4
CapitalPress.com
February 16, 2018
Washington apple crop size, prices dip
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. —
Washington’s apple crop size
and prices appeared stable a
month ago but since then have
fallen and, some say, likely
will fall more.
The 2017 fresh crop was
estimated at 138 million,
40-pound boxes on Feb. 1,
down 3 percent from 142.3
million a month earlier, said
Jon DeVaney, president of the
Washington State Tree Fruit
Association in Yakima.
Packouts are down as more
fruit is diverted to processing
for juice, sauce and baked
ingredients or culled, he and
others said.
“I expected it to come
sooner. Diversion is helpful.
Right now, this is just an ap-
ple market (OK but not great).
It’s just a lot of small fruit,”
said Chuck Zeutenhorst, gen-
eral manager of First Fruits
Marketing of Washington, in
Yakima.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Josephine Ivarra and Miriam Valdovinos weigh and pack bagged
Ambrosia apples at McDougall & Sons Fruit Inc. in Wenatchee,
Wash., on Jan. 5. The crop size and prices are dropping.
en Delicious while increasing
$1 to $2 on Gala.
“I think they’re still sliding
a little bit,” Zeutenhorst said.
Tom Riggan, general man-
ager of Chelan Fresh Market-
ing, in Chelan, said he thinks
the crop will continue to
shrink due to splits and water
core in some varieties and too
much small fruit.
“This is our second-largest
crop. We can afford to have
it go down and still have ad-
equate supply and focus on
bringing our best quality to
market,” DeVaney said.
Asking prices reported by
USDA fell $2 to $4 per box on
medium-size (80 and 88 ap-
ples per box) Granny Smith,
Fuji, Red Delicious and Gold-
“Sometimes there’s only
so much room in the world-
wide marketplace for real
small apples, so not all will
make it into a box,” Riggan
said.
Large and medium fruit
sell heaviest first, and as their
supplies dwindle, their prices
will increase, but overall pric-
es are less than last season, he
said.
As of Feb. 9, USDA
tracking of average asking
prices among Yakima and
Wenatchee shippers for extra
fancy (standard grade) me-
dium size 80 and 88 apples
per packed box: $13 to $15
for Red Delicious, down $1
on the low end and $2 on the
high end since Jan. 5.
Gala 80s were $20 to $24,
up $2 on the low end and un-
changed on the high. Gala 88s
were $17 to $22, up $1 on the
low end and also unchanged
on the high.
Honeycrisp premium 80s
were $58 to $64, up from $46
to $54 a month ago. Honey-
Capital Press
Warm weather and mea-
ger mountain snow could
spell a difficult water year
ahead for Oregon farms.
The USDA Natural Re-
sources Conservation Ser-
vice released its monthly wa-
ter supply outlook report for
February, and overall condi-
tions are not looking good in
most basins across the state.
Of 137 monitoring sta-
tions, every single one re-
corded below-average snow-
pack as of Feb. 1. Most were
less than 50 percent of nor-
mal, according to the NRCS.
Julie Koeberle, snow
survey hydrologist, said the
chances for a full snowpack
recovery are low, but stressed
there is still time for condi-
tions to improve. The Nation-
al Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s
Climate
Prediction Center is calling
for cooler and wetter weather
over the next three months,
offering a glimmer of hope.
However, if Oregon ex-
pects to fully catch up on
snowpack by April 1, the
next two months would have
to deliver 125-225 percent of
normal precipitation, with all
of that falling as snow.
Basin-wide percent of February 2018 snowpack compared
to the aggregate average (1971-2010).
112
119
84
125
97
73 86
77 87
47
106 117
102
138
102 120
129
154
100
113
159 149 139
49
128
33
57
38 40
131 138 163
97
56
116
76
24
35
101 89 113161
111
166
63
105
28 39 34
70 80
138 131 119
29
115
69
64 114
29 47
114
124
56 5574
75 118
29
37
81 76
49 74
73 73
36
87 107
27
49 82
72
40
37
94
4148 73 52 75
31
23
77 89
38
31
95
39
85
31 49
48 45
57
36
40
63
45
43
Percentage key
(As of Feb. 14)
Unavailable
Less than 50%
50-69%
70-89%
90-109%
110-129%
130-149%
More than 149%
37
24
16
2
10
3
12
11
0
4
Miles
0
Source: USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service
“Water managers will
need to carefully evaluate
water supplies this summer if
snow and spring rains fail to
bring relief,” Koeberle said.
Northeast Oregon con-
tinues to boast the highest
snowpack in the state, at
64 percent of normal in the
30 2310
15
7
150
300
Capital Press graphic
Grande Ronde, Powder,
Burnt and Imnaha basins,
and 55 percent of normal in
the Umatilla, Walla Walla
and Willow basins.
Those averages drop as
low as 38 percent in the Wil-
lamette Basin, 35 percent in
the Owyhee Basin and 33
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
percent in the Klamath Basin
in southern Oregon, where
streamflow forecasts be-
tween April and September
are all project to be less than
60 percent of normal.
John Wolf, manager of the
Klamath Irrigation District,
said his board met for more
than four hours Feb. 8 to dis-
cuss drought planning.
“It’s pretty bleak down
here right now,” Wolf said.
“We’re all praying for a Feb-
ruary or March miracle.”
Already, Wolf said the
district is planning to move
back water availability by
about two weeks, from April
15 to April 23 or 24. He add-
ed it is still not clear whether
the state will allow drought
permits for wells this season.
“Nothing is really cast in
stone yet,” he said.
The U.S. Drought Moni-
tor, operated by the Univer-
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln,
has painted most of eastern,
central and southern Oregon
in either “abnormally dry” or
moderate drought conditions.
Despite low predict-
ed streamflows, reservoirs
continue to store average
or above-average amounts
of water, providing a
much-needed buffer for
farmers heading into summer.
The lowest reservoir levels
for any basin as a whole is
98 percent of average in the
Rogue and Umpqua basins of
southwest Oregon. The high-
est are in the Owyhee and
Malheur basins in south-
east Oregon, at 139 percent
of average.
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the following
vehicle will be sold, for cash to the
highest bidder, on 3/2/2018. The sale will
be held at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON
2885 NATIONAL WAY, WOODBURN, OR
1994 WINNABAGO BRAVE MH
VIN = 1GBJP37N5P3316543
Amount due on lien $1,515.00
Reputed owner(s)
MEREDITH W CHABINO
WORLD OMNI FINANCIAL COR 1
legal-7-2-1/999
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Western U.S. snow water equivalent
LEGAL
Request for Proposals
Fiscal Year
After announcing a delay
last week in establishing a
federal milk marketing or-
der for California, USDA on
Tuesday told stakeholders it is
moving forward with an op-
tion that would only delay the
process one to four months.
Stephen Vaden, a lawyer
with USDA’s office of the
general counsel, explained in
a conference call why USDA
put the process on hold and
the options the agency consid-
ered for getting things back on
track.
USDA paused the FMMO
proceedings awaiting a Su-
preme Court decision in two
court cases, which could call
into question the appointment
of administrative law judges
in federal agencies — includ-
ing the one presiding over the
FMMO proceedings.
The two cases, Lucia v.
Securities and Exchange
Commission and Bandimere
v. Securities and Exchange
Commission, are questioning
whether the appointments
of administrative law judges
comply with the appointments
clause in the Constitution.
The petitioners allege
the appointments violate the
clause because they are not
properly appointed and may
not be easily removed, he
said.
The Department of Justice
has reached the conclusion
the petitioners are correct.
The Supreme Court will ren-
der its opinion no later than
June 30, he said.
Even though the litiga-
tion doesn’t directly involve
USDA, the issue that will be
decided does impact USDA
and the California FMMO, he
said.
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the following
vehicle will be sold, for cash to the
highest bidder, on 2/23/2018. The sale
will be held at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON
2885 NATIONAL WAY, WOODBURN, OR
2017 DODGE CHALLENGER 2DR
VIN = 2C3CDZBT6HH589161
Amount due on lien $1,475.00
Reputed owner(s)
PHILIP C. ALLMER
CAPITAL ONE AUTO FINANCE
July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019
The Oregon Beef Council is
soliciting proposals for projects
in the following areas:
1) Positive Producer Image
2) Studying Legislation
3) Education related to beef
4) Generic promotion of beef
Any individual or organization
may propose projects in any of
the categories listed above.
Projects must meet the Beef
Council’s mission of enhancing
the beef industry’s image of
profitability of Oregon’s beef
industry. Approved projects
must comply with the Beef
Promotion and Research Act
and O.R.S. 577
To present a proposal you
must complete and submit an
Authorization Request Form
by March 16, 2018 at 4:00 p.m.
Download an Authorization
Request Form from orbeef.org
or by contacting the Oregon
Beef Council office (503) 274-
2333 or via e-mail at
julie@orbeef.org.
6-1/106
1.8 million boxes while China
is down almost 30 percent at
less than 800,000 boxes, he
said.
Sales to the Middle East
and Latin America are strong,
he said.
“As long as quality stays
stable, we will be able to
move apples into Mexico and
India. Southern Hemisphere
Gala starts packing this week
and that will impact world
markets,” Peebles said.
U.S. Apple Association re-
ported national fresh holdings
of 95.6 million boxes on Feb.
1, up 12 percent from a year
earlier. Processing holdings
totaled 38.6 million boxes, up
10 percent.
The industry has a lot of
apples remaining to sell, and
one concern is having a large
late crop followed by an ear-
ly one brought on by a mild
winter and possibly early
spring.
“You don’t want to have to
sell a year’s worth of fruit in
11 months,” DeVaney said.
California federal milk marketing
order delayed but on track
Low snowfall creates bleak
water supply outlook for Oregon
Snowpack below
normal at all
monitoring sites
crisp premium 88s were $56
to $62, up from $44 to $52 a
month ago.
Of the 4.3-millon-box crop
shrinkage, 1 million were
Fuji, 984,000 were Red De-
licious, 953,000 were Granny
Smith, 840,000 were Gala,
361,000 were Ambrosia and
245,000 were Honeycrisp,
Riggan said.
As of Feb. 1, 54.7 million
boxes had been sold com-
pared to 58.9 million a year
ago. “It’s a bit behind but we
are making headway,” Riggan
said.
Exports have improved in
the past month to 17 million
boxes, season-to-date, up 5
percent from a year ago, said
Bryan Peebles, Chelan Fresh
Marketing export sales man-
ager.
Mexico is up 5 percent
over last year while Canada
is down more than 10 percent,
partly because of smaller fruit
size, Peebles said.
India likes small Reds and
is up more than 30 percent at
legal-6-2-3/999
By DAN WHEAT
Legal-7-2-3/999
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
“Because an administra-
tive law judge presided over
the California milk marketing
order, the decision in the cases
currently before the Supreme
Court could implicate the
federal milk marketing order
here,” he said.
If the court were to decide
DOJ is correct, the order if fi-
nalized would be vulnerable
to legal challenge and highly
likely to be vacated by the
court, he said.
“All the many years of
work put into promulgating
this milk marketing order
would be lost. Those are quite
high stakes,” he said.
Vaden said he doesn’t
blame producers for wanting
to move ahead on the chance
the court would decide differ-
ently, but that’s a 50-50 shot.
If that bet were lost, the pro-
cess would be back to square
one, he said.
If the process had to start
from scratch, that would set
potential implementation of
the order back three years, he
said.
A better option is to ap-
point a new hearing officer
— a judicial officer who is
not subject to challenge under
the appointments clause — to
fully review the record of the
40 days of hearings that have
taken place.
That officer could ratify
the record as is and USDA
would put out a final decision
for a producer vote. If the of-
ficer has question or wants to
change something, additional
time would be needed for in-
dustry feedback.
If USDA does nothing,
finalizes the order and the
bet on the court’s ruling is
correct, the soonest the order
could be implemented would
be October.
If it takes the safer route
and appoints a new officer
who ratifies the record, the or-
der could be implemented by
November. If the officer needs
feedback, the order could be
implemented by February
2019.
The ratification option,
which USDA is taking, would
only delay implementation
one to four months and would
make the order more likely to
survive a legal challenge, he
said.
Upcoming
Produce Safety
Alliance
Grower
Training
Fruit and vegetable growers and others interested in
learning about produce safety, the Food Safety
Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule, Good
Agricultural Practices (GAPs), and co-management of
natural resources and food safety. The PSA Grower
Training Course is one way to satisfy the FSMA
Produce Safety Rule training requirement.
Ontario, Oregon • February 23, 2018
Cost to attend: $25
To register, visit: producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu
or contact Sue Davis at sdavis@oda.state.or.us
503-807-5864
Funding for these trainings was made possible by
Grant Number 1U18FD005889-01 from the FDA.
Presented in partnership with Oregon
State University Extension Services and
the National Young Farmers Coalition
ROP-5-3-2/110