Department of Agriculture. Japan recently entered an agreement with the Eu- ropean Union, which will likely affect the ability to compete selling Washing- ton wine in Japan, Sandi- son said. Wine-selling competitors such as Aus- tralia and New Zealand remain in TPP, and will have a competitive advan- tage over the U.S. in the Japanese market, Sandison said. Sandison planned to be in Washington, D.C., this week with the state’s wheat industry represen- tatives, meeting with the White House’s agriculture and trade representative to explain the potential im- pacts of the U.S. leaving TPP. State agriculture repre- sentatives met last week with Senate Finance Com- mittee staff to voice their concerns.