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February 16, 2018 CapitalPress.com 3 Cranberry industry seeks to turn down volume control Small harvest changes outlook By DON JENKINS Capital Press Sean Ellis/Capital Press File A farmer cuts hay in a field near Nampa, Idaho, last June. Despite low crop prices, Northwest farmers are generally doing OK thanks to the wide variety of crops grown in most areas, according to agricul- tural lenders and an ag economist. Northwest farmers doing OK despite low crop prices By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — The wide diver- sity of crops grown in many parts of the Northwest has helped farmers in the region weather low crop prices, and while farm debt levels are high, most producers still have relatively clean balance sheets. Those were the main points made by several agri- cultural lenders and an agricul- tural economist asked about the state of the region’s farm economy. Farm margins in southwest- ern Idaho are much narrower than they were four years ago but so many crops are grown in the area that “there are still opportunities for our farmers and ranchers,” said Andy Beit- ia, Washington Trust Bank’s president in Idaho’s Treasure Valley area. “Some crops in the Trea- sure Valley have been able to do very well,” he said. “There is enough diversification of crops that there are still oppor- tunities for people.” There are always pockets of challenge when the nation’s farm economy is in a down cycle but “the environment throughout the Northwest in agriculture is generally good,” said Blair Wilson, Northwest Farm Credit Services Idaho president. “Idaho, Washington and Oregon have a tremendous amount of crop diversity com- pared with the Midwest” and that provides ample opportuni- ties for producers to find crops to plant that will help them re- main profitable, Wilson said. “We’re not going through a cycle that is any different from any other cycle we’ve gone through in agriculture,” Wilson said. “There are some commodities facing challeng- es and others that are doing well and farmers are in a pretty good position....” Brad Flodin, Washington Trust’s vice president of com- mercial lending in North Idaho and Eastern Washington, said the bank is not seeing an in- crease in farm foreclosures in the region. There has been a dent in profitability related to overall low crop prices, “But it hasn’t been to the point where we’re talking about foreclosures,” he said. ”Our growers have found a way to navigate through those challenges (of overall low crop prices) and do quite well.” While farm debt levels are historically high, balance sheets are good, said Uni- versity of Idaho agricultural economist Garth Taylor. “Farm debt is higher now than it was during the 1980s farm crisis but we have really clean balance sheets,” he said. The big difference between now and the 1980s farm crisis is interest rates are much low- er and real estate values have held steady, Wilson said. “Farmers are by and large in a much better financial po- sition than they were in the ’80s,” he said. Today’s interest rates are markedly lower than they were in the 1980s and a result, “the cost of (farmers’) operat- ing funds is dramatically dif- ferent than what it was in the ’80s,” Beitia said. Farm asset values are holding at near record highs and there is no exit of lend- ers willing to lend to farmers, said Charles McElligott, man- aging director of business de- velopment for Rabo AgriFi- nance in Oregon, Washington and Montana. “The diversity of crops in the Northwest has been a benefit to agriculture in the Northwest,” he said. “When something is down, some- thing else is up.” The cranberry industry, soured by a huge surplus, suddenly has a new worry: The USDA will remove too many berries from the mar- ket this year. The Cranberry Market- ing Committee is asking the USDA to order handlers to give away or dispose of 5 percent of the 2017 crop, instead of the 15 percent the committee recommended last summer. Mother Nature has been swifter to act than the USDA. The U.S. harvest was about Don Jenkins/Capital Press File 10 percent smaller than ex- pected. The marketing com- Cranberries fill a bin during harvest on the Long Beach Peninsula mittee and Ocean Spray, of Washington state. which controls a majority of “We were lucky,” the cranberries, agree that a of low berry prices. Harvests combined 25 percent reduc- also fell short of projections McPhail said. “There’s no tion would be too much for in Canada. good reason for crops to be growers to financially absorb The cranberry committee down two years in a row. in one year. and Ocean Spray now say Next year, we’ll have anoth- “If USDA ignores the the industry can still meet er big crop, and we’ll be right (committee’s) recommenda- its volume-reduction goal back in the thick of things.” tion to lower the restricted with a 5 percent cut. A 15 Volume reduction has percentage, it risks the un- percent reduction on a small strong support from the in- intended consequences of crop could drive this year’s dustry’s cranberry commit- overcorrecting the industry’s returns below what some tee, but some growers and supply issues,” Ocean Spray small farmers and handlers handlers, particularly outside CEO and President Randy could sustain, according to the Ocean Spray coopera- tive, oppose a mandatory cut Papadellis wrote to USDA Papadellis. this month. Not all cranberry farmers in supply. The cranberry surplus is The USDA, largely em- see it that way. Some grow- bracing the industry’s re- ers say the small crop and a largely in the form of juice quest, proposed in January 15 percent reduction would concentrate, but the market- a mandatory 15 percent vol- speed up bringing supply and ing order would also require ume reduction. The agency demand in line. In fact, while disposing of fresh fruit. has not made a final decision. asking for the 2017 volume California-based Mari- The cranberry commit- control to be scaled back, the ani Packing Co., makers of tee in August sought feder- cranberry committee is pe- dried-fruit products, asserted al intervention to reduce a titioning the USDA to order in comments to the USDA surplus that was projected a 25 percent cut in the 2018 that withholding raw fruit would not be in the public in- to reach 115 percent of an- crop. nual sales. The fall harvest, Washington farmer Mal- terest. The smaller 2017 crop however, was smaller than colm McPhail, an Ocean likely will mean a shortage anticipated across the U.S., Spray grower, said he un- of raw cranberries and sweet with the exception of Ore- derstood the short-term ad- dried cranberries, according gon. The industry blames vantage of scaling back 2017 to the company. Organic cranberries drought and deer damage, volume controls, but the along with farmers cutting small crop was probably a would be exempted from the order. back on production because fluke, he said. Soil-borne mosaic virus appears early in NE Oregon wheat By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press Scientists are cautioning wheat farmers in northeast Or- egon about the early return of a pernicious, stunting disease that can reduce yields by as much as 41 percent. Christina Hagerty, an Ore- gon State University assistant professor and plant pathologist at the Columbia Basin Agri- cultural Research Center, said soil-borne wheat mosaic virus has arrived four weeks earli- er than last year at a disease resistance nursery near Mil- ton-Freewater, Ore. Already, Hagerty said she has met with five farmers about the virus and she expects more phone calls in the weeks to come. “I think that we’re proba- bly in for another mosaic virus year,” she said. “It’s not ideal.” The virus, carried by a soil-borne organism, appears to be spreading around the re- gion. Since it was discovered Christina Hagerty/OSU Columbia Basin Ag Research Center Soil-borne mosaic wheat virus has been detected four weeks earlier than last year by OSU re- searchers in northeast Oregon. in the Walla Walla Valley in 2008, it has expanded from a five-mile radius to a 25-mile radius stretching into southeast Washington. “This organism can spread any way you can think of soil spreading,” she said. “The good news is the breeders, private and public industry are working really hard to develop some good options for genetic resistance.” Hagerty said the early ar- rival is likely due to warm weather in January. Symptoms are primarily seen in leaves and include yellow streaks, mosaic patterns, splotching and stunted growth. Hagerty said farmers who recognize any of these symp- toms should send a sample to either the OSU plant clinic in Hermiston, Ore., or Wash- ington State University plant clinic in Pullman, Wash., for diagnostic testing. “The window to diagnose is as short as eight weeks,” she said. “If they get a positive, there’s not a lot they can do this year, but they will know it is in the field and that will in- form their variety selection for the following crop year.” Soil-borne wheat mosaic virus does not respond to fu- migation, and Hagerty said ge- netic resistance is the best tool for farmers dealing with the virus in their fields. WE SPECIALIZE IN BULK BAGS! BAGS: • Seed Bags • Fertilizer Bags • Feed Bags • Potato Bags • Printed Bags • Plain Bags • Bulk Bags • Totes • Woven Polypropylene • Bopp • Polyethylene • Pocket Bags • Roll Stock & More! 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